‘The status quo is not an option’: Community impacts of school closure in South Taranaki,New Zealand

This paper explores the impacts of proposed school closures on families in rural communities in the South Taranaki region of New Zealand. We situate this instance of educational restructuring in a critical policy context and present an account of its regional unfolding through drawing on local media coverage. We then interpret narratives gathered during an interview-based study of the proposed changes undertaken in 2003–2004. Our analysis highlights the impact of school closure for rural settlements in terms of affect as well as effects. More generally we reflect on the place of schools in the experience of place itself, as well as their contribution to social cohesion and the broadly defined health of a community.     

Adjustment strategies revisited: Agricultural change in the Welsh Marches

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, much attention was paid by British agricultural geographers to the restructuring of the farm sector under pressures of national, European and global change. The need to adopt a perspective capable of looking beyond the farm gate inspired the introduction of modified political economy approaches into agricultural research. One important cornerstone of the empirical application of this thesis was the concept of the ‘farm adjustment strategy’. This attempted to map out the responses, especially those of survival, made by farm family businesses to rapidly changing agrarian conditions. Subsequently, the farm adjustment strategy became remarkable for its popularity as a way to organise research into agricultural change in developed market economies. Following a retreat in the 1990s, there has been something of a recent revival in the use of the term ‘strategy’ relating to agricultural adjustment. Revisiting this concept is therefore timely. Using empirical evidence from studies of farming change in the Welsh Marches, this paper examines two issues. First, it makes a critical re-examination of the concept to resolve differences with interpretation linked to theoretical perspectives so that future misuse can be minimised. Second, an attempt is made to assess the relevance of defined elements of farm adjustment strategies to analyses of farm business change. In so doing, there is an attempt to recover our knowledge of agrarian restructuring and to help situate newly encultured investigations into the likely survival of family labour-based forms of production.     

Consequences of governance restructuring for quality of urban living in the transformation era in Beijing: A view of job accessibility

One of the major issues concerning present-day public policy in a transitional and developing country is its ability to enhance the quality of urban living and individual social well-being in the context of rapid urban growth. A dramatic decline in overall job accessibility due to increases in commuting time is already a serious problem affecting the quality of urban living in Beijing. Understanding the impact of governance restructuring on overall job accessibility is of primary importance if politicians are to make policy innovations in development management. This paper applies the institutionalist approach to analyse the impact of governance restructuring on job accessibility. The analysis shows that current governance restructuring has a negative effect on overall job accessibility due to competition between different local governments increasing the degree of spatial fragmentation; revenue-enhancing development introducing constraints affecting the local jobs-housing balance; and the coexistence of the old planning system alongside the new market system leading to a fragmented land-use right transfer mechanism, intensifying scattered and low-density development. With respect to future policy, stronger municipal development management might be one direction in implementing public policy to enhance overall job accessibility, insofar as it addresses the negative impact of fragmented development management in the current transformation process.     

The impact of the promise of scholarships and altering school structure on college plans, preparation, and enrollment

The Washington State Achiever (WSA) program was a large-scale educational intervention of scholarships, mentoring, and school redesign designed to encourage students from moderate and low income families to attend college in Washington State. Using a quasi-experimental design based on pre- and post-intervention surveys of high school seniors in program and non-program schools, we find a significant WSA effect on educational outcomes, net of the demographic and socioeconomic composition of students across schools. Across the three intervention high schools, the program is strongly significant in one school, significant after a lag in another school, and not significant in a third. We speculate about the potential reasons for the differential program effect across high schools.     

移民融合与城市层级的定位——有关移民研究中地方性问题的理论化

本文在新自由主义全球化背景下研究城市重构的理论化,建议用层级比较的方法研究移民的定居问题和跨国联系。通过提出"城市层级"的概念,本文探讨了后工业化城市重构的不同结果与移民融合的不同路径之间的关系。在"地方性"的理论化上,移民问题学者以民族国家和族群为分析的主要单位,而城市重构问题学者则未关注移民的研究。移民路径形成并反过来作用于城市的差异化定位。移民被视为城市层级的缔造者,城市在全球力场下的不同定位,决定着移民在其中扮演的角色。     

“十二五”时期科学发展与加快转变经济发展方式的重点、难点和对策

十二五规划以科学发展为主题,以加快转变经济发展方式为主线。十二五时期,经济结构战略性调整、保障和改善民生、坚持改革和扩大开放是重点;如何促进消费、投资、出口并驾齐驱、如何保障现阶段收入分配差距不致过大、如何解决国民经济发展中的主要问题和矛盾是难点;进一步改造提升传统制造业、积极培育发展战略性新兴产业,就业优先、强农惠农,.坚持和完善基本经济制度、推进行政体制改革、深化金融体制改革是关键的应对之策。     

重庆文化体制改革回顾与反思

文化体制改革是解放和发展文化生产力,激发文化发展内在活力的根本途径。作为西部重要中心城市和第一批文化体制改革试点城市,重庆在文化体制改革中取得了重大成就。文章回顾了20世纪70年代末以来重庆文化体制改革经历的四个阶段：从初步展开到稳步推进,再到取得重大突破,以及目前进入全面深化的阶段;并剖析了30年来重庆文化体制改革的规律和经验,在此基础上提出了下一阶段重庆文化体制改革的方向,旨在为进一步推动重庆文化体制改革提供参考。     

从规模经济看当代国际银行业并购

进入90年代以来, 大规模的并购成为国际银行业发展的突出特点。 本文以规模经济为立足点, 对并购的动机、效应作了分析, 并在此基础上, 对中国银行业的重组问题进行了探讨。     

‘Doing Something Meaningful’: Gender and Public Service during Municipal Government Restructuring

Research on the gendered dimensions of workplace restructuring often focuses on management strategies and their structural consequences. Less attention is paid to employees’ gendered practices. In this article, we analyse material from in‐depth interviews with front‐line public‐sector employees following a major reorganization of their jobs and workplaces. Our study makes three contributions to theory and research on gender and organizational change. Firstly, it highlights the micro‐level dynamics at the heart of restructuring by showing how workers engaged with an ideal that was central to their understanding of public‐sector work — the public‐service ethic — which they believed was threatened. Secondly, it highlights the importance of gendered meanings and identities in shaping how workers engaged with the public service ethic. Thirdly, the study shows that front‐line employees did not passively accept management plans for change but struggled to resist or transform them in gendered strategies for dealing with organizational change.     

Commodification of rural places: A narrative of social fields,rural development,and football

One of the most significant recent elements of restructuring in rural areas is the transition from an economy based on agricultural production to an economy based on the countryside as a form of commodity. In this transition process, different narratives or images of an area are produced to promote villages and other places in the countryside as commodities. Much of the literature takes it for granted that outsiders control the processes of branding rural areas, but our case study demonstrates that the producers (as well as potential consumers) of the countryside as a commodity can be insiders within a community. In this paper, we demonstrate how a local football club can take a leading role in the process of commodification of rural places in the post-modern era. Football clubs are presented as commodities to attract investors, sponsors, and expertise from private businesses. In both commodification of rural places and football, the challenge is to construct narratives or images that correspond to the pre-existing expectations of consumers, whoever they might be. Our theory-informed empirical analyses illustrate the way in which the Norwegian football club Sogndal Football has been instrumental in the restructuring of the Sogndal community.