Introduction to the forum ‘The EU's Common Security and Defence Policy and the challenge of democratic legitimacy beyond the nation-state’

The democratic control and legitimacy of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) has received growing attention. However, thus far, studies have mostly focused on ‘blue prints’, i.e., the analysis of formal powers of formal institutions, especially the European Parliament. These studies leave two desiderata that the contributions to this forum aim at overcoming: Firstly, in-depth case studies are required on how formal institutions make actual use of their formal powers in CSDP. Secondly, an examination of the ‘sociocultural infrastructure’ in which formal institutions and decision-making processes are embedded is required. The contributions to this forum redress both deficits. First, the actual practices of parliamentary involvement in the case of the EU's first maritime mission ‘Atalanta’ are examined. Second, the most important dimensions of the ‘sociocultural infrastructure’ are empirically studied, namely public opinion, the public sphere and civil society.     

当代印度尼西亚的中国观演变

当代印尼中国观的演变对中国和印尼的双边关系乃至中国与周边国家关系产生重要影响。冷战结束以来,印尼的中国观从负面向正面方向演变。这种演变与印尼自身的民主改革、中国国力的提升与中国和印尼战略伙伴关系的确立密切相关。未来印尼的中国观将受到投资因素、跨国人口流动因素和美国因素等影响。而密切政治对话、强化社会人文交流和有序引导中国企业的投资将是保证未来印尼的中国观正向走向的关键举措。     

Change and Continuity in the European Union's Political Conditionality: Aims,Approach, and Priorities

The EU's political conditionality has acquired increasing importance with successive enlargements; this also goes for the period since 2004 compared with that before. The focus here is on change and continuity in conditionality policy with respect to its aims, approach, and priorities. The article presents and applies a three-dimensional analysis concerning the challenge to, the process of, and the management of that policy. Given the need for assessing it in a broad and dynamic context, the discussion revolves around three relationships: between conditionality and post-communist democratization; between conditionality and the enlargement process; and between conditionality and the EU itself in terms of institutional responsibility for enlargement and conditionality matters. This explains how the policy since 2004 has been driven by four factors: more difficult democratization cases from the West Balkans; lessons from the earlier 2004 enlargement involving East–Central Europe; the policy outlook of Commissioner Olli Rehn; and ‘enlargement fatigue’ and stronger pressures from EU actors other than the Commission. As a result, political conditionality has become broader in its scope, much tighter in its procedures, and less easy to control within a less enlargement-friendly environment in the EU and against less certainty about enlargement prospects.     

Turkey’s Judiciary and the Drift Toward Competitive Authoritarianism

Turkey has always been considered an “illiberal democracy”, or in Freedom House’s terms, a “partly-free” country. In recent years, however, there has been a downward trend toward “competitive authoritarianism”. Such regimes are competitive in that opposition parties use democratic institutions to contest seriously for power, but they are not democratic because the playing field is heavily skewed in favour of incumbents. One of the methods employed by competitive authoritarian leaders is the use of informal mechanisms of repression. This, in turn, requires a dependent and cooperative judiciary. Thus, in Turkey the year 2014 can be described as a period when the governing AKP (Justice and Development Party) made a sustained and systematic effort to establish its control over the judiciary by means of a series of laws of dubious constitutionality.     

实质和平的条件比较:当代东亚与战后西欧

在关于国家间战争(或非战争)原因的一般研究中,有两项最重要的论断,即领土争端的重要性以及政权类型的重要意义。前者在文章中的术语表述为\"领土和平\"假设;后者在一般文献中经常归纳为\"民主和平\"论题。作者致力于探讨的主要问题是:彼此有过战争历史的国家之间建立\"实质和平\",是否以上述两项议题的解决为前提条件。相关结论将用于分析第二次世界大战之后的西欧经验,其后将联系当今东亚形势展开分析。同样,文章还指出其中存在的、具有关键意义的不同之处。其中,东亚区域在向更持久的积极状态迈进时,必须考虑领土主权议题具有的特殊含义,后者构成\"实质和平\"的关键要素。此时,对于\"现实政治\"的关注也将加入相关国家的考量与平衡过程之中。     

Towards security governance as a critical tool: a conceptual outline

This article argues that security governance can and should be reframed as a critical tool that enables us to understand and reappraise concrete practices of security provision. Security governance needs to move beyond the functional mapping of different governing arrangements and the presumption that security governance leads to effective and legitimate problem-solving in a quasi-automatic manner. In this article, we propose a framework that identifies the essential characteristics of security governance and turns them into critical questions with the aim to reveal persisting frictions and dilemmas. First, we trace the rise of security governance as concept and practice over the past decade and identify its central characteristics with regard to prerequisites, structures and consequences. Second, we reframe the core characteristics of security governance into critical questions and thereby develop an understanding of security governance as a critical tool. Finally, we illustrate the relevance of this approach with examples from EU security governance.     

平等相待真诚友好——中国与东帝汶建立外交关系10周年回顾与展望

2012年是东帝汶独立10周年,也是中国与东帝汶建立外交关系10周年.建交以来,两国本着真诚友好、平等相待、相互支持、共同发展的原则,双边关系稳步发展.     

Horizontal accountability and the challenges for democratic consolidation in Africa: evidence from Liberia

Why are most African emerging democracies failing to consolidate and reach the two-turnover test? Most scholars attribute this to the poor quality of elections and limited institutionalization of vertical accountability, overlooking some important variables. This article challenges this conception both theoretically and empirically by focusing on the quality of horizontal accountability illustrated by observations of comparative interest in Liberia's emerging democracy. Since the end of Liberia's bloody civil war in 2003, two successive and successful democratic elections (2005 and 2011) have been organized, putting Liberia on the path towards democratic consolidation. When analysing the electoral mechanism of vertical2016 accountability, many scholars have been enthusiastic about the prospects of democratic consolidation in Liberia, most of them neglecting the horizontal accountability processes that are also crucial for the quality and durability of democracy. This article analyses the processes and challenges of democratic consolidation in Liberia by focusing on key institutions of horizontal accountability. It argues that although the country has made some progress towards democratization since 2005, the domination and centralization of executive power, weak and dependent institutions of horizontal accountability (legislature, judiciary, national elections commission, general auditing commission, and anti-corruption commission) are major challenges to the consolidation of democracy. These findings have important implications for our understanding of horizontal accountability and democratic consolidation in African emerging democracies.     

缅甸民主进程下中缅经贸合作分析

本文分析缅甸民主化进程对中国企业的影响。对今后中缅经贸合作提出了针对性的对策,主要有：发挥与缅甸接壤的区位优势、充分利用CAFTA和GMS的机制优势和缅甸皎漂港到我国瑞丽的通道优势、利用FTA原产地规则双向运作、加大本地化经营力度、做好公益事业、提高风险防范意识、积极利用新产生的机遇加强与缅甸的经贸合作等。