Secrecy and Self-Interest: When Mediators Act Deceitfully

3rd party intervention in interstate conflict is a common strategy for mitigating conflict and obtaining a final agreement. However, not all mediations are successful, leading to the development of a rich literature on the mechanisms which decrease the probability of failure in a 3rd-party intervention. Within this literature, some studies examine how a mediator’ behavior and incentives affect the result of the mediation. Virtually all these studies assume that the mediator is virtuous such that peace is the most desired outcome of a conflict for her. However, this study challenges this assumption and contends that a mediator can gain benefit from the conflict between disputants. If this benefit is adequately large to overcome the benefits of peace, then the mediator has enough incentive not to conduct the mediation toward a peaceful outcome. We develop a signaling game model to study this issue formally and test the proposed hypothesis empirically.     

阿拉伯国际商贸中的代理制度

现代贸易合作必须在规则中展开,要发展和拓展阿拉伯国家各种现实与潜在市场,必须了解、研究、熟悉阿拉伯"商规",其中货物贸易既是阿拉伯商贸传统强项又是当代贸易流通的现实领域,一些阿拉伯国家制定商贸代理法,是一种市场准入与合作共赢的制度安排,构成阿拉伯"商规"的组成部分之一。     

比较法视野下的劳动者集体争议行动之法律规制

利益调整所引发的集体争议行动是市场经济背景下劳资争议的重要型态。基于劳资自治的保障需求,大多市场经济国家(地区)对劳动者集体争议行动这种侵权行为予以有限制的法律保护。我国因加薪所引发的集体停工频发,凸显了法律对集体争议行动失范及其法律秩序重构的必要。借鉴国外立法例,结合国情,我国宜采取消极立法模式,通过特殊的法律责任豁免制度和特殊的劳资利益争议处理程序,以规范劳动者集体争议行动。     

From Active Learning to Taking Action: Incorporating Political Context Into Project-Based,Interdisciplinary, International Service Learning Courses

Educational approaches that enable students to actively and directly participate in “real-world” projects are increasingly recognized as valuable pedagogical tools and, as such, being incorporated into university curriculums worldwide. Though not traditionally associated with political science courses, project-based international service learning presents a tremendous opportunity to bring classroom concepts and theories to life, provide an active approach to addressing international challenges, and assist students in the development of the hands-on, problem-solving, team-based, critical-thinking skills that are increasingly important to employers across all sectors. This article seeks to encourage political science faculty to incorporate international service learning—and/or project-based approaches—into their educational offerings. Through examination of the course Global Synthesis in Liberal Arts and Engineering Studies at California Polytechnic State University, we have identified multiple factors that can help promote successful execution of project-based international service learning as a pedagogical tool, and provide additional suggestions for faculty interested in adopting specific aspects of these educational approaches, and/or in doing so closer to home.     

Intervention Theatre: performance,authenticity and expert knowledge in politicians’ travel to post-/conflict spaces

ABSTRACT

This article explores the role of official travel activities by politicians to post-/conflict spaces in German foreign policymaking. Starting from the observation that official travel justifications stress the value of authentic insights and unfiltered information, while journeys in practice are meticulously planned and staged, it asks what kind of knowing is possible, how actors make sense of the staged nature of field trips, and how multiple performances create and/or undermine notions of authenticity and first-hand expertise. The article shows that official on-site visits are composed of multiple conscious performances by all actors involved, but that these performances do not undermine the notions of authenticity and expertise. On the contrary, knowledge authenticity—or truth claims on the basis of authentic insights—and related expert authority are produced through travel-as-performance. The emphasis policymakers put on on-site presence and (the performance of) localized knowledge contradicts intervention literature’s generalized finding of a prioritization of technocratic over localized knowledge. The article draws on politics and performance scholarship and authenticity theories in tourism studies to make sense of a wealth of empirical material on the claims, practice and functions of German MPs’ journeys to post-/conflict spaces as part of broader political struggles over policy knowledge.     

奥巴马政府监管的行为法经济学分析——“成本收益国家”在“行为时代”的人性化改革

奥巴马政府以行为科学和行为法经济学的成果为科学基础，从完善监管和监管审查，促进国际监管合作，以及减少监管负担三个主要方面进行了政府监管改革。这是对成本收益分析传统的完善和补充，是一种更加符合行为法经济学实证和规范要求的人性化和合理化政府监管模式。     

ACTA对我国国际贸易的影响及其应对策略

发达国家认为现有的TRIPS协议,虽一定程度上提高了国际知识产权的保护水平,但其在知识产权执法实践方面仍然不完善。所以,欧、美、日等主要发达国家又发起并制定了反假冒贸易协定(ACTA)。协议要求成员国强化打击假冒和盗版行为的力度,建立更高标准、更具体、更强硬的知识产权全球执法框架,并建立一个类似于世界贸易组织和世界知识产权组织国际机构以外的理事机构。ACTA的签订必将对国际贸易产生重要影响,尤其会给发展中国家的国际贸易造成巨大冲击。因此,应认真分析协议可能给我国带来的负面影响,并采取相应对策。     

Managing Power Transitions: Towards a 21st Century Concert of Powers

Power shifts and especially power transitions in the international system are often associated with (military) confl ict. Power Transition Theory (PTT) does offer an analysis of this phenomenon but no remedy. We suggest easing the tensions related to ongoing worldwide power shifts by introducing a new informal multilateral security governance institution, based on the idea of a concert of powers. The historical European Concert of the 19th century prevented the outbreak of great power wars for more than a generation by providing a cooperation framework, based on shared norms and common procedures. In this article we explore the possibility of utilizing a modernized concert of powers as a framework for managing the coming power shifts. In order to do so, we introduce two new elements in Power Transition Theory: (1) the importance of the (dis) satisfaction of the declining hegemon with the anticipated future order, and (2) a broader multilateral framework of major powers that overcomes the Power Transition Theory’s traditional bilateral “duel” situation. On this basis, institutionalized power transition management becomes possible. We then work out the norms, strengths and weaknesses of the historical concert and update it with a few new features that would be necessary for it to be successful in the 21st century.