Public councils in Kazakhstan: a case of emergent participative democracy?

As Kazakhstan aims to become one of the top 30 developed countries by 2050, it is increasingly turning to ways which will improve its governance, one of which is greater participation by its citizens in the decision-making processes of state agencies. A new initiative aimed at doing just that, the establishment of public councils, received legal backing in January 2016. The aim of public councils is to ‘strengthen democracy and the quality and responsiveness of public polices’ through the ‘public expression of matters of concern to Kazakh citizens’. This article offers a formative evaluation of the role performed by public councils and questions the extent to which they have achieved this aim. It draws on primary data from public officials, non-governmental organizations, ministries, and non-participant observation of public councils in Kazakhstan. It finds limited evidence of their effectiveness to date.     

网络电信诈骗犯罪帮助取款行为的定性——以两个文件存在的冲突为切入点

关于在网络电信诈骗犯罪中帮助取款行为,在《关于办理诈骗刑事案件具体应用法律若干问题的解释》和《关于办理电信网络诈骗等刑事案件适用法律若干问题的意见》两份文件中均有体现,但是二者对于帮助取款行为的认定存在冲突,表现为对"明知"的内容和程度的认定有差异、帮助取款行为的时间节点的认定不同、对诈骗罪既未遂标准判定不同。网络电信诈骗帮助取款行为定性的路径选择是:对"明知"内容和程度的认定进行类型化判断;对帮助取款行为介入的时间节点进行类型化划分;以"失控说"作为判断诈骗罪既未遂的标准。     

Co‐Production of Public Services in Australia: The Roles of Government Organisations and Co‐Producers

This article adds to the emerging empirical literature on citizen co‐production. Based on a telephone survey of 1000 Australian adults, it replicates a five‐country European study focusing on three policy domains: neighbourhood safety, environment, and health (Loeffler et al. 2008). It shows that individually performed and closely reciprocal activities with high levels of private value are performed the most often, whereas group activities producing mainly public value are the least performed. We found no evidence of a relationship between service satisfaction and co‐production, or between information provision/inclusion/consultation and co‐production, which challenges some of the previous literature on what might motivate citizens to co‐produce. Citizen self‐efficacy has a modest relationship with co‐production levels in each of the three policy domains. These findings have implications for policymakers, and pave the way for future empirical research in this field.     

Mutual efforts for mutual trust: Impacts of citizens' knowledge and governmental communication channels on trust in participatory budgeting

Since participatory budgeting (PB) has been advocated by both theorists and practitioners of public administration, its adoption has become a global phenomenon. As of 2017, all local governments in South Korea are legally mandated to operate a PB system as a policy for inviting citizen participation in local budget decision-making. Using an impact assessment tool completed by PB managers in local governments, this research tested two sets of independent variables—citizens' participatory capacity and the diversification of communication in the PB process—that could be associated with the dependent variables “citizens' trust in government (CTG)” and “government officials' trust in citizens (GTC).” The paper presents the three major findings on the common drivers behind CTG and GTC: (1) citizen participants' knowledge on budget and budgeting process; (2) local government's efforts in gathering citizens' inputs for PB; and (3) the mutual efforts to understand the needs and limitations of both citizens and the local government. The paper concludes by exploring the implications for the design and delivery of effective PB implementation.     

Can Facebook really be a tool for supporting citizen engagement during emergencies?

The present study explores how Italian regions and their presidents employed Facebook during the Covid-19 pandemic to encourage citizen engagement. To do so, it adopts quantitative methodologies. Our results show that most public actors increased their levels of social activity during the pandemic but mainly for promoting public communication and that citizens much prefer interacting with presidents. Moreover, citizen engagement was higher when posts were published during nonbusiness hours or weekends, while it decreased when posts contained photos or videos.     

走出慈善的尴尬——试析我国慈善事业发展的困境及出路

目前我国慈善事业虽然发展迅速,但是仍面临一系列困境,如政府角色认识偏差、公民慈善意识较弱、公众对慈善认识的偏差等意识困境;法律不健全、登记困难、税收政策不完善等法制困境;信息公开和内部治理不健全等机制困境。中国的慈善事业健康发展的出路是树立现代慈善意识、走法制化道路和完善机制。     

Determinants of citizen support for community-oriented policing

The extent to which community members are willing to cooperate with the police and become involved with various community crime prevention programs depends on citizen perceptions of the police and of the community in which they reside. The purpose of the present study is to explore factors that affect support for community policing in a small rural city. Findings revealed that the majority of respondents supported community policing. Using community survey data collected from over 400 citizens in a small metropolitan area in the intermountain West, this study also explored the importance of demographic factors, community characteristics, and public perceptions and experiences with police in predicting citizens’ support for community policing. Citizen support for community-oriented policing varied somewhat by demographic factors (i.e., gender, education), and by community characteristics (i.e., disorder, social cohesion).     

公民参与政府决策的逻辑必然与现实对接——以广州番禺垃圾焚烧发电厂建设项目为视角

番禺垃圾焚烧发电厂建设项目引发的争论凸显出公民对政府决策参与的缺失。公共选择理论从经济人的逻辑起点出发,为公民参与政府决策提供了理论基础;现代决策环境的变化使公民参与决策变得非常必要;公民参与意识的兴起对政府决策提出了新要求。即公民参与到政府决策的全过程和每一个环节并有相应的制度保障,是实现政府决策与民意有效对接的重要途径。     

邻避效应:公益性项目的补偿机制与公民参与

在公益性项目建设与运营中所出现的邻避效应,是追求公共利益最大化和政策成本最小化的政府在民主行政的条件下不可回避的决策困境。本文分析了邻避效应的经济性补偿和社会心理性补偿的关系,根据集体行动理论和邻避效应的特征,提出审慎运用公民参与来实现公益性项目外部效应的内部化。在中国国情条件下,公民参与的制度选择倾向采取法团主义的模式,文章结合上海市实践进行了实证分析。     

转型时期司法吸纳公民参与的价值及其改进

以河南、陕西法院为代表的一些地方法院为适应司法改革的需要,创新司法审判模式,吸纳公民参与司法,接连引发法学理论界和实务界的阵阵争议。司法职业化是实现司法独立的有效保障,理所当然应当是司法审判模式创新的主导方向。但司法职业化固有的一些弊端阻碍司法改革进程也不容忽视,公民对司法审判的有序参与则正好可以起到弥补作用。因此,改进公民参与模式,实现公民参与与司法职业化的辩证统一,应当成为中国司法审判模式创新乃至整个司法改革取得成功的有效路径选择。