正确处理党的领导与依法独立办案的关系

坚持党的领导是贯穿习近平法治思想的一条主线。正确处理党的领导与依法独立办案的关系,既是贯彻落实习近平法治思想的重要内容,也是司法理论与实践必须回答的重大问题。中国共产党对司法工作的领导具有坚实的历史基础、法理基础和宪法依据。党的领导是依法独立办案的根本保障,坚持依法独立办案本身就是体现党的领导。正确把握党的领导与依法独立办案的关系,必须首先弄清楚党的领导是指党中央的集中统一领导,地方党委对司法工作的领导主要是管方向、管政策、管原则、管干部。各级司法机关党组织必须确保党的领导在司法机关内部得到贯彻落实,依规依法管人管事管案,发挥整体性的引领、管理、监督、保障作用,确保法律统一正确实施。     

全过程人民民主:时代价值、制度基础与实践空间

全过程人民民主是党的十八大以来我国社会主义民主政治发展的全新理论命题。全过程人民民主是中国共产党在百年未有之大变局下对人类政治文明新形态的实践探索,是推进国家治理现代化的现实逻辑,体现了中华民族伟大复兴中国梦的内在要求。在中国共产党的百年探索历程中,全过程人民民主有坚实的制度支撑、规范的运作机制、具体的程序设计,是最广泛、最真实、最管用的民主形态,既突出了中国社会主义民主政治发展的显著特色,也彰显了具体民主形式中所蕴含的人类共同价值。在新的历史起点推进全过程人民民主,要坚持党的领导、人民当家作主和依法治国的有机统一,在理想与现实、普遍性与特殊性、制度与实践的平衡中,适应人民群众对美好政治生活向往的需要,有目标、有步骤、有重点地积极推进。     

Reproductive health services: “Business-in-a-Box” as a model social innovation

Access to reproductive health services and products in remote and rural communities is a critical area of concern for developing countries. This article considers a pilot intervention in three districts of Pakistan where “Business-in-a-Box” as a model of place-based social innovation is used to improve the socio-economic conditions of women in remote rural settings through socially responsible micro-franchising. It finds that such programmes help build a sense of community, ownership and grassroots capabilities and skills. The article also discusses the impacts of such actions on the individual and community life, and the need to upscale and sustain these initiatives.     

浮动抵押逸出担保物权体系的理论证成

具有担保功能的权利,并非都是担保物权。如果一项权利既不符合担保物权的特征,亦有违物权法的基本原则,就不属于担保物权。对比浮动抵押与担保物权的特征可以发现,浮动抵押有担保功能但并非担保物权。在民法典编纂背景下,宜将浮动抵押从担保物权体系剔除。考察比较法资料,结合“charge”的词源语义,遵循语言翻译的忠实严谨原则,宜将“floating charge”译为“浮动担保”而非“浮动抵押”。至于浮动担保何去何从,相对合理的方案是将其嵌入合同法域,规定于我国民法典合同编之“合同的担保”章节,以此彰显民法典的体系性与逻辑性。     

农村承包地三权分置制度入典研究

《农村土地承包法修正案》将“三权分置”政策内容上升为法律规定,确立承包地三权分置制度。对解决承包地流转闭锁抵押难行等问题意义重大。却因将承包经营权本集体经济组织内封闭流转以法律固化,新设土地经营权性质不清、类型混合、流转不济,无益承包地债权性与物权性并可市场化开放性流转之“三权分置”目标实现。受其影响,《民法典分编(草案)》亦存同样问题。亟待农村承包地三权分置制度进一步入典完善。在实地调研基础上,遵循《民法总则》落实集体土地所有权前提下,于《民法典分编(草案)》完善中,基于英美地产权客体权益分离理论与大陆法系二次权能分离理论具兼创债权性与物权性经营权功能的地权二次分离理论,在保持土地承包经营权规定不变上,从其客体权益中分离出二元化土地经营权,并分别于合同编增设农地租赁经营合同具体规范债权性经营权、于物权编构造“农用地使用权”科学规范物权性经营权。以利能以债权性经营权顺农地灵活经营实践、物权性经营权应农地抵押及长期经营所需的二元化路径,促现行承包经营权本集体经济组织内封闭流转向派生出的土地经营权市场化开放性流转发展,以实现农村承包地三权分置制度入典达成“三权分置”、“放活土地经营权”之政策目标。     

Discrimination and ethnic conflict: a dyadic analysis of politically-excluded groups in sub-Saharan Africa

ABSTRACT

The literature on political exclusion and conflict tends to treat grievance-based mechanisms with broad-brush strokes and does not differentiate between types of political exclusion. This study disaggregates politically-excluded groups into two subgroups: groups that experience political discrimination from the state, and groups without political power that are not explicitly discriminated against. We posit that discriminated groups are more likely to experience grievances and therefore are more prone to conflict than excluded groups that are not actively discriminated against. We further posit that the effect of discrimination on conflict is moderated by interactions with economic inequalities and the share of elites. Using dyadic data for 155 ethnic groups in 28 Sub-Saharan African countries, we find that among politically-excluded groups it is indeed discriminated groups that are responsible for most of the association between political exclusion and conflict. Groups that face active, intentional, and targeted discrimination by the state are significantly more likely to be involved in conflict than excluded groups who do not face this explicit form of discrimination. Additionally, we find that discriminated groups who also experience economic inequalities are less likely to engage in conflict, whilst an increased presence of elites within discriminated groups can precipitate the chances of conflict.     

Strategic rebels: a spatial econometric approach to rebel fighting durations in civil wars

ABSTRACT

Recent research on multi-actor civil wars highlights that rebel organizations condition their conflict behavior on that of other rebel organizations, with competition and free-riding constituting the core theoretical mechanisms. We provide a new actor-centric approach to explicitly model strategic interdependence in multi-actor civil wars. We argue that rebel organizations have incentives to remain mobilized until the end of a conflict to maintain their power to negotiate, power to spoil, power to enforce, and power to protect. This induces strategic complements that dominate duration dynamics in multi-actor conflicts. Based on a network game-theoretic model, we derive a spatial econometric framework that allows for a direct test of strategic interdependence. We find that the estimated duration interdependence is positive but partially offset in secessionist conflicts where the public goods nature of the incompatibility also induces strategic substitution effects.     

Empty schools and Silencios: pedagogical openings for memory-making in Colombia

This paper draws from Silencios – a photography series by the Colombian artist Juan Manuel Echavarría. Silencios comprises more than 120 portrayals of abandoned schools due to armed conflict in Los Montes de María, Colombia. Sharing Echeverría’s belief that ‘these chalkboards have lessons to tell us about war’, the author of this paper advocates for the pedagogical use of Silencios to promote and support memory works in Colombia. The present analysis acknowledges that hegemonic memories and narratives have a negative impact on conflict-affected societies due to their authoritarian and oppressive character.

Therefore, the pedagogical use of Silencios seeks to ignite multiple narratives and counterhegemonic memories that might emerge as the public interacts with the photography. The visuals, in this sense, become an educational opportunity to stimulate reflection and resistance against the monopoly of the past in a country that is currently emerging from conflict. In this paper, the abandoned schools are considered as memory sites, and as renewed learning spaces to stimulate reflections and debates upon the armed conflict. Silencios can contribute to peacebuilding efforts by bringing up the possibility to reconsider essentialist conceptions of peace, memory, and pedagogy, that might hinder potential venues for enduring peace in Colombia.     

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.     

British Campaigns for Solidarity with Argentina and Chile

The Chile solidarity movement persuaded British Labour governments (1974–1979) to introduce a range of measures against the Pinochet regime. But campaigners lobbying against the Argentine dictatorship (1976–1983) had less impact on policy. Neither these Labour governments nor the subsequent Conservative government imposed any sanction on the Argentine dictatorship, until the invasion of the Falkland Islands. This article explores why in Britain – and Europe – the Chile campaign had greater public appeal than the Argentina solidarity campaigns. It identifies a number of common factors across Europe which explain why the anti-Pinochet cause generated more support than the Argentina campaign.