How projects rise and fall: the lifecycle of a dietary modernisation scheme

How do projects grow? How do they fail? What accounts for their changing fortunes? This paper uses the archives of a 1970s modernisation scheme to explore the life cycle of a long-running project, concerning the production of leaf protein in Nigeria. It argues that archives can be very useful for understanding success and failure, and encourages practitioners to take an interest in the story of past projects, even those that failed. Drawing on Actor-Network Theory, it argues that alliances are key to understanding project lifecycles, suggesting that practitioners focus on strengthening local relationships, rather than seeking answers in universal management templates.     

The pedagogy of listening

A great deal of participatory development literature emphasises the bottom-up production of citizen’s voices and their incorporation into policy formulation, implementation, and evaluation. Rarely do we hear of emphases on the question of listening, much as there exists a body of knowledge on integrating what experts consider to be the views and opinions of local people in the creation of socio-economic policies. This viewpoint outlines the kind of listening that builds on three key issues that emanate from Paulo Freire’s idea of listening as both a virtue and practice of tolerance. The major contention is that as development practitioners, we need to build our abilities and capacities to practise all the three forms of listening if we are to work with others in designing and implementing policies that improve lives and communities.     

政府提供公共产品的逻辑探讨

随着市场化造成的负外部性日益增多以及人们普遍的交往和生活的富裕,人们对公共产品的要求也在同步提高。政府在公共产品提供中承担主要责任,但在制度设计有缺陷的情况下,公共产品的提供往往是无效率的。这种无效率的公共产品提供又总会成为众矢之的。从多中心的视角改革传统的公共产品政府提供机制,引导市场主体和非营利组织参与公共服务的竞争性生产,提高公共产品的产出效率,将是政府治道变革非常迫切的现实任务。     

浅析行政强制拆迁

行政强制拆迁,具有高效性、快捷性和低成本性,但由于我们对行政强制拆迁的使用不当,使其备受争议。文章认为行政强制拆迁具有很多可取之处,它启示我们：要坚持依法行政的原则,加强媒体的正确舆论导向,严格房屋拆迁的程序。     

公共服务均等化视角下科技惠农政策执行实效及提升对策

本文通过对湖南省C镇进行的实地调查发现,在公共服务均等化视角下,科技惠农政策执行取得了执行满意度较高、政策关注度较高、为农民解决了一些实际问题等成绩,但仍然存在着政策的公共服务性有待增强、政策的公共服务性宣传有待加强、政策执行人员的公共服务素质有待提高、政策执行激励监督机制有待完善等问题.对此,应采取提高科学性和熟知度、加强队伍建设、完善激励监督机制等措施提升科技惠农政策执行的实效.     

从思想到举措：中国防治腐败有效性提升刍议

正值转型期的中国出现了一系列的社会问题,腐败即为其中之一。根据西方各国现代化进程的经验,防治转型期的腐败需要下大功夫。针对腐败问题中国也采取了一些措施,但成效不尽如人意。因此,有必要从思想到举措全方位地研究中国防治腐败问题,以西为鉴,特别是北欧、美国等国的经验;以史为鉴,尤其是汉唐盛世的监察经验;学习同为大东亚儒家文化圈的新加坡、韩国等国的经验;厉行法治,深入改革,提倡道德防腐,完善与反腐败相关的专门法,提高防治腐败的针对性、可操作性和有效性。     

创建学习型工会组织提高工会干部素质

知识经济越来越多地渗透到企业的生产、经营和管理中,工会组织在新形势下参与企业决策,维护职工的合法权益,其工作中知识含量的要求越来越高,工会必须高度重视,切实抓紧创建学习型工会组织,提高工会干部素质.     

论行政行为公定力的效用

行政行为公定力不仅是行政行为先定力的保障,还是行政行为确定力、拘束力和执行力的前提和基础,在行政法领域,公定力不仅支持着行政行为的效力,而且对于顺导依法行政,阻止滥用职权,协助行政救济具有重要意义。同时,行政行为的公定力还对民商法、刑法及诉讼法等领域的许多法律规则起着支持和决定作用。     

Between logframes and theory of change: reviewing debates and a practical experience

Theory of Change (ToC) is an emerging methodology in the practice of development programmes, often contrasted with the dominant logical framework. This article reviews current debates around ToC before identifying five aspects that are appreciated in practice. It appears that these aspects mostly cover areas where the logical framework is not – or is no longer – meeting the needs of practitioners. Subsequently, the article analyses experiences in ToC training for NGO staff and concludes that ToC can address shortcomings of the logical framework – if only by going back to some of the roots of the logical framework.     

Measuring Military Effectiveness: Calculating Casualty Loss-Exchange Ratios for Multilateral Wars, 1816–1990

In this article, we introduce and utilize a new dataset that provides battle- and war- level Loss Exchange Ratios (LERs) for combatant states involved in multilateral wars between 1816 and 1990.The battle-level data provide an alternative to the widely used, but problematic, HERO/CDB-90 data set on battle outcomes. To demonstrate the utility of the new data, we weigh in on the debate over democratic military effectiveness arguments by replicating models by Reiter and Stam (2002, 2009) and Downes (2009), finding that, when effectiveness is measured using LERs, democracies do not have an edge over their non-democratic counterparts.