Exploring the Contributions of Cultural Theory for Improving Public Deliberation about Complex Policy Problems

In this article, we argue that the Cultural Theory pioneered by Mary Douglas can help resolve two pressing issues in the study and practice of public deliberation. The first of these issues concerns how best to structure deliberative processes (or “minipublics”) that have increasingly been implemented around the world. We use Cultural Theory's analysis of social relations to derive a hypothesis concerning the ideal design of minipublics, and outline research strategies to test the hypothesis. The second issue pertains to scaling out minipublics. We describe John Dryzek's and Simon Niemeyer's influential proposal for deploying discourses to make public deliberation more representative, and discuss the limits of their proposal. Furthermore, we show how Cultural Theory's analysis of people's cultural biases (i.e., collectively shared perceptions, beliefs and norms) may help overcome these limits and how the design of minipublics can generate trust in and legitimacy of public deliberation.     

玉树灾后恢复重建中的主体法律问题

玉树地震灾后恢复重建中涉及到许多法律问题,例如地震后的受灾者、恢复重建者、志愿者等主体的认定以及权利保障问题。明确这些主体地位,是确立灾后恢复重建法律关系中的权利和义务的前提。     

Exploring the Conditions for Cooperative Energy Governance: A Comparative Study of Two Asian Pipelines

A central but often unasked question in political and sociological scholarship concerns the conditions that precipitate cooperation on large-scale transnational energy projects, especially among “developing” and “emerging” economies. Using the example of two multi-billion dollar pipeline systems – the Trans-ASEAN Natural Gas Pipeline (TAGP) Network in Southeast Asia and Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) Pipeline in the Caspian Sea – this article explores the factors that result in successfully completed projects, and those that lead to conflict and contention. After drawing from extensive research interviews and field research, the article approaches politics and technology through the lens of science and technology studies. It relies on the interdisciplinary concepts of “relevant social group” and “technological frame” to identify coalitions of actors associated with each pipeline project. The paper then investigates the interests and motivations behind these groups to illuminate the challenges facing the TAGP and those that accelerated the completion of the BTC. The paper concludes by offering some thoughts on the diverse elements needed to incentivise cross-border energy infrastructure, and what these may mean for energy and public policy scholars.     

Difficulties and Strategies in the Teaching of CET-3 English Writing for Vocational Colleges

CET-3 (College English Test Band 3) in Zhejiang Province adds English writing part to the new syllabus and therefore to develop strong English writing skills in vocational colleges students becomes one of the important tasks of vocational colleges in English teaching.This paper analyzes the difficulties in the teaching of CET-3 English writing at vocational colleges and proposes teaching strategies to improve students’ level of English writing.     

Exploring the Factors for Budget Stability and Punctuations: A Preliminary Analysis of State Government Sub-Functional Expenditures

Disproportionate information processing theory asserts that sudden, dramatic changes punctuate otherwise stable growth patterns in U.S. policy and budget processes. The present paper uses state government sub-functional expenditures to explore what factors cause budget stability and punctuations. First, the findings in the present paper generally confirm the observations made in other studies that distributions of governmental budgets are Paretian. Second, while future research is warranted to identify more specific causes, this preliminary analysis suggests that institutional frictions and information oversupply tend to increase both budget stability and punctuations. It also suggests that availability of efficient information reduces budget stability but not necessarily budget punctuations. However, when examined at the level of different fund-type expenditures, which have differing degrees of institutional friction and availability of information that can be efficiently processed, more subtle and distinguishable differences in patterns of budget stability and punctuations emerge, which was not accounted for in disproportionate information processing theory.     

Geospatial Technologies as a Vehicle for Enhancing Graduate Education and Promoting the Value of Geography

Geospatial technologies (GSTs), such as geographic information systems, global positioning systems and remote sensing, present an avenue for expanding the already strong interdisciplinary nature of geography. This paper discusses how GSTs served as a common thread for a crosscutting faculty institute that was established to enhance graduate student teaching and learning at a comprehensive university. Results of this institute demonstrate that this effort advanced graduate education and promoted the value of geographic scholarship across the university.     

马来西亚民间华文历史文献的类别及其对方志研究的作用*A

论文根据田野调查的经验,分析了马来西亚民间华文历史文献的类别,并从组织序列、历史序列两方面,探讨了马来西亚乡土历史的书写内容和方法,归纳其对方志研究的作用。马来西亚的史学乃至华人研究,除了少数几位民间文史工作者,一般皆以传统文献切入,学者下乡采集文献资料较少,故此民间华文历史文献的采集和研究工作可谓大有可为。除地方文化研究必须依托民间文献方克有成外,华人民俗文化的研究依赖民间文献之处更为显著。这两个领域恰好正是殖民政府和现今的国家机器较少涉入,乃至不闻不问、任其自行发展的地带。近一二十年随着国家经济发展,迅猛的城市化,无所不在的西化,许多地方特色在发展洪流中消失。因此,马来西亚的民间华文历史文献采集和研究有待进一步深入。     

“非遗”传承人权利保障机制地方法制评述:兼论“非遗法”的反思与完善

《中华人民共和国非物质文化遗产法》("非遗法")颁布实施以后,我国已就非物质文化遗产(非遗)传承人权利保障相关问题进行地方法制实践。这些地方立法不仅保留了"非遗法"相关规定之精华,同时亦在此基础上进行了创新。这些地方法制的做法不仅具有正当性,还具有诸多亮点和启示。为缓解非遗领域不同位阶法律适用冲突以及平衡、协调非遗传承人权利与义务之间关系,"非遗法"应就非遗传承人权利保障机制等问题进行规定,以最终实现非遗法律体系形式功能与实质功能的统一。     

从史源学角度判断佯僙诸史的史料价值

记载佯僙的历代史书中,只有明代三大《贵州通志》是可信的,其他史书都是抄撮而成,是失实的。应从明代三通志中疏理材料,使佯僙的研究能进一步深入。