A lattice of participation: reflecting on examples of children's and young people's collective engagement in influencing social welfare policies and practices

The article introduces four case studies from Wales, France and Finland and explores the situated, intergenerational and dynamic nature of collective participation in child welfare settings. Collective participation is conceived of as a process of engagement in which children and young people have some influence over the initiation or direction of a project; and as seeking a product, or outcome. The case studies represent a range of forms of collective engagement and highlight some key resources which supported children's participation (communicative spaces, time, money, knowledge, social position, attitudes, social networks, institutional commitment, equipment, food and transport). Challenges encountered in achieving effective participation in different nations within Europe are also identified, related to generation barriers and the distribution of resources. These elements are used to construct a lattice of participation: a model for conceptualising children and young people's collective engagement in participatory projects. The model provides a tool for visualising how, at different stages of a project, actors (children, young facilitators, adults and institutions) exercise influence by directing the use of different resources, such as finance and time. It invites reflection on why influence is limited in some stages of a participatory project, and how it is supported in other stages.     

董仲舒王道论浅析

董仲舒将王道之依据上溯于天,认为是圣人承天意以从事的结果,并将人间的统治者确定为天之子,由此论证了现实政权的合法性;同时,他又通过"天立王以为民也"的设定,将人间统治者的统治置于以天道为依据的王道的规制之下。在此基础之上,他结合现实,对儒家视域中与王道相对的霸道,进行了论述,认为王霸皆本于仁,将儒法结合,并在治道层面主张德主刑辅,大德小刑,从而把儒法结合后的政治行动力契入儒家,使其主张具有非常强烈的现实感和可操作性。由此,中国近千年的霸王道杂之的治道模式在一定程度上得以确立。     

High precision implementation of Steck's recursion method for use in goodness-of-fit tests

Classical continuous goodness-of-fit (GOF) testing is employed for examining whether the data come from an assumed parametric model. In many cases, GOF tests assume a uniform null distribution and examine extreme values of the order statistics of the samples. Many of these statistics can be expressed by a function of the order statistics and the p-values amount to a joint probability statement based on the uniform order statistics. In this paper, we utilize Steck''s recursion method and propose two high precision computing algorithms to compute the p-values for these GOF statistics. The numerical difficulties in implementing Steck''s method are discussed and compared with solutions provided in high precision libraries.     

Crafting Child‐friendly Cities: Evidence from Biratnagar Sub‐metropolitan City,Eastern Nepal

Our cities are increasingly becoming the sites where children socialize, observe, and learn how society functions and many local and global activities have impacted children's health and well‐being. The Child‐friendly Cities initiative, launched by the United Nations Children's Fund and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme in 1996, draws in diverse stakeholders to place children at the center of the urban agenda. Based on social work research, this article analyzes the acclaimed status of Biratnagar Sub‐metropolitan city, Eastern Nepal, as a child‐friendly city. Despite its efforts, the city of Biratnagar is yet to meet the required criteria to claim itself as a child‐friendly city. Further improvements by the city administration in achieving children's participation in decision‐making, child‐friendly legal environment, and code of conduct are essential. Based on the evidence, the authors advocate for bottom‐up approaches that include children's voices and their real participation in city governance and a strong political will to craft child‐friendly cities, not as a policy rhetoric but for real. Enabling children to fulfill their potential as equal participants in crafting child‐friendly cities will require adults to relinquish some of their hegemonic powers of decision‐making on behalf of children.     

韩国在争议海区“抢先下手”有失公平原则——从国际法角度评析韩国“作为”

中韩两国在黄海和东海都存在着专属经济区划界争议.韩国在此问题上采取了积极进取的态度与措施,值得关注与研究.本文旨在整理、总结韩国的举措,并从国际法角度对其做出评价,指出韩方坚持的等距离中间线原则缺乏法理依据;其对苏岩礁的开发并不具备“有效控制”原则的构成要件;在争议海域的联合军演侵害了中国海洋权益.文章最后就我国应采取的对策提出了看法与建议.     

Unaccompanied migrant children and indebted relations: Weaponizing safeguarding

UK statutory guidance for practitioners suggests that indebtedness is an area where safeguarding red flags should be raised and action taken to minimize the risk of exploitation. Yet, our research shows that unaccompanied migrant children have complex indebted relationships, which can range from extractive to connective. Drawing on interviews with unaccompanied children, we show that these indebted relationships can include financial debt to smugglers, responsibilities to support transnational families, as well as social obligations to peers and others. Their accounts present a nuanced understanding of the taboo nature of indebted relationships, not to be shared with the practitioners in their lives. This is due, in part, to the potential threat of reporting to the Home Office, which might jeopardize their immigration status. In response to this weaponization of social care, we demonstrate how children turn to peer networks of support, creating their own alternative forms of social protection. In so doing, we complicate critiques of adultification, which traditionally highlight the ways that racially minoritized children may be treated as adults—to their detriment. In so doing, we show that because indebtedness is normatively linked to adulthood, unaccompanied children's hopes and fears may be rendered unsayable and therefore unsupportable in social care, all in the name of safeguarding.     

《大西洋宪章》再现英美论战——评述历史对中美构建新型大国关系的启示

《大西洋宪章》是二战期间英美两国首脑首次会晤最重要的成果,它的诞生不仅标志着英美两国政治同盟的形成,也对后来反法西斯大同盟和联合国的建立产生了重要影响。但英美两国的战略处境不同,致使所抱的预期目标差距甚大。罗斯福的主要目标是想发表一个能阐述战争目的和重建战后世界和平秩序构想的联合宣言,而丘吉尔则期望通过会晤来解决英国当时所面临的一系列现实问题。然而,作为求援者来参会的丘吉尔最终不得不屈从于罗斯福,二人会晤后所发表的《大西洋宪章》也主要体现了罗斯福的思想和意志。重温这次英美首脑会晤以及《大西洋宪章》在战后所产生的作用,对当下中美两国在太平洋地区构建新型大国关系颇有启示。     

Extending social security coverage to the rural sector in China

In late 2009 China launched an innovative, voluntary programme that by 2011 had extended pension coverage to 326.4 million people in the rural sector, including contributors and beneficiaries. It requires one contribution per year and provides a flat‐rate benefit and a contributions‐related benefit through a contributory individual account, with a government guarantee that the benefit will continue for life. The programme encourages participation of persons who do not pay income taxes, and thus have no tax incentive to participate, by providing substantial government subsidies. As a further incentive, old‐age benefits are provided to older parents when all their adult children participate in the contributory programme.     

Enhancing the capacity of kin caregivers and their families to meet the needs of children left behind

Based on qualitative research of the experiences of 23 kin caregivers and five school personnel, this article explores the role of informal kinship care in addressing the needs of school-age children left behind in rural China. The findings of this study suggest that kin caregivers' child-rearing capacity is limited in the rural context, and they are often overwhelmed by children's diverse and complex needs, particularly their emotional ones. In view of the huge population and their vulnerability, it is imperative for the state to take up its responsibilities and develop specific social work services and other support for children left behind and their families.     

Macroeconomic asymmetry in the Eurozone before and after the Global Financial Crisis: An appraisal of the role of the ECB

The launch of the euro in 1999 was assumed to enhance macroeconomic convergence among EMU economies. We test this hypothesis from a comparative perspective, by calculating different indices to measure the degree of macroeconomic dispersion within the Eurozone, the UK and the USA (1999–2019). We use common factor models to produce a single index for each monetary area out of different measures of dispersion. These indices can be used to inform on the degree of optimality of a monetary area. Our results show that macroeconomic dispersion in the Eurozone increased notably even before 2007 and it took significantly longer to return to pre-crisis levels, as compared to the UK and the USA. The paper shows the critical role played by the ECB’s asset purchases programmes in reducing macroeconomic divergences among EMU member states since 2015.