A New Phase of European Integration: Organised Capitalisms in Post-Ricardian Europe

In the past, economic integration in Europe was largely compatible with the preservation of different national varieties of capitalism. While product market integration intensified competition, member states could build on and foster their respective comparative advantage. Today, this no longer unequivocally holds true. This article contends that a new, ‘post-Ricardian’ phase of European integration has emerged in which the Commission's and the European Court of Justice's (ECJ's) attempts to promote economic integration systematically challenge the institutions of organised capitalism. It demonstrates this by discussing recent disputes over the Services Directive, the Takeover Directive, and company law. In the current phase of European integration, the Commission's and the ECJ's liberalisation attempts either transform the institutional foundations on which some of the member states' economic systems rely or they create political resistance to an extent that challenges the viability of the European project.     

Evaluation Processes,Local Cadres' Behaviour and Local Development Processes

This study investigates the impact of political evaluations on the behaviour of leading county and township cadres in rural China. The article is structured in two parts. In the first section the institutional foundations of the evaluation system for local administrations in rural China will be introduced. The section will conclude with a brief overview of policy reforms initiated by the centre to tackle some of the perceived shortcomings of the present system. The second part of this article will feature the behavioural responses of local cadres to evaluations as identified in our field research interviews and secondary literature. It becomes obvious that the performance evaluation system and its targets have become an important point of orientation for local cadres—although there are important variations among different groups of officials. Finally, in the conclusion the argument for an alternative perspective on performance evaluations in the context of rural China will be developed: on the one side a channel for specialised political communication, steering cadres' behaviour and promoting an incentive system; on the other side a trigger to a multitude of social responses of leading local cadres. In the end these social responses might have more influence on cadre behaviour than the incentives embodied in the evaluations themselves.     

欧债危机下的欧元国际地位及其前景

本文首先从短期动态角度分析欧债危机以来欧元的国际货币地位受到的一些冲击,然后运用LAC准则从中长期制度视角揭示欧元体系的效率缺陷与欧债危机、欧元国际地位的内在联系.我们发现了欧债危机以来欧元国际地位受到拖累的一些证据,但总体来说这种拖累还相当温和.在利用LAC准则考察欧元体系效率时,我们认为欧元体系在失衡调节的充足性、对称性和国际流动性的充分可得性等方面存在缺陷,这些缺陷是导致欧债危机爆发和持续的重要原因,并对欧元中长期国际地位构成强烈制约.     

Vollstreckung eines Naturschutzverbands aus einem Prozessvergleich, in dem ermessensbindende wasserrechtliche Gestattungsvoraussetzungen für das Befahren eines geschützten Gewässers zwischen Naturschutzverband und Behörde festgelegt wurden

Keine Zusammenfassung     

Wintersport zwischen staatlicher und privater Regulierung

Der Betätigung des Menschen in der freien Natur kommt auch eine Ausgleichsfunktion zu. Die dabei auftretenden Konflikte lassen sich mit unterschiedlichen Erfolgsaussichten einer rechtlichen Behandlung zuführen. Am Beispiel des wintersportlichen Tourengehens soll gezeigt werden, wie sich staatlich gesetztes Recht als ein mögliches Instrument des Naturschutzes darstellt und welche Alternativen in der Praxis genutzt werden, um die häufig bemühten Phänomene der Verrechtlichung und des Vollzugsdefizits gerade im Frei- und Freizeitraum Natur zu vermeiden.     

How Do Americans Evaluate China's International Responsibility? An Empirical Assessment

China in recent years has been asked by other major powers to take a greater share in international responsibility in response to the rise in China's national capability. Negative perceptions about how China is dodging its international responsibility exist not only among policy makers around the world, but have spread to worldwide mass publics, especially across the American people. In this article, we apply the dataset from the ‘Americans’ Attitudes toward China Survey' (AACS) to investigate what the American public think of China's international responsibility and which factors explain the varying evaluations from different theoretical perspectives. The results indicate that Americans' negative evaluations of China's international responsibility are associated with poor ratings regarding China's fulfillment of its domestic obligations and apprehension regarding China's potential threat, but has little to do with China's international behavior. To reduce these negative evaluations, China needs to improve its human rights conditions, give people more political rights, and convince the American public of the benevolence of its ascending power. In addition, persistent efforts toward soft-power construction are also very important since Americans who are interested in Chinese culture or knowledge tend not to think that China is dodging its international responsibility.     

Repression Backfires: tactical radicalization and protest spectacle in rural China

In spring 2005, villagers in Dongyang County, Zhejiang were unhappy. For four years they had been complaining about pollution emitted by 13 factories located in the Zhuxi Chemical Park, but nothing had been done. So they set up a tent encampment to block delivery of supplies to the factories. At first, they employed restrained tactics, including going about daily life in the tents, badgering cadres sent to demobilize them, and kowtowing. After a harsh repression produced hundreds of injuries and left dozens of damaged vehicles and other evidence of police action strewn about, the tent-sitters switched to more aggressive tactics, including denouncing local leaders, carrying out mock funerals, interrogating factory owners and ransacking the homes of ‘traitors’. The authorities' ill-considered and poorly-timed repression led to tactical escalation, helped draw thousands of people to the scene, and ultimately resulted in the chemical park being closed. This episode speaks to the ‘dissent–repression nexus’ and suggests that repression can be counterproductive when it encourages protesters to ratchet up their tactics and a ‘protest spectacle’ ensues. In today's China, striking displays and theatrical performances, especially in the wake of a crackdown, can attract an audience, bring in financial support and create a carnival-like atmosphere in which popular acclaim, the breakdown of social order and the inversion of power hierarchies grants protesters leverage and induces the authorities to make concessions.     

The Closed Doors of Courts: China's judicial filtration of financial litigations

In China, courts may refuse to accept certain legal actions involving financial matters without any solid or explicit legal grounds. An analysis of such a phenomenon should help scholars to understand the functioning logic of China's judicial power. This article suggests that there are a number of reasons behind the filtration system, including a lack of applicable legal rules, a weak ability of the courts to understand complicated financial matters, the background of the economic system transition, the political consideration of ‘maintaining social stability’ and judiciary self-interest. Filtration has inevitably had a negative effect on China's financial markets, and reform is thus necessary.     

One Regulatory State,Two Regulatory Regimes: understanding dual regimes in China's regulatory state building through food safety

As China proceeds with a process of urbanization unprecedented in human history, it maintains an urban-biased governance regime in many areas, including food safety regulation. Using secondary data and interviews with officials from the Changping district in Beijing, this article systematically defines the main characteristics of China's dual food safety regulation regimes, highlighting differences between urban and rural areas in four dimensions: policy structure, funding source, staff structure and resource allocation. This article also provides an explanatory framework to understand this dual regime's development and persistence from a neo-institutionalism perspective. Three main explanatory variables are advanced: historical legacy, dual incentive structures, and dual economic and industrial patterns. While China's urbanization process and governance structure, including the food safety regulatory regime, are not complete by Western standards, we emphasize this problem is best understood by examining China's unique socioeconomic and cultural context.     

Community participation and inner-city slum renewal: relocated people's perspectives on slum clearance and resettlement in Addis Ababa

The article explores the process of residential relocation in inner-city slum renewal in Addis Ababa. Drawing on qualitative research methods involving interviews and focus group discussions with members of relocated households, it examines the nature of people's involvement in inner-city renewal and how it affects their lives. The article argues that the process of planning and implementation of relocation is not only top-down, but also does not involve the perspectives, needs, and livelihood strategies of those affected. The article concludes that the city administration needs to work closely with NGOs, the private sector, and community-based organisations in order to meet the housing needs of relocated households.