How Strong Is Public Support for the Death Penalty in Singapore?

Singapore is well known internationally for its uncompromising stance towards law and order and its use of the death penalty in particular for murder and drug trafficking. Until 2012, it was one of the few countries in the world where the death penalty was mandatory for persons convicted of these two crimes. The law was amended in 2012 to give a judge the choice to impose the death penalty or life imprisonment (with caning) for non-intentional murder and drug trafficking in some situations. What do Singaporeans think of the use of the death penalty in their own country? This article reports on some findings of a survey conducted in 2016 on 1500 Singaporeans to assess their knowledge and support of the death penalty.     

Idealism versus realism in institutional choice: Explaining electoral reform in Poland

One of the most significant, yet not fully explained, institutional decisions in post‐Communist Europe was Poland's adoption of a moderate proportional representation system for the 1993 general election. This article argues that the new electoral system was not entirely based on any normative notion of democratic governance, and that the adoption did not immediately follow from the assumptions of rational choice theory. The 1993 electoral system was largely attributable to patterns of interaction between political parties that had become known, been practised and accepted since the fall of Communism. In reality, the eventual system was built up incrementally in several stages, but the Polish way of ‘muddling through’, albeit contentious and protracted, seems to have worked well for the Polish people.     

Identifying Counterfeit Cigarettes Using Environmental Pollen Analysis: An Improved Procedure*

Traditional pollen preparation techniques provide clear residues for pollen identification; however, such methods are time-consuming, requiring repeated centrifugation, heating, and digestion with high-concentration hazardous chemicals. Tobacco leaves can effectively trap environmental pollen due to hairy surface and terpene-rich exudates. A new tobacco sample processing method was developed by using different extraction chemistry with surfactant. Marlboro Gold cigarettes were employed as model samples for method development. Parameters critical for pollen extraction, which include number of cigarette sticks used, extraction solution, and extraction temperature, were optimized. By using 1% dishwashing detergent to treat three cigarettes at room temperature, the improved method was able to recover sufficient pollen for microscopic analysis in three repeated centrifuge-washing steps and omit hazardous chemicals involved in traditional methods. We focused on the pollen of common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia), a plant native to North America, as an indicator to differentiate genuine and counterfeit U.S. brand cigarettes. Results from analyzing randomly purchased genuine (authenticated by forensic examination) and known counterfeit Marlboro Gold provided by law enforcement revealed that a significant amount (39%) of Ambrosia were consistently present in all genuine samples, while counterfeit contained none or only trace count. Similar results were found in other counterfeit U.S. brand cigarettes (all seized in the U.S.) involved in this study as well. Lack of Ambrosia in cigarette strongly indicates the product was not originated in the United States.     

提升警察文化软实力的重要策略——基于文学和影视中的警察叙事

提升警察文化软实力、构建先进的警察文化是我国公安机关当前的重要任务之一.考察文学和影视中的警察叙事类型是提升警察文化软实力的重要策略.     

North Korea’s Resurgence and China’s Rise: Implications for the Future of Northeast Asian Security

Today, Northeast Asia’s security situation is changing rapidly. North Korea is reviving and China’s power is growing at an alarming rate. While the U.S. continues to suffer diplomatically and militarily in the Middle East and from international terrorism, China’s and North Korea’s power is likely to futher increase, polarizing the Northeast Asian security structure, with South Korea, Japan (and Taiwan) all allied with the U.S. versus North Korea allied with China. The liberal democracies should pursue peace with North Korea and China to preclude the situation from aggravating, but should be ready in the longer term to meet, in diverse ways including strengthening their alliances, the challenges posed by rising powers.

Putting the Cart before the Horse: Accountability or Performance?

Conventional wisdom argues that a good set of performance measures builds accountability and that improved accountability generates better productivity in the organisation. By way of an analysis of a case study in one inland Chinese county, this article shows that the assumed relationship between performance and accountability is more rhetoric than real. In practice, the implementation of performance measurement in local China leads to an accountability paradox, in which enhanced accountability tends to hinder the improvement of government productivity. The implementation of the Chinese target-based responsibility system risks boosting the short term accountability of public employees while undermining the long term productivity of government agencies. With the deepening of China's market-oriented reform, this choice appears to put the cart before the horse.