Australia’s national urban policy: The smart cities agenda in perspective

The Australian Government's attempts at national urban policy have been sporadic and inconsistent, under the constraints of constitutional, financial, ideological and political factors. This paper concerns the recent resurgence of national urban policy under the rubric of “smart cities” adopted by the Turnbull Government and carried on by the incumbent Morrison Government. It investigates how this round of smart cities agenda articulates with Australia's political tradition of national urban policy to seek continuity and change, through comparing historical policies, unpacking major smart cities programmes, identifying explanatory factors and critically commenting on its innovation and legacy. Drawing upon these analyses, this paper argues that understanding the smart cities agenda needs to move beyond the political, ideological “to-and-fro” pendulum to national urban policy observed in history. Rather, it resonates with a globalised policy norm established upon the city-based global integration and competition, driven by an imperative of transitioning to a knowledge economy and pursuing innovation capacity. It is too early to judge whether the smart cities agenda will bring changes to Australian cities in the way it wishes, since it involves long-term infrastructure investment and urban development projects. However, a comprehensive and consistent national urban policy to govern the Australian system of cities and towns has not been established yet.     

南京国民政府公务员考选制度的近代化意义

南京国民政府公务员考选制度是中国历史上第一个准现代化的人事考试制度,考选人才方面既吸收了古代考试的公平精神又采纳了西方文官考试的先进理念,具备了近代化的特征。从人才的选拔看具备了公平性,但体制的缺陷使其任用的成效不尽人意,阻碍了它近代化的进程。     

H-Day 1967 – An alternative perspective on “propaganda” in the historiography of public relation

This article presents an alternative perspective regarding the concept of “propaganda” in the historiography of public relations. Recent scholars of public relations have rightly criticized early attempts to write the field’s history as a linear progression, from propaganda to excellence. At the same time, however, the same recent scholars have come to accept a linear conceptual change, and that “propaganda” became an impossible term in liberal democratic countries in the 1960s. By using the empirical case of the massive communication efforts initiated by the Swedish Commission on Right-Hand Traffic, which was assigned to implement right-hand traffic in 1967, this article shows that the concept of “propaganda” both occurred frequently and was used in a neutral sense. To deepen the understanding of this alternative perspective, the article both presents how the historical actors conceptualized their work, and describes how the communication work of the Commission was performed.     

The triggers of local and distant search: Relative magnitude and persistence in explaining acquisition relatedness

Research on problemistic search has assumed negative attainment discrepancy to be the trigger of both local and distant search. Extending this research, we present and compare two additional triggers: (1) relative attainment discrepancy, which reflects how much a firm's attainment discrepancy deviates from its past negative attainment discrepancies; and (2) persistent attainment discrepancy, which reflects how often the firm experiences below-aspirations performance. Our triggers for distant search model a behavioral explanation for the timing and relatedness of acquisitions. We find support for baseline arguments of problemistic search whereby firms increase both industry- and skill-related acquisitions when they perform below aspirations. When they persistently perform below aspirations, however, this likelihood is reduced and firms engage in acquisitions that are more unrelated, thereby providing support for the notion of expanding search boundaries from local to distant search. Of the two triggers of distant search proposed, relative attainment discrepancy does not induce firms to expand search boundaries. Our results indicate that persistent attainment discrepancy is a key construct to consider when studying the expansion of search boundaries.     

区域性高校为地方经济社会发展服务探析

区域高校与地方经济社会关系密切。为地方经济和社会发展服务,是区域高校基本职能之一。高等教育与地方区域通过互动,求得双赢和发展,已成为一种必然趋势。区域性高校为地方经济社会发展服务的实现途径为：以区域经济社会发展为导向,培养各类应用型人才;发挥高校科研资源优势,提高区域创新能力;依托高校的“文化中心”功能,引领区域软实力的提升。     

基层维稳的“人墙”模式及其反思——基于小镇在某祭祀活动中的维稳实录

维护社会稳定是基层治理中的重要工作。在节日及重大活动中保持社会秩序稳定,防止诉求者在政府认为不适当的时候,以不适当的方式对外宣泄诉求是基层治理中常规的维稳内容。文章通过描述鄂北一个小镇在某次祭祀活动中的维稳过程,试图说明,目前小镇乃至于全国多数乡镇在维持社会稳定中,惯用一种以人盯人为手段,利用很多人员构筑出多层次的"人墙",将可疑对象控制在"墙"内,最大程度限制其向外界宣泄诉求的"人墙"模式。尽管,在多道"人墙"的阻隔下,维稳效果能达到治理者的预期目的,但这种维稳模式成本过大,而且只是暂时隐藏矛盾而不能真正解决问题,从长远看,不具有可持续性。同时,采取这种方式维稳可能激发诉求者对政府的不满,暴露政府维稳工作的"软肋",甚至可能导致政府和诉求者的关系陷入恶性循环,其最终后果可能是大幅度提高政府维稳的成本和代价。     

制度嵌入性与地方食品系统——基于Z市三个典型社区支持农业（CSA）的案例研究

针对日益恶化的食品安全现实,部分消费者退出了部分主流食品系统,转而纷纷采用替代性的地方食品系统模式。而在地方食品系统中,社区支持农业(CSA)是其最主要的表现形式。文章对Z市三个典型的社区支持农业模式(即消费者推动型、生产者推动型以及NGO推动型)是如何再嵌入到具体的制度情境中,从而解决食品品质不确定性这一问题进行了论述。同时,对于这三大模式之间的异同也进行了简要的分析。     

我国古镇旅游业的政府治理绩效评价研究——以湘西凤凰古镇为例

随着社会经济的不断发展,人们生活质量不断提升,对旅游业的需求也不断提高。古镇旅游作为旅游业的一个重要领域,在旅游行业中起着至关重要的作用。通过经济、社会、环境三方面对湘西凤凰古镇景区政府治理绩效进行评价,研究结果认为凤凰古镇的政府治理绩效不太理想,旅游主体部门职权界定不清晰,旅游政策执行效率不高,经济绩效与社会、文化、环境绩效协调性有待提高。最后,对古镇旅游业的健康与长期发展进行思考与展望。     

“邯郸散文现象”研究

近些年,邯郸散文创作形成了一定的规模和水平,促成了“邯郸散文现象”。这一现象代表了邯郸散文的实力和成果,并且彰显了邯郸文化的深厚内蕴。对“邯郸散文现象”的成因、特点和价值做出整体性的梳理和关照,发掘这一文化现象的内涵和意义,并指出邯郸散文创作的局限,试图为邯郸散文的发展提出建设性的意见。     

Conjuncture and cultural reproduction in the process of embedding: social work practice in the context of government purchase of services in China

This paper focuses on the Chinese government’s policy of purchasing social services and discusses how relevant organisations provide social work and develop it within local socio-political and cultural contexts. An ethnographic research method was adopted for the study by the first author while participating in social work development in Q City. We argue that the policy of purchasing social services succeeded in achieving “embedded development” but also created a “conjuncture structure” in cultural reproduction. However, due toprofessional social workers in China have, in practice, passively responded to the conjuncture there has been a failure to reproduce professional values of social work in the Chinese cultural context. Therefore, further development of social work in China needs to strengthen cultural reflection in practical actions, focus on the exploration of cultural connections between social work practice and local communities, and enhance the cultural capacity of social workers in the local cultural context.