On David Miller on immigration control

David Miller offers a liberal realist defence of immigration control grounded in cosmopolitan ideals of self-determination, fairness and integration. But a commitment to liberal values requires a commitment to more open borders than he admits. A part of the problem is that the notion of open borders Miller criticises is under-theorised. A deeper problem is that immigration control itself is inconsistent with important liberal values – notably the values of freedom and equality. This is a concern because it is the freedom and equality not only of immigrants but also of citizens that is threatened by the closing of borders.     

On monarchy

Monarchy is liberalism’s little secret. Given the number of articles and books appearing every year dealing with liberal democracy as the hallmark of contemporary Western societies, it is astonishing that monarchy is rarely ever mentioned despite the fact that monarchy, and not a republic, is the constitutional form of quite a number of Western liberal states. I argue that considering the political reality of the established monarchies in Europe leads into a dilemma: either contemporary liberalism is not the kind of theory it claims to be or it has to reconsider its central tenets. In conclusion, I show that the dilemma cannot be solved or avoided but needs to be embraced by conceiving liberalism not as a applied moral theory but as a political theory that leaves room for various symbolic self-understandings and acknowledges the crooked timber of historical realities.     

论法律解释学视角内外的确定性命题

自德沃金以降的理论方向代表了在法律解释学的向度内建构法律确定性命题的一种极致努力。但当我们把目光重新拉回到中国时,却又可以明显感受到法律解释论路向的限度,原因就在于我国法院判决所缺失的重要维度：权威性与终局性。在判决之终局性成为疑问的背景下,法院在实践操作中不再拘泥于法律解释论上立场的精确阐释,而是侧重于引导当事人达成纠纷解决之合意。在这个过程中,法律确定性命题已经不知不觉地被置换成了裁判的可接受性问题。这一基本事实足以促成我们进行理论视角的转换：由法律的解释论转向法律的商谈论。     

19世纪现实主义文学经典的生成

社会政治经济结构形态的演变、人与人之间的关系恶化、人的道德观念迷失催生了具有社会批判性的现实主义文学;自然科学思维的浸润催化了现实主义文学的写实精神;对人性理解的深化与拓展强化了现实主义文学对人的灵魂描写的真实性与深刻性。社会批判性、真实性及深度人性抒写,是19世纪现实主义文学本质性特征,也是这种文学文本“经典性”的要素呈现。19世纪现实主义作家以真实而深度的社会观察与人性剖析,展示了上帝缺位、金钱主宰的社会中人的心灵的千姿百态,描写了金钱激发出来的人性之“恶”的破坏力。他们通过自己的创作向当时乃至今天的人们发出了警告：物欲诱发的贪婪,将把人送入地狱——“自己成为自己的地狱”。他们的创作也普遍成了至今依然拥有深刻警世意义的“文学经典”。     

解构美国话语霸权--对"中国威胁论"的话语分析

话语分析为解构美国话语霸权、分析美国的"中国威胁论"提供了一种很好的理论工具.话语就是指谈论和理解世界的方式,话语分析是以社会建构主义为理论基础的一种批判性分析方法,它以我们习以为常的话语为分析对象,以解构隐藏在话语背后的逻辑结构为主要方法.对美国"中国威胁论"的分析表明,"中国威胁论"是以现实主义理论为依据的,而现实主义在逻辑推理上是存在严重错误的.     

Show them the flag: status ambitions and recognition in small state coalition warfare

ABSTRACT

Why do small states actively contribute to US- and NATO-led military operations? The small state literature has recently developed a novel explanation, referring to their dependency upon the alliance hegemon. The logic is that the small states aim to improve their status and reputation in order to remain relevant and to receive protection. This article contributes to this literature by moving away from this fear of abandonment motivation towards more positive status incitements. It shows how such status motives actually guide and shape small states’ military contributions in US- or NATO-led operations. It does so by using recent innovations in process-tracing methodology to create a status-seeking mechanism. Using the case of Belgium’s participation in the military coalition against ISIL, this article goes beyond the usual Scandinavian suspects in the small state literature and demonstrates that status motivations have relevance for a wider group of small states.     

Diminishing returns: Russia’s participation in the World Trade Organization

Russia’s 2012 accession to the World Trade Organization was widely expected to spur economic growth and modernization, by helping the country abandon its import-substitution model and fully integrate into the global economy. However, thus far, Russia’s compliance record with its WTO commitments has been mixed, and WTO membership has given Russia limited economic benefits and few political gains. In analyzing why, this article uses neoclassical realism as a framework for assessing Russia’s behavior in WTO trade disputes and negotiations. During Russia’s economic recession, the regime of President Vladimir Putin advanced protectionist policies and maintained statist control over the heights of the economy, while using rhetorical strategies to counter accusations from Western powers that Russia had violated WTO norms. Russia’s struggling economy weakened its status as a global economic power, and it was viewed as unqualified to sit among the core group of negotiators in the WTO.     

浙江新诗人：在现实主义新诗的旅程中

在中国新诗发展史上,浙江新诗人显示出尤为显著的“引领性”与“群体性”特征。而在现实主义新诗的旅程中,浙江新诗人同样功不可没。他们在复杂变换的历史条件下不断拓展了现实主义诗歌,并为现实主义诗歌创作提供了新经验,与现代中国庞大的现实主义诗人群一起终将现实主义诗艺推向了成熟。     

所有权的观念性——近代私法上所有权的历史性格

所有权的观念性即所有权所体现的对物的观念上的支配,这种支配通过他人对所有权的尊重而得以实现,即使物不在所有人的现实控制之下。这种具有观念性的所有权在近代私法上亦可称为绝对所有权。所有权的观念性在不断变动的社会状况下并不总是一致和全面的。观念性作为近代私法所有权的历史性格的特征总是伴随着所有权现实性的修正而变化。     

“What does development stand for?” A socio-semiotic conceptualisation

This paper argues for conceptualising development in terms of social semiotics. It points out that development studies is moving towards to human-centred rather than program-centred, technique-centred or engineer-centred thinking, that it has moved from a focus on technical transfer to dialogic interaction and that it has moved towards a postdevelopment imagination. On the basis of these moves, which all assume that development entails meaning-making, the article explores the contributions that biosemiotics and sociosemiotics can make towards conceptualising development. The article argues that semiotics provides development scholars with the conceptual tools to include both the material and the ideal in development thinking. It proposes a semiotic response theory of development in line with aspects of complexity thinking and semiotic realism.