Challenge of multi-level governance in developing countries and possible GIS applications

Of the three most prominent issues in governance discourse—the horizontal coordination of markets, government hierarchies and networks, global governance and multi-level governance—this paper argues that the last, developing and sustaining structures of multi-level governance, constitutes the most profound governance challenge for most developing countries.The paper identifies the major forces promoting change in favor of multi-level governance in developing countries. Using the growing literature and comparative national experiences (illustrated with the examples of India, the Philippines, Colombia and Nigeria), it highlights the key achievements of democratic decentralization as well as its nagging problems in these countries. Finally, the paper demonstrates the significance of these developments for democracy and development in these countries and shows some of the ways by which external partners—especially experts associated with the Geographic Information Systems for Developing Countries can assist and possibly benefit from this process.     

论苏共党内民主的历史教训

苏联共产党党内长期过度集权 ,缺乏民主是苏共垮台的主要原因之一。苏联共产党就党内民主建设方面提供的历史教训是 :搞好党内民主必须坚持民主集中制原则 ;搞好党内民主必须把党的权力中心转移到党的代表大会上来 ;搞好党内民主必须建立健全的党内监督机构。     

A Contingency Approach to Decentralization

After decades of centralization, in 1980 the central government of the Netherlands embarked upon an ambitious project to decentralize the administrative system. It proclaimed a series of general decentralization measures that aimed to improve the performance of the administrative system and to boost local democracy. This article presents the results of research into the effects of these measures. It shows that the decentralization project did not meet the high expectations. This can be explained by the fact that the theoretical framework underlying the decentralization policy was overly simple. The authors present a new framework that represents the contingent character of the effects of decentralization.     

Who governs or how they govern: Testing the impact of democracy,ideology and globalization on the well being of the poor

This paper examines the effects of regime type, government ideology and economic globalization on poverty in low- and middle-income countries around the world. We use panel regression to estimate the effect of these explanatory variables on two different response variables: national poverty gap (104 countries from 1981 to 2005) and child mortality rate (132 countries from 1976 to 2005). We find consistent and significant results for the interactive effect of democracy and government ideology: strong leftist power under a democratic regime is associated with a reduction in both the poverty gap and the child mortality rate. Democracy, on its own, is associated with a lower child mortality rate, but has no effect on the poverty gap. Leftist power under a non-democratic regime is associated with an increase in both poverty measures. Trade reduces both measures of poverty. Foreign direct investment has a weak and positive effect on the poverty gap. From examining factors that influence the welfare of poor people in less developed countries, we conclude that who governs is as important as how they govern.     

Democracy and human development: recent legislation in India

Human Development (HD) requires that development must accompany fundamental human concerns that make life worth living. It is surprising that despite being a democracy, India performs poorly on HD. In this backdrop, four pieces of legislation of different orientations have been passed since 1998–99: ‘Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana’, the ‘Right to Information’, the ‘National Rural Employment Guarantee Act’ and the ‘Right to Education’. Where successful, they have empowered the beneficiaries. Though not expressed as such, nor exclusively directed to this end, these pieces of legislation are bound together with democracy's demand for HD: they are influenced externally by various aspects of globalisation; internally, development is continuously interrogated by democracy, competitive politics and social activism.     

基于“过程-互动-行动”的城市贫困问题分析

随着中国市场化、城市化进程的加快,城市贫困问题越发严重。基于社会学家胡格伟尔特(A.Hoogvelt)的"过程—互动—行动"分析框架,分析了现阶段我国城市贫困问题的新特点及成因,指出贫困问题的加重,一是源于对社会群体福利最大化这一社会目标的偏离,民众,特别是弱势民众没有充分享受到中国宏观经济增长的长处,"宏观上欣欣向荣、微观上民不聊生";二是民主制度的缺失致使弱势群体话语权缺失,没有一个可循的制度安排供城市贫民来表达权益;三是政策实施过程中的政府失灵。对此,文章提出破解城市贫困的制度选择。     

现代传媒与公共治理:以杭州为个案的研究

在公共治理领域,现代传媒发挥着独特的作用,其规范性特征在于民主责任承担与民生事业关注两个层面.杭州民主民生的传媒行动,以现代传媒的实体化功能创新,建构传媒的场域效应、社会交往效应与治理效应.公共治理的现代传媒功能建构,关键在于建构合作治理的社会行动网络;其路径在于:导引社会行动,吸纳公众参与,促成制度规则体系的互动衔接.     

明晰党政资产权属 推进民主政体建设

发展民主政治是时代进步的要求，而党内民主不同于国家民主。执政党通过政治体制改革构建国家民主政体的关键是党政资产权属的改革和党政人员的职能分开。为此，一是推动党务公开，明晰党资党产和政府资产的权属。二是划清党务人员和公务人员的工作属性，解决党、政人员不分和以党代政问题。三是党组织以委托理财的方式合理使用党费和现有资产，逐年减少财政转移支付。四是适时提请立法机构制定一系列的相关法律法规，逐步过渡到党内财务自支平衡，最终从党政资产权属起步，建立社会主义的现代国家民主政体。     

论公共政策的科学化与民主化

塑造一个高效廉洁的政府公共管理形象,就必须确保公共政策的科学化与民主化,克服传统的“士人进主”、“辅佐明君”的议政参政的模式,从而保障公共决策权的有效运用,制约和防止公共决策权的滥用。建国50多年来的历史经验证明,正确的公共政策,可以促进我国各项事业的蓬勃发展,而公共政策出现的种种失误,又对我国政治、经济、文化的顺利发展产生了消极的作用,使得社会主义制度的优越性不能得到充分的发挥,严重地侵蚀和破坏了政府的公共管理形象。为此,研究公共政策活动的规律,实现公共政策的科学化与民主化,是提高我国政府对整个社会生产和社会生活的宏观管理水平,重塑高效廉洁的政府公共管理形象的迫切要求。     

民主的伦理维度——兼论杜威政治哲学的当代意义

民主应该具有深厚的道德底蕴,这是杜威政治哲学独特性和深刻性体现的重要维度。他从彻底“道德理想”的视阈来看待民主的基本原则、实践方式和社会目的。因此其民主理论具有深厚的道德与人性基础。其民主思想的这个特点为我们理解当代社会改革提供了一个独特的参考视阈。