Partnership and participation: contradictions and tensions in the social policy space

Partnerships and participation seem to be the order of the day. Yet, for many community organisations, this way of ordering the social policy space is contradictory, creating practice tensions that increase the complexity of local service systems. Such changes impact community organisations in a politics that needs to be made visible if they are to be able to act in the interests of their members and service users. We therefore outline the social policy space currently constituted by four major discourses: neo‐liberalism, managerialism, new paternalism and network governance as they intersect and interact chaotically, reshaping participation and partnerships between government, community service organisations and local communities. We then examine how policy as a technology or set of mechanisms is discursively creating contradictions and practice tensions within which community organisations engage for social justice.     

社区业主代表大会模式的制度创新——以北京市海淀区上地西里小区为例

基层群众自治制度应该如何建设,这是在新的经济和社会结构背景下优化社区治理、建设和谐社区必须认真探讨的问题。本文以北京市海淀区上地西里小区为例,论述其基层治理体制的发展过程,并对上地西里社区业主代表大会模式进行了分析和评价,探讨了城市社区基层民主治理模式的基本思路。     

Integrated care and the ‘agentification’ of the English National Health Service

Integrated care is a global reform principle for improving patient access and outcomes by ensuring that healthcare organisations deliver services in a joined‐up, person‐centred way. Following reforms designed to infuse agency within English National Health Service (NHS) organisations, the agenda for integration must come to grips with the different approaches to joint working that these organisations mobilise, and the compatibility of their different agentic orientations. We build a matrix for identifying the extent to which different forms of agency orient nine NHS organisational types. Interrogating the Strategic and Operational Plans of these organisations for the period 2015–2018 based on questions derived from the matrix, we associate each organisation with one of eight generalised models. Assuming that there is greater potential for integration where organisations mobilise similar forms of agency, we discuss the incentives and potential governance changes that policy makers might consider to enhance integrative potential.     

双重系统中的社区治理模式初探——以深圳市为经验

社区作为城市社会的基本单位,其治理模式一直为理论学者和实际工作者所关注。本文结合深圳市社区工作站的新经验,认为各社区治理的利益主体都可以纳入两个系统之中:自制系统和控制系统,并在此基础上探讨社区居委会与业主委员会和新兴的社区工作站之间的关系。     

“Moving from transactional government to enablement” in Indigenous service delivery: The era of New Public Management,service innovation and urban Aboriginal community development

Over the last 40 years, Aboriginal Community Based Organisations have played a distinctive role in society in relation to urban Aboriginal peoples and their rights to self‐determination and community development in the Australian city of Newcastle. They have proven essential to advocacy, the maintenance of community development, and the creation of new Aboriginal social infrastructure (community organisations, facilities, services, and supporting infrastructure). Autonomy has been empowering for local Aboriginal people. Major reforms to the delivery of government social services, particularly government enablement of a new social service market based on New Public Management principles, threaten this success. This interpretive, qualitative case study illustrates the effects of social service market enablement. It draws on a case study of the effects of social service market enablement on urban Aboriginal Community Based Organisations in Newcastle, showing the antagonistic relationship between social service market enablement and Aboriginal community enablement and development. It ends with a discussion of how Aboriginal community development in this city could be re‐enabled in light of the Prime Minister's arguments in his 2017 Annual Parliamentary Closing the Gap speech providing particular value in the context of policy discussions about moving from transactional government to enablement in Indigenous affairs.     

National Governance Quotient: The Foundation of Big Data-based National Governance

A nation’s rise or fall hinges, to some extent, upon its national governance quotient. National governance quotient, or NGQ, is a quantitative indicator measuring the governance level of a country in quotient form. Its value is the ratio of the national governance system and capacity to national governance costs, and its nature is that of an amalgam of national governance ideas and techniques quantified on the basis of the figures. It is advanced because its inner core lies in logic and computation, and it is scientific because it is guaranteed by technology platforms such as big data and cloud computing. The formulation of NGQ provides technical support and a basis for the transformation from experiential or experimental governance to quantitative, scientific governance, and it thus has great theoretical and practical significance for the modernization of national governance system and capacity. As well as being used to provide quantitative management of national governance modernization, NGQ can also be used as a measurement standard and key symbol for evaluating the modernization of China’s national governance by 2020. Furthermore, it can be used to compile a World NGQ Report with the aim of taking hold of international governance discourse, as well as to compile China local NGQ reports to improve local governance in China.     

空间结构类型与街邻关系:城市社区整合的空间视角

本文基于2014年中国劳动力动态调查数据,探讨社区内部空间结构差异对街邻关系的影响,构建了三类社区空间结构：社区社会空间结构、社区物理空间结构和社区生态空间结构。研究发现,社区社会空间指标中社区职业异质性水平越高,街邻关系越差;社区中本地人口比例越高,社区居民的平均社会组织活动参与率越高,街邻关系就越好;居民参与成为人口异质性负效应的补偿效应。社区物理空间指标中隔离性设施（如楼宇门禁）和社区生态空间指标中失调型生态环境污染均会降低街邻关系水平;绿地覆盖率越高,街邻关系就越好。因此,在社区整合重塑中,降低居住区环境污染程度,建设友好型的社区生态环境,积极鼓励和促进居民参加不同类型的社会组织活动,是提升居民街邻关系的重要手段。     

过渡治理情境下的中国社会服务困境:基于Z市社会工作服务的研究

社会工作近十年来在创新社会治理的推动下发展迅速。本文将重点关注于社会服务组织的服务供给过程及其导致的社会服务困境。通过对治理情境的拓展分析,引入过渡治理情境概念,分析我国社会服务供给。在此情境下,本文以Z市家庭综合服务中心为例,围绕自由裁量权这一概念讨论社会服务组织的服务供给策略及其所导致的服务困境。在过渡治理情境中,消极的自由裁量权与社会工作的半专业化发展结合在一起,社会服务组织选择了“活动化”和“指标化”的服务供给,令社会服务处于创新和碎片化之间,而导致社会服务陷入困境。社会服务困境根源的解决在于建立合作的治理情境、强化本土化社工专业力量以及充分发挥第三方的社会服务供给效力。     

The Implications of State Governance for Effective Global Governance

Since the Third Plenary Session of the 18^th Central Committee of the CPC put forward the goal of modernizing the state governance system and state governance capacity, research on state governance theory and practice has taken off in the Chinese academic community. However, very little research has been undertaken on the relationship between state governance and global governance. In an interdependent world where domestic and international boundaries are becoming ever more blurred, state and global governance are not just mutually connected and consistent; they also influence and constrain each other. This paper looks into the influence of state governance on global governance in terms of the differences and internal linkages between state and global governance, arguing that enhancing governance capacity is an effective way for China to participate in global governance, promote the transformation of global governance system, wield its influence as a major power, and boost its right of discourse.     

Urban community in China: service, participation and development

With the rapid urbanisation and population growth in the cities, the People's Republic of China has recognised the importance of community development based on an ever-increasing demand for social services. In 1994, the Chinese government adopted community service as an alternative way of providing the supplemental safety net in urban areas. Along with this top-down approach, resident-initiated activities, participation and grassroots organisations at the community level are growing at an incredible pace. Using a case study, this study explores the context and aspects of community services, participation and community development in a Chinese urban community. Results indicate that China's reformed market economy and welfare system presses ordinary urban people to reconnect to the local community to ensure welfare security and quality of life. Community participation in China has rediscovered the path of community development and re-interpreted the top-down and bottom-up approaches in the context of community services.     

The Local and the National in Community Care: Exploring Policy and Politics in Finland and Britain

International literature on community care tends to focus on the national level of welfare institutions and policies. However, community care is largely a locally tailored service and this paper makes a case for local comparisons of community care policies. Using local case studies from Finland and Britain, the paper argues that focusing on the local level contributes to the comparative study of community care in two ways. First, local comparisons highlight the often distinctively local nature of community care policies and thereby add to our understanding of community care. Second, local comparisons extend existing cross‐country explanations of community care by showing that community care is largely shaped by local politics, together with indirect structuring by national contexts. As such, the local case studies highlight the importance of the relationship between policy and politics, which has often been neglected in comparative research.     

社会资本与社区治理：城市社区中的制度、组织与价值

社会资本和社区、社区治理具有内在的关联性,城市社区面临的很多问题都与社会资本的缺失或下降有关,集中体现在社区空间、社区组织和社区文化层面上的社区社会资本。因此,城市社区社会资本要培育作为制度空间的社区公民社会、作为组织资源的社区民间组织、作为价值机制的信任、规范、互惠等社区公民文化,发挥居民、社区各社会组织、政府行政组织以及社区文化价值的功能,从而实现社区治理的共治、善治和长治。     

社区教育助推社区治理的思考

助推社区治理,是当前社区教育服务社区建设的重要议题,也是社区教育研究的热点命题。依据治理的基本特征,结合当前我国社区治理实践中存在的问题和困境,本文认为,社区教育应该从提升公众参与的组织化水平、提升居民的社区归属感、培育社区居民的现代公民意识等三个着力点推进社区治理创新。     

Practice Evaluation of Community Initiatives for Social Service Delivery in a Deprived Neighborhood in Scotland

ABSTRACT

Improving social service in local communities is a complex undertaking. Over the past few decades, the performance and sustainability of community initiatives have been questioned, while such factors as a lack of funding, insufficient community involvement, unsatisfactory community service, and lack of awareness of the impact of community initiatives have restricted community development. From a case study of community operations in Scotland, this article provides insights into how social service delivery is organized in the absence of public capital. This study utilized data from semi-structured in-depth interviews with a sample of 76 participants from a deprived area in Scotland, including community management team members (n = 6), local residents (n = 52) and community partners (n = 18). The findings illustrated how participants of all ages, local organizations, policy makers, funders and media came together to create a cohesive and responsive community environment. Residents' needs and funders' demands were identified. Results further revealed that a Community Partnership Mechanism helped strengthen the social service network and create flexible social services. Service benefits included improved resident wellbeing in the context of less government intervention. Future implications include suggestions for government and other stakeholders involved in community reform to focus on service recipient skill building and tracking changes between the indicators and service provision.     

新功能主义视域下的东亚区域治理

新功能主义是个存在已久的一体化理论,颇受哈斯等学者的反思或质疑。但由于区域治理依赖于区域整合的发展与完善,一体化理论仍对当下区域治理研究和政策实践具有深刻的借鉴意义。为此,本文论述新功能主义在政治、外溢以及政治忠诚感等方面的理论洞见,进而探讨新功能主义对东亚区域治理的借鉴意义和价值。本文认为,研究者和决策者应该进一步关注技术、贸易、能源、渔业等特定领域的功能逻辑,促使这些领域的经济政策和政治后果得到跨国精英的认同,并在区域治理中发挥重要角色的作用。     

COMMUNITY-BASED SERVICES AND THE FRAGMENTATION OF PROVISION: A CASE STUDY OF HOME AND COMMUNITY CARE SERVICES IN A SUBURBAN COMMUNITY

Although the use of non-government organisations to provide assistance has long been part of Australian welfare history, the principles of community-based provision have only recently been adopted as part of the mainstream philosphy of service provision. This article examines the association between the expansion of community-based provision and the fragmentation of service provision using information drawn from a study of the provision of long-term care for a group of primarily elderly people through the Home and Community Care Program (HACC) and related provisions in a suburban community. The account focuses on the structure of formal service provisions, identifying organisational features which directly affect the operation of the system of local services, fragmenting the assistance made available. First, the organisations providing care are all of relatively recent origin and their operation continues to reflect many of the characteristics associated with their initial establishment. Second, the organisations involved are essentially hybrid bodies, being the product of both national/State programs and local initiatives. A number of tensions and conflicts arising from this characteristic are discussed. Third, service providing agencies tend to be highly specialised, with the consequence that the main division of labour is between, rather than within, organisations. Finally, the system of funding and administration has tended to orient agencies vertically, towards the source of funding, limiting their flexibility and capacity to develop horizontal patterns of cooperation with other services in the local area. Overall, the emergent system of services appears to be characterised by a large number of small organisations organised under a range of different auspice bodies, struggling to preserve their own autonomy and to operate within an insecure and continually changing policy environment. Recognising that reforms are likely, a number of broad alternatives to privatisation arc canvassed in the final section of the article.     

转型期中国社区建设的发展趋向

随着中国社会整体转型速度的加快和社会主义市场经济的深度发展,社区建设的发展趋向主要表现在六个方面,即：社区发展将呈现渐次推进的梯度格局,政府将由直接参与、推动转向为引导、协助社区建设,社区自治组织和民间组织的能力和作用将得到进一步的增强,社区居民将由＂被动参与＂转变为＂主动参与＂社区建设,社区治理与服务方式将实现由传统型向现代型的转变,社区服务将进入以提高服务质量和水平为主的内涵发展阶段。     

Bottom Up and Top Down? Community Development in Post‐Soviet Armenia: The Social Fund Model

The main objective of this article is to discuss the effectiveness of bottom‐up, community‐driven approaches in promoting community participation and building local capacity within the post‐Soviet social, institutional and political context of Armenia. In exploring this issue, the article examines the nature of local participation and social relations in rural communities in Armenia and the impact of the World Bank‐supported Armenia Social Investment Fund (ASIF) project on the existing forms of local social organization. One of the objectives of the ASIF project was to promote the participation of local communities in their own economic and social development. The research finds that the project did not change the existing patterns of local social organization and had no significant impact on the nature of participation in the beneficiary communities. Bottom‐up, capacity‐building interventions that mainly focus on changing patterns of interpersonal social relations may not be effective in fostering sustainable civic institutions without changes in the nature of a country's governance.     

现状与出路——我国城市养老问题探析

随着人口老龄化的发展,我国城市老年人的养老问题日益突出。家庭养老功能削弱、机构养老作用有限和社区服务缺乏等,使很多老年人的养老需求不能得到充分满足。要想解决这一问题,需从多方面入手,继续提倡家庭养老,积极发展社区服务,进一步发挥养老机构作用并大力发展社会养老保险,为我国城市老年人构建一个严密的养老网络。     

HUMAN SERVICE ORGANISATIONS REVISITED: STILL A USEFUL CONCEPT IN THE 1990S?

Recent changes in the circumstances and operations of human service operations demand a reappraisal of the use of the term ‘human service organisation’. The definitional statements offered a decade ago are re-examined here; and revisions are proposed for all of them to reflect changes in the purposes, value base, resources, accountability, methodology and consumer relations of human service organisations. An additional definitional statement is proposed to refer to the vulnerability of their situation in the present environment. As an alternative to separate categories of organisations, it is suggested that each can be assessed in relation to two criteria, related to their auspices and resources, and the purpose of their operations. On this basis some organisations can still be designated human service organisations, with important implications for their management and governance.