乡镇体制改革的路径选择

现行的乡镇体制已经严重制约了农村经济的发展和社会进步,本文在对现行乡镇体制现状进行科学分析的基础上,探索了乡镇体制改革的现实路径。     

更新行政观念 加快政府职能转变

深化行政管理体制改革,必须创新思维,创新管理,以全新的行政理念引领改革。应把握服务导向、法治导向、绩效导向等。     

中央企业企业文化建设的现状及其发展思路

中央企业在企业文化建设的实践和探索中取得了可喜的成绩,但也存在着一些问题。今后要努力建立起适应改革开放和社会主义市场经济发展要求,符合企业发展战略,遵循文化发展规律,体现员工根本利益,具有中央企业特色的企业文化体系。     

法人经营范围外行为的效力问题

通过对几种法人经营范围外行为效力理论的介绍分析,论证相对无效说的现实及理论合理性。对我国现行立法中的相关规定作一评论并对民法典草案的相应完善提出建议,也在此基础上对法人的权利能力、行为能力以及相关登记问题在未来的发展趋势进行探讨。     

中国地方政府创新的类型学:基于"控制-嵌入-规范"框架的分析

府际结构、政社关系与行政文化是理解地方政府创新的关键变量,并构成了地方政府创新的"控制-嵌入-规范"框架。基于此框架,区分了三种典型的地方政府创新模式:中央主导型创新、地方回应型创新和地方自发型创新,并对三种地方政府创新的特征、优势及局限等进行了对比。创新类型的差异实则是地方政府创新核心机制和关键变量的区别。分析表明,控制、嵌入和规范机制对地方政府创新的内在逻辑有较强的解释力。而该类型学划分在理论上部分回应了当前有关中国地方治理模式的讨论,在经验上为进一步通过地方政府创新推动地方治理现代化提供了参考。     

中美不对称核稳定与美国战略机会主义论析

中美两国安全关系在两国总体关系中扮演着重要的角色,研究中美之间的战略稳定关系,对于维护两国安全关系的稳定具有重要意义。中国的核威慑实力弱于美国,中美之间呈现出不同于传统战略稳定关系的不对称核稳定态势。中国对美国存在一定的核威慑能力,但有效性仍有差距和不足。这一差距容易使美国产生压制和削弱中国核报复能力的机会主义思想。实施限制损伤战略、发展导弹防御能力、进行战略反潜是美国对中国实施战略机会主义的主要行动。美国谋求削弱中国核报复能力、打破中美不对称核稳定的企图,与中国努力维持核威慑能力、维持中美不对称核稳定的行为形成了两股力量相持的态势。中国应重点提升核武器的质量,提高威慑信号的传递效能,以可信可靠的核威慑和核反击能力打消美国战略机会主义心态,维持两国间的战略稳定,特别是危机稳定性,筑牢遏制战争爆发的基础。     

Insecure peace: understanding citizen and local government relations in a Maoist-affected region in India

This paper examines emerging citizen and local government relations in a village in the Junglemahal region of the state of West Bengal, once a major bastion of the Maoist insurgency in India. Since 2014, Junglemahal has not experienced a single Maoist-related incident. This has been widely attributed to the West Bengal government’s “model” handling of the insurgency, which rests on the rapid mobilization of public services through the non-elected arms of local governments, bypassing elected officials. How have Junglemahal’s residents experienced this particular form of post-conflict governance? Drawing on the culture-centered approach that ethnographically observes the processes of identifying development problems and developing community-grounded solutions to these problems, our findings indicate that the hyper-developmental state was paradoxically experienced by our respondents as a very distant entity. A recurrent theme in our interviews is the absence of a locally embedded party leadership that could be approached regarding issues of distributive justice. We argue that this desire for party mediation in public service delivery is an expression of a powerful social norm that has survived the conflict and ought to be integrated into post-conflict governance structures if the current peace is to endure.     

The evolving narrative of denial: the Fraser government and the Timorese genocide, 1975–1980

As research by the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor documents, the years 1975–1980 constituted the worst period of the Indonesian occupation of East Timor, during which grave human rights took place involving a high loss of life. In Australia, the government headed by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser (1975–1983) sought to present itself as a supporter of human rights and the international rule of law. It also prioritized relations with the Suharto regime, which it saw as key to its policy position in Southeast Asia. These two positions came into conflict due to the Indonesian invasion of East Timor. The Fraser government therefore worked to propagate a narrative concerning East Timor which denied the seriousness of the situation, distorted the historical narrative, deflected blame from Indonesia, and depicted the Australian position as principled and realistic. This paper examines the development of this narrative as events progressed and information concerning the crisis in East Timor came to the attention of the outside world. It also examines how the Fraser government employed this narrative internationally in order to protect the Suharto regime from scrutiny.     

The Italian Welfare State in the Crisis: Learning to Adjust?

Abstract

After a decade of inertia, that left it unprepared to withstand the blow of the great recession, the Italian welfare state has witnessed significant changes since 2012. Externally driven consolidation in the wake of the sovereign debt crisis spurred yet another wave of social policy reforms after that of the 1990s. These reforms did not however invariably entail retrenchment. Both the Monti and the Renzi governments combined liberalisation with expansion of social rights, particularly in income support. As a result, the Italian welfare state looks more comprehensive than it was before the crisis. At the same time, there was no overall strategy of welfare modernisation based on coordinated social investment measures. The changes in Italian social policy since the outburst of the great recession highlight the importance of domestic politics interacting with external drivers of change. They also facilitate an assessment of the opportunity structures for further reforms in a political system that appears to be veering again towards consensus democracy.     

‘Soft’ forms of direct democracy: Explaining the occurrence of referendum motions and advisory referendums in Finnish local government

This study investigates ‘soft’ forms of direct democracy and identifies factors that explain their occurrence. Soft direct democracy refers to non‐binding referendum motions and advisory referendums, which the literature on direct democracy has largely ignored. Strategic motives have dominated previous explanations of the occurrence of initiatives and referendums, but are less useful in exploring non‐binding procedures of direct democracy. The article distinguishes four types of factors – socio‐structural, party system, political support and learning – and tests hypotheses on their effects with sub‐national data from Finland. The data enable us to compare two different types of instruments – non‐binding referendum motions and advisory referendums – while controlling for many unobserved factors. The findings show that erosion of political support, participatory traditions and policy diffusion explain the occurrence of bottom‐up referendum motions, while the last two together with small population and party system factors predict the occurrence of advisory government‐initiated referendums.