Favoured Free‐time: Comparing Children’s Activity Preferences in the UK and the USA

This study presents a comparative study of the free‐time activity preferences of 9‐ to 11‐year‐old children in the UK and USA, as drawn by them in art workshops. Six themes emerged relating to sport, outdoor play, family/peers, media, special occasions and other (indefinable) activities. The children’s talk about their drawings revealed additional preferences for ‘obsessive hobbies’, ‘doing nothing’, relationships with others, and the local environment. Whilst the emergent patterns displayed strong cross‐cultural similarities in free‐time activity choices and participation, as well as compliance with the conventional construction of ‘childhood’, the findings were context‐specific and locally inflected.     

一切为了实现“人的自由而全面的发展”——建国六十年公民本位政治理念的变迁与评述

人的自由而全面的发展是马克思主义对共产主义社会的描述,也是对人类社会未来发展最高阶段的定义。作为共产党执政的国家,社会主义中国在建国以前就对未来的执政之路树立了公民本位的政治理念。在建国六十年的发展历程中,通过对民众自觉权力观的政治启蒙,到民主的制度化和制度的民主化进程,逐步确立并完善了公民本位政治理念的建设目标与方式,并随着以人为本理念的提出,最终实现了政治的回归,也标志着中国共产党的执政理念上升到了一个新的层次。     

中国公共应急管理体制中的媒体参与分析——以王家岭矿难救援及其后续事件为例

作为中国突发公共事件应急管理体制中参与机制的主体之一,媒体在当今社会扮演着愈发重要的角色。回顾2010年初＂3.28＂王家岭矿难救援及其后续一系列事件并加以分析,可见媒体的参与表现在诸多层面上。在公共应急管理体制中,媒体正向功能的发挥对政府开展公共应急管理具有极大帮助,然而媒体在参与公共应急管理中也存在一些困境。因此,从媒体自身和政府及其他参与主体双重角度进行反思,选择适当的路径,使媒体可以更好地参与公共应急管理工作,中国公共应急管理体制也会得到相应改善。     

论清末立宪从官制改革入手之误

晚清政府欲从改革官制入手推动立宪,结果官制改革遭遇了来自官僚群体的强大阻力,在最高统治者慈禧立场转变之后,官制改革无可避免地走向龙头蛇尾的结局.虽有改变,但根本未动,效果有限,非但不能廓清积弊,反使积弊愈积愈多,愈演愈烈.龙头蛇尾的官制改革重挫晚清政府的统治威信,使其立宪之路更加艰难,自救的机会更为渺茫.清末立宪首先应做的不是改革官制,而是开议院,扩大政治参与,增强改革的力量.立宪从官制入手,无议院为助力,官制难改,立宪难行;立宪从开议院入手,先有议院,则官制可改,立宪可行.     

Getting payments at Centrelink

This paper presents findings from a small qualitative study of tertiary students who were receiving income support payments from Centrelink. They are some of the millions of Australians receiving income support payments from Centrelink each year. The aim of the study was to explore and illuminate the experience of receiving income support payments. The findings indicate that people who may appear to have no problems accessing Centrelink may nevertheless undertake considerable efforts to receive their payments. These efforts involve practical tasks, intra and interpersonal processes and use of material resources. As many social work clients receive some sort of income support payment, these issues are relevant across social work settings.     

Siting Noxious Facilities: A Test of the Facility Siting Credo

Over the past decade it has become increasingly difficult to site noxious facilities, despite the fact that there is a growing need to do so. To address this problem, a set of guidelines for a fairer, wiser, and more workable siting process—the Facility Siting Credo—was developed during a National Facility Siting Workshop in 1990. This paper presents an empirical test of these guidelines. A questionnaire based on the Credo was completed by stakeholders in 29 waste facility siting cases, both successful and unsuccessful, across the United States and Canada. Using an independent determination of outcome (success), a preliminary ranking of the importance of various Credo principles was obtained. The data reveal that establishing trust between the developer and host community is an important factor in facilitating the siting process. The siting process is most likely to be successful when the community perceives the facility design to be appropriate and to satisfy its needs. Public participation also is seen to be an important process variable, particularly if it encourages a view that the facility best meets community needs. Moreover, a siting process where communities volunteer to host facilities is an approach that holds promise for meeting many of these key success criteria.     

Who Holds the Stakes? A Case Study of Stakeholder Identification at Two Nuclear Weapons Production Sites

Traditional risk assessments, including those involving the United States Department of Energy (USDOE), are often criticized for producing useless or noncredible management responses because they did not meaningfully involve the public. The first step to involve the public is to identify appropriate active participants (stakeholders). This study was done to understand the processes used to identify stakeholders to serve on advisory boards established at the two largest remediation sites in the United States: the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The Hanford stakeholder identification process produced an interest-based board whereas the Savannah River Site strategy produced population-based representation. The basic goals of the stakeholder advisory groups were similar. However, different processes were used to identify the participants for the groups in part because of distinctly different social and cultural conditions in the areas affected by the operations of the two facilities, and in part because of the different level of trust of the USDOE and their contractors at Hanford compared with Savannah River. The discussion analyzes their different needs and potential for successful citizen participation.     

Six Propositions on Public Participation and Their Relevance for Risk Communication

New societal obligations for communicating risk information are emerging in a variety of contexts. This article draws upon the lengthy societal experience with citizen participation programs to identify how risk communication efforts may be effectively structured and implemented. Six major propositions address such themes as means/ends differences in expectations, the timing of the program, the role of credibility and trust, the need for technical and analytical resources, differing thresholds of public involvement, and limitations upon current understandings. Key conclusions for the design of risk communication programs are set forth.     

中国乡村社会转型与村民的非制度化政治参与--基于14个村庄田野资料的分析

本文试图在社会转型期的背景下透视农民的非制度化政治参与,结合文献资料和田野调查,全面探讨现行的乡村权力结构与村民非制度化政治参与的关系,建议扩大农民的制度化政治参与.     

The Quality of Stakeholder-Based Decisions

The increased use of stakeholder processes in environmental decision making has raised concerns about the quality of decisions these processes produce. Some claim that stakeholders make inadequate use of scientific information and analysis and are all too ready to sacrifice technical quality for political expediency. This article looks to the case study record to examine the quality of the decisions from stakeholder-based processes. The data for the analysis come from a "case survey," in which researchers coded information from 239 published case studies of stakeholder involvement in environmental decision making. These cases reflect a diversity of planning, management, and implementation activities carried out by environmental and natural resource agencies at many levels of government. Overall, the case-study record suggests that there should be little concern that stakeholder processes are resulting in low-quality decisions. The majority of cases contain evidence of stakeholders improving decisions over the status quo; adding new information, ideas, and analysis; and having adequate access to technical and scientific resources. Indeed, data suggest that it is the more intensive stakeholder processes--precisely those that have aroused recent concern--that are more likely to result in higher-quality decisions.