INFRASTRUCTURE PROVISION,POLITICS AND RELIGION: INSIGHTS FROM TUNISIA'S NEW DEMOCRACY

This paper analyzes the relationship between access to infrastructure services and support for religious parties based on the evidence produced by a recent democratic experience in Tunisia in which a religious political party, Ennahdha, governed from 2011 to 2014. The experience points to a complex relationship. In the 2011 election, areas with higher access are associated with higher support for Ennahdha than areas with lower access. In the 2014 election, however, infrastructure access is positively correlated with support for the party in areas where access had improved but negatively correlated with support for the party in areas that already had high access. A possible pragmatic general implication is that, to be politically competitive, religious parties, cannot bet solely on their religious commitment to provide basic services, including infrastructure, to the poor. They need to recognize the multiplicity of voter's concerns and their evolving agenda.     

Kicking a crude habit: diversifying away from oil and gas in the twenty-first century

Abstract

This article investigates the correlates of diversification away from oil and natural gas dependence in the context of the twenty-first century resource boom (and bust). In a sample of 40 oil- and gas-dependent economies, the majority showed significant sectoral diversification of GDP, but exports remained highly concentrated in fuel exports. Regression analysis indicates that countries that began the boom with higher levels of oil and gas dependence, poorer countries, and those with significantly larger- or smaller-than-average populations were more successful in diversifying their GDP during the commodities boom. Governance matters – more effective, capable bureaucratic structures are associated with greater GDP diversification away from oil and gas – though the effects are not uniformly positive. For any given level of government effectiveness, stronger rule of law is associated with less GDP diversification. Education appears to affect GDP and export diversification differentially. Consistent with endogenous growth theory, countries with more educated populations saw greater growth in their nonresource sectors than countries with less educated populations, though education is associated with greater export concentration. Internal economic diversification in the twenty-first century has been less a matter of policy formation and implementation, and more a matter of factors that shape the policy-making environment.     

论高职生创新能力的培养

创新能力是高职生应该具备的重要能力之一,加强高职生创新能力培养是我国社会主义建设的需要,也是高职院校新的历史任务。高职院校是人才培养基地,应该自觉地肩负起为社会培养人才的重任。本文在明晰了创新能力的概念基础上,对当前高职生创新能力的现状进行了深入分析,并进一步从高职院校的角度剖析其原因,最终提出了提升高职生创新能力培养的新模式和新措施。     

电子商务技能型人才需求与高职教育培养匹配研究

产业转型升级发展对专业技能型人才的需求发生变化,作为技能型人才重要培养主体的高职院校,面临着如何培养新时代高素质技能人才的挑战。通过招聘大数据挖掘电子商务技能型人才的需求特征,同时调研相关高职院校电子商务专业人才培养现状,分析供需匹配度。结果表明:电商企业需要德技并修的高素质技能型人才,而高职院校的课程体系以专业技能、商务技能等硬技能教学为主,忽视综合素养软技能教育,同时,高职院校电子商务专业课程开设未能根据行业技术更新和产业转型发展及时调整。基于研究结果,从课程体系建设、校企合作深化、工匠精神培育等方面提出相关建议。     

高职院校教学质量监督和保障体系的研究与实践

本论文通过对南京化工职业技术学院教学质量监控和保障体系的研究、构建与实施,并通过网络信息技术使体系的运行更顺利、便捷和高效,增强了教学质量监控和保障体系的针对性、可操作性,做到保障有方向、投入有重点、建设有力度、完善有策略,确保教学质量保障建设有理、有据、有序进行。     

高职院校服务型学生社团的企业化管理改革初探

当前,高职院校服务型学生社团存在着管理落后、团队实力不强、经费管理有待提高、传统继承性弱、品牌意识薄弱、创新性不足、文化氛围薄弱等方面的问题,急需引入企业化管理方式,促进社团进一步发展。经过高职院校服务型学生社团企业化管理改革的可行性论证,两者之间具有很高的契合度,能有机融合在一起。高职院校服务型学生社团可以从精简机构设置、制度化管理、扁平化管理、科学财务管理、人力资源管理、绩效管理、内部控制、实施品牌战略、提升传承性、注重创新、注重文化氛围等共十一项具体的企业化管理手段入手,进行深入细化的企业化管理改革,将有助于高职院校服务型学生社团突破瓶颈,取得进一步发展。     

高职院校社会服务体制机制构建的探索与研究

社会服务是高职院校基本职能之一,建立健全高职院校社会服务组织管理机构是社会服务体制构建的首要环节,社会服务机制体系由制度安排、运行管理、激励措施和信息分享等基本要素组成,有效的社会服务对促进区域经济发展、高技术人才培养及扩大高职院校影响力,提高办学质量和深化内涵建设具有重大意义。     

Educational Development in South Sudan: Conscious Design or Spontaneous Order?

Educational development is key to the future prosperity of South Sudan. Officially the situation appears bleak with up to 50 per cent of primary‐aged children out of school, high reported dropout rates and poor attainment. Those involved in the development of education, government departments, international agencies, individuals and communities are each following one of two different approaches as they seek to extend the reach of education. The article suggests that these different approaches arise because those involved hold to either a conscious‐design or a spontaneous‐order model for educational development. The article looks at the recent development of schools in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, in the light of these two theories and finds, despite the rhetoric of the official reports, that most growth is organic and that most recent educational development is emerging spontaneously.     

Political capitalism: The interaction between income inequality,economic freedom and democracy

We study the relationship between income inequality and economic freedom for a panel of 100 countries for the 1971–2010 period. Using a panel Granger non-causality approach, we reject the null hypothesis of Granger non-causality running from income inequality to economic freedom, but not vice versa. From a series of dynamic panel estimations we show that the effect of income inequality on economic freedom is negative and robust to the inclusion of additional controls. In particular, inequality is negatively associated with those components of economic freedom related to international trade, domestic market regulation as well as the rule of law and property rights protection. We argue that the negative effect of inequality on economic freedom is due to the economic elite converting its economic power into de facto political power to defend its economic interests; these interests run counter to economic freedom, discouraging innovation and competition as well as protecting the elite's rents. Finally, we show that economic freedom decreases with income inequality even in democratic countries, suggesting that democratic institutions do not prevent economic freedom from eroding. We argue that the latter finding corresponds to a system of political capitalism or captured democracy, where a powerful economic elite can nevertheless exercise de facto political power by cooperating with politicians and other decision-makers for their mutual benefit.     

全程导师制下的高职人才培养模式探索与实践——以武汉职业技术学院生物工程学院为例

高职院校实施"全程导师制"既是对传统"班建制"教育模式的有效补充,更是倡导个性教育,实现教学相长,真正贯彻"以人为本"教育理念和提高教育教学质量的有效措施。文章结合武汉职业技术学院生物工程学院试点的具体情况,分析了导师制的基本内涵、高职实施导师制的必要性,构建了"全程导师制"实施方案,以期推动该制度尽快建立,促进学生综合素质的培养,增强学生就业能力。