‘Save the children!’: Governing left-behind children through family in China’s Great Migration

2021 ◽  
pp. 001139212098587
Author(s):  
Xiaorong Gu
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Institutional Framework ◽  
Reform Era ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Sociological Inquiry ◽  
Save The Children ◽  
The One

Existing scholarship on the lives and wellbeing of China’s left-behind children often frames the issues as a function of their parents’ migration, which leaves a significant gap in discussing the role of the state in shaping the institutional framework that these families operate within, cope or struggle with. Through critically interrogating public discourses based on articles from a mainstream newspaper and policy documents since the early 2000s, this article situates a sociological inquiry into the discursive and institutional framework addressing ‘the left-behind children problem’ in China within the problematic of the relationship between children, family, and the state. The analysis reveals seemingly ‘disingenuous’ articulations of left-behind children’s value in the mainstream media and official policies. On the one hand, there seems to be a prevailing concern over the welfare of left-behind children which has grave implications for the country’s future development. On the other hand, the dominant discourse attributes left-behind children’s ‘miserable’ plight to their ‘pathological’ family life, which translates into policy efforts to discipline rural migrant families according to a family ideology rooted in urban middle-class experiences. I argue that such inconsistencies should be contextualized in the state’s neoliberal-authoritarian governance of the migrant population in the post-reform era, which perpetuates a stereotype of ‘the pathological family’ to account for left-behind children’s disadvantages while evading, hence up until recent years avoiding to redress, the political-economic factors underlying their plight. I conclude the article by ruminating on the theoretical, social and policy implications of this study.

De la gestión local a la gobernanza global: actores e interacciones multiniveles en la gestión del agua en la ciudad de México

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 34-66
Author(s):  
Joyce Valdovinos
Keyword(s):  
Private Sector ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
The State ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Service Contracts ◽  
Governance Model ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
The One

The provision of water services has traditionally been considered a responsibility of the state. During the late 1980s, the private sector emerged as a key actor in the provision of public services. Mexico City was no exception to this trend and public authorities awarded service contracts to four private consortia in 1993. Through consideration of this case study, two main questions arise: First, why do public authorities establish partnerships with the private sector? Second, what are the implications of these partnerships for water governance? This article focuses, on the one hand, on the conceptual debate of water as a public and/or private good, while identifying new trends and strategies carried out by private operators. On the other hand, it analyzes the role of the state and its relationships with other actors through a governance model characterized by partnerships and multilevel networks.Spanish La provisión del servicio del agua ha sido tradicionalmente considerada como una responsabilidad del Estado. A finales de la década de 1980, el sector privado emerge como un actor clave en el suministro de servicios públicos. La ciudad de México no escapa a esta tendencia y en 1993 las autoridades públicas firman contratos de servicios con cuatro consorcios privados. A través de este estudio de caso, dos preguntas son planteadas: ¿Por qué las autoridades públicas establecen partenariados con el sector privado? ¿Cuáles son las implicaciones de dichos partenariados en la gobernanza del agua? Este artículo aborda por una parte, el debate conceptual del agua como bien público y/o privado, identificando nuevas tendencias y estrategias de los operadores privados. Por otra parte, se analizan el rol y las relaciones del Estado con otros actores a través de un modelo de gobernanza, definido en términos de partenariados y redes multi-niveles.French Les services de l'eau ont été traditionnellement considérés comme une responsabilité de l'État. À la fin des années 1980, le secteur privé est apparu comme un acteur clé dans la fourniture de certains services publics. La ville de Mexico n'a pas échappé à cette tendance et en 1993, les autorités publiques ont signé des contrats de services avec quatre consortiums privés. À travers cette étude de cas, nous nous interrogerons sur deux aspects : pourquoi les autorités publiques établissentelles des partenariats avec le secteur privé ? Quelles sont les implications de ces partenariats sur la gouvernance de l'eau ? Cet article s'intéresse, d'une part, au débat conceptuel sur l'eau en tant que bien public et/ou privé, en identifiant les tendances nouvelles et les stratégies menées par les opérateurs privés. D'autre part y sont analysés le rôle de l'État et ses relations avec d'autres acteurs à travers un modèle de gouvernance, défini en termes de partenariats, et des réseaux multi-niveaux.

scholarly journals Competition among the Contract Research Organizations

2019 ◽  
pp. 30-35
Author(s):  
S. I. Chernykh
Keyword(s):  
Technological Development ◽  
The State ◽  
Institutional Framework ◽  
Contract Research ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Research Organizations ◽  
Scientific And Technological Development

The article deals with the current theoretical and practical issues relating to the development of competition among contract research organizations (CRO), and the role of the State in the development of institutions and mechanisms that ensure the development science on a competitive basis. Concludes that the need for further improving the legal and institutional framework to successfully meet the challenges of scientific and technological development through the contract paradigm.

Digital International Governance

2011 ◽  
pp. 365-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Amoretti
Keyword(s):  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
World Bank ◽  
World Market ◽  
The State ◽  
International Governance ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
The World ◽  
The One

Up to 1980, development, which had been defined as nationally managed economic growth, was redefined as “successful participation in the world market” (World Bank, 1980, quoted in McMichael, 2004, p.116). On an economic scale, specialization in the world economy as opposed to replication of economic activities within a national framework emerged as a criterion of “development.” On a political level, redesigning the state on competence and quality of performance in the discharge of functions was upheld, while on an ideological plane, a neo-liberal and globalization project was to the fore. The quite evident failure of development policies in peripheral countries, on the one hand, has contributed to the debate on the need for reform of governing institutions in the world (de Senarcless, 2004); and, on the other, has pushed them, de-legitimized as they are, in the direction of finding new strategies and solutions. In the 1990s, considering their leading role in government reform, international organizations such as the United Nations Organization (UN), the World Bank, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) classified e-government as a core issue on their agenda. Innovation through information and communication technologies (ICTs) (social and economic advancement among the peoples of the world has become increasingly tied to technology creation, dissemination and utilization) is at the core of the renewed focus on the role of the state and the institutions in this process. Redefining the state—functions, responsibility, powers—as regards world-market priorities and logics, has become a strategic ground for international organization intervention, and ICTs are a strategic tool to achieve these aims.

Domination and Dereliction: Exploring the State's Roles in Burma

2012 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 361-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacques P. Leider
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Policies ◽  
The State ◽  
The Other ◽  
Authoritarian State ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
The One

What these four quite different books broadly share is a focus on the role of the state in Myanmar society. Current scholarship describes the authoritarian state in Myanmar, which has been controlled by the army since 1962, as either dominantly present or neglectfully absent. Censorship and the repression of autonomous spaces in society, on the one hand, and the failure of the state to enforce efficient health and environmental policies, on the other, are keywords in these works that illustrate the double-faced appearance of the state's existence and role in society.

Public borders, private crossings: Anthropological approaches to neoliberalism in US educational policy and spaces

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Convertino ◽  
Amy Brown ◽  
Marguerite Anne Fillion Wilson
Keyword(s):  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Educational Policies ◽  
Market Values ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Nation At Risk ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Private Values ◽  
Public Versus Private

Educational policies across the globe reflect the ascendancy of neoliberalism. According to neoliberalism, the market represents a superior mechanism to govern ( Peters, 2012 ), and thus, the role of the state is to enable the agency of the market ( Rose, 1999 ). In the United States, the federal report A Nation at Risk (1983) formalized the direct influence of a neoliberal rationality on the formation of educational policies. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) (2001) and The Race to the Top (2010) represent successive assertions of market values on educational reform. At the same time, there is a fundamental contradiction within neoliberal logic: while the state is to refrain from interfering in the market, it must simultaneously intervene to govern schools ( Hursh, 2005 ). Based on these trends, the articles in this special issue highlight critical tensions between public versus private values, practices, and discourses that emerge from the proliferation of a neoliberal logic into the educational sphere. In different ways, each of these articles map out a unique facet of neoliberalism in education to complicate the often totalizing critiques of market-based logics in order to demonstrate the complex ways that people rearticulate and resist education policy in an era of neoliberal ascendancy.

scholarly journals BIROKRATISASI PENEGAKAN HAK ASASI MANUSIA PASCA REFORMASI MELALUI PEMBENTUKAN KEMENTERIAN URUSAN HAM DAN PENGUATAN KOMNAS HAM

Yurispruden ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 119
Author(s):  
Arasy Pradana A Azis
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Public Space ◽  
The State ◽  
National Commission ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
National Human ◽  
The One ◽  
First Time ◽  
Executive Body

ABSTRACTThe Reformation then became a momentum for improving the issues of upholding human rights in Indonesia, where human rights matters formally entered into the division of power. On the one hand, for the first time, a ministry was formed specifically to deal with human rights matters. While outside the executive body, Law No. 39 of 1999 strengthens the position of the National Commission of Human Rights which has actually been established since 1993. This phenomenon then raises a problem statement, on how bureaucratization of human rights after Reformation is manifested through the establishment of the National Human Rights Commission and the Ministry of Human Rights. It was found that each institution gained legitimacy from political dynamics in a more democratic public space. Between the state ministries for human rights and the National Commission of Human Rights, the principle of check and balances was carried out in their role as an organ of the Indonesian bureaucracy. On the one hand, the state minister for human rights is an extension of the executive's hand in managing human rights matters. As a counterweight, the National Human Rights Commission carries out the role of the state auxiliary bodies to monitor the government’s human rights work.Keywords:    Politic of Law, Bureaucratization, Human Rigths, Ministry of Law and Human Rights Affairs, National Commission of Human Rights. ABSTRAKPeristiwa Reformasi menjadi momentum perbaikan urusan penegakan HAM di Indonesia, di mana urusan HAM secara formal masuk ke dalam pembagian kekuasaan negara. Di satu sisi, untuk pertama kalinya dibentuk satu kementerian yang secara khusus menangani urusan HAM. Sementara di luar lembaga eksekutif, Undang-Undang Nomor 39 Tahun 1999 menguatkan kedudukan Komisi Nasional Hak Asasi Manusia yang sejatinya telah terbentuk sejak tahun 1993. Fenomena ini kemudian menimbulkan satu rumusan permasalahan, yaitu bagaimana birokratisasi urusan HAM pasca reformasi termanifestasi melalui pembentukan Komnas HAM dan kementerian urusan HAM. Ditemukan bahwa masing-masing lembaga memperoleh legitimasi dari dinamika politik di ruang publik yang lebih demokratis. Antara kementerian negara urusan HAM dan Komnas HAM kemudian menjalankan prinsip check and balances dalam menjalankan perannya sebagai organ birokrasi Indonesia. Di satu sisi, kementerian negara urusan HAM merupakan perpanjangan tangan eksekutif untuk mengurus urusan HAM. Sebagai penyeimbang, Komnas HAM menjalankan peran sebagai state auxiliary bodies guna mengawasi kinerja HAM pemerintah.Kata Kunci: Politik Hukum, Birokratisasi, Hak Asasi Manusia, Kementerian Urusan HAM, Komnas HAM.

scholarly journals STATE PERSONNEL POLICY IN THE CONTEXT OF INFORMATION AND ECONOMIC CONFRONTATION

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
V.I. Semenova ◽  
◽  
M.F. Fridman ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
The State ◽  
Innovative Development ◽  
World Model ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Innovative Solutions ◽  
The One

This article is devoted to the most important issue of ensuring an innovative breakthrough in socio-economic development in the conditions of information and economic confrontation. Today, humanity is entering an era of a fundamentally different system of social relations, values and meanings. The emergence of a multipolar world model increases the competition of developed countries, on the one hand, and weakens the role of the state in society, on the other. Economic sanctions significantly hinder innovative development, so the state, as one of the main social institutions, still needs qualitatively new, more productive, innovative solutions, the emergence and implementation of which is impossible without appropriate personnel: researchers, analysts, developers, managers and workers.

Who Will Tend the Vine? Pentecostalism, Parenting and the Role of the State in “London-Lagos”

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 450-470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrin Maier ◽  
Simon Coleman
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
The Other ◽  
Child Rearing ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
The One ◽  
British State

AbstractWe explore the tensions evident among Nigerian Pentecostals in London between social and ideological insularity on the one hand, and a more outward-oriented, expansive orientation on the other. Analysis of these stances is complemented by the exploration of believers' actions within a material but also metaphorical arena that we term “London-Lagos.” Such themes are developed specifically through a focus on believers' relations with Nigerian and British state systems in relation to child-rearing—an activity that renders parents sometimes dangerously visible to apparatuses of the state but also raises key dilemmas concerning the proper and moral location of socialisation into Christian values. We show how such dilemmas are embodied in a play, written by a Nigerian Pentecostalist, termed “The Vine-Keepers.”

Internally displaced families in Khartoum-Sudan: challenges and policy implications

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 252-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Azza Abdelmoneium
Keyword(s):  
Basic Needs ◽  
The State ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Internally Displaced ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Displaced People ◽  
Access To Shelter

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how internally displaced families in Khartoum-Sudan face difficulties and challenges in meeting their basic needs of shelter and health when they are displaced from their homes. By using empirical data, the factors that hinder families in getting access to shelter and health provision and how they survive with few facilities provided to them will be discussed. The paper will also highlight the role of the state in the situation of the displaced families and the services provided to them. Design/methodology/approach Various methods were used in the research, among them were interviews and focus-group discussions. Interviews were conducted with children aged 10-18 years. A sample of 129 children from four camps was selected, and parents or guardians of the children were interviewed. The theoretical section on what is displacement and how displaced people meet their basic needs and rights gives a background on how displaced families in Sudan survive and struggle to meet their health and shelter rights. Findings The basic needs for the displaced families were not met, and if they were met, it would have led to better living conditions, stability and security for these people. The paper concludes with some recommendations. Originality/value The state should meet the basic needs and rights of the internally displaced people. It is the responsibility of the state to ensure that health and shelter are provided to displaced people.

scholarly journals GOVERNO DELL’ECONOMIA E TEORIA DELLA POLITICA ECONOMICA

2011 ◽  
pp. 137-170
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Bognetti
Keyword(s):  
Economic Policy ◽  
Minimum Degree ◽  
Regulatory System ◽  
The State ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Individual Liberty ◽  
Social Conventions ◽  
Division Of Powers ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
The One

Governance of the economy and theory of economic policy. This essay explores the views on economic policy of two of the most important thinkers of the Lombard enlightenment (Beccaria and Verri). The focus of the essay is on their theoretical contributions, so that the influence of Beccaria’s and Verri’s proposals on the actual course of Lombard economic reforms will not be discussed. In Beccaria and Verri, the theory of political economy is based on a rich view of societal interdependencies and the way they operate. Beccaria and Verri developed their views within the larger context of the European economic enlightenment. Their contributions partly reflect the theories of French, English and Scottish writers. However, they were able to build on other writers’ contribution in an independent and original way, often making important and influential contributions to the social theory of the European enlightenment (a standard instance is the influence Beccaria had on the development of criminal law and the formation of the utilitarian tradition). Beccaria and Verri were convinced that reforms were possible and that the force of reason could promote solutions suitable for the improvement of society. This was not an easy task, but mainly in the first period of their intellectual activities they were hopeful to achieve important results. They were convinced that economic policy should be able to free the natural capacities of individuals so that the whole society’s potential could be used to improve economic welfare. This belief comes from a very complex view of the behaviour and interaction among human beings. Society (but by no means all social conventions and institutions) was conceived as the outcome of a deliberate covenant. People agree to live together because otherwise they would live in constant insecurity for their lives and property, and because only under that covenant they would be able to enjoy a minimum degree of individual liberty. To secure this liberty the state must respect the division of powers between the legislative, executive and judiciary branches. This model obviously derives from Montesquieu and Locke, but Beccaria and Verri develop it in an original way especially with regard the judicial power. For they believe that to give judges the power to interpret the law is to give them normative power, which would not be admissible in a system of division of powers. Therefore they believed that, in order to avoid this breach of the model, laws and statutes should be very simple and clear. In this case only, that is, only when the normative framework is certain, individuals can act in an environment of security and full liberty. From this the need derives not only to have a simple legislation but also a somewhat limited role of the state in managing the economy, without resorting to an extensive regulatory system. Beccaria is the one who chiefly develops this part of the model. His ideas on the judiciary exerted an important influence in the following years, starting with the French Convention (1791), in which his contributions were extensively discussed. Beccaria’s views continued to attract the attention of prominent constitutional scholars (such as Laband) in the following decades and exerted a considerable influence on the drafting of a number of constitutional charts during the nineteenth century.

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