The coordinate plane of global governance

The ‘coordinate plane of global governance’ developed in this paper describes the trade-off between static gains and dynamic losses associated with international policy harmonization. A simple model illustrates how potential gains result from producing positive international spill-overs, whereas potential losses come from restricted systems competition between national policy regimes. The solution to this model allows identifying the cut-off level between policies suitable for global harmonization and policies which should better not be centralized. An application of the concept to selected policy fields illustrates its relevance for decision-making on global governance.

Strategy of Chinese policy entrepreneurs in the third sector: challenges of “Technical Infeasibility”

Studies of policy entrepreneurs have become a staple of public policy research. Very few such studies deal with the circumstances of China. This paper aims to remedy this oversight by exploring the mechanisms of policy change in China. Using John Kingdon’s Multiple Streams (MS) Model, the author develops the “Technical Infeasibility Model.” The paper tests the MS model’s applicability to China by examining strategies put forth by Chinese policy entrepreneurs in the third sector. It considers how they may successfully promote change by using a strategy of proposing a relatively radical policy concept that is politically acceptable and technically infeasible to policy makers. To illustrate such a strategy, this paper considers a case of policy change involving Chinese urban vagrants. The policy on “Detention and Repatriation,” which was first implemented in 1982, was challenged following the Sun Zhigang Incident in March 2003. Shortly thereafter law scholars filed two suggestion letters to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee calling for a constitutionality review of the Detention and Repatriation System. Though it was “technically infeasible” to air such a proposal in China at that time, the State Council initiated action to abolish certain provisions of the Detention and Repatriation System. However, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee did not conduct a constitutionality review.

The use and non-use of policy appraisal tools in public policy making: an analysis of three European countries and the European Union

The increasing complexity of policy problems, coupled with the political desire to base new policies on the foundation of firm evidence, has accelerated the development of policy assessment tools. These range from complex computer models and cost benefit analysis through simple checklists and decision trees. In the last decade, many governments have established formal policy assessment systems to harness these tools in order to facilitate more evidence-based policy making. These tools are potentially widely available, but to what extent are they used by policy makers and what becomes of the evidence that they generate? This paper addresses these questions by studying the empirical patterns of tool use across 37 cases in three European countries and the European Commission. It uses a simple classification of tools into advanced, formal and simple types. It finds that even when tools are embedded in policy assessment systems, their use is differentiated and on the whole very limited, in particular when it comes to more advanced tools. It then explores these patterns from contrasting theoretical perspectives to shed light on why, when and how different policy assessment tools are used in the policy process.     

美国国会对中美关系的影响

中美关系是一对重要的大国关系,但是中美关系的发展一直跌宕起伏,不太顺利.究其原因,美国国会在对华政策方面的作用是重要的,在阻碍中美关系发展的诸多问题上起了推波助澜的作用.其间,两党间的斗争、国会与总统的权力较量、利益集团的活动,以及意识形态上的分歧,都是影响国会立场的重要因素.布什政府的对华政策尚处在调整阶段,除不可避免地继续受到来自国会方面的牵制外,还有其他多种因素的制约.因此虽然总体表现较为强硬,但不会与克林顿政府的对华政策轨迹有质的偏离.     

公共政策创新的因素分析——以《上海市政府信息公开规定》为例

随着施政的生态环境加速变迁,政府必须以创新公共政策的方式予以应对。但政府创新公共政策的内在因素是什么呢?已有的文献不仅局限于美国的政策生态,而且以计量方式考察经济、政治和社会因素,忽视了其中大量难以计量以及需要整合考察的因素。在一个融合条件(资源和要素、政治架构、现有制度和政策及社会文化)和机制(学习机制、决策机制、执行机制、激励机制和评价机制)的综合模型指导下,以分析性叙事的方法,具体考察上海市创新政府信息公开制度的内在因素。分析案例表明,尽管上海在条件和机制上都非常充分的情况下,也还必须融合各种条件和机制才能解释创新的出现及其有效运行。     

Erzählungen des Kindes‐ und Erwachsenenschutzes: Eine Anwendung und Erweiterung des Narrative Policy Frameworks

The Child and Adult Protection Authorities (KESB) have been the subject of controversial discussion since their establishment in 2013. The reform of the Guardianship Law provided for an institutional shift away from local guardianship authorities to regional specialist authorities. This article uses the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) to examine the history of today’s controversy, simultaneously proposing an analytic strengthening of said framework. Previous NPF studies summarize policy actors into opponents and proponents. As a result, we do not know whether different actors use different narratives. We therefore separate the expert from the MP discourse. The analysis shows that the experts' arguments for a new institutional arrangement and a person‐oriented narrative dominated, which put the fundamental rights of the persons affected by guardianship measures up front. The study contributes to the understanding of the current controversy, in which a person‐oriented narrative seems to be dominant again, directed against the new authorities.     

Environmental Stressors and Food Security in China

This article considers the immediate forces influencing China’s food system and food security. By immediate is meant events of the reform period, from the late 1970s to 2008. It begins by asking the question that has preoccupied specialists since the publication of Lester Brown’s Who Will Feed China? in 1995: How much arable land does China have? Is that land area sufficient to insure grain sufficiency? To insure food security? The article focuses on the human pressures on the food production environment, and then treats the effects of socioeconomic change: land, air, and water degradation. The core of the article examines six responses of the state to both perceived and actual environmental stressors: policy restricting arable land conversion, China’s one-child policy, investment in irrigation systems, the South–North Water Diversion Project, large-scale afforestation and reforestation campaigns, and the program to convert marginal agricultural lands to forests and grasslands.     

马英九“软实力”思想评析

在马英九以大陆为主要对象的“国家安全政策”中,“软实力”是一个十分重要的概念。他企图以政治价值观的漫洇,推动大陆民主化;以文化、教育理念的扩散,输出价值观;以“活路外交”塑造“民主台湾”、“文化台湾”的形象,最终达到对大陆实施“软制约”、“软制衡”的目标。虽然,由于岛内外种种原因的限制,马英九的“软实力”思想尚未对大陆产生明显的影响力,但这一切是在“没有硝烟的战场”上实施的,应引起我们足够的重视。     

第一代独生子女婚姻生育选择及对未来人口和家庭结构的影响——兼与庄渝霞商榷生育政策调整的可行性

随着第一代独生子女进入婚育年龄,产生大量的双独家庭、单独家庭,不同家庭类型的变化将引起政策生育率自然回升,如果考虑到有部分家庭放弃生育二孩,则意愿生育率会低于政策生育率。本文从独生子女婚育选择的角度出发,使用相关调查数据分析,发现由双独家庭所产生"4-2-1"家庭的数目受政策微调生育的影响较小,政策微调可以大幅度降低一孩家庭的比例,二孩家庭比例的增加无疑会降低家庭风险,且不会大规模地增加出生人口数量,因此,中国应当对生育政策进行微调,增强人口结构的合理性。     

青年的政策觉识与支持老年父母的关系:一项香港与上海的比较研究

这项研究探讨香港与上海两地青年的公共政策或社会责任、子孙或家庭责任、个人责任的觉识对其照顾、接纳和承担照顾父母的意愿的效应.研究结果显示:(1)对政府或社会的养老政策责任的觉识愈高者则照顾父母的意愿明显地愈高;然而,对老年人的自立生活具愈高的觉识者,其照顾父母的意愿却愈低;(2)对倡导尊敬老年人的觉识愈高和对老年人的自立生活的觉识愈低者,其接纳照顾父母的意愿愈高;(3)对政府责任的觉识愈高者和对个人责任的觉识愈低者,其承担照顾父母的意愿愈高.文章同时就倡导两地照顾或供养父母的政策启示进行讨论.