Islands and a Carceral Environment: Maltese Policy in Terms of Irregular Migration

Although security has become a common framework for analyzing dispositifs that aim to control irregular migration, island spaces themselves are seldom considered as security dispositifs. The case of Malta, where detention is mandatory upon arrival, epitomizes what could be conceptualized as a “sentinel island” within the European Union. This article demonstrates how the interaction between political discourse, administrative practices, and migrants’ experiences contributes to turning the island into a form of total-institution setting. The empirical data is based on qualitative fieldwork that combines ethnographic observation, migrants’ individual narratives and semi-structured interviews conducted with European and national policy makers.     

Securitization,insecurity and conflict in contemporary Xinjiang: has PRC counter-terrorism evolved into state terror?

ABSTRACT

In the Introduction to this special issue, I first provide an overview of the programme of 'de-extremification' and mass internment in Xinjiang since early 2017. I then situate this development against the ‘ideological turn’ in Chinese Communist Party policy under President Xi Jinping, highlighting the new emphasis on stability maintenance and ideational governance. Next, I explore experiences of (in)security in Uyghur communities in- and outside of Xinjiang in the era of internment to consider how far PRC counter-terrorism initiatives have now evolved into state terror. In doing so, I apply Ruth Blakeley's (2012) definition of state terror as a deliberate act of violence against civilians, or threat of violence where a climate of fear is already established by earlier acts of violence; as perpetrated by actors on behalf of or in conjunction with the state; as intended to induce extreme fear in target observers who identify with the victim; and as forcing the target audience to consider changing its behaviour. Finally, I discuss the six contributions to the special issue.     

Interrogating ‘invisibilization’ and ‘instrumentalization’: women and current citizenship trends in Canada

This paper examines current citizenship discourses and practices in Canada, focusing on the implications not only of marketization, but also of growing securitization vis-à-vis citizenship, and the gendered ramifications of such developments. The repercussions of marketization and securitization and their interrelations, for women in general, as well as racialized and immigrant women in particular, are outlined and assessed. In this way, we see how women are at the receiving end of highly contradictory processes in that they are both ‘invisibilized’, in other words, rendered invisible, by the Canadian state, but are also are increasingly ‘instrumentalized’, in other words, used in strategic ways. Yet, women also challenge these trends and tactics, thereby interrogating these processes that serve to limit the terms and scope of citizenship in Canada.     

我国金融产品创新的机制选择和政策建议

美国次贷危机引发的金融危机导致人们一定程度上对金融创新产生怀疑。不过金融创新仍然是必要的,尤其对于我国。当前,我国的金融创新必须遵循金融发展的客观规律,围绕正确的总体目标,坚持立足于国情的各项原则,积极稳妥地作出具体的机制选择和制度安排。     

论现阶段我国推行资产证券化的可行性

起源于美国70～80年代的资产证券化这一全球金融创新工具,经过近30年的发展与完善,已得到世界各国的效仿,目前也引起我国各界的普遍关注.根据资产证券化的基本内涵及其操作原理,我国现阶段推行资产证券化存在着一定的客观障碍,但也有可行性.只要不断深化金融体制改革,完善相关法律法规,消除一些片面认识,资产证券化完全可以成为我国银行资产业务运作的目标模式.     

中国资产证券化SPV模式选择的法律思考

资产证券化是30年来世界金融领域最重大和最具生命力的创新之一.SPV作为资产原始权益人与投资者之间的中介,是资产证券化交易结构的核心.资产证券化选择何种模式,关键在于选择何种形式设立SPV.在我国目前的法律环境下,选择信托公司作为SPV模式较为可行,但也存在一些法律障碍.为此,必须通过专门立法,明确SPV法律地位,赋予信托受益权证有价证券的法律性质,并为其流通做好准备工作.     

论违规披露、不披露重要信息罪的可能性失灵——以收益权凭证交易为例证

信息披露制度是金融监管法律制度的核心内容,需要刑法保护。为确保刑法调整信息披露制度的有效性,"违规披露、不披露重要信息罪"在原《刑法》条文的基础上,对主体、客观行为和行为结果都进行了修订完善。新的金融产品的出现使"违规披露、不披露重要信息罪"出现了漏洞,面临可能性失灵的现实问题,收益权凭证交易这一新型合成型资产证券化产品就是例证。创新资产证券化产品,监管部门要依据其交易特征,出台相应监管规则,注重完善信息披露制度,防止"违规披露、不披露重要信息罪"的可能性失灵。     

Securitization,history, and identity: some conceptual clarifications and examples from politics of Finnish war history

This article shows how we can use the securitization framework to study extreme history politics. Securitization refers to a speech act or discursive process in which an actor makes a claim that some referent object, deemed worthy of survival, is existentially threatened. If successful, securitization justifies the use of extraordinary measures to counter the threat. After introducing the concept of securitization in detail, the article presents three ways in which history and securitization can be connected: history can serve as a facilitating condition of securitization; history can be explicitly used to strengthen a securitizing move; or history, or a particular interpretation of it, can be the referent object of securitization. The second half of the article is devoted to a discussion on the role of history in the securitization of national identities. Historical myths are the standard building blocks of national identities; challenging these myths can be presented as threats to the survival of the nation. The article also discusses potential forms of resistance against securitization of history/national identities. Illustrative examples from the political use of WWII history in Finland will be used to show the practical consequences of various conceptual choices.     

(In)securitization and illiberal practices on the fringe of the EU

Illiberal practices of liberal regimes have been extensively studied by critical security studies. The literature on risk emphasises the idea of imminent dangers and the logic of worst-case scenarios, which eventually unsettle the balance between security and liberty by always favouring the former in its most coercive and exceptional forms. This paper, by drawing on (in)securitization theory, attempts to explain how particular illiberal practices with respect to the control and management of immigration on the fringe of the EU become normalised. It argues that (in)securitization of immigration and illiberal practices are effects of the very functioning of a transnational field of (in)security professionals that are produced through the structural competition between different actors of this field over the definition of security and the appropriate control and management of immigration. In this respect, it uses Greece as a case study and draws on material gathered through interviews with Greek security professionals in Athens, Lesvos, Orestiada, and Alexandroupoli, and analysis of their discourse in dissertations they prepared during their study in police academies.     

次贷危机与资产证券化信息披露制度的重构

资产证券化本身并非次贷危机的根源,我国应该继续推进资产证券化的进程。不过,次贷危机充分暴露了美国资产证券化信息披露的制度性缺陷：信息披露制度的长期缺失以及信息披露豁免滥用的可能性。对此,《多德一弗兰克华尔街改革和个人消费者保护法案》进行了校正。应该结合美国的经验教训以及我国的实践。对我国资产证券化信息披露制度进行重构。