抑制演化:库拉圈的社会权力

本文从迈克尔·曼“抑制演化”这一人类学命题入手,借用《老子》的某些思想与概念来解读人类学经典案例库拉。作者认为,曼由于材料不足而未能直接使用权力的四个来源解释新石器时代的“抑制演化”问题,而库拉民族志为探讨这一人类学命题提供了机会。《老子》的思想有助于我们较好地解释为何库拉宝物和名望都是“不积”的,为何库拉社会可以保持在“小邦寡民”的非文明状态。“不积”与“小邦寡民”使整个社会限制了四种社会权力的积累,有意保持在“抑制演化”的状态。以《老子》解读库拉,有可能为“抑制演化”这样的人类学经典理论提供一个独特的视角。     

Reconsidering the Connection between Capacity and Governance

Public Organization Review - High levels of sub-national policy experimentation and public cynicism about politics and government, combined with significant challenges and opportunities for...     

社会保险税:一个新制度经济学的分析框架

征收社会保险缴款的交易费用分为征收费用和损失费用。制度的变迁将使征收费用发生分流和转移,其承担主体也会发生变动。在中国社会保险缴款征收制度变迁过程中,交易费用的存在形式是不断变化的。决策机构在进行社会保险税的制度设计时应考虑留有一定的弹性空间。社会保险费改税付出的代价和取得的效益在整个制度变迁的进程中的分布将会是不均衡的。     

Implications of Welfare Reform on the Elderly

Abstract

Whereas many studies of welfare reform have focused on effects on children and families, little research has examined the implications of welfare reform for the elderly. This case study incorporates interviews with service providers for the aging, members of advocacy organizations, and two focus groups of older consumers conducted in the multi-ethnic urban community of San Francisco. Study findings suggest that welfare reform has had both direct and indirect effects on the elderly and their services in the study community. Direct effects derive primarily from changes in the welfare reform legislation that had the effect of undermining both immigrants' eligibility for and claiming of public assistance benefits. Indirect effects on older persons include increased child-care demands upon grandparents. The case study data bear on a significant policy change within the broader trend of devolution at a historical point when anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States was running high.     

The democratic challenges and potential of localism: insights from deliberative democracy

This article considers the democratic challenges and potential of localism by drawing on insights from the theory and practice of deliberative democracy. On a conceptual level, the ideas embedded in localism and deliberative democracy share much in common, particularly the democratic goal of engaging citizens in decisions that affect them. Despite such commonalities, however, there has been limited conversation between relevant literatures. The article considers four democratic challenges facing localism and offers a response from a systems perspective of deliberative democracy. It argues that, for localism to realise its democratic potential, new participatory spaces are required and the design of these spaces matters. Beyond structured participatory forums, local democracy also needs an active and vibrant public sphere that promotes multiple forms of democratic expression. This requires taking seriously the democratic contributions of local associations and social movements. Finally, the article argues that, to fulfil its democratic potential, localism needs to encourage greater democratic and political connectivity between participatory forums and the broader public sphere.     

Inclusive Governance and “Minority” Groups: The Role of the Third Sector in Wales

Following the establishment of a national legislature in Wales in 1999 the third sector has entered into a pioneering cross-sectoral partnership with the Welsh government. This paper presents the results of a research project that has studied the new structures of devolved governance through the expectations and participation of voluntary organizations representing three marginalized or minority groupings: women, disabled people, and those from an ethnic minority background. The findings reveal that despite varying levels of expectation expressed by minority voluntary groups, active engagement of minority groups in policy making has been a feature of the Assembly's first months. Nevertheless, formidable challenges face both sectoral partners in the new system of governance, not least in creating organizational structures that facilitate partnership working in the devolved polity.     

Doing Gender,Practising Politics: Workplace Cultures in Local and Devolved Government

This paper takes a workplace perspective to explore the ways in which institutional arrangements influence the doing of gender and the practising of politics. It compares the workplace culture of the National Assembly for Wales (NAfW) with that of local government in Wales, showing that the culture of the NAfW is experienced as less masculinized than local government and that women, and men, are less constrained to perform an aggressive, confrontational masculinity. This suggests that, in new political institutions, practising politics may be less closely tied to a particular way of doing gender and as a result may challenge the gendering of politics. Theoretically the paper engages with debates about doing, redoing and undoing gender, arguing that in order to understand how change can be brought about, attention needs to be paid to the structural context within which gender is done as well as the interactional level of doing gender.     

Corporate Governance and New Organizational Forms: Issues of Double and Multiple Agency

This paper addresses corporate governance inthe light of two relatively new developments inorganizational form, respectively towardsdevolved initiative within firms andpartnerships between firms. In so doing, itargues for an extension of corporate governancetheory and practice to take better account ofthe problems arising from double and multipleagency. New organizational forms can bereconciled with the requirements for corporategovernance through a number of complementarydevelopments, including the cooptation ofemployees and junior partners into ownershipand governance, more inclusive forms ofcontrol, mutual monitoring and the promotion oftrust.