Is social partnership the way forward for Indian trade unions? Evidence from public services

Since the start of economic reforms in 1991, India's trade unions have found themselves increasingly excluded from the political process and marginalized in collective bargaining. Using survey and interview data from the Maharashtra affiliates of two national union federations, this article examines whether social partnership with employers is a viable option for Indian unions to regain influence and protect workers' interests, as some analysts have advocated. Its findings indicate that despite Maharashtra's supportive regulatory framework, which in theory should facilitate cooperative industrial relations, the realities of workplace employment relations – coupled with state indifference and adverse judicial interventions – weaken labour's prospects for meaningful social partnership.     

Expanding and Diversifying South Mediterranean Exports through Trade Facilitation

This article explores whether trade facilitation – i.e. improved and simplified trade procedures – could be an important part of the reform agenda of the Barcelona Process. Adopting a Southern perspective by focusing on exports to the European Union (EU) from non‐EU Mediterranean countries, it tests whether the efficiency of trade procedures affects (i) bilateral volumes of exports and (ii) the number of products exported. The findings suggest that trade facilitation could lead to substantially increased export volumes and export diversification.     

Europe’s Role in China’s Transition to Superpower Status

What can Western powers do today to ease an eventual global power shift resulting from the rise of superpowers such as China? This paper suggests that part of the answer lies in the same power-binding institutions that allowed the US to rise post WWII without threatening its allies. Continuity in the rules of the global system during a great power transition would promote stability by reducing uncertainty, as well as the extent to which material power can be used coercively. I argue that current superpowers, the EU among them, have an interest in ensuring an equitable distribution of the gains from cooperation. While distributional issues are usually treated in normative terms, they take on very real, material meaning in the context of a great power transition. With this in mind, I look at three aspects of the current global institutional framework that would benefit from reform: international trade and aid, institutional design, and institutional proliferation. In all three cases, a more equal distribution of the gains from institutions today increases the odds that those institutional arrangements will remain in the future.     

金丽使节“贡赐贸易”探析

金朝与高丽间的使节贸易分为四种类型,即贡赐贸易、私觌贸易、自由贸易和走私贸易。其中,金朝与高丽间的贡赐贸易存在＂三年一大聘＂的规则。同时,金丽两国对贡赐贸易的态度不尽相同。金朝看重的是在贡赐贸易中要始终保持其对高丽的宗主国地位,而高丽更加看重的是其所得的经济利益。在这两种不同态度的影响下,两国交流的内容也必然有所不同。     

Making it Work: Supporting Group Representation in a Liberal Democratic Organization

Providing oppressed social groups with rights of representation is one suggestion for counteracting bias towards privileged groups in society. In order to counteract a bias towards their white, male, heterosexual, able‐bodied membership, a number of trade unions have provided social groups with resources to self‐organize and represent their group interests to mainstream decision‐makers. However, enabling group representation at the same time as individual representation is problematic in trade unions that are organized along liberal democratic lines. This case study of UNISON shows that while the union supported the self‐organization of oppressed social groups, these groups were excluded from matters affecting pay and working conditions. The article argues that this outcome reflects the difficulty of reconciling the representation of social groups with the representation of individuals in a liberal democratic organization. The implications of this organizational framework are illustrated by contrasting the organizing strategies of two women's self‐organized groups. While one strategy (the organization of women shop stewards) fits the prevailing organizational structure, the other (the organization of all women) attempts to be different and may have more potential for counteracting the bias towards privileged groups in the future. The article argues that a radical organizational framework is required if oppressed social groups are to gain real power within trade unions.     

会展业竞争力与省际贸易壁垒研究——基于中国省级数据的实证分析

现代会展业作为一种区域间联系的纽带,已日渐成为省际经贸合作的重要载体,正确认识会展业对贸易的激励作用有利于带动中国省际贸易与国际贸易的协调发展。文章通过构建会展业竞争力模型,衡量了中国29个省市的会展业竞争力水平,并对会展业竞争力与省际贸易壁垒的相关性进行了检验。实证结果表明,会展业竞争力与省际贸易壁垒之间存在负相关关系,会展业的繁荣有助于降低我国的省际贸易壁垒,推进省际贸易发展和国内经济一体化,缓解国内市场分割的现状。     

外贸函电的拒绝策略及语用分析

拒绝是威胁听者积极面子的言语行为,因而要采取各种策略进行补救。外贸函电的拒绝策略分为直接策略和规约策略。规约策略由于同时遵守了合作原则和礼貌原则,从而减少了对于对方面子的威胁,因而在外贸函电中被广为使用。     

工人对工会的“不满”——来自湖北省三家国有汽车企业的实证研究

本研究基于对于H省三家国有汽车生产企业512名职工的问卷调查和30名管理者、工会官员和工人的半结构访谈的基础上完成.文章描述了职工对于企业工会的总体评价;职工个人特征与其对工会不同评价的关系.尽管工人中明显存在着对工会的不满,但绝大多数工人认为工会是必要的.文章讨论了职工对工会不满的表现和他们对于工会的不同期望.文章提出,仅仅将工人组织进工会是不够的,只要满足工人的期望,工人才可以真正地"保持"在工会中.     

协调对华经贸政策的角色：从总统到中美高层经济对话

冷战后，美国在对华经贸政策的制定过程中，包括总统、国会和各行政部门在内的政策主张不一，不时发生对抗，反映出其部门间协调性机制的缺位。近年来，美国财政部牵头下的中美战略经济对话和国务院领导下的中美高层对话构成了中关经济对话的新型机制，弥补了美方对华经贸政策制定中用以协调本国国内各部门政策立场的制度性缺陷，为稳定和助推两国经贸发展提供了一个非常必要的有利机制。     

论行业语境下高校校友资源的开发与利用

校友资源是高校最富饶的人才资源。本文试图在行业语境中，讨论高校发展与校友资源之间的辩证关系，并以此为基础，提出开发和利用高校校友资源的对策。