Mind the (Mobilization) Gap: Comparing Climate Activism in the United States and European Union

The barriers to concerted political action on climate change mitigation are steep, especially in multilevel systems where power is diffused and authority contested. This article seeks to explain how mobilization—galvanizing resources and people to participate actively—occurs in complex multilevel systems. It compares two different polities—the United States and the European Union—to tease out the key features of multilevel systems and how they affect climate activism and mobilization. To capture this dynamic, it proposes a three‐staged model of mobilization: awareness building, alliance building, and network creation. The latter stage features “mobilization networks”—stakeholder networks able to transcend levels and institutional inertia and steer polities toward particular climate goals. The article demonstrates how each stage of mobilization is highly contingent on stakeholders' ability to exploit—or at least navigate—multilevel institutional barriers.     

推进中国共产党反腐倡廉建设科学化对策研究

提高反腐倡廉建设科学化水平,是提高党的建设科学化水平的重要方面。中国共产党反腐倡廉建设的主要任务,就是要认真分析我国当前经济社会发展和反腐倡廉的新形势,正确把握反腐倡廉工作的新特点和新规律,不断提高反腐倡廉建设的科学化水平。     

Comparing Implementation of Internet Diffusion in the United States and France: Policies,Beliefs, and Institutions

Comparing Internet diffusion policies in the United States and France from an implementation perspective brings to light institutional and historical differences, even though both countries used the same top‐down approach. We find that France not only followed the technological lead of the United States in information technology but also emulated some of its more business‐oriented approaches in the implementation of the Internet, despite its own longstanding tradition of government intervention in industrial and commercial matters. This policy shift appears to be spurred by the global economy. Traditionally state‐controlled national economies are now increasingly leveraging private interests for successful industrial policy. When applying Sabatier and Jenkins‐Smith's advocacy coalition framework to the American and French diffusion of the Internet, we find policy communities actually expanding to private and public actors, including industry captains, legislators, and civil servants. These subsystems work together through classic lawmaking and lobbying under technological and economic constraints.     

网络消费者合同的法律适用

现行跨国消费者合同的法律适用的规则,以罗马公约、美国为代表的规定比较灵活.网络的开放性、虚拟性、技术性等特征,使得网络消费者合同产生法律冲突问题,值得进一步研究.     

China＇s Energy Efficient Appliance Adoption Dilemma： Problems,Possibilities, and Solutions

With the world＇s largest population and growing concerns that increasing energy consumption threatens the environment, the economy, and social stability, the Chinese Government has identified improving the physical environment as a priority. One way consumers can assist in this effort and save money is to invest in energy efficient appliances. Despite efforts to encourage consumers to purchase energy efficient appliances, consumer adoption of these money and energy saving devices is quite low. The authors contend that energy efficient appliances are less popular in China than in the West due to poor marketing of the cost savings of these devices coupled with lower levels of purchases with credit versus cash. A survey given to Chinese consumers seeks to answer these queries and provides evidence of ways to improve the adoption of energy efficient appliances. This benefits manufacturers （who make money selling more expensive items）, consumers （who save money over the life of the appliance since the cost of ownership is not just the cost of purchasing the item but also includes the cost of using it）, the Chinese Government （which is currently engaged in a campaign to lower the amount of energy used）, and the world （which benefits from a cleaner environment）.     

Paul Hirst’s encounters with Economy and Society

Abstract

This article examines the construction of the homo economicus in Argentina in the context of the last military dictatorship (1976–83). While the worldviews of the military and neo-liberal economists of the time were very different, their common concern for distortions in economic and political life made them translatable. These economists provided a new economic identity that would be in tune with monetarist theory, replace ‘distorting’ collective identities and allow individuals to be governed from a distance. I argue that the homo economicus was performed through two sets of tools: consumer campaigns and the financial press. However, individuals did not always behave as expected. The contradictions of neo-liberalism, between its liberalism and its quest to create self-regulating spheres through active government intervention, led to the financial crisis of 1980. Economists later blamed the crash on the irresponsibility of market actors and expressed doubt regarding the self-regulating model they had promoted. In the conclusion, the legacy of the attempt to perform the homo economicus is assessed.     

Together Making a Difference: A Configurational Study of Nonprofit Advocacy Effectiveness

Abstract

Existing nonprofit advocacy literature has overwhelmingly focused on explaining what factors affect nonprofit participation in policy advocacy, while paying little attention to examine the effectiveness of such advocacy efforts. This study aims to address this limitation through asking a research question: what brings about effective nonprofit advocacy? Based on a multidimensional framework of effectiveness, this study applies a configurational approach of Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) in theory building to identify the causal configurations and their elements leading to effective advocacy. The results of fuzzy set QCA (fsQCA) analysis confirm two propositions: first, the configuration or combination of multiple conditions, including organizational attributes, institutional environment, strategies and tactics, generates effective nonprofit advocacy. Second, there are equifinal multiple causal configurations that result in the same degree of advocacy effectiveness. This study contributes to the literature with a fresh theoretical perspective and a novel methodology to understand nonprofit advocacy effectiveness. It also has significant practical implications for nonprofit leaders to more effectively advocate policy change.     

Garros-Evdokimov and Commodification of the Baltics

Recent groundbreaking analyses of the Baltics have focused on decolonization and national and postcolonial subjectivity. A related but somewhat divergent approach to postcolonial, ethnic and global studies in the Baltic context is to explore the response of contemporary Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian cultures to the introduction of consumer capitalism, intra-European community and global pop-culture. A long-awaited independence brought by the Soviet departure has also presented the Baltics with multiple novel challenges, especially the issue of establishing a new identity, on both a national and a personal level. These challenges become the focus of Headcrusher (2003), the debut novel of Latvian-Russian journalists Alexander Garros and Alexei Evdokimov. This essay investigates Headcrusher's fictionalization of Latvian entry into global commodified space and contextualizes the novel's censure of the new consumer-driven realm within a broader Western comparative literary and theoretical perspective.     

ACTIVIST CRIMINOLOGY: CRIMINOLOGISTS’ RESPONSIBILITY TO ADVOCATE FOR SOCIAL AND LEGAL JUSTICE

Similar to many criminologists, my interest in pursuing this career was driven by a desire to improve responses to injustices, on both small and large scales. I believe that among criminologists, this dedication to effect changes in social and legal justice disproportionately drives those of us historically kept out of the academy due to our race, gender, class, sexual identity, and/or other marginalizations. Fortunately, there is a growing diversity among criminologists and this has had a powerful impact on expanding the scope and depth of the field. At the same time, I am concerned that academic training and university climates frequently work against our commitment to advancing social and legal justice changes, what I refer to as “criminology activism.” This address is a call to action, stressing criminologists’ responsibility to advocate for social and legal justice on small and large scales. Numerous types of criminology activism are identified (e.g., in research, service, and teaching), including the requisite to continue diversifying the representation of criminologists.     

社会主义核心价值观研究述评

当前针对社会主义核心价值观的学术研究聚焦以下几个问题：培育和弘扬社会主义核心价值观的意义;对社会主义核心价值观科学内涵的解读;如何在培育和践行社会主义核心价值观的过程中继承弘扬中华传统文化;培育和践行社会主义核心价值观的途径等等。研究中对弘扬主义核心价值观的重大意义,“三个倡导”的内容理解等问题取得了丰硕成果,达成了基本共识;对社会主义核心价值观的最终表述,社会主义核心价值观与社会主义核心价值体系的关系问题的认识尚存在争议之处。而对社会主义核心价值观培育和践行的路径、机制,以及弘扬传统文化与培育社会主义核心价值观的关系问题的深入探讨是这一阶段学术研究的热点和亮点。