论乡镇有限自治

在各种因素的影响下,现行乡镇政权的运行机制已陷入困境,各种针对乡镇体制改革的方案在理论界被纷纷提出,其中以“强化乡镇体制”、“县政乡派”、“乡镇自治”三种为主要代表观点。本文通过对乡镇现存弊端评析、三种主要改革观点的比较分析,试图论证“乡镇有限自治”是最好的改革路径,并从法律分权制、乡镇长直选和民主合作制等方面对乡镇有限自治模式予以制度设计。通过新的制度构建,期望能为乡镇摆脱当前困境,推动基层民主法制建设,建立和谐合理的基层政权体制发挥作用。     

乡镇自治:后税费时代民族地区乡镇体制改革的必然选择

民族地区农村税费改革成果的巩固,要求对现行乡镇体制予以改革。本文通过对"扩乡、精县"、"撤庙撵神",重构乡镇体制、"县政、乡派"等几种乡镇体制改革模式的检讨与反思,认为乡镇自治是后税费时代民族地区乡镇体制改革的必然选择。     

新时期中国乡镇改革的历程与目标

改革开放以来,我国乡镇改革进行了25年。它大体可分为四个阶段:1980年至1985年的“社改乡”和“乡政村治”体制建立;1986年至1989年的“撤并乡镇”和推行“村民自治;”1990年至1997年的县乡综合改革试点和建立健全农业社会化服务体系;1998年至今的农村税费改革和乡镇管理体制创新。乡镇改革动力来源于农村经济体制改革的不断深入和实行“村民自治”的巨大进步,尤其是近年来全国开展农村“费改税”的强有力推动。下一步乡镇改革的方向和目标是建立精干高效的基层行政管理体制及覆盖城乡的公共财政制度,提高整个社会的管理和服务水平,并按“撤市、强县、精乡、补村”的整体改革思路推动农村政治体制改革的发展。     

走出囧境:从依权“自治”走向依法自治——基于对浙江等地村民自治实践的考察

依权"自治"下,干预性方式牵制政府职能转变,政策性推动损害了法制统一,管制型运作侵越了村民自治权利,外生性民主消解了村民民主热情,共管型机制产生了巨大行政成本。30年来村民自治的实践经验和农村经济社会的发展、法治的进步以及广大农民民主意识和民主能力的提高,为从依权"自治"走向依法自治创造了条件。应当通过完善立法,为依法自治创造法治条件;通过改革农村基层政权对村民自治的工作方法,以宏观指导取代具体包揽;通过摈弃乡镇党政对村民自治的监管方式,发挥村党组织的政治核心作用,领导、支持和保障村民自治;通过构建完善的法律救济机制,强化对村民自治的法律保障,从而实现从依权"自治"走向依法自治。     

政府管理与基层群众自治有效衔接与良性互动研究

胡锦涛总书记在党的十七大报告中明确提出要深化乡镇机构改革,加强基层政权建设,完善政务公开、村务公开等制度,实现政府行政管理与基层群众自治的有效衔接和良性互动。实现政府管理与基层群众自治的有效衔接与良性互动也是和谐社会的重要体现,具有重大现实意义。本文通过分析政府管理与基层群众自治两者间存在的问题,对二者间如何实现有效衔接与良性互动提出一些简单的建议。     

和谐社会下新农村村民自治制度的法律思考

和谐社会下新农村村民自治制度存在立法上的不完善,包括宪法对村民自治的规定不完善和村民自治的立法不完善。实践中村民委员会与乡镇人民政府之间、与村党支部之间的关系还未理清。为此要完善村民自治的相关立法,为村民自治的发展与完善提供法律上的依据;明确村委会与乡镇人民政府、村党支部之间的关系。     

试论转型时期我国乡镇行政体制

本文通过对我国乡镇行政体制的历史探讨和对当前我国乡镇体制的现状进行分析的基础上,提出了关于乡镇行政体制的制度创新。文中认为我国乡镇行政管理体制建构的长期目标是建立民主自治、安定和谐的农村社区。发展思路是不改变乡镇政权作为农村基层政权组织的现有宪政体制,规范乡镇的职能,促进乡村社会的全面、持续和协调发展。     

农村宗族势力的时代变迁对村民自治的影响——以山东省临沂市河湾村为个案

以推行家庭联产承包责任制为先导的改革浪潮将中国农村带入了一个前所未有的变革时期,由此乡村治理开始了各种各样的改革与创新。自20世纪80年代以来,村民自治成为农村治理的基本模式和主要途径。因国家政权只延伸到乡镇一级,形成了＂乡政村治＂的治理格局,使国家基层政权对农村的控制力减弱,导致农村出现了政治真空。加之多种因素的共同作用,农村宗族势力得到了不同程度的恢复和发展,成为影响村民自治的重要因素。本文旨在探究宗族势力的时代变迁对村民自治的影响,以确立对待新时期宗族势力的正确态度。     

有必要完善驻村人大代表评议村委会工作的相关法规条款

虽然，依据现有法律规定，由于包括乡镇人大在内的各级人大皆无权对作为群众性自治组织的村委会直接开展包括工作评议在内的日常性的法律监督工作。因而作为包括乡镇人大在内的各级人大组成人员的人大代表（含乡镇人大代表），亦无权对作为群众性自治组织的村委会直接开展工作评议。     

清末宪政改革中的地方自治——以《清末筹备立宪档案史料》为中心的考察

早在“百日维新”前夕,朝廷官员袁世凯就提出了异于康梁的、自地方变起的改革思路。1901年后,袁氏利用自己的影响力和权力资源,在天津推动地方自治改革,颇有成效。终于,以预备立宪为契机,地方自治改革得以在全国推行。本文试图以《清末筹备立宪档案史料》为基本依据,展现士大夫观念之先进(他们对立宪与地方自治之认知程度可能远远超过我们的想象),以及在中央权威弱化的背景下推行地方自治政策之困局。     

Bhartṛhari and Maṇḍana on Avidyā

The concept of avidyā is one of the central categories in the Advaita of Śaṇkara and Maṇḍana. Shifting the focus from māyā, interpreted either as illusion or as the divine power, this concept brings ignorance to the forefront in describing duality and bondage. Although all Advaitins accept avidyā as a category, its scope and nature is interpreted in multiple ways. Key elements in Maṇḍana’s philosophy include the plurality of avidyā, individual selves as its substrate and the Brahman as its field (viṣaya), and the distinction in avidyā between non-apprehension and misapprehension. A closer investigation shows that Maṇḍana is directly influenced by Bhartṛhari’s linguistic non-dualism in developing the concept of avidyā. This study also compares other key constituents such as vivartta and pariṇāma that are relevant to the analysis of avidyā. As the concept of counter-image (pratibimba) emerges as a distinct stream of Advaita subsequent to Maṇḍana, this study also compares the application of pratibimba in the writings of Bhartṛhari and Maṇḍana.     

Unraveling the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Kāvyaprakāśa</Emphasis>: Jayadeva Pīyūṣavarṣa’s idiosyncratic sequence of topics in the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Candrāloka</Emphasis>

In his twelfth century alaṃkāraśāstra, the Candrāloka, Jayadeva Pīyūṣavarṣa reverses the sequence of topics found in Mammaṭa’s Kāvyapr-akāśa, an earlier and immensely popular work. With such a structural revisionism, Jayadeva asserts the autonomy of his own work and puts forth an ambitious critique of earlier approaches to literary analysis. Jayadeva investigates the technical and aesthetic components of poetry in the first part of the Candrāloka, prior to his formal semantic investigations in the latter half of the text, thus suggesting that aesthetic evaluations of poetry beneficially inform scientific investigations of language. Jayadeva’s organization of his chapters on the semantic operations, moreover, intimates that the study of suggestive and metaphoric functions of language clarifies our understanding of denotation, which is conventionally understood to be the primary and direct path of verbal designation.     

The Supreme Array Scripture: A New Interpretation of the Title “Gaṇḍavyūha-sūtra”

This article argues for a new interpretation of the Sanskrit compound gaṇḍa-vyūha as it is used in the common title of the Mahāyāna text the Gaṇḍavyūha-Sūtra.The author begins by providing a brief history of the sūtra’s appellations in Chinese and Tibetan sources. Next, the meanings of gaṇḍa (the problematic member of the compound) are explored. The author proposes that contemporary scholars have overlooked a meaning of gaṇḍa occurring in some compounds, wherein gaṇḍa can mean simply “great,” “big” or “massive.” This general sense is particularly common in the compound gaṇda-śaila (a “massive rock” or “boulder”) and is found in such texts as the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, the Harivaṃśa and the Harṣacarita. Following the discussion of Gaṇḍa, the author examines the term vyūha (“array”) as it is used in the Gaṇḍavyūha-sūtra. The article concludes with the suggestion that a more appropriate translation of the Gaṇḍavyūha-sūtra would be “The Supreme array Scripture.”     

Evaluation of six presumptive tests for blood, their specificity, sensitivity, and effect on high molecular-weight DNA

Luminol, leuchomalachite green, phenolphthalein, Hemastix, Hemident, and Bluestar are all used as presumptive tests for blood. In this study, the tests were subjected to dilute blood (from 1:10,000 to 1:10,000,000), many common household substance, and chemicals. Samples were tested for DNA to determine whether the presumptive tests damaged or destroyed DNA. The DNA loci tested were D2S1338 and D19S433. Leuchomalachite green had a sensitivity of 1:10,000, while the remaining tests were able to detect blood to a dilution of 1:100,000. Substances tested include saliva, semen, potato, tomato, tomato sauce, tomato sauce with meat, red onion, red kidney bean, horseradish, 0.1 M ascorbic acid, 5% bleach, 10% cupric sulfate, 10% ferric sulfate, and 10% nickel chloride. Of all the substances tested, not one of the household items reacted with every test; however, the chemicals did. DNA was recovered and amplified from luminol, phenolphthalein, Hemastix, and Bluestar, but not from leuchomalachite green or Hemident.     

Monks Who Have Sex: Pārājika Penance in Indian Buddhist Monasticisms

In the study of Buddhism it is commonly accepted that a monk or nun who commits a pārājika offence is permanently and irrevocably expelled from the Buddhist monastic order. This view is based primarily on readings of the Pāli Vinaya. With the exception of the Pāli Vinaya, however, all other extant Buddhist monastic law codes (Dharmaguptaka, Mahāsāṅghika, Mahīśāsaka, Sarvāstivāda and Mūlasarvāstivāda) contain detailed provisions for monks and nuns who commit pārājikas but nevertheless wish to remain within the saṅgha. These monastics are not expelled. Rather, they are granted a special status known as the śikṣādattaka. In this paper I explore the rules. concerning pārājika penance and the śikṣādattaka with specific regard to monastic celibacy. Given that five out of six extant law codes recognise this remarkable accommodation to the rule of celibacy, I argue that we must look to Vinayas other than the Pāli Vinaya if we are to arrive at a nuanced and representative view of Indian Buddhist monasticism.

Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet. Augustine of Hippo (354–430 C.E.)

     

Family breakdown and the ‘Welfare Child’ in 19th and 20th century Britain

This article traces new cycles of interest in past children as distinct from past childhood. Recent work highlighting that a conceptualisation of childhood existed even in periods with few written records closes the chapter begun by Philippe Ariès in 1960. Instead, there has been a new surge of interest in children on the edges of family life, as well as children in similarly liminal positions between the worlds of adults and children: runaways, delinquents and orphans. Several themes in the literature are identified, based on the conflicting ideas of ‘body/mind’, ‘victim/threat’, ‘needs/rights’. It is noted that researchers are using more imaginative ways of reaching the lived experience of children than the family or institutional framework, and that an increasing link is drawn between historical and modern concerns such as child abuse and the care of ‘at risk’ children.     

Vedic Language and Vaiṣṇava Theology:Madhva’s Use of Nirukta in his Ṛgbhāṣya

This article explores the way in which Madhva (1238–1317), the founder of the Dvaita Vedānta system of Hindu thought, reformulates the traditional exegetic practice of nirukta or “word derivation” to validate his pluralistic, hierarchical, and Vaiṣṇava reading of the Ṛgvedic hymns. Madhva’s Ṛgbhāṣya (RB) is conspicuous for its heavy reliance on and unique deployment of this exegetical tactic to validate several key features of his distinctive theology. These features include his belief in Viṣṇu’s unique possession of all perfect attributes (guṇaparipūrṇatva) and His related conveyability by all Vedic words (sarvaśabdavācyatva). Such an understanding of Vedic language invokes the basic nirukta presupposition that words are eternally affiliated with the meanings they convey. But it is also based onMadhva’s access to a lexicon entitled Vyāsa’s Nirukti with which his critics and perhaps even his commentators seem to be unfamiliar.While the precise status of this text is the subject of ongoing debate, Madhva’s possession of special insight into the sacred canon is established in part by his unique claim to be an avatāra of the wind god Vāyu and a direct disciple of Viṣṇu Himself in the form of Vyāsa₁. Thus, Madhva’s use of nirukta invokes his personal charisma to challenge not only conventional understandings of the hymns but traditional exegetic norms. Madhva’s provision of an alternative tradition of nirukta provoked sectarian debate throughout the Vijayanagara period over the extent to which one could innovate in established practices of reading the Veda. Articulating the Veda’s precise authority was a key feature of Brahmin debates during this period and reflects both the empire’s concern with promoting a shared religious ideology and the competition among rival Brahman sects for imperial patronage that this concern elicited. By looking at how two of Madhva’s most important commentators (the 14^th-century Jayatīrtha and the 17^th-century Rāghavendra) sought to defend his niruktis, this article will explore how notions of normative nirukta were articulated in response to Madhva’s deviations. At the same time, however, examining Madhva’s commentators’ defense of his niruktis also demonstrates the extent to which Madhva actually adhered to selected exegetic norms. This reveals that discomfort with Madhva’s particular methods for deriving words stemmed, in part, from a more general ambivalence towards this exegetical tactic whose inherent open-endedness threatened to undermine the fixity of the canon’s very substance: its language. Vyāsa’s Nirukti is one of several ”unknown sources” cited in Madhva’s commentaries whose exact status continues to be debated. Some scholars (e.g. Rao, Sharma, Siauve) maintain that these texts are part of a now lost Pāṅcarātra tradition that Madhva is attempting to preserve. This may be true for many of these citations. However, in addition to claiming to be both an avatāra of Vāyu and Viṣṇu-as-Vyāsa’s student, Madhva states in several places (e.g., VTN 42, RB 162) that the canon has suffered loss during transmission and that only Viṣṇu can reveal it in its entirety. Thus, it is possible that Madhva intends texts like Vyāsa’s Nirukti to be viewed as part of an ongoing and corrective revelation, a notion that is compatible with many Vaiṣṇava traditions (Halbfass, 1991: 4).     

Student mentoring to enhance graduates’ employability potential

This paper considers whether the adoption of a subject-specific, classroom-based, voluntary extra-curricular student mentoring scheme could provide an effective mechanism and andragogic approach to enhance higher education students’ employability potential pre-graduation.Over the three-year pilot, 26 more advanced (second to fourth year) undergraduate students actively mentored nearly 400 first year undergraduate students during workshops delivered annually within forensic and policing focused courses. In total, 17 mentors anonymously completed online, post-scheme surveys. Survey data was quantitatively analysed to evaluate the scheme, establish which skills and attributes mentors had developed and investigate whether mentors could appropriately identify example skills within professional terminology used during employer recruitment. In addition, this paper reflects on the implementation of remote student mentoring during the COVID-19 pandemic and its adoption within a blended learning framework.The results from this research strongly support mentoring as an effective mechanism to develop undergraduate employability skills, significantly developing mentors’ self-confidence and self-efficacy in their interpersonal and communication skills. Although mentors were aware of university graduate attributes and thought they could evidence these with appropriate examples, in practice this was not necessarily the case. As a result, a framework is proposed to enable mentors to identify their skills and how they may align with competencies sought by relevant forensic and policing employers. However, other andragogic practices may need to be implemented to maximise the potential for successful graduate employment.     

Policing Outlawed Desire: ‘Homocriminality’ in Beat Spaces in Australia

Drawing on interview data of gay men who have had their behavior in public spaces scrutinised by agents of the law for signs deviance, this article explores the historical characteristics of police animosity towards such conduct in Australia. This entails examining encounters between police and gay men who pursue desire in ‘beat’ (or ‘cottage’ to the use the UK term) spaces. Exploring why these outlaw gay male subjects are so abject and troubling to the law, the discussion documents how law’s desire to regulate gay men plays out in the masquerade of ‘plain-clothes’ agent provocateur operations where police entrap gay men by mimicking gay bodily appearances, gestures and mannerisms. This article also examines how police regulation of gay desire functions as a form of violence that delimits expressions of same sex desire in public spaces. A key theme that underpins the analyses in this paper is that the policing of desire in ‘beat’ spaces helps produce qualities of illicitness and dangerousness and that this, in turn, fuels the circuit of desire at play between gay men and agents of the law.