晚近国际投资争端解决实践之评判:“全球治理”理论的引入

晚近国际投资争端的性质已由以往的政治性争端转变为现行的管理性争端,相应地,国际投资争端的传统外交保护解决方式也已为国际仲裁方式所取代,而且国际投资争端仲裁实践出现了明显的偏袒外国投资者,损害东道国权益之倾向。就此,已难以用传统的南北矛盾理论框定,而现有的商事仲裁理论和国内公法理论则存在着不同程度的缺失,需要引入一种视野更为宽广的全球治理理论予以弥补。     

挑战与应对:民行检察监督制度的新发展

民行检察监督制度获得强力推进的基本依据便是司法实践中不断增长的监督诉求,监督的范围在逐渐扩大,内含于监督中的观念性因素也在此过程中悄然转变,监督理念的现代化更新为监督制度的可持续发展提供了新的泉源基础。目前所需着力实现的制度转轨集中表现在从有限监督到全面监督、从实体监督到程序监督以及从诉讼监督到社会监督等三大转向之上,由此呈现出民行检察监督制度新发展的完整风貌。     

空白刑法规范的特性及其解释

空白罪状由于概括性的委任立法使得规范弹性具有难以避免性和合理性,法律概念的相对性更为明显,部门法规范的易变性也使得其容易出现偏离立法规范目标的情况,对其必须进行刑法的独立规范判断,区分事实问题和法律问题。提倡双向对应的规范解释路径,能够有效地实现概括的类型化转向具体的定型化,获得规范与事实的一致。由于罪刑法定在技术上并无制约作用,因此规范解释空白罪状时,重要的是合理运用解释方法,以得出妥善结论,注重目的解释和体系解释可以有效地实现刑法的规范保护任务。     

论证据意义上的事实

研究证据意义上的事实,有助于准确把握事实与事物,案件事实与证据事实的联系与区别,有助于准确理解与把握我国刑事诉讼证据规定首次明文确立的证据裁判原则、意见证据排除规则。事实与事物既有同一性又存在明显差别。事物是事实的载体,事实是事物现象的表述;事物会发生变化,事实却不会变化,事物的变化导致产生新的事实;事物的反面是无,事实的反面是假。案件事实不同于证据事实,案件事实不是适用法律的依据,证据意义上的事实才是适用法律的根据;案件事实的存在形式不受限制,无法被消灭,却有赖于证据证明,证据意义上的事实不仅存在形式和表现方式要受限制,而且还可能被消灭;证据意义上的事实除了具有客观性特征外,还具主观性特征。证人证言中的事实与意见的界定,以及确定证人证言意见性陈述合乎一般生活经验判断的方法,证人根据专业知识就专业问题作出的评论与判断意见性陈述应具有证据事实属性。     

西方世界深陷三重危机

西方的金融危机导致财政状况空前恶化,引发主权债务危机,主权债务危机的扩散造成金融市场和实体经济剧烈震荡,西方世界进入"财政危机—金融动荡—经济停滞"的严重恶性循环中,经济财政危机引起了西方社会对资本主义体制的再思考。     

The effective design,implementation and enforcement of socio-economic equality duties: lessons from the pupil premium

Abstract

The UK has extremely high levels of socio-economic inequality, which are predicted to rise over the next five years. Traditionally, equality law was seen as inappropriate to address socio-economic inequality but in the last decade, a growing number of equality duties have been introduced to address this persistent form of inequality. There is, however, little research on the principles that underpin these duties. This article seeks to address this gap through the use of data from interviews conducted with primary school personnel implementing the pupil premium. The article explores understandings of socio-economic inequality by individuals in schools; policy conflicts; the wider context of action to address socio-economic inequality; different decision-making processes; and accountability mechanisms. On the basis of the findings of this study, broad principles are outlined to inform the design, implementation and enforcement of socio-economic equality duties in the future.     

Monetary Penalties and Noncompliance with Environmental Laws: a Mediation Analysis

Studies that assess the impact of monetary penalties on environmental compliance have yielded mixed results. While some studies suggest fines deter future violations other studies find that fines do little to encourage compliance. This longitudinal study examines the impact of the dollar amount of fines on compliance with environmental laws among major facilities in the state of Michigan (n?=?37). Results from a mediation analysis suggest that while noncompliance may slightly decrease immediately following a fine there are few changes to a firm’s long term compliance behavior. Furthermore, analyses of these data suggest that total fines levied prior to the most recent fine actually have a positive relationship with noncompliance. We suggest these results imply a decaying effect of deterrence that is perhaps connected to the organizational structure of the treadmill of production.     

Anxiety Governance

This article explores the role of anxiety in neoliberal regimes of self‐governance, arguing that anxiety has become a technique of governance. Discourses of anxiety produce anxious subjects who undertake a range of self‐governing projects to manage and mitigate the experience. I explore anxiety governance in the environmental context of “eco‐anxiety,” motherhood, and the controversy over Bisphenol A in baby bottles. Maternal toxic vigilance, in which individual mothers assume responsibility for the environmental health of their children through better consumer choices, is a classic example of this anxiety governance. The regulatory failure of the neoliberal state reinforces this self‐governance; governments cannot be trusted to protect children from the toxins that are poisoning them, so mothers must do it themselves. Finally, notwithstanding the depoliticizing tendency of these self‐governing projects, I consider the political potential of this maternal toxic vigilance, exploring whether anxiety governance might more productively engage the political.     

Images of the homeless: Public views and media messages

Abstract

Despite its potential policy relevance, public opinion about homelessness has received little attention from researchers. This deficiency is addressed here by bringing together data obtained in four recent surveys. The survey results indicate that many Americans accurately perceive the characteristics of homeless people, consider homelessness a serious problem with structural roots, and support a variety of measures intended to solve it. Certain segments of the public— Democrats, liberals, blacks, and residents of communities that have homeless populations—are especially likely to hold these views. The extent to which the public's thoughts on homelessness have been shaped by the media is difficult to determine. However, an analysis of the volume and content of print and broadcast news coverage of the issue hints at a plausible causal connection.     

Macroeconomic performance and poverty in Brazil

Drawing on Brazilian time-series data this study finds an inelastic link between poverty and wages over the macroeconomic cycle that is devoid of the asymmetric effects that characterise the phenomenon's response to changes in the rate of unemployment. Deepening of structural reforms in the second half of the 1990s had no effect on the aforementioned relationships, which also varied little by regional level of development. Finally, the connection between poverty and long-term income changes was more elastic, suggesting an association between the economy's recent disappointing performance in alleviating poverty and its lacklustre growth record over the past two decades.