Educational efficiency in the Caribbean: a comparative analysis

With a rapidly growing population and limited resources, accountability has taken on increased importance, especially in the area of public management. To assess the effectiveness of public spending on education in the Caribbean, this article compares performance in five Caribbean nations, looking at input indicators such as the teacher–pupil ratio, expenditure per pupil, the number of adequately trained teachers as a proportion of total teaching staff, and public commitment to education. It analyses their impact on output indicators, including performance in English and mathematics, the repetition rate, and survival rate to the final grade in school. The article concludes that the levels of efficiency in the development of human capital in the Caribbean are very uneven, and that serious challenges face Caribbean countries as they seek to maximise the returns on their investment in education.     

Effects of Governance Practices and Investment Strategies on State and Local Government Pension Fund Financial Performance

Abstract

Recent statistical studies concerning state and local government pension funds’ boards of trustees have focused on two complementary issues. First is the influence governance practices have on administration of fund assets. Second is the impact of investment strategy choices on funds’ total rates of return. Reported results indicate that the primary effects of governance practices on pension outcomes are indirect via asset allocation decisions. This study re-examined these issues using abnormal return as an inherently valued measure of risk adjusted financial performance. An innovation of the investigation is that “process analysis” was used to decompose the direct and indirect effects of governance practices on financial performance. Results suggest that while both types of effects exist, direct impacts dominate relative to mediating processes.     

论国际法框架下“东突”恐怖主义的治理

“9·11”事件之后，恐怖主义为世界各国所关注，各国积极开展反恐行动。中国也深受“东突”恐怖主义的危害。我国应推动反恐怖主义国际协议的签订，加强反恐怖主义的国际司法合作．同时也应注重加大国内反恐怖主义的立法工作。反恐怖主义不是一国之事，需要国内和国际力量的共同努力，这就需要将反恐怖主义的行动统一到国际法的框架之内，“东突”恐怖主义的治理也不例外。     

论乡政村治模式下的乡镇行政管理与村民自治

“乡政村治”模式下乡村治理的难题在于“乡政”与“村治”的矛盾，实质是乡镇行政管理权与村民自治权两种权力的冲突。在观念层面上，政府需要转变传统的管制行政理念，村民需要转变片面的过度自治理念；在制度层面上，要明确界定乡镇政府与村民委员会、村民委员会与村党支部之间的关系；从制度外因素来看，可发挥民间组织的作用协调乡镇行政管理与村民自治之间的矛盾，还可通过乡镇干部与村干部之间的“私人感情”联络推进乡镇行政管理与村民自治的有效衔接。     

论新一代领导集体的执政理念与中国传统文化的关系

以人为本的科学发展观是对传统民本思想的扬弃，构建社会主义和谐社会是对传统“中”、“和”、大同观念的超越。社会主义核心价值体系是对传统精忠爱国、“知耻”文化的创新。     

国际视野中的性别失衡公共治理:比较与借鉴

基于存在男性偏好的亚洲5个国家和地区性别失衡治理方面的相关二手数据,采用了公共治理的6要素理论框架,分别从目标、理念、结构、机制、工具和绩效方面总结和比较了中国大陆、韩国、中国台湾、印度和巴基斯坦性别失衡治理模式.研究发现,5个国家和地区在治理目标和理念上有较大的共同之处,在治理目标上主要是针对偏高的出生性别比和女孩死亡水平的治理,在治理理念上直接治理和间接治理并重;但在结构、机制、工具上存在较大的差异,因而也导致了治理绩效的不同.其中治理较为成功的是韩国,采取了较为合理的治理结构、机制和工具,从而取得了良好的效果.其他国家和地区则分别在治理结构、治理机制或治理工具方面存在一些局限,从而导致其治理绩效不明显.在此基础之上,进一步提出了针对中国大陆地区性别失衡治理的政策建议.     

开放式社区治理：社区治理的演化趋势——基于四个社区治理案例的分析

通过案例分析,我们指出,社区治理正向着开放式社区治理的模式演化,即大量外部组织参与到社区治理中去,带动社区治理水平的提高.开放式治理是一种不同的治理理念、一种崭新的治理模式,是社区治理制度演化、变迁并日臻完善的结果,是一种高水平的社区治理形态.笔者进一步对开放式治理的概念、制度基础、特征、演化过程、意义和可能带来的问题等一系列问题进行了探讨.     

城市摊贩管理的治理视角

一直以来摊贩被视为“城市之瘤”，城市的干净、整洁、有序不仅被视为城市政府管理能力的重要尺度，也是城市政府招商引资发展地方经济的重要砝码。但是另一方面城市是个有机体，各个部分在有机体获得规定的同时也证明了自己存在的必要性和合理性，城市摊贩作为城市不可缺少的部分有其存在的必要性和合理性。但是无疑在当今城市治理中，主管部门的取缔和摊贩的抗争成为城市管理的难题，分析摊贩产生的复杂原因，在综合摊贩正负作用的基础上认为主管部门应该转换管理思路。     

Svalbard Global Seed Vault: a ‘Noah's Ark’ for the world's seeds

News about Norway's plans to establish a ‘doomsday vault’ for seeds in the permafrost of the Artic archipelago of Svalbard as a back-up for conventional gene banks reached the world press in 2006. The idea of a Global Seed Vault, which today is considered a ‘Noah's Ark’ for seeds, was previously regarded with suspicion and considered to be unrealistic. In 1989 the Norwegian government offered to construct an international depository for seeds in permafrost, but the initiative was sidelined in the agitated debates between developed and developing countries over access to and control of plant genetic resources. The realisation of the FAO International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (2004) resolved some of the most difficult issues and made possible the launching of a new Norwegian initiative to safeguard some of the world's most important plant genetic resources for the future.     

Development in motion: what to think about migration?

Recent interest in migrant remittances as a development resource calls attention to a deeper issue: the relationship between migration and development. Remittances may be a significant source of economic inflows to poor countries and regions, but their actual development impact (positive or negative) is tied to the migration processes that generate them. Attention to migration in turn creates an opportunity to think about the broader context of development policy and practice, and to re-think the boundaries that we put around our work.