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.     

利益协调是贯穿十六大以来党的理论创新成果的一条主线

为了更好地实现最广大人民的根本利益,以胡锦涛同志为总书记的党中央在十六届三中、四中和五中全会上,相继提出了科学发展观、构建社会主义和谐社会和建设社会主义新农村等理论创新成果。分析其深刻内涵,利益协调作为一条主线贯穿其中。在全面建设小康社会的重要阶段,面对利益需求多样化、利益差距扩大化的利益结构分化趋势,利益协调反映了科学发展观的本质要求,它既是构建社会主义和谐社会的必要途径,也是建设社会主义新农村的迫切需要。     

Policy Characteristics,Patterns of Politics,and the Minimum Wage: Toward a Typology of Redistributive Policies

The central hypothesis of all policy typologies is that distinctively different patterns of politics can be identified for different types of public policy issues. Lowi identified three different policy types, which he termed distributive, regulative, and redistributive, each of which triggers a distinctively different pattern of political behavior. Unfortunately, Lowi's categories were inductively derived and ambiguously defined, leading to disagreements over how to categorize particular policies. Hayes built on Lowi's seminal effort, deriving Lowi's three policy categories from two underlying dimensions and identifying additional categories Lowi's original formulation had missed. Using the minimum wage issue as an example, this article will identify a critical deficiency in both these typologies. While Hayes' typology defines the boundaries between policy categories more precisely than Lowi's, neither typology is equipped to deal with variations in political patterns occurring within a particular cell. As this article will show, the minimum wage issue, although consistently redistributive in Hayes' terms, has manifested three very different patterns of politics at different points in time. Accordingly, a typology of redistributive policies will be advanced to account for these variations in the redistributive politics of the minimum wage.     

Engaging China’s new foreign policy in the South Pacific

China’s declared foreign policy of ‘non-interference’ is contradicted by its actions in recent times. Beyond activities in the East and South China Seas, the involvement of China in negotiations on the Korean Peninsula, the evacuation of Chinese citizens from various crises, and the deployment of Chinese combat troops to peacekeeping missions in Africa have indicated China’s growing interests in the shape of world affairs, coinciding with a growing economic and military capacity to influence them. Much attention has been given to the potential consequences of great-power competition between the USA and China, but little focus has been given to the impact these trends may have in the outlying regions of Chinese foreign policy. One such place is Melanesia in the South Pacific—a subregion where a small influence from a Chinese perspective can have a significant impact on Pacific Island Countries. This article postulates that, over time, there is potential for the consequences of Chinese interests to lead to accidental friction, and suggests that this risk can be mitigated through increased cooperation.     

《莆田人民公控蒋唐佑呈稿》所见清末生员与恶吏的斗争

《莆田人民公控蒋唐佑呈稿》记录了一起生员联合控官案,属于民告官的案件,该案完整展示了地方恶吏倚仗自己的权势,操弄法律条文,屡屡滥用法律解释权与执行权,并寻求官官相护,欲置控告他的生员们于被动局面的过程。清代虽然号称立法严整,但在某些地区,法律明显地被州县官员任意打扮成维护自己统治的工具,以生员为主体的民间力量既然祭起告官的旗帜,却也展示了自己的知识积累,抗争亦显得有理有节,抗争的过程既是州县官吏罪恶昭彰的过程,也成为民众自我保护意识增强的一种训练。     

中国海外利益的政治风险与侨务公共外交

论文对中国海外利益及其政治风险这两个概念进行了界定;把海外利益按照类别分为海外安全利益、海外经济利益和海外形象利益;从国家对外资源投资、企业海外并购以及华商海外经营三方面,分析了中国海外利益面临的主要政治风险,认为在新一轮国际格局变动时期,中国海外利益面临的政治风险在加大。鉴于华侨华人是保护中国海外利益的重要依托力量,中国应拓展侨务公共外交的特殊渠道,并提出了未来侨务公共外交的努力方向。     

Laying Down the Law? Interest Group Influence on State Adoption of Animal Cruelty Felony Laws

Since the late 1960s, the number and types of organized interest groups working at the state level have increased dramatically, but research shows that traditional organized interest groups, such as business and labor unions, are still the most influential in state policymaking ( Thomas and Hrebenar 1996 ). Less is known, however, about the influence of non‐economically focused interest groups in the state policy process. Using pooled cross‐sectional data from the American states, I explore the effect that nontraditional organized interests can have on state policy. Specifically, I examine the influence of the Humane Society of the United States on state adoption of animal cruelty felony laws. Although the Humane Society is not one of the traditional groups expected to have a significant influence in state policymaking, my results suggest that it has played a significant role. However, I also find that the Humane Society's influence on the stringency of these laws is less pronounced.     

成本共担与利益共享——旅游开发的利益相关者及其价值取向研究

现代旅游发展理念正在由传统的经济效益导向转向综合效益导向,强调旅游开发的所有利益相关者都能够公平地从旅游开发中受益。本文以利益相关者理论为基础,分析了现代旅游开发过程中利益相关者的构成体系以及各利益相关者所分担的成本、预期的利益,倡导在均衡利益的原则下建立旅游开发的利益分配机制,并提出了实现成本、利益均衡分配的途径,构建起了以利益相关者理论为基础的旅游开发成本、利益均衡分配的基本理论框架。     

共容利益:社区参与旅游发展之利益协调

收益分配问题绝不只是单纯的经济问题,而是涉及政治和社会制度安排的"正义"问题。本文基于对农村旅游发展现实的大量观察和前人对于中国社会问题丰富的研究成果,把宏观制度研究与微观行为分析结合起来,将影响旅游收益分配的政治过程内生化、模型化,展现了在农村旅游发展中,各利益主体——政治精英、商人利益集团、社区农民为实现各自的目标价值,在制度激励和约束下就利益的分配进行重复博弈的动态过程。本文指出,旅游收益不平衡的制度性根源在于国家的政治、经济、法律制度设计偏重于增长而未能有效地维护个人和社会的正当利益。仅仅依靠金钱补偿,或者调整收入分配政策根本不可能达到或实现分配正义的目标。分配正义的实现需要一系列根本性的制度变革,"从顶到底"地建立一个能给予共容利益最大决策权的政治体制和经济机制。     

晚明商人借贷的利息率与商业性借贷的发展

商人借贷利息率的高低对商业性借贷的发展有直接的影响。晚明商人借贷的利息率总体上以低于年息36％为多,这一利率既大大低于消费性借贷的利息率,又低于市场平均利息率,一般均在法定利息率的范围之内。虽然商人借贷的利息率相对较低,但在风险机制的作用下,放贷者向商人放贷的积极性不会受到减损。又由于利率较低,商人借贷通常有利可图,因而商业性借贷能够得到发展。