风险与治理:资本与舆论的博弈模型与现实解释

舆论场是意识形态激荡的主要场域。在人工智能、大数据等技术的加持下,舆论被嵌入作为整体社会力量的资本的运作规划,而资本天生逐利性背后的思维逻辑、价值判断和行为方式,日益深刻地影响着舆论走势,促发资本与舆论由应然状态下的互动转向实然状态下的博弈,解构并重塑了传统的传播格局。资本与舆论的博弈成为当前公共话语空间中的现实景观,这是时代变迁带来的传播转型,更是推动舆论顺势识变、因势求变、乘势驭变的重要机遇。通过对个体间的博弈策略分析,构建博弈矩阵模型,从博弈论视角透视资本与舆论博弈的潜在风险:资本意志的渗透,导致主流意识形态话语权削弱;资本私利与公共利益对抗,导致媒介公共性异化;资本逻辑与技术逻辑合谋催生的泛娱乐化,导致公共理性隐匿。面对愈加智能化、隐蔽化的资本影响,需要规范资本准入体系,权衡舆论场资本布局;优化资本伦理秩序,创造抵制私利导向的舆论生态;深化技术善治,引导公众回归价值理性本真。这是规范和引导资本在舆论场健康发展、成为舆论场的有益参与力量,是不断淬炼新时代的舆论张力,实现舆论对国家向心力、凝聚力、认同力正向构建及对国家意识形态安全有效维护的治理思路和方法依循。     

从“数据”到“数治”:乡村数字化转型中技术与政策的逻辑

数字乡村建设是当前乡村建设的新趋势,数字技术嵌入乡村治理成为推动乡村发展的重要路径,然而,乡村的数字化转型仍面临技术快速发展与政策滞后的挑战,需要协同推进技术创新和政策改革。通过对东部Z省乡村的近距离观察,以实地田野为主探讨乡村数字化转型中的“数据”和“数治”,以及技术逻辑和政策逻辑的有效协同逻辑。从技术与政策的张力出发,分析了乡村数字化转型中所面临的理论和操作层面的问题:技术主导导致政策无法及时适应,形成“数字嵌入失衡”,政策滞后限制了技术的发挥;在操作层面,管理与服务、数量与质量、进度与实效的平衡成为关键问题。由此,提出构建数字乡村建设的韧性治理机制,强调技术与政策的协同发展、政府与乡村关系的嬗变以及应对数字化转型的双重任务。随着信息技术的迅猛发展,数字乡村建设作为乡村建设的新兴形态,正经历着不断迭代的阶段,为更好地抓住数字化改革的机遇,需要关注乡村实施数字化转型过程中技术与政策的相互作用,特别是要强调技术逻辑与政策逻辑的有效融合,特别是数字乡村建设的韧性治理机制需要充分考虑技术与政策的协同演变,政府政策响应速度的提升亦至关重要。     

Governance,Accountability, and Organizational Development: Eldercare Unit Managers’ and Local Politicians’ Experiences of and Responses to State Supervision of Swedish Eldercare

This article explores how local politicians and care unit managers in Swedish eldercare experience and respond to state supervision (SSV). Twelve politicians and twelve managers in 15 previously inspected municipalities were interviewed about their experiences of and reactions to SSV in relation to their views of care quality and routines in eldercare practice. The findings indicate that local managers and political chairs perceived SSV in eldercare positively at a superficial level but were critical of and disappointed with specific aspects of it. In terms of (a) governance, chairs and managers said SSV strengthened implementation of national policies via local actors, but they were critical of SSV’s narrow focus on control and flaws in eldercare practice. With regard to (b) accountability, SSV was seen as limited to accountability for finances and systemic performance, and regarding (c) organizational development, SSV was seen as limited to improving routines and compliance with legislation, while local definitions of quality are broader than that. In general, local actors regarded SSV as improving administrative aspects and routines in practice but ignoring the relational content of eldercare quality.     

Can vigilance‐focused governance reforms improve service delivery? The case of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) in Bihar,India

Child undernourishment is a major challenge in India even though the government has, since 1975, been running the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), one of the largest programmes of this type in the world. Ever since its inception, this scheme has been marred by various governance challenges: widespread corruption, absenteeism and targeting problems, more visible in states like Bihar than in others. The ruling dispensation in Bihar has instituted major reforms to tackle these problems. These include regular inspection of service delivery centres, strict monitoring of funds, swift disciplinary action and vigilance through community participation. While these reforms are generally accepted as good in theory, research‐based empirical evidence of their impact on the ground is scarce. This article tries to fill this gap through an in‐depth case study of ICDS in Bihar. The findings indicate that, contrary to conventional thinking about good governance, the vigilance‐focused reforms along with community‐based monitoring have not been successful in curbing systemic corruption. The study concludes that alternative approaches are required to resolve the governance problems in ICDS. These include tackling the problems of understaffing and heavy workloads, and providing stronger incentives to the frontline service providers.     

Using a community-based participatory research approach to evaluate resident predictors of involuntary exit from permanent supportive housing

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to determine an association between resident characteristics at time of entry to permanent supportive housing and exit status.MethodsA community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach was the guiding framework for the design, implementation and evaluation of this project. This retrospective observational study used an administrative data source from a local permanent supportive housing provider to compare resident characteristics among those who left housing voluntarily or involuntarily.ResultsThe population based sample (n = 407) was comprised of 51% males and 47% African-Americans with a mean age of 40 years (SD = 11.8). Involuntary exits (IEs) occurred in 40% of the sample (n = 166). IE was less likely with receipt of mainstream benefits, compared to employment income (O.R. = .546, p = .032). IE was more likely for residents self-identifying as African-American (O.R. = 1.56, p = .037) and when children resided in the household (O.R. = 2.03, p = .013).ConclusionsDespite limitations of community-derived data, findings suggest that supportive housing providers consider income source and family status when designing interventions to decrease IEs. A CBPR approach is a promising framework to guide evaluation efforts for supportive housing programs.     

Participatory video analysis in disability research

This article sets out critical framing as an analytical approach in participatory video by which people investigate and analyze a topic through arts-based engagement, storyboarding, and collaborative editing. Participatory video as an action research method in self-advocacy has been discussed elsewhere. Here, the author examines critical framing and the role of generative themes in participatory analysis by describing a case study in which adults with developmental disabilities explored the dimensions of sexual health through participatory video. The author proposes that critical framing provides a more nuanced approach to participatory analysis. Credibility and trustworthiness with data triangulation and overall findings are also described.     

Political Participation of Local Publics in the Unemployment Field: A Comparison of Lyon and Turin

This article focuses on political participation of local publics in the unemployment field, examining networks of collective actors in Lyon and Turin. Our main question is: Is the participation of local publics fostered under conditions of more developed governance that increases bottom-up access (formal or informal) to elites and institutions in the policy domain? Drawing upon the most recent developments in literatures on social movement theory, governance and network analysis, this article discusses the main variations in terms of political participation of local publics in Lyon and Turin. It then enquires into the main explanatory factors accounting for these variations, thus showing that the openness of governance does influence the level of political participation of local publics. The main argument is that in an open context participation is low, while in a closed (or underdeveloped) context local publics participate more, with differential access to decision-making according to their resources.     

STIRring the grid: engaging energy systems design and planning in the context of urban sociotechnical imaginaries

Since the first electrification systems were established in the United States between 1910 and 1930, energy systems governance at the municipal level has included competing visions for how engineering design and energy policy-making should foster particular social outcomes. Using Phoenix as a representative metropolitan area, and the cases of distributed generation and in-home power management devices as examples, this paper explores how the norms and values embedded in energy systems design and planning shape how residents experience change in the energy grid. Through these case studies, the authors argue that such “sociotechnical imaginaries” – collectively formed visions of social life related to science and technology development – are a crucial, yet overlooked, pathway for social science to engage in fostering socially reflexive mechanisms in energy development. To conclude, the authors outline a research program for applying the established methodology of socio-technical integration research (STIR) in order to develop socially reflexive capacities in municipal energy producing, regulating, and planning institutions. Such a program has the ability to produce a deeper intellectual understanding of how energy development occurs, and in doing so generate new pathways for fostering cultural and material changes in the structure of contemporary energy systems.     

Young people’s participation in Fiji: understanding conceptualizations and experiences

Young people’s participation has become a cliché in western democracies. In the case of Fiji, it is a novel concept, not because young people have not participated before but because they are exposed to new and different ways of involvement. This paper is one of the earliest attempts to explore young people’s understanding and experiences of participation in Fiji. It is based on data drawn from an exploratory study conducted with a select group of young people in Suva, Fiji. Forms of young people’s engagement although diverse are dominated by the traditional discourse of participation represented in ‘performance and responsibility’ and tend to be represented in the media and policy circles. This paper shows that young people are not bound by these conceptions but talk of participation as experienced in the hybridized settings of their everyday reality. The study offers a window into understanding young people’s participation in Fiji and suggests that a deeper appreciation of this facet of their lives can be achieved with an emphasis on participatory talk with and an exploration of spaces where young people are constantly negotiating the traditional expectations of being young, being dutiful citizens and self-directed individuals.     

Post-Brexit Trade Policy Autonomy as Pyrrhic Victory: Being a Middle Power in a Contested Trade Regime

The Leave camp and prominent Brexiteers typically present regaining political control over international trade policy after Brexit as one advantage of leaving the European Union. A newly autonomous UK government, so the argument goes, will be free to negotiate wide-reaching and ambitious trade agreements with the world and will not be restricted by the compromise-culture inherent in supranational, Brussels-based deliberations. In the absence of clear formulations of Britain’s post-Brexit trade political agenda, much of the debate remains hypothetical at this point. Yet, from a global governance perspective, it is clear that the institutional and legal architecture for international trade cooperation is currently fragmented. Given WTO negotiating deadlocks, the institutional strain resulting from parallel country-by-country negotiations, regulatory clash in the existing network of preferential trade agreements, and the UK’s new position as a middle power in the trade regime, this essay argues that Britain may find it more difficult to push its own trade agenda internationally than is currently conceded in the debate. With the global trade regime currently shifting back towards more power-based forms of international interactions, regaining trade policy autonomy post-Brexit may turn out to be a pyrrhic victory for the new trade middle power Britain.