The mechanics of democracy promotion tools: bridging the knowledge-to-practice gap

By drawing upon the literature that diagnoses the gap between academics and practitioners, this article categorises and describes the traditional democracy promotion tools developed by international governmental and non-governmental organisations to bridge the gap between knowledge and practice. Further, it examines the utility of ICTs in promoting and upholding democratic change. The findings inform considerations and specific recommendations offered to the tool developers on how to converge traditional and new democracy promotion tools. These are intended to assist in focusing tool design and development efforts, and promoting standardisation and innovation.     

Right to information (RTI) legislation: the role of infomediaries in enhancing citizens’ access to information

Merely creating a legal space by enacting right to information (RTI) legislation is often not enough to ensure citizens’, especially women's, access to information. Based on a pilot intervention on RTI implementation in Bangladesh, this article explores whether the introduction of information intermediaries, or “infomediaries”, enhances rural citizens’ access to information through using the RTI Act. It was found that due to the assisted access provided by infomediaries, the number of RTI Act users increased significantly in the intervention areas compared to the national average, with five times more women than men being able to use the Act.     

Tug of war: street trading and city governance in Kumasi,Ghana

Kumasi, Ghana, has witnessed accelerated population growth in the past two decades, leading to a significant increase in joblessness following years of economic decline and labour market liberalisation. As a survival strategy, residents have resorted to street trading, making it an important source of livelihood. However, its associated implications for urban governance and management has placed city authorities in the spotlight over the years. Examining the daily struggles that occur between city managers and street traders, this article finds that various strategies adopted by city authorities to decongest the streets have proved futile. Rethinking what could be a sustainable strategy for decongesting the streets of traders, the article concludes that chasing the traders out of the streets is not the panacea to solving the problem unless well coordinated land-use planning and appropriate regulations are competently enforced.     

农业市场转型中的组织化困局——从象征资本视角考察农业组织化行动的自主性空间

目前，农业市场转型过程中出现了许多以往经济理论难以完整解释的问题。这些都要求我们在理论视角上进行创新。从象征资本的角度，即对在转型过程产生重要影响的象征权力运作的各种技术与机制进行考察和分析就是这样一种新的尝试。尽管象征权力技术在任何社会、任何领域中都可能存在，但由于受到中国特殊的历史基础的影响，我国农业领域的象征权力生产与再生产过程有其独特性，并产生了一种特殊的支配效应，给农业市场化带来了西方经验未曾预料到的问题。基于计划体制的剩余——农村的弱积累和弱公民社会以及国家保留对相当大一部分社会资源的控制权，国家成功地在农民的市场性自主性空间之外架构起了一个与之相抗衡的制度性自主性空间，这个“意外”空间通过将能人吸引到集权关系体系中来而完成了对他们的控制，进而以他们为中介控制了乡村社会。     

Enhancing the effectiveness of international development: a systems approach

Every day 25,000 people die of hunger and hunger-related causes. While it is recognised that the international development system is not as effective as it should be, years of endeavours to achieve greater harmonisation of international aid and to create an effective architecture pass by without adequate results. The article introduces a framework for enhancing the effectiveness of the international development system, based on fundamental concepts of Systems Thinking. It discusses the complex systemic challenges to development and suggests that more effective control is a key precondition for greater effectiveness in development as a whole.     

Governance and youth unemployment in Africa

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study is to identify governance indicators that can reduce youth unemployment in Africa. Thereby, the authors incorporated governance indicators into the growth model. The dynamic panel estimation of the model, based on data from the World Bank, the IMF and UNCTAD for the period 2002–2016 found that some governance indicators such as control of corruption and political stability have a negative influence on youth unemployment in Africa. Moreover, political stability does not reduce youth unemployment in highly corrupt countries which are rich in natural resources. Similarly, other governance indicators such as government effectiveness, regulatory quality, the rule of law, voice and accountability are not yet producing the expected effects in African countries. As a result, political authorities must improve governance indicators, including the control of corruption and political stability.     

公安院校大学生专业承诺对学习倦怠的影响研究

为考察公安院校大学生专业承诺对学习倦怠的影响效果，采用《大学生专业承诺量表》和《大学生学习倦怠量表》对某公安院校2009级206名大学生进行了测量。结果表明，公安院校大学生专业承诺及其附属雏度与学习倦怠及其附属维度大多数存在显著的负相关：专业承诺中的情感承诺维度是公安院校大学生学习倦怠最重要的预测变量。可见，专业承诺与学习倦怠存在密切关系，改善专业承诺水平尤其是情感承诺水平有助于降低学习倦怠的发生频率。     

大城市社会空间演变态势剖析与治理反思——基于上海的调查与思考

改革开放以来，在全球化和向市场经济转型的背景之下，中国的社会和经济格局发生了深刻的变革，城市社会空间结构演变成为当代中国城市转型的主要特征。通过对上海人口、房地产等经济社会数据分析可知，当前上海人口、居住等社会空间正呈现剧烈的演变态势。随着工业化和城市化进程的加快，上海未来社会空间将呈现城市社会空间分异、城市社会空间两极化、城乡结合部居住形态多元化、城市社会结构重构、城市“双城”现象凸显、弱势群体居住边缘化、城乡二元结构空间显现、城市部分社区老龄化等演变趋势。大城市社会空间演变将带来类似西方城市居住隔离、空间剥夺、阶层矛盾、公共空间漠视等负效应。在“和谐社会”等治国理念下，反思传统的城市治理模式，提出城市规划公共利益职能归位、加强房地产投资的引导与控制、推进市民利益维护机制建设、推进“以人为本”的混合型和谐社区建设、制定合理的人口容量战略、制定合理的人口分布战略等新型治理模式具有重要意义。     

整体性治理模式的兴起——整体性治理在英国政府治理中的理论与实践

政府治理一直是政府和学界非常关注的问题,在西方,随着信息化、数字化技术的普遍使用,已经兴起了与信息时代相适应的政府治理新模式,即整体性治理,它主要是针对新公共管理带来的碎片化、空心化政府等一系列问题而提出,强调整体与合作和信息时代背景。整体性治理成为当代政府治理新理念,也是探究政府改革的学术前沿领域,因此,对之研究具有重要的理论和现实意义。本文介绍了整体性治理理论在英国兴起的时代背景,同时详细阐述了整体性治理的一般概念和核心特征,介绍了其实际运用情况,分析了它存在的障碍和缺陷,并对其前景进行展望。通过对其进行较全面的介绍,以期引起对这一理论模式的学术重视与探讨。     

“法外治理”:社区调解与中国基层社会的非正式控制

由于转型时期社区矛盾和民事纠纷的增加,社区调解对于中国基层社会治理和秩序控制的作用日益变得重要。社区调解源于传统中国乡村自治基于法外情理的民事调解,在当代中国社会治理中被赋予新的涵义,它可以被界定为一种法外治理,既强调法外的情与理的运作,又主张法、情、理三者的结合。与正式社会控制不同的是,作为非正式控制方式的社区调解,其社会功能不仅在于秩序控制,而且在于社区团结和社区自治。居委会作为群众自治组织,其在社区调解中的角色正面临挑战,但是社区调解的变化本身也是居委会重建其自治功能的机遇。