三明市集体林权制度改革的农村社会经济福利测度

集体林权制度改革作为一项制度变革,是否会带来农村的可持续发展,是社会普遍关注的焦点.采用可持续经济福利指数（ISEW）对福建省三明市农村社会经济福利进行测度.可持续经济福利指数的测算结果表明,集体林权制度改革以后,三明市农村社会经济福利是先下降后增加的,人均ISEW值的增长低于人均GDP的增长水平.从ISEW的发展趋势来看,三明市农村处于可持续发展的状态.     

Globalization and Evolving Local Governance in Norway

Has local governance in Norway escaped the forces of globalization? In grappling with this question, and using the case of Trondheim Municipality, I argue that local government reform in Norway is predicated on the dominant paradigm of public sector reform in the age of globalization, namely, new public management (NPM). This has had corrosive effects on the capacity of the local states in Norway to provide basic services to their citizens. Consequently, the Norwegian welfare regime is being undermined by the new reform agenda. However, while local governance in Norway is predicated within the dominant global paradigm, it deviates from the global trend as there is increasing centralization as opposed to decentralization as the national government uses various mechanisms to regulate and control municipalities.

¿Ha podido el gobierno local en Noruega escaparse de las fuerzas de la globalización? Lidiando con esta pregunta y tomando el caso de la municipalidad de Trondheim, yo sostengo que la reforma del gobierno local en Noruega se basa en el paradigma dominante de la reforma del sector público en la era de la globalización, es decir la Nueva Administración Pública (NPM, por sus siglas en inglés). Esto ha tenido efectos corrosivos en la capacidad de los estados en Noruega, de proveer servicios básicos a sus ciudadanos. Consecuentemente, la asistencia pública del régimen noruego se ha minado gracias al nuevo plan de reforma. Sin embargo, mientras que el gobierno local se establece dentro del paradigma global dominante, éste se desvía de la tendencia global ya que existe un aumento en la centralización, al contrario de la descentralización, dado que el gobierno nacional usa varios mecanismos para regular y controlar las municipalidades.

     

Social Capital and Community Supportsfor Low Income Families

Abstract

The Personal Responsibility, Work Opportunity and Medicaid Restructuring Act of 1996 changed welfare dramatically. This article explores the concept of social capital, illustrating how social and cultural capital are important factors that make the difference between persistent and temporary poverty. Through research in Wisconsin and Philadelphia, this article shows that social capital provides both barrier and bridge to families trying to survive in a changed policy context. However, just as programs focusing exclusively on work experience, developing human capital, or providing additional income fail to produce results for everyone on public assistance, programs concentrating exclusively on social or cultural capital are also doomed to failure.     

Assessing the Effect of Welfare Reforms on Public Assistance Caseloads in Four Ohio Counties

Abstract

The implementation of welfare reform at the local level is critical to assessing the effects of structural reforms initiated since the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunities Reconciliation Act of 1996. Wide variations in the activities undertaken in response to national welfare reform have hindered efforts to understand the factors that have contributed to the success of welfare reform apparent in caseload reductions. This paper reviews Community Human Service Plans in four Ohio counties and examines their trends in caseloads. Two strategies emerge: “job attachment” and “human capital development.” These differences in local implementation can be related to caseload trends.     

Welfare and Welfare to Work in the United States

Summary

Despite social work's historic ambivalence toward income support programs, the policy changes introduced by the TANF welfare to work program demand the profession's attention. Although social workers are not directly responsible for the administration or implementation of the program, many serve TANF clients whose lives have been affected by these changes. Tracing social work's historic but reluctant involvement with income support, this paper urges the profession to respond to the challenges posed by the TANF program in a more systematic way and to contribute more effectively to the wider task of poverty eradication.     

British Statutory Sector Partnerships with the Voluntary Sector

Abstract

The boundaries of the welfare state in Britain have shifted considerably since the early 1980s. In the context of a desire to see an expanded mixed economyof welfare, the voluntary and community sectors have been expected to take on, in partnership with the statutory sector, a more active role in the delivery of a range of welfare services. Governmental speeches and policy initiatives in the UK have reasoned that the voluntary sector is cost-effective, offers “added value” to users and statutory sector purchasers, provides high quality services, is adaptable to changing needs and promotes greater user involvement. This article takes a critical look at some of the claims that are often made for service-providing voluntary organizations in the field of community (social) care.     

Facing Time Limits

Abstract

With reauthorization of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) on the horizon, policy makers need to have a sound understanding of the act's consequences for children and families. In contrast to earlier studies, the present study quantifies the impact of a 24-month state imposed welfare time limit on foster care placements. It also examines the impact of a “hardship” provision that temporarily excuses select families from meeting a two-year time limit on foster care placements in Nevada. In order to determine how these factors, in conjunction with other relevant welfare experiences and personal factors, affect parent-child separation, a multivariate logit model was tested. Key findings reveal that families who have more months counted toward their time limits also are more likely to have at least one child removed and placed in foster care. On the other hand, hardship families are not more likely to have their children placed in foster care than non-hardship families. The findings lend support to the notion of providing family-centered casework services to those identified to be at risk of approaching their welfare time limits. The findings also lend support to inter-agency collaboration between TANF and child welfare systems.     

‘Recovery work’ and ‘magic’ among long‐term mental health service‐users

Based on an extended period of qualitative research with mental health service‐users in north‐east England, this article considers the various forms of ‘magical work’ and ‘recovery work’ that emerge in the lives of people living with severe mental health problems. Given the now sizeable body of literature which seeks to problematize traditional conceptual boundaries of work, the article asks to what extent these hidden and unusual work‐forms might also be considered legitimate members of the category. Rather than argue for the expansion of the construct to accommodate these activities, the paper attempts simply to problematize the extent to which so‐called ‘mad’ forms of work are irresolvably different to more conventional forms of occupation. In challenging notions of the psychiatric patient as inevitably inactive, new vocabularies for service‐user work are explored. Concluding remarks are also directed to recent policy debates concerning ‘back‐to‐work’ welfare reform for long‐term out of work service‐users.     

Family Well-Being Between Work,Care and Welfare Politics

Summary

This article examines how policy-relevant aspects such as gender equality, work load and relationship qualities affect family well-being. The analysis aims at identifying the constellation of factors that can explain family life satisfaction using data drawn from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP). Despite the fact that Norwegian welfare policies have a strong emphasis on supporting gender equality and mothers'employment, the study finds a gendered pattern in parents'work and family lives. Family well-being is shown to be influenced by family internal factors, such as time pressure, the quality of close relations, and level of conflict. This in turn provides input for national policy-making.     

Professional development opportunities as retention incentives in child welfare

This study examined the career paths of 415 Title IV-E MSW graduates in one state retrospectively over 180 months post-graduation to discover factors that could be important in affecting retention in public child welfare agencies. The Title IV-E educational program is designed to be a retention strategy at the same time as it is a professionalization strategy. We surmised that perceived organizational support (POS) contributes to retention by acknowledging the workers' needs for career development support. The median survival time for these child welfare social workers was 43 months for the first job and 168 months for the entire child welfare career. The initial analysis showed steep drops in retention occurred at 24–36 months post-graduation, approximately at the end of the Title IV-E work obligation. Upon further examination, Kaplan–Meier tests showed organizational factors relevant to workers' professional career development predicted retention. Having access to continuing education and agency-supported case-focused supervision for licensure were correlated with retention at the 24–36 month post-graduation mark. At 72 months post-graduation, promotion to supervisor was a significant factor found to encourage retention. Being a field instructor for MSW students and being promoted to a managerial position were not significantly related to retention.