ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT OF THE SEISMIC RETROFITTING OF LOW-COST APARTMENT BUILDINGS

When structural retrofitting of buildings is required due to seismic safety considerations, building owners or government officials are faced with a crucial decision whether to demolish and rebuild their buildings, or retrofit them. Simple decisions based on fixed proportions, such as demolish and rebuild if retrofit costs exceed 40% of the replacement cost, may be misleading. A financial analysis should be carried out considering all the revenues and costs of the building during its life time. A low-cost residential apartment building that has a construction cost of $140/m² is selected in this study to represent the vulnerable buildings in developing countries under seismic risk. Life-cycle cost analysis approach is employed to value the rebuild or retrofit alternatives to compare economically. Economic assessment has been carried out for various parameters. It has been found that the age of the building and the retrofit ratio are dominant parameters among the others. The critical retrofit ratio (percent of retrofit cost to initial construction cost) varied from 25% for 40 year old buildings to 67% for 10 year old buildings. It is suggested that economical decisons should not be made simply by comparing the retrofit costs to initial construction costs.     

介乎國體安危與華夷之辨之間——晚明政府對待外來宗教態度辨析

本文以發生在萬曆末期南京和崇禎時期福建的兩次有官方背景的天主教事件爲研究對象,將兩次事件中留下的官方文告與同一時期士人反對天主教的文章進行橫比,再以之與前後朝代官方反對民間宗教組織的政策和行爲進行縱比,分析出晚明政府對待外來宗教和外來文化的基本特點是服從於社會治安管理的需要,當政府認爲其不危害社會時,可以容忍,反之則傾向於加以限制,其中並不包含明確的是否文化異端的考慮。因此,雖然晚明政府對一個團體之社會價值的認定有很大主觀性和偏見,但也不能認爲晚明中國政府習慣於排斥外來文化和宗教。     

How losers can turn into winners in disputatious public policy: a heuristic for prospective herestheticians

The study of heresthetic is a quest to explain how potential political losers might become winners. Local Government amalgamation is invariably a controversial and hotly contested political decision. It thus represents the ideal context to locate a pedagogical discussion regarding how clever herestheticians might act to bring about unlikely political success. Specifically, we extend the heresthetic literature by drawing attention to the costs (opportunity, contingency and legacy costs) inherent to various strategies, the need to carefully evaluate the heresthetic potential of different dimensions according to which amalgamations might be argued, and the importance of ensuring that the rhetorical seasoning is appropriate. This leads us to propose a heuristic that we argue has the potential to turn losers into winners on the vexed matter of local government amalgamations. We conclude by considering the implications of our heuristic for both prospective herestheticians in other public policy areas and for the wider heresthetic research agenda.     

Who's making UK foreign policy?

The war in Iraq has intensified a debate about the extent to which Tony Blair's style of government is presidential, secretive, ad hoc, informal and susceptible to groupthink. But who is really making UK foreign policy? This article suggests that there is no simple or singular answer since the government simultaneously pursues multiple foreign policies involving different combinations of institutions, actors and external pressures. It then discusses New Labour's impact upon the four interrelated phases of the foreign policy process: formulation, interpretation, implementation and presentation. The author suggests that Blair's government has found it difficult to implement many of its foreign policy initiatives and has relied instead upon three ‘big ideas’, namely, multilateralism, Atlanticism and neo‐liberalism. To date, it has failed to resolve the practical tensions between these three commitments. The final section explores how the demand for open and accountable government has increased the importance attached to the presentation of foreign policy. This, in turn, has increased the importance of the news media as a battlefield on which the struggle for hearts and minds is taking place. Ironically, the government's unparalleled attempts to sell its foreign policies (both at home and abroad) has opened the policy process up to levels of scrutiny that it may not be able to withstand.     

Structural Reform in Australian Local Government

Amalgamation has always been the favoured Australian policy instrument for improving the efficiency of Local government. However, this policy consensus has flown against mounting evidence that amalgamation not only often fails to reduce costs, but also generates significant unintended negative consequences. This note considers various recent reports into Australian Local government and argues that the earlier policy consensus on the efficacy of Local council amalgamation has vanished.     

The benefits of foreign policy bipartisanship revisited: lessons from two Canadian cases

Although foreign policy bipartisanship in Westminster systems is often heralded as a normative good, there is an emerging scholarship which suggests that a bipartisan approach to foreign and defence policy comes with considerable costs. This article seeks to join that debate. It does so by examining two contemporary foreign/defence policy issues in Canadian politics: the mission in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014 and the efforts to replace the CF-18 Hornet flown by the Royal Canadian Air Force. These two cases do not offer clear conclusions about the normative argument about foreign policy bipartisanship. The embrace of a bipartisan approach to the Afghanistan mission confirms the criticism that bipartisanship can suppress public debate and did indeed distort a consideration of policy options. But the case of the CF-18 replacement suggests that there are significant costs if government and opposition replace a search for bipartisan consensus on key policy issues with an overt politicisation that seeks partisan advantage by ‘playing politics’ with foreign and defence policy issues, concluding that the quality of partisanship is a necessary condition to avoid the dysfunctions and costs of bipartisanship.     

Senate Amendments and Legislative Outcomes in Australia, 1996–2007

There has been a recurring argument in Australia about how the Senate should exercise its constitutional power to amend government legislation that it receives from the House of Representatives. Much less attention has been paid to how the Senate has exercised this power, and how often Senate amendments have resulted in legislative changes that governments otherwise would not have made. This article explores the legislative record and finds that, during the Howard ministry, Senate amendments did not often provoke negotiations leading to bicameral compromise. Most often, the House either agreed to the Senate's amendments, many of which were government proposals, or disagreed to them. In the latter cases, the Senate most often gave way, instead of insisting on the legislative changes it already had approved.     

The Domestic Politics of Globalisation

This article provides a domestic-focused account of the impact of globalisation on Australia. The overriding aim of government in recent years has been to educate the population about the imperatives of globalisation and the need for economic liberal policy change. Labor succeeded in breaking down Australia's protectionist policy structure but both Labor and Coalition governments have found it difficult to manage globalising policy change. The Howard government has continued Labor's efforts to sell globalisation but has often diluted its message through its policy choices and rhetoric. It has been less concerned with maintaining the consistency of its message. This reflects the continuing need for governments to manage what can be called the domestic politics of globalisation. Contrary to the arguments of global determinists, domestic politics continues to shape policy and the impact and trajectory of globalisation.     

Does my bomb look big in this? Britain's nuclear choices after Trident

The United Kingdom's present strategic nuclear deterrent, the Trident submarine-based system, has been in full operation for less than four years. But the government will have to consider questions about the follow-on to this system before the end of this parliament and its successor government will almost certainly have to start taking, and implementing, decisions before 2008–9. In the past, political and public debates about the UK's nuclear weapons tended to flow forward on their own technical momentum, backed by the strategic imperatives of the Cold War. The next successor decisions, however, will be made in an era where both the technical questions and the strategic environment will be radically different. There may or may not be another vigorous public debate, but the present, and next, government will face some fundamental     

Brexit or Bremain: what future for the UK's European diplomatic strategy?

A major public debate on the costs and benefits of the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union is presently under way. The outcome of the referendum on 23 June 2016 will be a pivotal moment in determining whether the EU has a future as a component of the UK's European diplomatic strategy or whether there is a major recalibration of how the UK relates to Europe and more widely of its role within international relations. Since accession to the European Economic Community the UK has evolved an uncodified, multipronged European diplomatic strategy. This has involved the UK seeking to reinforce its approach of shaping the security of the continent, preserving a leading diplomatic role for the UK in managing the international relations of Europe, and to maximize British trade and investment opportunities through a broadening and deepening of Europe as an economically liberal part of the global political economy. Since accession the UK's European diplomatic strategy has also been to use membership of the EU to facilitate the enhancement of its international influence, primarily as a vehicle for leveraging and amplifying broader national foreign and security policy objectives. The strategy has been consistent irrespective of which party has formed the government in the UK. Increasing domestic political difficulties with the process of European integration have now directly impacted on this European strategy with a referendum commitment. Whether a vote for a Brexit or a Bremain, the UK will be confronted with challenges for its future European strategy.     

Laissez-faire governance and the archetype laissez-faire city in the USA: exploring Houston

This article explores the governance of Houston, the archetype laissez-faire city in the USA. The research examines the complexity of Houston's minimal government intervention rhetoric, which in practice involves extensive federal, state and local government involvement in economic development in combination with a disinterest in social service and income maintenance programmes. This governance strategy is outlined through an examination both of regional public policy and local public finances. The analysis illustrates that Houston's local governance has historically been based on a management approach that attempts actively to minimize costs for potential investors to locate in the City, through public intervention, while at the same time generating an unattractive urban environment for the socially marginalized — hence the disinterest in social services. Thus, despite the local laissez-faire rhetoric, government intervention in Houston's growth has been vital and has produced the extraordinary impacts usually expected from public involvement in local economic development. The foundations of this local governance strategy are both predicted and advocated by the public choice approach, a theoretical framework whose emphasis on inter-municipal competition advances management tactics based on maintaining low taxes and low expenditures on public welfare. The research also shows, however, that Houston is unique, when compared to other economically successful US cities, in following such an extreme approach of this management strategy.     

The government,the opposition and the President of the Republic under Berlusconi

This article assesses the behaviour of three actors, the government, the opposition and the President of the Republic, in the first two years of Berlusconi's government. Though solidly controlled by Berlusconi, his government has already had to replace two important ministers and some under-secretaries and has often behaved like a traditional coalition government. Moreover, it has so far achieved virtually none of the promises made in the 'Contract with the Italians'. It is feebly challenged by a divided opposition, unorganized, leaderless, unable to create a shadow government and just waiting for Romano Prodi's return from Brussels. Precisely because of its weakness, the opposition has often tried to rely on the President of the Republic as a check on Berlusconi's exorbitant power. Indeed, Ciampi has intervened in a more or less controversial way in the drafting of some government bills and has sent a solemn message to parliament asking for a more impartial and pluralist information system; to no avail. However, Ciampi's role and behaviour suggest that the problem of the powers of the President of the Republic has not been solved. Berlusconi's own preference for a popularly elected president and his unsolved conflict of interests indicate that the political and institutional transition in Italy is not yet over.     

EDITORS' FOREWORD

Canadian federal energy policy since the early 1970s has run counter to the interests of the producing provinces. Federal policy has always been predicated upon two points: sufficient domestic supply and acceptable domestic prices. Until the early 1970s, federal policy had been complementary to that of both the producer and consumer provinces. Natural gas shortages in 1970 and 1971, the OPEC embargo, and the quadrupling of prices radically changed federal policy. Exports were no longer promoted, and the federal government undertook to protect Canada from the inflationary pressures of rising world energy costs. These policies have run counter to those of the energy producing provinces, particularly to those of Alberta.

While it would appear that producer-provinces would have sufficient leverage to insist upon their interests, the federal government has made good use of its direct and indirect powers to set the agenda. This suggests that the Trudeau government has begun a recentralization of federal prerogative in an area historically the preserve of the provinces. Because the government has largely been successful, a difference between federal governments and supranational organizations is suggested. In supranational organizations the power to veto is vested in the governments of the states-members; in an integrated federal state, that power resides in the central government.     

孙中山的考试权的宪政保障功能及实践障碍探析——以既得利益集团为切入点

有关民国时期考试权和考试制度的著述颇为丰富,也不乏就考试权与宪政的关系展开论述的著作。但尚未发现专门分析考试权的宪政保障功能的论文问世。该文以既得利益集团为切入点,就民国时期考试权对宪政的必要性、在现实实践中的运行障碍进行了初步探析。这对今天我国考试制度的构建和完善具有重要意义。对当今宪政建设也不无借鉴意义。     

Australia–Japan economic relations: ten years after the NARA Treaty

The NARA Treaty looked to a strengthened Australia–Japan relationship, which foreign ministers of both countries celebrated this year. Events of the mid 1980s, however, demonstrated how an adverse turn in economic circumstances can stress even a strong bilateral relationship. The two countries were then at opposite points in their economic cycles, Japan almost too successful, with the high yen putting pressure on Japan's export industries, steel in particular. Seeking to reduce costs, the steel mills transferred pressure to their Australian suppliers of coal and iron ore, through reductions in prices and volumes. This was unwelcome to an Australian government coping with a recession and worried about balance of payments and unemployment, and led to concerns about equal treatment. Although the minerals trade returned to normal relatively quickly, ambitious investment projects aimed at enhancing the economic relationship did not materialise.     

PERSPECTIVES ON THE SAGEBRUSH REBELLION

The Sagebrush Rebellion began in the late 1970s with the objective of transferring various categories of federally owned lands to the states. The movement was centered in western “public lands” states, where nearly half the total land area is in federal ownership. Within a relatively short period of time this objective was changed to one of “privatizing” federal lands, of selling these land into private ownership. While the Sagebrush Rebellion has been highly political in its activities, the movement can be viewed in the perspective of historical land disposition policies in the U.S. These policies were changed near the turn of the century from alienating public lands into private ownership to their retention and management by the federal government. Confusion over the economics of building a free enterprise system based on private property rights, and the costs associated with building such as system, appear to have been major factors in changing land policies. Two important aras in which this occurred were the Homestead Act of 1862 and timber. The provisions of the Homestead Act imposed heavy costs on settlers, and these costs caused a reaction against the economic system that was being built.     

Ethical predicaments: Advocating security for mobile pastoralists in weak states (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

Some have argued that anthropologists have a moral responsibility to advocate on behalf of research subjects suffering from structural and other forms of violence. However, advocacy is not without its problems; action taken on behalf of one's research subjects may have adverse consequences for others. This is our current predicament. Violence and insecurity have always been major themes in our work with mobile pastoralists in the Far North Region of Cameroon, who have suffered deadly cattle raids for decades. More recently, pastoralists have been subject to child kidnappings and extortion by criminal gangs. As researchers working with these people, we have repeatedly informed development projects, NGOs and government authorities about these and other insecurity problems. The difficulty is that the government response, in particular the use of paramilitary forces, has created another kind of insecurity which has adverse effects on others.     

Regulating Local Tax Abatement Policies

This article addresses several questions about property tax. abatements in the United States, all directed at why tax abatements should be regulated more closely, and one question about how this might be accomplished. First, are tax abatements “job increment financing” since they are exchanged for future jobs? Public decisionmakers assume that jobs mean tax revenues, but problems emerge when abatements are granted without knowledge of expected jobs, or if local government administrators and planners have no means of holding businesses accountable if their promises are not kept. Second, are local decisionmakers behaving imprudently when they abate multiyear taxes? Using abatements may not always be a particularly prudent way of using public resources. Third, can tax abatements undermine local democracy? Abatements weaken public involvement in city government when citizens have few opportunities to debate decisionmakers about tax exemptions, but they should have such a chance because abatements have costly, longlasting effects on current and future citizens. Fourth, do abatements create social costs? Tax abatements generate external effects for those who are not party to the politics of tax exemptions, but there are no easy answers about how to correct the externalities. Finally, what are the options for stopping tax abatements? These include federal prohibition, cooperative agreements, federal fiscal incentives, the courts, tougher negotiating tactics, and more stringent contractual provisions by urban planners and administrators.     

A Step to the Left? Or Just a Jump to the Right? Making Sense of the Third Way on Government and Governance

Since the early 1990s, Left-of-Centre political parties around the world have been engaged in an attempt to redefine their politics under the banner of the 'Third Way'. In attempting to understand the Anglo-American versions of the Third Way, this article argues that while there are clear continuities between the governments of the Third Way and their conservative predecessors, a more accurate precedent can be found in the successive Labor governments in Australia between 1983 and 1996. While this connection has been noted elsewhere, this article seeks to draw it out in terms of the underlying rationale and conception of government. It argues that the proponents of the Third Way share a common perception that government has become 'overloaded' with responsibilities and that they utilise market mechanisms as a pragmatic response to this, which distinguishes them from the New Right's moral critique of the state. The conclusion suggests that although this has the potential to open a space for thinking about how government might proceed differently, the Third Way has thus far failed to realise this potential.     

Capitalism,Inequality and Ideology in Singapore: New Challenges for the Ruling Party

Amidst popular concerns about rising inequalities and living costs, reduced social mobility and inadequate public infrastructure, Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) suffered significant declines in electoral support in the 2006 and 2011 general elections before regaining support at the 2015 polls. Importantly, these concerns reflect the intensification of contradictions inherent to Singapore’s model of capitalist development. This juncture in the city-state’s political economy has been conducive to greater scrutiny of core PAP ideological notions about the perils of “Western” social welfare and the moral and functional advantages of non-democratic institutions of political accountability and representation. The PAP has responded with creative new defences of its core ideologies in conjunction with social spending boosts, a strategy that will be further tested following the 2015 election.