The Effects of Exogenous Shocks on the Development of Regional Innovation Systems

Drawing on previous studies related to the evolutionary aspects of regional innovation systems (RIS), this paper examines how an exogenous shock reduced organizational thinness, fragmentation and lock-in and thereby facilitated path creation and RIS emergence in a peripheral region. A longitudinal case study approach, based on primary data from 39 interviews conducted between 2008 and 2012, is used to investigate how a region was affected by the sudden entry and subsequent activity of a multinational oil company. A multi-level analysis illustrates how this exogenous shock facilitated change at the firm, public authority and macro (regional) levels and thus provides a holistic understanding of the complex mechanisms that underlie regional transformation. The analysis illustrates how the entry of the oil company reduced organizational thinness by stimulating the establishment of external firms. The existing regional actors then managed to reduce their organizational lock-in by adapting their skills and resource bases to new knowledge provided through interfirm relationships (reduced fragmentation), and this reduced organizational lock-in and fragmentation ultimately strengthened the industrial structure and further contributed to regional path creation. A number of innovations were observed, and in combination with the “thickened” institutional structure, this represented the means for an emerging RIS.     

What Can Causal Process Tracing Offer to Policy Studies? A Review of the Literature

Causal process tracing (CPT) has emerged as an important method of causal inference in qualitative social science research, most notably in case study research designs. There is now a considerable literature on the aims, philosophical groundings, and methods of process tracing. This paper reviews the CPT literature to assess what new directions it may suggest for policy studies. The first part of the paper sets out the methodological advantages CPT offers in building and testing theories of policy change, most notably in supporting a theoretical pluralism to address the problem of complexity in policy studies. Building on recent scholarship across the social sciences, the second part examines step by step the recently minted “best practice” for undertaking CPT in policy studies. This part includes discussion of the possible pitfalls of CPT as a method; common errors involved in its use are set out and minimization strategies offered. In particular, while acknowledging the usefulness of Bayesian tests for causality as heuristic devices, we emphasize the limitations of applying such tests in practice. Possible correctives are suggested. The final part of the paper speculates more generally on the potential of CPT to improve our investigation of patterns of policy change over time.     

后格赖斯语用学的理论走向——语义学和语用学界面研究的兴起

关于语义学和语用学关系的争论由来已久,但进入后格赖斯语用学阶段,由于格赖斯关于“所言”和“所含”的区分存在着缺陷,使这场争论的焦点已转向语义和语用的界面问题。语义最简论认为,句子表达独立于语境的最简命题,同时承认所言中含有语境敏感成分;语境论则认为,句子的话语意义包括显性意义和隐性意义都属于推论意义即含义,必须通过语用过程在语境中加以确定。界面研究的兴起,对于我们认识语言的意义和语言的使用与认知的关系开辟了新的视阈。     

Policy Change and Policy Stasis: Comparing Swiss Foreign Policy toward South Africa (1968–94) and Iraq (1990–91)

This article investigates how concepts from the field of public policy, in particular the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) initially introduced by Sabatier and Jenkins‐Smith, can be applied to the study of foreign policy analysis. Using a most similar comparative case studies design, we examine Switzerland's foreign policy toward South Africa under apartheid for the period from 1968 to 1994 and compare it with the Swiss position toward Iraq after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, when the Swiss government imposed—for the first time—comprehensive economic sanctions against another state. The application of the ACF shows that a dominant advocacy coalition in Swiss foreign policy toward South Africa prevented a major policy change in Swiss–South African relations despite external pressure from the international and national political levels. Actually, quite the opposite could be observed: Swiss foreign policy increased its persistence in not taking economic sanctions against the racist regime in South Africa during the 1980s and early 1990s. The ACF, with its analytical focus on policy subsystems and the role of external shocks as potential triggers for change, provided a useful framework for analyzing the factors for policy change and stasis in Swiss foreign relations toward the selected two countries.     

前资本主义社会历史规律的求索——马克先生与历史比较研究

马克先生是我国历史比较研究的开拓者之一。多年来,他基于“前资本主义诸形态的政治经济学”的学术构想,开创出宽阔的“求同”学术理路,对中西封建社会进行诸多深入的比较考察。他在这一领域中的重要建树,在很大程度上廓清了西方学理模式的偏见及其对我国史学界的影响,深化了对封建时代中西历史异同的认识,促进了对封建社会历史规律的探索,推动了中国史学界历史比较研究的发展。     

东坡苏公帖碑研究

东坡苏公帖碑是现存刊刻最早的苏轼个人丛帖,也是历史上优秀的苏书刻石之一。本文对该帖作了多方面研究,并特别指出帖碑中保存的《中山松醪赋》“元祜正书本”是仅存的苏轼的两种写本之一,有别于人们熟知的“绍圣合卷本”。该本中苏轼修改的字迹表明它与《中山松醪赋》祖本有着很深的渊源关系。帖碑上四种苏轼手迹,三种墨迹已失传,有赖刻石流传,而帖碑是其传世最早的佳刻。因此,东坡苏公帖碑无论在保存东坡书迹方面。还是于苏轼诗赋校勘研究方面。都具有重要的价值,也是帖学研究中应该关注的重要对象。     

Early use and production of iron in the northern Shaanxi: A perspective on iron objects excavated from the Yuejiazhuang cemetery site

Yuejiazhuang is a cemetery site of Qin people in the Northern Shaanxi, China, and it is dated to the mid-late Warring States Period. Ninety-two iron objects were excavated from the Yuejiazhuang cemetery site, which provide an opportunity to understand the use and production of iron in the Northern Shaanxi. The metallurgical and statistical study has revealed that bloomery iron, cast iron, and steel made from cast iron were adopted in the Northern Shaanxi during the mid-late Warring States Period. In the meanwhile, cast iron and steel made from cast iron became dominant in the Northern Shaanxi.     

环太湖地区与中原地区文明化进程的宏观比较

环太湖地区文明化进程大致开始于良渚文化早期,至西周春秋时期才逐渐进入真正的文明社会。环太湖地区的文明化进程波折起伏较大,有着兴盛-衰落-再复兴的曲折过程,然而中原地区则是连续的不断的稳定的螺旋式发展过程。     

民宿与在地社区的互动与共生——基于扎根理论的多案例研究

民宿逐渐成为旅游吸引物本身,从单一住宿功能向集住宿、审美、度假、在地体验等多功能转化,其与在地社区的社会利益结构发生巨大变化。本研究基于四个典型民宿,对二者的互动及共生关系展开多案例研究。发现二者的四种互动模式：被动的社交式浅层互动、被动的参与式浅层互动、主动分享价值型深层互动、价值共创型深层互动。旅游小企业的投资动机在民宿行业表现为四种：生活方式保守型、生活方式进取型、私人商业型、联合商业型。在互动模式和民宿主投资动机的影响下,形成寄生、偏利共生、非对称性互惠共生、对称性互惠共生等四种由低到高的共生关系。提出二者构建共生关系的建议。     

两种不同的学术史范式——梁启超、钱穆《中国近三百年学术史》之比较

梁启超和钱穆同名的《中国近三百年学术史》,代表着两种不同的学术史范式,在体例渊源、写作宗旨等方面都有很大的不同。本结合它们成书的时代背景,揭示近代学风的嬗变对两书的影响,深入探讨造成它们差异的原因,并以这两种学术史的写法为视角,附论近代学风的内在转型问题。