The Car as Avatar in Australian Social Security Decisions

This paper draws upon automobile semiotics and legal semiotics to argue that the car in Australian social security decisions becomes an avatar for the applicant that is then decoded into meaning streams concerning deservingness and prudence. It is suggested that this has two implications. The first it highlights the techniques where by a technical object (the car) and the ‘life’ of the applicant became bridged in law; and through that bridging life becomes ‘formatted.’ The second highlights the extent of automobile culture. The car has meaning beyond the highways and parking lots. The paper shows how these meanings have become integrated into processes of biopolitical governance.     

Constructing Legal Order in an Intelligent Society

Legal order originated in a land-centered agricultural society, having now gone through a market-centered industrial society and a network-centered information society. With the rise of the intelligent society, it is transforming into an algorithmcentered legal order of an intelligent society. The “digital” “networking” “intelligent” revolution brought by the intelligent technologies including big data, cloud computing, the Internet, blockchain, and artificial intelligence (AI), has been causing critical challenges to the current legal order, and has generated powerful momentum for construction of fresh legal order featuring scientificness, people centeredness, justice, inclusiveness and co-governance. Construction of such a new jurisprudential legal order to solve this intelligent society’s “governance deficit” is an urgent task. There is a need to set up a new foundation on which an intelligent society can build steady and lasting progress.     

Asking the Sovereignty Question in Global Legal Pluralism: From “Weak” Jurisprudence to “Strong” Socio‐Legal Theories of Constitutional Power Operations

The article examines recent theories of legal and constitutional pluralism, especially their adoption of sociological perspectives and criticisms of the concept of sovereignty. The author argues that John Griffiths's original dichotomy of “weak” and “strong” pluralism has to be reassessed because “weak” jurisprudential theories contain useful sociological analyses of the internal differentiation and operations of specific legal orders, their overlapping, parallel validity and collisions in global society. Using the sociological methodology of legal pluralism theories and critically elaborating on Teubner's societal constitutionalism, the author subsequently reformulates the question of sovereignty as a sociological problem of complex power operations communicated through the constitutional state's organization and reconfigured within the global legal and political framework.     

Democracy and emergency: finding the constitutional foundation of the knowledgeable state in social dynamics

This article aims to bring to light the law–society dynamic relationship in constitutional governance by engaging with the question of political constitutionalism from the perspective of institutional epistemology. It first reframes the debate surrounding legal and political constitutionalism as one concerning the state's ‘epistemic competence’ in governance shaped by the constitution, and then traces how constitutional ordering has given rise to the ‘knowledgeable state’ by setting a unique social dynamic in motion: the ‘epistemico-political constitution’. Using the example of the World Health Organization's initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a the article presents a two-part argument. First, constitutional ordering institutes a process of knowledge production embedded in the interaction between the state and society – a unique law–society dynamic – that responds to governance needs. Second, given the current law–society dynamic in the suprastate political landscape, the legitimacy challenge facing expertise-steered global governance is further intensified as more crisis responses are expected from outside the state.     

Criminal heterarchy and its critics: governance and the making of insecurity in Colombia

ABSTRACT

The FARC, Colombia’s oldest and biggest guerrilla organisation, has long been constructed as the country’s public enemy number one, an enemy that is increasingly portrayed as an outright criminal actor who abandoned all political ambitions. This image of the FARC as a criminal threat to the Colombian state and society is central to a broader turn towards criminalisation in Colombian politics. Through the lens of a critical governance perspective and the notion of the state’s discursive selectivity this article analyses turning points during which the construction of Colombian society’s criminal enemies became a driving force in the country’s security governance. Which social forces support the implementation of criminalising forms of security governance and how? What are the social and political consequences of the latter? In answering these questions, the article argues that the war on (guerrilla) crime assumes a ‘productive’ role for Colombia’s formal democracy.     

The Institutional Requirements of the WTO in an Era of Globalisation: Imperfections in the Global Economic Polity

To the liberal economist, ‘globalisation’ denotes the virtuous circle of expanded trade, investment and economic growth around the globe. In the political world, ‘globalisation’ is the vaguely understood and yet powerful undercurrents of irrevocable economic changes which have generated social tensions and environmental damage, loss of domestic competitiveness and national sovereignty. Throughout the social sciences, the usage of the term ‘globalisation’ is largely inconsistent and inconclusive—but its imprecision is matched only by its popularity. This article suggests that globalisation should be understood as a reconstruction process of the market as well as the polity. It is essentially a form of global market integration which can be observed from different vantage points, including governance. The premise of the article is that global market integration is surprisingly fragile and requires an adequate institutional foundation in order to move forward. Globalisation and governance are mutually constitutive phenomena. The polity governing the global market integration process cannot be separated in any meaningful sense from the changes in the market itself. This article concerns the institutional requirements of globalisation. While globalisation has produced institutional changes, it has not necessarily produced the most effective or legitimate ones. Exactly what polity construction should underpin globalisation? Should globalisation be left ungoverned? Should existing institutions be improved? Does it require the establishment of supranational sites and the re‐construction of hierarchical legal order at global level?     

From Text to Image: The Sacred Foundation of Western Institutional Order: Legal-Semiotic Perspectives

The paper analyzes the sacred foundations of Western institutional order, moving from an epistemological, historical and legal–aesthetic perspective. Firstly, it identifies an epistemological theory of complexity which, pursuing Hayek’s theory of complexity, Robilant’s notion of informative–normative systems, Popper’s theory of the Worlds, and Dupuy’s theory of endogenous fixed point, will conclusively lead to presenting the hypothesis of World 0 as the World of the foundation of legal thinking, the home of the sacred and the aesthetic. Secondly, it identifies the axiological character of the legal aesthetic as a discipline, a topic that will be taken up in relation to the work of the French historian of canonical law and psychoanalyst Legendre, starting from the analysis of a legal/historiographical context (Corpus Iuris Civilis, Corpus Iuris Canonici, Hobbesian Leviathan, Kelsenian Grundnorm). Thirdly, following Ellul’s thought on secularization, the idea that we now live in a secularized, lay society, lacking in the sacred is revealed as a sort of illusion, the creation of a myth of modernity, only apparently rational. Finally the paper proposes as the task of legal theory the identification of the system of “nomograms” in which the normative message is organized, according to a nonreductionistic approach that forces legal theory to recognize the plurality of the iconic forms of the normative message. The “nomograms” respond to the need of extending the field of legal science to phenomena that the positivist theory of law does not consider important, but which the process of evolution of contemporary society imposes.     

“There Is Something in That Water”: Race,Nationalism, and Legal Violence

This article analyzes the issue of water contamination in Kashechewan, Ontario, Canada. Through an inquiry into the way in which water contamination in one Aboriginal community was handled by the local and federal governments, this article examines processes of ongoing colonialism in Canada. Drawing on an array of sources, this article explores three features pertinent to this water crisis: historical forms of legal violence, symbolic forms of representation concerning the relationship between nationalism and the governance of race in liberal democracies, and the importance of the case study approach when examining legalized forms of violence. By examining connections between race, nationalism, and legal violence, this article explores the ways in which biopolitical forms of racial governance require an analysis that links legal violence and structural violence to historical and symbolic forms of representation.     

A Jurisprudence of Indignation

This paper argues that the images evoked in the literature of the Spanish indignados, and other contemporary global justice movements, specifically those of disciplinary and social decadence, a space?Ctime beyond the limits of the possible, obligations across generations, and, ultimately, of universal history as horizon and anticipation, reactivate the legal critique of absolute property that featured so prominently in nineteenth-century accounts of law, civil society, and revolutionary right, and then again in the context of twentieth-century decolonization and revolutionary movements. Insofar as such images can be distinguished from concepts, following a certain reading of the critical tradition (Milton, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Fanon) against the grain, they pave the way towards the formulation of a systemic critique or a ??jurisprudence of indignation??, in the wake of the emergence, rise and current crisis of the global market.     

中国传统社会基层治理的法律机制与经验

基层社会治理对于整体社会治理起着重要的基础和支撑作用.在中国传统社会的基层治理中,形成了一套圆融自洽、顺利运行的法律机制,其中蕴含了我国在基层社会治理方面的宝贵经验.传统儒家法与道德相混成,一直将道德教化作为重要的社会治理手段,德治与法治相结合;而基层的自治制度,不论在立法还是司法上,都为国家法律体系的有机组成部分.中...     

Geoengineering governance-by-default: an earth system governance perspective

Geoengineering—the deliberate interference in the climate system to affect global warming—could have significant global environmental and social implications. How to shape formal geoengineering governance mechanisms is an issue of debate. This paper describes and analyses the geoengineering governance landscape that has developed in the absence of explicit geoengineering regulation. An Earth System Governance perspective provides insight into the formation of norms resulting from an overlap in international treaties and from the actions of engaged non-state agents. Specifically, the paper explores the instruments and actors having effect in existing formal and informal geoengineering governance mechanisms. It finds that geoengineering is subject to a form of ‘governance-by-default’. This is due to a situation in which state actors have not resolved the tension between two legal norms: that of ‘precaution’ and that of ‘harm minimisation’. This governance-by-default is characterised by uneven regulation from existing multilateral agreements established for other purposes, an absence of regulation specifically focused on geoengineering, guidance from an international ambition to hold global average warming below 2 °C and to achieve net-zero emissions in the second half of the century, and strong normative engagement by the research community. Governance-by-default is likely to be a stopgap development until more enduring and focused governance emerges.     

首席法务官（CLO） 一个崛起的法律职业群体

在公司治理结构中,＂首席法务官＂（CLO）的头衔正日益成为其中重要的一极。企业法律事务究竟怎样开展？法务官们到底是怎样的一个群体？他们在公司治理结构中到底充当什么样的角色？发挥什么作用？成功的跨国公司的企业法务工作又有什么经验教训？目前中国的企业法务官群体又是怎样的一种状态？在本刊即将推出《法人.首席法务官》增刊之际,全球企业法律顾问协会（ACC）总部总裁费雷德.克雷布斯先生接受了本刊专访,这位杰出的公司法务专家对这一系列迫在眉睫的问题作出了极有价值的回答     

Beyond ‘Constitutionalism Beyond the State’

For contemporary constitutional theory, the key challenge posed by globalization undermines the traditional link between constitutionalism and the state: in response to multi‐level governance, theories of constitutionalism beyond the state have been advanced. This focus on levels obscures more fundamental epistemological questions raised by globalization about the nature of constitutionalism itself. Critical analysis of three leading schools of constitutionalism beyond the state – supranational, societal, and new constitutionalism – highlights their shared assumptions with state‐based thought regarding the separation between economics and politics, and the necessarily hegemonic character of constitutionalism. However, globalization intensifies critique of these assumptions, and questions their translation to the transnational context. An alternative scholarly fault line to the state/non‐state cleavage emerges between working within and transcending the politics of constitutional knowledge produced during the nation‐state era. A broader globalization perspective reveals the extent to which such processes of constitutional rethinking are under way through developments in the global South.     

我国女性主义法学研究的回顾与展望

女性问题的跨意识形态性、我国法律现代化进程的不可逆性与女性主义法学本身的批判性和进步性,决定了在我国开启以“性别与法律”为主旨的女性主义法学研究的重要理论和实践价值.目前,我国在研究的学科类别上,已形成法理学为主导,部门法共同参与的局面;在研究基地和社会影响上,已形成以中国社科院法学所为重镇,各地高校与研究机构积极参与和推动的格局;在研究问题上,已在认识论和法律事实两个层面形成多样议题.但是,法学认识论层面的研究不足、女性主义法学研究的边缘化、研究者尚未形成统一的研究立场和研究队伍学科背景单一等问题也掣肘着女性主义法学的发展.法学研究者需通过不断拓展法学认识论研究,积极结合中国现实吸纳新知、超越意识形态客观审视西方社会理论,加强与其他学科的合作等方式,共同推动我国女性主义法学研究的发展.     

The critical perspective in psychological jurisprudence theoretical advances and epistemological assumptions

The critical perspectives of psychological jurisprudence identified above, along with their corresponding epistemological assumptions, reflect a radical agenda for change at the law-psychology divide. Although not exhaustively reviewed, the individual theories represent different approaches by which structural reform can be enacted and citizen well-being can therefore be realized. Collectively, the critical perspectives and their attending presuppositions challenge conventional wisdom about prospects for transforming (i.e., humanizing) the legal apparatus. I submit that the future viability of the law-psychology movement, and its overall utility for society, considerably depends on its capacity to facilitate and secure such widespread change. By focusing on critical theoretical inquiry, this article makes painfully clear that much of what is wrong with the legal system, especially in its interactions with and interpretations of people, cannot be amended or solved through it. Indeed, as Roesch (1995) observed, "changes in the justice system will never be sufficient to create a just society, nor will within system changes by themselves ever have much of an impact on individuals who come into conflict with the law" (p. 3). I agree. Accordingly, it is time to move on and, where necessary, to look elsewhere for guidance. The radical agenda in psychological jurisprudence represents a provocative strategy, providing a meaningful basis for critique and a sustainable basis for reform. Both are integral to the call for justice embodied in the founding of the AP-LS decades ago. Realizing this challenge, however, remains an unfulfilled dream. Thus, the task that awaits is to apply the insights of critical psychological jurisprudence to relevant areas of research and policy. I submit that the academy can ill afford to dismiss this task. Indeed, in the final analysis, to do so would not only defer prospects for justice but would destroy its very possibility, especially for citizens disillusioned by the status quo and desperate for change that makes a difference.     

What's So Special about Specialized Courts? The State and Social Change in Salt Lake City's Domestic Violence Court

The nationwide growth in specialized or problem‐solving courts, including drug courts, community courts, mental health courts, and domestic violence courts, among others, raises questions about the role of the state with respect to social change. According to social control theories of the state, especially theories of technocratic or rationalized justice, law is increasingly about efficiency, speed, and effectiveness. Specialized courts, however, take on a social problem approach to crime, seeking to address crime's “root causes” within the individual, the society, and the larger culture in ways more characteristic of social movements. Are specialized courts about social control or social change? This study examines state action in a specialized court in domestic violence in order to examine this question. I focus on a domestic violence court that arose in February 1997 and four years later employed full‐time judges, prosecuting and defense attorneys, and numerous other staff to handle all misdemeanor domestic violence cases in Salt Lake County, Utah. I ask how legal, political, and community officials justify the court and its operation in order to examine some important issues about the role of the state and social change. Ultimately, I suggest that my findings about the complementary roles of social control and social change within domestic violence courts have implications not only for critical theories of technocratic justice and for the battered women's movement but also for democratic theories of the state.     

社会治理现代化的法治路径——从党的十九大报告到十九届四中全会决定

现代化进程是一个从传统农业社会迈向现代工业社会的社会转型过程,也是各种社会问题不断产生和不断被解决的转型治理过程。其中,从效率优先转向公平正义优先体现了现代化背景下的社会转型与法律治理的一般规律。党的十九大报告和四中全会决定体现了我们党对现代化建设和社会转型治理规律的深刻认识,也展示了中国特色社会治理的法治路径。具体表现为:明确提出国家治理体系和治理能力现代化,体现对社会现代化和转型治理基本规律的自觉把握;健全党的全面领导制度和为人民执政、靠人民执政的制度,完善以法律法规制度为基础的社会治理体系的整体构建;坚持经济发展、民生保障与社会治理相结合,在法治轨道上实现社会转型问题的系统治理;把公平正义作为坚持完善法治体系、基本经济制度和民生保障制度的逻辑主线,科学把握现代化后期转型治理的重要内容;坚持法律治理和道德治理相结合,展示了中国社会转型治理的社会主义风貌。     

Rule‐Intermediaries in Action: How State and Business Stakeholders Influence the Meaning of Consumer Rights in Regulatory Governance Arrangements

The boundaries between public and private actors are increasingly blurred via regulatory governance arrangements and the contracting out of rights enforcement to private organizations. Regulation and governance scholars have not gained enough empirical leverage on how state actors, private organizations, and civil society groups influence the meaning of legal rules in regulatory governance arrangements that they participate in. Drawing from participant observation at consumer law conferences and interviews with stakeholders, my empirical data suggest that consumer rights and, in fact, consumer law, mean different things to different stakeholders tasked with adjudicating consumer rights. Rights afforded consumers who purchase warranties are now largely contingent on first using alternative dispute resolution structures, some created and operated by private organizations with soft state oversight and others run by stakeholders but with greater state oversight and involvement. Using new institutional sociology and regulatory governance theories, I find that stakeholders involved in overseeing and administering these dispute resolution systems filter the meaning of consumer rights through competing business and consumer logics. Because consumer laws mean different things to stakeholders tasked with adjudicating consumer rights, two different rights regimes simultaneously exist in this field. I conclude that how rule‐intermediaries administering private and state‐run dispute resolution systems conceptualize what consumer laws mean in action may have implications for regulatory governance and more broadly, consumers' access to justice.     

Between Law and Social Norms: The Evolution of Global Governance

Abstract.  It is commonplace that economic globalization poses new challenges to legal theory. But instead of responding to these challenges, legal scholars often get caught up in heated yet purely abstract discussions of positivist and legal pluralist conceptions of the law. Meanwhile, economics-based theories such as "Law and Social Norms" have much less difficulty in analysing the newly arising forms of private and hybrid "governance without government" from a functional perspective. While legal theory has much to learn from these approaches, we argue that they fail in one crucial point: They cannot uphold the analytical distinction between law and non-law. The reasons for this shortcoming are theory-immanent in that the economic theories' focus on efficiency and their actor-based perspective are necessarily blind to "law's own rationality." We therefore propose to further develop those functional approaches to the study of global governance by complementing them with elements from Niklas Luhmann's systems theory of law. This will provide us with a conceptual framework for analyzing the workings of global governance regimes without ignoring their potential for "legalisation" and "constitutionalisation." As we will show in three concrete examples (Corporate Social Responsibility, lex mercatoria , and internet regulation) we can thus describe the evolution of new forms of legal regulation beyond the nation-state. This will also allow us to draw some preliminary conclusions on the role of law in the context of globalization and, at the same time, show the direction for further empirical research.