Millennium Development Goals: Impact on national strategies and spending

This study reviews the post‐2005 national development strategies of 50 countries from diverse income groups, geographical locations, human development tiers and official development assistance (ODA) levels to assess Millennium Development Goal (MDG) absorption into development planning. Reviewing Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) and non‐PRSP national strategies, the majority of the development plans have either adopted the MDGs as planning tools or ‘localized’ them in a meaningful way, using diverse adaptation strategies. A high correlation is detected between the income group, PRSP status and ODA reliance of countries, and their propensity to incorporate MDGs in their planning instruments. However, MDG alignment is not coterminous with greater pro‐poor or MDG‐oriented policies. Countries that have not integrated MDGs into their national plans were as likely to allocate government funds to social sectors as MDG aligners.     

大学科技园在长三角区域经济转型中的地位与作用研究

长三角地区拥有18家国家级大学科技园,占全国总数的四分之一多。其机制新、专业性强,主导产业特色鲜明,发展形式与开发方式丰富多样。该地区要实现经济发展方式的实质性转变、社会结构的根本性转型和自主创新能力的实质性增强,就要充分发挥大学科技园在本区域经济转型中的地位和作用。首先,要将大学科技园自身发展,作为长三角区域经济转型中的重要成长极和源动力;其次,大学科技园通过与所在地政府产业政策的融合,与国家高新技术开发区、经济技术开发区对接,助推其＂二次创业＂,实现区域经济转型;再次,通过建立虚拟大学科技园、实施一园多点、大学科技园自建产业化基地,以及园外企业反向在大学科技园内设立合作研发机构等形式,发挥大学科技园在区域经济社会发展中的孵化与辐射作用。为此,要在进一步强化大学科技园自身能力建设的同时,强化长三角区域内大学科技园之间的横向交流与合作;不断创新结合方式,探索大学科技园与区域经济转型对接的全新机制与模式。     

Vignettes of Communities in Action: an exploration of participatory methodologies in promoting community development in Nigeria

Three interconnected arguments are explored in this article.It begins by a reconsideration of community development, notfrom official and agency definitions but from what makes developmentreal and satisfies not only physical needs, but also the spiritualas well as psychological. The second part looks at Theatre forDevelopment (TFD) as a system of actualizing the participatoryagenda so direly required, so often talked about and very consistentlyignored in community development. I argue that TFD in its performativeapproach to discussing issues, forging alliances and communitycohesion contributes to community development. In this instance,we witness TFD as a community art for instigating participationand change. I also talk about how in combination with otherparticipatory methods, TFD can be empowering. This combinationis what I call methodological conversation and the aestheticsthat defines this conversation involves respect, dialogue, inclusionand flexibility. The case study section narrates the way inwhich this methodology has been applied in the turbulent environmentof the Niger Delta in Nigeria. I argue that TFD, ParticipatoryLearning and Action (PLA) and Questionnaire methods were thetriumvirate of approaches that allowed us to understand issuesand for communities to listen to us. The challenge remains howto define and develop an enduring relationship between researchers,community and government who may have the wherewithal for action.     

Can vigilance‐focused governance reforms improve service delivery? The case of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) in Bihar,India

Child undernourishment is a major challenge in India even though the government has, since 1975, been running the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), one of the largest programmes of this type in the world. Ever since its inception, this scheme has been marred by various governance challenges: widespread corruption, absenteeism and targeting problems, more visible in states like Bihar than in others. The ruling dispensation in Bihar has instituted major reforms to tackle these problems. These include regular inspection of service delivery centres, strict monitoring of funds, swift disciplinary action and vigilance through community participation. While these reforms are generally accepted as good in theory, research‐based empirical evidence of their impact on the ground is scarce. This article tries to fill this gap through an in‐depth case study of ICDS in Bihar. The findings indicate that, contrary to conventional thinking about good governance, the vigilance‐focused reforms along with community‐based monitoring have not been successful in curbing systemic corruption. The study concludes that alternative approaches are required to resolve the governance problems in ICDS. These include tackling the problems of understaffing and heavy workloads, and providing stronger incentives to the frontline service providers.     

广东省区域协调现状、经验及改进方向

《珠江三角洲地区改革发展规划纲要(2008-2020年)》的批复实施将珠三角地区改革发展上升为国家战略,为广东特别是珠三角地区改革发展确定了前进方向和目标任务。珠三角的发展有其特色,广东省将其分为广佛肇、深莞惠、珠中江三个经济圈来发展。珠三角对口支援粤东西北是广东省独辟的一个区域协调机制,其实施有利于广东省更好更快地发展。     

广州服务全国的战略路径研究

国务院颁布实施的《珠江三角洲地区改革发展规划纲要（2008—2020年）》赋予了广州重大的历史使命,从国家战略层面明确提出要强化广州国家中心城市地位,把广州建设成为服务全国,面向世界的国际大都市。新的发展定位要求广州要肩负起服务全国的使命。在此背景下,本文分析了广州服务全国的基础现状,提出了广州服务全国的发展目标与战略,最后就广州服务全国提出五大战略路径。     

Twenty‐Five Years After the Fall of Communism: The Cultural Peculiarities of Fighting Corruption and Building Civil Society in Romania

Even when the domestic political system has undergone reform, it sometimes seems unlikely that any outside force can introduce enough of a “carrot and stick” approach to persuade a country to maintain momentum. This article is concerned with understanding the cultural peculiarities of fighting corruption and building civil society in Romania, where despite the tough EU monitoring and domestic anti‐sleaze efforts, corruption, and low trust remain significant problems. Many of the theorists in the post‐communist literature argue that socioeconomic factors and the communist legacy have weakened post‐communist civil society in the region. This article explores the question whether corruption has replaced the legacy of communism as a factor undermining trust in others and government in Romania and presents an examination of the association between corruption and post‐communist civil society. The article argues that future research needs to switch focus from discussing Romanian social, political, and cultural behaviors from a longue durée perspective to evaluating the impact of political corruption on trust and, hence, civil society in Romania.     

Management of the international development aid system: The Case of Tanzania

This article tries to clarify Government behaviours as to how to manage aid in Tanzania. Contrary to the Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donor intentions, the development aid structure, carefully constructed under the poverty reduction regime in Tanzania, has led to Tanzanian‐owned initiatives toward a national development plan (NDP). Furthermore, this article shows that, in the process of creating an international development aid system, the Tanzanian Government has learned to manage aid in a recipient‐driven manner not only from DAC donors, but also from China.     

What does Brunei teach us about using Human Development Index rankings as a policy tool?

The Bruneian Government has set an ambitious target to achieve a top 10 ranking on the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) Human Development Index (HDI) by 2035. To achieve its objective (described in a national strategy document called the Wawasan 2035), Brunei's economy needs to grow by 6% to 7%. Is setting an HDI target a good way to govern Brunei's policy‐making? Is it a good way to govern any country's policy‐making? In this article, we look at the role of HDI‐rank targets in economic and fiscal policy. We show that such a headline target (much like a profit target in a private company) automatically sets targets for growth in various economic sectors and fiscal policy targets. As such, HDI‐rank targeting may provide a useful mechanism for co‐ordinating development policies and for monitoring progress against a wide range of development goals using only one number.     

论建设国家中心城市——从国家战略层面全面提升广州科学发展实力的研究

国务院批准实施的《珠江三角洲地区改革发展规划纲要（2008—2020）》,从国家战略层面明确了广州作为国家中心城市的战略定位。如何建设国家中心城市、全面提升科学发展实力,成为广州在新的历史条件下的重大使命。本文从广州实际出发,就建设国家中心城市、全面提升科学发展实力进行了理论探讨和实证分析,并提出了相应的对策措施。     

CORRUPTION,TAX EVASION AND THE ROLE OF WAGE INCENTIVES WITH ENDOGENOUS MONITORING TECHNOLOGY

The importance of high salaries to circumvent bureaucratic corruption has been widely recognized in the policy debate. Yet, there appears to be much reluctance when it comes to the implementation. In this paper, we argue that deterring corruption through wage incentives may become prohibitively expensive that the government finds it optimal to accept higher net revenues at the expense of honesty. Deviating from the existing literature, we set an endogenous monitoring technology that allows us to capture the dual role of auditing, as a complement with and as a substitute for wage incentives to deter bribery. We find that the government is better‐off either completely eliminating corruption or accepting corruption by offering wages lower than the market wage. Offering public wage premium that does not deter bribery is suboptimal. When it is optimal to deter bribery, the government can do it either through wage incentives or monitoring. The role of wage incentives decreases in societies with higher level of dishonesty. (JEL D73, H26, J33, J41)     

论建设国家中心城市的五大关系

《珠江三角洲地区改革发展规划纲要（2008—2020年）》提出将广州建设为国家中心城市,这是广州开创城市发展新局面的重大机遇。本文首先从理论层面对国家中心城市的概念和内涵进行分析,并总结广州建设国家中心城市的伟大意义,然后结合广州发展实际,对广州未来发展定位和城市功能作具体解析,最后抽炼出广州建设国家中心城市过程中的五组重大关系。     

The Career Development Facilitator Project: Then and Now

The National Career Development Association (NCDA) has consistently been involved in the professional training of individuals who provide career development services for youth and adults. It has provided outstanding leadership in the field of career development. NCDA's impact on the training of professionals and paraprofessionals working in the career development field is evident in its support of the Career Development Facilitator (CDF) project and delivery of CDF training. This article provides a history of the CDF project, its development and expansion from national to international use, current developments in the project, and its impact on the careers of those involved.     

Brazil's International Development Co‐operation: Old and New Motivations

Brazil has entered the world of development assistance, but with its own twist. This article argues that Brazil is taking a cross‐government policy approach to the provision of development assistance, and which includes recruitment of business interests. There is a genuine concern with global poverty alleviation in Brazil, but this does not preclude policy‐makers from using aid and development‐related activities to advance national interests. The added quirk that sets Brazil apart from Northern counterparts is that the provision of development assistance offers significant benefits in terms of building up international bureaucratic experience inside the country and helping national firms internationalise their market activities.     

Diaspora Philanthropy in the Context of Policy Coherence for Development: Implications for the post‐2015 Sustainable Development Agenda

Thus far, there has been a dearth of studies that systemically examine the relationship between diaspora philanthropy, the development community and securitised migration regimes. This article addresses this by responding to the research question, “How coherent are securitised migration policies with diaspora philanthropy and the transformative development objectives that characterise the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda?” The analysis is based on the concept of policy coherence for development (PCD). The article compares the simultaneous regionalization and securitization of European Union and United States migration policies and contends that these policy strategies undermine diaspora philanthropy, development partnerships and transformative development. Normative change must be introduced in order to establish coherence between globalized migration policies and diaspora philanthropy objectives. Normative coherence for development can be achieved by introducing principles from the SDG's and the Busan Development Partnership Agreement amongst other international development agendas, into migration policy‐making at the national and regional levels.     

Making the Human Development Index (HDI) gender-sensitive

The Human Development Index (HDI), introduced in 1990 by the UN Development Program, offers an alternative to the gross national product and consumer utility in its ability to measure relative socioeconomic progress over time and identify priorities for policy intervention. On the other hand, as an overall development index, the HDI is unable to reveal disparities based on gender, race, social class, and region. Its failure to incorporate disaggregated variables has impeded government awareness that particular subgroups experience very different levels of socioeconomic development concealed by the HDI. Only when the HDI is more gender-sensitive will it be an accurate measure of human development. The creators of the HDI are urged to ensure that their data base of critical measures such as employment, income, mortality, education, consumption, and housing are disaggregated by sex. Moreover, models should assign an economic value to women's unpaid domestic labor as well as their underpaid, under-reported work in the formal and informal sectors.     

The rising importance of local government in the United States: Recent research and challenges for sociology

Local governments have gained increasing responsibilities for public well‐being according to a variety of social science literatures. The rise of the local state is often seen as a part of a broader process of state‐rescaling or downward shift in national governance under neoliberal development. Yet attention to local government lags in political sociology, which conventionally elevates the national federal state as its object of interest. I summarize four recent bodies of literature that address the new role of local governments. Taken together, these literatures speak to different sides of the debate about whether the rise of local government is detrimental to citizens' well‐being. I explain how greater sociological attention to the local state can contribute to this debate as well as inform political sociologists' understanding of the U.S. nation‐state itself and provide directions for future research.     

Out of the shadows: Classifying economies by the extent and nature of employment in the informal economy

Given the prevalence of informality, this article proposes a typology for classifying countries by the extent and nature of employment in the informal economy, rather than by the composition of their formal economies. The author analyses ILO data on employment in the informal economy in 36 developing countries, and shows that there is a significant correlation between cross‐national variations in the degree and intensity of informalization and cross‐national variations in social and economic indicators such as levels of GNP per capita, corruption, poverty, taxation and social contributions. The article concludes by discussing implications for theory and policy.     

Structuring Transnational Spaces of Identity,Rights and Power in the Niger Delta of Nigeria

This paper critically examines the ways in which global–local flows interpenetrate each other and mesh, simultaneously undermining and empowering the forces of local resistance, using the Niger Delta as a case study. It explores the response of local resistance groups to ‘globalization from below’, by appropriating global structures and tapping into transnational networks to empower their identity, rights, and claims in the oil-rich, but impoverished Niger Delta. Space is conceptualized as the transnational multiscalar social terrain of power, which is critical both as a site of struggle and as expression of the global logic of oil capital. Applied to an explanation of the globalization of extraction and resistance in the oil-rich Niger Delta, this article posits that a lot will depend on the balance of power between the social forces in the region, the oil multinationals, and the Nigerian state, and the capacity of the forces of resistance to tap into and creatively use existing transnational space(s) and discourses to push an agenda of social emancipation and grassroots democracy.

Este artículo examina las maneras como los flujos locales y globales se interpenetran entre sí y engranan, debilitando y fortaleciendo simultáneamente a las fuerzas de la resistencia local, usando el Delta del Níger como estudio de caso. El mismo explora la respuesta a la resistencia de los grupos locales a la ‘globalización desde abajo’, mediante la apropiación de estructuras globales y sacando provecho de las redes transnacionales para fortalecer sus identidad, derechos y demandas en el Delta del Níger, rico en petróleo, pero empobrecido. El espacio se ha conceptualizado como un terreno de poder social trasnacional y multiescalar que es crítico para ambos sitios de conflicto y como expresión de la lógica global del capital del petróleo. Este artículo hace referencia a una explicación de la globalización en la extracción y la resistencia del Delta del Níger, rico en petróleo y postula que mucho depende del equilibrio del poder entre las fuerzas sociales de la región, las multinacionales del petróleo y el estado de Nigeria, y la capacidad de las fuerzas de resistencia de beneficiarse y creativamente usar el(los) espacio(s) y tratados para promover la agenda de emancipación social y democracia de base.