Transnational policy entrepreneurs and the cultivation of influence: individuals,organizations and their networks

ABSTRACT

The ‘policy entrepreneur’ concept arises from the Multiple Streams’ theory of agenda setting in Policy Studies. Through conceptual stretching’, the concept is extended to global policy dynamics. Unlike ‘advocacy networks’ and ‘norm entrepreneurs’, the discussion addresses the strategies of ‘insider’ or ‘near-governmental’ non-state actors. The analysis advances the policy entrepreneur concept in three directions. First, the discussion develops the transnational dimensions of this activity through a case study of International Crisis Group. Second, rather than focusing on charismatic individuals, the discussion emphasizes the importance of organizational resources and reputations for policy entrepreneurship and access into international policy communities. Organizations maintain momentum behind policy solutions and pressures for change over the long term when individuals retire or depart for other positions. Third, the discussion outlines four distinct entrepreneur strategies and techniques that both individuals and organizations cultivate and deploy to enhance their power and persuasion in global policy processes and politics.     

Middle School Children's Perceptions on Welfare and Poverty: An Exploratory, Qualitative Study

This study was undertaken to determine how middle school children assess the effects of welfare reform on their daily lives. The study consisted of thirty interviews with children and their mothers recruited from a middle school in a large, metropolitan area. From the children's perspective, multiple jobs and evening/night hours interfered with the child-parent relationship. Other consequences included grades going down and not getting to school on time. All the children stated that mothers should work, but most children felt mothers should only work when their children are in school. Welfare and poverty were issues about which children were teased at school.     

Japan's “New Homeless”

Since the mid-1990s, homelessness has become a major issue of public discussion in Japan, and is often viewed as a new social problem facing Japanese society. The issue of homelessness contrasts images of the absence of poverty and homelessness in postwar Japan, often explained based on the unique features of Japanese-style employment and welfare, containing poverty and unemployment. This paper contrasts these views with a perspective on the continuity of poverty, and homelessness in postwar Japan. Specifically, I discuss the characteristics of homelessness in Tokyo, how they relate to the structure of the economy and employment practices, and how the problems of today's homeless are accommodated in the welfare system. I argue that the homeless cast light on patterns of loss of employment, housing, and means of subsistence, characteristic to Japan's economy and welfare system, and contribute to a new understanding of the dynamics of poverty in contemporary Japan.     

矿业城市风险规避的相关政策研究

矿业城市是一类在资源开发和利用基础上发展起来的城市 ,大多数矿业城市具有资源依赖性的特点 ,并较易形成“矿竭城衰”。本文对现有研究成果进行了概括 ,并着重从三个方面探讨了矿业城市可持续发展的相关政策建议 ,包括建立矿业城市发展的早期预警系统、建立矿业城市可持续发展基金、降低矿业类产业的退出壁垒等     

听证在公共政策选择中的作用

听证是现代公共决策的重要程序,对于促进和实现公共决策科学化、民主化和法制化具有重要意义.在政策选择中引入听证程序不仅可以有效抑制和防止政府自利性,解决政策制定中的信息不对称问题,而且可以广纳民意、争取民心,增强政策选择的合法性和有效性.     

略论中共八大前后党提出的新思想、新方针

中共八大前后 ,中国共产党人努力探索适合中国国情的社会主义建设道路 ,取得了丰硕的成果。党在多方面提出了新的思想、新的方针 ,对于后来建设有中国特色社会主义理论的形成 ,有着重要的意义     

论重视和加快民办高等教育的发展

民办高等教育在十几年里飞速发展 ,取得巨大成就的同时也遇到很多的困难与问题。文章试图从宏观上论述在新的时代背景 ,尤其是即将步入WTO的国际大环境下 ,如何改变民办高等教育发展的不利因素 ,并采取有效的政策扶持 ,积极加快湖南的民办高等教育发展的问题     

公共政策的社会观基础

本文从一个新的视角──社会现的视角──审视了公共政策。因为在过去的有关公共政策的定义中，我们无法看出各个政策的重大区别，而事实上它们在是否符合人性的需求，充分考虑民意的基础并有效促进了人民的自由与福利等方面是有着重大区别的。本文将公共政策界定为是一定的权利中心在众多备选的计划、规划或可行之行动方案中作出选择并采取行动的这样一个过程。由此对选择的社会观基础进行考察，社会观影响到了人们对待集体行动的态度，进而又影响到社会秩序观。而持有不同的社会秩序观的人对公共政策有着根本不同的看法，最终得出好的公共政策的基本的制度安排。     

Inference for the measurement of poverty in the presence of a stochastic weighting variable

Empirical applications of poverty measurement often have to deal with a stochastic weighting variable such as household size. Within the framework of a bivariate distribution function defined over income and weight, I derive the limiting distributions of the decomposable poverty measures and of the ordinates of stochastic dominance curves. The poverty line is allowed to depend on the income distribution. It is shown how the results can be used to test hypotheses concerning changes in poverty. The inference procedures are briefly illustrated using Belgian data. An erratum to this article can be found at     

新时期我国零售业发展特点及政策建议

加入WTO以来,伴随我国经济的持续增长、对外开放的不断扩大和居民消费水平的提高,我国零售业在规模、结构、效益、经营和管理水平等方面都上了一个新台阶,但同时也面临来自外资零售企业的竞争压力和行业内现存的发展模式粗放、企业核心竞争力低、规范化程度低、人才短缺等问题,客观上要求必须从财政、税收、技术、人才等方面加快完善零售业发展的政策环境,为零售业的发展创造良好的条件。