Anomalous authoritarianism: what,which, why?

Research on autocracies has gained new momentum in the last decade. One element of this research is the observation that some autocracies are characterised by structural conditions that are normally conducive for democracy. These ‘anomalous autocracies’ have high levels of socioeconomic development and democratic neighbour countries. The study of these cases might expose factors that are decisive for autocratic stability and studying them might give us a better understanding of barriers towards democratisation. This paper contributes to the growing literature on autocracies by mapping anomalous autocracies during the third wave of democratisation, thereby paving the way for systematic case selection in future studies. A large-N analysis of 159 cases (1975–2008) identifies Belarus, Chile, China, Cuba, Morocco, North Korea, Peru, Singapore, Swaziland, Togo and Zimbabwe. In a second step, the paper lays out a theoretical framework that centres on actors and institutions. Rulers must establish elite–elite and elite–mass interaction, and this papers argues that they can do so through quasi-compliance of elites and the masses based on traditional institutions woven into a dominant party. The paper uses the framework to tentatively examine the resilience of authoritarian rule in Swaziland and Morocco, two most-different anomalous cases. In both cases, an elaborate traditional institution has co-opted government, business and rural elites and coordinated interaction within elite circles and with the masses, in turn enabling the remarkable regime resilience.     

地方治理在中国的适用性及其限度——以宁波市海曙区政府购买居家养老政策为例

治理理论被引入中国以来,一方面被学术界寄予厚望,另一方面关于治理在中国的适用性又受到很多质疑.治理及地方治理是为了克服各种不可治理性而进行的国家(政府)与社会关系的调整过程和趋势.宁波市海曙区政府购买居家养老服务的政策过程表明,地方政府的职能转变需要管理创新.循于此,作为工具的地方治理就可能在中国出现并取得局部的良好效果,而且可能为地方治理机制的成长准备社会条件.但对地方治理机制的成长最有决定性的因素仍然在于政府,政府职能的转变可能会创造出对地方治理发展有利的条件.在中国未来治理机制形成和运行过程中,政府将是最有力的保障或最严重的障碍.而在地方,治理的发展空间是存在的.因此,应将地方治理作为政府职能转化过程中的管理创新思路,逐渐发展出针对地方公共事务的地方治理机制.     

浅谈高校图书馆人员的思想素质和工作能力

新时期图书馆工作人员必须具有较高的思想素质和工作能力,才能适应现代化的要求.     

在市场经济条件下进一步 做优做强工会企事业的几点思考

工会企事业是工运事业的重要组成部分。办好工会企事业对于提升工会组织的履职能力和服务能力,扩大工会组织的社会影响力,增强工会组织的号召力和凝聚力,有着极为重要的作用。多年来,各级工会组织高度重视企事业建设与发展,经过持续努力,逐步形成了具有工会特色、适应职工群众需求的工会企事业体系,在工会工作中发挥出积极的作用。     

The paradoxes of the ‘everyday’: scrutinising the local turn in peace building

With the advent of the local turn in the mid-2000s, critical approaches have attempted to rethink peace building from the bottom up, placing local agents at the centre of the debate, declaring the end of top-down governance and affirming the fragmented, complex and plural nature of the social milieu. While local turn approaches have become popular in peace-building theory, this article invites the reader to question and problematise the local turn’s use of the concept of ‘everyday’, in order to explore paradoxes and contradictions that indicate the need to think more deeply about the impact of the local turn’s project of critique.     

Balance Between Local Economic Development and Environmental Sustainability: A Multi-level Governance Perspective

This study seeks to explain why U.S. local governments utilize environmental sustainability to promote economic development. Economic development and environmental protection need not be competing objectives, but rather, environmental protection can enhance local economic competitiveness. Using data from the ICMA Economic Development Survey, this study tests an empirical model that includes state sustainability initiatives, participation in climate protection networks, and political attitudes toward economic development as predictors of local policy decisions. The findings reinforce a multi-level governance perspective on explaining the balance cities seek to achieve between environmental protection and economic growth.     

法治视角的社会信用之构建刍议

社会信用是个人信用、企业的信用和政府信用的有机结合.其中,个人信用是社会信用的基础,企业信用是社会信用的主体,政府信用是社会信用的关键.社会信用缺失不独为个人信用和企业信用的缺失,政府信用缺失及其示范效应更为强烈.尽管个中缘由复杂,但法制及其整合功能的缺失无疑是问题的关键所在.因此,在法治视角下我们应以强化政府信用为重点,以确认和保护个人和企业的信用权为基础,以法治的功能性整合来构建我国的社会信用体系,实现社会信用的良性增长.     

浅谈基层医疗机构职代会职权行使保障机制建设

在实践中,基层医疗机构职代会职权行使往往流于形式,职代会组织不能有效发挥其应有作用。分析原因,由于基层医疗机构具有明显区别于其他事业单位的行业特殊性,单位领导尤其是一把手对职代会作用的认识程度、重视程度、支持力度,对职代会职权行使产生重要影响,因而应建立包括学习培训制度、目标考核制度、督导调研制度、集体研究会议决定制度、权力监督约束制度在内的职代会职权行使保障机制,确保职代会作用的有效发挥。     

A Pretext for Regression? The Gendered Institutional Response to COVID-19 in the Country of Football

This article considers the gendered institutional response to COVID-19 in Brazilian football. It is argued that the asymmetries of power which shaped policy are rooted in the historical marginalisation of women's sports in the country along with socially constructed notions of hegemonic masculinity. The COVID-19 pandemic has served to accentuate deeply embedded social and economic inequalities and may serve as a pretext for eroding precarious gains made in recent times.     

The unseen hands: Collaborative instrumental leadership in the British renegotiation case

The article contends that an important but overlooked explanation for the European Union's resilience in the past decade in the face of several existential crises has been the informal instrumental leadership roles played by EU institutional actors collaborating with each other. In this article, a theoretical framework is developed that can explain why EU governments, facing a crisis, would choose to informally delegate leadership tasks to a set of EU institutional actors. A three-part mechanism of collaborative instrumental leadership provided by institutions is devised that explains why governments informally delegate leadership tasks to EU institutions, and the effects of this informal delegation. The core of the article is a process-tracing case study that explores how collaborative instrumental leadership actually works. The case selected is the British renegotiation of their terms of membership in 2015–2016. While the case has become more-or-less forgotten because the shock ‘no’ vote in the June 2016 Brexit referendum made its terms moot, the deal included quite exceptional reform proposals in which the EU bent over backwards to accommodate the United Kingdom, perhaps even going beyond the bounds of the EU Treaties themselves in the issue of immigration. Given this, analysing how collaborative instrumental leadership supplied by institutions contributed to producing the ambitious deal can shed light on the processes whereby intractable problems in the EU have been solved in the past decade.