新加坡人民行动党政府的社会控制方式

本文从制度环境、制度安排、政策和策略等方面对新加坡执政的人民行动党及其政府如何处理与其它政党、社群组织和普通选民的关系和社会控制方式进行了分析。指出在制度设计上,它是一个存在一定程度多元制衡的一党独大的以行政为主导的软权威主义的政体。在处理与反对党的关系方面,执政党的基本原则是一方面对其严格限制和控制,采取一切“合法的”手段把其摒弃在国家权力之外,另一方面则保证其在一定程度上的发言权,以对执政党进行一定程度的监督、反映不同的利益和政见。在处理与社群组织和选民的关系方面,其基本原则是通过推行国家合作主义的政策把人民群众纳入执政党所设定的政治发展进程之中;实行一种具有多元利益表达和一定民主性的、提倡体制内合作的自上而下的制度;人民行动党在联系群众方面已经形成了高度制度化的联系机制,尤其是这种机制不是一味迎合人民群众的眼前需要,而是着眼于其长远利益。     

Sino-Russia Relations Towards Comprehensive and Strategic Cooperation

The Sino-Russia relation is a kind of new state-relationship,which is based on the long-term political,economic and security interests of the people of two countries.Mutual respect,equality,and mutual benefit are the basis of this relationship.China and Russia should strengthen regional cooperation and cultural exchanges so that the bilateral relations can be consolidated further.President Xi Jinping's visit to Russia opens up new opportunities for pragmatic cooperation between China and Russia.     

Jordanian Palestinians—what do they think? (Part 3)

Reporting from a nondemocratic land presents unique problems for journalists and researchers. This is particularly true of a traditional monarchy, such as Jordan, where all important decisions are ultimately the prerogative of the monarch. Journalists must be careful to stay within certain bounds. If they ask the wrong question they are liable to find themselves on the next flight back to their home country. Questions concerning the legitimacy of the monarchy or the competence of the ruling monarch are considered out of bounds. One must try to discern the underlying political reality without straying into forbidden zones. As with Parts 1 and 2, this study continues to provide a view into the complex fabric of Jordanian political reality through interviews with government officials, prominent private citizens with high‐level connections, and former opposition figures. The interviews focus on crucial areas of foreign and domestic policy.     

European health regulations and Brazil nuts: Implications for biodiversity conservation and sustainable rural livelihoods in the Amazon

Abstract

The Brazil nut industry comports with the principal objectives of European policy on development co‐operation (poverty reduction linked with environmental protection) and forest conservation (maintaining forest cover). However, European Regulation 1525–98 EC, which decreases acceptable levels of aflatoxins in Brazil nuts to 4 parts per billion, may cause a crash in the Brazil nut trade. Thus, European policies on food quality, development co‐operation and forest conservation are likely to operate a cross‐purposes. Brazil nut producer countries have questioned the legal basis of the Regulation in terms of scientific justification for the stricter limits on aflatoxin content and lack of conformity with international standards set by Codex Alimentarius. The EC has countered by invoking the precautionary principle. This article documents the debate in the context of the World Trade Organisation's Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement and discusses the implications for the relationship between agendas of trade, environment and sustainable development.     

The GATT‐WTO system: Environmental friend or Foe?

Abstract

The GATT‐WTO system has been attacked for being at best indifferent to the environment and at worst hostile to it. However, rather than being an environmental foe, the GATT‐WTO system is environmentally‐friendly in many respects. Several World Trade Organization agreements — the Agreement on Agriculture, the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures and the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures — not only permit but encourage WTO member‐countries to implement national programs and laws to protect the environment free from WTO interference. Multilateral initiatives through organizations such as the WTO, as opposed to unilateral bullying, are the surest way of securing robust legal protections for the environment.     

Parallel authoritarian powers: an explanation of Mexico’s authoritarian regime breakdown

Regional multilateral regimes have become important instruments for promoting and defending democracy around the world. The novel nature of these regional instruments has generated a cottage industry in social science scholarship. Yet, none of these works compare the democracy promotion and defence regimes of the Organization of American States (OAS) and the African Union (AU). This article is designed to fill this gap. We argue that the unique constellation of actors that are members of each respective organization have reinforced two distinct democracy promotion and defence paths. The state-driven regime evolution characteristic of the Americas contrasts with Africa's expert-driven process of regime construction. The state-centric process of the OAS regime has bolstered a narrow interstate multilateralism that upholds traditional sovereign state prerogatives and minimizes the role for non-state actors in the promotion and defence of democracy in the Americas. The expert-driven process of AU's regime construction has fostered a legalistic approach to democratic promotion and defence in Africa and opened up space for non-state actors to play a central role in the development of regional democracy promotion and defence norms.     

Alliances,Trade Discrimination,and the Global Trade Regime

Although nondiscrimination is a central tenet of the global trade regime, discrimination was in fact common under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, particularly against developing countries. The latter have recently sought to end such discrimination through World Trade Organization rules: for example, the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC) prohibited quota discrimination in this sector. I examine the ATC's impact on US discrimination, asking whether the ATC ended the US policy of favoring allies with generous textile and clothing quotas. I find that, while the United States favored allies before the ATC, this favoritism vanished in the post-ATC period. The ATC thus accomplished its goal of ending explicit textile and clothing discrimination. This result underscores the potential for multilateral rules to control trade discrimination and implies that popular theories of trade policy may be contingent on such rules.     

协同治理视野下的地方政府与非营利组织之间的良性合作关系

协同治理是一种新的政府治理理论,它强调政府、非营利组织和个体公民等多元社会组织和行为者相互协调合作,共同治理社会公共事务。基于协同治理的视角实现地方政府与非营利组织之间的良性合作,应充分发挥地方政府、非营利组织和个体公民的主体作用。     

政治关联可以提升社会组织生存能力吗?——基于收入多样性的中介效应分析

社会组织生存是当代社会组织发展的核心议题.既有研究大多聚焦于组织生存的制度空间,较少从组织管理和运行意义上对组织的生存能力进行研讨.作为一种社会组织普遍采纳的非正式策略选择,需进一步探究政治关联对组织生存能力的影响机制.本文以2014-2016年全国2 816家基金会为研究对象,将财务能力作为组织生存能力的核心衡量维度...     

An economic rationale for firing whistleblowers

Organization members disclosing their superiors’ violations of duty are characterized by high ethical standards and, surprisingly often, fired for blowing the whistle. This paper provides an economic rationale for firing whistleblowers in a model where only the “ethical” type of agent can internally report the manager’s violation of duty. Revelation of an ethical type in the organization increases the perceived future probability of detecting and punishing the manager. Replacing the ethical type by an agent of unknown type restores this probability to its initial level, and this is optimal in organizations in which the standard of proof in establishing the manager’s violation of duty is low.