The story of two administrative states: state capacity in Hong Kong and Singapore

Abstract

Hong Kong and Singapore are both typical administrative states with an efficient administration and a vibrant market, which had achieved rapid economic growth in the past decades. This article examines the trajectory of their state capacity, highlighting recent problems and challenges. Based on a conceptual framework that captures and links up four dimensions – namely polity, bureaucracy, economy and civil society – their commonalities and differences in response are discussed. Their experience should be of particular relevance to transitional authoritarian states in Asia such as China, which faces similar challenges to reform in the arenas of politics, administration, economics and society.     

Conceptualizing economic security and governance: China confronts globalization

Abstract

With the expansion and deepening of globalization, as well as China's entry into the World Trade Organization, the nexus between economic growth and national security has gained prominence in China since the mid-1990s. How to ensure socio-economic security while maintaining its robust economic growth is now the most serious concern of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese government. This paper addresses three questions: first, it explores why and how the transformation of economic growth and national security as two separate logics to a single domain evolved conceptually over the past two decades in China; second, what kinds of insecurities are generated by China's robust economic growth coupled with the expansion and deepening of globalization, and in which way and to what extent do they challenge China's government; third, what kinds of mechanisms or policy instruments have been adopted by China's government to address emerging economic insecurities while maintaining robust economic growth. The paper concludes that in the case of China, globalization has posed new challenges to economic security, but given that economic insecurity has its particular salience in individual countries, national institutional adjustment or adaptation becomes increasingly important for each country to govern in the interests of economic security while maintaining economic growth.     

Norm subsidiarity and institutional cooperation: explaining the straits of Malacca anti-piracy regime

Abstract

Given competing interests among the three littoral states of Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, what explains the nature and timing of their cooperative arrangement in combating maritime piracy in the Straits of Malacca in the post-2004 period? This observation is especially puzzling because the material and strategic interests of these actors generally did not change during the time period that witnessed increased cooperation. We argue that key developments of the anti-piracy regime in the Straits of Malacca cannot be fully explained by rationalist approaches, which traditionally stresses material and national interests of states. By critically engaging constructivist approaches, this paper posits that Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia engaged in a process of norm subsidiarity. Through norm subsidiarity, relatively weak states get together to develop their own rules to prevent their exclusion or marginalization from institutions of global governance by more powerful actors. The littoral states engaged norm subsidiarity to resist extra-regional attempts to manage piracy in the Straits of Malacca. These extra-regional security proposals triggered a powerful regional cognitive prior, providing the impetus for an indigenous response, leading consequently to a collective cooperative effort to deal with the threat of piracy.     

Decentralisation,Governance and the Structure of Local Political Institutions: Lessons for Reform?

Many governments are devolving power to elected local councils, hoping to improve service delivery and citizen representation by bringing officials closer to the people. While these decentralisation reforms hold the promise of improved governance, they also present national and sub-national leaders with a complex array of options about how to structure newly empowered local political institutions. This article draws on cross-national experience and the latest research to identify the trade-offs inherent in structuring local political institutions. The study's specific interest is in the impact of strong, locally elected councils on governance and representation. Proceeding from an empirical basis that competitive elections are vital for the legitimacy and efficiency of local political institutions, the analysis first questions the impact of four institutional features – central versus local control, local executive versus local council authority, local council structure, and the role of parties – on service provision and fiscal solvency. The article's second section analyses the impact of decentralisation on political representation, with a particular focus on the role of institutional design in combating the threat of extremist parties. A final section summarises empirical findings and advances some policy-relevant conclusions.     

Book reviews

The Sources of Democratic Consolidation by Gerard Alexander, reviewer: Eddie Hyland; Towards Holistic Governance by Perri 6, Diana Leach, Kimberly Selzer and Gerry Stoker, reviewer: Peter J. Laugharne; Democracy and War: The End of an Illusion? by Errol A. Henderson, reviewer: Adam Jones; Referendum Democracy: Citizens, Elites and Deliberation in Referendum Campaigns edited by Matthew Mendelsohn and Andrew Parkin, reviewer: Fiachra Kennedy; Mapping the Present: Heidegger, Foucault and the Project of a Spatial History by Stuart Elden, reviewer: Steve Buckler; Citizenship, Labour Markets and Democratization by Louise Haagh, reviewer: Jennifer Holmes; Economic Policy Reform: The Second Stage edited by Anne O. Krueger, reviewer: Carlos Santiso; The Press in Transition: A Comparative Study of Nicaragua, South Africa, Jordan and Russia by Adam Jones, reviewer: Mark Wheeler; Democracy and the Public Space in Latin America by Leonardo Avritzer, reviewer: George Philip; Democratic Control of the Military in Postcommunist Europe: Guarding the Guards edited by Andrew Cottey, Timothy Edmunds and Anthony Forster, reviewer: Bill Mikhail; Regional Russia in Transition: Studies from Yaroslavl edited by Jeffrey W. Hahn, reviewer: Bill Mikhail; Out of the Red. Building Capitalism and Democracy in Postcommunist Europe by Mitchell A. Orenstein, reviewer: Henri Vogt; Explaining Irish Democracy by Bill Kissane, reviewer: Niamh Hardiman; Indira Gandhi, the 'Emergency' and Indian Democracy by P.N. Dhar, reviewer: Vernon Hewitt; Government and Politics in Southeast Asia edited by John Funston, reviewer: Mark R. Thompson; Democratization and Welfare State Development in Taiwan by Christian Aspalter, reviewer: James D. Seymour; Religion and Politics in the Developing World: Explosive Interactions edited by Rolin G. Mainuddin Transforming East Asian Domestic and International Politics. The Impact of Economy and Globalization edited by Robert W. Compton, Jr, reviewer: Jeff Haynes; Beyond State Crisis? Post-Colonial Africa and Post-Soviet Eurasia in Comparative Perspective edited by Mark Beissinger and Crawford Young, reviewer: Ian Taylor; The National Question in Nigeria: Comparative Perspectives edited by Abubakar Momoh and Said Adejumobi, reviewer: Rotimi T. Suberu; A Strategic Vision for Africa: The Kampala Movement by Francis M. Deng and I. William Zartman     

论我国生态损害责任保险制度的构建

生态损害责任险在我国既缺乏立法支撑又缺乏实践经验,我国生态损害责任险的构建将会面临诸多问题,包括生态损害风险的可保性、投保模式、保险费率、保险限额、保险机构及索赔机制等.我国应当尽快构建生态损害责任保险制度,逐步提升生态损害风险的评估技术水平以解决可保性问题,并在风险预防及有效填补损害原则的指导下构建我国生态损害责任保险制度.     

英国执行机构改革及其对我们的启示

英国执行机构改革的国际地位及其当前在我国产生的影响使其备受瞩目。本文对执行机构改革背景及针对的问题、执行机构体现出的组织模式多样化原则、执行机构的管理体制、执行机构的改革趋势等进行系统描述讨论。其目的在于阐明 :执行机构改革的核心理念是机构类型和组织模式的多样化 ,其性质是一场管理革命而非机构的革命。在此基础上 ,就英国执行机构改革对我国的启迪提出一些个人看法。     

Institutional Grievances and Right-Wing Extremism: Voting for Golden Dawn in Greece

This article examines the effect of institutional grievances on extreme right voting by using an original survey to analyse voter support for the Greek Golden Dawn (GD). The article first examines various theories of extreme-right voting and then develops the concept of institutional grievances. Using structural equation modeling, it shows that that the strongest correlates of GD voting are those capturing institutional grievances. Economic grievances have a limited and cultural grievances a moderate effect on GD voting. The article compares the findings with those of the broader literature on extreme-right voting. It concludes with some suggestions on how to link the findings with broader developments in Europe.     

The social order of Chinese capitalism: socio-economic uncertainty,communist party rule and economic development, 1990–2000

China's financially repressed economy remains characterized by a distinctly resilient political structure (the Chinese Communist Party, CCP) that penetrates both increasingly rational ‘private’ (market) and ‘public’ (state) organizations. How are we to understand the financial system's role in this persistently illiberal yet marketizing political economy? This paper develops a theory of China's financial reform as the management of socio-economic uncertainty by the CCP. Since the early 1990s, the financial system has formed a locus of the CCP's capacity both to manage and to propagate socio-economic uncertainty through the path of reform. The unique path of financial reform in China should thus not be viewed solely in terms of ‘partial’ or ‘failed’ free-market reform, but rather as the product of a more concerted vision of how the financial system enabled a mode of economic growth that combined the drive for accumulation of capital with the distinctive legacies of China's post-1989 socio-political circumstances.     

Catalysts and barriers: Explaining electoral reform in Western Europe

Most accounts of electoral system change tend to consider it as being driven by purely partisan interests. Political parties are expected to change the electoral rules as a way to maximise gains or minimise losses. However, little work has been done on the question of why electoral reforms are so scarce in spite of these potential benefits. In this study, a wide range of both factors that may foster (‘catalysts’) and ones that may hinder (‘barriers’) the change of electoral institutions are investigated. A statistical analysis is performed of 16 West European countries from 1975 to 2005, covering 23 reforms of the proportionality of their electoral systems. It is found that procedural barriers are more effective for explaining the likelihood of electoral reforms than (most of) the catalysts. Additionally, there are indications that courts may play a more active role in triggering reform than previously thought.