The Water Framework Directive: A New Directive for a Changing Social,Political and Economic European Framework

This article examines the intricate process of developing the European Union's Water Framework Directive. It sees the Directive as a response to recent economic, political and social changes related to water management, including the shift from government to governance, the liberalization of water markets and the emergence of a new set of institutions, actors, etc. and their respective relations (i.e. social capital). The article focuses on the key points of disagreement between the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament that threatened to prevent the Directive from being materialized and interprets this controversy as the culmination of conflicting interests between different actors at the local, national and European levels. Finally, it asserts the increasingly important role of the nation state in the decision-making and implementation of the Directive and sets this against recent arguments about the death of the State.     

The Potential Implications of the European Union Water Framework Directive on Domestic Planning Systems: A UK Case Study

The transformation of planning across Europe in recent years has been characterized by new processes at different spatial scales that reach across traditional boundaries. This Europeanization of planning processes is reflected in the emergence of cross-border initiatives, new spatial relationships and the enhancement of regional policy-making. In using the case of the UK this article analyses the possible ramifications of adopting the European Water Framework Directive (WFD). It is demonstrated that the WFD, despite its apparent focus on water regulation, is symptomatic of wider European Spatial Planning processes that are seeing a reshaping of attitudes, witnessing the emergence of new networks and challenging traditional sovereignties of planning.     

The Structure and Context of the Urban Growth Coalition

This article examines the perception of local chambers of commerce regarding the urban growth coalition, and compares their observations with those of contemporary urban theorists. The chambers perceive the developmental community as dominated by business groups associated with land-use intensification and by elected officials. The chambers see manufacturing, retail, and service-sector firms as part of a less prominent constellation of developmental actors, and perceive virtually no developmental role for neighborhood or environmental groups.     

The Importance of Context and Comparison in the Study of European Spatial Planning

The European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) was agreed in 1999 at Potsdam, Germany, as a non-binding framework intended to guide spatially significant policy-making at different spatial scales in order to achieve a more balanced and sustainable growth of the EU territory. This paper develops a conceptualization of the nature of transnational planning frameworks such as the ESDP and presents a framework for the investigation of the application of their policy orientations in the spatial planning systems of European states. It is argued that investigations of the application of transnational spatial development frameworks like the ESDP and the ‘Territorial Agenda of the European Union’ document adopted by EU member states in 2007, need to be sensitized to the diversity of territorial contexts in which these apply, and that a contextualized and comparative approach is therefore essential in evaluating their influence in Europe's varied territories.     

The Politics of European Union Immigration Policy: Institutions, Salience, and Harmonization

This article examines recent attempts to create a common European Union (EU) immigration policy. This "harmonized" policy has faced political blockages, despite being seen by most observers as necessary if the EU is to meet its goal of free movement of labor. Because of this resistance, immigration harmonization has lagged behind other EU policy areas. To explain national resistance to harmonizing immigration policy, our article develops a theoretical and conceptual model of how immigration policy is potentially harmonized at the EU level, but how this harmonization can be blocked or restricted. We explain these political blockages with a model of intergovernmental bargaining that focuses on political salience, political partisanship, and institutions that protect immigrant rights. We argue that these national-level factors have determined the success and the nature of various harmonization proposals, by determining the positions of member states when negotiating in the European Council. Our primary hypothesis is that when the political salience of a given immigration issue is high, any harmonization that results is more likely to be restrictive toward immigrant rights. We also hypothesize that the impact of institutions that protect immigrant rights, and of political partisanship, is variable depending on the issue area and the national context. We use literature on European integration, immigration politics, agenda-setting, venue-shopping, and two-level games to theorize, operationalize, and test these hypotheses. The article helps to advance scholarly work on immigration politics, but our model could also conceivably be applied to other high-salience policy areas in the EU.     

前工业社会中的城市市场结构与市场导向的商业化

市场和商业化是中国和英格兰等许多前工业社会的常见现象 ,但在中国 ,农村市场结构和自给型商业化长期处于主导地位 ,没有像英格兰那样在中世纪晚期和现代早期转变为城市市场结构和市场导向的商业化。市场结构的性质对两国早期现代化过程中商业化的发展路径 ,提供了截然不同的体制性角色     

The European Union Higher Education Policy and the Stake of Regionalization

This paper attempts to explore the underlying nature and terms of Higher Education policy. Higher Education policy cannot be viewed outside the changing conditions of the state especially when the inquiry centres on Europe. In the European context, policy making, in order to be efficient, seems to be conducted on two levels, the supranational and the regional. This change in the structure of Higher Education policy making can be considered as an outcome of globalization and the current market economy. The EU's Higher Education policy may be expected to go beyond the national into the supranational level of cooperation with the launching of new initiatives resulting from the Bologna Process and the European Higher Education Area. These initiatives are reshaping the role and responsibilities of Higher Education Institutes towards society and the market. The new role that these institutes are called upon to play indicates a clear tendency towards dissemination and the growing need for cooperation at the regional level.     

Coming in From the Cold: The Role of Trade Unions on Public Policy Bodies at a Regional Level, with a Focus on London, the Southeast and the East of England

This short article will review the comparative contribution of trade unions to the design and implementation of public policy before and after the election of the Labour government, 1 May 1997. The article will then explore those factors that have proved to be obstacles to trade union's greater or more effective engagement in public policy formulation. Finally, I will recommend possible remedies to alleviate those obstacles.     

法律身份、人口比例和收入水平——论中世纪西欧工匠的几个问题

中世纪的西欧工匠是一个非常重要的劳动者群体。他们包括自由人和不自由人,后者在中世纪较早摆脱了奴役,成为半自由人和自由人;他们的人口比例不断上升,中世纪中晚期城乡工匠大约占到总人口的10%—20%,平均在15%左右,构成非农业人口的主体;他们主要以工业生产为生,随着中世纪中期和晚期工业品价格和工资从缓慢增长到快速上升,工匠收入的购买力也相应经历了从下降到提高的过程,15世纪时工匠的生活水平得到明显改善。     

Pressures on Urban Water Resources in Russia: The Case of St. Petersburg

An American geographer evaluates the process of water resources planning and management in the city of St. Petersburg, Russia, based on regional government documents, interviews with local water management officials, and follow-up field observations in 2007. St. Petersburg is a microcosm for challenges to assessing and managing water resources in urban environments in transition economies more broadly, and thus the present study yields insights into obstacles confronting water planners in many large cities in the post-Soviet realm, and augments the body of empirical data on the impacts of economic transition on environmental management. 3 figures, 46 references.     

Economic Policy and Decision Making at the Intersection of Domestic and International Politics: The Advocacy Coalition Framework and the National Economic Council

This article advances a theoretical model of the National Economic Council (NEC) based on a policy network approach and group decision-making theory to explain why the U.S. president's NEC represents a significant development in the rise of the intermestic policymaking and decision-making processes. It develops theoretical conceptions of interests and manipulation based on a Policy Network Approach and the Advocacy Coalition Framework in policy studies research to illustrate the complexity of NEC group dynamics. Hopefully, such a contribution can further existing theoretical frameworks in the field of policy studies and analysis and can add to assessments of the NEC in policymaking and decision-making. Unlike much of the prevailing research, this article perceives the NEC as a political instrument used by policymakers and decision makers to protect their policy interests and engage in forms of political manipulation to increase their power over economic policy.     

The Advocacy Coalition Framework and the Policy Process Analysis: The Case of Smoking Control in Japan

This study examined the process of smoking control policymaking in Japan, employing the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) and the Policy Process Analysis (PPA). In the view of the ACF, changes in policies and policymaking are explained as resulting from the emergence of, and the competition among, two advocacy coalitions, either protobacco or antitobacco. On the other hand, the PPA conceives of the process of policy change as a set of processes and gives a closer look into the important aspects of policymaking that the ACF does not well examine.     

试论儒家语境下"水火之喻"的本义消解

子产的政治观念与执政实践都趋向猛政,“水火之喻”原本是对其猛政主张的说明,“宽猛相济”自非是子产“水火之喻”的本义。然而在传统儒家的宽政语境下,学者对子产猛政的历史存在要么漠然视之,要么权变调停,要么根本否定其真实性,子产“水火之喻”的本义因而也不断被消解。出现这一现象的根本动因是,子产在春秋政治史上,具有无可替代的重要而隆崇地位,儒家试图将子产思想作为资源纳入其宽政思想体系,其结果是史实屈从于观念。     

Animal Use and the Urban Landscape in Colonial Charleston, South Carolina, USA

The quantity and variety of animals contributing to foodways and landscapes are often overlooked in studies of urban colonial experiences. In colonial Charleston, South Carolina (USA), wild and domestic animals contributed to a unique lowcountry cuisine. Some of these animals lived in the city where their activities shaped, and were shaped by, the urban landscape. Many aspects of the environment were designed to accommodate and restrict these animals. Excavations at two eighteenth-century sites provide more detailed views of the changing role of animals in the lowcountry foodways and landscape from 1720 into the 1800s.     

Measuring the Economic,Social and Environmental Performance of European Island Regions: Emerging Issues for European and Regional Policy

Islands in the European Union (EU) are very diverse, with many small or very small islands and are recognized as territories facing particular development challenges. In this study, we seek to compare the state and the attractiveness of island administration units in their national and EU context and highlight their divergence in different dimensions, building on existing analysis of the European Commission and of ESPON, using more indicators than the GDP per capita. The assessment is performed with the use of five different indexes: one for the state of development, one for changes during 2000–2006 and three for the attractiveness of islands (direct effects of insularity to attractiveness, indirect effects and natural and cultural potential of islands). Findings for economy demonstrate that islands with better economic performance either specialize in a low added value activity (tourism), or have their GDP “boosted” by exogenous influences (duty free area, oil extraction or the public sector). For attractiveness, most of the islands perform very low and the situation of small islands and archipelagos is worse. Since insularity can be considered as a permanent, natural feature affecting negatively, directly and indirectly, most of the factors that make islands attractive, the need for a territorial policy emerges.     

布鲁日：欧洲中世纪城市的缩影

比利时的布鲁日城被称作“沉睡的美女”,它是欧洲保留最完整的中世纪城市,2000年被联合国教科文化组织列入世界遗产名录。然而,在国内似乎鲜为人知。通常到欧洲旅游的中国游客,到首都布鲁塞尔市中心广场转一圈、与著名的“尿童”小于连的铜像合个影,或再看一眼“原子球”便上车走人,就算是游过比利时了。但仅仅如此,是远远不够的,在我看来,到了比利时如若不游布鲁日,就如同没去过比利时。     

清代君臣语境下“奴才”称谓的使用及其意义

清代,八旗出身的文职官员和总兵以上的所有武职官员,在与皇帝奏对时自称奴才,成为清代君臣关系的一个重要特征。本文从历史主义的立场出发,详细考察了在君臣语境下,大臣中奴才称谓出现的背景、表现及其意义,揭示了奴才称谓变化背后复杂的政治、社会、观念诸方面的作用和影响。