How Noninstitutionalized Policy Innovation Is Justified: A Rhetorical Perspective

The premise of this article is that developing persuasive justification is fundamental to the construction and emergence of policy innovation. Nevertheless, given that policy innovation has been typically treated as given, existing public policy research on innovation says little about the process through which the rationales for innovative policies are established. A rhetorical approach is introduced as a new perspective to illustrate this process. In particular, I focus on the case of happiness indices, which is selected because it represents a noninstitutionalized idea which challenges the incumbent way of measuring social progress by GDP-related indicators. Rhetorical analysis is then applied to a body of documents advocating this ambitious innovation, through which I reveal five distinct types of legitimation strategies (i.e., logos, authorization, cosmology, scientization, and teleology). These rhetorical strategies are used in a supplementary manner to describe a policy idea—utopian in many people's eyes—as appropriate and desirable. The concluding discussion section highlights the wider implications of the empirical findings.     

The Rhetorical Premiership: A New Perspective on Prime Ministerial Power Since 1945

The long‐standing debate about the power of the British prime minister has focused excessively on formal instruments of control exercised within Whitehall. By contrast, not enough attention has been paid to the ways in which prime ministers use rhetoric, formally and informally, to maintain themselves in power and to achieve their policy aims. The term ‘rhetorical premiership’ is used here to denote the collection of methods by which prime ministers since 1945 have used public speech to augment their formal powers. Set‐piece oratory remained consistently important throughout the period, in spite of new technology and the rise of the sound‐bite. However, parliamentary rhetoric underwent some important changes, and prime ministers spoke outside the Commons with increased frequency. Historians of the premiership should draw instruction from those scholars who have studied the rhetoric of US presidents, although caution must be exercised when drawing comparisons. Future study of the rhetorical premiership should involve close textual analysis of prime ministerial speeches, but this should not be at the expense of archival sources, from which important insights into the speech‐making process can be gleaned.     

The management of World Heritage sites in remote areas: The Sierra de San Francisco,Baja California,Mexico

Abstract

The long-term management of sites that are far removed from population centres taxes the resources of heritage agencies. The Sierra de San Francisco in the Baja California peninsula of northwest Mexico is a remote area containing outstanding rock art sites that are inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List. Through a collaboration between four Federal, State and nonprofit organizations, a new management plan for the sites has been implemented, using a participatory model involving all interest groups. The paper summarizes the background to the plan, the problems that made it necessary and the process used to develop it. It describes the new visitor management strategies now in force and the role of the Sierra's resident population in contributing to the success of the plan.     

兴泰行商欠案与鸦片战争前夕的行商体制

1837年,在广州经营着数额庞大的对外贸易的兴泰行破产,欠下外商债务共240余万元.兴泰行债主(主要为英国散商)向两广总督邓廷桢提出申诉.邓廷桢命行商首领会同英人清理债务,并在长时间的争执后确定了赔偿方案.1842年《南京条约》所规定的中国对英赔款中,即包含了部分兴泰行债务.兴泰行商欠案的发生,除了其自身的一些原因外,主要是由1830年代中西贸易关系的变化和行商贸易体制自身的弊端所导致.1834年东印度公司对华贸易的结束,使兴泰行这样的小行商失去了一层保护,而东印度公司在此后对广州贸易施加的影响,则恶化了行商的经济处境.兴泰行和其他行商在作为当时进出口贸易之大宗的茶叶贸易和棉花贸易中,由于种种不利因素,也难以取得利润,反而遭受重大损失.在兴泰行商欠案解决过程中复活的行商连带赔偿责任制度,使广州贸易体制陷入进一步危机.     

Wall-Base Ventilation System to Control Rising Damp: A Case Study of Vilar de Frades Historical Church in Portugal

Moisture transfer in the walls in direct contact with the ground leads to the migration of soluble salts, which are responsible for many building pathologies. The treatment of rising damp in historical heritage walls is a very complex procedure. The traditional techniques currently used to minimize rising damp are, in most cases, slight effective or too expensive, especially when dealing with walls of considerable thickness and/or heterogeneous materials such as the historical monuments. The main purpose of this work is to present the experimental results of the rising damp treatment conducted, over 3 years, in the Vilar de Frades Church, in northern Portugal, using the wall-base ventilation technology. The results showed that, for this particular climate conditions, the best solution is to operate seasonally, with outside air admitted to the system during summer months and inside air admitted to the system during winter months.     

中英广告用语的修辞对比

广告的特点决定了中英广告中修辞的频繁使用,虽然由于中英思维不同使中英广告差别很大,但中英广告中的比喻,双关,仿拟等修辞手法却有异曲同工之妙。