Public Policy in the Party City: The Spectacle of Culture,Gender, and Locality

The article explores the bidding process for the European Capital of Culture (ECOC) award, an aspect of local regeneration policy reliant upon a specific conception of culture. The process is examined in terms of changes in urban layout, manifestations of cultural and community identity, media representations, and the spectacle of culture, gender, and locality. The process is viewed as an urban managerialist project, driven by private and public sector elites in pursuit of economic rather than cultural goals. A narrow and particular view of culture was employed in the bidding process to achieve essentially managerial goals, and cut adrift from significant issues of gender, identity, and class. “Culture,” as conceived within the ECOC process, is viewed as a policy product of local government, regeneration partnerships, government agencies, and business interests, in contrast to culture as a way of life or lived urban experience. As an elite process, the voices of local culture were largely excluded.     

Political-Administrative Relations in Collaborative Environmental Management

One of the central ideas of liberal democracy is to ensure broad-based citizen participation in the governance process that goes beyond simply voting. However, evidence shows that on many occasions it has been failing to do so both in the developed and developing countries. As such, this paper, based on an empirical study, analyzes the scopes, forms, and nature of citizen participation in the urban local governance process in Bangladesh. It is found that citizen participation has been nominal in the local governance process due to a number of social, political, and institutional factors, for example, electoral politics, limited citizen’s accesses to various decision-making bodies, the existence of clientelistic politics and the presence of a weak civil society.     

Sustainable Development in Developing Countries: The Role of Social Entrepreneurs

Internationally, there has been a general trend towards crime prevention and community safety measures. The main policy ideas and instruments associated with this trend have spread widely in Western countries. This article examines the Swedish national crime prevention policy. As Sweden is a welfare society with a long tradition of social crime prevention, it is of great interest to explore to what extent the aforementioned trend has influenced its crime prevention policy. We do this by examining Sweden's national policy and how its concepts have spread to the local level—specifically, to municipalities and their local crime prevention councils. We find that there has been a preventive shift in Sweden, although not as far-reaching as in many other European countries. Substantial changes have occurred in the understanding and direction of crime prevention work, and the question is to what extent this development will continue.     

Inter-Organizational Coordination and Corruption in Urban Policy Implementation in Bangladesh: A Case of Rajshahi City Corporation

This article provides an overview of the state of inter-organizational coordination and corruption in urban policy implementation in Bangladesh. Based on a study carried out in one of the seven large cities in Bangladesh, the available data illustrate that there are major coordination problems between the Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) and other government departments. This is due to a lack of formal coordination mechanisms, partisan leadership, and a fragmented organizational culture of patron-clientage, which dispenses undue favor and involves nepotism. These pathologies breed corruption and seriously impede inter-organizational coordination. Ordinary citizens suffer as a result.     

Post-NPM Reforms or Administrative Hybridization in the French Health Care System?

New public management (NPM) provides an opportunity to analyze a reform trajectory that is influenced by country-specific institutional and social traditions. France adopted its own version of NPM, embracing some of its “traditional” elements such as quasi-markets and performance evaluation and rejecting others. NPM reforms in France pursued a re-centralization agenda rather than a disaggregation of public agencies. Outcomes were below expectations in core areas such as citizen participation and physician professional satisfaction. Subsequent health reforms indicate convergence toward a hybrid system rather than toward a post-NPM paradigm.     

Disaster Governance in the Philippines: Issues,Lessons Learned,and Future Directions in the Post-Yolanda Super Typhoon Aftermath

The article analyzes the importance of disaster governance as an emerging paradigm in the context of the post-Yolanda Super Typhoon devastation in the Philippines. The article offers various lessons which may be heeded in times of disaster in which various stakeholders of governance are involved with. Consequently, the article posits future challenges and directions hurled in the conduct of disaster governance in the Philippines in terms of policies and programs. Finally, the article enunciates that both the national government and local government must play an active role in disaster governance through policy-making and policy implementation changes in both theory and praxis.     

基于金融约束论的六盘山连片特困地区金融政策差别化问题研究——以宁夏片区为例

资金匮乏是六盘山连片特殊困难地区发展的最大困扰之一,执行全国高度统一的金融政策意味着竞争力相对低下的连片特困贫困地区面临进一步资金紧约束.制订全国统一性前提下适度区域差别化金融政策符合我国金融政策的最终目标.     

农业现代化与国家种业安全

农业现代化的基础是种业现代化。位于农业产业链最上游的种业是农业现代化进程中基础性、战略性核心产业,是保证国家粮食安全的根本。我国必须高度重视农业现代化进程中的种业安全,积极应对种业安全面临的挑战。提升种业竞争力,主体是企业,核心是品种,关键是创新。应加强政策引导,健全法规体系,转变发展方式,着力提升种业科技创新能力、企业竞争能力、供种保障能力和市场监管能力。通过体制机制创新加快构建“育繁推一体化”的商业化育种体系,做大做强民族种业。     

刑事立法政策与公众认同论纲

刑法的公众认同属于观念刑法中的一环,是基于某种文化立场对刑事立法和司法活动产生的情感碰撞。公众认同对刑事立法政策中犯罪的性质和范围、刑罚的幅度等的确定具有不可或缺的作用。但公众意见亦有一些先天不足,如非理性、滞后性与不稳定性等。为了弥补这些不足,应在坚持罪刑法定原则的前提下,实现公众对刑法更高的认同感,需要从提高公众的法规范意识、立法吸纳民意程序化、刑法解释常识化等方面着手予以实现。     

陕西西部大开发税收政策执行评价及调整方向

在上一轮西部大开发政策的支持下,陕西经济社会发展取得了巨大成就。新一轮西部大开发的税收优惠政策虽已明确,但对于陕西来说,这些政策还应着重在支持陕西发展优势,支持陕西经济发展薄弱环节的税收优惠政策上,以及在宏观层面支持陕西经济社会发展的税收政策等方面予以完善。