Cultural Minority Rights and the Rights of the Majority in the Liberal State

Traditional liberalism's blindness to cultural concerns has often come under fire, while so-called “liberal multiculturalism” (Taylor and Kymlicka) has made it its business to take a good look at the place of culture within liberal law. According to them, cultural minorities should be recognized. In my opinion, however, their proposals, in fact, almost entirely preclude the possibility that cultural minorities would receive recognition within liberal society. In what follows, I explain my view of these matters and, above all, argue for a more vital understanding of cultural minorities. This will entail presenting a comprehensive view of minority rights within liberal society.     

冲突与选择:多数者权利和少数者权利

权利冲突问题一直以来都是法学研究的一个热点,同时也是一个难点,而多数人权利与少数人权利的冲突问题,则可以说是难点中的难点。因为处理不好,它有可能导致民主制度的颠覆或多数人的暴政等问题;另一方面,我们的法治实践中确实又已经出现了相关问题。该如何面对?思考的结果,应坚持冲突的必然性原则,并优先保护高位阶的权利,这也是我们的法治实践所可能采取的一种解决方案。     

Ideological Distance from the Majority Party and Public Approval of Congress

Abstract: We analyze whether or not perceived ideological distance from the congressional majority party influences individuals' approval of the way Congress as a whole handles its job. We argue that, to the extent citizens see the majority party as representing an ideological stance that is distant from their own, they are unlikely to feel that Congress is representing them and therefore will be less supportive toward Congress. In contrast, when members of the public feel that the congressional majority is close to them ideologically, they are likely to feel well represented by and thereby approve of Congress. Using cross‐sectional data covering periods of Democratic, Republican, and split party control of Congress (1980–98), this analysis provides strong support for the ideological proximity argument.     

Minority Rights and Majority Power: Theoretical Consequences of the Motion to Recommit

Abstract: Motivated by the U.S. Congress's motion to recommit with instructions to report forthwith, we analyze a simple spatial model to clarify the relationship between early‐stage agenda‐setting rights of a committee or the majority party, a late‐stage minimum parliamentary right of the minority party or a noncommittee member, and the distribution of power over outcomes. The extent to which certain parliamentary rights empower agents is dependent on the relative locations of the exogenous status quo and the preferences of the legislators. We derive comparative statics on the relationship between proposal order and power by considering a model that allows preference heterogeneity and status quo centrality to vary. Finally, we relate the findings to recurring substantive debates on majority party power and committee power.     

Legitimacy,Political Equality,and Majority Rule

Abstract. This paper claims that the intuitive and widespread legitimating power of majority rule (MR) arises from the link between majority rule and the principle of equality of political opportunity. The egalitarian character of MR is established by exploring “puzzles” in democratic theory, such as the insensitivity of democratic voting procedures to unequal intensity of citizens' preferences, and the relationship between the principle of unanimity (sometimes thought better to respect citizens' equality) and MR. Special attention is directed to the relationship between political equality and equality in the outcomes of political decisions: The claim is made that the language of equal political opportunity captures well the idea of equal political influence, in the circumstance of disagreement about what is required to achieve equal treatment through the outcomes of political decisions.     

Minority Rights and Majority Power: Conditional Party Government and the Motion to Recommit in the House

Students of legislative politics have struggled to explain and measure party influence on voting and outcomes in Congress. Proponents of strong party effects point to the numerous procedural advantages enjoyed by the majority party as evidence of party effects, yet recent theoretical work by Krehbiel and Meirowitz (2002) argues that House rules guaranteeing the minority a motion to recommit with instructions effectively balances the procedural advantages enjoyed by the majority. This article identifies and tests the empirical implications of the Krehbiel and Meirowitz theory, using roll‐call data from the 61st to 107th Congresses (1909–2002). The results call into question the validity of Krehbiel and Meirowitz's conclusions about party government in the House and provide support for the theory of conditional party government.     

Explaining Majority and Minority Trust in the Police

This article tests the contribution that social capital theory, performance theory, and the procedural justice-based model can make towards explaining the trust of majority and minority group members in the police. The central research questions are: (1) do the same factors determine their levels of trust? and (2) are the effects parallel? To answer these questions, we carried out regression analyses on data collected from majority and minority group members living in Belgium (960 face-to-face interviews). The results show that, although the three theories offer explanatory elements for members of both majority and minority groups, the explanation of their trust in the police is not identical. Implications for research and theorization are discussed.     

股东平等原则与资本多数决的矫治

股东平等是正义价值在公司法中的具体体现,分为形式平等和实质平等两个层面。股权平等只是股东平等的形式表现,不能将其简单地等同于股东平等。资本多数决原则是股权平等的逻辑结果,是股东程序公正的体现,若不受任何限制,可能造成股东实质不平等的结果。在公司民主和公司自治无法解决大股东对小股东权利侵吞的场合,要依靠法律赋予小股东特殊的权利,对大股东课以更重的责任,以矫治资本多数决可能出现的不当结果,实现股东之间的实质平等。     

Attitudes about electronic monitoring: Minority and majority racial group differences

Past public opinion research routinely uncovered significant variation in attitudes toward justice system policies among different racial groups. The bulk of punishment attitudinal research, for the most part, focused on more severe sanctions, namely, incarceration and the death penalty. More recent research investigated the perspectives and experiences associated with intermediate sanctions. There are few intermediate sanctions receiving more attention than the use of electronic monitoring, especially with sex offenders. In this article, it is demonstrated that non-White college students have significantly different attitudes about the punitiveness and inequality of electronic monitoring. These findings were uncovered through 599 completed surveys from two universities, and using factor analysis and least-squares regression analysis. Theoretical and practical implications for continued use of this sanction are discussed.     

Race and Determinations of Discrimination: Vigilance,Cynicism, Skepticism,and Attitudes about Legal Mobilization in Employment Civil Rights

What factors affect whether ordinary citizens believe that workplace decisions involving African‐American employees rise to the level of discrimination? When do observers believe targets of possible race discrimination should consider mobilizing the law? We use a factorial design vignette study administered to a nationally representative sample of 2,087 ordinary people to address these questions. The “vigilance hypothesis” predicts that minorities will be more likely to perceive discrimination than whites. Our analysis partially confirms this: African Americans perceive anti‐Black discrimination at higher rates than do whites and Latinos, while Latinos do not show a significant difference from whites. Where respondents believe discrimination occurred, we analyze what influences whether respondents might recommend legal mobilization. The “cynicism hypothesis” suggests that people of color may be less likely to favor using law. We find, however, that African‐American and Latino respondents express more confidence in civil litigation, compared to whites. Further, African Americans express the strongest support for legal mobilization (recommending that a “friend” contact an attorney), while whites and Latinos do not differ in mobilization recommendations.     

法治·德治·公安

道德与人类俱来。道德与法律从来密切。法律的独立与疏远道德。"道德赤字"时代,新世纪呼唤道德。亟需道德价值观补课,达到五项共识。德与法均衡发展,使法律的权威建立在人民自觉的基础上。中国走向法治与德治相结合,德治工程时不我待。公安法制应与公安道德相结合,公安工作具有道德性,道德预防是公安预防的主要防线,公安道德是公安软实力。公安立法、执法、守法都要坚持伦理原则,应以德建警。     

Predictors of Death Sentencing for Minority,Equal, and Majority Female Juries in Capital Murder Trials

The relatively small body of prior research investigating whether the sex composition of juries impacts sentencing decisions has produced equivocal results. Exploring this topic further, the current study used a large sample of capital cases from North Carolina (n = 675) to examine (a) whether jury sex composition predicted jury capital punishment sentencing decisions; and (b) whether there were different models of sentencing for male-majority, equal male-female, and female-majority juries. When we controlled for a number of legal and extralegal factors, our findings indicated that jury sex composition was independently related to sentencing outcomes. Specifically, equal male-female juries were significantly more likely and female-majority juries were significantly less likely to choose the death penalty versus a sentence of life in prison. In addition, different models (predictors) of sentencing were revealed for each of the jury sex compositions. Implications for future research and policy are discussed.     

财产权、税收和法治的实现

2007年5月30日财政部突然大幅提高印花税,导致股市遭受重创,也给人们带来了很多思索。财政部不恰当地使用税收手段调整股市,凸显了税收法定主义在当下中国阙失所造成的严重后果。毫无疑问,不符合税收法定主义的课税行为不但是对公民财产权的严重侵犯,而且可能会使实现法治的梦想最终落空。在此意义上,行政法学应当关注因税收而引发的种种法治问题并做出自己应有的贡献。     

公法法治：从尊重私权开始

对法治问题的探讨已经历时久远,众所周知,法治的核心内容是基于保障个人自由和权利的需要而对国家权力施加必要的限制,现在,我们又处于一个界定权利的时代,一个认真对待权利的时代,因此,明确公法法治的目标显得尤为重要。本文的视角就在于以私权为中心,从公法内外入手来把握公法法治的问题,认为要实现公法法治,必须培育公法主体的现代法精神,使其尊重私权利,公法法治应从尊重私权开始。     

关于法治的理念、态度与方法--评陈金钊著《法治与法律方法》

近世以来,对法律不确定性的认识引发了对传统法治理论和法律方法论的广泛怀疑.在这种学术背景下,<法治与法律方法>对法治与法律方法问题进行了重新研究,以阐明维护法治的态度,指出法律理念、态度与方法对于法治的意义.虽然在此理论建构中可能还存在一些需要进一步研究的问题,但在当下中国的法学语境中,<法治与法律方法>从理论和实践两个层面对法治做出了富有成效的诠释.     

Liberalism and Minority Rights. An Interview

The interview focuses on Kymlicka's major area of research, i.e., the issue of minority rights. Kymlicka explains why the rights of national minorities have been traditionally neglected in the Western political tradition. He argues that these rights promote individual freedom, and so should be seen as promoting liberal democratic principles. The interview covers many issues including the relationship between ethno-cultural groups and other forms of "identity politics"; how to individuate cultural groups with legitimate claims to minority rights; whether something like a "cosmopolitan view" can seriously challenge the need for minority rights; what are the dangers of building transnational political institutions such as the EU for democratic citizenship; what are the bases of social unity in multination states and what are the limits of toleration of illiberal minorities.     

宏观调控与少数人权利保障——以东北平原小规模粮农为对象

对东北平原小规模粮农调查发现,在现行粮食政策下,平抑粮价行为使小规模粮农的权益受到较大损害,而作为保护性政策的种粮补贴及最低收购价制度在实践中又不能发挥应有的保护作用.因此应当从完善少数人诉求表达渠道、强化政府政策工具选择能力以及建立受害者权益补偿机制等方面建立和完善少数人权利保障机制.     

Slavery,Partisanship, and Procedure in the U.S. House: The Gag Rule, 1836–1845

From the 24th through the 28th Congresses, the House of Representatives operated under versions of a “gag rule” that blocked petitions dealing with abolition and related matters. This article presents the gag rule as not only a historically important window into slavery deliberations in Congress but also a case study in majority party restrictions of minority rights—and in the boundaries that constituency politics can place on majority power. Through analysis of vote choices and voting changes over time, I demonstrate that the gag rule's partisan origins gave way as northern members voted against party and with specific constituency pressures as well as general sectional sentiment. The gag rule shows the power of electoral considerations and constituency in the early U.S. House, and it also illustrates the force that constituency can have over majority procedural maneuvering.