Can Social Innovations in Housing Save Public Money? The Case of Slovakia

ABSTRACT

The paper deals with research into the innovative provision of public services by the non-governmental organizations in the field of housing. The paper describes the legislation of the housing system in Slovakia and aims to analyse innovation in social housing provision. The paper contributes to the knowledge on innovative social housing solutions provided by non-governmental organizations. The use of cost benefit analysis reveals the benefits of innovation in housing provision by an internationally awarded organization ETP Slovakia. The analysis proves the government´s possible savings of public expenditures if it would decide to support the innovative approach in social housing provision.     

The organizational justice effect among criminal justice employees: A meta-analysis*

Organizational justice has been shown to be an important predictor of criminal justice employees’ work-related perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors. In this study, we take stock of the organizational justice effect on criminal justice employees’ work outcomes by subjecting the literature to a meta-analysis. Multilevel modeling based on 1,924 effect size estimates drawn from 143 studies (95 independent data sets) was used to establish the empirical status of the organizational justice effect. The results indicate a sizeable relationship between organizational justice and justice system employee work outcomes (Mz = .256, CI = [.230, .283]). The findings also demonstrate that the organizational justice effect size varies slightly across several methodological variations. Specifically, the organizational justice effect size is larger when the concept is measured with scales that contain survey items tapping into all four dimensions of justice. Also, we found that outcome type, presence of confounding mechanisms, research design, and sample characteristics moderate the justice effect. We conclude that organizational justice theory is a useful framework for developing a more theoretically informed understanding of justice system employees’ work outcomes. We discuss the theoretical implications of the meta-analytic findings and avenues for future research based on the results.     

多维社会资本交融与近代女性公益组织的生发——以清末广州“公益女学堂”为例

与既往对晚清公益的研讨多限于男性组织的研究不同,本文选择广州“ 公益女学堂”作为个案,发现当时投身公益的晚清女性,绝大多数出自绅商阶层。正是基于地缘、学缘和阶层等交往形成的关系型社会资本和基于同道中人的理解、欣赏和信任而产生的认知型社会资本,在同一群亲友型志士群体中深度交融,为当时不被主流社会所容的有志女性生产出一个相对自由包容的“平行世界” ———既是女性公益事业生发之初最现成的组织依托,又是其存续和发展最关键的抗风险系统。本文遂提出多维社会资本交融的观点,来解释中国女性近代公益组织的生发机制。事实上,这样一种集多层次社会资本为一体的亲友型志士网络广泛存在于近代中国变革的肌理之中,尚有待于未来更多深化和拓展。     

Too central to fail? Terror networks and leadership decapitation

ABSTRACT

Leadership decapitation, as a means of hindering the operations and hastening the demise of terrorist organizations, has been the subject of a growing body of research. However, these studies have not examined how an organization’s position in a broader network impacts its ability to weather decapitation. We argue that highly networked organizations possess characteristics that make decapitation less effective. To test this argument, we combine data on leadership decapitation with network data on terrorist organizations and find that well-networked organizations are resilience to leadership decapitation. Our study has implications for our understanding of how terrorist organizations respond to counterterrorism efforts.     

社会组织在中国城乡一体化进程中的作用与机制创新

随着我国社会组织力量的不断壮大和质量的逐渐提高,其在经济社会发展过程中发挥了越来越重要的作用。本文基于张家港、济源两地的实地调研,以及相关案例资料,分析了社会组织在城乡一体化中的角色定位和作用,并基于社会管理机制创新的思路进一步探讨了社会组织如何做得更好的问题,提出了加大社会组织在城乡一体化战略中积极作用的政策建议。     

论城市化与自治州的未来发展

"减少行政层级"、"积极稳妥推进城镇化"是中国未来行政体制改革的重要内容与发展目标。自治州是多民族中国特殊的行政区划层级的行政建制,伴随着民族地区社会经济的不断发展,自治州也必将走上城镇化、城市化发展道路。因此,逐步有条件的"撤州建市(自治市)"将成为其必然的路径选择。与此相适应,如何保障民族区域自治制度的完整性和民族自治地方权益,成为民族法制建设的时代要求。     

非政府组织管理法治化探析

伴随着近年来非政府组织在我国的蓬勃兴起,无论是学术界还是实务界都开始从不同角度和不同领域对非政府组织的问题展开了广泛研究。在构建法治国家的大背景下,为实现社会的秩序与安全,保障公民权利等价值目标,对于这支新兴的社会力量文中提出了法治化的解决方案,作为对现实社会问题的理论回应,为政府对安全和理想秩序的追寻提供了新视角。     

社会组织参与社会管理和服务探讨

加强社会管理和服务,形成社会管理和服务的合力是我国社会转型的必然要求,社会组织参与社会管理和服务更是经济社会发展的必然结果。当前我国社会组织参与社会管理和服务存在四大困境:政府扶持不力、社会支持欠缺、法律土壤贫瘠以及社会组织自身问题重重。解决这些问题是社会组织参与社会管理和服务的关键,具体包括:切实转变认识、加快政府职能转变、加强社会组织自身建设、构建完善的法律体系、建设社会工作人才队伍。     

推进“三化”建设 提高农村党建科学化水平

农村基层党组织在推进社会主义新农村建设、加快构建和谐社会等方面发挥着非常重要的作用。现阶段,加强农村基层党组织建设,应在不断提高科学化水平上下工夫,在实践中具体表现为：科学设置农村党建核心指标,推进农村党建标准化;借鉴经济方法开展党建工作,推进农村党建效益化;建立农村党建激励关爱机制,推进农村党建人文化。     

Benefits,Challenges, and Enabling Conditions of Collective Action to Promote Sustainable Production and Marketing of Products from Africa's Dry Forests

Collective action has been identified, by governments and nongovernmental organizations, as a mechanism to improve smallholder farmers' bargaining power and access to input and output markets. In many developing countries, supporting collective action has and continues to be an important policy instrument. However, in the collection and marketing of forest products, recognition of and support for producer organizations, is limited. Data, from focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and an analysis of formal producer organizations' functioning and organizational aspects, were used to examine the motives, benefits, challenges, and enabling conditions of collective action in promoting the sustainable production and marketing of shea, frankincense, and honey from dry forests in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, and Zambia, respectively. Lessons and key recommendations, including those related to policy, are presented on how collective action through formal producer organizations could be assisted to promote responsible forest products collection and marketing practices that benefit small‐scale producers in Africa's dry forests.