The limits of environmental remediation protocols for environmental justice cases: lessons from Vieques,Puerto Rico

The United States Federal Government has repeatedly put the people of Vieques, Puerto Rico in harm’s way due to the injurious after-effects of air-to-ground weapons testing. Most of the harm happened during the Navy’s 70 years on the island. Yet, the harm continues today considering that aspects of the cleanup count as continued acts of environmental injustice, viewed within the context of the island’s colonial history. Usually, this harm deals with public health issues, but the remediation protocols do not account for considerations such as cultural identity and heritage. This paper shows how the procedures for environmental remediation in Vieques qualify as a case of environmental injustice according to Robert M. Figueroa’s ‘environmental justice paradigm.’ The aim of employing this kind of approach is to pinpoint the underlying reasons why this is a case of environmental injustice.     

Prosecuting in paradise – race,politics and the rule of law in Fiji

This article looks at the violent coup in Fiji in 2000 led by George Speight in which the multiracial Government of Mahendra Chaudhary was overthrown. The article gives an insider's account of a subsequent criminal trial of some senior political figures who had supported Speight, including the Vice-President of Fiji. They were charged with taking treasonous oaths of office to serve in a rebel Government under Speight at a time when the legitimate Head of State, President Ratu Sir Kamasisi Mara, was struggling to prevent the nation from descending into total chaos and anarchy. The article considers how the trial had important ramifications for the rule of law in this developing south Pacific nation.     

我国文化遗产保护法律体系：构建与发展

文化遗产是一个国家、民族自我认同和身份的象征,是该国软实力的重要组成部分,从法律的角度厘清它的内涵与外延具有重要意义。应当从法律角度解释文化遗产的概念,梳理我国文化遗产保护的立法历程,阐述该法律部门体系化的构建,并以“生态人类中心主义”价值理念为指导,在立法上完成向非物质、整体、动态文化遗产保护的转变。     

The rules of the road, a universal visual semiotics

The rules of the road form part an international willingness to simplify the understanding of road regulations worldwide. There is still an attempt to harmonise all regulations, but some countries are reluctant to do so as they fear a loss of their domestic sovereignty. Indeed, with the increase in car use for private or professional reasons, accidents have become one the central issue in international politics; and one way to curb accidents is said to have a universal visual road semiotics. However as this cultural discernment of road signs in civil society (i.e. visual encoding) has become popular, many other forms of use have derived from it for other purposes than road regulations.     

Legal system: can one speak about secondary modeling system in law?

The essay examines possible affinities betweenTartu-Moscow school of cultural semiotics andlegal semiotics. The introduction briefly setsout a historical dimension of the ideologicalintegration of Tartu-Moscow semiotics (inbroader context Tartu semiotics) into thegeneral framework of legal semiotics. It arguesthat there was a `real' historical mediationbetween the members of Tartu-Moscow schoolsemiotic circle and legal scholars from Tartu.The acceptance of such a bridging link betweenlegal academic community and semioticians couldgive further impetus to construction of aspecial model of `Tartu legal semiotics'.The development of Tartu-Moscow `legalsemiotics' could be illustrated by theimplementation of a special explanatoryframework, which provide insights into the wayTartu semiotics wedded to a legal positivistphilosophy. Particular importance of such aframework (model of legal semiotics) rest onfact that the academic ideology of Tartu-Moscowschool reflects and conforms to all thehistorical peculiarities of the Soviet epoch(these peculiarities should be always kept inmind). In order to adopt Tartu-Moscow semioticsto legal semiotics, semiotic theory ofTartu-Moscow school must be recast in terms oflegal semiotics The dissemination of semioticstudies in late Soviet epoch enabled them to belinked to various theoretical enquiries intothe domain of legal methodology, ontology andepistemology. This essay puts a specialemphasis on the notion of `secondary modelingsystem' as a natural pattern for `systemacity'within the universe of law. However, in orderto understand the semiotic value of `legalsystem' it is necessary to have recourse toother systems. Therefore, this paper examinesdifferent system dimensions of law: fromgeneral notion of system and theory ofautopoetic system to sign systems.The possible synthesis of logical, sociologicaland semiotic approaches to the system of lawopens a wider multidisciplinary perspective;moreover the need for multidisciplinarysynthesis is pertinent to contemporaryphilosophical concerns. The main analyticaltask of essay is to provide an answer to aquestion of whether core semiotic concept of a`secondary modeling system' (amongst otherconcepts like `boundary', `semiosphere',`culture' and `text') is capable of enrichingand clarifying legal philosophy in a widerperspective and the semiotic account of law inparticular. A positive answer to the questionwill favor the further tight integration ofTartu-Moscow semiotic concepts into the domainof legal semiotics.     

Convergence in British Cultural Policy: The Social,the Cultural,and the Economic

It is increasingly the case that cultural policy at all levels of governance is expected to address a suite of concerns much broader than those traditionally associated with the arts and creative practice. Indeed, in many nations, including most notably Britain, the concerns of cultural policy now embrace the economic and the social, as well as the cultural. In Britain, this convergence is occurring as part of a broader policy concern to ameliorate social exclusion by providing people with opportunities to participate in the creative economy. Drawing on the findings of a major study of the factors shaping cultural policy internationally, this article identifies and maps the priorities, key intersections, and convergences associated with these priorities in British cultural policy. The article argues that, in spite of taking different forms and having varying emphases depending on the constituency and the level of governance involved, the convergence agenda currently dominating British cultural policy is nevertheless remarkably consistent in terms of the discourses surrounding culture, the remit of the cultural sphere, and strategic policy implementation.     

Pacific Perspectives: Fa’afafine and Fakaleiti in Samoa and Tonga: People Between Worlds

The law is full of labels which serve to define the concept, person or principle under consideration. These labels have their uses but can also create straight-jackets when applied in different social and cultural environments. This paper considers some of the challenges posed by groups of people in the Pacific countries of Samoa and Tonga. A variety of labels may be used to describe such people: transgender; gender-liminal; transvestite; gay, but none fully encompass what it is to be fa’afafine or fakaleiti. These individuals are both integrated and marginalised in their island countries and among the Polynesian Diaspora. They have a place in customary society, but are also influenced by the more global contemporary picture. They are therefore part of tradition but also symbols of change. The legal environment in which they lived is shaped by colonialism but there are also neo-colonial forces at work which threaten and shape their identity. In many respects therefore, they find themselves between two worlds: gender enlightened and gender repressed.     

Colonialism's Civilizing Mission: The Case of the Indian Hemp Drug Commission

This paper examines a particular episode in the history of British imperialism in India: the appointment of the Indian Hemp Drug Commission in 1893. We analyze the way a quasi-judicial investigation into the consumption of drugs was differently conceived and executed as a civilizing mission by, on the one hand, British colonizers, and, on the other hand, an aspiring colonized elite. By bringing together the ideological dimensions of a civilizing mission (e.g., the reliance on scientific knowledge, groper procedures, legal techniques) with its social ones (e.g., collaboration between colonizers and a local elite), we show how the very notion of a civilizing mission became a site of struggle over meaning, identity, and desirable forms of governance. The analysis reveals a local elite struggling to position itself at once on a par with British criteria of scientific competence and yet not as a mere proxy for British interests; at once able to articulate itself in terms of enlightenment concepts such as reason and modernity and yet celebrating its own distinct cultural authenticity.     

Perceived Distributive Fairness of EU Transfer Payments, Outcome Favorability, Identity, and EU-Tax Compliance

In a representative UK study (N = 1000) the link between distributive fairness perceptions, outcome favorability, identity, and tax compliance was researched in the context of European transfer payments. Results showed that both forms of tax compliance (i.e., individual and collective EU-tax compliance) were influenced by perceived distributive fairness judgments of EU transfer payments. Fairness itself was related to perceived outcome favorability (i.e., whether their own nation benefits from the EU in financial as well as socio-political terms). Additionally, national identifiers (i.e., people identifying with their own nation, but not with Europe) perceived EU membership as unbeneficial in financial as well as in socio-political terms and thus considered the transfer payments as less fair. Dual identifiers (i.e., people identifying with their own nation and with Europe) perceived the socio-political outcomes from EU membership as more beneficial and thus evaluated the transfer payments as fairer.     

Medical malpractice litigation: do the British have a better remedy?

Medical malpractice claims are filed nearly ten times more frequently in America than they are in Great Britain. British patients generally adopt a less adversarial stance toward medical malpractice than do American patients. This Article examines the British malpractice system, as compared with the American system, and explores the differences between the two, in terms of costs and fees, liability rules, statutory provisions, and judicial attitudes toward malpractice litigation. The Article also discusses British social and institutional factors, such as the "taint" of litigation and the National Health Service, and evaluates how these factors affect British malpractice litigation. The Article presents the alternative forums available to British patients in seeking satisfaction for their medical service complaints. The Article concludes with an evaluation of how these factors achieve the three societal objectives of malpractice litigation: reparation, emotional vindication and deterrence.     

Outrunning the Past: European Influences in Building Cultural Policies in Romania and the Role of the Romanian Cultural Institute

ABSTRACT

Europeanization challenged the post-Communist countries with a series of difficulties and opportunities regarding the process of cultural policymaking. The exchange of information took place simultaneously with the process of national policymaking, influencing it. The article tackles this two-fold process and its implications in an endeavor to embrace sociocultural diversity on the one hand, and the attempt to harmonize national systems on the other hand. Culture is deeply linked to the perception of national identity, tradition, representation, and policy. Romanian culture and cultural policies have progressed through different stages in the last few decades: from Communist censorship and the disturbing period after the Revolution, to European pre-accession and post-accession, when cultural policies aimed to comply with the European directives for culture.     

A New History of Colonial Lawyering: Likhovski and Legal Identities in the British Empire

The history of the legal profession has been dominated by Richard Abel's monopolization thesis, and by Terence C. Halliday and Lucien Karpik's political model of lawyers as maintainers of liberal polities. By contrast, Assaf Likhovski's legal history of mandate Palestine treats lawyers and judges as cultural intermediaries who shaped the legal identity of Jewish and Arab communities. This article situates Likhovski's book within a growing body of scholarship on non-European lawyering in the British Empire. It links Likhovski's case studies to legal figures from colonial India, West Africa, and Malaya, all of whom acted as cultural translators and ethnographic intermediaries in the formation of colonial identities.     

司法权威的文化建构机理

作为一种文化现象，司法权威取决于人们对司法主体的文化定位、司法过程的文化认同和司法结果的文化支持。司法主体权威的内：函、能量和界限取决于司法角色的文化定位、司法功能的文化期待和司法管辖范围的文化选择；司法活动是寻找事实和寻求法律的文化认识、文化评价和文化选择的过程，其权威根源于文化认同，来自于文化共识，立基于文化解释。司法裁判的权威深受人们诉讼观念的影响，尊重司法结果的文化意识是司法权威确立的前提，认同司法结果的文化取向是司法权威的基础，支持司法最终解决的文化理念是司法权威的支撑。只有给法官能够独立思考和判断的空间，只要对司法机关作出的事实判断、法律解释、司法立法给予足够的尊重、理解和支持，法官才能摆脱外在的各种压力，真正走向自治和自强，从而不断地提升司法的权威性。     

香港青年内地发展政策与大湾区“融合发展”--基于HKPSSD数据的实证研究

促进港澳青年"北上"内地发展,融入国家发展大局,最终实现"人心回归",是"粤港澳大湾区"政策体系中的重要内容和目标。回归以来,中央已累计推出100多项鼓励香港青年到内地发展的政策,其效果和机制亟需进行评估。论文基于香港社会动态追踪调查HKPSSD数据,以国家认同作为政策效标,评估现有内地发展政策对香港青年国家认同的效应,并从心理层面考察其作用机制。研究发现,频繁返回内地对青年国家认同确有提升作用,心理融合在此过程中起到完全中介作用。该机制在通过倾向值匹配进行稳健性检验后依然稳健,并且心理融合的中介效应量有所上升。研究表明,香港青年内地发展政策已取得了一定程度的积极效应,心理融合在机制中起到关键的效能转化作用。在粤港澳大湾区"融合发展"的战略目标和制度框架底下,做好心理融合工作,将是香港青年内地发展经历转化为国家归属感的重要抓手。     

坚持人民至上的逻辑理路

中国共产党的根基在人民、血脉在人民、力量在人民.坚持人民至上是文化逻辑、历史逻辑、政治逻辑、理论逻辑、实践逻辑的统一,是衡量每一名共产党员、每一名领导干部政治素养的重要标尺,也是治国理政思想的出发点和落脚点,更是实现中华民族伟大复兴的根本保证.     

学校教育情境中族群认同感的建构——内地西藏班的个案研究

本研究对某一内地西藏学校进行了个案分析,采用了日记与文件分析法、访谈法与非参与观察法.在族群认同感建构主义方法的框架下对影响藏族学生族群认同感建构的国家政策情境、学校地方社区情境与学校情境进行了剖析.研究发现学校对于学生族群认同感的建构存在两种张力:一是国家和学校通过国家意识形态的渗透而指定的学生的族群认同感,二是学生通过自身藏族文化符号的再现而声称的族群认同感.国家和学校期望藏族学生在中华民族多元一体化格局的框架下建构族群认同感,以便实现其政治与经济利益.     

Family as a commonsensical device and its place in law★

This paper is in five main parts. The first introduces membership categorisation analysis (MCA) as originally outlined by Harvey Sacks and, here, as a possible extension of semiotic analysis. MCA is broadly a contribution to discourse analysis in general and to conversation analysis in particular. The approach concerns membership categorisation devices such as family, the categories they can contain such as ‘mother’, ‘father’, ‘child’, etc. and the category-bound activities or predicates commonsensically attachable to such categories. The second section looks at the legal background to family law in Australia and shows that its basic assumption is, by and large and with some exceptions, to work from categories (what people are) rather than from predicates (what they in fact do). In the third section, we examine a particular Family Court case (Re Patrick) which highlights the contestation between these approaches. Following this, we examine some recent shifts in the Australian states and territories towards more predicationally-based legislation and argue for their coherence in contemporary society and its increasingly flexible conceptions of what may constitute a family. Finally, we return to the question of semiotics generally and make a case for our MCA-based distinctions as contributions to a possible semiotics of law. In the beginning was the deed – Goethe     

加强官员对财产申报制度的社会心理认同

官员财产申报制度已被各国在反腐实践中公认为有效的＂阳光法案＂。在我国,长期的制度缺失不仅增加了反腐败的难度和成本,而且诱发了腐败分子的侥幸心理。近年来,我国官员财产申报制度试点过程表明,制度实施的阻力主要来自官员阶层。官员财产申报除了制度要素本身的制定和完善之外,还需要一个社会心理的认同和达成基本共识的过程,而这种共识的形成又不可能完全依靠官员的自发认识,需要从内在认知和外在条件两方面不断强化和推动。目前,应从＂隐私保护＂、＂行为追溯＂、＂潜在风险＂、＂势在必行＂四个焦点问题上逐步达成共识,加强认同,以期为制度的不断完善和真正实施做好准备。     

Visual Jurisprudence of the American Yellow Traffic Light

In the United States, the steady yellow light means that a driver should either speed up or slow down. State laws written about a driver’s behavior at these yellow lights are vague and indeterminate and result in what is referred to as the dilemma zone (Hurwitz et al. in Transp Res Part F Traffic Psychol Behav 15(2): 132–143, 2012). This paper will reconsider law’s vagueness as intentional rather than problematic, insofar as cultural understandings of the yellow light lead to a framework of visual jurisprudence in which drivers interact with law through legal discretion and common sense confronting a yellow light. Through a jurisprudential juxtaposition between the yellow light and red light cameras used to enforce yellow lights, the semiotics of automaticity compete with the semiotics of context-bound decision-making.     

Life on the atoll: Singapore ecology as a neglected dimension of social order

Based on field interviews in Singapore in 1985, 1997, and 2003, this article addresses the issue of how island ecology helps explain the remarkable low rates of crime that are often attributed mainly to cultural and government policies. Understanding crime and control on this most densely populated Southeast Asian atoll must begin with how people are dispersed over the limited spatial area. Ecology also influences how styles of some crimes are defined and controlled. Several of Donald Black's propositions are given further consideration.