Wild property and its boundaries – on wildlife policy and rural consequences in South Africa

Against the backdrop of post-Apartheid neoliberal reform, South African landowners have gained the option to acquire full ownership over wild animals on their land. Corresponding with this, approximately one sixth of South Africa's total land has been ‘game-fenced’ and converted for wildlife-based production (i.e. hunting, ecotourism, live trade and venison production). This article analyzes the institutional process in which authority concerning access to wildlife is being restructured, and argues that the unfolding property regime leads to an intensified form of green grabbing. To demonstrate this, the article singles out three particular wildlife policy institutions which make clear (a) how private property rights to wildlife are negotiated and implemented, (b) how wildlife ownership is firmly interlocked with land ownership, (c) how natural entities are being converted to robust political and economical assets, and (d) what social consequences this has for rural South Africa.     

Administrative Innovations and Accountability Failures: The Termination of the Spanish Telecommunications Agency

We discuss how far accountability practices may be relevant to the success of independent regulators in countries without a tradition of administrative autonomy. We develop a conceptualisation of agency accountability failures and develop an analytical framework to examine the life and termination of the Spanish regulatory agency for telecommunications, CMT (Comisión del Mercado de las Telecomunicaciones - Telecommunications Market Commission). We argue that the CMT’s termination was related, among other reasons, to accountability failures in its institutional design. The paper relies on a variety of sources, including legislation, literature, media coverage, and semistructured interviews with agency officials and several stakeholders.     

Dealing with uncertainty: the illusion of knowledge in the study of counterterrorism effectiveness

Efforts to combat terrorism have become a priority in the security agenda of most countries around the world, while the respective policies, tools and instruments have amounted to significant costs. In this article, we review the literature on counterterrorism (CT) effectiveness and draw a series of rather negative conclusions with regard to the reliability of our knowledge in this area. We find that the literature displays case and data selection biases, and the results produced are oftentimes contradictory, mostly due to the use of different indicators. We then propose a conceptualisation of CT effectiveness, which should help to resolve some of the issues outlined. The article concludes by outlining some future research directions that should improve our methodological grasp in the field.     

土耳其对非洲战略与政策评析

人们往往以为是向非洲开放政策推动了土耳其与非洲关系的发展;但该政策直到2005年才得到落实的事实,证明了隶属于土耳其总体对外战略的对非洲战略的形成才是真正的动力。土耳其对非洲战略是其总体对外战略三大支柱之大周边外交的一部分;因此,其优先次序相对较低,尽管其目标是以恢复和提升土耳其在非洲的软实力为核心推动土非关系全面发展,但也有间接服务于提升自身面对美欧时的话语权的功能。通过官民结合、全面动员,软实力先行带动土非关系全面发展,土耳其与非洲的政治关系机制化水平不断提升,经贸关系日益密切,社会联系和相互了解日益深入,同时也得到了美欧的更大重视,为土非关系的长期发展奠定了坚实基础。     

刑罚轻刑化的法律价值与实践路径探析--以宽严相济刑事政策为视角

刑罚轻刑化是人类社会法律制度进一步关注人权和走向文明的体现。在宽严相济刑事政策背景下,笔者通过对刑罚轻刑化的法律价值与我国刑罚轻刑化的现状分析,着重从立法与司法层面将历史上重刑主义与轻刑政策加以比对和研究,以增强轻刑化观点的可信度与可行性,为我国刑罚轻刑化实践路径在制度构建层面夯实理论根基。     

中国经济发展态势和调整转型——2013年第1季度宏观经济分析

今年1季度中国GDP增长7.7%,工业增加值增长9.5%,CPI上涨2.4%,与希望回升的预期相反,均比上年同期和上季度要低,但增长回落正是经济调整转型之机。M2余额超过百万亿元,不能仅从货币政策操作考察是否存在货币超发,而要深入一步,看看政府投资创造货币的特殊机制。房地产调控中的博弈,一方面说明政策设计存在缺陷;另一方面也与特殊的货币创造机制有关。撤销铁道部,组建铁路总公司,实现了组织机构上的政企分离,但经济上仍合在一起。以债务处理为契机,明晰产权安排和经营责任,进一步推进铁路改革。     

吸毒问题的公共政策选择

毒品的特殊危害性和吸毒行为发生的独有特点,决定了应该把吸毒者视为受害者和病人,那种旨在通过对吸毒者进行强制隔离戒毒、罚款、拘留或者刑罚惩罚来达到遏制吸毒人数增加、萎缩毒品供给市场的企图和做法,已经被实践证明是无效的和得不偿失的。当前吸毒政策的调整方向,不是盲目照搬国外毒品合法化的做法,也不宜对大麻等软性毒品开禁,而是继续用美沙酮维持治疗方法替代罚款、拘留、强制隔离戒毒和刑罚,并且向全社会宣传普及该种治疗意义,扩大维持治疗方法的地域适用范围。     

认同视角下的土耳其对外政策

国家行为由国家利益决定,国家利益源于国家认同。土耳其持有突厥、伊斯兰、西方和外来者等多重身份认同并推崇西方价值观,这些身份认同和观念对土耳其对外政策均发挥不同程度的影响,但西方文明成员和欧洲国家是土耳其的核心身份,整体上决定着土耳其以西方为导向的对外政策,尽管这些身份发生冲突时,国家利益偏好和对外政策导向会受到不同程度的冲击。     

东北振兴政策实践效果评价与政策启示——基于全要素生产率增长的全国比较

通过利用马奎斯特(DEA-Malmquist)指数计算得到我国各省的全要素生产率增长及其构成,对比分析东北三省与全国各省的计算情况,发现2003~2007年我国东北振兴政策实践未达到理想效果,提出东北振兴政策的一个重点指向就是对技术研发与创新、资源节约和生产要素高效利用进行大力支持。     

金融危机后日本银行货币政策框架演变与启示

为了应对全球性金融危机对金融系统的冲击,日本银行采用了极为宽松的货币政策,在灵活调整货币政策框架的同时运用了大量传统和非传统的政策工具。文章主要从货币政策目标、货币政策工具以及货币政策传导机制三个方面考察了金融危机后日本银行从传统货币政策体系框架向量化货币政策体系框架的演变过程。日本银行的政策实践对我国进一步完善货币政策框架有一定的借鉴和启示。