Examining educational inequalities in two national systems: a comparison of the North African second generation in France and the Mexican second generation in the United States

This paper aims to compare the educational outcomes of children of immigrants in France and in the United States to highlight the ethnic educational inequalities in both countries. The comparison focuses on children from two groups: North Africans in France and Mexicans in the United States. By using two longitudinal datasets, the French Educational Panel Survey and Add Health, we examine aspirations, expectations, and secondary attainment in the two contexts. We explore in particular the role of parental education on attainment. Immigrant families have high educational aspirations in both contexts. North-African families express higher aspirations than native French with similar background, while there are no significant differences between second-generation Mexicans and the majority group net of parental education. Second-generation children are disadvantaged in school in both countries; they are more likely to drop out and less likely to graduate from high school, but most of the disadvantage is related to their social background. Net of social background, the Mexican second generation does not differ from the majority group while the North African second generation is more likely to get the French high school diploma than their peers of French origins, in line with their high aspirations. However, North Africans are more likely to receive the technological baccalauréat than the general baccalauréat.     

Electronic payment mechanisms in social security: Extending the reach of benefit and contribution transactions

More often than not, the existing modes of contribution collection and benefit payment of social security organizations are adapted to the collective arrangements that characterize employer‐employee relationships. Extending coverage to individuals in difficult‐to‐reach groups, however, may require new modalities of service that can cope with many separate, secure transactions rather than a few bulk data transfers between organizations. Recent developments in electronic payment show its wide applicability in enabling huge volumes of such individual transactions. It is in this light that the article explores the potentials of this technology and identifies possible arrangements through which electronic payments could surmount barriers that stand in the way of covering difficult‐to‐reach groups. The high level of mobile phone penetration on a global scale augurs well for using e‐payment mechanisms to collect social security contributions and to deliver social security benefits and services. A generic model is used to describe the requisite elements to implement electronic payments in social protection programmes. Based on empirical evidence of current social protection practices from around the world, five scenarios are presented to describe possible configurations for electronic payment, from the simplest to the most sophisticated. The broader objective is to contribute in a practical manner to the international commitment to extend social protection to all, as defined by the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.     

The social security number: A small device underpinning big systems

The possession and use of a personal social security number helps to structure people's daily lives. However, despite its fundamental normative importance, the social security number remains a little‐known entity. Increasingly universal and yet diverse in form, it is a legal and technical norm which is as much a mechanism for surveillance and monitoring as it is a necessary instrument for giving effect to social rights. Analysis of this constituent element of social security systems permits as assessment of some of the technical difficulties presented by the ever‐increasing movement of people and data. Overcoming these technical difficulties should permit to envisage a first technical step towards realizing a universal and global social security system.     

超越“范式”：国际问题研究的路径探微

当代国际政治理论的发展演变表现出一种对国际政治现象进行多重视角、多种层次研究的趋势,它给予人们的一个重要启示就是,没有一种能够解释一切的理论。但反过来说,不同的理论针对不同的对象也具有各不相同的解释力。我们必须认识到任何单一的理论都不可能解释国家对外行为的全部复杂性,必须提出一种综合的分析框架,结合现实主义、自由主义和建构主义各自精到的阐述,从历史、经济、政治、文化的视角来进行阐述和分析。     

日韩留学生颜色词联想的比较研究

选取日本和韩国留学生各80人作为被试,选定白、红、黄、蓝、紫和粉红6个基本颜色词,制成颜色词的自由联想问卷;采用自由联想和跨文化比较等方法,比较日韩留学生对这些颜色词的联想在具体、抽象及情绪维度上的差异,有助于认识他们的心理特征和民族文化特征。     

自贡市国际科技合作与交流人才英语应用能力的调查分析

科技的国际交流与合作越来越广泛,科技全球化促使英语应用能力成为科技工作人员的必备技能。掌握、精通英语成为面向世界、参与国际间竞争的基础。为了适应全球化发展,调查自贡市国际科技合作与交流人才英语应用能力,分析其现状并针对存在的问题提出相应对策迫在眉睫。培养具备英语应用能力的科技人才,加快国际合作与人才交流,对于促进自贡市的国际科技合作与交流,发挥自贡市的科研优势以及促进自贡市的发展有着积极而深远的意义。     

以制度和法治保护少数民族权利——中国民族区域自治的路径与经验

对少数人权利的保护,包括两个基本的面向:其一是主权国家依照宪法和相关法律对国内那些因人口、宗教或民族身份处于少数地位的群体从经济、政治、文化诸方面在平等、非歧视的原则基础上给予保障和保护;其二是主权国家依照国际法,通过加入相关的国际公约和条约在促进和实现少数人权利方面进行国际合作,并保证对侵犯少数人权利的行为加以防止和惩治。中国关于少数人权利的保护更多地强调制度和法治的途径,通过依法赋予少数民族特殊的优惠政策的方式凸显和确保少数民族的权利。     

青藏高原特色农业国际竞争力评价指标体系的构建

基于农业国际竞争力评价指标体系相关文献回顾的基础上,从国内比较优势指标、显示性指标、解释性指标和实体性指标四个方面提出了青藏高原特色农业国际竞争力的评价标准,建立了包括4个一级指标、12个二级指标和24个三级指标的特色农业国际竞争力的评价指标体系,以期为进一步研究青藏高原特色农业发展提供参考.     

An emerging transnational industrial relations? Exploring the prospects for cross‐border labour bargaining

Global union federations (GUFs) and multinational enterprises (MNEs) have been concluding “international framework agreements” (IFAs) to protect their interests amidst the globalizing economic landscape. By modelling the underlying bargaining processes, the authors show that IFAs can be expected when both sides exhibit risk aversion, although the agreement will favour the less risk‐averse side. Since globalization has created fewer vulnerabilities for MNEs than for GUFs, IFAs have so far typically delivered only minimal benefits for labour. But this should change in the future if strengthened transnational union capacities and abilities to threaten MNEs with reputational costs bring greater equalization of attitudes towards risk.     

Capital Structure of Nongovernmental Development Organizations

In the first international study of this kind, we analyze the capital structure of 364 nongovernmental development organizations (NGDOs) from three different countries: Belgium, Spain, and the United Kingdom. We observe lower debt ratio values in the United Kingdom, and significant differences between countries were found by testing an econometric model with the five classical determinants of leverage, considering total debt and both long‐ and short‐term debt. We find support for the pecking order theory, and we broadly discuss some possible reasons for the obtained differences.