Revitalizing Local Government Performance Management: Further Dissecting the Role of Socioeconomic Status and Social Mobilization Policy

ABSTRACT

This article examines how socio-economic status and social mobilisation are linked to local government performance management in Nepal. As part of local government reform, Nepal adopted a social mobilisation policy in selected local governments to empower communities for their effective participation. Our results show that socio-economic status and social mobilisation have a significant relationship with performance management. Female literacy, for example, is strongly and significantly associated with performance management, while area has a significant positive relationship but population has only a weak positive relationship. In contrast, poverty has a significant negative correlation. More importantly, mobilisation has a significant, though modest, positive association with performance management particularly in participatory planning and budgeting, fiscal discipline, and administrative management. This indicates that improving the socio-economic status of citizens and their mobilisation for empowered collective action can be one important strategy to improve the performance capacity of local government.     

The Downside of Patriarchal Benevolence: Ambivalence in Addressing Domestic Violence and Socio-Economic Considerations for Women of Tamil Nadu,India

Social values and status cause diverse obstacles for escaping abuse (e.g., belief in the sanctity of marriage vs. financial necessity to stay for survival). India provides a unique opportunity to explore the interplay of status and corresponding patriarchal values in relation to the incidence of domestic violence and how it is viewed, coped with, and psychologically impacting native women. Sixty-four women of Tamil Nadu, India were surveyed. Women of higher status were found to be less likely to acknowledge abuse as a societal problem, accurately identify abuse events, and seek help or report abuse. Women who had more realistic conceptions of abuse were more likely to seek help but also likely to experience more severe psychological distress. All of the women surveyed had symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder that were exacerbated by unsuspected variables. The implications of these findings are discussed in light of public health strategies.     

Hands-on Killing of Intimate Partners as a Function of Sex and Relationship Status/State

Guided by evolutionary psychology and a situational perspective on violence, we generated three hypotheses to investigate whether the percentage of intimate partner homicides by beating, a hands-on homicide method, varies with the victim-offender relationship. We tested these hypotheses with a national database that includes incident-level information on over 50,000 intimate partner homicides. Results indicate that: (1) men are more likely than women to kill a partner by beating, and (2) men are more likely to kill their partners by beating when the relationship is dating or non-marital cohabiting (versus legal marriage). We argue that the lack of commitment in these non-marital relationships may produce greater jealousy in men, driving the perpetrator to kill his victim in a more violent manner (i.e., beating), relative to men who kill their wives.     

身份犯的处罚根据论

身份犯的处罚根据问题是身份犯理论研究的基础性范畴,它直接决定了身份犯具体问题的展开。发端于大陆法系刑法中的"义务违反说"、"法益侵害说"以及建立在二者基础之上的"综合说"都不能圆满地说明身份犯的处罚根据;我国学者关于此问题的个别看法也不无纰漏。以"身份法益侵害说"作为身份犯的处罚根据,则是一种合理的选择。     

论禁止二重监督

作为完法确定的法律监督机关,人民检察院有权为了保护公共利益而对包括强制执行程序在内的诉讼活动进行监督。“禁止二重监督”理论是明确检察机关参与民事诉讼的应有方式和地位的理论依据。根据“禁止二重监督”理论,检察机关参加民事诉讼的法律地位是唯一的,要么是当事人（原告或被告）,要么是法律监督者;检察机关处于不同的法律地位时,享有不同的权利义务。在诉讼阶段,检察机关可以作为当事人提起公益诉讼或再审之诉,也可以以监督者身份参与诉讼;在执行阶段,检察机关可以作为申请执行人也可以对执行机构的裁决提出抗诉。     

当代中国老年人法律地位论

《宪法》、《老年法》及多种相关法律法规,充分肯定了以老年人合法权益为核心的老年人法律地位。应充分保障老年人法律地位。目前,社会上时隐时现的所谓老年人"累赘"、"包袱"论、"离退休人员是靠在职人员养活"论等言论有损老年人法律地位,不符合事实与情理。     

试论动物法律主体地位之否定

1990年的《德国民法典》增添了“动物不是物”一语,从而引发了有关动物民事法律地位的讨论。生态伦理学的非人类中心论者将人之间的伦理关系扩展到人与动物之间,主张给予动物以法律主体地位。部分民法学者则结合民事主体法的扩展史得出了可以赋予动物以法律主体地位的结论。但事实上,动物并不符合伦理主体的要求。法律只能是人的法律,无法给动物提供法律主体地位。动物不可能成为民事法律主体,只能成为民事法律的客体。     

论我国公立高等学校承担民事责任的模式

我国公立高等学校应当被定位为公务法人;公立高校从事教学科研活动所产生的债务,应当由高校用其使用的国有资产偿还;在公立高等学校用其使用的国有资产不能清偿因从事教学科研活动所产生的到期债务时,这部分债务应有开办公立高校的政府负责偿还。     

中国破产法理论研究的现实状况与未来路向

尽管缺乏历史传统和深厚的理论积淀,但在与破产法立法的良性互动中,通过汲取发达国家的破产法理论的有机养分,中国破产法理论研究仍得以快速发展。目前,中国破产法理论研究已形成了相当的规模,并取得了突出的成效,但也存在"浮萍化"、"集合式"的不足。未来中国破产法理论研究应当以建立成熟的开放式的破产法学科体系为终极目标,在最近的几年内则应着力解决破产法实施中的突出问题。     

论业主团体法律地位的确立

作为一种组织或者机构,业主团体在我国是一个实质存在而形式缺失的概念。只有承认业主团体的法律地位,才能解决业主委员会目前存在的没有实体可以依托的问题,并理顺业主团体与业主大会和业主委员会之间的关系。我们应当在立法上承认符合条件的业主团体的法人地位和民事主体资格,同时,明确业主团体内部组织的性质和法律地位,明确业主团体内部组织的相互关系和治理结构,以进一步完善我国物业法律制度。