On the Macro Positioning Regarding Anti-Monopoly Considerations Relating to Internet Platform—An Analysis Based on Politics,Policies and Laws

The positioning of anti-monopoly law depends on its unique value, goal and function. From the beginning, anti-monopoly law has had a great political and economic mission, and can become a “super law” with a grand value goal and a powerful function in economic adjustment. The uniqueness of the Internet, in capital, technology and business models, easily allows Internet platforms to grow anarchically, and to have a high correlation with anti-monopoly concerns. Internet anti-monopoly policy should first expand its thinking and elevate its stance in macro value, and seek appropriate legal and economic technical paths. China’s Internet platform anti-monopoly policy cannot simply follow today’s international and superficial trend, which does not contribute to positive experience and may conceal various interests. Instead, China’s Internet platform anti-monopoly policy should actively follow, respect and serve the substantial development interests of China’s digital economy, operating in a timely fashion and at the right location, in ways that are opportune, moderate and modest. It should always be committed to the innovation and development of China’s Internet industry and to international competitiveness. Internet anti-monopoly policy should adhere to the rule of law, build a corresponding rule system, ensure objectivity, neutrality and rationality, and prevent irrationality and over-excitement.     

Distributed Generation of Electricity: The Role of Academic Research and Advice in California’s “Clean DG” Policy Network

Deregulation and the combined threats of energy crises and global warming concern nations around the world, yet these issues continue to be addressed more directly by domestic regulatory systems than by international institutions. The present analyses of the integration of distributed sources of power generation (DG) into California’s electric utility system suggests that domestic environmental dilemmas with international repercussions provide an obvious entrée for global environmental policy specialists into the practice of environmental policy-making and law. Here I review current scholarship on policy networks that illuminates the contributions that technical and policy experts can make to such networks surrounding environmental issues. I then introduce the key members of California’s “clean DG” policy network that emphasizes the role of academic experts in this influential political system, and discuss how my own research has impacted the development of the state’s DG policy. I conclude that scholars are well positioned to observe and engage domestic and international environmental policy networks, and thereby also to influence environmental politics and law.     

European Community Law and the Redistribution of Regulatory Power in the United Kingdom

Abstract: This paper draws on a series of case studies of implementation of specific Community law instruments, in the fields of food safety, toy safety, beverage labelling, television broadcasting, and free movement of persons. The objective is to explore the question of how, and to what extent, the need to implement Community law and policy functions to reinforce or to retard shifts in regulatory power in the United Kingdom: from local to central regulatory power; from official regulation to self-regulation; and from bureaucratic and political controls to privately-initiated control through the courts.     

关于国际医疗援助中相关法律问题的探讨

虽然和平与发展已成为世界的主流,但日益加剧的地区冲突和突发自然灾害引发的严重平民伤亡未能完全幸免,立足于人道主义的国际医疗援助亦方兴未艾。然而,由于各国在政治、经济、文化传统以及民族特性等方面均存在着多样性和差异性,加之援助国与受援国间存在不可避免的利益目标的冲突,国际医疗援助在如此特殊条件下开展工作,势必会遇到一系列的法律冲突。分析国际医疗援助的现状和组织机构,探讨国际医疗援助中应遵循的法律原则和当前国际医疗援助面临的法律障碍和解决对策,具有重要的理论和现实意义。     

Explaining corruption: An institutional choice approach

The end of the Cold War, thestrengthening of world democracy, and the advancement of neoliberaleconomic reforms, have exposed corruption as a major world problem andspawned a plethora of international and national anti-corruption programs. Past theorizing has increased our knowledge about corruption, however, aninterdisciplinary (political, economic, cultural) theory of the causes ofpolitical corruption has never emerged. This article develops amiddle-range interdisciplinary theory of the causes of corruption builtthrough employment of an institutional choice analytic frame. The analyticframe draws on the Institutional Analysis and Development work of ElinorOstrom, Roy Gardner, & James Walker, and the constructivist work ofNicholas Onuf. The resultant theory is advanced through a statisticalanalysis. The article concludes that ongoing international and nationalanti-corruption programs will likely fail unless they include reforms to stateinternal power structures and political cultures.     

论《世界人权宣言》的思想基础和权利体系

《世界人权宣言》以自由和平等为其思想基础,构建了世界各国和人民努力实现的共同标准。它所设定的权利体系不仅包括公民权利和政治权利,而且还涉及到经济、社会和文化权利,为国际社会提供了一份详尽的人权保护清单,成为国际人权法的基本法律文书。     

知识产权法的制度创新本质与知识创新目标

创新是知识产权法的历史过程与时代使命。知识产权法的创新意义,表现在其本身的制度创新与所追求的知识创新两个方面。知识产权法产生、变革和发展的历史,即为科技、文化创新与法律制度创新相互作用、相互促进的历史。理想的知识产权制度应是持续激励创新的制度,也是自身不断创新的制度。现代知识产权法存在可能发生的"制度风险",影响或制约着创新发展目标的实现。国家与社会事务的管理者具有"政治企业家"的角色担当,作为创新制度的最大供给者,应在知识产权法的主体意识层面、制度设计层面以及社会运行层面作出理性反思和积极应对。     

Beach boys or sexually exploited children? Competing narratives of sex tourism and their impact on young men in Sri Lanka??s informal tourist economy

Sex trafficking and the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) are widely identified as global social problems, but each remain politically charged, especially given the disproportionate emphasis on sexual slavery. The current investigation is a case study of CSEC within the context of Sri Lanka??s international tourism industry. I draw from data collected during a multi-year field study to analyze and compare those understandings of sex tourism and CSEC driven by local ??moral crusaders????which dominated policy and public discussion??with the experiences of adolescent boys and young men who participated in these markets. Moral claims-making, focused as it was on cultural purity, morality, Western perversions, sexual slavery, and deviance, shifted attention away from the global political and economic contexts in which transactional sex took place. This resulted in both distortions and harms to marginalized youth in tourism communities, and a failure to address the economic realities of those involved in the informal tourism economy, including transactional sex with tourists. The current study thus adds additional support to the concerns raised by scholars and activists about the scope, nature, and impact of efforts to ameliorate commercial sexual exploitation, including the harms that result from narrow foci on individual deviance and sexual slavery.     

论金融危机下发展权面临的挑战与出路

在全球金融危机中受到影响最大的是发展中国家及其人民的发展权利。危机对发展权的挑战,不仅体现在经济发展领域,也反映在社会文化以至政治发展层面,进而衍生为人的生存发展危机。要摆脱危机,就必须重新塑造发展权法治理念,从传统的形式平等和社会正义迈向一种新的正义观即发展正义,从现有的公法强制干预和私法自由调节转向政策性平衡新机制,在全球社会连带中实现自主发展。在这些新理念导引下,于法律重心的发展权定位、发展权指标体系的法律化以及强化国际与国内公共权力对发展权的法律责任三大方面进行制度建设,确立公共权力对发展权的自觉意识和可归责性、建立全球性的发展权法律标准以及危机预警与干预系统。     

关于中国和平崛起的国际法思考

一国崛起既取决于一国的国内因素,也取决于其所处的国际环境。中国从其发展的国际环境、国内实际出发,坚持和平崛起、和平发展,就是要通过和平的方式来增强综合国力,扩大在国际上的影响力。国际法在促进世界和平与发展中的作用日益加强,中国要充分运用国际法构建国际政治经济新秩序,创造良好的国际环境,实现和平崛起的战略目标。这既是中国和平发展的需要,也是世界和平发展的需要。     

The limits of regulatory convergence: globalization and GMO politics in the south

Is globalization promoting regulatory convergence in agricultural biotechnology policies in the South? This article examines the nature and limits of regulatory convergence in the field of agri-biotechnology and investigates the effects that international forces have on biotechnology and biosafety policies in developing countries. Based on detailed case studies of Mexico, China and South Africa this article shows that these three leading biotechnology countries in the South are exposed to powerful international influences but are responding to the regulatory challenges of genetically modified organisms (GMO) adoption in distinctive ways. The existing regulatory polarization between US and EU biotechnology approaches has not forced a convergence around either of these two international models. GMO policies in the South do not simply follow the binary logic of the US–EU regulatory conflict. Instead, they integrate elements from both regulatory approaches and are steering a course that suggests substantial regulatory diversity in the South. The globalization of biotechnology thus goes hand in hand with regulatory diversity in the developing world. Furthermore, regulatory polarization between the EU and US has helped to open up political space in key developing countries.     

The Relationship between Legal Systems and Economic Development: Integrating Economic and Cultural Approaches

This paper seeks to demonstrate the need to bridge the gap between the economic and culture-based approaches to two issues which are fundamental to the debate over the relationship between legal reform and economic development: (a) the relative importance which economic actors around the world place on the legal system and (b) the core components of an effective legal system, as defined by those economic actors. It first outlines the major tenets of current economic legal reform policy, focusing on its underlying assumption that the perceptions and expectations of economic actors around the world do not vary significantly. Data from Geert Hofstede's study of variance in cultural values are then analysed in order to demonstrate how cultural values might affect private sector perceptions and expectations of legal systems as supporters of material progress. It concludes that there is a clear need for a more interdisciplinary approach to the debate over the relationship between legal reform and economic development, and the potential variance in private sector perceptions and expectations of legal systems in particular. Such an approach might be initiated through a systematic integration of existing data and theory from each discipline, reinforced by a new multi-country survey.     

Abortion and legal policy

This paper reviews four legal policies in abortion from a critical theory of law perspective. Since the Comstock era, abortion policy has undergone radical shifts from criminalization in the last quarter of the nineteenth century to decriminalization in the late 1960s, followed by legalization and medical control over the last decade. Yet, until recently, little scholarly attention has been given to the social and political implications of these various policy shifts (almost all studies focus on the current legal phase only) often in isolation from other social and political realities. In this paper we draw on historical, demographic, participant-observation, interview, and documentary and legal materials to analyze the transformations of legal control structures in abortion. This shows both the creation of abortion law, which is imbedded in structures of sexual domination, and the contradictions in abortion law, which express antagonisms in civil society as well as promote alliances within ruling groups. The abortion case further clarifies the failure of legality to transcend existing gender inequalities, thereby contributing to further erosion of welfare rights for poor women and their children.     

Editor’s Note

In the context of today’s big data and cloud computing, the global flow of data has become a powerful driver for international economic and investment growth. The EU and the U.S. have created two different paths for the legal regulation of the cross-border flow of personal data due to their respective historical traditions and realistic demands. The requirements for data protection have shown significant differences. The EU advocates localization of data and firmly restricts cross-border flow of personal data. The U.S. tends to protect personal data through industry self-regulation and government law enforcement. At the same time, these two paths also merge and supplement with each other. Based on this, China needs to learn from the legal regulatory paths of the EU and the US, respectively, to establish a legal idea that places equal emphasis on personal data protection and the development of the information industry. In terms of domestic law, the Cybersecurity Law of the People’s Republic of China needs to be improved and supplemented by relevant supporting legislation to improve the operability of the law; the industry self-discipline guidelines should be established; and various types of cross-border data need to be classified and supervised. In terms of international law, it is necessary to participate in international cooperation based on the priority of data sovereignty and promote the signing of bilateral, multilateral agreements, and international treaties on the cross-border flow of personal data.     

Self-Regulation Versus Command and Control? Beyond False Dichotomies

The search for regulatory alternatives to command and control has led many commentators to promote, or at least contemplate, the use of self-regulation to improve the environmental performance of industry. However, much of the current debate has been characterized by a choice between two mutually exclusive policy options: "strict" command and control on one hand, and "pure" self-regulation on the other. In fact, there is a much richer range of policy options, with most falling somewhere between theoretically polar extremes. This article demonstrates that there are a number of "regulatory variables" which policymakers can use to "fine-tune" regulatory options to suit the specific circumstances of particular environmental issues. In the vast majority of circumstances, a combination of self-regulation and command and control will provide the ideal regulatory outcome.     

Interpreters of International Economic Law: Corporations and Bureaucrats in Contest over Chile's Nutrition Label

This article analyzes the everyday interpretive practices of corporations and bureaucrats that shape the meaning and force of international economic law. To understand how common practices such as public consultation submissions, corporate threat letters, and external legal assistance influence regulators' understanding of their “legally available” policy space, we study the contested introduction of a pioneering nutrition labeling regulation in Chile. The transnational food industry powerfully challenged the regulation's legality under World Trade Organization law. But Chilean health bureaucrats, in coordination with segments of the country's legally highly competent economic bureaucracy, effectively defended the legality of their proposed regulatory measure. Drawing on data from freedom-of-information requests and in-depth interviews, the article argues that the outcomes of such interpretive contests are substantially shaped by participants' knowledge of the entitlements created by international economic law and thus by the international legal expertise they have access to. This often but not always puts transnational corporations at an advantage over national regulators in the strategic interpretation of international economic law.     

The legal regime for application of the precautionary principle in India: future directions for the GM regulatory regime

The precautionary principle is one of the most contentious principles in contemporary international legal developments. The very fact that it is a principle of international environmental law has been questioned by many legal scholars. However, this does not take away the fact that the precautionary principle continues to be applied widely across sectors both internationally and nationally. The nature and scope of its application has varied widely according to the context and sector within which it has been applied. The central issue which this article seeks to address is the regulatory and the policy making space that is available to the Government of India in the context of the obligations as undertaken under the Cartagena Protocol and under various other international treaties. The regulatory space would also be affected by the domestic legal developments across sectors in which the principle has been applied. India’s recent decision on the large-scale commercialisation of Bt-Cotton has already created much debate regarding its appropriateness given the realities of Indian farm practices. More specifically, it has also led to a rethinking of the role and application of the precautionary principle in addressing these realities. Considering that the Indian policy on biotechnology is currently being drafted, it is important to look into the scope of applying the precautionary principle in taking any decision on genetically modified organisms (GMO) in terms of their distribution of risks, incorporating the social and equity impacts of such decisions.

The European Redistributive State and a European Law of Struggle

Its more central involvement in the government of economic and fiscal policy requires a new public law for the EU. This must be alive to the positive, negative and intractable qualities of conflicts associated with these fields. Such a law would internalise conflicts within the political process so that their irresolution and ongoing struggle become the dynamo endowing the Union with qualities of political engagement, imagination and justice. The recent reforms make mediation of conflicts a central mission of the Union but still use the public law structures of the regulatory state which lack these three qualities.     

Cultural Policies and Local Planning Strategies: What Is the Role of Culture in Local Sustainable Development?

The authors draw a strategic framework for cultural planning at the local level. The concepts of industrial district and cluster have strengthened the role of space—in terms of external economies of localization and agglomeration—in economic development. The recent debate concerning contemporary development processes has underlined the increasing role of the cultural dimension for local development and has focused on different paths of clustering around cultural investment. The authors review the latest literature on cultural districts and illustrate some key cases around the postindustrialized world in which culture played a critical role by acting as a catalyst for major economic and social renewal. The authors present a strategic model of a progressive cultural district based on an asset-action matrix that intersects cultural policy drivers with capital resources. The authors define a new model of cultural district—the system-wide cultural district—as an emergent, self-organized model of cultural supply that displays significant strategic complementaries with other production chains with a typical, postindustrial characterization.     

Courts and sentencing research on contemporary China

As a leading player in the international community and the projected economic powerhouse in the twenty-first century, China's significance in the international community has been recognized around the world. The construction of its legal system, particularly the criminal justice system, has also received increasing global attention. As the cornerstone of the criminal justice system, the courts and sentencing laws and practices underlie many of the fundamental ideas of a fair and just legal system. This article reviews research on courts and sentencing in contemporary China published after 1990, focusing on the following three areas: (1) research on law and legal reforms with regard to courts and sentencing; (2) research on the determinants of criminal sentencing; and (3) research on capital punishment.