Women,Communities, Neighbourhoods: Approaching Gender and Feminism within UK Urban Policy

In recent years some commentators have looked at successive waves of UK urban policy from the perspective of gender, although these commentaries have been somewhat marginal within wider discussions of urban policy and politics. This article seeks to make the case for a renewed emphasis on gender, which moves beyond tracing the role of men and women in relation to urban policy programmes, in two particular ways. First it is argued that a more sophisticated analysis of the gendered nature of urban governance is needed, in other words how forms of gendered labour, subjectivity and power work through and within policy projects; and second that there should be a wider consideration of what feminist visions of cities and politics, both past and present, might contribute to the project of a critical, and hopeful, analysis of urban policy and politics. The paper seeks to make a practical as well as theoretical intervention in relation to gender and feminist perspectives on UK urban policy. It is argued that there has been a silence around such issues in recent years, both in analysis and in policy discourses, and that this silence has masked how gendered labour and power has often been woven into urban governance. For example, forms of women‐centred organising have been relied on in a range of government projects seeking to build community and participation within poor neighbourhoods. Such reliance may be increasing in a context of austerity. As well as this critical analysis of current policy, the paper argues for the reinvigoration of feminist visions of cities that suggest different framings of aspects of urban life. For example, rethinking the lines between public and private spheres might result in different forms of housing or sites of civic participation. Through engaging anew with such perspectives cities might become more just, caring, and equal for all.     

Intervention publique sur le développement de grappes industrielles au Québec

This article describes the conditions for the development of four industrial clusters and the mechanisms of their integration in the regional economy. The case studies are the aerospace and apparel clusters in Montreal, and the agri‐food and marine science and technology clusters in the Lower St. Lawrence region. Clusters are defined as arrangements of businesses, government actors, public authorities, and local intermediary organizations in a local area. However, the study shows that clusters are based on actors and processes operating at different scales, from the local to the global. It also shows the importance of the sectoral leadership acknowledged by the different stakeholders.     

The Two Social Philosophies of Ostroms' Institutionalism

The article argues that Ostroms' institutionalism has a dimension that is complex and profound enough to deserve to be considered a “social theory” or a “social philosophy.” The article pivots around the thesis that the “social philosophy” behind the Bloomington School's research agenda has in fact two facets that may or may not be consistent with each other. The article describes the main features of the two facets, offers a brief overview of the development of these ideas, and clarifies their relationship to Public Choice theory and alternative visions of public goods analysis, public administration, and governance. The argument goes further to raise the provocative question whether the two “social philosophies” involved in the approach undertaken by Elinor Ostrom and Vincent Ostrom are necessarily and inseparably connected with the rest of their research program.     

Smart Growth Policy Choice: A Resource Dependency and Local Governance Explanation

Smart growth is a planning and land use policy objective that generally focuses on where development should occur and how best to protect natural resources. What explains the adoption of smart growth policy by local government? This study focuses on a cooperative intergovernmental program that seeks to enhance local government abilities to work toward achieving state goals on sustainability. Extant research suggests that local interest group preferences shape policy decisions. However, much of the evidence on the influence of local interest groups on smart growth policy is presented within the coercive intergovernmental context. This article argues that resource dependency influences local decisions in pursuing a smart growth agenda when state incentives are provided. The findings suggest that fiscal capacity and the characteristics of local governing institutions are significant predictors in the decision to take part in an intergovernmental program. Business and neighborhood interest groups have a significant effect on policy adoption, as do local characteristics depending on the smart growth functional area.     

和平解放西藏与中央治藏政策的理论和实践

本文通过考察中央和平解放西藏决策的实施,探讨了中央通过把握国际关系的发展大势、了解西藏地方社会政治的本质,以及藏民族的风俗文化特征来确定处理西藏事务基本原则的过程及内容,分析了治藏政策和措施的丰富内涵,以及治藏政策理论渊源和创新特点。     

达赖、班禅关系与新中国治藏方略研究（1949-1959）

1949--1959年,达赖、班禅两大系统的关系是中央政府治理西藏的重要问题之一,相关决策也成为中国共产党和中央人民政府治理西藏总体战略的一个组成部分。本文依据档案文献,论述了这十年间达赖、班禅两大系统关系的演变过程,并探讨中央政府相关的治藏政策。     

Forestry policy in colonial and postcolonial Zimbabwe: continuity and change

Using the case of Mafungautsi Forest Reserve, this paper discusses continuities and changes in policy and practice at the communal and reserved forest interface in Zimbabwe. Colonial forestry policy in Zimbabwe has often been labelled as oppressive, as communal area citizens were not allowed to participate effectively in its formulation and implementation. Independence in 1980, it was thought, would usher in an era of greater participation within the forestry sector. However, the hope that local communities would have greater input in the forestry policies and management has largely remained unfulfilled. The state institutions responsible for managing forests have largely remained unsympathetic to the involvement of local communities in the management of forestry resources despite the pre-independence rhetoric. Alongside the co-management attempt to make local peasants citizens through their inclusion in decision-making has been the continuity of the colonial policy that treated local peasants who used resources as criminals destroying trees and forests. This paper examines how the fundamental policy perspective of forestry in Zimbabwe still perceives local peasant farmers to be unsustainable exploiters of forests. The local resource users have not remained passive recipients of the repressive forestry policies and practices based on science but have actively contested them since the 1950s.     

青海省事业单位改革取向及模式选择探析

在各国政府治道变革和我国从“全能政府”向“有限政府”转变的大背景下,青海在进一步深化事业单位改革中必须明确改革的方向和总体目标,对事业单位未来的基本组织形式进行科学定位,对相应管理模式作出理性选择。     

20世纪90年代前后中国共产党抵御执政风险的历史经验

20世纪90年代前后是我国改革和社会主义现代化建设发展史上一个非常关键的时期。以江泽民为核心的第三代中央领导集体未雨绸缪,防范在先,注重增强全党的执政风险意识;加快发展,增强实力,夯实抵御执政风险的物质基础;深化改革,加强调控,重点解决防范金融风险的问题;处变不惊,从容应对,妥善处理自然界和社会突发事件;练好内功,强身固本,抓好执政党建设这个关键。认真总结这一时期我党成功抵御执政风险的宝贵经验,结合新的历史条件加以创造性运用,对于坚持以科学发展观为指导,统筹好经济、社会和人的全面发展,进一步提高抵御风险的能力,把改革和现代化建设事业不断推向前进,具有重要意义。     

Barriers to 'US style' lean retailing: the case of Wal-Mart's failure in Germany

Wal-Mart's exit from the German market in 2006 after 10 yearsof attempting to achieve sustainable competitive advantage contributesan interesting case to the small but expanding literature on‘failure’ in international investment. The workon the disinvest decision in all its forms has been criticalto a re-conceptualization of the international investment processas dynamic rather than static, linear and inexorable. An importantsegment of the work on investment and disinvestment as dynamicprocesses focuses on the environment in which investment anddisinvestment decisions evolve. While the environment of thehost country market has begun to be examined, the market environmentof the country in which the retail transnational corporation(TNC) originates also affects the international disinvestmentprocess. To explore this ‘home country effect’,I examine the resources Wal-Mart brought into the German marketand their ability to use those resources in the German context.Wal-Mart's resources were shaped by the market governance regimein which the firm evolved, and not insignificantly, over whichit had and has influence. Within this theoretical frame, Wal-Mart'sreliance on the resources of network dominance and autonomousaction that made for its success in the USA contributed to unsuccessfulstrategies in the German retailing market.