Institutionalization of the authoritarian leadership in China: a power succession system with Chinese characteristics?

To transfer power successfully at the top and prevent a leadership split during this process has always been extremely challenging for authoritarian regimes. Yet, power succession in China has demonstrated a high degree of stability in the past two decades. How did the authoritarian regime in China perform its leadership transition in an orderly and smooth manner? This paper argues that 30 years of institutionalization has resulted in the development of a power succession system with Chinese characteristics. By offering a large amount of primary and secondary data on Chinese elite politics, this paper analyses the institutional development of succession politics and its impacts on regime stability and legitimacy in China. The case of the Chinese succession system provides a dramatic example in understanding ‘authoritarian resilience’.     

Meeting peasants where they are: cultivating agroecological alternatives in neoliberal Guatemala

ABSTRACT

Social movements increasingly embrace agroecology as an integral part of food sovereignty. This essay has two related aims: first, to highlight the barriers to agroecology and explore how these can be overcome; second, to deepen understandings of how agroecology can strengthen movements for food sovereignty or extend neoliberal governance. I ground these questions by examining state and social movement agroecological programs in Guatemala. I argue that strict rejection of conventional inputs and market production, in addition to insufficient state investment and redistribution, creates barriers to participation among a rural peasantry whose livelihoods have been transformed by decades of scientific, market-led development. Facing these limits, agroecology can work to strengthen food sovereignty movements, but can also reinforce the neoliberal food regime by promoting resilience and indigenous agriculture as sufficient to resolve the food crisis.     

Integration or Building Resilience: What Should the Goal Be in Refugee Resettlement?

The article presents a qualitative study of 110 providers and administrators of refugee services from four countries: United States, Switzerland, Germany, and Iceland. Of the total participants, 28 were male and 82 were female. The sample consisted of 83 social workers who provided direct services to refugees and 27 administrators who managed the programs. The interviews occurred over a period of 3 years from January 2014 to January 2017. The participants described what they perceived to be the goals of resettlement and the successful outcomes of their work with refugees. Findings show that providers and administrators varied in what they believed to be the goals and outcomes, with three main differences emerging: (1) lessening the transition burden; (2) acquisition of language and securing self-sufficient employment; and (3) enhancing the integration of resilience within the refugee. These differences are discussed in terms of how they differ in resources required and in outcomes. The implications of these differences are addressed.     

School Engagement Among Urban Adolescents of Color: Does Perception of Social Support and Neighborhood Safety Really Matter?

In this study we examined the effects of risk factors (perceived neighborhood crime/delinquency problems, neighborhood incivilities) and protective factors (teacher support, family support, peer support) on the school engagement of 123 urban adolescents of color. Age and gender were also examined to determine if different ages (younger or older) or genders (male or female) significantly modified the relationship between the risk factors and school engagement. Results indicated that perceived neighborhood incivilities was uniquely predictive of school engagement. Contrary to hypotheses, different levels of the perceived social support variables did not modify the effects of risky neighborhood conditions on adolescent’s perceived school engagement. Age, but not gender, significantly modified the relationship between perceived family social support and perceived neighborhood crime on adolescents’ reported levels of school engagement. The implications of the results for prevention and intervention programs that address school engagement among early adolescents of color are considered.

Understanding how foster families use humor within the resiliency process

Humor serves as a protective factor in the resiliency process for many, reducing stress and helping children and adults cope with difficult circumstances. Humor can lighten a situation and relieve tension but can also be misinterpreted in response to serious circumstances. Providing foster care can be a challenging process as families open up their homes to care for children who have experienced maltreatment. Despite challenges, many foster families are able to sustain fostering. The importance of humor was highlighted as a protective factor for foster families in the current study. Understanding the use of humor offers important implications.     

校园受欺负者的抗逆力个案研究

校园欺负问题是中小学生中间经常发生的一种消极的社会行为，它给孩子的健康成长蒙上了阴影，也成为许多孩子的噩梦。本研究主要包括3个方面：受欺负者遭受欺负的经历、受欺负者的抗逆力水平、影响受欺负者抗逆力水平的因素。依据Hunter抗逆力的层次模型，采用抗逆力的三种策略形式来分析受欺负者的抗逆力水平，最后结论认为，发挥外在保护性因子的作用是快速有效提高受欺负者抗逆力水平的关键。     

社区矫正对象的复原力发展过程探究

运用质的研究方法，对上海市15名社区矫正对象开展深入访谈，根据复原力理论“过程说”的内涵，及“个人-环境”互动理论，对社区矫正对象的复原力发展过程进行分析。社区矫正对象经历了“正常生活——进入刑事案件流程——进入社区矫正——解除社区矫正”四个不同阶段，复原力发展过程具有阶段性特点并呈现出“原生期——剧变期——重建期——成长期”的复原力发展过程图式。社区矫正社会工作者要建立以促进复原力发展为核心的服务理念，依托个案管理，依据社区矫正对象所处复原力发展阶段、个人特质等设定具体可行的服务目标，积极调动现有保护性因素，注重将重大事件发生的时间节点作为重要的介入契机，实施整合性、体系化的社区矫正社会工作服务策略。     

Human Factors Effecting Forensic Decision Making: Workplace Stress and Well‐being

Over the past decade, there has been a growing openness about the importance of human factors in forensic work. However, most of it focused on cognitive bias, and neglected issues of workplace wellness and stress. Forensic scientists work in a dynamic environment that includes common workplace pressures such as workload volume, tight deadlines, lack of advancement, number of working hours, low salary, technology distractions, and fluctuating priorities. However, in addition, forensic scientists also encounter a number of industry‐specific pressures, such as technique criticism, repeated exposure to crime scenes or horrific case details, access to funding, working in an adversarial legal system, and zero tolerance for “errors”. Thus, stress is an important human factor to mitigate for overall error management, productivity and decision quality (not to mention the well‐being of the examiners themselves). Techniques such as mindfulness can become powerful tools to enhance work and decision quality.     

A Resilience Approach to Transitional Justice?

ABSTRACT

Transitional justice, which is typically part of a liberal peacebuilding strategy, often seems distant, ineffective or even counter-productive. The concept of resilience, to which transitional justice discourses and scholarship have remained relatively indifferent, appears useful to explore justice initiatives in conflict or post-conflict situations. This article argues that much can be gained from better understanding the relevance of – and significant risks associated with – resilience thinking in this context. Through a critical approach to resilience, and embedded within a legal-pluralist framework, it examines some of the ways of dealing with political violence, with a particular focus on the Central African Republic.     

汶川地震应对经验与应急管理中国模式的建构路径——基于强政府与强社会的互动视角

巨灾的频发使得风险治理的公共政策系统受到巨大挑战。由于特定的危机形势和政策制定系统的局限性,造成了各种各样的政策困境,尤其是汶川地震促使我们重新审视国家力量在巨灾应对中与社会力量之间的互动关系。基于以上背景,本文试图通过研究团队三年多来针对汶川地震应对的全景式实证性研究,并结合中国应急管理系统建设发展的历史性回顾揭示出相应的挑战和机遇,探索一个基于强政府与强社会互动的分析视角和发展路径。