The Development of Competitive Industries: The Role of State Government Actors

Despite widespread adoption of Porter's Industrial Cluster Theory as a policy development framework by federal and state governments over the past decade, Australia remains significantly below the OECD average in terms of its industries' economic contributions to real wealth creation ( Brown 2000 ; OECD 1998 ). The major cause cited for this relatively poor performance has been inability of key government officials to implement effective industry policy that simultaneously avoids de facto protectionism and distortion of competition. This article provides an insight into the key policy decisions undertaken by the Tasmanian state government that coincided with development of an internationally successful shipbuilding industry in that state. As such, this article provides a reflection on policy initiatives that may be valuable for government officials elsewhere.     

Effectiveness of private finance initiatives (PFI): study of private financing for the provision of capital assets for schools

The study reported in this paper explores how effective Public Private Partnerships (PPP) have been as critical providers of capital assets within the state education sector in the UK. Specifically, the research investigates the impact on educational provision of the UK government's contentious £43 billion Private Finance Initiative (PFI). The inquiry focuses on 27 English Local Education Authorities (LEAs) currently or recently involved in PFI. The investigation examines the effect of PFI's on LEA decision‐making processes and discusses these authorities assessment of the UK government's current PFI strategy. An evaluation of PFI as a source of sustainable finance is reported as well as recommendations made for LEAs currently considering adoption of PFI. Through such analysis, this study seeks to de‐layer and ascertain the influence of complex external environmental influences and stakeholders that need to be taken into account in order to make PPPs work. The paper concludes by presenting the critical considerations for enhancing the working relationship between private and public sector partners. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Popular initiatives in Uruguay: confidence votes on government or political loyalties?

Among stable democracies, Uruguay is one of the most prodigious users of direct democratic devices at the national level. If we analyze the relationship between the share of “yes” votes received by any popular initiative and the share of votes received by politicians who politically supported it, we observe a strikingly high positive correlation of 0.9. Explaining this correlation is the central objective of this paper. Three alternative hypotheses are plausible: First, such a correlation could be a spurious association due to aggregation bias. Second, PI results could be reflections of economic conditions. Third, Uruguayans are extremely consistent in following their political parties' advice. This paper finds that when Uruguayans go to the polls to vote on a popular initiative, their vote choice is primarily the result of their party loyalty, rather than their reaction to economic conditions. In testing my hypotheses I rely on the following statistical methods: King's “Ecological Inference,” multivariate regression, and path analysis. The data come from seven popular initiatives in Uruguay since 1985 (133 observations).     

对当前高校教育和管理工作的若干思考——从科学发展观的视角

科学发展观是坚持以人为本,全面、协调可持续的发展观,这是我们高等教育事业必须坚持和认真贯彻的指导思想。从坚持科学发展观的视角,重新审视高校的学生教育和管理工作,会发觉我们的工作存在许多的不足,走了许多的弯路,甚至存在一些失误。应从当前学生教育和管理工作几个实际问题出发,通过总结经验教训,深化我们的认识,改进我们的工作方法,找到更加科学合理的新举措,从而推进高校学生管理工作向更加正确、健康、科学的方向发展。     

结果导向型援助及其超越 ——兼论中国国际发展合作与全球发展话语权

援助是一国外交政策的重要工具。冷战期间,美苏对外援助的主要目的是争夺盟友,对援助成效的评估主要是以过程为导向,其标准是援助的投入是否成功使受援国留在本方阵营。冷战后,西方国家内部出现援助预算的合法性危机,对援助成效的讨论也逐渐从过程导向转向结果导向。进入21世纪,联合国千年发展目标和2030年可持续发展目标为发展援助的结果评估提供了重要参照。结果导向型援助提高了中国对外援助的可见性,但其存在的弊端和南北垂直援助特征需要中国制定超越援助的新时代国际发展合作战略。联合国2030年可持续发展议程吸收了结果导向型援助的积极因素,但这也为超越该理念奠定了基础。新时代中国国际发展合作与2030年议程的深入对接为中国突破西方战略围堵和实现中华民族伟大复兴提供了重要机遇。全球发展倡议与"一带一路"倡议、人类命运共同体理念和生态文明思想共同构成中国全球发展话语权的基础,并逐步超越了结果导向型援助,为落实2030年议程指明了方向。     

Participatory Initiatives and Political Representation: The Case of Local Councillors in Sweden

The health of political parties and the institutions of representative democracy have been extensively questioned during the last decade due to evidence of a widespread decline in voting turnout, political trust, and party membership as well as identification. An often-proposed, but also often-questioned, strategy to strengthen representative democracy is for political institutions to offer alternative forms of political participation through so-called participatory initiatives. The literature suggests that participatory initiatives will have little impact on representative democracy if no adaptation among political representatives is apparent. This paper explores the consistency between participatory initiatives in Swedish municipalities and the attitudes, practices and role-taking of local councillors, comparing pioneer municipalities where extensive numbers of participatory initatives have been executed vis-à-vis hesitator municipalities where few initiatives have been implemented. The study indicates that local participatory initiatives may stimulate political representation by creating new channels for citizen input and communication between citizens and representatives that are supported by local councillors in the pioneer municipalities. However, the core roles of parties and councillors in representative democracy appear not to be challenged by these initiatives, being similar in both groups of municipalities. The article is concluded by a discussion of the implications of these results for the function of participatory initiatives in local democracy.     

Citizens’ Initiatives: How Local Governments Fill their Facilitative Role

In the context of drastic cutbacks many Dutch municipalities consider citizens’ initiatives (CIs) as an attractive alternative for municipal policies aimed at improving the livability and safety in neighbourhoods, simultaneously building responsible citizenship. In this paper we combine different theoretical perspectives to analyse the institutional settings in which CIs are being realised, and how municipalities try to facilitate such initiatives. Municipalities can do this by either trying to structure the relevant networks or by various forms of process management. This analysis sheds light on how municipalities use a variety of instruments to mobilise citizens to participate in CIs. In using such instruments they can influence various factors (like motivations, personal resources, social capital and expected responsiveness; cf. Lowndes et al.’s CLEAR model) that increase the likelihood of civic engagement.     

论工会在构建和谐劳动关系中的作用与对策

工会是劳动关系矛盾的产物,是职工合法权益的追求者、代表者、维护者。可见,工会组织与生俱来就承担着协调劳动关系的历史职责。为此,工会组织理当在构建企业的和谐劳动关系中,切实履行组织的维护职能,努力搭建温馨和谐的工作平台,开通关心、帮扶、资助渠道,维护职工的合法权益,从而有效地引导和激励职工为企业的可持续发展发挥自己的聪明才智。     

Vigilante justice in post-communist Europe

Five cases in which the names of former secret informers who supplied information to the communist secret political police were unofficially disclosed are discussed in terms of the motivations of their authors, their timing relative to 1989 and their countries’ lustration and file access legislation, and the information they make available to the general public. After contrasting them with civil society efforts to promote transitional justice and unofficial truth projects, it becomes evident that these unofficial disclosures were animated by revenge as much as the quest for unveiling the truth about communist repression.     

Direct Democracy and Political Efficacy Reconsidered

Some studies have contended that direct democracy has secondary benefits unrelated to its impact on policy. In particular, recent scholarship claims that the American ballot initiative process enhances political efficacy. We began with concerns about the logic and empirical methods underlying this conclusion. We connect this research to the broader political psychology literature and in doing so find little reason to expect a positive relationship between direct democracy and efficacy. Our other contribution is to subject the empirical claim to more extensive testing. In contrast to prior research, we draw from multiple data sources and consider sampling methods. The results consistently fail to indicate that direct democracy generally enhances political efficacy. We find cause for skepticism about the secondary benefits of the ballot initiative process.