On Sen on comparative justice

Against scepticism from thinkers including John Rawls and Thomas Nagel about the appropriateness of justice as the concept through which global ethical concerns should be approached, Amartya Sen argues that the problem lies not with the idea of justice, but with a particular approach to thinking of justice, namely a transcendental approach. In its stead Sen is determined to offer an alternative systematic theory of justice, namely a comparative approach, as a more promising foundation for a theory of ‘global justice.’ But in the end Sen offers no such thing. He does not develop a theory of justice and this is all to the good; for if values are plural in the way Sen suggests, then justice is not a master idea but one value among many, and it should be neither the first virtue of social institutions, nor the notion that frames all our reflections on ethical and political life.     

Democracy is a Failure Worthy of Infinite Repetition

Abstract

This paper argues that democracy is universalisable as a theory and practice that fails to be identical with itself. Firstly, the paradox that democracy's universality can be put into practice only in particular terms and contexts is discussed. Then four models of democratic universality are presented and assessed: (i) empirical or actual universality; (ii) hybrid universality; (iii) cosmopolitan universality; (iv) impossible universality. The final argument is that democracy can be universalised because of the impossibility of making the demos identical with political authority, which is akin to the impossibility of being identical to ourselves.     

入世与中国法律制度的革新

入世对中国而言,最重要的是对中国法律制度的冲击,即中国法律面临着与WTO规则接轨的问题。本文就如何适应入世需要,完善中国的法律制度进行了详细的阐述。     

全球化下的普遍人权批判:基于欧洲的视角——评Global Law:A Triple Challenge

直面经济全球化,马蒂基于欧洲的视角,一方面反对美国式的独白式普遍主义的霸权性的解决方案,另一方面也反对四分五裂的消解普遍主义人权的努力,而给出了一种欧洲式的共同体下的世界法.这种世界法预设了一种普遍人权,这种普遍人权既有其自身难以克服的预设与论述之间的内在紧张,更为重要的是其预设本身就缺乏一种正当的对人之为人的生活样态的关注的理据.因之,在全球化下,对普遍人权的基础与正当性需要作出一种新的检讨.