Physical planning in an era of marketization: conflicting governance perspectives in the Swedish Transport Administration

Planning of transport infrastructure in Sweden has undergone successive legislative changes as well as neoliberal corporatization and marketization reforms in recent years, with a general aim to increase efficiency and effectiveness. This paper presents planning practitioners’ experiences of far-reaching marketization of physical planning practice in line with a strategy within the Swedish Transport Administration (STA) to become a ‘Pure Purchaser’. The strategy implies that all practical planning work should be carried out by procured consultants. The paper follows a qualitative, explorative approach based on document studies and interviews with practitioners actively involved in carrying out physical planning of road and rail investments. The concept of ‘modes of governance’ is applied to highlight and analytically interpret differences in perspectives on efficient and effective governance as expressed in the planning legislation, and the STA marketization strategy, respectively. The empirical results make evident that the recent marketization reforms are generally perceived as strongly and negatively affecting the efficiency and effectiveness of planning practices while also circumscribing professional discretion. The study highlights the importance of specific organization and management perspectives as explanatory factors in studying efficiency and effectiveness of planning practices.     

Energy Intensity in Light of China's Economic Transition

Two economic geographers examine the impacts of economic transition on the efficiency of energy use in China, the second-largest energy consumer in the world. Following a brief review of reform and deregulation in China's energy sector, they proceed to systematically test the relationship between economic transition (conceptualized as a triple process of marketization, decentralization, and globalization) and energy intensity using a panel data set. The statistical units of analysis are China's 30 provincial-level administrative regions, facilitating the investigation of spatial variations in energy intensity. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: O53, P20, Q40, Q43. 9 figures, 5 tables, 62 references.     

从"枪手"看清代科场枪替活动的市场化倾向

枪替是清代科举考试中的主要舞弊方式之一。枪替活动与当时的社会经济、风尚习俗相互影响。乃至出现了较显的市场化倾向。乾隆年间是枪替活动比较活跃的时期。雇倩枪手作弊现象在童试和岁科试中更具普遍性。     

A Spatial-Temporal Analysis of Health Care and Mortality Inequalities in China

Two geographers specializing in China TYalyze that country's health care inequality from 1990 to 2008, for the purpose of: (1) examining spatial-temporal variations of health care inequality at multiple scales (the regional, provincial, and county levels); (2) exploring whether economic growth and transition to a market economy have exacerbated the unevenness of health care; and (3) analyzing the impact of health care inequality on health outcomes, especially mortality. The authors apply GIS-based spatial statistical methods to detect spatial-temporal patterns of health care, and use multilevel regression to examine the linkages between health care, mortality, and regional economic inequality, and ultimately to assess the sensitivity of health care inequality to geographic scale and examine whether reforms implemented to date have resulted in more equitable access to health care. The paper also demonstrates how the concurrent transitions of decentralization, marketization, globalization, and urbanization in China have interactively contributed to health care inequality and mortality.     

Socioeconomic Influences on the Physical Wellbeing of Adults in Post-crisis North Korea: Regressing Women's MUAC on Available Household Data from a National Nutrition Survey

Nutritional adequacy in North Korea (DPRK) has remained spotlighted since the famine crisis of the mid-1990s. Data from national household surveys facilitated by UN agencies primarily focus on children, with interviews of their mothers. No data are collected on men, or specifically on adults. Survey data on adult escapees in China or South Korea are not representative of conditions prevailing in present-day North Korea. This study focuses on adults’ physical wellbeing by regressing women's mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) as a proxy measure on selected household data from the third DPRK nutrition assessment. The results—with sampling limitations qualified—showed that residence in the ‘rice bowl’ region and access to farmers’ markets contributed most to wellbeing; differences in gross nutrition, biological factors, household size and even educational attainment mattered little. Further, elites in the national capital were worse off than households in the remote northeast, where proximity to China has facilitated trade exchanges for survival needs. All these signal emergent changes in household coping mechanisms, possibly even in the status quo, in present-day North Korea.     

海南城市化进程中“非遗”保护与发展策略

现代社会的发展,使得非物质文化遗产的保护与市场化发展模式之间的关系变得紧密而微妙。2010年海南被国务院正式确定为国际旅游岛,从而使海南的各项建设特别是文化建设上升为一种国家战略。通过在理论与实践两个层面,从新时期海南"非遗"保护与传承的特殊意义、海南城市化进程中"非遗"面临的挑战和问题、海南"非遗"保护与发展模式探索等方面进行梳理,探索海南城市化快速发展与"非遗"保护传承之间切实可行的双赢策略。     

Regulating commercial public service broadcasting: a case study of the marketization of Norwegian media policy

This article looks at the issues facing the regulation of commercial public service broadcasting in Norway. A document analysis of the 2010 renegotiation process to renew TV 2’s public service licence illuminates how a general marketization affects the regulation of the television sector. This process comments on Hallin and Mancini’s model of democratic corporatism in the Nordic countries regarding the power of the state to regulate private media enterprises as cultural institutions. As such, the process of commercialization should include not only the broadcasting sector, but also the political sector. As part of a solution to retain TV 2’s licence agreement, the government effectively had to re‐regulate the cable distribution sector. This case study demonstrates not only the enduring strength and value of the public service institution in a political context, but also the extent to which regulation is guided by technical and economic forces to sustain democratic considerations.