The campaign dynamics of economic voting

This paper considers the relationship between election campaigns and the impact of economic evaluations on vote choice. The motivation is the standard expectation that the campaign generally serves to amplify the significance of economic considerations in the voter's calculus—to focus his/her attention on this “fundamental” element of the electoral decision. Drawing on survey data from ten national elections across four countries (Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States) and applying both parametric and semi-parametric statistical techniques, the paper finds no support for this proposition. The paper reflects on the significance of this conclusion for work on political learning during election campaigns, the literature on economic voting, and the study of electoral behaviour more generally.     

现代社会资本与社区发展——以内蒙古世界银行社区主导型发展项目为例

2006年世界银行在内蒙古试点了社区主导型发展项目,经过3年的发展,试点项目的自然村在村民参与、赋权和基础设施改善等方面取得了进展,但是13个自然村之间在社区主导型发展绩效方面存在显著差异。本文根据问卷调查资料,用因子分析方法,从不同社会资本类型角度对社会资本及其类型在社区发展绩效中的作用做实证检验。结果发现:总体社会资本只是社区发展绩效的必要条件,社区发展绩效好的自然村,其总体社会资本较高,但是总体社会资本高的自然村,其社区发展绩效未必高。社会资本的类型是影响社区发展绩效的主要原因,现代社会资本高的自然村,其社区主导型发展绩效就高,现代社会资本越低的自然村,其相应的社区主导型发展绩效就越低,现代社会资本是解释自然村社区主导型发展绩效差异的主要原因。     

社区治理与社会管理体制创新——基于宁波市社区案例研究

当前我国的社区治理,不仅要求政府更有效地履行职能转型,而且要求公民社会积极成长并与政府合作共治。政府职能转型和公民社会成长是关系到社区得以有效治理和长足发展的重大问题,也是当今社会管理与社会体制研究的热点问题。本文采用案例分析的方法,基于宁波市的社区案例,分别从以需求为导向、以项目为载体的服务供给模式,多元合作治理．社会组织在公共服务的介入等三个方面进行实证研究。宁波市的社区治理实践既表明政府与社会合作共治的可能性和可能方式,又反映出在合作治理中政府的定位和行为方式,以及社会（主要指社会组织、个体群众等）参与社会管理的途径与方法。社区治理从微观层面对于推进社会管理体制创新具有积极意义,它体现出政府与社会的新型关系模式。社区治理推进社会管理体制创新应以转变政府职能和培育公民社会为前提,使政府与社会都成为社会管理的重要主体,并以政府与社会合作共治为核心。     

马克思恩格斯的廉政思想

反腐倡廉问题关系到马克思主义政党和社会主义的前途命运。马克思恩格斯在创立和发展科学社会主义的过程中,在指导无产阶级政党的建设中,在关注巴黎公社革命特别是总结巴黎公社的经验教训中,对无产阶级政党和国家要反对腐败和实行廉洁政治的问题做了深刻论述,形成了反腐倡廉的基本思想。其基本观点是：腐败产生的根源是私有制,铲除腐败的根本途径在于消灭私有制,建立公有制;无产阶级政党的本性是大公无私的,无产阶级政权应当是廉价政府;由于党内外各种因素的影响,无产阶级政党内部也会出现不正之风和腐败现象,必须同不正之风和腐败现象作斗争;无产阶级取得政权以后要防止国家机关和公职人员由“社会公仆”变为“社会主人”。尽管马克思恩格斯对无产阶级政党和国家反腐倡廉建设只是提出一些大的原则和思路,却为后来马克思主义政党建设特别是马克思主义执政党的反腐倡廉建设奠定了思想理论基础。     

The role of self-help groups in empowering disabled women: a case study in Kathmandu Valley,Nepal

The literature on self-help groups (SHGs) shows a mixed record on empowering women both economically and socially, while the literature on Women with Disabilities (WWDs) highlights the problems of isolation that exacerbate their disadvantages. This article, asking whether SHGs can empower WWDs, is based on a study conducted in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. It concludes that being an SHG member is useful for gaining employment that leads to better recognition in the family and society. However, employment opportunities and organisational experiences mean that the benefits are not equally shared among all members.     

酬神潮剧与泰语潮剧——关于泰国潮剧的社会学反思

本文以中国潮剧在泰国本土化的两种形态——酬神潮剧和泰语潮剧为研究对象,探讨泰国华族与佬族是怎样在泰国潮剧这一场域中实现国家与社会地位关系的转变的,进而尝试分析潮剧如何超越国界与族群社区,在泰国多元文化结构中获得特殊的社会意义,同时揭示体现在泰国潮剧发展形态中的艺术与社会政治、不同文化、不同艺术传统之间的关系。     

Solidarity economy and recycling co-ops in São Paulo: micro-credit to alleviate poverty

Lack of working capital hinders collective commercialisation of recyclables. Social exclusion and bureaucratic constraints prevent recyclers from obtaining official bank loans. As they continue to depend on intermediaries, the cycle of poverty, dependency, and exclusion is perpetuated. The article discusses collective commercialisation and the micro-credit fund created among 30 recycling groups in the Brazilian city of São Paulo. A committee of eight women recyclers manages this fund. The article contextualises reflections on empowerment and community-based development, applying the theoretical framework of social and solidarity economy. The author finally suggests that inclusive governance structures have the potential to generate greater justice and sustainability.     

Reflections on innovation,assessment, and social change: a SPARC case study

This article challenges the terms on which donor agencies evaluate development success, drawing on a particular case to make its point. It describes the resettlement of 60,000 people squatting along the railway tracks in Mumbai, a process planned and carried out by a federation of the railway dwellers themselves, with support from the NGO SPARC (the Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres). The article argues that this effort, which met donor criteria for a successful project, was the tip of an iceberg. Without an appreciation of the years of learning and innovation that preceded it, and the underpinning of principles and relationships built up over many years, this achievement cannot be adequately assessed or understood – and certainly not replicated. Yet in the world of formal assessment and evaluation, there tends to be a lack of interest in the deeper learning about social change that makes such success stories possible.     

评判社会主义制度优越性的三个基本维度

如何评判社会主义的优越性,关系到能否正确认识中国共产党成立以来的历史。在评判和宣传社会主义制度的优越性时,要依循三个基本维度,即历史与现实相观照、理论与实践相结合、国内与国际相对比。     

Perceived corruption, distributive justice, and the legitimacy of the system of social stratification in the Czech Republic

This article examines the relationship between social justice norms and the perceived legitimacy of the social stratification system in the Czech Republic. Despite the fact that meritocratic values have remained the dominant part of ideology in the Czech Republic throughout the transformation process, those values have played only a very minor role in fostering evaluations of system legitimacy, such as perceptions of system closure and widespread inequality. This article argues that perceived corruption is the key factor that negatively mediates the relationship between norms of distributive justice and beliefs about social legitimacy, and ultimately plays a major role in reducing the legitimacy of the social stratification system. The main analysis uses a structural equation model based on Czech data from the ISSP Role of Government Survey in 2006. The evidence lends support to the path dependency view of the social transformation process, according to which rampant corruption, which was a core legacy of the market transformation process, continues to shape system legitimacy even in the face of relative economic prosperity of the mid 2000s.