scholarly journals The Institutional Framework of Sino-African Relations

Author(s):  
Ian Taylor

Chinese policy towards Africa is mediated through an array of different actors and institutions, which complicates the ability of Beijing to see through specific policy pronouncements. Liberalization has seen a plethora of agencies and companies engaging with the continent, and while China has official policies, different interests and dynamics within the official structures may frustrate the smooth delivery of such goals. A study of the institutional framework demonstrates that China is by no means a unitary actor, and contrary to popular belief, what happens on the ground in Africa may not necessarily reflect the official Chinese position. Despite this, China is routinely blamed if something negative occurs. This problem is compounded by an asymmetry in the Sino-African relationship and the fact that Chinese officials will not admit that they are not fully in control of matters.

Author(s):  
Zvezda Vankova

Abstract This chapter demonstrates that the Bulgarian diaspora policy is characterized by inconsistent implementation and dissonant institutional context. It is intertwined with the country’s migration policy which is focused, among other priorities, on attracting historic kin communities and Bulgarian emigrants, in order to overcome its demographic decline. Against this backdrop, the country lacks overall social protection policies towards Bulgarians abroad and prioritizes providing information rather than financial support. Firstly, the chapter presents the general institutional framework by which home country authorities interact with nationals abroad, as well as the main engagement policies with this population outside of the area of social protection. Secondly, the chapter focuses on the policies, programmes and services offered by home country authorities in response to social protection needs of Bulgarian nationals abroad across five specific policy areas: unemployment, health care, pensions, family-related benefits and economic hardship.


Author(s):  
Ana Margheritis

AbstractArgentina has a relatively small diaspora and short experience engaging with it. This study explains the evolution of the institutional framework by which Argentina’s authorities interact with nationals abroad since early 2000s, with a specific focus on social protection. It shows that Argentina’s policies for citizens abroad have not institutionalised yet as a distinct and vibrant sphere of action and most initiatives have waxed and waned over time. As a result, Argentina’s lukewarm approach to diaspora engagement is characterised by ambivalence, intermittent and selective engagement, and relatively little development in terms of responding to social protection needs of nationals abroad. In the last few years, though, there has been an attempt to simplify bureaucratic procedures and improve services via virtual means. In particular, this chapter presents a detailed account of the policies, programmes and services offered by Argentine authorities across five specific policy areas: unemployment, health care, pensions, family-related benefits, and economic hardship. It shows that the area of social security and pensions is the most developed and that Argentines residing in MERCOSUR member states have benefited from the enactment of social and economic rights by regional accords.


2010 ◽  
pp. 108-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Smotritskaya ◽  
S. Chernykh

The article analyzes the conceptual framework of public procurement system as an integral part of public regulation to ensure effective management of public resources. The authors consider the problems of transition to a new "quality" of the procurement system, increasing its innovative activity. They put forward proposals for institutional framework and mechanisms of regulating procurement, meeting the needs in innovative upgrading and modernization of the Russian economy.


2013 ◽  
pp. 109-135
Author(s):  
Y. Goland

The article refutes popular belief about the necessity to abolish the New Economic Policy (NEP) of the 1920s for the purpose of industrialization. It is shown that it started successfully under NEP although due to a number of reasons the efficiency of the investments was low. The abolishment of NEP was caused not by the necessity to accelerate the industrialization but by the wrong policy towards the agriculture that stopped the development of farms. The article analyzes the discussion about possible rates of the domestic capital formation. In the course of this discussion, the sensible approach to finding the optimal size of investments depending on their efficiency was offered. This approach is still relevant today.


Paragraph ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 77-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Trexler

While literary criticism is often seen as an unself-reflective forerunner to literary theory, this article argues that T.S. Eliot's theory of critical practice was a philosophically informed methodology of reading designed to create a disciplinary and institutional framework. To reconstruct this theory, it enriches theoretical methodology with intellectual and institutional history. Specifically, the article argues that Eliot's early critical theory depended on the paradigms of anthropology and occultism, developed during his philosophical investigation of anthropology and Leibniz. From this investigation, Eliot created an occult project that used spiritual monads as facts to progress toward the Absolute. The article goes on to argue that Eliot's methodology of reading was shaped by anthropology's and occultism's paradigms of non-academic, non-specialist reading societies that sought a super-historic position in human history through individual progress. The reconstruction of Eliot's intellectual and institutional framework for reading reveals a historical moment with sharp differences and surprising similarities to the present.


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