The Management of Democratic Elections in Africa (MDEA) programme at the university of South Africa: Is this the right path towards African solutions?

There have been a number of initiatives in Africa to rid the Continent of political instability, conflict, poverty and disease. Many have argued that aid from the West has helped Africa in many ways—from stopping wars, to food relief and rescuing the African environment. Yet others have slated Western involvement which they contend, frequently leaves Africans dependant rather than capable of solving their own problems. In line with the pan-Africanist and the African Union (AU) ideals, there is now a realisation by Africans that there is a need to find African solutions to African challenges and problems. This review article explores the University of South Africa’s (Unisa’s) Management of Democratic Elections in Africa (MDEA) programme, by looking at its objectives and the reason why it must be labelled a Programme, its mandate, which is in line with the brief of the AU and pan-Africanist ideals. The article focuses on how Unisa’s programme responds to the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG); and how it has attempted to facilitate knowledge for peace in Africa, through empowering electoral officials from various African states. The article concludes by looking at the successes and limitations of the Programme over a five-year period, from its inception in 2011.     

对先进典型宣传热的冷思考--从民警早逝现象谈基层公安队伍管理中亟待解决的问题

近几年,各地公安机关陆续推出许多“累死”在平凡而繁忙的工作岗位上的普通基层民警作为宣传典型,并把这些典型当作公安队伍建设的“成绩”。但是宣传这些典型的同时也暴露出公安基层队伍管理的诸多弊端和漏洞。     

《民法典（草案）》的土地经营权规定应实质性修改

“三权分置”是中央农村土地制度改革的重大决策部署。《民法典(草案)》近日公开征求意见,将于2020年3月提交全国人大审议通过。其在“物权编”简单移植了《农村土地承包法》土地经营权的个别条文,解决了土地经营权定性不明的问题,但使《农村土地承包法》的逻辑紊乱、利益失衡、无法放活经营权等问题进一步固化、显化,亟待作出实质性修改。其进一步修改应以实现“放活经营权”改革目标为基本遵循,坚守“物债二分”基本理论,充分尊重中国实际,切实维护农民利益。     

上海大型居住社区高质量发展的理论分析与政策探讨——基于上海市五个大型居住社区的经验调查

本文基于上海市五个大型居住社区(以下简称"大居")的问卷调查与实地走访,梳理了上海"大居"现有就业机会、服务资源的配置情况以及居民需求状况。调查显示,上海"大居"在社区商业设施配套、公共交通设施、文体娱乐活动、物业管理服务以及教育资源等公共服务配套方面仍存在供需失衡问题,尚不能满足居民更高层次的需求。因而,要通过加快优质公共服务资源的导入,扭转"大居"弱势群体集聚的薄弱态势,推动人口结构优化,带动市场化资源的注入,培育"大居"社区内生增长动力,将"大居"建成多阶层、多群体共荣共享的高品质社区。     

Public Services after Austerity: Zombies,Suez or Collaboration?

Public services—in the UK and elsewhere—are under considerable pressure, not just from austerity, but also from a variety of social, demographic and technological changes (in effect ‘austerity plus’). In this context, three broad options are open to policy‐makers: continue with tried‐and‐tested approaches while spending less money, which in the UK means a reliance on ‘New Public Management’ (NPM); withdraw completely from certain public services; or develop new approaches to public administration. We argue that all of these approaches have been attempted in recent years, but it is the final option that is most interesting and potentially the most beneficial. In this article, we examine experiments with these new approaches in responding to ‘austerity plus’. In particular, we examine various attempts at ‘collaboration’ in public services and discuss the risks associated with them. We conclude by setting out the extent to which policy‐makers have moved beyond NPM and suggesting some of the benefits that this could bring.     

冲突管理的东盟方式

如何有效预防和解决国家间冲突,维护地区及全球的和平与稳定,这一直是战后国际社会和区域主义实施冲突管理的基点与诉求。东盟根据联合国宪章、万隆会议精神和其他国际法基本准则,结合东南亚国家的冲突管理实践,制定和实施了一套被誉为能够体现东盟方式基本特性的冲突管理模式。本文主要考察了国际冲突管理的理论分析框架,东盟冲突管理的基本原则、冲突类型及其管理方法以及后冷战时代东盟冲突管理所面临的挑战。     

New Public Management and Administrative Reforms in Nigeria

This study examines the Nigerian attempts to implement the New Public Management (NPM) reform. The paper aims at identifying the strand, the extent of progress made and the reason(s) for success/failure recorded. The author finds that the poor success story of the reform is as a result of the preference of the more attractive cost-saving neoliberal economic aspect to the more involving and demanding bureaucratic aspect, the inconsistencies in program implementation, and lack of strong political will common to adopting reform in developing countries. The article recommends that reforms require dealing with the critical challenges of institutionalization, inconsistency and legitimization.     

Public Administration Reform and Its Implications for Foreign Petroleum Companies in Kazakhstan

Since 2000, Kazakhstan has followed the New Public Management reform trajectory in modernizing its public sector and public service delivery. This article employs an actor-centered perspective to examine the effects of the public administration reform and its implications for foreign petroleum companies in Kazakhstan. The study builds on primary sources in the form of 81 semi-structured interviews with public servants, representatives of foreign petroleum companies and experts. The main conclusion is that the reform effects are ambiguous. Despite some success in greater efficiency of public services, many weaknesses remain, with highly varying implications for foreign petroleum companies.     

Urban Regeneration Policy from the Integrated Urban Development Model in the European Union: an Analytical Approach Based on the Study of Spanish Cities

For several years, local governments have been tackling new challenges related to the regeneration of their cities within the physical sphere, as well as in their economic and social aspects. This task is developed in accordance with what has been called the Integrated Urban Development Model, understanding the integrated nature of this approach not only in terms of the spheres of public policy involved, but also in relation to their management. In this paper, this management is analysed in terms of the development of mechanisms for New Local Governance and New Public Management (NPM). Using Spanish municipalities as a case study, this paper develops an analytical tool for the analysis of this model of urban intervention within the European context, paying close attention to the development of mechanisms for New Local Governance from a multilevel perspective, as well as the development of mechanisms for NPM.     

Senkt New Public Management die Verwaltungsausgaben in den Schweizer Kantonen? Eine empirische Analyse über zwei Dekaden

In light of the growing public spending in many regions of the world, this study scrutinizes relevant determinants of core public administration expenditure at the cantonal level in Switzerland, focusing particularly on New Public Management (NPM) reforms. The empirical study comprises all 26 cantons in the period from 1993 through 2014 and uses both cross‐sectional and longitudinal analytical methods. In addition to NPM, we control for various variables related to political parties, institutions, socioeconomics and culture. The results show no clear relationship between NPM reforms and expenditure, although such reforms were often intended to cut costs. Our explanation for this finding is that NPM as a concept is rather inconsistent. Various control variables are either positively or negatively related with expenditure. All in all, our findings suggest that public expenditure is still mostly determined by politics and can only be influenced by administrative reforms within certain narrow limits.