Between Government and Governance: Opening the Black Box of the Transformation Thesis

The notion of going from government to governance, known as the transformation thesis, as depicted in early Governance Theory has been subjected to substantive critique. This paper explores two different stances of such critique. The first critical stance is represented by Jonathan S. Davies’ 2011 book “Challenging Governance Theory: From networks to hegemony” and entails a radical rejection of the transformation thesis. The second stance offers a more moderate reconfiguration of the transformation thesis and is represented by the recently co-authored work of several prominent governance theorists titled “Interactive Governance: Advancing the paradigm”. While both aspire to set new agendas for governance research, this paper argues that the latter reconfiguration carries a problematic preposition towards overemphasizing the separation between government and governance practices.     

The Public Management of Risk: The Case for Deliberating among Worldviews

This article argues that the public management of risk faces inherent "wicked issue" problems which are further accentuated in the context of the contemporary regulatory state. It is suggested that in order to overcome these limitations and inevitable trade-offs, there needs to be a more conscientious effort in setting out distinct components of any public management of risk, which should be considered and discussed through the lens of distinct worldviews contrasting interpretations and solutions, as well as potential "black-spots." It is only by acknowledging limitations of any one strategy and by considering plural solutions that there is less likelihood of disappointment when dealing with crises and disasters.     

我国矫正教育制度的反思与重构

矫正教育是监狱权的行使方式之一,是利用道德的“软力量”对罪犯进行教化,从而达到罪犯再社会化的目的。深化的复归理论、教育刑理论、刑罚人道化思想从不同的角度和侧面共同作用、合力支持着矫正教育的理论。我国的矫正教育制度基本上符合矫正教育的理念和世界各国普遍的作法,但由于受立法时各种条件的局限,在立法理念、立法技术和制度保障方面还存在着一定的缺陷,对此在以后的矫正教育制度设计中应给予必要的关注。     

论马克思恩格斯与时俱进的理论研究品质

马克思主义与时俱进的理论品质,源于马克思和恩格斯所具有的与时俱进的理论研究品质.他们在理论研究过程中,始终坚持刻苦钻研,不懈追求,致力于攀登科学高峰;始终坚持精心研究,严谨治学,力求思想不断深化完善;并且能够做到审时度势,勇于更新,及时调整革命战略方针;做到与时俱进,随时关注新情况,不断提出新创见.这种与时俱进的理论研究品质,为我们在现时期研究和解决社会主义建设中的新情况新问题,更好地坚持和发展马克思主义,更好对推进中国特色社会主义事业的发展,提供了良好的榜样.     

十一届三中全会以来党的理论创新的轨迹、特点及动因分析

十一届三中全会以来,党的理论创新轨迹分为三个阶段。既继承前人又突破陈规、突出强调解放和发展生产力、维护最广大人民的根本利益、注重全面、协调、可持续发展是理论创新的四个显著特点。经济全球化、市场化及现代化则是中国共产党进行理论创新的三个重要推动力量。     

Deliberative democracy and the politics of traditional leadership in South Africa: A case of despotic domination or democratic deliberation?

A heated debate developed in South Africa as to the meaning of ‘deliberative democracy’. This debate is fanned by the claims of ‘traditional leaders’ that their ways of village-level deliberation and consensus-oriented decision-making are not only a superior process for the African continent as it evolves from pre-colonial tradition, but that it represents a form of democracy that is more authentic than the Western version. Proponents suggest that traditional ways of deliberation are making a come-back because imported Western models of democracy that focus on the state and state institutions miss the fact that in African societies state institutions are often seen as illegitimate or simply absent from people's daily lives. In other words, traditional leadership structures are more appropriate to African contexts than their Western rivals. Critics suggest that traditional leaders, far from being authentic democrats, are power-hungry patriarchs and authoritarians attempting to both re-invent their political, social and economic power (frequently acquired under colonial and apartheid rule) and re-assert their control over local-level resources at the expense of the larger community. In this view, the concept of deliberative democracy is being misused as a legitimating device for a politics of patriarchy and hierarchy, which is the opposite of the meaning of the term in the European and US sense. This article attempts to contextualise this debate and show how the efforts by traditional leaders to capture an intermediary position between rural populations and the state is fraught with conflicts and contradictions when it comes to forming a democratic state and society in post-apartheid South Africa.     

21世纪初日本对外目标及外交战略探析

21世纪初期,日本在坚持“普通国家化”既定战略目标的基础上,从国家战略原则、战略重点及国家利益出发,围绕日美同盟、联合国外交、亚洲外交、应对全球气候变化等战略重点,力求以“全方位外交”实现日本国家对外目标及外交战略意图。     

Examining Temporal Associations Between School Connectedness and Early Adolescent Adjustment

This study examined (a) the associations between school connectedness and early adolescent adjustment problems over a 1 year period and (b) the equivalence of these associations across gender. Five hundred middle school students (53.4% female), initially in the 6th and 7th grades, participated in the two-wave study. Results from two-group cross-lagged panel analyses were consistent across boys’ and girls’ data. After controlling for baseline levels of adjustment problems, school connectedness predicted lower levels of early adolescent conduct problems 1 year later. Regarding the opposite direction of associations, and even after baseline levels of school connectedness were taken into account, conduct problems predicted lower levels of subsequent school connectedness. There were no cross-lagged associations between depressive symptoms and school connectedness, although elevated levels of baseline depressive symptoms predicted higher levels of subsequent conduct problems. Findings elaborate previous research by demonstrating that early adolescents actively shape the middle school environment.

Autonomy,Belongingness, and Engagement in School as Contributors to Adolescent Psychological Well-Being

Self-determination theory emphasizes the importance of school-based autonomy and belongingness to academic achievement and psychological adjustment, and the theory posits a model in which engagement in school mediates the influence of autonomy and belongingness on these outcomes. To date, this model has only been evaluated on academic outcomes. Utilizing short-term longitudinal data (5-month timeframe) from a set of secondary schools in the rural Midwest (N = 283, M age = 15.3, 51.9% male, 86.2% White), we extend the model to include a measure of positive adjustment (i.e., hope). We also find a direct link between peer-related belongingness (i.e., peer support) and positive adjustment that is not mediated by engagement in school. A reciprocal relationship between academic autonomy, teacher-related belongingness (i.e., teacher support) and engagement in learning is supported, but this reciprocal relationship does not extend to peer-related belongingness. The implications of these findings for secondary schools are discussed.

社会工作者提升青少年自尊的策略——基于生态系统理论的分析

个体在青春期的发展任务是建立良好的自我同一性,而自尊的高低对于青少年自我概念和自我认同的形成起着关键作用。因此,社会工作者开展青少年服务的重点是帮助青少年提升自尊感。生态系统理论作为社工介入的理论依据,强调社工要以整体的视角分析问题,从个体与周围环境的互动入手,使服务对象与其所处的系统之间达到平衡协调。在实务工作中,社工可以从微观系统、中间系统、外部系统和宏观系统等多个层面进行干预,协助青少年提升个体自尊,强化其社会适应能力。