Knowledge transfer to emerging markets via consulting projects

In recent years, development agencies (DAs) have focused their activities on consulting projects rather than on financing turnkey projects when assisting emerging markets. The main reason is that the implementation of consulting projects is likely to be connected with an intensive knowledge transfer from developed to emerging markets. Training of local employees and cooperation with local firms are necessary elements to make the transfer effective. The empirical statistics shows training and cooperation to be more frequent in consulting projects financed by DAs as compared to commercial projects. According to theory and experience, training should be included in projects in the least developed host countries, whereas local cooperation should be more frequent, the higher is the development level of the host country. However, DAs do not follow these rules of thumb in a convincing way. A policy implication of the paper is therefore that DAs should better organize and plan the contents of their consulting projects.

21世纪中国地方政府在中韩关系中的作用

随着中国改革开放的深入和中韩关系的发展,中国地方政府开始在中韩关系中发挥日益重大的作用。本文以山东省、上海市、广东省、湖北省为案例,分析了21世纪中国地方政府在中韩关系中的作用。这种作用体现为以下三个方面：中国地方政府与韩国的经贸关系为中韩关系发展注入了强大的经济动力;中国地方政府与韩国的外事活动为中韩关系发展奠定了坚实的政治基础;中国地方政府与韩国的文化交流为中韩关系发展营造了友好的民意支撑。展望未来的中韩关系,本文得出的相关政策启示在于：对于中国地方政府而言,要为韩国企业入驻创造良好的投资环境;对于中国中央政府而言。需要给予地方政府在发展中韩关系中适当的授权和分权;对于韩国政府而言,需要积极应对中国经济发展方式的重大转变;2012年韩国丽水世博会将是进一步密切中国地方政府与韩国关系的重要契机。     

宁波市地方卫生立法的现状研究

宁波市是国务院批准的具有地方立法权的较大的市。近年来为了促进地方卫生事业的发展,保障人民健康权益,宁波市不断推进地方卫生立法工作,取得了较为突出的成效。本文通过对宁波地方卫生立法的类型进行分析,归纳了宁波市地方卫生立法的特点,宁波市地方卫生立法体现了＂以人为本,立法为民＂,体现了前瞻性和创新性,体现了区域特殊性和相对独立性,并且在实施过程中取得了明显的成效。     

创新持续到创新深化:地方政府治理创新能力构建的关键要素

在推进国家治理能力和治理体系现代化的进程中,地方政府治理创新能力的构建至关重要,从关注“创新持续”到“创新深化”视角的转化,正是体现地方政府治理创新能力发生着深刻的重构。论文以创新持续到创新深化的内生化理论模型为基础,识别五个创新深化的核心要素,即组织创新文化、多元主体嵌入、技术嵌入便捷性、创新模块开放性、领导者赋能,并选取地方政府创新奖中西北地区的十个案例,运用定性比较分析,探索并验证核心要素的多重并发因果路径。论文研究表明,五个核心要素在领导者赋能为基础条件下,形成创新文化型创新、模块嵌套型创新、外在嵌入型创新三种创新路径模式。     

‘Municipal entrepreneurs’: local politicians and the delivery of urban sanitation in Kumasi,Ghana

ABSTRACT

The municipal government in Kumasi has been the focus of numerous reforms to improve local policymaking and delivery of public goods to the city’s dwellers. Yet, the reforms have spurred strategic reactions from local actors who exploit institutional ambiguities to pursue their interests. This paper draws on empirical data on the city’s sanitation franchising to show how ordinary local politicians exploit reform ambiguities; they establish themselves as local entrepreneurs to deliver urban sanitation services and also contest the municipal executive. The manipulations do not only undermine reforms proffered by the regime and external actors but the municipal government’s promise to deliver efficient public services also becomes problematic. Management of urban sanitation is a contested arena between bureaucrats and political actors all vying for their interests. The sanitation reforms are eventually subsumed under the ‘local politics as usual’ logic.     

中国农民法律意识现状探讨

农民法律意识的内部架构是,法律意识淡漠与对传统伦理和乡土规范的青睐相伴。其成因是：简单经济关系使其亲近法律缺少利益的驱动;农村家庭的生产职能滋养了具有生产组织文化特点的儒家伦理;人治传统下法律的作用使其缺少对法律的利益感受。觉醒农民法律意识有益于：构建市场经济运动之基础和市民社会之人格——心理基础;塑造崇尚权利的现代法治和民主政治运行之逻辑习惯。     

Coalition government and electoral accountability

Single-party governments are commonly thought to be more clearly responsible for government policy than coalition governments. One particular problem for voters evaluating coalition governments is how to assess whether all parties within a coalition should be held equally responsible for past performance. As a result, it is generally argued that voters are less likely to hold coalition governments to account for past performance. This article uses data from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems project to assess whether and how the composition of coalition governments affects the way in which people use their votes to hold governments to account, and which parties within coalitions are more likely to be held to account for the government’s past performance.     

The local party voter: A localist anti-establishment voter?

In several countries, local parties have increased their share of votes in local elections. This development has received limited scholarly attention compared to the immense interest paid to the fates of national level anti-establishment parties. Against this backdrop, we ask if something distinct characterizes those who choose to vote for genuinely local alternatives compared to other anti-establishment voters. Sweden is taken as the case in focus, a country where local parties have grown in numbers and strength throughout the past three decades. We view local parties as a part of a broader ‘anti-establishment’ family, and we explore if their voters a) are similar to those who vote for the most pronounced anti-establishment party in Sweden (Sweden Democrats), or b) if local party voters are a distinct anti-establishment category in their own right. Drawing on a survey data from 49 Swedish municipalities, we find that local party voters indeed distinguish themselves from both Sweden Democrat's voters and voters for the old and established parties, thus making them a distinct anti-establishment voter category of their own. These voters distrust their local politicians but at the same time are civically engaged.     

China's new regulatory regime tailored for the sharing economy: The case of Uber under Chinese local government regulation in comparison to the EU,US, and the UK

Although Uber's arrival in China has resulted in disruptive competition for incumbent taxi companies, it offers an attractive alternative in China's supply-demand-imbalanced urban passenger transport system. China's regulatory regime for Uber has evolved in three stages: from the regulatory vacuum prior to 2015 to its official legalization in 2015–2016, and the enactment of numerous local regulations in 2016, with specific and more demanding requirements for Uber. This policy is a part of the Chinese approach to the gradual liberalization of the urban passenger transport market. Policymakers should consider ‘fair competition’ as the guiding principle to balance the interests of sharing firms and incumbent service providers, as well as between different sharing firms. The core value of this principle lies in the benefits it provides for consumers and the way it engenders a pro-competitive market environment. The labor protection arrangements for sharing firms’ laborers should be more flexible and diversified. In order to recognize whether an Uber-Driver is an employee or independent contractor, a new standard taking into account a range of factors should be established through collective negotiations between the participants of the sharing economy, and dialogues between members of the judiciary, academics, and the policymakers. Further, consumer protection law and personal data protection provisions should apply when sharing firms misuse their distinctive algorithmic management model to compete unfairly to the detriment of consumers and other users. Ex ante regulatory measures designed to protect the personal data of users should be introduced for deployment in the context of the sharing economy. When enforcing these rules, a balance should be struck ensuring free data flow that is essential to sharing firms’ innovation and competition, and the need to ensure the level of data security required to underpin a well-functioning sharing society.     

限量放权后"模仿式"地方立法困局的破解之道

修订之后的《立法法》对设区的市实施的限量放权是我国立法体制的重大变化,也是十八届三中、四中全会以来力求走出中央与地方关系怪圈的最新探索.限量放权的重大改革举措,虽然为地方治理经验的法治化吹来一股清新之风,但也使迅猛推进的"模仿式"立法转而陷入尴尬的窘境之中.切实共享立法体制改革的制度红利,实现地方事务治理的法治化与规范化,必须准确把握地方立法限量放权的初衷与要点,从注重问题导向与民意担当的高度,着眼于"为谁立法"立什么法"怎样立法"等关键问题,均衡各方利益博弈,做好配套制度变革,真正使地方立法平稳过渡与有效承接,及早摆脱"模仿式"地方立法的时代困局.