Conjuring up the next attack: the future-orientedness of terror and the counterterrorist imagination

Although terrorism is widely understood to be the politically motivated creation of fear by means of violence in a target group, the nature of that fear is seldom explained or even considered. The present article attempts to close that gap by proposing a definition of terror as the apprehension of (more) violence to come. Because every terrorist act is perceived to be part of a potential series, terror is oriented towards the future and involves the imaginary anticipation of prospective events. On the basis of this definition, I will examine the problematical role of counterterrorist discourse. As the statements of public officials and security experts in the run-up to, and during, the “War on Terror” demonstrate, the peculiar dynamic of terror is, seemingly paradoxically, reinforced by counterterrorist rhetoric. With its insistence on the escalatory nature of terrorist violence and its repeated prediction of even worse attacks, counterterrorism contributes to the evocation of terror in the sense proposed here.     

China’s Peripheral Security Environment: Analytical Framework, Indicator System and Evaluation *

Since the end of the Cold War, the West and China have had diverging interpretations of “security environment.” China tends to define security from the perspective of development, while the West’s definition concerns external threats to security. In Chinese circumstances, the understanding of security environment has evolved from simply military to a more comprehensive one covering military, politics, economics and public opinions. This article develops a theoretical framework to analyze China’s peripheral security environment in the new era, and constructs an indicator system to evaluate it. The indicator system consists of the political security environment, military security environment, development security environment, public opinion security environment, and China’s periphery strategy, drawing upon the theories of Realism, Liberal Institutionalism and Constructivism. Furthermore, this article analyzes indicators through dimensionless methods based on the databases of the World Bank, the “Foreign Relations” database of the Institute of Modern International Relations at Tsinghua University and the People’s Daily, and compares three peripheral security environment scenarios. The result shows that in a general sense, China’s peripheral security environment has improved over the past decades. However, the situations after the 2008 global financial crisis have diverged, and different theoretical perspectives provide very different images. It seems that China has entered a very different environment, and for stable security environment in the future, China needs to cooperate with neighboring countries.     

Comparing Electronic News Media Reports of Potential Bioterrorism-Related Incidents Involving Unknown White Powder to Reports Received by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Federal Bureau of Investigation: U.S.A., 2009–2011

There have been periodic electronic news media reports of potential bioterrorism-related incidents involving unknown substances (often referred to as “white powder”) since the 2001 intentional dissemination of Bacillus anthracis through the U.S. Postal System. This study reviewed the number of unknown “white powder” incidents reported online by the electronic news media and compared them with unknown “white powder” incidents reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) during a 2-year period from June 1, 2009 and May 31, 2011. Results identified 297 electronic news media reports, 538 CDC reports, and 384 FBI reports of unknown “white powder.” This study showed different unknown “white powder” incidents captured by each of the three sources. However, the authors could not determine the public health implications of this discordance.     

A Rapid and Efficient Method for Evaluation of Suspect Testimony: Palynological Scanning

A rapid method for evaluating suspect testimony is valuable at any stage in an inquiry and can result in a change of direction in an investigation. Rape cases, in particular, can present problems where a defendant renders DNA analysis redundant by claiming that the claimant consented to have sexual relations. Forensic palynology is valuable in confirming or eliminating locations as being crime scenes, thus checking the testimony of both parties. In contrast to some forensic disciplines, forensic palynology can provide critical information without time-consuming full analysis. Two cases are described where the palynological assemblages from comparator samples of pertinent places were compared with those obtained from clothing of claimants and defendants. The results of rapid microscopical scanning of relevant preparations led to early confessions, thus obviating the need for costly analyses and protracted court proceedings. A third case demonstrates the unbiased nature of this technique where a man, although innocent of any offense, lied about having visited the crime scene for fear of prosecution. This highlights the need for sensitive policing in claims of rape.     

The Engage programme and the Government Communication Network in the UK, 2006–2010

The Engage programme was launched in April 2006 by the Government Communication Network (GCN) in the UK. As a civil service body supporting those in government working as press officers and in marketing roles, the GCN under the New Labour government in the period 2006–2010 was involved with the extension of the logic of marketisation to government communication. This article charts this process by examining key government policy documents from this period. The rationale for Engage rested on the assumption that government in the UK needed to adapt its communication approach to reach what were perceived as individualised consumers in society. The extension of the logic of marketisation to government communication that happened under Engage is shown to be consistent with the New Public Management approach to public services under New Labour. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

行政执法诱发公共事件的特点及法律对策

我国行政执法不当诱发了诸多公共事件,事件起因的多样性、事件主体的多元性、事件意图的目的性、事件发生的必然性使行政执法转化为公共事件独具个性。行政职权交叉,执法行为利益化;执法主体、执法行为、执法程序缺乏规范性;行政执法人员素质不高;责任追究和监督机制等方面存在的缺陷极易引发公共事件。防范行政执法转化为公共事件,需要在合理配置行政事权和职责的基础上,规范执法行为、程序及执法人员准入制度,提高行政执法人员素质,建立健全行政执法监督、问责、奖励机制。     

公益诉讼原告主体范围之扩张

公益诉讼法律化后的宏大法律图景未能在行动中的实践成为可视的制度实在,公益诉讼法律条款基本处于休眠状态。主要原因在于立法者推崇实用主义和渐进式功利主义的改革路线和利益导向机制,严格限定公益诉讼的主体范围,将大量主体阻隔于法院大门之外,割裂协调有序的公益诉权主体链条,致使公益诉讼无法实效发挥制度机能。公益诉讼的制度化或者再制度化可将权利生成和整体正义作为指引公益诉讼精细化发展和长远性发展的基本功能导向,适当开放公益诉讼通道,建构行政机关、检察院、社会组织和公民个人的多元互补的原告主体体系,并在现有法律框架内务实而理性地探求主体扩张的合理路径。     

服务型政府建设的民主行政维度

服务型政府和民主行政之间有着内在逻辑的一致性。服务型政府建设重要的不在于预设的规范和特定的模式,而在于以公民和社会为本位,体现公共行政的民主价值。在本质上,为人民服务是我国服务型政府的民主行政实质。在实践中,服务型政府建设的民主行政维度主要体现在以追求公共利益为核心理念,实行服务行政、阳光行政、领导行政、法治行政、回应行政。     

Intervention at Risk: The Vicious Cycle of Distance and Danger in Mali and Afghanistan

In crisis-hit countries, intensive risk management increasingly characterizes the presence of international interveners, with measures ranging from fortified compounds to ‘remote programming’. This article investigates the global drive for ‘security’ from an ethnographic perspective, focusing on Afghanistan and Mali. By deploying the concepts of distance and proximity, the article shows how frontline ‘outsourcing’ and bunkering have generated an unequal ‘risk economy’ while distancing interveners from local society in a trend that itself generates novel risks. To conclude, the article asks whether alternative forms of proximity may help to break the vicious cycle of danger and distance at work in today’s crisis zones.     

Corruption and marketization: Formal and informal rules in Chinese public procurement

The relationship between market liberalization and corruption has attracted scholarly attention in recent years. Conventional wisdom holds that increased economic marketization reduces corruption. China, however, provides evidence to the contrary; corruption has grown as its market‐oriented reforms progress. This paradoxical co‐development of the market and corruption begs the intriguing questions of how corruption has survived marketization and what explains the failure of government regulation. Extending the conceptual framework of institutional theory about formal and informal rules, and using public procurement in China as an example, this article shows that formal tendering rules and regulations may be modified, circumvented, or replaced by informal ones which facilitate corruption. The article identifies four corruption schemes through which procurement actors may distort competition processes and mechanisms under the guise of formal rules. Consequently, public procurement in China displays the structural outlook of market competition, but not its essential substance.