Italian Utilities and Public Control: Evidence of Merger Effects

ABSTRACT

Increasing competition-induced mergers amongst public utilities may favour in Italy a reduction in public control and an increase in fair value accounting. In this context, conducting a multiple case study characterized by an innovative comprehensive approach, it is investigated how the peculiarities of the sector affect integration and the subsequent accounting representation of the post-merger entity. The findings show, firstly, the persistent will of the public shareholders to maintain control and, secondly, shed light on a form of interconnected ‘accounting levelling out’ that seems ill-suited to represent the economic reality of the most significant post-merger companies, despite New Public Management provisions.     

GCC-US Alliance-Making Reconsidered: The Travails of Dependency

ABSTRACT

Donald Trump’s presidency may have altered less in relations between the United States and the Gulf Cooperation Council than recent accounts suggest. Instead, power relations between the US and its Gulf allies have long been, and continue to be, asymmetrical. Dependency theory and postcolonial analysis illustrate the ways in which the US global hegemon exhibits hierarchy, exerting control over Gulf economic resources (oil) and extending its ‘security umbrella’ (e.g. weapons sales and bases) – all in highly unequal dynamics. A critical discourse analysis of American and Saudi speeches during the 2017 Riyadh summit further confirms this assessment. This raises questions about alliance-making and alliance-maintenance norms of promise-keeping and reciprocity.     

保障农民工培训政策实施效果的路径探析

保障农民工培训政策实施效果是贯彻国家相关政策精神,实现政策预期目标的根本途径。为有效保障和提升农民工培训政策的实施效果,要优化政策体系,确保农民工培训政策的适用性;加强政策宣传,促进各利益主体对农民工培训政策的认知与行为选择;创新激励机制,增强农民工培训政策实施的实效性;加强过程监督,保障农民工培训政策实施的时效性;完善政策评估体系,准确评估农民工培训政策的实施过程与效果。     

Confidence in an election authority and satisfaction with democracy: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment of a failed election in Sweden

Contemporary research on electoral integrity has focused on the functioning, evaluation, and legitimacy of electoral processes in emerging democracies. By contrast, this study investigates whether a failed election in a well-established democracy can affect individuals' evaluations of the electoral management body, the Election Authority, and whether those evaluations affect satisfaction with democracy. Using the case of a Swedish regional election in 2010 that had to be rerun due to procedural mistakes in the vote handling, we found that, in the short term, individuals’ confidence in the Election Authority was reduced after it was announced that the election had to be rerun because of the mistakes. Subsequently, this decreased confidence was strongly associated with less satisfaction with democracy at the regional and national level. As good news for the authority, after a successful rerun election, confidence rebounded to the levels prior to the failed election.     

A land full of opportunities? Agrarian frontiers,policy narratives and the political economy of peace in Colombia

Abstract

In many post-war countries, the relative security brought to rural areas is construed by government officials and business actors as an opportunity for development. This is particularly true for marginal areas, where opportunities for economic development had previously been hindered by the threat of violence. This provides a favourable context for the construction of commodity frontiers. Through the case of Colombia, I show that one of the main challenges faced by frontier policy narratives amounts to differentiating wartime dispossession from peacetime legitimate accumulation. This poses intractable challenges to policymakers and business actors, as it fuels the contradictions between peace consolidation and post-war development.     

The Weakness of Strong (and Weak) Ties: Obtaining a Government Job

ABSTRACT

Between merit principles and social contacts, how they facilitate individuals to obtain a government job in the United States remains unsettled. Based on a survey administered via Amazon Mturk, this study finds that merit-based selection constitutes the most significant means to obtain public jobs, particularly so in state and local governments despite of sizeable respondents claiming other venues. The use of social contacts, including both strong and weak ties, shows little advantage on obtaining public employment but proves significant in private organizations. Controlling individuals’ previous job obtaining experience, the study contends that variations on job obtaining methods can be reasonably attributable to institutional distinctiveness that features different rules, procedures and regulations. Merit principles are kept alive in governments, though challenges persist, particularly so in federal government. The study ends up with a discussion of research findings and their implications in HR practices.     

禁食野生动物的刑法规制与教义阐释——以《刑法修正案(十一)》第四十一条为中心

《中华人民共和国刑法修正案(十一)》增设了针对陆生野生动物以食用为目的的危害行为的法律规制,在原有罪名基础上进一步拓展了野生动物刑法保护的外延。这一立法条款修订与疫情防控的社会背景相关,体现了积极主义刑法观回应社会现实的功能。此次刑法修正案对野生动物的立法完善不仅是尊重动物伦理生命权的体现,而且深层次地涉及公共卫生安全的法益考量,是弱人类中心主义在刑事立法领域的生动展现。野生动物的刑事法律规制并未采用全面保护的立场,这一保护的有限性是刑法作为保障法的地位所决定的,这也决定了在野生动物保护的法律规则体系中,需要审慎辨析刑法与行政法律规范之间的关系。在具体适用时应当结合此次修正案的条文设置进行教义分析,合理把握具体要件的内涵与彼此之间的逻辑关系,防范以保护之名而随意逾越刑法边界。     

Adopt or Not and Innovation Variation: A Dynamic Comparison Study of Policy Innovation and Diffusion Mechanisms

Abstract

Policy innovation and diffusion literature mainly focuses on the decision to adopt a new policy, while ignoring the differences among new policies. This study divides the decision-making process of policy innovation diffusion into two phases: in the “innovate or not” phase, governments make the decision to adopt or reject the new policy, while “how to innovate” is the process by which governments formulate specific content for the new policy. A dynamic comparative analysis finds that effects of internal determinants and diffusion mechanisms vary during these two phases and that internal determinants moderate the effects of diffusion mechanisms.     

美好生活的社会保护水准:社会政策体系中基本生活需要标准的建构

基本生活需要保障是我国不断满足人民美好生活需要的基础。构建基本生活需要标准,关键在于瞄准相对贫困目标、构建福利认证标准和消除社会排斥状态。基于人类需要理论和国外基本需要战略等相关研究,应以民生保障、适度普惠、多维满足和防止伤害等为具体目标,建构起具有中国特色的基本生活需要标准。这一标准分为最低标准和适当标准两个层次,包括收入、医疗、教育、住房和照料五个维度的货币指标和非货币指标。以"美好生活"为核心的新时代社会政策体系要在全面性与协调性、主动性与精准性、适度性与发展性三个方向着力保障人民基本生活需要,从消除绝对贫困走向解决相对贫困。     

When are experiments corrupt?

ABSTRACT

Between 2010 and 2011, the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) funded a large-scale experiment on Kenyan schools. The policy experiment tested the effects of cutting teachers’ salaries and hiring them on short-term contracts, but the intervention failed after sustained opposition from teacher unions and parent associations. This article critically revisits the narrative of how this experiment was designed, implemented and interpreted, finding evidence that the experiment violated empirical logic. It examines whether the theory of neopatrimonialism can explain the ways in which vested interests may have undermined the empirical logic of the experiment. By doing so, the analysis tests the explanatory utility of neopatrimonialism, and casts light on the conditions under which policy experiments in Africa may be anti-empirical.