Does trust increase willingness to pay higher taxes to help the needy?

The article studies the causal effect of trust on the willingness to pay higher taxes to help the needy in a sample of 29 countries of Eastern and Southern Europe, and the former Soviet Union and Mongolia. It is hypothesized that interpersonal trust leads to a greater willingness to pay taxes to help the needy since (i) trust increases the likelihood of helping strangers; (ii) trust fosters solidarity and cooperation when working to solve common problems in society; and (iii) trust reduces suspicion with respect to the perceived misuse of redistributed money. Three key findings are that the more people trust each other, the more they are ready to support the welfare state; the effect of trust on welfare state support holds even in a contextual environment characterized by rather lower levels of trust and relatively underdeveloped systems of redistribution; and higher individual‐level trust fosters tax morale and helps deter tax evasion.     

Energy in Eurasia: the Dependency Game

Russia, Europe, and a number of transit countries are involved in a high-stake game about energy which is characterized by a high degree of interdependency and security. The dependencies go in all directions, but what makes the game particularly interesting is that it is neither economically rational nor static. It should lie in all parties' interest to recognize the strong element of interdependency and transform some of the energy security politics into energy economics.     

迟到的非殖民化与缅甸对英联邦的突破

战后初期,艾德礼政府在缅甸政策上并没有大的创新,仍然沿用了战时内阁的政策。缅甸总督史密斯由于在缅甸推行与昂山敌对的政策使得缅甸的局势恶化。艾德礼政府逐渐改变了缅甸政策并任命兰斯为新的总督。兰斯支持缅甸民族主义者的政治要求。在经过了一番迟疑后,英国政府最终同意了兰斯的建议。但是由于英国政府的迟疑不决,缅甸的局势恶化,缅甸民族主义者与英国的关系也更为疏远。这一政治局势与缅甸在英帝国战略上的次要性使得缅甸最终在英联邦外独立。     

论高中评价共同体的建立与教师角色定位

高中需要建立由教师、学生、学校管理者及其他相关人员组成的评价共同体。在评价共同体内,教师作为被评价者,评价者,评价体系的构建者发挥着重要作用。针对作为被评价者的教师,应该注重他们的专业发展需要及实现评价方式的多元化;教师作为评价者,应该同时注重学生的认知学习成果评价,情感学习成果评价和心理活动学习成果评价,以实现精英评价向大众评价的转变;教师作为评价体系的构建者,应该积极参与整体性课程评价模式的构建,通过搜集有用信息,参与评价设计及研究与实践相结合,促进评价共同体内各因素的平衡及相关人员的分工合作,建立形成性评价体系。     

Community Versus Commonwealth: Reappraising the 1971 Immigration Act

The 1971 Immigration Act constitutes the most important piece of legislation for the regulation of immigration to Britain. Many assume that the Act was simply a further extension of the restrictive measures established over the post-war period to end non-white immigration. Based on original archival material, I argue that the Act was established in reaction to the dilemma the government faced as a result of joining the European Economic Community and the free movement of workers against Commonwealth migrants. The Act represents the final dismantling of universal Commonwealth citizenship and, in this sense, a definitive acceptance of the end of the Empire.     

论后苏联地区公民爱国主义教育的法律遵循——以独联体《爱国主义教育示范法》为视角

独联体议会近年来集中开展了社会软实力建设立法活动,以示范法形式为独联体国家在后苏联时代协同开展公民爱国主义教育提供了基本法律遵循。独联体《爱国主义教育示范法》从概念厘定、政策基础、实施保障、国家监管等角度较为完备地规定了各成员国应秉承的立场原则和行动方向。该法在文本结构、论述逻辑、历史根基和举措创新等方面充分体现了自身特色,但在精神内核、规范程度和配套实施层面仍存在着不足。对该法的立法意图和内容指向进行分析评价具有深刻的理论与实践意义,既可以将其作为我国同类立法的参考和镜鉴,也可以拓宽对独联体国家在后苏联时代的社会意识形态走向及政策应对方面的认知,而且可能成为今后独联体国家研究的新视角。     

Caspian Oil in a Global Context

This paper provides a brief overview of the political economy of Caspian oil. It begins by situating the Caspian region's oil sectors in the larger global market, before proceeding to examine the ways in which the Azerbaijani, Turkmen, and Kazakh oil sectors have been organised and governed since 1991. The paper then considers the likely consequences of recent policy shifts in Kazakhstan, the region's most important oil producer. A further section considers the questions of transport infrastructure and export routes, which remain particularly complex problems for Central Asia's landlocked producers. This is followed by a brief conclusion. The paper's central argument is that it is by no means certain that the Caspian region's hydrocarbon potential will be developed in a timely, economically efficient way. While the impact of geology, geography, and international price movements can hardly be ignored, policy-makers can do much to raise or lower the long-term elasticity of the supply by the Commonwealth of Independent States. Unfortunately, policy in the region seems, on present trends, likely to lower it.     

进一步开拓独联体市场的对策刍议

独联体是一个庞大的市场，我国与独联体国家的贸易有着很强的互补性。尽管近年来独联体国家政策多变，不同程度地采取贸易保护主义措施，加之我国大量假冒伪劣商品充斥独联体市场，对于进一步开拓独联体审场带来一些不利因素。但只要我们认真总结经验，扬长避短，提高出口商品的质量，拓宽合作领域，提高外贸人员的业务素质，深入研究双方市场及变化趋势，全面了解和掌握独联体国家各项对外经贸政策和法规，采取灵活的政策，鼓励大中型企业直接打入独联体市场，中国与独联体国家经贸合作的前景是十分广阔的。