Political Decentralization and Technological Innovation: Testing the Innovative Advantages of Decentralized States

Are politically decentralized states better at fostering long‐run technological innovation than centralized states? Societies with decentralized governments are widely seen as agile, competitive, and well structured to adapt to innovation's gale of creative destruction. Meanwhile, centralized states, even when democratic, have come to be viewed as rigid and thus hostile to the risks, costs, and change associated with new technology, or prone to cling too long to foolhardy or outdated technological projects. Therefore government decentralization is often perceived as a necessary institutional foundation for encouraging long‐run technological innovation. However, in this article, I analyze data on international patent activity, scientific publications, and high‐technology exports, and show that there exists little evidence for an aggregate relationship between government structure and technological innovation.     

A CASE FOR REFORM OF THE CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM

There are more than half a million children in our nation's foster care system. While foster care is intended to provide a temporary safe harbor for abused and neglected children, too many of these youth spend years in foster care limbo—experiencing a turbulent life in motion as they move from placement to placement, community to community, and school to school. Youth in foster care commonly fail to receive basic health and psychological care, and nearly 20,000 youth age out of foster care every year to an adult path of homelessness, unemployment, and despair. Our entire community must work together to more responsibly parent these youth. This article will address how lawyers and child advocates can advocate for new approaches and enhanced support on behalf of the voiceless and most vulnerable members of our community. It will address existing hurdles and systemic challenges that have helped to create the current disheartening status quo. The article will then discuss strategies that advocates can employ to turn the corner on behalf of these youth at risk.     

Benevolent Governance and Fiscal Federalism in Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">Teutscher Fürsten Stat</Emphasis> (1656): Comment on Erik S. Reinert

The author comments on Erik S. Reinert’s presentation held at the 17{th} Heilbronn Symposion in Economics and the Social Sciences in June 2004.     

美国监狱管理的紧束化倾向研究

美国是世界上监禁率最高的国家,监禁刑是其比较有代表性的刑罚。美国监狱变革从殖民地时期一直延续至今,与其经济、文化和刑罚理念变化紧密相连,体现了多元化的特征。在勇于创新、接受挑战的思潮影响下,美国监狱部门不断进行变革并发展,完善其监狱法制和管理制度,提高管理和矫正水平,采取新的措施来适应社会对犯罪矫正的新要求,并在新近出现了紧束化倾向。因此,从关注美国的监狱变革角度探讨美国矫正处遇的变革,极具实证价值和社会意义。     

美国与德国法院体制之比较

美国与德国都是联邦制国家也是奉行宪法至上的国家 ,两国的法院体制都必须适应这一特点。比较两国的法院体制的基本特征 ,分析这些特征产生的原因并进而探讨法院在维护联邦制中的作用。     

浅议高校改革中的社会心理调控

当前,我国高等教育管理体制改革工作正不断向纵深发展。高校教职工都承受着不同程度的“心理震荡”,产生了一系列不良的社会心理反应。我们必须积极采取有效措施,对社会心理加以调控,以促进高校改革工作的顺利进行。     

Defying the traditional theses: Intergovernmental relations on immigrant integration in Belgium

ABSTRACT

This article considers the features of intergovernmental relations (IGR) on immigrant integration in Belgium and critically examines the dynamics that shape them. The characteristics of IGR on immigrant integration in Belgium are shown to vary over time and differ across regions and sub-policy areas (immigrant reception policies and anti-discrimination). The comparative case study indicates that the primary traditional theses of the international comparative IGR literature, namely classical institutionalism and party politics, do not provide insights into the nature and mechanisms of IGR on immigrant integration in Belgium. Less established variables like European integration and sub-state claims for distinctiveness constitute key explanatory variables. While European integration explains the increase of IGR over time, notwithstanding the appearance of party incongruence, sub-state claims for distinctiveness enlighten the more conflictual nature of IGR with Flanders, even in cases of more party congruence than for Francophone authorities.     

谈新农村社区警务改革的特点

中共中央关于制定国民经济和社会发展第十一个五年规划的建议中明确指出,新农村建设将是党中央的工作重点。新农村社区警务工作的成效将直接关系到整个建设的进程。新农村建设的要求与当今世界警务改革的理念不谋而合,“乡风文明、村容整洁”正是社区警务所倡导的通过改变环境预防犯罪的现代警务理念。文章从新农村建设可能产生的变化着手,分析农村警务的特点,提出未来新农村社区警务建设的基本思路。     

Quality Reform in Malaysian Higher Education Governance: “Identity Formation” or “Knowledge Shopping”?

In line with its Vision 2020, Malaysia has been implementing a series of ‘quality’ reforms in its higher education sector (Sirat, 2010). For critics, these reforms are driven by an ideological shift from the idea that knowledge is a “public good” (Dzulkifli, 2011, p. 28). This study explores whether the use of ‘standards’ as governance forms would lead Malaysia towards “identity formation”, i.e. the creation of a culture-based knowledge society, or direct it towards “knowledge shopping”, i.e. the commodification of higher education. This article concludes that Malaysian higher education governance is more oriented towards “knowledge shopping” than “identity formation.”     

Scale economies in local public administration

A renewed interest in decentralisation has profoundly affected local public governance around the world. Faced with an increasing number of tasks, Dutch municipalities have recently sought physical centralisation, merging into larger jurisdictions in order to target new policy areas more effectively and cost efficiently. Is such a policy of physical centralisation wise? We study economies of scale in local public administration, and find – given transfer payments from central government and current cooperation between municipalities and after controlling for geographical, demographic and socioeconomic variables – substantial unused scale economies of 17% for the average municipality. Between 2005 and 2014 the optimum size of municipalities increases from around 49,000 to 66,260 inhabitants, pointing at an increased importance of fixed costs relative to variable costs in local public administration.