Working in a Risk Society

Through much of the 1980s, discussions of transformations within work and employment debated the emergence of a new, more 'flexible' era - or, at a different level of analysis, the growth of more 'flexible' working practices. Recent accounts of contemporary socio-economic change have been framed within new sets of theoretical contexts, such as Ulrich Beck's notion of 'social risk'. The central aim of this paper is to evaluate the utility of such an approach, drawing upon empirical work which has investigated changes to terms and conditions of manual employment in British local authorities as a result of the introduction of compulsory competitive tendering.     

'Hired Hands' or 'Local Voice': Understandings and Experience of Local Participation in Conservation

In recent years, the notion of local participation has emerged as a major force in both policy-making and political philosophy. This paper explores the role that participation is playing in mediating relations between local people, conservation organizations and the ideas and practices of nature conservation in England. Drawing upon empirical research in the county of Kent, the paper argues that there are systematic discrepancies between the motives, experiences and understandings of the various policy actors towards the theory and practice of a participatory conservation. It argues that these apparent discrepancies have serious implications for both the credibility and the effectiveness of present initiatives, whereby participatory practice serves to reshape existing conceptions of conservation and rural space.     

The adoption of culturally contentious innovations: The case of citizen oversight of police

Cultural contentiousness is defined as an attribute of innovation due to which it encounters resistance because of its incompatibility with hegemonic cultural assumptions. I argue that culturally contentious innovations are likely to be adopted when antecedents have productive symbolic force, i.e., they reveal contradictions between dominant cultural assumptions and the material outcomes of existing institutions or empower social actors to resolve such contradictions. However, antecedents with incapacitative symbolic force tend to obfuscate the above contradictions or decrease social actors’ capacity to resolve them, encouraging the adoption of less contentious innovation. Applying these arguments to citizen oversight agencies (COAs) for the police, I examine the antecedents of contentious (i.e., investigative) as opposed to less contentious (non-investigative) COAs. In support of the above argument, I find that productive antecedents (e.g., a consent decree, an increase in civil rights nonprofits) are associated with adopting investigative COAs. In contrast, incapacitative antecedents (e.g., a Law Enforcement Officer Bill of Rights, an increase in the violent crime rate) are associated with adopting non-investigative COAs. The findings broadly demonstrate that policy adoption scholars ought to distinguish policies in terms of cultural contentiousness and account for the symbolic force of antecedents. Further theoretical contributions are discussed.     

Do more,with less: The realities of local government in rural Ontario

Over the past 30 years, the responsibilities, mandates, and activities of local governments in Ontario have undergone substantial transformations. Influenced by New Public Management, policy changes are characterized by marketization and managerialism resulting in downloading of responsibilities to local governments. This research examines the ebbs and flows of policy changes among different provincial governments since 1990 and the impacts of these policies on rural local governments in Ontario. Interviews were conducted with elected officials and senior staff in eight local governments to understand their realities. The findings demonstrate the continual policy changes led to the “do more, with less” approach currently faced by rural local governments—increased regulatory requirements, limited human and financial capacities, and small tax bases to support their activities. This experience, combined with limited fiscal levers, hinders the ability of rural local governments to address both new demands for infrastructure and existing infrastructure deficits, housing stock and affordability, and economic and workforce development strategies. The reality has necessitated local governments to seek alternative strategies to deliver programs and services through partnerships and collaboration.     

东北内蒙地区金代之政区及其城市发展

金代东北及内蒙地区之府、州、县约为7府、35州(路、司)、90县,其承辽代之疆域,但政区经省并后,则设置较少,城市数亦应相对减少。但以考古资料而言,则金代城市有显发展,其数量约为辽代之二倍,以人口数而言,金代亦有明显增长,恰又为辽代之二倍,说明城市发展与人口之关系。     

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。     

新冠肺炎疫情下社区活动的地方秩序变化：北京双井案例

新冠肺炎疫情对居民日常活动与社区治理带来巨大挑战。本文从新时间地理学企划和活动的地方秩序概念出发,基于北京双井街道社区工作者在疫情不同时期的活动日志和深度访谈以及社区报纸《今日双井》等多源数据,分析社工工作活动的时空特征变化,社区地方秩序的变化及其对居民日常活动的影响。研究发现,疫情不同阶段社区组织企划明显调整,社工工作时间延长且规律性被打破,工作地点由室内转向室外,工作活动更加多元化、破碎化;社工、居民、物业、周边商铺等社区生活圈中多元主体互动加强。本研究对后疫情时代社区生活圈服务与治理优化提升有重要意义,也丰富了新时间地理学对社区生活圈中个体与组织互动、多行为主体互动过程的解读。     

论南京政府时期的中央与地方财政收支结构

南京国民政府时期中央与地方财政收支结构的制定与调整,是南京国民政府在统一全国的过程中重新确定中央与地方关系的一项重要举措,也是中国财政体制现代化进程中最为重要的一步。从中央与地方财政收支结构划分的原则、平衡性及两者的规模比例等方面来看,南京国民政府时期的中央与地方财政收支结构的划分较为合理,但这一划分仍有许多不足。     

区域旅游发展中政府合作的制度障碍及对策思考

在区域旅游业发展进程中,由于行政区划的刚性约束,地区利益分配矛盾以及现行行政管理体制等制度性因素的制约,导致地方政府之间合作的目标机制、运行机制和制度保障机制的不能适应区域旅游业发展的需要,从而造成了区域政府合作有名无实。基于以上原因,本文从分析行政区划、地方利益竞争及现行管理体制等方面入手,探讨了现阶段地方政府在共同发展区域旅游的合作中所存在的制度障碍,提出在地位平等、互信互利、政府主导和市场合作等原则的基础上,建构制度化的多层次组织机构以制定统一的区域旅游经济发展政策,建立区域旅游利益共享机制,重建地方政府竞争秩序以及完善政府合作原则等对策。     

Mapping the New Deal: local disparities in the performance of Welfare-to-Work

In recent years, following the lead of the US, several OECD countries have introduced 'workfare' policies that link receipt of unemployment and related social benefits to compulsory participation on state-administered work and training schemes. The UK's New Deal (Welfare-to-Work) for Young People is one of the largest and most developed of these workfare programmes. Official evaluations of the UK's New Deal for Young People claim that it has been a national success, but overlook local variations in its results. This paper uses the Government's own performance measures, data on local unemployment flows, numbers of New Deal participants recycled through the scheme as second starts, and interviews with both local policy managers and participants, to demonstrate that these local variations have been substantial. These different indicators suggest that the programme has been noticeably less effective in many inner urban and depressed industrial labour markets. In such areas the 'recycling and churning' of participants through the programme are more significant, and suggest that local labour market structures play a significant role in shaping policy outcomes. The paper argues that recent additions to the New Deal to improve job search and matching fail to address this local variation, and that a longer-term approach is required that seeks to improve not only the employability of individuals, but also the local employment opportunities open to them. One key implication is clear: that local labour market conditions can exert a significant influence on the outcomes of national workfare type policies, not only in terms of geographical variations in the problem to be solved, but also in shaping and constraining the local nature of policy outcomes.