A deadlier post-9/11 terrorism landscape for the USA abroad: a quasi-experimental study of backlash effects of terrorism prevention

Journal of Experimental Criminology - The United States initiated sweeping counterterrorism efforts after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. This study tests a backlash hypothesis as it...     

How the Sino-Russian boundary conflict was finally settled

ABSTRACT

A territorial dispute deriving from nineteenth-century treaties imposed on China by an ascendant Russia became an integral element of the falling-out between the two great communist powers, the USSR and the People's Republic of China, in the second half of the twentieth century. That dispute, which came to be concentrated on the issue of the exact boundary alignment within the Amur and Ussuri Rivers, was made more intractable by the ideological estrangement between Moscow and Beijing. The dispute, in turn, fed back to embitter that estrangement. Contradictory interpretations of the nineteenth-century treaties taken by the two sides were compounded by their different approaches to the problem of boundary settlement: Beijing sought settlement on the basis of compromise, but insisted that could be achieved only through full renegotiation. Moscow read into Beijing's approach covert irredentism, refused to negotiate, and exerted military force to impose its own interpretation of the treaties. China resisted, meeting force with force, and in the 1969 clashes on the Ussuri River prevailed, bringing the conflict to the brink of all-out war. In 1986 Moscow broke a protracted deadlock by reversing its approach and agreeing to negotiate. By 2005 the full extent of the Sino-Russian boundary had been agreed and legitimized in new treaties.     

从权利救济宪法保障论公益诉讼制度

在各国宪法上,都会规定权利救济基本权的保障,其作用是在于给予人民排除不法侵害权益,并维护享有完整实体权利的机会,借以实现有权利即有救济的宪法保障原则。就行政诉讼而言,原则上虽须主张其诉讼和其个人权利有关,人民或团体才可享有诉权,但是,立法者另外得以法律明文规定,准许人民或团体为维护公益,对无关自己权益的事项提起行政诉讼,此时人民或团体也可享有诉权。在此,我们看到宪法上保障的权利救济基本权,除了作为主观权利的功能建构外,仍然存在作为客观法的建构可能性。也就是说,公益诉讼是立法者为了落实权利救济基本权的宪法保障,所设计的一种客观的制度性保障,而可以作为权利救济基本权在客观法上的功能建构。因此,本论文即从自我实现作为基本权的本质出发,尝试探讨基本权作为主观权利与客观法的法特征及其功能,建构公益诉讼作为权利救济的制度性保障,并借助德国行政诉讼上的团体诉讼制度,以分析公益诉讼在制度设计上的根本困境。     

Security of international civil aviation: The role of ICAO

Abstract

The International Civil Aviation Organization in the last twenty years has marshaled support of the overwhelming majority of its 150 member states in developing security programs and establishing a legal framework of international cooperation against terrorism in international aviation. The Tokyo Convention of 1963 establishes jurisdiction over offenses while an aircraft is in flight and grants a wide spectrum of powers to the aircraft commander to restrain a passenger. The Hague Convention of 1970 obliges states to punish the unlawful seizure of aircraft with severe penalties and to either extradite the offender or try him. The Montreal Convention of 1971 establishes a system of suppression of acts against aircraft, covering mostly acts on the ground that might endanger an aircraft in flight, and requires states to take practicable measures to prevent such offenses. In the past few years the number of countries adhering to these pacts and instituting improved security measures has increased significantly. Accompanying this trend has been a downward trend in acts of unlawful interference and seizure of aircraft to 147 in the 1978–1980 period compared to 245 in the 1969–1971 period. Nevertheless, only steadfast efforts by all nations can complete the job of eliminating unlawful interference with international civil aviation.     

Artifacts in the GC-MS profiling of underivatized methamphetamine hydrochloride

When underivatized methamphetamine hydrochloride (MA.HCl) in methanol is subjected to the instant gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric (GC-MS) profiling with old inlet liners at temperatures above 200 degrees C, appreciable amounts of N,N-dimethylamphetamine (DMA) and amphetamine (AP) are produced. The presence of these two artifacts is attributed to the N-demethylation and N-methylation reactions of MA as well as methyl group exchange with methanol. These artifacts are only produced in old injection port liners and at elevated temperatures. The formation of artifacts is proportional to concentration of MA.HCl. It is suggested that special cautions and measures be undertaken to prevent artifacts.     

Botswana: Industrial Court tackles HIV testing in the workplace

The Botswana Industrial Court recently decided two cases regarding mandatory HIV testing in the workplace. One case addressed constitutional rights of HIV-infected people, expanding the reach of the Bill of Rights to the private sphere and potentially offering wide protection to people living with HIV/AIDS. Both cases highlight the glaring need for HIV-related legislation in Botswana.     

Terminating Taiwan's Fourth Nuclear Power Plant under the Chen Shui-bian Administration

This article integrates the termination literature with the Punctuated‐Equilibrium (P‐E) model of policy change into a broader framework of policy termination to examine the Chen Shui‐bian administration's abrupt decision to terminate Taiwan's fourth nuclear power plant (FNPP) as well as to explore the evolution of agenda‐setting for the FNPP's termination over a decade. The termination of the FNPP may be viewed as a result of interactions among the nuclear policy image, the institutional venue, and the political or policy strategy over time, as indicated in the integrated framework. Nevertheless, changing nuclear policy image is not sufficient to automatically change the institutional venue in the process of Taiwan's transition from an authoritarian regime to a pluralist political system. Before venue shopping for policy termination, antinuclear activists had to ally with the Democratic Progressive Party to struggle for opening up Taiwan's political institutions along with Taiwan's democratization. On the other hand, as a consequence of Taiwan's recent democratization, antinuclear activists were unsuccessful in terminating the FNPP in the absence of sufficient political resources, notwithstanding a major venue change from the Kuomintang (KMT) government to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government under President Chen's leadership. Furthermore, besides domestic venues, international institutions also appear to be important to the creation and maintenance of the nuclear policy system, as well as to the dramatic reversal of the Chen administration's termination decision in this case.