Examining the Burden Reduction Policy for Primary and Secondary School Teachers in China:A Framework Analysis Centered on the Rational Selection of Institutional Doctrine

The“burden reduction”policy aims to reduce the workload of primary and secondary school teachers to alleviate their burdens.While it has improved the quality of teachers,implementation challenges still exist.This study utilizes rational choice institutionalism and Ostrom’s institutional analysis and development framework to examine the policy.By considering the preferences of the Ministry of Education,local governments,schools,and teachers,it explores interactions and outcomes,identifies challenges,and provides policy suggestions.

Assessment of Institutional and Legal Framework for Sustainable Land Use Management Practices in Ashi River Watershed,China

Nonpoint source(NPS)pollutants resulting from land degradation(LD)have been a key influential factor on the deterioration of water quality.Consequently,sustainable land use management(SLM)practices have been employed to reduce the impacts of LD globally.However,the adoption of SLM practices is often not effective to protect water resources despite its capability of improving water quality.Empirically,evidence shows that activities of land users directly influence SLM practices and NPS pollution of water resources in watersheds,but invariably this has not been clearly understood.Understanding how SLM practices adoption could prevent NPS pollution of water resources in watershed is a necessity.Therefore,the primary aim of the investigation is to comprehend the status of SLM practices with the legal framework supporting the adoption of such practices in the Ashi River watershed.A survey instrument involving structured questionnaire was implemented to collect data.A randomly based lottery method was applied to sample information from 150 land users in two control units’communities.Descriptive and inferential statistics was used to analyze the data.This research revealed that there is low adoption of SLM practices of the study site.The low adoption is due to weak capacity building and enforcement of regulations in the watershed.Occupation and age of the residents are the strongest predictors of SLM adoption rate.Residents connected with farming are more sensitive to the adoption status of SLM.It is our recommendation that policy makers should ensure capacity building,and enforcement of regulations can specifically compel farmers to adopt SLM technologies.This approach would complement other strategies to solve the NPS pollution issue of Ashi River.

Politics of Rail Transport Development in Developing Countries： Case of Nigeria

Rail transport in most developing countries, is usually the least developed mode. For instance, in Nigeria the vibrant fortune of rail transport operations and development has been on decline since mid 1970s.The developmental gap in rail transport in Nigeria is responsible for a significant level of access denial to a safer, affordable and environmentally-friendly mode of transport, to the younger generation of Nigerians. Through a critique of past railways developmental projects and policies, this paper was able to identify the principal factors responsible for its intangible contributions to the socio-economic development of Nigeria. It further highlighted the role（s） politics of policies inconsistency and somersault plays, to the detriment of realization of a vibrant railway system in Nigeria. The findings revealed that discontinuity and incoherence in policy implementation by successful governments, policy reversal as well as uncoordinated national transport policy goal and objectives as clogs in the wheel of progress of railways development in Nigeria. In conclusion, the paper hinged the rapid development of the rail industry in Nigeria on institutional paradigm shift, whereby the rail authority will enjoy a reasonable level of autonomy in decision making, finance and investment in rail operations, infrastructure supply and technological advancement in Nigeria.

China’s pension system:achievements,challenges and future developments

This study focuses on the framework and achievements of China’s pension system,and analyses the long-term risk and institutional dilemmas.Because the existing pension system does not clearly define the responsibilities among the government,the market and the individuals,the main challenge facing China’s current pension system is the huge future fund gap and the difficulty in coping with the risk of an ageing population.The proposal for China’s pension scheme reformation is to establish a three-pillar pension system:transfer the social pooling account into a public pension as the first pillar;merge the refilled personal account by transferring the state-owned assets and the enterprise annuity into the occupational pension as the second pillar;and promote the tax deferral individual pension plan as the third pillar.The roles and functions of the government in the three-pillar pension system are different:for the first pillar,it is fully responsible for the system construction,management and funding security;for the second and the third pillar,it is responsible for system construction and operational supervision.

Contemporary Russia's Economic Transition and Development and China-Russia Economic and Trade Cooperation

The year 2021 marks the 30th anniversary of the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Russia’s transition from a planned to a market economy.It is also the 25th anniversary of the announcement of a strategic partnership of cooperation between China and Russia and the 20th anniversary of the signing of the China-Russia Treaty of Good Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation.Therefore,2021 is especially important both in terms of the development of contemporary Russia and the evolution of China-Russia relations.As the transitional economy of a great power,the Russian economy has distinctive characteristics;analysis of its economic transition and development over the past thirty years since the collapse of the Soviet Union,and especially in the period since Putin took office,is of immediate significance for observing the development of the Russian economy.At present,the profound changes the world is undergoing and alterations in the external environment present increasing uncertainties and obstacles to China-Russia economic and trade cooperation.This paper introduces the present state of China-Russia economic and trade cooperation and analyzes the new challenges and opportunities for future bilateral cooperation.