Veto power and power-sharing: insights from Burundi (2000–2018)

Veto power is a key institutional pillar of consociational power-sharing. However, the literature is divided on its impact for institutional functionality. While the founding father of consociational theory, Arend Lijphart, expects veto rights to be exercised sparingly by segmental elites, more recent scholarship emphasizes the need for restrictions (in terms of veto players, veto issues, veto points and procedure) in order to avoid abusive and disruptive veto practice. Burundi’s transition from ethnic conflict to ethnic pacification was strongly based on the use of military and political power-sharing, including consociationalism. This article examines the design of veto rights and their practice in Burundi over the past two decades. The analysis confirms that the institutional design of veto power matters, but it counters the hypothesis that a too enabling veto design induces the abuse of veto rights and disrupts consociational functionality. The Burundi case-study shows that the impact and “shelf-life” of veto rights are best understood by taking into consideration the intersection of veto power with other power-sharing institutions and practices, both formal and informal.     

The role of criminal record in the federal sentencing guidelines

In this paper my concern is with the collective moral responsibility of criminal investigators for the outcomes of their investigations, bearing in mind that it is important to distinguish collective moral responsibility from, and relate it to, individual moral responsibility. In what sense, if any, are police detectives individually and collectively morally responsible for their success (or, for that matter, their failure) in gathering sufficient evidence to identify, arrest, and charge an offender who has committed a serious crime? Alternatively, in what sense are they morally responsible in cases where they identify, arrest, and charge an innocent person? And in what sense, if any, are police detectives individually and collectively morally responsible for the ultimate outcome of the trial, the finding by the courts of someone they have investigated and charged with a serious crime to be guilty or innocent?     

马来西亚中小企业的发展路径与政策调整——一个制度变迁的分析

发展中小企业是金融危机后马来西亚经济政策的一个显著的调整.本文从马来西亚中小企业发展路径人手,分析了造成马国二元性产业组织结构的制度因素.结合制度变迁理论,文章探讨了马国政府在调整中小企业政策过程中所面临的组织成本、预期收益与有效的制度设计思路,并指出由于制度变迁的路径依赖性,马来西亚中小企业的发展将会是一个渐进的过程.     

The Impact of Competing Institutional Pressures and Logics on the Use of Performance Measurement in Hybrid Universities

Abstract

This study contributes to the current debate on competing institutional pressures and logics and performance measurement practices in hybrid universities and examines how shifts in logics have affected performance measurement practices at the organizational and individual levels. It draws upon the theoretical lenses of institutional theory and adopts a longitudinal case study methodology based on participant observations and retrospective interviews. The findings show that universities and academic workers are affected by external pressures related to higher education that include government regulations and control of the state (state pressure), the expectations of the professional norms and collegiality of the academic community (academic pressures), and the need to comply with international standards and market mechanisms (market pressures). Academic workers operate in an organizational context in which conflicting conditions from both academic and business logics co-exist. The results indicate that institutional pressures and logics related to the higher education field and organizational context shape the use of universities’ performance measurement practices and result in diverse solutions. While previous literature has focused mainly on competing logics and the tensions they may generate, this study shows that, in a university context, potentially conflicting logics may co-exist and create robust combinations.     

文化认同视角下的社会主义核心价值体系建设

价值认同是文化认同的基础和核心。伴随着中国社会的转型与现代化建设的推进,当今中国社会价值多元化和价值认同多维化日趋明显,这使当下人们的文化认同乃至社会认同和国民认同面临危机。文化认同视角下的社会主义核心价值体系建设问题是一个复杂的课题,但具有重要性与必要性。社会主义核心价值体系的构建对文化认同以及社会良性运行具有促进作用。与社会主义核心价值体系相配套的社会制度体系建设等是其构建的可能路径。     

论东北老工业基地振兴中的民生与社会和谐向度

作为社会主义社会本质属性的"社会和谐",指的就是社会诸矛盾以及矛盾的诸方面之间,在一定的、具体的社会历史条件下因相互依存、相互融合所达到的矛盾化解状态。"民生",指的则是普通民众或百姓的生存与生活。"民生"与"社会和谐"之间具有重要的关联性,民生问题的凸显正是社会不和谐的一个重要方面,而民生问题的解决则是构建和谐社会的关键。东北地区社会和谐的构建,往往取决于能否切实解决普遍性的和特殊性的民生问题。不过,在解决东北老工业基地民生问题的时候,重中之重是一定要结合东北地区自身的区位优势来兴办实业,广开就业渠道。从某种意义上来讲,能否发挥出地域特色来兴办实业,是解决东北地区民生问题和构建社会和谐的关键。     

Legitimacy and Social Impact in the Context of Changing Public Cultural Organizations

This article explores an organization's practices, values, and its role in society within a transformed legal status. The article clarifies the role of the organizational form in engagement with society and outlines the connections between different types of legitimacy by elaborating concepts of neo-institutional theory and cultural policy. A conceptual map of the institutional elements, cultural values, and legitimacy is presented. The analysis is based on the Estonian Russian Theater and concludes that an organization can influence the basis of its legitimacy. The management's aspirations to balance values and deal with cognitive legitimacy may lead to rearranging the institutional framework.     

代际公正的制度伦理建构

代际公正的实现以有效的社会制度为依赖条件。制度伦理设计与制度伦理实施是保障代际公正实现的两个必不可少的方面。制度伦理设计以代际关系的可持续发展为重要目标,以对弱势群体的伦理关怀为突破口。公正是制度伦理实施的根本要求,它包含普适原则与忠实原则。     

当前两岸制度性经济一体化的经济可行性考察

两岸当前在经济相互依存性、经济市场规模、经济技术发展水平、经贸政策可协调性等经济层面,已初步具备进行一定程度与形式的经济一体化安排,以实现预期经济效应所需的一些基本条件;但是,当前不平衡的两岸经济基础条件决定了两岸制度性经济一体化应循序渐进。为顺应经济全球化与WTO多边贸易自由化发展形势的需要,当前,如果政治条件许可,两岸经济体宜从内容广泛的新型自由贸易区形式着手,进而迈向更为高级的一体化形式。     

路径依赖理论及其应用研究：一个文献综述

诺斯的制度变迁理论引介到中国以后,"路径依赖"成为日益流行的概念。但国内对"路径依赖"的认识存在偏差,因此有必要对路径依赖的相关文献进行梳理, 对基本的概念进行深入的剖析。本文从经济学的视角出发,简要地回顾了路径依赖理论在不同领域的研究进展并加以评析,以期对进一步的应用研究提供借鉴。