Establishing a Social-Darwinist Mentality in Japan’s Paternalist State: The Potential of Resistance by a Counter-Public

ABSTRACT

From a historical perspective, the welfare net in Japan was established from above without democratic participation and expanded only slowly. This expansion in many cases was aimed at enhancing national cohesion, especially during war time. During the current neoliberal era, Japan’s paternalistic welfare state has been able to put into practice the dismantling of national pension and health-care systems without the need for any theoretical re-orientation. In response, counter-publics have engaged in protest and resistance. By doing so, the victims of modernization and those who are socially weak and disadvantaged in multiple ways are able to regain their self-esteem and personal integrity.     

Assessing the Relationship Between a Peer-Mentoring Program and Case Outcomes in Dependency Court

Building successful family-centered programs to support families whose children have been removed can be especially challenging to child welfare agencies. Peer-mentoring programs match families new to the dependency system with a mentor who has successfully reunified with their children. The current study examines the relationship between a peer-mentoring program, Parent for Parent (P4P), engagement levels of parents, and case outcomes for these families. Findings revealed that participants in the peer-mentoring program experienced increased engagement levels and improved outcomes for their cases. Specifically, mothers and fathers who participated in P4P increased their compliance with case plans and visitation, as well as increased presence at court hearings. Reunification rates increased for all families who participated in the peer-mentoring program, compared to those who did not. Few associations were found between racial and ethnic groups and program participation. The implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Social Media and E-professionalism in Child Welfare: Policy and Practice

The professional child welfare literature offers little guidance to child welfare managers and agency policy makers about the use of social media to search for or communicate with clients. Ethical social media use relies upon e-professionalism, defined as the professional identity established by workers through the way they utilize digital communications. This article offers considerations for standards of e-professionalism in child welfare policy and practice. Specific considerations are outlined for social media policy and practice scenarios are offered, which can be used to prompt agency discussions with child welfare workers.     

以两起案例为视角谈公民行政公益诉讼原告资格

一、案情简介 【案例1】沈某诉浙江省桐乡市国税局行政不作为案： 浙江省桐乡市沈某获悉该市某建材厂存在严重的偷逃税款行为．便署名向当地国税局举报,但过了三四个月也未见对此事查处的结果与回音．沈某遂起诉状告国税局行政不作为。2000年11月21日,桐乡市人民法院一纸裁定“被告桐乡市国税局是否履行税务稽查的行为,既未侵犯原告的利益,也未对原告的权利义务产生实际的影响”驳回沈某起诉。     

Public opinion towards welfare state reform: The role of political trust and government satisfaction

The traditional welfare state, which emerged as a response to industrialization, is not well equipped to address the challenges of today's post-industrial knowledge economies. Experts and policymakers have therefore called for welfare state readjustment towards a ‘social investment’ model (focusing on human skills and capabilities). Under what conditions are citizens willing to accept such future-oriented reforms? We point at the crucial but hitherto neglected role of citizens’ trust in and satisfaction with government. Trust and satisfaction matter because future-oriented reforms generate uncertainties, risks and costs, which trust and government satisfaction can attenuate. We offer micro-level causal evidence using experiments in a representative survey covering eight European countries and confirm these findings with European Social Survey data for 22 countries. We find that trust and government satisfaction increase reform support and moderate the effects of self-interest and ideological standpoints. These findings have crucial implications not least because they help explain why some countries manage – but others fail – to enact important reforms.     

Still a poster child for social investment? Changing regulatory dynamics of early childhood education and care in Denmark and Sweden

This paper investigates the regulation of publicly organized early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Denmark and Sweden, through the regulatory welfare state (RWS) framework. The analysis focuses on how alterations in funding and quality of care are shaped by governmental and nongovernmental actors at national and local levels of government. Through focused structured analysis, we examine how various actors have shaped the funding and quality of childcare in Denmark and Sweden, from the early 2000s to 2020, with special attention to the period during and after the 2008 financial crisis. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, concerns about quality in care were raised on the political agenda by various actors in both countries, leading to decisions to improve the quality of care. Yet, the regulatory dynamics differ: In Denmark, the debate led to a decision in 2019, to implement a minimum statutory requirement of regulatory quality standards. From an RWS perspective, this outcome can be qualified as “double expansion,” because regulatory quality standards, and public funding for childcare increased. In Sweden, the debates about quality of ECEC led, in 2016, to political guidelines about quality standard, but with no additional national funds, and no mandatory regulatory quality requirements. Analytically, this can be qualified as “regulatory-led expansion,” that is requirements for quality standards, although the lack of additional national funds suggests that it will be difficult to improve ECEC quality substantially. The RWS perspective, which focuses on national and municipal levels of governance, also gives insights into hidden inequalities between municipalities regarding funding and quality of ECEC, which are more pronounced in Sweden than in Denmark.     

浅议动物福利法

将动物福利理念渗透到相关动物保护的法律法规中,以更充分地保护动物的做法,已为世界大多数国家立法所吸纳。动物福利法是将动物视为与人类相对的一种鲜活的生命形式来加以保护的,而并非仅是一种可再生资源,认为动物有基本的生存欲望和丰富的情感世界,在其饲养的管理过程中,人类应依法充分保证动物生理和心理的双重自由,尽量减少人为因素对动物的不良影响和限制,最大限度的保证动物生活在符合其自然本性的状态下,平衡动物利用和动物保护间的关系。     

香港冲突法中的国际间儿童诱拐问题

1980年《国际诱拐儿童民事方面公约》为国际间儿童诱拐问题的解决提供了一个国际方法,该公约在1997年7月1日之后继续适用于香港,并经转化为香港法例第512章《掳拐和管养儿童条例》。对于海牙《国际诱拐儿童民事方面的公约》适用的案件,适用《掳拐和管养儿童条例》;而对于非公约调整的案件,则适用普通法规则。为了海牙《国际诱拐儿童民事方面公约》在香港得以更好地施行,香港法律改革委员会于2002年4月29日作出了《国际性的父母诱拐子女问题报告书》。2009年10月,政府当局对《国际性的父母诱拐子女问题报告书》作出回应。     

The Contradictory Political Economy of Higher Education in the United Kingdom

The Coalition government's first Comprehensive Spending Review will cut 40% from university budgets by 2014. This will result in an increasingly tension‐prone political economy of UK higher education. As it is, the sector already sits uncomfortably astride the two distinct welfare models currently in existence in Britain. As the fees agenda has taken hold, university degrees have been increasingly susceptible to being rebranded as a strategic investment in the future, thus acting as an exemplar for the move towards an asset‐based system of welfare. Despite this, even in the post‐Browne world students will still not be charged the full market price of delivering degree programmes. Higher education institutions therefore continue to be redistributive mechanisms providing long‐term welfare‐enhancing transfer payments to their overwhelmingly middle‐class student base. The budget cuts and the associated changes to student finance will bring into stark relief the contradictions of serving two welfare masters at once.