少数民族农村社区文化生活与精神文明建设 --以云南罗平多依村布依族调查为例

通过对云南罗平县多依村布依族的调查发现,随着经济与社会的发展,社区文化对区域人群的影响作用和协调功能日益凸现,然而,受到经济发展相对滞后、教育水平偏低、信息渠道单一等因素制约,目前的农村社区文化不能适应村民不断提高的精神文化需求.鉴于此,建议在发展农村经济的基础上,强化基层组织的引导职责,以传统的农村家庭功能单位为依托,努力探索有地区特色的社区文化发展模式.     

对加强非公有制组织中党团和工会组织建设的思考

加强非公有制企业的党团及工会组织建设 ,是做好非公有制经济人士思想政治工作的重要一环。在非公有制经济发达的地区建立党的工作委员会已成为必须。统战部门要切实做好这方面的工作 ,引导非公有制经济企业健康发展。     

关于我国证券市场中政府行为的分析

本文从我国经济改革与我国证券市场的特点出发 ,分析了我国证券市场中政府行为的合理性 ,政府行为产生的原因、以及政府行为对我国证券市场运行机制的扭曲 ,并对规范我国证券市场中的政府行为提出了相关的建议。     

新形势下的刑侦队伍建设

当前刑侦队伍面临着新的形势和任务,经受着各种严峻的考验,但队伍中还存在着许多与斗争形势不相适应的问题。要从根本上改变队伍的现状,必须提高队伍的素质,加强思想政治教育,加强刑侦业务建设,改革后勤供应。     

关于政府在互连网上形象的思考

政府在互连网上的形象关系到政府在公众心目中的地位。树立良好的政府网上形象的重要意义、现存问题及相应的完善措施应予以充分重视     

Shining a light on the grey zones of gender construction: breast surgery in France and Italy

This article analyses the areas of overlap between cosmetic surgery and reconstructive surgery, using the examples of both female and male breast surgery, and shows that these areas of overlap are sites of the construction of gendered bodies. The data are drawn from two pieces of research: the first based on 17 in-depth interviews with Italian cosmetic surgeons and the second based on 99 interviews with breast cancer patients and medical oncological professionals conducted in France and Italy. The primary data are supplemented by an analysis of the medical literature. ‘Too small’ female breasts (micromastia) and male gynecomastia (male fatty breast tissue) are pathologised by the surgeons and the medical literature, and a surgical intervention is presented as a way to heal this pathology. The pathologisation of healthy breasts goes along with the aestheticisation of oncological breast surgery. The interventions performed during a post-mastectomy breast reconstruction are guided by normative ideas of how a female body should be. The gender norms inscribed in this surgery practice can however be contested by patients: they can ask for a breast reconstruction while refusing all forms of ‘enhancement’.     

Financial Health in Australian Local Government: The Application of a Funding Assessment Model to Brisbane and Sydney City Councils

Local government financial viability measurement in an accrual budgeting environment poses complex challenges. Financial measures frequently generate conflicting results. A rating scale to assess financial management, constructed originally for South African municipalities (Dollery & Graves, 2009), represents a useful tool to analyze financial health trends. Applying a “Likert-like” scale to financial performance measures to assess “funding compliance”, the model in this article assists municipalities to avoid financial difficulties. To demonstrate the applicability of this model, we apply the model to the Brisbane City Council and the Sydney City Councils. Results show that the model represents a valuable aid to financial management decision-making.     

The Influence of Resistance to Change on Public-Sector Reform Implementation: The Case of Italian Municipalities’ Internal Control System

The present research tries to contribute to the academic debate on public management reform adoption, focusing on the reasons for the discrepancies between actual and formal changes and using resistance to change as theoretical basis. The study hypothesizes that high levels of individual and organizational resistance to change may be associated to the formal implementation of public management reforms. The research results allow to confirm the hypothesis when large-size municipalities are considered, while when considering medium-size entities a definite evidence of a relation between resistance to change and the formal implementation of the reforms does not emerge.     

Public Administration Reform and Its Implications for Foreign Petroleum Companies in Kazakhstan

Since 2000, Kazakhstan has followed the New Public Management reform trajectory in modernizing its public sector and public service delivery. This article employs an actor-centered perspective to examine the effects of the public administration reform and its implications for foreign petroleum companies in Kazakhstan. The study builds on primary sources in the form of 81 semi-structured interviews with public servants, representatives of foreign petroleum companies and experts. The main conclusion is that the reform effects are ambiguous. Despite some success in greater efficiency of public services, many weaknesses remain, with highly varying implications for foreign petroleum companies.     

Did the Big Stick Work? An Empirical Assessment of Scale Economies and the Queensland Forced Amalgamation Program

In 2007, the Queensland Government imposed forced amalgamation with the number of local authorities falling from 157 to just 73 councils. Amalgamation was based inter alia on the assumption that increased economies of scale would generate savings. This paper empirically examines pre- and post-amalgamation (2006/07 and 2009/10) for scale economies. For the 2006/07 data, evidence of economies of scale was found for councils with populations up to 98,000, and thereafter diseconomies of scale. Eight percent of councils in 2006/07 (ten councils) – representing 64% of the state’s population – exhibited diseconomies of scale. For the 2009/10 data, the average cost curve remained almost stationary at 99,000 residents per council, but almost 25% of all councils (thirteen councils) were now found to exhibit diseconomies of scale. The compulsory merger program thus increased the proportion of Queensland residents in councils operating with diseconomies of scale to 84%.