'We ourselves, we are part of the functioning':: The ICC, victims, and civil society in the Central African Republic

As a new justice institution, the International Criminal Courtneeds to gain legitimacy not just with states, but also in civilsociety, both at the global level and in the societies in whichit intervenes. This article, based on interviews, NGO documents,newspaper articles, and participatory observation, looks atcivil society relations with the ICC in relation to its mostrecent and least publicized investigation, in the Central AfricanRepublic (CAR). It charts the role of civil society organizations,local and international, in the opening of the investigation,and it discusses the initial responses of civil society figuresand victims in the CAR to the investigation. It finds that,unlike in any of the other situations, the ICC's involvementin the CAR has been largely instigated by local civil societyfigures, and that, as a result, it operates in a quite receptivecontext. However, the slow pace of investigations and trials,the meagre outreach to date, and the Court's probable lack ofcapacity to provide victims with physical and material securityare long-term challenges to its ability to meet local expectationsof justice.     

Schedules from the Central African Broadcasting Station

The Lusaka wireless station under M. Kittermaster and H. Franklinhas been functioning for some months as a centre for CentralAfrican broadcasting in the Bantu languages. There have beencomplaints about the quality of the broadcasts in the languagesof Southern Rhodesia, Chishona and Sindebele; but a Europeanorganiser has now been appointed to obtain suitable material.In any case the fullness and detail of the station schedulesmay serve as comparision with similar programmes in Nairobiand Accra (and, one might perhaps add, Leopoldville).     

危机幕后的东亚地区秩序分析

本文认为,东亚当前出现"大战不犯,小乱不断"状况的根源在于新旧嬗变中的地区秩序远未就域内各国的政治安排形成制度化设计,在于东亚地区秩序的"有气无力"。历史上,东亚地区秩序曾经历了天朝礼治秩序、条约秩序和冷战下"自主"秩序三种形态。依据历史脉络的梳理,本文认为有美国、中国、日本等七个要素影响着东亚地区秩序。为明确这些要素的特征及相互作用,本文提出了反映国家和国家关系总体形态的"锥体"模型。美国是影响东亚地区秩序的决定性变量,利用"锥体"模型,本文认为,美国现实主义的热情与贪婪,地缘战略的坚持与冷静,相互依赖的推动与困惑等特征共同勾画着东亚战略。中国的复兴是影响东亚地区秩序的突出变量,其显著特征在于整体性的成长。日本"正常化"是影响东亚地区秩序的另一主要变量,其特征在于日本自身的"二重性"。朝鲜半岛、台湾、东南亚由于其关键性和不稳定性而成为东亚地区秩序的缝合口。此外,俄罗斯要素也不可或缺。在美国要素与中国、日本等要素的复杂互动中,中美关系是东亚地区秩序的主轴,作为其中一方的中国,如何把握自身不断增长的力量至关重要。     

乌克兰危机的人文透视--读《乌克兰:沉重的历史脚步》有感

以人文研究参与国际问题研究,为我们透视当代乌克兰的发展演变提供了一个新的研究视角.<乌克兰沉重的历史脚步>一书,从乌克兰特殊的历史文化背景、苏联解体后乌克兰民族认同的形成过程等方面入手,考察了乌克兰未来的内部发展及其对外选择的前景等问题.     

Berlin's Republic: Parliamentary government in a German land

Berlin is the only German Land that has had to manage its own reunification and originally many hoped that it would turn into a model for east–west reconciliation. Yet 15 years later there is widespread consensus that Berlin failed to live up to the challenges of the time and adequately deal with the consequences of reunification. Instead of embarking on structural reforms Berlin produced its own version of a Reformstau. The article describes and examines some basic features of the party system in Berlin and the Berlin polity. It will thus give an answer to the question as to how unification affected the institutional setting in this Land. Overall it will be shown that the Reformstau in Berlin cannot be explained by a fragmented political system or powerful veto players. Political stagnation in Berlin rather was due to the combined effects of party system change, institutional stagnation, and constitutionally inhibited political leadership.     

Pakistan: Crisis of a Frontline State

For more than 50 years, Pakistan has functioned as imperialism's “frontline state.” The military has remained the country's dominant political player and the basic precepts of bourgeois democracy remain conspicuous by their absence. Since the military coup in October 1999, the configuration of power in Pakistan has become subject to serious internal contradictions, in large part because of the “war on terror” and the loss of public prestige of the military. These contradictions have intensified in the wake of a lawyer-led street movement sparked by the military top brass' dismissal of the country's chief justice in March 2007. Since then the country's most well-known politician, Benazir Bhutto, has been assassinated and her Pakistan People's Party has swept to power in general elections held in February 2008. However, the crisis of the frontline state has not ebbed, and the oligarchic system of power remains subject to rupture.     

金融危机下中东欧转型模式再评估

新兴市场国家经济与政治体制转型是转型问题研究的焦点,而中东欧国家的转型模式也作为一个范例持续得到来自理论和实证研究上的关注.本研究以金融危机发生、演化为背景,旨在检测金融危机背景下中东欧国家的整体经济表现与金融市场表现,并通过分析对国际学术界公认的"转型优等生"中东欧国家的转型模式进行再评估和反思.     

国际金融危机冲击下中东欧国家经济走势分析

2000-2007年,中东欧国家的经济总体上呈平稳快速发展的趋势,2007年国际金融危机爆发后,中东欧转轨国家经济形势迅速恶化.国际金融危机对中东欧国家经济的冲击和影响与这些国家转型后形成的制度基础和经济发展模式有关.本文就国际金融危机对这些国家经济的冲击,从多个侧面分析相关原因,并对未来发展趋势进行了预测.     

Jihad: a South African perspective

The India, Brazil and South Africa Dialogue Forum (IBSA) established in 2003 brings together three like-minded, democratic, market economies of multi-cultural and multi-ethnic character, sharing a broadly similar economic, political and development situation. At the time of its formation IBSA was widely regarded as representing a novel form of South-South cooperation, transcending older models rooted in the logic of North-South confrontation in the post-colonial, Cold War world. However, now, as the respective countries prepare for their tenth anniversary summit in India, the forum seems to face a growing sense of irrelevance, perhaps even an existential crisis. There has been a proliferation of other forums—notably BRICS and the G20—which means that IBSA needs to differentiate itself if it is to endure. This paper suggests a common vision for IBSA, based on the concept of international liberalism, implying an open international market, well-regulated capital markets and tailored domestic policies such as social policy, health policy and education policy, may well increase the weight IBSA can gain in different international forums.     

Regional Stability in the Asia-Pacific: Towards a Conceptual Understanding

Abstract

This article evaluates regional stability as a concept for Asia-Pacific security analysis. Stability can be viewed as a system's tendency towards equilibrium, including its ability to find a new equilibrium in changing conditions. This approach is reflected in five types of Asia-Pacific stability - the avoidance of major war, the stability of the distribution of power, the stability of institutions and norms, political stability within countries, and economic stability. While all of these factors constitute stability in the Asia-Pacific, it is not clear that any of them constitute the stability of the Asia-Pacific region as a coherent unit of analysis.     

形成中的中亚地区格局:尚存的单极残余、不稳定多极和其他选择

作者认为中亚地区格局不能使用"大博弈"的模式予以解读,复合的权力结构模式可能更具有解释力.具有传统影响力的俄罗斯、崛起的中国、强大的美国以及区内大国哈萨克斯坦和乌兹别克斯坦等一起构建了中亚地区复杂的地缘政治网络.中亚国家从国际政治行为客体到日益具备行为主体特征的身份转变,是形成这种地区格局的重要原因.就中国而言,以一种合作性的多边主义为原则,推动各方以中亚地区的和平、稳定、可持续发展为共同目标实行开放型的合作,营造和谐的中亚地区,是一个较好的战略选择.     

从欧债危机看欧洲央行的独立性困境

欧洲央行被赋予独立性使命,但在欧元运行数十年后,欧洲央行缺少维持独立性的必要资源,在新的经济环境下,欧元体系的维系以欧洲央行独立性的损失为代价,导致欧洲央行陷入独立性困境。欧洲央行的独立性使命导致其决策的自主性和不透明性,使得欧洲央行在决策过程中无法对成员国利益进行有效制衡,造成央行独立性易屈从于国家利益以及叠加的成员国利益,这是欧洲央行陷入独立性困境的由来。成员国间经济失衡使得欧元区矛盾迅速激化,割地为营的财政政策使得各国政策无法从欧元大局考虑,这是欧洲央行陷入独立性困境的根本原因。     

Professionalization and Probity in a Patrimonial State: Labor Inspectors in the Dominican Republic

Are international labor rights campaigns making a difference in Latin America? This article reveals that Dominican policymakers and bureaucrats are responding to foreign pressure by redoubling their commitment to a distinctively Franco‐Iberian model of labor law enforcement, in which skilled labor inspectors use their discretion to balance society's demand for protection with the economy's need for efficiency. In so doing, they provide an alternative to traditional collective bargaining practices—which at least partly decouples both the intensity of the enforcement effort and the degree of worker protection from the level of unionization—and an example for the rest of the region. The article therefore concludes by reconsidering the Central American experience in light of the Dominican findings and discussing their joint implications for our understanding of administrative reform, industrial relations, and globalization, not only in the so‐called CAFTA countries but in Latin America more generally.