中国行政体制改革的进展及其重点

当前中国的行政体制改革,在推进行政审批制度改革、商事制度改革、政务公开、政府重大决策科学化民主化和法治化、政府工作的第三方评估和社会评价、公正有效地提供公共产品和公共服务、地方政府的权力和责任清单制度改革、公车制度改革、公务员职务与职级并行制度改革、贯彻中央八项规定深入反腐倡廉等十个方面,取得了显著进展。推及未来“,十三五”期间的中国行政体制改革将重点围绕推动简政放权、放管结合、优化服务改革向纵深发展,大力推行“互联网+政务服务”、推进政府信息化建设,推进大部制改革、优化行政层级和行政区划设置,推进事业单位制度改革,加快和加大力度建设“四个政府”,推进政府廉洁履职和反腐败斗争,坚决处理为官不为、克服庸政懒政怠政,推进国家治理体系现代化,提升国家治理能力,加快各项行政制度的更加成熟定型等十个任务展开。     

论税权二元结构及其价值逻辑

目前学界关于税权概念存在着一些争拗,而税收债权论和社会契约论的引入和运用,有助于对税权内涵及其本质的深层解构。显然,税权作为国家税权力与纳税人税权利的统摄,并非仅仅是一种语义上的概括,而是税权力与税权利互为债权债务关系表里的必然,其主体不仅包括行使税权力的国家,还包括授权国家行使税权力的纳税人,而且始终以保障纳税人权利的良好实现为依归。本文试图运用税收债权债务论和社会契约论来分析税权的概念和内涵,澄清税权的外观结构与内在本质,进而揭示宪政语境下税权结构生成的价值逻辑。     

规则、权力与行动:韦伯经典科层制模型的三大假设及其内在张力

从韦伯构建社会理论的内在逻辑规则-权力-行动的分析框架上来看,其所设计的以高效率运行为目标的经典科层制模型蕴含着三大基本假设:即完全理性假设、一元制权力支配假设和中立人行动假设。无论从科层制模型的内在逻辑上来分析,还是从哥伦比亚学派和法国组织社会学学派翔实的实证研究上来探讨,科层制理论所蕴含的基本假设内含着三大张力:(1)理性规则的刚性与行动的自主性之间的张力;(2)正式权力的僵化性与行动的策略性之间的张力;(3)单一行动与多元行动之间的张力。这三大张力在现实的科层组织运行中形成了三大削平机制,实现了科层组织的动态平衡与持续发展,从而一方面祛除了科层制理性神话之魅,一方面破灭了极端批判者科层制消亡论的谶言。中国作为官僚制的故乡,西方的理论分析和实证研究为我们认识、理解并发展中国式科层制模式提供了基础与参照。     

The Revolution and its Discontents: Grenadian Newspapers and Attempts to Shape Public Opinion during Political Transition

Abstract

What role did the newspaper play in attempting to influence public opinion in the early stages of the Grenada Revolution and what are the terms in which printed discourses on the revolution were conceptualised? The Grenada Revolution was a discursive political process where branding and narration were necessary elements in securing the revolution’s authority and legitimacy. This paper argues that Cuba functioned as a metonym through which the revolution was translated in Grenadian periodicals. Even before the coup of 13 March 1979 Grenadian media represented the New Jewel Movement—the revolutionary party—as Cuban-inspired and socialist. In order to examine how socialism in general, and the socialist character of the People’s Revolutionary Government (PRG) in particular, was narrated, a comparison is staged between two newspapers—the government-run Free West Indian and the privately owned The Torchlight. Competing discourses on Cuban communism are analysed for the ways in which they stood-in for the Grenadian people’s hopes, aspirations and anxieties in the midst of radical political change. Issues including race, gender equality, property ownership, freedom of religious practice and freedom of travel are examined in relation to capitalism and socialism, and the PRG’s efforts to maintain narrative authority of the revolution.     

The Pacific and the Global economy

Abstract

This paper asks: ‘is ASEAN powerful?’ The argument is made that there is a divide over this question between two broad groups of scholars who are referred to as ‘neo-realists’ (including realists) and ‘constructivists’. Focusing attention on this question is useful because it helps to bring into view three, not always explicit, points of argument between constructivists and neo-realists in their assessments of ASEAN. First, the two groups draw different empirically based conclusions about ASEAN's efficacy in East Asian affairs. Neo-realists are generally sceptical about the Association's role in the region because they view it, along with multilateral organizations more generally, as peripheral to great power politicking, what they see as the real stuff and substance of international affairs. A second, conceptual, point of argument is over understandings of power. For neo-realists, power is frequently used interchangeably with force and coercion. Scholars influenced by social constructivist ideas offer a challenge to this equation of power and dominance on the grounds that power is neither necessarily negative-sum nor limited to conflictual situations. Third, we suggest that closely related arguments are marshalled by both sides in debates over ASEAN's future role and organizational structure. Neo-realists argue that a shift to a more rules-based institutional form is in order, while constructivists place their emphasis on identity building.     

The Sacred,Social Creativity and the State

Abstract

This paper explores the specific contribution of a strand of contemporary French social theory founded by Cornelius Castoriadis and Claude Lefort to the under standing of human power. It formulates a conception of power that transcends its definitions in terms of physical coercion or institutionalised violence to reveal the way power is creative and institutes the social. Its reflection on the cultural nature of political power and it role in society is shown to extend the pioneering reflection of Durkheim's sociology, especially as regards the homology that exists between religion and politics. The social role performed by the state explored by Durkheim prefigures Gauchet's theory of the state, which builds on Lefort's work. Gauchet's theory can be said to elaborate a critical synthesis of the two stands of Durkheim's work: the sociology of religion and the sociology of the modern state. This synthesis raises questions on the role played by the European state in the development of individualism, in both its political and economic manifestations.     

The New Neighborhood Policy of the EU: An Appropriate Response to the Arab Spring?

This article analyzes the extent, substance, and underlying objectives of the European Union's (EU) new neighborhood policy in response to the Arab Spring. It questions whether the new policy approach constitutes a major policy shift or is just “old wine in new wineskins.” The article discusses the causes for much continuity and limited change in the new policy from a neo-institutionalist perspective. It concludes that both continuity and change primarily result from constraints inherent to the EU. In particular, the interaction between the Commission and the Council shapes a policy that corresponds with the normative aspirations and realist interests of the EU but hardly with the needs and expectations of the partner states.     

韩国文化外交：路径与启示

韩国文化外交是其软实力的重要来源和体现。韩国文化外交卓有成效,其路径主要有政府、企业和社会组织三个方面。韩国文化外交的启示在于：经济现代化是文化外交的物质保障;政治民主化是文化外交的制度保障;完善的社会建设是文化外交可持续发展的内生力;明确的文化产业政策是文化外交的直接推动力。     

Changes in surveillance of regulatory enforcement progragrammes in Singapore

In recent years Myanmar underwent drastic political changes. While many see these changes as first tentative steps towards democratization, we argue that the current political transformation is not a deliberate process of liberalization, but a survival strategy of the military regime. Using arguments of the ‘new institutionalism’ as a theoretical foundation, this article explores the hypothesis that the high degree of professionalization of the Burmese military creates the incentive to institutionalize power-sharing among the ruling elite. Our empirical analysis finds evidence for both a highly professionalized military and institutions that by securing the military's continuing dominance serve the purpose of institutionalizing military power- sharing. These results imply that further democratization is unlikely as it must be initiated from within the still dominating military itself.