Dominance and change in the global computer industry: Military, bureaucratic, and network state developmentalisms

This article examines the conditions under which firms in different economies were able to emerge as significant actors in the global computer industry during different time periods. To achieve this, the article divides into three periods the history of the industry in terms of the three major policy regimes that have supported the dominant firms and regions. It argues that these policy regimes can be thought of as state developmentalisms that take significantly different forms across the history of the industry. U.S. firms’ dominance over their European counterparts in the 1950s and 1960s was underpinned by a system of “military developmentalism” where military agencies funded research, provided a market and developed infrastructure, but also demanded high quality products. The “Asian Tigers”—Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korea—in the 1970s and 1980s were able to eclipse their Latin American and Indian rivals due in large part to the significant advantages offered by a highly effective system of “bureaucratic developmentalism,” where bureaucratic elites in key state agencies and leading business groups negotiated supports for export performance. The 1990s saw the emergence of a system of “network developmentalism” where countries such as Ireland and Israel were able to emerge as new nodes in the computer industry by careful economic and political negotiation of relations to the United States, reestablished at the center of the industry, and by more decentralized forms of provision of state support for high-tech development. Finally, the conditions under which new regimes can emerge are a consequence of the unanticipated global consequences of previous regimes. While state developmentalisms have been shaped by existing global regimes, they have promoted further and different rounds of industry globalization. Seán ó Riain is professor of sociology at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. His research has been primarily on the political economy of high-tech growth in Ireland and elsewhere, and on work and class politics among software developers. He is the author ofThe Politics of High Tech Growth: Developmental Network, States in the Global Economy (Cambridge, 2004).     

Strain,Negative Emotions,and Deviant Coping Among African Americans: A Test of General Strain Theory

Although previous research on Agnew's (1992) general strain theory (GST) tends to yield significant effects of strain on negative emotions as well as deviance and crime, results tend to be mixed with regard to (1) the effects of negative emotions on deviance and crime and (2) conditioning factors that Agnew suggests affect the selection of coping strategies. To address these issues, we test hypotheses, derived from GST, about the relationships among strain, negative emotions, and deviant coping by analyzing data from a nationally representative sample of African American adults. Ordinary least squares regression results generally support our hypotheses. First, fully mediating the effects of strain on deviant coping, negative emotions have consistently significant effects on deviance, regardless of whether we use composite or separate measures of inner- and outer-directed emotions and deviance. Interestingly, as hypothesized, the same-directed effects of negative emotions on deviant coping are larger than the opposite-directed ones. Second, while self-esteem and self-efficacy as conditioning factors generally fail to receive empirical support, religiosity is found to significantly buffer the effects of negative emotions on deviance. Implications of our findings for further development of GST are discussed.     

基于语料库的立法语言语义研究

文章是以语料库为基础的对立法语言的初步研究。文章一方面从语义学的角度以立法实例区分模糊性、歧义性、多义性以及概括性等概念，另一方面从法学的角度探讨概括性、模糊性在立法中的价值。本研究表明立法语言中的模糊性、概括性是语言与法律现实相互作用的结果，也是法律多元化的内在要求，为立法相对稳定性以及司法确定性提供了空间。     

权利冲突解决路径分析

权利冲突是继权利义务关系问题、权利本位问题之后法学界又一热点话题，同时也是现实中普遍存的司法难点。研究权利冲突，特别是寻找权利冲突的解决途径，以便在实践中妥善地解决好权利冲突问题，意义重大。我们不可能一劳永逸地解决权利冲突，坚持权利位阶原则、利益／价值衡量原则，完善立法做好事前防范，事后当事人忍让和司法途径予以补充是解决权利冲突的必然进择。     

The British whistleblower protection bill

This paper critically examines the first attempt to offer general statutory protection to United Kingdom whistleblowers. Despite some useful provisions, the paper concludes that the bill is retrogressive, unsophisticated and narrow; and that it will be the legal profession not employees of conscience who will benefit from this instrument if it passes into law. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.