Women’s Movements in Portugal and Spain: Democratic Processes and Policy Outcomes

Portugal and Spain underwent dramatic transformations between 1974 and the early 1980s, transitioning from dictatorships to democracies. In this article I explore why Portugal was faster than Spain in adopting key gender-rights policies (e.g., divorce, equal pay, state feminism) during the period in question. Bridging insights from the democratization, social movement, and women’s studies literatures, I argue that Portugal’s accelerated policy path on women’s rights can be explained by three complex factors: (1) the nature of the revolutionary transition, which structured options for women’s movements and for institutional actors; (2) the configuration of movement-party alliances; and (3) supranational pressures to reorganize the state-civil society relationship. The study contributes to the engendering of democratization processes in Iberia by paying close attention to the interconnected agency of women’s movements with other political actors at a time of regime transformation.     

Promoting healthy transition to college through mindfulness training with first-year college students: Pilot randomized controlled trial

Objective: Given the importance of developmental transitions on young adults' lives and the high rates of mental health issues among U.S. college students, first-year college students can be particularly vulnerable to stress and adversity. This pilot study evaluated the effectiveness and feasibility of mindfulness training aiming to promote first-year college students' health and wellbeing. Participants: 109 freshmen were recruited from residential halls (50% Caucasian, 66% female). Data collection was completed in November 2014. Methods: A randomized control trial was conducted utilizing the Learning to BREATHE (L2B) program, a universal mindfulness program adapted to match the developmental tasks of college transition. Results: Participation in the pilot intervention was associated with significant increase in students' life satisfaction, and significant decrease in depression and anxiety. Marginally significant decrease was found for sleep issues and alcohol consequences. Conclusions: Mindfulness-based programs may be an effective strategy to enhance a healthy transition into college.     

Articulations of populism: the Nordic case

Populism as a concept is elusive and has been connected to very different political movements. Generally, populism’s connotations are rather negative and the term is often used pejoratively in the academic field as well. However, Ernesto Laclau has approached populism by arguing that populist reason is a manifestation of political logic in which group identification – formed through various signifiers such as ‘the people’, which are articulated as part of an ‘equivalence chain’ – eventually establishes political agency as a totality. This paper uses Laclau’s articulation theory to analyse the public construction of contemporary populism in the Nordic countries of Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark. The analysis demonstrates that mainstream media frame populism rather negatively, although examples of the term’s positive identification with ‘the people’ are available, especially in the tabloid media. Thus, the positive identification behind the forming of populist movements clashes with the media discourse that prioritizes established journalistic views, practices and sources, making populism a ‘floating signifier’, that is, a concept that has several meanings which are contested in various public discourses. A general pattern in the construction of populism in Northern European multi-party democracies can be discerned, thus identifying the central role of nationalist and nativist identifications in contingent populist articulations. However, the differences between the Nordic countries emphasize a context-driven approach.     

政治与经济:中国改革的可能走向

经济发展与社会稳定为何呈现出"负相关"的关系?学术界的主流形成了三类具有代表性的分析框架:"宪政转型"、"体制落后"和"分配不公"。这三类框架具有各自的特点和局限性。在马克思的理论框架中,关于经济发展与社会稳定的关系背后,隐藏着一个更为深刻的相关性:经济基础与上层建筑之间的关系。这与主流观点有着本质的区别。对于中国当下的现实,马克思的分析框架有着极为深刻的解释力。这种解释的要义在于:(1)经济发展与经济基础的变化是同一过程的两个方面;(2)经济基础的变化必然要求上层建筑与之相适应;(3)经济基础与上层建筑的内在张力必然催生相应的政治诉求;(4)经济发展与社会稳定之间的"负相关",正是这种"政治诉求"没有得到有效满足的表现。因此,在经济基础日趋多元化的背景下,既要强化共产党的执政地位,又要确保市场化的改革方向。这个难题如何解决,不仅对中国未来的改革构成了巨大挑战,也将决定中国未来几十年甚至上百年的前途命运。     

金融发展对出口结构影响的理论探析

全球金融危机对中国的出口贸易产生严重冲击,中国对外贸易模式及出口结构的转型迫在眉睫,然而金融发展的相对落后是制约中国贸易结构调整与贸易模式转型的重要因素。文章借鉴Ju和Wei封闭情形下的基本架构,构建了两部门一般均衡分析框架,认为金融发展水平的提高能够降低企业的融资约束,进而导致资本密集型行业产品的相对价格下降,促进该行业产出乃至出口增加。因此,金融发展水平的提高会促进一国出口结构的调整与升级。     

转型期我国民间组织的社会整合功能探析

随着转型期社会生活的日益多元化,我国社会整合方式面临着前所未有的挑战,迫切需要建立新的社会整合机制。民间组织在组织形式和价值取向等方面的优势,使其能够在促进社会整合方面发挥独特的作用：有助于促进不同社会主体的利益平衡与协调,实现社会的利益整合;有助于形成规范社会的组织力量,实现社会的制度整合;有助于弘扬公平正义的价值理念,实现社会的价值整合;有助于形成政治国家与公民社会良性互动的社会结构,实现社会的结构整合。而要充分发挥民间组织的社会整合功能,民间组织应提高自主性建设,加强自身管理,完善组织的治理结构,政府要完善法律制度,为民间组织的发展营造良好的制度环境。     

我国民营家族企业治理结构改进

民营企业在我国国民经济中占有重要地位。国内外家族企业治理结构理论给我们的启示,明确我国民营家族企业治理结构改进研究的内容、思路与相关建议与措施,有利于我国民营家族企业的健康发展。     

《公约》框架下根本性违约对风险转移的影响

《公约》①的三种风险转移模式都是建立在双方均无违约的情况下的,但在实践中风险损失往往与违约所造成的损失交合在一起,这种情况下如何进行损失分配就成为违约之际的风险转移问题。针对这一问题,由于学界对《公约》第70条的理解不一致而存在很大的分歧。文章在公约框架内,从违约责任与风险转移的一般关系出发,通过对《公约》第70条及其他条文的分析,指出一般性违约不影响风险转移,卖方的根本性违约是否影响风险转移则取决于买方所采取的违约救济措施,而买方的根本性违约则直接导致风险的提前转移。     

论科学发展观与我国生态经济学的发展

在分析生态经济学理论优势的基础上,提出一个人口、生产和消费与生态环境关系的研究框架。研究重点主要是在短期内从生产的角度进行生态补偿研究,而长期必须从消费偏好的角度进行研究。在研究方法上,应该借鉴条件价值法、生态足迹和物质流会计、新制度经济学等方法。这样才能使生态经济学走出乌托邦式的哲学范式,接近公众从而找到其动力源泉。     

农户生计策略识别及其动态转型

利用中国健康与养老追踪调查(CHARLS)2013和2015年两期调查数据,构建收入—资产指数识别了中国农户的生计策略及其跨期动态转型,并从生计阶梯的视角阐释了生计转型对贫困治理的意义。研究发现:(1)农户兼业化和生计多样化程度在不断提高;(2)低收益生计策略退出率和高收益生计策略进入率比较低,生计转型主要发生在中等收益的生计策略中,最终整个生计阶梯演化为“葫芦型”,是对“金字塔”型生计阶梯的一种改善;(3)农户家庭当期的生计策略选择对上一期生计策略具有显著的依赖性。自然资本、人力资本、社会资本和金融资本的积累显著促进了农户生计策略的向高收益流动,而物质资本中的农用固定资产所形成的沉没成本,其捆绑效应阻碍了农户的生计多样化。因此,现阶段扶贫政策应该对农户生计资本提供保障,防止各类外生冲击(包括政策、自然)对农户资产的侵蚀,降低农户生计策略向低收益流动或者单一化的风险。