The Rise of the Far Right in Debtor and Creditor European Countries: The Case of European Parliament Elections

While the 2014 European Parliament elections were marked by the rise of parties on the far right‐wing, the different patterns of support that we observe across Europe and across time are not directly related to the economic crisis. Indeed, economic hardship seems neither sufficient nor necessary for the rise of such parties to occur. Using the cross‐national results for the 2004, 2009 and 2014 EP elections in order to capture time and country variations, we posit that the economy affects the rise of far right‐wing parties in more complex ways. Specifically, we compare the experience of high‐debt countries (the ‘debtors’) and the others (the ‘creditors’) and explore the relationship between far right‐wing party success on the one hand, and unemployment, inequality, immigration, globalisation and the welfare state on the other. Our discussion suggests there might be a trade‐off between budgetary stability and far right‐wing party support, but the choice between Charybdis and Scylla may be avoided if policy‐makers carefully choose which policies should bear the brunt of the fiscal adjustment.     

“Middle-income Trap” Proposition in China: Debate and Rethinking

Most studies suggest that China's economy is gradually moving into the "middle income trap" due to the economic slowdown, the demographic dividend subsiding, economic imbalances and weak manufacturing. But to think about the source of the middle-income trap proposition, there is a big limitation of the scope of its application. There is obvious expansion even "dogmatic" tendency in the understanding of the middle-income trap. Mechanical imitation to guide China's development will inevitably mislead decision-makers in judging the real macroeconomic situation. Middle-income trap hypothesis can be applied to our country? Our government seems to prevent the distribution of income trap and welfare catching-up trap.     

发达国家青年失业群体治理措施及借鉴

近几年来,青年是面临失业的主要群体,这一问题引起了学术界特别是青年研究界越来越多的关注。青年群体有别于传统失业群体,有着自身的特点。发达国家之所以能够较为有效地控制青年失业率,主要是因为实施了积极的就业保障措施来促进青年就业。借鉴国外的经验,我国解决青年群体就业问题的政策取向必须以提高就业能力为出发点。     

呼之欲出的社会公益募捐法

5．12汶川地震之后,全国各界展开了对地震灾区的援助,除了直接赶赴灾区进行救灾援助之外,捐赠或者募捐成为很长一段时间内人们对地震灾区主要的援助手段。基于我国现阶段对于捐赠与募捐的立法现状,其中有诸多的不规范之处,而募捐过程中也产生了诸多问题。这些问题如果在短时间内得不到解决,一方面,会影响到灾区所可能接收到的外在援助,另一方面,也会由于募捐本身的不规范导致捐赠者的失望可能影响到全社会的利他主义与人道主义信念的下滑,这对于现阶段和谐社会的建构是至关重要的。本文将就募捐的法律性质、募捐的现有规范及募捐现存的问题作一初步探讨,以期对我国募捐法案的出台有所裨益。     

Expressions of Culture in American Indian/Alaska Native Tribal Child Welfare Work: A Qualitative Meta-Synthesis

This qualitative meta-synthesis of materials from three national projects that had examined more than 75 American Indian/Alaska Native child welfare programs sought to articulate how culture is expressed within tribal child protective services (CPS)work and to uncover whether there are cultural elements of tribal child welfare practice that are distinct from practice in non-tribal settings. Through the meta-synthesis, a framework emerged outlining a cultural approach to practice that incorporates: (a) a culturally-distinct definition of Native child well-being; (b) tribal values that form a foundation for practice; (c) practice intentions linking child protection with cultural and community health; and (d) two specialized worker skills.     

Kinship Guardianship,Adoption, and Foster Care: Outcomes from a U.S. National Sample

Using data from a national longitudinal survey of children referred to child protective services (NSCAW II), this article compares behavioral, child/caregiver relationship, and school performance outcomes for children residing in kinship and nonkinship settings. Up to three waves of data were gathered for each child. The analysis sample comprises 4,202 children and 10,881 observations. Two sets of regressions were completed. One represents family living settings using child-mean centered predictors while the other does so with dummy-coded variables. An advantage of the child-mean centered predictors is that omitted variables that vary between children but that are constant within each child do not introduce bias. The regressions using dummy-coded variables evidenced, on balance, somewhat better outcomes for kinship settings than for nonkinship ones. Good outcomes in these regressions were found for kinship adoption. Results with the child-mean centered regressions were more equivocal, though perhaps still favored kinship settings. Limitations and policy recommendations conclude the article.     

Detached,Hostile, Adaptable and Liberalising: The Chameleon Qualities of the UK's Relationship with EU Social Policy

In this article, we review the EU's significance for social policies in the UK. The EU has a limited legal role or institutional capacity to directly regulate the social policies of its member states. This role is even more limited in the case of non‐eurozone countries. There are a handful of EU policy measures which have had effects on social policy in the UK. However, these effects have not changed the institutional arrangements for making, organising and delivering social policy, which remain firmly in the hands of UK governments. In consequence, a ‘Leave’ or ‘Remain’ result has relatively limited implications for social policy, except in the case of specific social groups: notably for UK and other EU nationals who have lived and worked in at least one other EU country. Other EU legislation and regulation is compatible with the current and historical policy preferences of UK governments and political parties.     

Choosing the path of austerity: how parties and policy coalitions influence welfare state retrenchment in periods of fiscal consolidation

What are the conditions under which some austerity programmes rely on substantial cuts to social spending? More specifically, do the partisan complexion and the type of government condition the extent to which austerity policies imply welfare state retrenchment? This article demonstrates that large budget consolidations tend to be associated with welfare state retrenchment. The findings support a partisan and a politico-institutionalist argument: (i) in periods of fiscal consolidation, welfare state retrenchment tends to be more pronounced under left-wing governments; (ii) since welfare state retrenchment is electorally and politically risky, it also tends to be more pronounced when pursued by a broad pro-reform coalition government. Therefore, the article shows that during budget consolidations implemented by left-wing broad coalition governments, welfare state retrenchment is greatest. Using long-run multipliers from autoregressive distributed lag models on 17 OECD countries during the 1982–2009 period, substantial support is found for these expectations.     

Devine intervention? Lessons in systemic retrenchment from Canada’s most generous welfare state

This article tackles the importance of systemic retrenchment in welfare state research by focusing on two core elements neglected in the literature: the civil service and governmental revenues. Saskatchewan has possessed key ingredients associated with generous welfare states: a dominant left-wing party, a supportive bureaucracy and important non-visible fiscal revenues. According to the comparative welfare state literature, this is also an excellent recipe for maintaining a generous welfare state amid attempts, primarily by right-wing governments, to scale it back. Yet, most social indicators in the post-Devine years demonstrate that Saskatchewan can no longer be considered a leading welfare state in Canada. Reforms to the bureaucracy and a host of financial measures resulting in a near default explain why the Devine government was successful in its efforts to disrupt the CCF/NDP social legacy despite the fact that the NDP regained power for 16 years afterwards.     

The Santa Clara County Greenbook Story: From Theory to Transformation

This article is an overview of the past 20 years, from a judicial perspective, of how a discreet selection of Greenbook recommendations were implemented in Santa Clara County, California. This historical overview shows that it is possible to take a guidebook written by national experts from many jurisdictions and tailor the intervention to a particular location with the assistance of local leadership. We applied a theoretical framework to government agency interventions and to the very real needs of families, and that process resulted in a profound transformation of practice.