Enhancing the effectiveness of international development: a systems approach

Every day 25,000 people die of hunger and hunger-related causes. While it is recognised that the international development system is not as effective as it should be, years of endeavours to achieve greater harmonisation of international aid and to create an effective architecture pass by without adequate results. The article introduces a framework for enhancing the effectiveness of the international development system, based on fundamental concepts of Systems Thinking. It discusses the complex systemic challenges to development and suggests that more effective control is a key precondition for greater effectiveness in development as a whole.     

Governance and youth unemployment in Africa

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study is to identify governance indicators that can reduce youth unemployment in Africa. Thereby, the authors incorporated governance indicators into the growth model. The dynamic panel estimation of the model, based on data from the World Bank, the IMF and UNCTAD for the period 2002–2016 found that some governance indicators such as control of corruption and political stability have a negative influence on youth unemployment in Africa. Moreover, political stability does not reduce youth unemployment in highly corrupt countries which are rich in natural resources. Similarly, other governance indicators such as government effectiveness, regulatory quality, the rule of law, voice and accountability are not yet producing the expected effects in African countries. As a result, political authorities must improve governance indicators, including the control of corruption and political stability.     

大城市社会空间演变态势剖析与治理反思——基于上海的调查与思考

改革开放以来，在全球化和向市场经济转型的背景之下，中国的社会和经济格局发生了深刻的变革，城市社会空间结构演变成为当代中国城市转型的主要特征。通过对上海人口、房地产等经济社会数据分析可知，当前上海人口、居住等社会空间正呈现剧烈的演变态势。随着工业化和城市化进程的加快，上海未来社会空间将呈现城市社会空间分异、城市社会空间两极化、城乡结合部居住形态多元化、城市社会结构重构、城市“双城”现象凸显、弱势群体居住边缘化、城乡二元结构空间显现、城市部分社区老龄化等演变趋势。大城市社会空间演变将带来类似西方城市居住隔离、空间剥夺、阶层矛盾、公共空间漠视等负效应。在“和谐社会”等治国理念下，反思传统的城市治理模式，提出城市规划公共利益职能归位、加强房地产投资的引导与控制、推进市民利益维护机制建设、推进“以人为本”的混合型和谐社区建设、制定合理的人口容量战略、制定合理的人口分布战略等新型治理模式具有重要意义。     

整体性治理模式的兴起——整体性治理在英国政府治理中的理论与实践

政府治理一直是政府和学界非常关注的问题,在西方,随着信息化、数字化技术的普遍使用,已经兴起了与信息时代相适应的政府治理新模式,即整体性治理,它主要是针对新公共管理带来的碎片化、空心化政府等一系列问题而提出,强调整体与合作和信息时代背景。整体性治理成为当代政府治理新理念,也是探究政府改革的学术前沿领域,因此,对之研究具有重要的理论和现实意义。本文介绍了整体性治理理论在英国兴起的时代背景,同时详细阐述了整体性治理的一般概念和核心特征,介绍了其实际运用情况,分析了它存在的障碍和缺陷,并对其前景进行展望。通过对其进行较全面的介绍,以期引起对这一理论模式的学术重视与探讨。     

“法外治理”:社区调解与中国基层社会的非正式控制

由于转型时期社区矛盾和民事纠纷的增加,社区调解对于中国基层社会治理和秩序控制的作用日益变得重要。社区调解源于传统中国乡村自治基于法外情理的民事调解,在当代中国社会治理中被赋予新的涵义,它可以被界定为一种法外治理,既强调法外的情与理的运作,又主张法、情、理三者的结合。与正式社会控制不同的是,作为非正式控制方式的社区调解,其社会功能不仅在于秩序控制,而且在于社区团结和社区自治。居委会作为群众自治组织,其在社区调解中的角色正面临挑战,但是社区调解的变化本身也是居委会重建其自治功能的机遇。     

三角模型框架下协同型政府的特征分析——以官僚制政府和企业家政府为参照

20世纪90年代中后期，西方国家相继进入了新一轮政府改革运动。与“官僚制政府”和“企业家政府”相比，新一轮改革强调部分之间协调行动、相互促进，强调整体功能大于局部功能之和。我们将这一轮改革所欲实现的政府形态称为“协同型政府”。将三角模型作为协同型政府的组织分析框架，并与官僚制政府和企业家政府相比较可以得出，协同型政府表现为善治的政府、“无边界”的政府、“社会人”政府、使命驱动的政府、灵活应变的政府、“外向型”政府和“魅力型”政府。为此，政府必须着力培养战略思维和发展眼光；必须努力提升自身形象和凝聚力；必须不断提高合作能力；同时，又必须善于放权，吸引更多主体参与治理。     

治理类型的多样性演化与比较——求索国家治理逻辑

作为学术讨论和实践理念中的时髦词汇,"治理"是广大研究者关注焦点,而在此过程中其基本内涵却变得愈加模糊,这构成研究进一步深化的潜在障碍。本文基于对实践中差异明显的治理类型的理论推演和比较,避免陷入不同知识背景和研究视角下概念界定的纷争,借力类型学分析作为理论探索的切入点进而呈现治理的学术脉络及治理知识的内在秩序。展现善治、全球治理、多层次治理、互动治理、元治理与智性治理等主要治理类型的形成传播过程、理论假设、实践特点与现实影响,并通过分析各类型所隐现的"治理失灵",从而客观认识治理的适应性局限,指出每一种治理类型不意味着要对其他治理模式的吞噬,其本质和共性均在包容共存的态势下求索国家治理能力和效能提升的路径,并在此基础上为定位中国国家治理战略选择的着力点提供理论依据,最后通过政治学所具有的解释的、反思的特征对各国差异化治理模式的未来研究图景做出展望。     

No ‘return to the state’: dependency and developmentalism against neo-liberalism

In the emerging ‘post-Washington Consensus’ era, neo-liberalism is searching for alternatives that once again emphasise the state. Yet neither Latin American dependencia nor East Asian developmentalism – two development models actually practised ‘on the ground’ – shares the basic assumptions of the liberal, rationalist state. First, there persists a significant ontological divide over the purpose of the state. Developmentalists and dependentists advocate deep, dynamic state agency rather than the hands-off, liberal, ‘night-watchman’ state. Second, development theory has unfolded within a modern liberal framework of science, democracy, the interests of US foreign policy, and increasingly a commitment to poverty alleviation. Dependency and developmentalism reject these neo-liberal benchmarks in the interests of state consolidation and autonomy. The persistence of dependentist and developmentalist understandings of the state precludes a uniform, post-neoliberal reversal in development theory back to the state.     

‘Listening to the rice grow’: the local–expat interface in Lao-based international NGOs

Generally speaking, NGO studies have focused their attention on the organisational unit and its role in shaping development outcomes. With few exceptions, the analysis of development partnerships, in which NGOs play a crucial role, has largely been confined to examination of ‘donors’ and ‘receivers’ and not the dynamics within organisational settings. This article is concerned with the interface between local and international staff operating within Lao-based international NGOs. The research relied on interviews with local and international staff and sought to examine how staff themselves interpreted the process of ‘localisation’ in the context of their own professional experience.     

多中心治理视角下的社区戒毒

由于社区戒毒康复的长期性和复杂性。文章在对昆明市四个街区200名戒毒康复人员及其家庭调查的基础上，将“多中心治理”作为解决“社区戒毒”困境理论，加强政府、社区与家庭的通力协作，做好社区戒毒。