Building the Capacity of the Voluntary Nonprofit Sector: Challenges of Theory and Practice

Abstract

As voluntary and community organizations in the UK (VCOs) expand their role in the provision of public services, they are under increasing pressure from governmental funders to improve their management and organizational systems - to “build their capacity.” This paper considers the theoretical and practical challenges posed by the idea of “capacity building.” It also looks at the challenges for VCOs of meeting the capacity building agenda while simultaneously retaining organizational distinctiveness and independence. Action research is proposed as a means to meet the challenges.     

Myanmar's Electoral System: Reviewing the 2010 and 2012 Elections and Looking Ahead to the 2015 General Elections

Myanmar's 2010 multi-party election was the nation's first in two decades, signaling a manufactured transition from nearly half a century of military dictatorship toward parliamentary democracy. The current single-member district, plurality voting electoral system limits the parliamentary representation of smaller, ethnic political parties, and inflates the influence of larger, enfranchised parties, jeopardizing peaceful national reconciliation between various factions and the country's inchoate democratic institutions. Myanmar's Union Electoral Commission should consider electoral reforms that: (a) maximize proportional representation; (b) guarantee peace and political stability; and (c) guarantee a sufficient parliamentary majority that can govern the nascent democracy. The ideal system for the upcoming 2015 general elections is a Mixed-Member Proportional (MMP) one, with one parliamentary house electing ministers by plurality in regional districts and the other with proportional representation by party list. This paper considers alternative electoral systems in light of the status quo and argues that MMP would produce the most stable and representative results for all parties concerned.     

Leveson Past,Present and Future: The Politics of Press Regulation

As a result of the phone‐hacking scandal and evidence of other serious journalistic abuses by some newspapers, the government set up the Leveson Inquiry to hear evidence from victims and to make recommendations for a new and effective system of press regulation. Leveson's recommendations for independent self‐regulation overseen by a “recogniser” was seen as a moderate solution which would uphold the principle of an unfettered press while providing appropriate protection from unscrupulous or unethical press behaviour. After historic cross‐party agreement, Parliament passed a resolution accepting a Royal Charter which adopted the great majority of his recommendations. In response, Britain's main national newspapers have pursued a campaign of systematic misinformation and distortion, aimed at discrediting the inquiry, its supporters and the cross‐party Charter, while promoting a different system which would remain almost wholly controlled by the industry and would in practice be little different from the discredited Press Complaints Commission. After decades of ineffectual political response to press abuse and press power, there is now a historic opportunity for Parliament to assert its sovereign power. Over the next 12–18 months, we will see whether we have reached a genuine milestone in British public life or whether the British press will remain the last bastion of unaccountable power.     

Student-led law reviews: what every UK law school needs?

In the United States (US) student-run law reviews have long offered students the opportunity to develop their skills as editors and members of a publication team and to engage with new legal research. With law ordinarily taught as a three-year postgraduate degree, these reviews are normally staffed by a postgraduate editorial team. Similar efforts in the United Kingdom (UK) have largely been short-lived. Some venerable academic journals, such as the Cambridge Law Journal, started their lives as student-centred projects, but academics soon assumed control of the process because of the variable quality of undergraduate editing. This false start proved difficult to recover from, but a spate of newly founded student law reviews in the last decade suggests that these publications have increasing traction in UK legal education. This article evaluates the challenges and potential benefits of these efforts to translate US practice into UK law schools in light of the experience of creating and maintaining the North East Law Review, a student-led periodical based at Newcastle University which publishes student-generated content based on high-quality coursework submissions. This process potentially enhances the assessment process, with the student editorial team preparing essays for publication and student authors re-engaging with their work in light of feedback. Publishing such essays furthermore allows all students to benchmark their own work against excellent coursework performance.     

英国剑桥大学企业高管培训的特点与启示

英国剑桥大学企业高管培训独具特色,在全球有很大的影响力和知名度,是国际管理培训的一个高端品牌。其培训的主要特点为:校企合作,实现双赢;追求卓越,崇尚精英;引领前沿,系统多元;因材施教,注重实效。学习借鉴剑桥大学的先进培训理念和经验,对我国企业高管培训及教育培训工作有一定的借鉴作用。     

Should I stay or should I go?

Legal context: The European Patent Convention inherently allows parallel revocationproceedings to take place in the EPO and the domestic patentcourts. As a result, parties to UK patent proceedings frequentlyapply for a stay pending the outcome of proceedings in the EPO.There is commonly assumed to be a presumption in favour of thisstay, so long as it does not amount to an injustice. Key points: This article reviews the UK case law that has followed the Courtof Appeal decision in Kimberly-Clark, to see if this presumptionin favour of a stay is sustained. These cases show that, whendeciding whether to order a stay, judges perform a balancingexercise of a number of considerations. In practice it appearsthat these considerations easily topple the presumption. Practical significance: By providing a comparison of the considerations put before thecourts in the past, this article seeks to aid practitionersin judging those factors likely to affect the success of a stayapplication. It also highlights the lack of authority at appellatelevel on whether it is lawful for patent courts not to ordera stay.     

The Law and the Constitution: Manifesto of the Progressive Party

This paper analyses the argument of Jennings' path-breaking work, The Law and the Constitution , and assesses its importance. The argument of the paper is that a basic tension runs through the evolving work: between celebrating the democratic nature of the contemporary constitution whilst expressing certain concerns about democracy's potential implications. This is a tension that Jennings was never able satisfactorily to resolve. The Law and the Constitution nevertheless remains a landmark text, especially in reminding lawyers of the need to look to the social and economic explanations for constitutional change. Although the constitution Jennings was writing about has altered, his public law method of examining the purpose for which public power is acquired before reflecting on desirable constraints remains of value today.     

Dynastic Politics: Family Ties in the Greek Parliament, 2000–12

Fluctuations in the presence of dynastic politicians in national legislatures are seen as an important indicator of political modernisation. Drawing on original biographical details of Greek Members of Parliament (MPs) from the six most recent parliamentary terms, we document the existence of a substantial and relatively stable pool of dynastic MPs. Their numbers only appear to shrink, albeit not too dramatically, in the 2012 elections, which also marked the collapse of the traditional party system. Findings highlight patterns of stability that have remained unnoticed under more visible shifts in party competition during the economic crisis.     

The role of parliament in South Africacs foreign policy development process: lessons from the United States' Congress

For most democracies across the world, legislative engagement in foreign policy development has traditionally been limited to ratification of international agreements and oversight of the executive. While the Parliament of South Africa tends to adhere to this traditional approach, deferring to the executive on matters of foreign policy, this paper argues that a collaborative approach between the legislative and executive branches as articulated in the South African constitution must rather form the basis of South Africa's foreign policy development process. Moreover, by comparing the parliament of South Africa, a legislature with limited policy influence, to the United States’ Congress, a policy making legislature, it becomes clear from Congress that political will in employing constitutional power is the most important factor in ensuring legislative engagement in foreign policy decision making.     

分权理论与英国宪政体制之自我解构

英国的宪政体制长期以来被视为挑战分权理论的最有力工具。其实英国最高法院的设置在实质上是契合分权理论的,大法官和内阁的设置只是部分与分权理论相背离。之所以会误读英国宪政体制与分权理论的关系,是因为我们缺乏对分权理论的精细化认识。英国宪政体制之改革正在向外形和实质都更加契合分权理论的方向发展。我们在对待分权理论时必须谨记:权力是可以划分的,但分权又是相对的。