Open Data for Science,Policy, and the Public Good

Supporters of open data believe that free and complete access to research data is beneficial for science, public policy, and society. In environmental science and policy, open data systems can enable relevant research and inform evidence‐based governmental decisions. This article examines the unlikely case of Brazil's National Institute for Space Research's transition toward an open data model. Considering Brazil's young democracy, incipient practice of government transparency and accountability, and lacking a tradition of science‐policy dialogue, this case is a striking example of how open data can support public debate by making information about forest cover widely available. The case shows the benefits and challenges of developing such open data systems, and highlights the various forms of accessibility involved in making data available to the public.     

国外高校安保制度的比较及借鉴——以英国、美国、加拿大、瑞典、日本、新加坡为样本

在欧美国家的高校安保制度当中,以美国、英国、加拿大、瑞典最具代表性。英国的高校安保制度主要由驻校警察模式、法令特别授权警察模式和安保外包模式这几种类型构成;美国则是典型的校园警察模式为主导;加拿大的高校安保系统采用校园社区警务模式;而瑞典的高校安保模式则呈现出"行政化"和"社会化"的特征。在亚洲邻国的高校安保制度当中,以日本、新加坡最具代表性。这当中,日本以"青少年警察"的安保模式为主,而新加坡的高校的安保主要由安全、健康和环境办公室和校园保卫办公室以及外包保安公司三者构成。借鉴国外高等教育发达国家的高校安保制度对我国新时期的高校安保制度意义重大。     

Pressure or Information? Lobbying for Binding Renewable Energy Targets in the European Union

This article analyzes the European renewable energy industry's capacity for pressure‐based and information‐based lobbying and its strategies in two lobbying efforts: for a legally binding target of 20 percent renewable energy by 2020 (a proposal adopted by the European Council in March 2007) and for binding interim targets as a means to secure effective implementation of the 2020 target (a proposal that was not adopted). It finds that the industry has the capacity for information‐based lobbying but very limited capacity for pressure‐based lobbying. The article also discusses the effectiveness of the two lobbying types. It argues that information‐based lobbying is particularly effective early in the decision‐making process, and hypothesizes that early information‐based lobbying may compensate for limited capacity for pressure‐based lobbying and for information‐based lobbying that takes place later in the decision‐making process, but concludes that this strategy would have been unlikely to be effective in the second case.     

Public Participation and Environmental Impact Assessment in Mainland China and Taiwan: Political Foundations of Environmental Management

This article explores the role of agro-ecological factors associated with agricultural growth and poverty outcomes in India. Using a new operationalisation of agro-ecological factors and incorporating within-State variations in poverty and other variables we show that agricultural growth and poverty reduction appear to depend on underlying agro-ecological conditions which are favourable to the spread of irrigation and hence agricultural development, which in turn in associated with poverty reduction. Promotion of agriculture in less favoured areas in unlikely to have similar effects on agriculture in less favoured areas is unlikely to have similar effects on agricultural growth even if the effects of agricultural growth on poverty remain similar, unless conditions for irrigation are favourable or rainfall is sufficiently abundant and reliable. This suggests that considerable caution may be needed in drawing policy conclusions from empirical analysis by state alone, and without regard to their underlying factor endowments.     

Trade Liberalisation and Export Performance in Selected Developing Countries

This article examines the impact of trade liberalisation on export growth for a sample of 22 developing economies. The research applies dynamic panel data models based on fixed-effects and generalised methods of moments (GMM) estimators. In addition, heterogeneous panels for the complete sample, as well as for different regions of the world, are estimated using a time-series/cross-section technique. The main findings are that trade liberalisation is a significant determinant of export performance, but its effect varies across continents. Export duties have a small detrimental effect on export growth, while relative price changes and world income growth have the expected signs.     

Structural and Behavioural Characteristics of Informal Service Employment: Evidence from a Survey in New Delhi

This article argues that at least two distinct categories within the informal sector - informal services and informal manufacturing - exhibit different structural and behavioural characteristics. While some segments of informal manufacturing may indeed be 'dynamic' as noted by some recent studies, the hypothesis is tested for the informal service employment on the basis of a survey by the author in New Delhi, India. It examines investment, earnings, returns to human capital, socio economic characteristics and scope for upward mobility of informal service employment. It finds formal education does not explain differences in earnings in the sample but background characteristics do; earnings in the informal service sector are neither the lowest in the economy nor are they comparable to wages in the urban formal unskilled sector, when differences between migrants and non-migrants are taken into account. On the basis of these results, the paper reflects on the nature of growth and structural change in the Indian economy and draws some analytical and policy implications.     

Capacity Development for Good Governance in Developing Countries: Some Lessons from the Field

Good governance is essential for sustaining economic transformation in developing countries. However, many developing countries currently lack the capacity, as opposed to the will, to both achieve and sustain a climate of good governance. This article addresses, from a practitioner's field perspective, the fundamental objectives, principles, and key areas that need to be addressed for developing capacity for good governance. These frameworks are now beginning to be recognized as both governments and donor institutions attempt to take advantage of the current demand and opportunities for addressing governance deficits. In pursuing capacity development for good governance, developing countries must ensure that such initiatives are comprehensively designed to be simultaneously related to change and transformation at the individual, institutional, and societal levels and be owned and controlled locally.     

后危机时期的东盟国家经济

近年,东盟国家经济相继从衰退中复苏,逐渐摆脱国际金融危机的阴影。随着全球经济形势的动荡和增长趋缓,东盟国家的经济增长呈现出减缓的趋势。后危机时期,东盟国家积极调整宏观经济政策,加快经济转型和产业升级,推进区域经济一体化的进程。在新的国内外经济形势下,东盟国家经济发展将面临新的挑战。     

西方国家放宽经济制裁背景下的缅甸经济发展前景

西方国家对缅甸实施长期经济制裁,深刻影响了缅甸的经济发展。2011年3月,缅甸新政府执政以来,采取了一系列政治经济改革举措,得到国际社会普遍认可,也促使西方国家放宽对缅甸的经济制裁。在此背景下,缅甸未来经济发展潜力巨大,但也面临诸多问题和挑战。     

国外禁吸戒毒模式述评

世界各国的戒毒模式有较大的差异,戒毒模式的构建存在许多差异,核心原因是各国对待吸毒问题采取的价值取向一直处于争议状态。世界各国对禁吸戒毒的宣传教育工作高度重视,主要采取的措施包括：第一、健全组织机构,形成了不同资源共同参与的宣传教育网络体系;第二、不断加大禁吸戒毒资源投入;第三,以青少年和在校学生这个特殊人群为切人重点。国外主要戒毒模式包括医学治疗模式和社会学、心理学、医学角度的戒毒康复模式两种类型,其中有形态各异的特殊模式,这些将对构建我省禁吸戒毒模式有借鉴意义。