Unsettling connections: transnational networks,development and African home associations

With the transnational turn in the social sciences attention has now turned to ‘global civil society’, ‘transnational civil society’, ‘transnational networks’ and, most recently, ‘migrant’ or ‘diasporic civil society’. Claims are being made about the developmental potential of these new configurations of civil society, and the global connections forged by migrant and diaspora associational life have been reified into things called ‘networks’ for the purpose of enrolling them into development policy. In this article, we challenge the network model through an analysis of transnational Cameroonian and Tanzanian home associations. The idea of a network suggests an overly robust and ordered set of linkages for what are in effect often loose and transient connections. African home associations draw attention to the historically‐embedded and mundane ways in which forms of associational life can be ‘transnational’ outside the formalized structures and Eurocentric development hierarchies created by international NGOs and other development institutions. Although they form largely invisible connections operating outside these hierarchies, African home associations unsettle assumptions about the geography of civil society and its relationship with development. Close attention to the histories and geographies of African home associations reveals that power and agency more often lie with migrants and elites within Africa than with the transnational diaspora.     

Diaspora and development? Nigerian organizations in London and the transnational politics of belonging

Through a particular focus on the politics of belonging, I explore in this article the extent to which London‐based Nigerian organizations perform the progressive role expected of them in globalizing discourses of diaspora and development. The interplay between national and sub‐national, geo‐ethnic visions of belonging and development has fundamental implications for viability of the Nigerian state. In the ways they mobilize identity ‘abroad’ and make transnational interventions at ‘home’, London‐based Nigerian diaspora organizations can reproduce a pervasive and insidiously divisive politics of belonging that is widely seen to undermine the Nigerian project. However, these organizations and their transnational interventions can also transcend the ethnicized boundaries of belonging to articulate and pursue visions of Nigeria's national development. While they are involved in the politics of belonging and the progress of ‘home’ in ways that are clearly much more ambivalent than globalizing discourses of diaspora and development might hope, their potential for contributing to a unified and prosperous Nigeria should not be dismissed.     

就业、城镇化、城乡收入差距与中国的人口增长

基于我国2000～ 2015年的省际面板数据,将31个省市按东、中、西三大区域划分,建立个体固定效应变系数模型分析了就业、城镇化、城乡收入差距等因素对我国人口增长的影响.结果表明:我国不同区域人口增长的影响因素存在较大差异,东部地区主要受城镇化、在岗职工工资的影响;中西部地区主要受就业、城镇化和在岗职工工资的影响;在总体上,就业和城镇化对人口增长起促进作用,而城乡收入差距对人口增长起阻碍作用,其影响程度依次递减.由于人口增长的影响因素存在地区差异,为了减缓目前我国人口增长缓慢,人口老龄化速度加快,劳动力日渐短缺的状况,国家和地方政府应该根据不同的区域特征制定不同的人口政策,促进人口增长,最大限度地减缓人口老龄化可能给我国的经济发展带来的负面影响.     

坚持全面改革，加强法制建设，切实提高统计数据质量

坚持全面改革,加强法制建设,切实提高统计数据质量本刊评论员党的十一届三中全会以来,特别是１９８４年中共中央、国务院作出《关于加强统计工作的决定》后,为适应改革开放的需要,统计领域开始了一系列的改革。改革使统计工作在社会主义市场经济体制下统计的信息、咨...     

民办高校教学质量管理研究综述

高等教育质量这一概念本身具有复杂性,是中外学者公认的一个难以定义的概念。西方学者从不同角度、不同层次对其进行阐述。我国学者认为教育质量包括一般总括性的质量要求和具体的人才培养目标要求两个层次。建立健全高校教学质量管理体系是高校矢志追求的目标,民办高等学校也是如此。我国民办高等学校正处于初级发展阶段,办学质量成为其发展的生命线,切实建立一个合理、公正、透明和被普遍认可的民办高等教育质量评估体系,成为迫切需要解决的重大课题。