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.     

Hard and Soft Law in the Construction of Social Europe: the Role of the Open Method of Co-ordination

Abstract:  The debate over the Open Method of Co-ordination has reopened discussion of the role of 'soft law' in the process of European integration. This paper outlines the debate over the relative value of hard and soft law in EU social policy, explores the operation of non-binding objectives and guidelines in the European Employment Strategy, suggests a number of reasons why 'soft law' might be effective in this area, and explores the possibility for productive combination of hard and soft law measures.     

在软法与硬法之间:裁量基准效力的法理定位

在认识软法的效力和功能时,不能忽视软法与硬法之间的复杂关联性。软法作为"法"除了具有"软约束力"之外,也能够借助于某种硬法保障方式或机制发挥"硬"的作用。就裁量基准的效力而言,其对内的拘束力主要是基于行政机关的领导权或监督权而产生,并往往通过行政机关内部激励、评议考核和责任追究等自我约束机制来实现。同时,裁量基准作为软法的范畴,不能直接为法院所适用,但是借助于立法授权旨意要求的说明理由制度以及裁量基准自身体现出来的法律原则的适用效力等硬法保障机制,也可以获得一种间接的司法适用,从而产生对外的法律效力。     

John M. Conley and William M. O'Barr,Just Words: Law,Language, and Power

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique -     

信号传递、社会规范与法律——评Eric A.波斯纳的《法律与社会规范》

长期以来,对社会规范的研究并不是法律经济学的重心,人们更关注正式的法律制度.这表现在,当权利交换需要一个初始界定时,当个体理性与集体理性发生冲突时(如囚徒困境[1]、公地悲剧[2]以及其它的集团行动问题[3]),人们更容易想到的是法律,而不是社会规范.     

细事细治 ——基层网格化中的科层化精细治理与社会修复

【问题】国家治理体系的落地需要微观治理机制的完善。网格化是近些年发展出的一种重要基层治理机制。然而,谁在治理,怎样治理,治理什么?网格化治理体现了什么样的治理逻辑,又有何种后果?这些问题在文献中并没有系统答案。【方法】本文从治理主体、治理方式、治理内容三个角度,采取内容分析法,对广州市某区2013年1-3月网格化服务管理信息系统登记的2091起事件进行研究。【发现】首先,科层化精细治理:网格化服务管理通过设置网格和购买网格员服务的方式,使得国家科层制组织体系延伸到比社区还要微观的基层社会领域,直接处理日常社会中的“细事”。其次,社会修复效应:网格化服务管理是在社会的日常自我修复能力不足的情况下,国家改革基层以“官进民退”促进基层社会修复的一项制度安排。因此,抑制国家权力过度介入基层日常社会事务需要社会自身提升“日常社会修复”能力。【贡献】本文尝试立足基层治理内容探究国家治理与社会发展的逻辑,以“治理什么”视角拓展国家治理研究视域,以“社会修复”范畴丰富“社会秩序何以可能”问题的研究范式。     

T. Weatherall,Jus Cogens: International Law and Social Contract

Netherlands International Law Review -