Minority rights and the dialectics of the nation: Otto Bauer’s theory of the nation and its contributions to multicultural theory and globalization

Conclusion This article analyzed Otto’s Bauer idea of the nation and assessed its meaning and significance qua liberal nationalism and the expansion of national minority rights in Europe. It argued that Bauer's formulation of the same rights for all minorities exposed certain limitations of multicultural theory, namely the failure of liberal multicultural theorists to adequately address the consequences of special minority rights and the potentially transformative role of labor in liberal societies that necessarily seek to be inclusive. Further, Bauer's idea of cultural autonomy raised important and relevant implications for advancing national minority rights in Europe. In particular, his initiative exposed possible ways to promote the social of cultural rights of EU Charter on Fundamental Rights. Given this and the EU's commitment to labor rights, it is curious that Bauer’s theory has not received the attention it deserves. Indeed, even if Bauer's ideas prove somewhat non-conventional by liberal standards, it is still important that we see his ideas as serving some elemental purpose in linking the advancement of national values and sentiment with the EU goal of integration.     

Human rights and U.S.-Japan relations in Asia: Divergent allies

The United States has adopted a high-profile approach to pressure Asian governments to improve human rights and move toward democracy. Japan, in contrast, has avoided confronting its Asian neighbors over human rights while balancing between Asia and the West. Japan’s reluctance, in supporting the U.S., except in the multilateral context, has strengthened the position of Asian nations sanctioned by the West. Japan’s approach is explained by its lack of interests and convictions about promoting human rights in Asia, its past aggression in the region, the absence of explicit United States pressure on Japan and the deterrent effect of strong Asian opposition to foreign intervention on human rights. An earlier version of this article was presented at the International Studies Association Conference in Minneapolis in March 1998. I appreciate Davis Bobrow, Peter Li, Ryo Oshiba and Motoko Shuto for their very useful comments. Any errors in the paper are of course mine alone.     

Legislative influences in Japanese budgetary politics

Following World War II (W.W.II), Japan adopted a democratic parliamentary system. Since its formation in 1955 the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) had monopolized Japanese legislature (Diet) for over 35 years. However, it is said that at the center of the budgetary process was the Ministry of Finance (MOF). Elite bureaucrats rather than politicians are typically seen as the agenda-setter. The action of politicians, in particular members of the LDP, to influence the budgetary resource allocation has been largely unexamined. This paper empirically examines the influence of the LDP on the supplementary budget formation and on the revenue-sharing. We find that the LDP had a significant impact on the budget formation. Further, we find that the LDP manipulated transfers from the central government to local governments presumably to maintain its electoral positions.     

农村合作医疗制度的建立与政府责任

制度与经济发展有着内在的逻辑联系,一项制度的产生或消亡都与当时的社会经济紧密相连.近20年来,中国从计划经济向市场经济、从农业社会向工业化社会转变过程中,经济社会的各个层面不断发生着矛盾冲突和碰撞,带来了制度的变革.本文主要对农村合作医疗制度兴衰的社会经济背景进行分析,并从新型农村合作医疗制度财源变化的角度对政府责任进行探讨.     

Arab States and the Role of Islam in the International Criminal Court

This article assesses the various disagreements between Arab and western states that surfaced at the 1998 Rome Conference and Preparatory Commission. It also discusses the relationship between state repression and cultural adaptation by examining the undeveloped domestic criminal systems of Arab states and the ambiguous role played by shariah (Islamic law) in the constitutions of many of them. It argues two main points: that more mutual accommodation will be needed to resolve these and future conflicts between Islamic and international law; and that such conflicts between the ICC and Arab states expose the need for further cultural adaptation to the ICC Statute. It is out of this process of cultural adaptation that the relationship between Islam and serious international crimes will evolve.     

Indians 78, Washington State 0: Stories about Indians and the Law

In the 1970s Washington State lost a series of legal cases related to Native Americans. These cases exemplify the need for knowledge of federal Indian law-but such knowledge, out of context, is insufficient. Key aspects of federal Indian law are hard to accept because of conflicting stories that Americans already believe. The authors discuss the importance of stories and review commonly believed stories that block acceptance of federal Indian law. They then discuss basic principles of Indian law and distill four questions to help determine tribal jurisdiction. The authors review the Marshal trilogy—three Supreme Court cases that set the foundations of modern Native American law—and show how the legal principles play out in an analysis of three contemporary court cases.     

首都社会治安整体防控理论述评

首都社会治安整体防控理论的主要内容包括:整体防控的战略部署,四张网络的立体架构,防范控制的精确指导,专业力量的精确打击,队伍建设的全面推进.首都社会治安整体防控理论的科学价值在于:它建立了一套特定的概念体系,提出了一系列科学的判断,解答了新时期社会治安工作面临的系列难题.该理论对治安情况复杂地区的社会治安防控体系建设工作具有普遍的指导意义.     

Institutions and Economic Performance: The Use and Abuse of Culture in New Institutional Economics

Important research programs within New Institutional Economics advance culturalist arguments to explain failures of economic development. Focusing on the work of Douglass C. North and Avner Greif, this article argues that such arguments rely on an essentialist conception of culture that is both historically inaccurate and analytically misleading. Greif’s work in particular rests on a selective use of empirical data that ultimately distorts the deductive models that are at the core of his work. As a result, both scholars use culture to account for outcomes that are more adequately explained as the product of social conflict and political struggles—struggles in which culture plays a far more contingent and destabilizing role than the one they attribute to it. What is needed, I argue, is to link arguments about the persistence of inefficient institutions with a sociologically informed conception of culture as an ensemble of resources that enhance rather than constrain the scope of individual agency. To come to terms with the effects of culture on institutional formation and change it is necessary to replace the essentialism articulated by North and Greif with a strategic-instrumentalist view in which culture is compatible with a wide spectrum of economic behaviors, individual actions, and thus institutional trajectories.

试析建设台湾海峡航运港口体系

构建台湾海峡航运港口体系具有重大意义 ,也具备不少有利条件。建设台湾海峡航运港口体系的内容 ,包括两岸合作建设台湾海峡物流中心 ,港口群 ,港口信息网 ,多功能港口航运体系和航运管理体系 ,以及合作进行航运科研开发和人才培训等