Market-based Governance and the Challenge for Rural Governments: US Trends

Privatization and decentralization represent market‐based approaches to government. Designed to increase efficiency and responsiveness of government, these approaches also limit the potential for redistribution. A key question is: how will rural governments compete in such a market‐based system? Will they be favoured, as their reliance on market provision for public goods is higher due to the smaller number of services provided by government? Or will they be less able to compete due to the costs of sparsity, which may make them less attractive to market suppliers? Data from the United States covering the period 1992–2002, show that rural areas are not favoured by either of these trends – privatization or decentralization. Managerial weakness does not explain the shortfall. Rural areas are not as attractive to market suppliers and thus are disadvantaged under market‐based service delivery approaches. Although national policy continues to advance a privatization agenda, policy‐makers should be concerned about the uneven impacts of such market‐based approaches.     

我国农村社区卫生服务的现状与对策

农村社区卫生服务是我国卫生事业改革的重要课题,也是建设社会主义新农村的重要内容。经过近些年的努力,我国农村社区卫生服务取得了较大成绩,但仍然存在硬软件、资金、管理及服务内容不到位等方面的问题,基于当前现状,应着力从服务理念、政府主导功能、多元化资金渠道、信息化建设以及服务评估制度等方面加以完善。     

灾后社区重建中的社会工作介入——从地区发展模式的视域展开

本文立足于汶川灾后社区重建的现实,通过分析目前国内外有灾后社区重建的实践和研究资料,提出以地区发展模式为视域是社会工作介入灾后社区重建的有效途径,这主要取决于灾后社区重建的现状和需求以及地区发展模式的本身的特性。地区发展模式是在充分整合地域现有资源的基础上,在一个地域内鼓励居民通过自助及互助来解决社区内的问题,实现共同发展。置于地区发展模式视域下,笔者尝试从服务理念、服务内容、方法和过程三个方面构建社会工作介入灾后社区重建的服务框架。文章最后指出以地区发展模式为视域的社会工作介入灾后社区重建,既是社会工作实务拓展的契机,同时也是实现社会工作职业化的一条重要路径。     

我国农村社区卫生服务的现状与对策

农村社区卫生服务是我国卫生事业改革的重要课题,也是建设社会主义新农村的重要内容。经过近些年的努力,我国农村社区卫生服务取得了较大成绩,但仍然存在硬软件、资金、管理及服务内容不到位等方面的问题,基于当前现状,应着力从服务理念、政府主导功能、多元化资金渠道、信息化建设以及服务评估制度等方面加以完善。     

Community Development in the 21st Century: A Case of Conditional Development

During the last 5 years, the UK government has increased supportfor and resources to community development projects and strategies.These interventions have been deployed to assist the state addresskey issues of social exclusion notably at neighbourhood level.The thrust for tackling social exclusion and therefore the growthin community development can be linked to New Labour’sadherence to a neo-liberal agenda. The two articles and theworking paper considered here reflect this expansion of activityand articulate some of the central issues and challenges facingcommunity development. The central problem for community developmentappears to be that whilst it has secured a more prominent placewithin contemporary social policies, it is in danger of losingits ability effectively to address the expressed needs of localcommnuitties. Hence the development we are witnessing can beconsidered to be a case of conditional development.     

Rolling Back the African State: Implications for Social Development in Ghana

The New Policy Agenda of the Reagan and Thatcher years has profoundly influenced aid flows from the industrialized countries of North America and Western Europe to the developing nations of sub‐Saharan Africa. The application of neo‐liberal principles to the disbursement of multilateral and bilateral aid for social development has resulted in the diversion of donor funding away from the public sector towards non‐governmental organizations. The consequences of relegating the role of the public sector in social development is explored through qualitative research conducted in Ghana with state‐employed community development workers. The study exposes how severe financial constraint within the state sector distorts the targeting of beneficiaries and social development activity. This differs from findings revealed by interviews with social development workers employed by international non‐governmental organizations. These indicate that such agencies are able to sustain effectively resourced fieldworkers who are in a position to form positive working relationships with beneficiaries. The circumstances of the Department of Community Development and its relationships with non‐governmental agencies in Ghana are used to explore the effects on state‐building of the New Policy Agenda in the sub‐Saharan region.     

The Influence of Community Upon the Development of Self: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

Ritual, a universal human mode of action that serves multiple functions in every culture, is also a powerful source of psychological healing. In recent years therapists have drawn upon the power and creativity of ritual and the rite of passage to help people bring order and definition into their lives and to master various life transitions. This paper describes how adult incest survivors, in published autobiographical accounts, have incorporated the use of ritual into their self‐healing processes. Implications for clinical work are drawn.     

Rural Movements in Europe: Scandinavia and the Accession States

This paper explores the national rural/village movements now established in some 16 European countries, with special focus on those in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. The aim of the paper is to raise awareness by providing information on the significance of rural social movements, rather than to attempt a detailed analysis. Starting in the 1970s in some Scandinavian and Western European countries, as a local community response to rural decline, the village movements have built into major national forces, and have recently expanded into the EU accession states in Central and Eastern Europe. They were established to address issues of rural decline, agricultural change, migration, centralization and EU accession. They are now also organizing themselves at EU level, to provide a voice for rural communities in Europe. This is a notable example of a structured approach to mobilizing rural communities to become stronger agents of local development and to participate in rural policy‐making at local, regional, national and EU levels. The paper draws on information gained in a recently completed initial investigation of the national village movements in Estonia, Finland, Slovakia and Denmark, together with information from Sweden. The information is based on that gathered from a wide range of interviews and the minimal documentation available from the movements themselves. The experiences of the movements in enabling local structural development, capacity‐building, empowerment and action are documented, as is their work to develop strategic planning and advocacy. The paper identifies the motivating forces, structural and process models, activities and outcomes of the different movements. It takes account of the effects of differing national contexts, and identifies some key elements of experience and learning.     

广州开展农村社会工作的发生机理和发展优势研究

面对农村的现实处境,在中国发展社会工作专业不能不重视农村。本文研究了广州开展农村社会工作的发生机理,探讨了广州发展农村社会工作经济优势、地缘优势、政策优势、专业优势和先行优势。广州可以利用这些优势,积极对农村社会工作的支持力度。     

Rural poverty and disability in Ethiopia: Formidable policy challenges

Our study aims to deepen our understanding of the links between rural poverty and disability in Ethiopia. We use panel data for Ethiopia to illustrate these linkages, using rigorous econometric methodology. The 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) explicitly recognise disability as a major impediment to elimination of poverty and hunger. In the current development discourse, disability has thus acquired high priority. Since disability is neither a purely medical nor a social phenomenon but an outcome of their interplay, the policy challenges are formidable.     

Left to Market and Family – Again? Ideas and the Development of the Rural Pension Policy in China

The rural pension policy in China is characterized by a high degree of instability. In the past 15 years since the introduction of pilot schemes in some regions, the state has been unable to establish a stable institutional framework for rural old‐age security. This article seeks to integrate the theoretical insights from a growing body of international literature on the role of ideas in social policy reform in order to shed new light on the study of Chinese rural pension policy. I argue that the rise of the rural pension scheme and its eventual failure to make consistent progress towards a comprehensive system is directly related to conflicting ideas among bureaucrats with respect to what sort of welfare provision the rural elderly actually need. The fluctuations in this policy realm vividly illustrate the predominance of the policy idea that peasants could still rely on their land and family, supplemented by private commercial insurance, in their old age. Given this alleged self‐reliance on the part of rural residents, the state is very reluctant to set up a comprehensive rural pension scheme. As a result, the old‐age security of the peasants in rural China is standing on very thin ice, and the prospect for more active state involvement in the near future remains dim.     

西安地区乡村旅游发展模式探微

乡村旅游已成为我国乡村发展、旅游业发展的重要组成部分。西安地区有发展乡村旅游的条件,但从目前的发展现状看,主要采取“农家乐”形式,停留在“吃农家饭、住农家屋”的层次上,远远满足不了旅游市场的发展需求。因此,西安乡村旅游应在地域发展模式、项目开发模式、经营管理模式、政策支持模式方面有所创新,这样才能使西安地区乡村旅游形成特色,具有吸引力、生命力,形成自己的发展体系。     

Role of AKRSP on Gender Development: A Case Study in Pakistan

ABSTRACT

In Pakistan, nongovernmental agencies (NGOs) play an important role in program implementation. This study focuses on the contribution of one of these NGO social service programs that serves women in a rural area of Pakistan. To assess program satisfaction and effectiveness, 200 females were surveyed to measure their opinions and overall satisfaction with this particular NGO. The key findings of the study showed that the Aga Khan Rural Support Program (AKRSP) had a significant positive impact on the lives of these women through increasing social and decision-making skills while improving their income and living standards by providing employment opportunities and training. Future recommendations are made to continue to sponsor such programs that focus on a group-support for women while also providing supportive services that empower decision-making and economic standing.     

全球金融经济危机与保持中国经济可持续发展的对策分析

文章认为,中国经济可持续发展的态势不会因为金融经济危机而改变.尽管金融经济危机在近期会对中国经济可持续发展带来一定的影响,但是可以从构建和谐社会、贯彻落实科学发展观、转变发展方式、加快经济国际化进程等方面采取措施以有效化解金融经济危机的冲击,并促进中国经济实现可持续发展.     

后冷战时期印度澳大利亚关系新发展

印澳两国从相互疏远到成为战略伙伴,其间经历了漫长的发展过程。本文在回顾冷战时期两国关系发展历程的基础上,重点考察后冷战时期两国在政治、经济、军事、科教文化等领域取得的新进展。印澳两国在经济上互有所求,在安全上互有所依,但两国关系发展过程中也存在诸多制约因素。     

对农村小城镇发展问题的思考

随着农业生产力水平的提高和工业化进程的加快 ,我国大力推进城镇化的条件已渐成熟 ,农村城镇化是一个农民致富、工业进步、城市和第三产业发展的渐进式的过程     

多元城镇化道路与中国农村发展

要推动农村的进一步发展,需要跳出农村,从城镇化进程中去谋求农村发展之路。作为现代化的重要内容,城镇化将促进农村实现质的飞跃和发展,因而是农村发展的根本出路。中国的城镇化可以选择多元化的城镇化道路,其中主要包括通过新农村建设而推进的乡村生活方式——城市和乡村集镇化,以及通过制度创新而推进农村劳动力城市化和城乡一体化。多元城镇化将促进城镇化水平的不断提高,为农村发展提供动力。     

海洋战略性新兴产业的概念内涵与发展趋势分析

海洋战略性新兴产业以海洋高新科技发展为基础,以海洋高新科技成果产业化为核心内容,具有重大发展潜力和广阔市场需求。海洋战略性新兴产业具有全局性、长期性、关联性、政治性以及高新科技性、发展潜力性、成长不确定性等特征。本文认为,科技创新是海洋战略性新兴产业发展的源动力,海洋战略性新兴产业发展带有明显的＂外部性＂特征,在遵循市场经济规律基础上,要充分发挥政府调控机制的引导和促进作用。     

我国城乡社区服务发展状况调查与完善对策

本文通过问卷调查,对我国城乡社区服务内容的发展状况、社区服务实施效果以及社区服务存在的主要问题及原因进行调查的基础上,提出了完善我国城乡社区服务的主要对策建议,认为城乡社区服务的基本内容应该规范化,城乡社区服务的基础设施应该标准化,城乡社区服务的资金来源应该多元化,城乡社区服务的管理体制应该合理化,城乡社区服务的评价机制应该科学化。     

Globalization,financial development and economic growth: Perils on the environmental sustainability of an emerging economy

The study examines the effects of globalization, financial development, economic growth, and energy consumption on environmental sustainability in India over the period 1980–2015. The novelty of the study is the assessment of environmental sustainability in a single framework encompassing globalization, financial development, and growth effects. Findings reveal that an increased level of globalization and financial development while improving economic performance are inimical to the sustainability of the environment. In the short-run, globalization, economic growth, and increased energy consumption are contributing directly to environmental degradation, while banking sector development is impacting environmental sustainability adversely through the economic growth channel. Given the severity of the findings amidst India’s tryst with economic growth, proactive policies are warranted to encourage adaptation of greener and cleaner technologies in environmentally sustainable areas. This necessitates improved institutional quality encompassing stringent environmental standards, legal systems, property rights, corruption, financial information quality, etc., alongside the provision of incentives and subsidies to manufacturing firms undertaking technological innovations and complying with the environmental standards.