Beyond royal politics: state transformation and foreign policy in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Saudi politics is commonly portrayed as reflecting a system of centralised personal rule in which decision-making power trickles down from the tightly knit power circles within the House of Saud. In contrast, this paper draws attention to the empowerment of quasi-autonomous state organisations in Saudi Arabia as a result of state transformation and regional integration. At its most extreme, state transformation in Saudi Arabia has created institutional and regulatory enclaves with vested interests and areas of competence that cross Saudi borders. This paper illustrates the foreign policy ramifications of transformed statehood in Saudi attempts to further Gulf regional integration in the context of the Gulf Monetary Union project.     

Socio-political tensions in Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) development in low-income Asian cities

International development agencies, with the help of the central government, support building state of art Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in low-income Asian cities. However, BRT investment over indigenous modes of mobility is creating socio-political tensions at the local level. This article uses multi-level governance as a theoretical lens to examine the relationships among actors in BRT investment decisions in Bandung and Surabaya, Indonesia. The research finds that local stakeholders can distort national and supranational policy initiatives totally or in a way that while projects are delivered, they are of limited use to the local communities they intended to help.     

Pursuing the allure of combat: an ethnography of violence amongst Iraqi Shi’I combatants fighting ISIS

The social sciences speak of violence through its meaning, performances, manifestations and representations; however, the inner workings of violence are less explored. In order to suggest a different mode of seeing violence, I explore the inner workings of violence through the pleasures of and fun among Shi’i volunteer combatants. I apply Walter Benjamin’s motion of pure means to explain how violence becomes self-referential and non-representational via combat-zone ethnography amongst Iraqi Shi’i militants who fought against ISIS in Iraq. I address the fine line between pleasure and fun in order to highlight the inner workings of violence during combat and to encourage a fresh bottom-up anthropological perspective in assessing the parameters of the persistence and resilience of volunteer combatants. My approach advocates moving beyond recruitment and ideological interpolation by questioning the allure of combat through an ontological framework that includes combatants’ perspectives and narratives.     

An Ideational Approach to Gendered Institutional Change: Revisiting the Institutionalization of a New Prostitution Regime in Sweden

Recent work in the field of feminist institutionalism has made important progress in furthering our understanding of gendered institutional change. I argue that gradual ideational changes play an essential role in processes of gendered institutional change, and that examining the interaction between ideas and gendered institutions is of great importance for gaining a better understanding of processes of this type. This article revisits an empirical study of gendered institutional change in Swedish prostitution policy in the effort to specify two idea-based mechanisms that are conducive to gendered change, namely, consensus concerning the problem and gendering of the problem.     

民法总则民商主体界分的制度缺陷与完善思路

民法总则关于民商主体界分的整体制度设计因自然人与法人的不同而分别遵循了不同的逻辑标准，但都直接体现或隐含了“营利性目的”的内涵。民法总则民商主体界分制度在概念使用和标准贯彻上存在逻辑缺陷，进而导致实践中可能面临诸多难题。可行的完善思路是对商自然人的主体制度建构采取由基本法确立营业权和由单行法规定具体规则的方式；用“组织”作为主体概念统领“法人”和“非法人组织”；将商组织的具体制度纳入民法典专编或者商事基本法加以规定，并且在民商主体界分时采取法律判定与事实判定相结合的模式。     

网络信息安全犯罪的定量评价困境和突围路径——大数据背景下网络信息量化标准的反思和重构

刑法对网络安全的保护立场，正由网络运行安全转向网络信息安全。刑事立法更新不断增设网络信息安全专属罪名的同时，刑事司法的定量评价体系却未能一体构建，成为网络安全刑法保护的薄弱环节。当前网络信息安全犯罪的定量评价体系缺乏明确的逻辑主线，同时适用错位的“传统法益侵害程度”量化标准和模糊的“数据规模”新型量化标准，无法满足网络信息安全专属罪名司法适用的准确性和统一性需求，导致了司法适用的困境。消弭规范和技术之间的差异，以“信息规模”为定量评价核心的基础上，建构信息价值的分层评价模型，并将“组信息”作为基础的数据规模计量单位，是大数据时代背景下，突破网络信息安全犯罪司法定量评价困境的合理路径。     

目标群体参与:精准扶贫政策执行领域形式主义的治理之道

精准扶贫政策执行领域形式主义问题突出,制约政策执行成效。欲破除其形式主义,目标群体参与不失为一种有效的治理路径。目标群体参与可促使精准扶贫政策执行从贫困村贫困户的客观实际出发,紧密联系贫困群众,克服政策执行中的“面子工程”现象,真正实现政策目标。目标群体在精准识别阶段整体参与水平偏低、精准帮扶阶段消极被动参与、贫困退出阶段参与功能弱化、脱贫考核阶段参与有效性不足等问题,引致在克服形式主义方面力有不逮。应在精准识别阶段提升目标群体整体参与水平,精准帮扶阶段提高参与主动性与能力,贫困退出阶段加强参与制度保障,脱贫考核阶段增强参与的有效性,以从根本上治理形式主义这一政策执行不良现象。     

皮埃尔·诺拉的“记忆之场”与国族认知——兼论《普鲁斯特之<追忆似水年华>》

20世纪80年代后，学界的“记忆”研究逐渐兴起。法国当代史学名家皮耶?诺哈主编的多卷本《记忆之场》引领了这一潮流，将之聚焦于富有象征意味的“记忆之场”上。诺哈区分了“记忆”与“历史”，指出了“记忆”的“场所”具有的物质性、功能性与象征性，并以庞大的篇幅建构了法国国族自我认知的社会史。其中，孔帕尼翁的《普鲁斯特之<追忆似水年华>》将普鲁斯特及其作品视为一种“记忆之场”，探讨了“泛普鲁斯特学”、成为“法国伟大作家”的普鲁斯特及其成功的社会基础，将“普鲁斯特”这类“建构之象征物”纳入到“法国之所以成为法国”的研究中，表明其保证了一种集体性的、文化与身份认同的再生产；该文也代表了作品研究的另一种进入方式。     

新就业形态劳动者的劳动权益保障 ：内容、现状及策略

新就业形态劳动者的劳动权益保障问题已成为政府和社会公众密切关注的重要问题。新就业形 态劳动者的劳动权益包括劳动就业权、劳动报酬权、劳动条件权和劳动救济权 4 类，并可以细分为 13 项权利。 本研究以外卖骑手为代表，进一步分析了新就业形态劳动者劳动就业权、劳动报酬权和劳动条件权中的社会保 障权的现状。研究发现，新就业形态劳动者的劳动就业权、劳动报酬权和社会保障权相比该群体劳动者的平均 情况都得到了改善。研究认为提升新就业形态劳动者的劳动权益保障水平需要更复杂的策略行动，包括继续发 挥好市场作用、处理好短期与长期的关系，以及政府与平台企业协同治理等。     

人民币国际化背景下汇率对工业行业就业的影响——基于跨境贸易结算的影响因素视角

将跨境贸易人民币结算比重引入劳动力市场动态均衡模型,推导出汇率影响就业的全新路径,并利用2000-2018年中国工业行业面板数据进行实证分析。研究发现:通过进出口产品结构贸易路径,汇率对行业总体就业的正向影响最显著,其次是经由汇率变动预期路径,而汇率通过净出口指数路径对就业的负向影响较微弱。人民币汇率对不同行业就业的影响产生差异的根源是不同行业进出口产品结构及产品异质性的差距导致在汇率变动的不同情形下,行业间跨境贸易人民币结算的水平不同,从而造成外贸企业对劳动力的需求具有差异。并且,技术特征及贸易来源地特征是造成行业间就业水平差异的显著因素。