Handling the Two Conflicting Discourses of Partnerships and Participation in Regional Planning

This article argues that regional planning is dominated by two conflicting discourses that have different principles of involvement: the discourse of partnerships and the discourse of broad participation. These discourses and principles are not easy to reconcile in practice. On the basis of studies in the literature and a comprehensive case study, this article discusses how these conflicting discourses in regional planning challenge democratic norms, and how this problem is dealt with by the regional political leadership. The article shows that the use of meta-governance strategies and broad arenas of participation might be used in this respect, for example, by constantly having a focus on maintaining democratic anchorage when partnerships are used in regional planning processes.     

Global Public Policy,Transnational Policy Communities,and Their Networks

Public policy has been a prisoner of the word “state.” Yet, the state is reconfigured by globalization. Through “global public–private partnerships” and “transnational executive networks,” new forms of authority are emerging through global and regional policy processes that coexist alongside nation‐state policy processes. Accordingly, this article asks what is “global public policy”? The first part of the article identifies new public spaces where global policies occur. These spaces are multiple in character and variety and will be collectively referred to as the “global agora.” The second section adapts the conventional policy cycle heuristic by conceptually stretching it to the global and regional levels to reveal the higher degree of pluralization of actors and multiple‐authority structures than is the case at national levels. The third section asks: who is involved in the delivery of global public policy? The focus is on transnational policy communities. The global agora is a public space of policymaking and administration, although it is one where authority is more diffuse, decision making is dispersed and sovereignty muddled. Trapped by methodological nationalism and an intellectual agoraphobia of globalization, public policy scholars have yet to examine fully global policy processes and new managerial modes of transnational public administration.     

Coming to Terms with Asia in Discourses of Asia-Pacific Regional Security

Over the last decade there has been a proliferation of discourses on Asia-Pacific regional security. An analysis of the predominant discourses of regional security suggests that a new orthodoxy is emerging. This orthodoxy is characterised by attempts to create a 'fusion' between the dominant security and strategic concepts of neo-realism, neoliberalism and an 'Asian way' of security. Yet the way in which the difference of an Asian way of security is constructed in relation to the 'West' remains essentialist. Despite its regional focus, the new orthodoxy does not disturb the sanctity of the principle of sovereign statehood, nor does it unsettle the status quo of political communities within the nationstate. As a result, significant differences between and below the level of states in the region are not recognised.     

东北亚区域经济合作与跨国城市体系

东北亚在整个亚太地区最具有一体化特点,其区域经济合作潜力深厚,前景可观。在东北亚区域沿海地带,目前已初步形成一个跨国的大中城市组成的城市走廓,成为带动东北亚经济合作与发展的中坚及空间依托。随着区域经济一体化的发展,相关国家的城市功能、地位、辐射范围都会有较大的调整与变化,对此,我们应该有思想准备,以便合理规划我国的城市战略布局,迎接东北亚新时代的挑战。     

An Insider's Look into Policy Transfer in Transnational Expert Networks

Much of the recent academic literature on spatial planning in Europe focuses on either cross-national comparison of planning frameworks and planning practices or on transnational and transregional initiatives and their impact on planning in European countries. From those publications, it can be gleaned how similar themes are translated differentially in different national contexts. Although it is also a great source of European integration and harmonization, the phenomenon of the knowledge exchange within transnational expert networks of European planners at the level of cities has received less attention. In this paper, the knowledge exchange among planners in such a network is studied, highlighting the role of “transfer agents” (academic and/or policy experts operating in communities in different policy arenas) in the exchange process. It builds on the insights from existing literature on policy transfer and policy learning, and tries to add a new perspective on this body of literature from an insiders' perspective, i.e. participatory observation. The idea is that policy transfer can be fruitfully approached as a process of knowledge and information transfer between producers, senders, facilitators and recipients. Often this exchange is to a very large extent a process of absorbing appealing labels for policy solutions from the international or national policy levels, and then adopting an interpretation of it suitable to one's own context. The authors try to give meaning to this exchange process by using two mechanisms, i.e. social interaction and conceptual replication. By combining these two mechanisms the authors try to uncover which policy lessons are being transferred among seven European cities that joined the expert network on European sustainable urban development (Pegasus).     

南意诺曼人的对外政策

诺曼人是在11、12世纪南意列强争峙、奔突交锋的逐鹿场上,凭借其冒险性、意志力和机巧善变的权谋而勃然兴起的,然而到头来其政权也同样是在这纷繁迷离的外交风云中悄然失却的。诚可谓,兴也外交,衰也外交。     

Policy Influence and Policy Responsiveness in State Pollution Control

This article develops an integrated theory of state policy influence and responsiveness, then operationalizes this theory to account for variations in the strength and scope of state water pollution control and hazardous waste management programs. The analysis finds that economic, ideological, interest group, and political system characteristics act in concert to affect state policymaking, and that the influences behind policymaking vary systematically and predictably across policy areas within environmental protection.     

Forest Policy Reform and the Organization of Logging in Peruvian Amazonia

Reform in the forest sector in Peru resulted in a new forestry law, developed with substantial input from international conservation and donor organizations. While it incorporates the principles of sustainable forest management, biodiversity conservation and livelihood improvement, inconsistencies remain between the regulatory mechanisms and actual practices and outcomes in the field, leading some to consider the legal framework a failure. This article suggests that problems in the sector persist because the legal and regulatory frameworks do not incorporate existing local institutions, norms and practices — all of which are rooted in complex historical social, political and economic relationships. Based on information from interviews, data on movement of timber and analysis of secondary information, the authors examine the local structure, actors and dynamics of the concession forestry system in the Peruvian Amazon. The article focuses on how financial, social and political relationships in the network of actors, and particularly the patronage system, have helped actors in the sector adapt to the new policy framework. It is proposed that any further reform in the forest sector must be based on a keen understanding and appreciation of the praxis of timber extraction in the region.     

Regional Disparities,Industry and Government Policy in Japan

This paper examines the time path of regional per capita income disparities in Japan during the last three decades, and analyses the determinants of this path, including government policies. Regional disparities have been quite common in most countries, and the problem has proven to be relatively intractable, though varying in intensity across time and across countries. The Japanese case is instructive in that the country has experienced several stages of the problem in a relatively brief period, and has managed to limit spatial polarization to a certain degree. This paper identifies links between broad growth policy orientations with resultant changes in regional income disparities, and suggests their policy implications for both mature and developing economies.     

The Greek University Stranded in the Policy of Establishing Regional Universities

The paper examines the policy implemented when it comes to establishing regional universities in a developed, yet semi-peripheral, EU country (i.e. Greece) and focuses on two central issues: whether regional universities contribute to local development and whether their location in the periphery harnessed their academic performance. The establishment of regional universities has become a widely used practice for facilitating regional development throughout the developed world, and the university's third role is quite widely accepted. The paper does not intend to question the policy of establishing regional universities itself, but rather the way these universities were established in Greece (as a case of a semi-peripheral regime) and possibly in other countries that are not in the forefront of international research. Regional universities in Greece were often established for clientelistic reasons; however, they do contribute in advancing local economic growth. These positive effects on the locality are often accompanied by a high cost for the Greek university and society itself, in the sense that regional universities have often been forced to operate under difficult conditions, thus undermining their fundamental mission (educational but primarily research).     

Between realism and the 'New Right': geopolitics in Germany in the 1990s

This essay explores the connections between geopolitics and political conservatism. The introductory argument is that geopolitics historically has been appealing and useful for two very different expressions of conservatism: one which aims to preserve the political geography of the existing international status quo and one which seeks to transcend it and establish a new international order. Through an examination of the 'renaissance' of a conservative geopolitics in Germany, the essay considers how this particular pattern is reproduced in the present day. Although this conservative geopolitics operates for the most part at the fringes of political discourses in Germany, it does have a more specific significance for nationalist-conservative perspectives and those of the 'New Right', both in Germany and elsewhere.     

清末鸦片禁政与新政改革之契合

清代晚期,作为英、印、中三角贸易的主要媒介,鸦片等毒品被大量准进,逐步形成了一种病态的毒品经济形态,成为晚清中国步入近代化轨道的重要制约因素。清末新政时期,从新闻媒介到清廷大员,均将新政改革的成败与鸦片禁政联系起来,在禁政与宪政改革、中国外贸事业的振兴以及中国进入现代化国家行列的关系上,形成了前所未有的深刻认识。因之,在清末改革的框架内,除宪政等方面的改革之外,又融入了禁毒社会改革,新政与禁政呈现出互动和契合的态势。     

An Assessment of Health Policy Reform in Russia

Current fast-track reforms in Russia's health sector involving decentralization and privatization are largely ineffective because they are mistargeted. They do not address the etiology of the major sources of health care problems (i.e., lifestyle, and living, working, and environmental conditions), and they even weaken coordinated efforts to address collective health needs. State government policy measures, democratization, self-organization of society, and economic liberalization, as they are evolving currently, do not ensure sufficient citizen protection and interest articulation in the health sector.     

毛泽东关于西藏民主改革的认识与决策

西藏民主改革是西藏在和平解放的基础上由封建农奴制到人民民主的历史性变革和发展,是西藏完成反帝反封建的民主革命任务的里程碑。这是在以毛泽东为核心的中共中央第一代领导集体根据西藏和平解放后不同阶段的实际,正确认识和处理西藏民主改革的历史必然性与社会基础、时机与条件、策略与步骤以及性质与前途等问题,并依此相应地作出和平协商、"六年不改"、赎买和"稳定发展"等方针政策的指导下开展和实现的。正是在这一历史进程中,西藏由和平解放、筹备成立自治区至民主改革,跨越几个世纪而成为人民民主的西藏。     

论地区平衡发展战略中的政府公共政策回应与创新

我国的地区间平衡发展战略,是在政府的推动和主导之下不断地向前演进和发展,其中作为政府调节性工具的公共政策,对地区之间的经济社会协调发展和利益分配起到了至关重要的作用。在新一轮西部开发战略实施过程中,西部各省区政府必须结合各自的实际,创造性地用好用足中央给予的一系列倾斜政策,积极推进市场化改革和加强市场体系建设,是保证中央政策的有效实施和均衡发展战略目标顺利实现的关键所在。