The advent of managerialism in social welfare: the case of Hong Kong

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been the major provider of social welfare services in Hong Kong. Facing an economic downturn, the Hong Kong government decides to enhance cost-effectiveness and accountability in social service through the introduction of market values land business management practices. Market-oriented practices include contracting out, competitive bidding, performance monitoring and lump-sum grant. The appeal of these practices lies in the possibility of lowering costs, but their long-term effect on quality and stability of services is largely uncertain. With the emergence of competition and deregulation in social welfare, NGOs have to face formidable challenges to change their traditional philosophies and mode of operations. The reform implicates the redefinition of the relationship between the government and NGOs, and between social workers and their NGO employers. This paper points out the need to adopt a cautious and consensus approach to introduce welfare reforms.postprin

Community Building in China: From Welfare to Politics

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Social security reforms in China: Issues and prospects

The phenomenal success of China's market-oriented economic reforms since the 1980s has rendered the traditional employment-based social security system increasingly inadequate and inefficient. For decades, the Chinese government has been trying to develop a more pluralistic, effective and affordable social security system which will be compatible with both a thriving market economy and a flagging socialist political structure. While the emerging system is still struggling with a variety of operational problems, the entry of China into the WTO is looming as a formidable challenge to this social security system. This presentation outlines the recent reforms of the social security system undertaken by the Chinese government, and assesses the effectiveness of the results in meeting the challenge. Here, social security reforms focus on the retirement and unemployment insurance schemes and the social assistance program.postprin

The emergence of social assistance in China

This article outlines the development of China's social assistance programme, including its design, implementation and trends. The Chinese government has given high priority to the establishment and institutionalisation of this programme. To have an effective social assistance programme in the context of an increasingly pluralistic society, China is facing the profoundly challenging task of designing a coherent and over-arching social protection system that would cover retirement, medical care, unemployment and poverty alleviation. © 2006 The Author(s) Journal compilation © 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare.postprin

Dismantling the "iron rice bowl:' welfare reforms in the People's Republic of China

In common with most countries in the world, China is facing an increasing demand for welfare. The free-market economic reforms of the last decade have dramatically transformed social policy in China, which is gradually retreating from an egalitarian and collective approach and moving towards a pluralistic and "residual' orientation. Now, widening income inequalities are accepted as both necessary and inevitable. Under the slogan of "dismantling the iron rice bowl', major welfare "reforms' were introduced in the 1980s. This article serves to describe the transformation process and delineate the trends of welfare development. -from Authorpublished_or_final_versio

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)1.

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field