Politics and Science

To say that science has a great role to play is to repeat platitudes. Hardly anyone with any smattering of knowledge doubts this. In these days, when science is taking truly giant strides, when its achievements are evident to any modern man at literally every step, there is no need to prove that science is indispensable to the progress of society.     

对话辨共识争鸣求精进

一、研究概况 据不完全统计,2006年民商法学界出版学术著作达七十余种,包括王利明著<我国民法典重大疑难问题之研究>;梁慧星主编<中国民法典草案建议稿附理由·债权总则编>及<中国民法典草案建议稿附理由·亲属编>;徐国栋著<人性论与市民法>;申卫星著<期待权基本理论研究>;孙宪忠著<争议与思考——物权立法笔记>;崔建远著<论争中的渔业权>;韩世远著<履行障碍法的体系>;杨立新著<侵权行为法>及<人格权法>;张新宝著<机动车交通事故责任强制保险条例理解与适用>;甘培忠著<公司控制权的正当行使>;蔡元庆著<董事的经营责任研究>;姚德年著<我国上市公司监事会制度研究>等等.创作之丰硕,可谓"一任满庭芬芳".限于篇幅,恕不一一罗列.     

Legal Consciousness and Dispute Resolution: Different Disputing Behavior at Two Similar Taxicab Companies

This article examines how workers perceive the laws and rules that regulate their workplaces and how these perceptions differ depending on whether one works in an organization with a high level of worker-manager cooperation versus one with a more conventional hierarchy. Using two cab companies as examples, this article explores how these divergent organizational structures generate different grievance cultures that in turn encourage alternate understanding of availavle choices and appropriate means for resolving such disputes.
This work expands the current sociolegal literature on legal consciousness by focusing on formal and informal workplace grievance resolution and perceptions of workplace conflict. In exploring the critical decision making regarding grievance resolution, this article begins an important discussion about workplace empowerment and legal consciousness. This study uses qualitative methods to examine 33 open-ended interviews. The use of qualitative methods permits a vibrant dialog that illustrates the legal consciousness of the subjects, The subjects'own words reveal their comprehension of rules, regulations, and procedures as well as their individual relationships with the grievance-resolution options in their workplaces.     

What's in a War? (Politics as War,War as Politics)

Abstract. This paper combines reflections on the current “state of war” in the Middle East with an epistemological discussion of the meaning and implications of the category “war” itself, in order to dissipate the confusions arising from the idea of a “War on Terror.” The first part illustrates the insufficiency of the ideal type involved in dichotomies which are implicit in the naming and classifications of wars. They point nevertheless to a deeper problem which concerns the antinomic character of a collective institution of violence. The second part discusses the extent to which, in spite of the historical transformations in the means and political objectives of wars, the contemporary confrontation still obeys the rules of warfare described by Clausewitz, particularly with respect to temporality (“friction”). The third part discusses “non‐clausewitzian” aspects of the “new wars” defined by Martin Van Creveld and Mary Kaldor, while suggesting that they have left aside the most salient contradiction illustrated by the US interventions, which results from the combination of a claim to universal sovereignty and a reduction of war to generalized police operations.     

Rights as Excess: Understanding the Politics of Special Rights

Although the expression special rights emerged most prominently in the twentieth century as a negative response to the civil rights movement, the use of the term has recently acquired a broader, more ubiquitous doctrinal reach. In this paper we elaborate on the meaning of the term special rights as a political device and a way to mobilize power. As a discourse, special rights inverts relations between majority and minority, threatens a cultural contract that distributes universalistic and particular norms, and alters relations of governance. We apply these ideas to an empirical study of special rights politics in three very different issues in Hawai'i-same-sex marriage, the conversion of landholding from leasehold to fee, and indigenous sovereignty. These case studies demonstrate both the pervasiveness and capaciousness of special rights. We show that the use and impact of this discursive strategy varied a great deal from case to case, as did the responses to the accusations of special rights. Our findings suggest that special rights languuge and its surrogates have become a pervasive part of post-civil rights politics.     

Science,Politics, and Persistent Organic Pollutants: The Role of Scientific Assessments in International Environmental Co-operation

International measures to address environmental problems increasingly rely on scientific information, and a growing number of international agreements require periodic scientific re-assessments. However, the arena of scientific assessment, governed by a combination of scientific criteria and political interests, is not well-understood, and few case studies have mapped the influence of scientific assessment on the birth and development of environmental policy issues. This article examines the role of scientific assessments and the science-politics interplay in international attempts to regulate persistent organic pollutants (POPs), focusing on the processes within the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The study shows that scientific and political activities are intrinsically linked in international POPs work. Scientific and political agendas are co-constructed with no clear boundary between the science and politics spheres. Scientific assessments played a prominent role in constructing POPs as an issue of international concern, setting agendas and shaping policies.     

“伟哥”专利之争与中国入世承诺履行

当前,中国正处于资本驱动阶段,市场化进程极大地提高了经济增长的潜力,但知识积累仍然很少。中国进一步发展不可能仅靠资本和制度变迁,因为资本的边际收益在递减,而且再不可能象计划经济向市场经济转轨期间那样变化显著。加之企业间、国家间竞争的日趋激烈使全球经济、科技发展的格局发生了重大而深刻的变化。由此,我们应树立依靠知识发展的新战略,未来中国发展模式应由资本驱动向知识技术驱动转化。而知识产权是国家竞争力提高的根本体现,一个国家的科技发展靠的就是专利发明。如何有效地协调处理国际专利纠纷与履行入世承诺将是中国政府面临的重大课题。     

“远离政治“:一种针对“政治“的姿态:论30年代“京派“等作家群体的政?…

中国３０年代特殊的政治化语境构成了特殊的学氛围,由此形成了学发展在总体上的政治化趋向。无论是学群体还是作家个人,不管其主观上打出怎样的超脱政治的旗员,提出学远离政治的主张,但在事实上这种旗员的主张都在某种意义上成一种政治的表态,即使是向来被人们称之为“远离政治”的京派”等作家群体也未能成粉列外。     

Alternatives to incarceration: Commnity-based alternatives for juveniles

This research deals with the problems associated with the juvenile rehabilitative efforts in the United States today. Using the recidivism rates for juveniles, the studies by Zingraff on resocialization, and Zimbardo’s Stanford House experiment, this paper seeks to show that the present form of institutionalization and treatment is not conducive to rehabilitating the juvenile offenders. Communitybased corrections is suggested as alternatives to the failing present system. The alternatives discussed include diversion strategies such as Project Crossroads in Washington, B.C. and the Sacramento 601 Diversion Process in California. Other alternatives given include group homes such as the Highfields Project and the Silverlake Experiment, foster homes, and family homes. Correctional day care centers are also a viable alternative to incarceration. The GUIDE Program in California, and the Parkland Project in Kentucky, and the Utah Pinehills Experiment are examples of this type of Program. Halfway houses are also used to help juveniles adjust to society and to prevent them from having to submit to total incarceration. Advantages and disadvantages to each of these alternatives are provided. Although some of these experiments have failed, these efforts appear to be less costly, more effective, and less damaging than institutionalization of offenders.     

Methodology as a Knife Fight: The Process, Politics and Paradox of Evaluating Surveillance

This paper uses the analogy of an unregulated fight to examine the rhetorical politics of evaluation research pertaining to surveillance measures. It outlines how, in addition to being standard fare in social scientific debates, methodological issues have a parallel existence as part of the rhetorical politics of surveillance and crime control. After briefly sketching some of the ways that advocates try and accentuate methodological concerns in attempts to undermine the position of their adversary the paper considers how certain groups are comparatively advantaged and disadvantaged in such exchanges. The concluding section takes a larger view of these dynamics to address some of the risks inherent in engaging in this style of discursive politics.     

Plea Bargainings: Ethics and Politics

This article argues for a re-orientation of the debates concerning plea bargaining in the light of a process of re-legitimation currently under way in which professional codes of ethics are given new importance. In the new rhetoric, plea bargaining is claimed to be in line with rather than contrary to traditional adversarial principles. The focus of this paper is to argue for a re-affirmation of deep-seated principles which contextualize professional ethics in the wider domain of the politics of criminal justice.