Partial Reform Research Articles

Operando Mössbauer Spectroscopy Investigation of the Electrochemical Reaction with Lithium in Bronze-Type FeF3·0.33H2O

The electrochemical reaction of bronze-type FeF3·0.33H2O, synthesized via a simple room-temperature solution route, with lithium was investigated by operando Mossbauer spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. The two techniques revealed a complex electrochemical mechanism where the pristine crystalline compound is gradually transformed into an amorphous material containing nanodomains of a FeF2-like rutile structure mixed to iron nanoparticles. Upon charge, two steps are dominating the electrochemical behavior: partial reformation of the initial bronze structure and oxidation to Fe(III). This reaction mechanism, however, is not constant, and noticeable variation can be observed during galvanostatic cycling (up to 55 cycles) until eventually an amorphous material containing rutile nanodomains composes the final active electrode. The material performance, under the form of a fluoride/graphene oxide composite, is also assessed with respect to the long-term effect of the depth of first discharge.

�slund, Anders Ukraine: What Went Wrong and How to Fix It (review)

SEER, 94, 4, October 2016 784 every reading list on contemporary Ukraine, but while it delivers a lot of what everyone needs to know, it does not provide everything. School of Politics and International Relations Richard Sakwa University of Kent Åslund, Anders. Ukraine: What Went Wrong and How to Fix It. Peterson Institute for International Economics, Washington, D.C., 2015. xix + 273 pp. Map. Figures. Tables. Notes. Bibliography. Chronology. Index. $25.95:£24.50 (paperback). Anders Åslund is widely acknowledged as one of the world’s leading experts on the Ukrainian economy. This is a timely book for many reasons. It is important to know why the Yanukovych regime was so self-destructive economically. It is even more vital to disentangle the effects of the war in east Ukraine and the Russian trade war since 2013 from the long-term problems of the local economy in explaining the economic collapse of 2013–15. And it is most important to look at the underlying reasons for a quarter of a century of economic under-performance, and how that can be changed. There is an issue with compatibility with Åslund’s earlier works, particularly his How Ukraine Became a Market Economy and Democracy from 2009. Part of the story is of course regression under Yanukovych, who was elected in February 2010; but the book currently under review doesn’t really refer to the earlier volume. The new book makes claims like Ukraine built ‘a rent-seeking oligarchy that was never effectively challenged during Ukraine’s 23 years of independence from the Soviet Union’ before 2014 (p. 4); which may indeed be true, but Åslund does not revisit earlier arguments from 2009, such as Ukraine’s then ‘competitive oligarchy bred high growth and pluralism’ (How Ukraine…, p. 6) — at least before the rise of the Yanukovych ‘Family’. Time will tell whether some of the key judgements of this latest book are also premature: ‘this time is different in Ukraine’, ‘the power of the oligarchs has declined’, and ‘the threat of populism is also on the wane’ (pp. 22–32). One or two individual judgements may also raise eyebrows; such as the claim that Yuliya Tymoshenko as Prime Minister had no chance of making ‘any of the badly needed structural reforms’ in 2009, ‘in the face of united opposition from Yanukovych and Yushchenko’ (p. 75). If she had been bolder in partnership with the IMF, then the 2010 election might have been very different. But the heart of the book is its analysis of Ukraine’s rentier oligarchy, its corruption and its influence on bad policy-making. Åslund’s solutions are radical, but few would dispute the need for a decisive break with the REVIEWS 785 dysfunctional equilibrium of partial reform that has entrenched itself over the years. At the time of writing, February 2016, the new authorities were beset by scandals that demonstrated the power of the vicious circles and protective mechanisms that defended the old sistema. But drifting back into the old ways will be much more consequent than it was after the Orange Revolution in 2004. Whether Ukraine can win its (conventional) war against Russia’s ‘hybrid war’ in the east depends on whether it can win on the home front too. Åslund’s final warning is stark: ‘The new Ukrainian government is facing a tall order. No reformer has succeeded in doing everything, but this government needs to accomplish a great deal if Ukraine is to continue to exist as an independent state’ (p. 225). UCL SSEES Andrew Wilson Hønneland, Geir. Russia and the Arctic: Environment, Identity and Foreign Policy. Library of Arctic Studies. I. B. Tauris, London and New York, 2016. xiv + 205 pp. Maps. Notes. Bibliography. Index. £64.00. This book begins with a question: what do the Russians want in the Arctic? The question is set in context: ‘The Arctic is getting warmer, in more than one way’ (p. 1). Suddenly, after a long period in which the Arctic was barely considered except perhaps by military strategists during the Cold War, it has become a centre of international concern not only because of the effects of global warming on its fragile environment but also for other...

Electrochemical Partial Reforming of Ethanol into Ethyl Acetate Using Ultrathin Co3O4 Nanosheets as a Highly Selective Anode Catalyst

Electrochemical partial reforming of organics provides an alternative strategy to produce valuable organic compounds while generating H2 under mild conditions. In this work, highly selective electrochemical reforming of ethanol into ethyl acetate is successfully achieved by using ultrathin Co3O4 nanosheets with exposed (111) facets as an anode catalyst. Those nanosheets were synthesized by a one-pot, templateless hydrothermal method with the use of ammonia. NH3 was demonstrated critical to the overall formation of ultrathin Co3O4 nanosheets. With abundant active sites on Co3O4 (111), the as-synthesized ultrathin Co3O4 nanosheets exhibited enhanced electrocatalytic activities toward water and ethanol oxidations in alkaline media. More importantly, over the Co3O4 nanosheets, the electrooxidation from ethanol to ethyl acetate was so selective that no other oxidation products were yielded. With such a high selectivity, an electrolyzer cell using Co3O4 nanosheets as the anode electrocatalyst and Ni–Mo nanopowders as the cathode electrocatalyst has been successfully built for ethanol reforming. The electrolyzer cell was readily driven by a 1.5 V battery to achieve the effective production of both H2 and ethyl acetate. After the bulk electrolysis, about 95% of ethanol was electrochemically reformed into ethyl acetate. This work opens up new opportunities in designing a material system for building unique devices to generate both hydrogen and high-value organics at room temperature by utilizing electric energy from renewable sources.

A response to Francis Fukuyama’s ‘reflections on Chinese governance’

Governance in contemporary China presents external analysts with a number of challenges, the most significant of which is how to use general political science models to adequately conceptualize the Communist Party of China—a hybrid force that aims to cover all possible political territory in the People’s Republic and perform a function which is more extensive and yet more abstract than political parties in liberal democratic systems. Using the three areas of government modernization referred to by Francis Fukuyama—the state, rule of law and accountability—this essay looks at the ways in which the Communist Party has engaged in a progress of partial reform, tactically conceding space for other actors in some areas, while maintaining control of the core issue for control—political organization and the articulation of broad overarching goals for Chinese society, and how it has attempted to do something unique—create a modern, developed, market economy while still being governed by a Communist Party exercising a monopoly on power.

Contested global order(s): Rising powers and the re-legitimation of global constitutionalization

The global financial crisis, sometimes even referred to as a crisis of liberal-style capitalism, functions as a critical juncture that has triggered a critical reassessment of the global system and its normative underpinnings. To shed more light on the changing constituent power of global constitutionalization, this article starts with some general reflections on the role of regional and network actors in global affairs. It then continues with a short discussion of the difficulties encountered during analyzing the BRICS as a unified network actor. In order to clarify whether recent critical junctures and moments of contestation are contributing to a higher global constitutional quality, this article then continues by analyzing the sector of global financial governance. It argues that moments of contestation do not automatically result in an overthrow of the existing global order but might facilitate sectoral adjustments and partial reforms of select sub-systems. The establishment of inter-regional quasi constitutional arrangements with regard to global finance adds to the fragmentation of global constitutionalization—but does so far not result in a substitution of the organizational structures and normative principles established after 1945.

Security Trumps Ideology

An important unresolved issue in u.s. policy in Asia after World War ii is the variation in the scale of land reforms in Japan and southern Korea during postwar American military occupation of these nations. The u.s. occupation authority in Japan conducted sweeping land redistribution, while the military government in Korea implemented very limited reform of landholding. This study asserts that the source of the variation lies in the different degrees of security threat to the two u.s. occupations. In Japan, the United States enjoyed a favorable security environment. No political force, either internal or external, challenged the authority of the occupation. Without fear of the islands falling to a hostile rival, u.s. occupation leaders focused on dissolving the concentration of wealth in rural society. By contrast, south of the 38th parallel in Korea, the u.s. occupation had to deal with challenges strong domestic Communist groups posed to its authority. In this unfavorable security environment, land reform might exacerbate existing chaos. The u.s. military government had to accommodate landed conservative elites as its governing partners to counter Communist organizations. Later, these former partners grew strong enough to block u.s. efforts to alter landholding and forced the occupiers to return home after only partial reform.

Food security, welfare, and partial de-regulation of parastatals

Complete de-regulation of parastatals is often advocated as a desirable reform, although it is usually opposed by vested interests and by those who perceive that the de-regulated market can be dominated by a small number of private firms. In practice, however, reform and de-regulation of parastatals is typically partial in nature. We specify a model that allows us to consider the effects of partial reform and partial de-regulation on various metrics of food security. We show that how these metrics change depends on the market structure that defines the starting point as well as the market structure that emerges after de-regulation. In this second-best world, partial de-regulation does not necessarily enhance food security and we identify the determinants of that outcome. The assessment of the desirability of de-regulation is also contingent on the food security metric used.

Land Reform in South Korea under the U.S. Military Occupation, 1945–1948

The conventional wisdom regarding land reform in South Korea implemented by the United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK) is that it was a partial and short-term palliative driven by the exigent Communist threat and the free-land program adopted in North Korea. This article offers a new interpretation of the motives, process, and impact of the land reform program under the U.S. military occupation, highlighting three points. First, the United States was serious about conducting a land-to-tiller program because of its desire to stop Communism and pave the way for democracy in South Korea. Both goals were important. Second, the partial reform in March 1948 is explained by volatile political circumstances in South Korea: strong Communist activity at the beginning of the occupation and the rise of intransigent conservatives at the end. Third, the U.S.-sponsored land reform catalyzed further reform by the new South Korean government by setting a precedent and establishing guidelines for land redistribution parcel sizes, prices, and payment schedules.

Slovenia: The End of a Success Story? When a Partial Reform Equilibrium Turns Bad

During the Great Recession, Slovenia recorded one of the worst economic performances within the EU. Such a decline is surprising as the country was the most stable among the post-socialist states. The article individuates the root cause for the downfall in protracted reform gradualism, which resulted in an inefficient privatisation process. This locked the country into a ‘partial reform equilibrium’ where economic elites extracted rents. Following accession to the EU, the unsustainable lending practices of state-owned banks to corporate organisations and the gridlock in policymaking pushed the country into an economic and political ‘bad equilibrium’. Even though the Slovenian export sector proved to be surprisingly resilient, a massive debt overhang and a huge reform backlog are still weighing down on a healthy recovery.

Removal of naphthalene by activated carbons from hot gas

The gasification of biomass and waste is a potentially high efficiency process for energy generation. However, the appropriate cleaning of the produced fuel gas is a major issue, in particular for tar removal. This study investigates the performance of three new-generation activated carbons, which are able to adsorb a wide spectrum of tars at high temperature, from 750°C up to 900°C. For this purpose, a laboratory-scale hot gas filtration apparatus was designed and set-up. Experimental tests were carried out with naphthalene as the reference tar compound. The selected activated carbons were tested under different conditions of temperature, test duration and naphthalene concentration. The procedure allows evaluating the contributions of adsorption and cracking phenomena on the overall tar removal efficiency. Complete naphthalene removal was obtained with two of the selected activated carbons, at 850°C and 900°C respectively. Simultaneously, a partial reforming of adsorbed naphthalene was observed, and molecular hydrogen was detected in the gas phase. Results were correlated to the differences in porosimetry and chemical surface of the selected activated carbons, as well as to those highlighted by Scanning Electronic Microscopy and X-ray analyses. Finally, a procedure for activated carbon regeneration by carbon dioxide is reported, together with results from preliminary tests.

Modeling of high-temperature reforming reactor based on interactive thermal control with a tail gas combustor

This paper proposes a method to model hydrocarbon reforming by coupling detailed chemical kinetics with complex computational fluid dynamics. The entire chemistry of catalyzed reactions was confined within the geometrically simple channels and modeled using the low-dimensional plug model, into which the interactive thermal control of the multi-channel reforming reactor has been implemented with a tail-gas combustor around the external surface of these catalytic channels. The geometrically complex flow in the tail gas combustor was simulated using FLUENT without involving any chemical reactions. The influences of the conditions at the reactor inlet such as the inlet gas velocity, the inlet gas composition and the variety of hydrocarbons of each channel on gas conversions were investigated numerically. The impact of the tail gas combustor setup on the efficiency of the reforming reactor was also analyzed. Methane catalytic partial oxidation (CPO x ) and propane steam reforming (SR) were used to illustrate the approach reported in the present work.

The Politics of Chinese Land: Partial Reform, Vested Interests and Small Property

This paper investigates the evolution of the Chinese land regime in the past three decades and focus on one question: why has the land use reform succeeded in the urban area, but not in the rural area? Through asking this question, it presents a holistic view of Chinese land reform, rather than the conventional “rural land rights conflict” picture. This paper argues that the so-called rural land problem is the consequence of China’s partial land use reform. In 1988, the Chinese government chose to conduct land use reform sequentially: first urban and then rural. It was a pragmatic move because it would provoke much less resistance. It also made local governments in China the biggest beneficiary and supporter of the partial reform. However, a beneficiary of partial reform does not necessarily support further reform because of the excessive rents available between the market of urban real estate and the government-controlled system of rural land development and transfer. On the other hand, Chinese farmers and other relevant groups have no voice or power in the political process of the reform, which makes it difficult for the central government to achieve an agenda that balances the interests of all relevant parties. Nevertheless, Chinese farmers have challenged the existing system by forming a huge small-property market to claim their interests in rural land, which counteracts the goals of the central and local governments and has led to adaptive policy changes. This case study of Chinese land reform provides a richer account of the political process of evolution of property rights.

“Bad enough governance”: state capacity and quality of institutions in post-Soviet autocracies

This article contributes to current discussions on state capacity, quality of institutions, and political regimes. Our analysis demonstrates that the J-curve argument (“good institutions” in autocracies as compared to hybrid and transitional regimes) may not be generic and is not well supported by empirical evidence from the sample of post-Soviet countries. An explanatory model of the “King of the Mountain” is instead provided. Its focus is on the monopoly of political rent as a precondition for extraction of economic rent. It demonstrates an inverse correlation between the quality of institutions and the extraction of political and economic rent, and explains why an autocrat may not have an incentive to improve institutions that may make his/her monopoly vulnerable, and rather would prefer to preserve a low quality of institutions and “bad enough governance.” An analysis of a variety of external and domestic factors that may endanger this monopoly is provided. Finally, the autocrat's alternative strategic choices are analyzed. It is argued that better payoffs for the autocrat – paradoxically – may result from partial reforms and improvement of the quality of institutions. However, for various reasons, this is not occurring in post-Soviet autocracies.

International Organizations and Structural Reforms

Different countries have been following different reform paths since the early 1990s. We develop a simple dynamic model of policy reform that captures some of the determinants that underlie these differences. The model emphasizes the interaction between domestic institutions and international organizations that promote reform, on the one hand, and the political incentives for reversing reforms, on the other. At equilibrium, there are three types of reform paths. A country can undergo a full-scale, lasting reform; it can undertake a partial but lasting reform; or it can go through cycles of reforms and costly counter-reforms. Domestic institutions, as well as the incentives provided by international organizations, determine the equilibrium path. Unless the cost of reversal is high enough, an international intervention that promotes reforms induces an increase in the probability of reversals. A benevolent international organization that is fully aware of the possibility and social cost of reversals will always increase social welfare if it embraces the following principle: promote the greatest partial reform that is compatible with no reversal, or induce cycles of full-scale reform and complete reversal, depending on which of those two paths will generate greater social welfare. A benevolent but politically myopic international organization, however, may reduce social welfare because it does not take the fact into account that an overly aggressive reform could trigger costly reversals that outweigh the benefits of the reform. Deliberately making the costs of reversal high could be a risky way of improving the trade-off between the extent of the reform and the probability of reversal. Our model suggests that international organizations should also consider the possibility of providing defensive funding for dealing with counter-reform shocks.

SPARČIOS SĖKMINGOS POKOMUNISTINĖS TRANSFORMACIJOS IR JOS NESĖKMĖS „DĖSNIAI“: DAUGIAREIKŠMIŲ KINTAMŲJŲ KOKYBINĖ LYGINAMOJI ANALIZĖ

Straipsnyje pateikiama dedukcinė pokomunistinės transformacijos kelių tipologija ir jų kokybinė lyginamoji analizė (KLA), naudojant kom­piuterinę programą TOSMANA. Tipologijoje naudojami trys politominiai (4 reikšmių) kintamieji (pokomunistinės transformacijos orientacija, ekono­minis ir politinis išėjimo iš komunizmo būdai) pokomunistinės transformaci­jos pradinėms sąlygoms ir eigai apibūdinti. Jos baigmės apibrėžtos penkiais dichotominiais kintamaisiais: liberalus demokratinis kapitalizmas; raciona­lus antrepreneriškas kapitalizmas; liberalioji demokratija; politinis oligarchi­nis kapitalizmas; valstybinis kapitalizmas. Pokomunistinės transformacijos keliams apibendrinti atliekama daugelio reikšmių KLA, į kurią, be 29 em­piriškai stebimų atvejų ir 17 sąlygų konfigūracijų, yra įtraukiami 37 logiš­kai galimi, bet empiriškai nestebimi sąlygų konfigūracijas reprezentuojantys fiktyvūs atvejai. Pirmą kartą KLAtaikančioje tyrimų literatūroje atliekama sisteminga ir disciplinuota minimalių Boole’io formulių kontrafaktinių prie­laidų analizė, kurios pagrindas yra Boole’io distancijų tarp empiriškai stebi­mų ir vien tik logiškai galimų sąlygų konfigūracijų matavimas bei logiškai galimų atvejų lyginimas su artimiausiais jiems empiriškai stebimais atvejais. Papildžius duomenų rinkmeną kontrafaktinės analizės rezultatais, išvedami du nomologiniai komunistinės sistemos sparčios (per 10 metų) transformaci­jos į liberalų demokratinį kapitalizmą sąlygų apibendrinimai, kurie gali būti papildyti analogiškais komunizmo transformacijos į racionalų antrepreneriš­ką kapitalizmą, liberalią demokratiją, politinį oligarchinį ir valstybinį kapi­talizmą apibendrinimais.

Life-Cycle and Intergenerational Effects of Child Care Reforms

We investigate the importance of various mechanisms by which child care policies can affect life-cycle patterns of employment and fertility among women, as well as long-run cognitive outcomes among children. A structural life-cycle model of employment, fertility, and child care use is estimated using Norwegian administrative data. The estimation exploits a large-scale child care reform, which provided generous cash transfers to mothers who did not use formal child care facilities. Combining with administrative data on national test scores, we examine the effects of mother's behavior on long-run cognitive outcomes of children, via estimating a cognitive ability production function that corrects for the endogeneity of inputs. We find that the child care reform generates sizable changes in employment and fertility decisions, especially among low-education women. This leads to lower reading scores among children, primarily as a result of mothers shifting away from formal care and becoming employed. Simulation results suggest that a partial reform, in which workers are ineligible for cash transfers, can generate a more balanced impact on the population. The implications of tax policy and maternity leave are also investigated.

Влияние европейской политики соседства на политические режимы стран Восточного партнерства

The study deals with the impact of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) on political regimes dynamics in Eastern Partnership countries in the period 2007 to 2013. Based on the regime transition theory, Europeanisation perspective and political economy, the research claims to introduce a new theoretical model which allows to combine domestic and international factors of regime dynamics. By using the rational choice institutionalism as an analytical framework, and employing the multi-value qualitative comparative analysis (mvQCA) in combination with case studies of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine it shows that the ENP could lead to three different outcomes: democratization, stabilization of a hybrid regime, and authoritarian consolidation. The outcomes are explained by the fact that the assistance within the ENP is used by ruling elites for implementation of two conflicting strategies: the strategy of partial political reform equilibrium preservation and the strategy of new political reform equilibrium formation. Variation in the ENP's influence on the dynamics of a particular political regime is dependent on the predominance of one of these strategies, which in turn are mediated by three main domestic factors: the type of political system, the level of political monopolism, and the degree of government effectiveness. The article contains three parts. The first part presents a brief review of the main theoretical approaches to the analysis of political regimes dynamics. A general analytical framework is formulated. The second part shows how the ENP influenced the dynamics of political regimes in Eastern Partnership countries. The third and final part demonstrates the logic of such influence by examples of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

Surface Discharge-Assisted Injector for Partial Reforming of Liquefied Petroleum Gas to Reduce Engine Emissions

A plasma injector is introduced for the pretreatment of liquid fuel. The plasma injector enables the cracking and partial reforming of injected fuel, which can contribute to the reduction of emissions during the combustion process within the engine. It was observed that an evenly distributed wall-surface discharge can assist in the reforming reaction of fuel by producing hydrogen and light hydrocarbon species.

End of growth and the structural instability of capitalism—From capitalism to a Symbiotic Economy

The peak of fossil fuels is probably a matter of decades rather than centuries. Setting-up a new energy mix, initially based on renewable primary energy and electrification of the economy, seems unavoidable and it may start a last expansive cycle, but it also will deplete an important fraction of reserves of several crucial minerals. Soon after it, exponential growth of energy and GDP may be no longer possible due to minerals limitations. A general crisis of resilience of global ecosystems has been predicted by 2025–2045 if the current global growth rate is sustained. Under these new circumstances of zero growth and new global problems demanding new solutions, capitalism will face challenges out of its historical work parameters and that will require much more than partial reforms. Nucleation centres of new economic practices may be the cooperative and solidarity-economy movements in synergy with transition towns and virtual communities which, with political mobilizations oriented to maintain past standards of occupation and life quality (expectations of “progress”) may force a transition to some regulated steady-state capitalism. Tendency of the rate of profit to fall under stationary and competitive markets conditions will probably transform this end form of capitalism into a post-capitalist Symbiotic Economy.

Des lois de soins sans consentement à l’évolution de la responsabilité en psychiatrie

A reform of the French mental health legislation has been due for a long time, but has been continually postponed. The entry into force of the Act of July 5th 2011 finally allowed France to comply with the European recommendations and showed that, following this, the Constitutional Council would provide encouragement to legislative reform through the procedure known as the “Question Prioritaire de Constitutionnalité” (an application for a preliminary ruling on whether a legislative provision is constitutional). The search for balance and the emergency context within which this reform has been developed both show its fragility, which explains why a partial reform was adopted in September 2013 in order to introduce legislative corrections. One of the main provisions of the Act of July 5th 2011 is the encroachment of the judiciary on daily psychiatric practice, since provision is made for the systematic control of all hospitalizations without consent lasting more than 15 days by the “judge ruling on civil detention cases” (“juge des libertés et de la détention”). This judicial review imposes greater rigour on the issue of medical certificates, since the prospect of legal inspection must now be taken into account. This underlines the importance of training in forensic psychiatry for psychiatric residents and practitioners. More generally mental health professionals should in the future be more involved in the drafting of the law. Current legal developments reflect the divided expectations of society and make the issue of the psychiatrist's responsibility more prevalent. The backdrop to this is a society in which the precautionary principle has gradually become a legal principle in its own right, in an overall context determined by the debate between those defending individual freedoms and those who subordinate these to safety. At the same time, we are witnessing a paradigm shift of law and the transition from the post-war welfare state model to a neoliberal approach. This is based on the principle that responsibility should be vested in the individual and that s/he is presumed to be rational. The outcome is a governmentalist attitude, based on the need to leave nothing to chance and entailing an extensive concept of the precautionary principle – in other words, giving priority to the principle of foresight, in order to ensure optimisation of the ability to pre-empt « the worst ». This concept has obviously implications in terms of individual responsibility, since responsibility for an act lies with those who should have foreseen it. In the field of medical practice, this responsibility can be questioned through the items noted in the medical file (history, diagnosis, consistency between medical and nursing records). It can also be questioned in relation to the means available to protect the patient (from himself), family members or any third party. This responsibility can also be related to prescriptions for medication, which can sometimes be interpreted as reflecting underestimation of the risk.