Morality Politics vs. Political Economy: The Case of School-Based Health Centers

Objective . Scholars continue to debate whether morally charged political issues constitute a distinct type of policy question or produce essentially the same political dynamic as public controversies lacking an overt moral dimension. The debate will not be resolved until scholars test the determinants of putative morality policies with predictors drawn both from morality politics theory and from the socioeconomic factors that account for the distribution of many other public policies. This study reports such a test. Methods . We analyze data from our national survey of directors of school-based health centers. We use ordinary least squares regression models to predict the level of reproductive health care services provided to adolescents. Results . Service levels were influenced not only by cultural considerations, as morality politics theory would anticipate, but also by the same socioeconomic forces that account for policy levels in other domains. Conclusions . Policy for morality issues appears different from that for nonmorality issues but less distinctive than commonly imagined.     

参与的必要性——走向现代儒家政治

现代新儒家所面临的一个重要问题是:这一以道德为主要关注点的文化传统如何与现代民主政治相适应?与那种认为儒家应局限于道德教育的观点相反,文章认为儒家必须发展出一种参与性的政治,其原因有三:一是政治参与是个人道德培养的必要手段;二是政治的独立性要求客观的制度结构而不仅仅是道德教化;三是我们人性中的缺陷只有通过广泛的政治参与才能克服.     

“I Am So Glad That I Am a Group Worker”

This article explores the ominous consequences of the profession of social work and its schools’ gradual drift away from a long tradition of valuing practice and education that is community based and addresses private troubles and public issues. A series of pointed questions are offered that suggest what needs to happen to reverse course, in schools of social work, against the currents of corporatism and crude individualism infecting our politics, economy, social relations, and broad culture. The article concludes with a “modest proposal for the free school of social work.”     

交易政治观的演变、应用及其局限

交易政治观是新政治经济学理论的理论基础之一,其在交易经济学视域下将政治过程视为一个交易过程,认为政治就是理性经济人通过相互交易而实现个人效益最大化的场域。交易政治观用交易政治的假设和观点进行政治分析,在公共决策、选举—投票、利益集团、寻租以及控制方式等问题的阐释上取得显著成就,从而为审视政治现象和政治过程提供了一种新的视角,创新了政治分析的范式。本文通过交易政治观的演变,考察其在政治领域中的应用,认为交易政治范式存在难以圆通的适应障碍和理论局限,政治的经济学研究势必向新制度主义过渡。     

Improving Service Delivery in Education Through Collaboration: An Exploratory Study of the Role of Cross‐Sectoral Alliances in the Development and Support of Charter Schools*

Objective. This article explores cross‐sectoral alliances as mechanisms for enhancing service delivery in public education. We assess the extent to which the three economic sectors—nonprofit, for‐profit, and public—are involved in partnerships with charter schools and identify the benefits that charter schools receive from partnering with other organizations. Methods. The study utilized a qualitative approach: data collection involved interviews with charter school experts in 37 states. Results. We found that organizations from each of the three economic sectors were involved in alliances with charter schools and that these alliances offered a range of financial (e.g., facilities, salaries), political (e.g., legitimacy, credibility), and organizational (e.g., curriculum, management) benefits. Conclusions. Our findings from this exploratory study suggest that cross‐sectoral alliances have the potential to enhance the capacity of charter schools to deliver high‐quality educational services. Three hypotheses generated from the findings are also offered to guide future research on charter school alliances.     

From words to deeds: Health service reform in Poland

After two years of fundamental political changes in Poland a lot of enthusiasm has faded. The country is on its way towards a market economy but the process of transformation is proving more difficult than expected. The social sector in particular is being hampered. Budgetary cuts undermine any feeling of security. Society seems to be entirely unprepared to accept changes that lead to a reduction of social packages offered by former regimes. Hopes associated with 5the outcome of health care reform were aroused by the length of time taken to conceptualize the main proposals. The process started as early as 1980 and was supposed steadily to yield easier access and higher technology. When it became clear that this was unrealistic because of general economic crises, the pace of health service reform was slowed down. It was a painful process to abandon illusion. Now it is becoming accepted that the reform is to improve the elementary effectiveness and efficiency of health services. Thanks to this breakthrough it has been possible to make and put into practice two major decisions: the regional integration of health services, and the new law on health care institutions.     

Conceptualising the politics of social protection expansion in low income countries: The intersection of transnational ideas and domestic politics

The growing literature on social protection in low income developing countries has tended to focus on definitional debates, policy design and impact evaluations, with relatively little consideration of the ways in which politics shape policy. This article argues that politics needs to be at the centre of efforts to understand social protection and outlines a new conceptual framework for investigating this, with a particular focus on explaining the variation in progress made by low income countries in adopting and implementing social protection. We propose that an adapted ‘political settlements’ framework that incorporates insights from the literatures on welfare state development – notably ‘power constellations’ theory, discursive institutionalism and global policy networks – can help frame political commitment to social protection as flowing from the interaction of domestic political economy and transnational ideas. Importantly, this approach situates social protection within a broader political and policy context, and highlights the influence of underlying power relations at multiple levels.     

Building a partnership for social service delivery in Indonesia: state and faith‐based organisations

Contrary to the secularisation processes in modernisation theory, religions and faith‐based organisations (FBOs) are thriving in contemporary Indonesia. Strongly supported by community members, religious organisations have begun to extend their services beyond the traditional areas of education and health to operate in disaster relief and poverty alleviation programmes. These FBOs have been offering assistance to the disadvantaged whose needs have not been adequately met by the state. Social programmes run by the FBOs are an important safety net at the grass‐roots level in Indonesia; how to effectively coordinate and offer such services are important social policy issues. This paper will show that the Indonesian Government is keen to remain the key provider of social services and often perceives the services of FBOs as a threat. Some recent state policies to regulate the funding sources of Islamic organisations have posed a significant logistical challenge for their future operation. In addition, theological differences across various religious groups have made it difficult to form inclusive and extensive partnerships among the FBOs, who tend to compete with each another resulting in rivalry. These socio‐political contexts have limited the formation of effective partnerships for offering coordinated social services.     

Machiavelli’s Soderini and the problem of necessity

Drawing principally on a particular example discussed by Machiavelli, this article seeks to clarify the concept of necessity and assess the Machiavellian contentions that evil-doing is in politics often necessary and justified. The example indicates that claims of necessity are best construed as allegations that evil-doing is “indispensable.” The example also indicates that these allegations are often suspect because these typically reflect limited information and knowledge and often biases and rationalizations as well, although this is not stressed by Machiavelli. Instead, Machiavelli stresses the dangers and difficulties statesmen often confront when seeking to secure important political ends or avoid costly failures, dangers and difficulties which he believes are ultimately related to the nature of human beings and the character of political elites. With respect to the morality of evil-doing, Machiavelli is suggestive of different kinds and forms of justification. Five kinds are described, and all are found unsatisfactory.     

The Nature of the Political Reconsidered

I present an immanent, and explanatory, critique of reflections on the nature of politics and of power within political science. I argue that these reflections are problematic, to the extent that they presuppose an actualist conception of the political, and that this is generated by an empiricist way of thinking on the one hand and a constructivist way of thinking on the other. I show how re‐defining politics, power, and the political on the basis of a dialectical critical realist ontology resolves these problems and, thereby, allows us to understand the conditions for social change and the relationship between the political and the economic. My argument has two, important implications: first, that the proposal that those who study politics professionally should celebrate philosophical diversity is dangerous–at least if it makes it difficult to sustain a distinct, emancipatory form of political inquiry; and, second, that the nature of social reality justifies the need both for specialized forms of inquiry, such as politics and economics, and integrative forms of inquiry, such as political economy.     

Reflections on 9/11: Vulnerability and strength in the “new world order”

One year after the tragedy and horror of the events of September 11, 2001, many still struggle to understand their meaning and long‐term impact. This article provides a brief overview of critical stress debriefings and describes the author's work offering disaster mental health services to survivors of the World Trade Center attacks in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 disaster. The essay considers gaps in mental health services and the toll that such relief work can take on mental health responders. Implications for healing are considered in the context of the government's crackdown on civil liberties and its plans for war with Iraq.     

From the manifestations of culture to the underlying sensemaking process. The contribution of semiotic cultural psychology theory to the interpretation of socio-political scenario

Several explanations of the current syndrome affecting advanced democracies make reference to a process of cultural change that has been triggered by the complex and interrelated phenomena known as globalization. The rise of populist-authoritarian parties, the advent of post-truth politics and the increasing dissatisfaction with democracy are seen by many political scientists as rather direct consequences of social and economic transformations which had changed the context in which the democratic process takes place. The main limitation of this literature is that it treats culture as a black box receiving inputs from the social context and translate them into political consequences. By doing so it cannot explain why the same conditions produce different consequences in different contexts and it is silent on the criteria to develop anti-crisis policies. This article argues that some of the insights offered by the Semiotic Cultural Psychology Theory, most notably the idea that cultural evolution is moved by the need to find affect-laden, simplified interpretations of the reality to restore the capacity of making sense on an uncertain socio-political context, can enhance the ability of political scientists to understand the current political phenomena and to develop methodological criteria to counteract the current scenario of democratic crisis.     

An Ecological Systems Comparison Between Homeless Sexual Minority Youths and Homeless Heterosexual Youths

ABSTRACT

This study examined risk and protective outcomes by comparing homeless sexual minority youths to heterosexual homeless youths regarding family, peer behaviors, school, mental health, stigma, discrimination, substance use, and sexual risk behaviors. Structured interviews (N = 147) were conducted with individuals aged 16 to 24 years old in Toronto. Bivariate analyses indicated statistically significant differences between homeless sexual minorities (n = 66) and their heterosexual counterparts (n = 81) regarding all variables: family, peer behaviors, stigma, discrimination, mental health, substance use, and sexual risk behaviors, with the exception of school belonging. Implications for future research are suggested.     

道德、政治化与抽象的世界主义 基于对涂尔干《社会分工论》及相关著作的解读

涂尔干是民族主义者还是世界主义者？对此问题的回答必须回到涂尔干有关道德论述的脉络当中去。涂尔干对于“道德始于群体成员资格”的论断,决定了在他的分析当中,不同的群体具有等级差异性,在道德形成的过程中,民族国家无疑被赋予了优先地位。如果我们必须回到民族国家来阐述道德的形成,这同时也意味着必须在民族国家内部实现世界主义,这是一种鲜明的自由民族主义的立场。     

Culture Wars in State Education Policy: A Look at the Relative Treatment of Evolutionary Theory in State Science Standards*

Objectives. Students of public policy have recognized that not all policies are completely or mostly shaped by socioeconomic factors. Some policies, known as morality policies, derive from the deeply held values and beliefs of effective participants in the policy‐making process. To better understand this distinct policy category and where it exists, policy analysts must test for the impact of both socioeconomic forces and explanatory factors developed in morality politics theory (particularly religious contexts). This study attempts to explain differences in state science education standards with regard to stipulated instruction in evolutionary theory as morality policy. Methods. A cross‐sectional study of the American states employing ordinary least squares and logistic regression analysis assesses the impact of popular evangelical adherence over the presence of evolution‐friendly state science standards, ceteris paribus. Results. Socioeconomic factors inadequately explain the variation in state science standards. Furthermore, these standards are morality policies with clearly defined religious implications and are better explained by state religious divisions than by other cultural forces such as state ideological context. Conclusion. This study demonstrates that some policies have clear implications for religious beliefs and may represent a subcategory of morality policy. These kinds of policies are better explained by religious contexts than other political and cultural determinants of morality policies.     

《贞观政要》官德保障机制论要

《贞观政要》继承和发展了儒学政治哲学的人性理论。其官德保障机制体现在内修与外治两个方面,一则从非制度的内在层面强调官吏通过思、慎和学的途径修身养德,二则从制度的外在层面加强旨在预防、考课与奖惩官员的吏治建设。体现自律与他律、儒学政治哲学与法家政治理念的统一,完善了中国传统政治外儒内法的基本模式。     

Sexual Health Services for Homeless Youth: A Qualitative Analysis of their Experiences

The sexual health problems experienced by homeless youth bring into question their use of available sexual health services. Using a qualitative typological analysis, this study aims to identify sexual health services utilization profiles for homeless youth, and to understand the role of the homeless experience on the utilization of sexual health services. Individual interviews were conducted with 33 homeless youth (17 men, 16 women) between 18 and 25?years of age. Typological analysis identified four profiles: (1) a targeted use of sexual health services to determine one’s serological status following a relational change during the homeless experience; (2) a limited use of sexual health services to manage sexual emergencies that arise during the homeless experience; (3) a regular use of sexual health services to avoid the risks associated with the homeless experience; (4) a frequent use of sexual health services to obtain support when engaging in prostitution during the homeless experience. This study shows that the precarious and unstable conditions within the homeless experience incite youth to utilize sexual health services in different ways. These findings point to the importance of rethinking sexual health services to better adapt them to the different utilization profiles of homeless youth.     

通向“恶的平庸性”之路

通过“恶的平庸性”这个概念,阿伦特揭示了一种异于康德所说的“根本恶”的、专属于现代社会的恶的新类型。本文通过对现代性方案以及导源于这种方案的现代国家的“造园姿态”、现代科层制政治机器对于无思想的命令执行者的需要与塑造,以及与政治的工具化并行的公共领域的消亡这三个层面的考察分析,揭示了“平庸”与“罪恶”结合的路径。在此基础上,文章指出,“平庸”之与“罪恶”的联系,虽然受到现代社会发展和政治运行中的制度性、结构性因素的推动,但这既不是要为“艾希曼”脱罪,更不是要将每个人入罪,而是要引起每个人作为公民在面临大屠杀这样的罪恶时对自己所应担当的责任的沉思。     

信访制度60年发展历程的回顾与展望

信访制度是最具有中国特色的社会主义政治制度之一,为开创中国特色社会主义事业发挥着不可替代的重要作用。60年来,信访制度随着国家政治经济的发展而变化,始终围绕中心、服务大局,不断制度化、规范化、法制化。信访制度之所以长期存在,是由于传统与现实多方面综合因素造成的。创建中国特色的信访制度从根本上要依靠发展,同时总结、学习、汲取国内外各种经验教训,立足现实、深化改革,走法治化道路。     

Rethinking Politics for a Green Economy: A Political Approach to Radical Reform

Because the process of achieving a green economy is bound to be political, it is important how politics is understood. This essay employs a three-dimensional model of politics (functional, constitutive, performative) in developing an approach to radical reform that accentuates political potentialities—understood in terms of debate, open exchanges of differing opinions. By exploring a central tension between the formal economy (associated with administrative and policy arenas in modern society) and the informal economy (associated with the enhancement of community), the argument concludes that achieving a green economy involves a key role not simply for the rational economic individual or the cooperative community member, but also for the citizen.