The political economy of rural development in China: reflections on current rural policy

The paper examines some of the main political economy dynamics of the policy initiatives on rural development that have been taken since 2003, and provides an overview of the main issues that they are addressing. The paper first outlines the major agrarian problems that have emerged over the recent decade and more, indicating their main political-economy causations, and then systematically analyses the prospects of the new policy initiatives to deal with them. Among the new policies the initiatives to reorganise the finance system through a reform of the roles of the county and a development of town and township governments to become points of delivery of public goods and social services are highlighted as particularly potent. Further importance is associated with reforms that strengthen the role of rural residents as citizens. The impact of the Chinese government's economic stimulus package in response to the ongoing global financial crisis is yet to become visible, but it is clear that the changes must be backed up with very substantial political and financial commitments. --rural policy,political economy,rural-urban relations

Review of Survey activities 2010

This Review of Survey activities presents a selection of 19 papers reflecting the wide spectrum of activities of the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, from the microscopic to the plate-tectonic level. The Survey's activities in Denmark and surrounding areas are illustrated by 12 articles covering petroleum geology, groundwater geology, applied marine geology, Quaternary stratigraphy, sea-level changes, disposal of radioactive waste and the use of satellite radar data to detect elevation changes. The depth of two earthquakes has been determined using data from array stations in Canada and Niger. Activities in Greenland are covered by six papers dealing with mineral and petroleum exploration. One paper comes with further evidence that the controversial Wegener Fault is a myth. The influence of recent climate change on the Greenland ice sheet is the subject of another article; 2010 was the warmest year ever recorded in Greenland, and the ice sheet is losing mass at an accelerating rate. The Survey's international activities are the subject of a paper dealing with quality control of geophysical data in Ghana

The political economy of rural development in China: reflections on current rural policy

"The paper examines some of the main political economy dynamics of the policy initiatives on rural development that have been taken since 2003, and provides an overview of the main issues that they are addressing. The paper first outlines the major agrarian problems that have emerged over the recent decade and more, indicating their main political-economy causations, and then systematically analyses the prospects of the new policy initiatives to deal with them. Among the new policies the initiatives to reorganise the finance system through a reform of the roles of the county and a development of town and township governments to become points of delivery of public goods and social services are highlighted as particularly potent. Further importance is associated with reforms that strengthen the role of rural residents as citizens. The impact of the Chinese government's economic stimulus package in response to the ongoing global financial crisis is yet to become visible, but it is clear that the changes must be backed up with very substantial political and financial commitments." (author's abstract

Venstre:Partiforandring på trods eller på grund af en stærk partiorganisation?

Venstre fejrede sit 150-års jubilæum i 2020 og har ledet de fleste regeringer efter 2001, hvor partiet tilmed opnåede at blive størst efter at have vendt en langvarig vigende vælgertilslutning, som varede frem til 1980’erne. Forinden havde partiet formået at omstille sig fra et klasseparti med opbakning især på landet til et borgerligt catch-all parti. Artiklen anlægger med udgangspunkt i Harmel og Janda (1994) et politologisk partiforandringsperspektiv på Venstre især siden 1980’erne. Artiklen noterer sig, at partiet med inspiration fra udlandet gennemførte en ideologisk forandring, først i nyliberal og siden i midtsøgende retning, samt at lederskift også katalyserede forandring, hvortil kommer, at Venstres vælgermæssige succes blev hjulpet på vej af krise hos De Konservative. Artiklen gør her den observation, at Venstre først gennemførte en organisatorisk forandring efter at have opnået succes, ikke før, samt at partiets relativt stærke organisation, modsat de teoretiske forventninger, ikke stod i vejen for en forandring, men tværtimod tilsyneladende gav partiet ressourcer og tid til at gennemføre forandringen. Til slut diskuterer artiklen, om Venstre også formåede at øve indflydelse på den førte politik, ligesom den reflekterer over partiets overordnede situation ved jubilæet, nu i opposition og med ny partileder efter folketingsvalget i 2019, og med færre medlemmer end før