Mobilising the Periphery: Brazil's My House My Life Programme and the Homeless Workers' Movement

Brazil's Movimento de Trabalhadores Sem Teto (MTST, Homeless Workers' Movement) has grown dramatically in recent years. This growth was partly provided for by the use of a large government housing programme, Minha Casa Minha Vida (MCMV, My House My Life), which allowed the MTST to construct housing for its members and swell its ranks with thousands of new members. Yet some have argued that the MCMV programme used by the MTST may compromise the autonomy of civil society organisations. This article, by contrast, argues that while the MCMV programme encouraged bureaucratic practices, it also helped to promote the cultural politics of the MTST.     

商标恶意抢注中特定关系“非特定化”之反思--《商标法》第15条的解释论

商标抢注是我国商标法司法实践中一个重要问题。我国《商标法》第15条专门规制发生在特定关系人之间的商标恶意抢注行为、划分特定关系的类型,但未对其含义做明确界定,导致司法实践中对特定关系的判定出现分歧,特定关系的范围因此不断扩大,呈现出“非特定化”趋势。特定关系的无序扩张,在法理上缺少必要性和正当性,既有碍适用《商标法》其他条款,又不符合效率原则、社会成本理论及诚实信用原则的应有之意。为防止特定关系无序扩张,应将契约关系作为解释特定关系内容的核心,法官适用该条款时不宜随意扩大特定关系的内容,应严格按照商标法及相关司法解释的规定进行判断。     

论地方事务设定的合法性要件

针对地方事务的初次分配(设定),长期由国务院等中央行政机关负责的实践传统不能取代有限制性规定的现行法律。按照这些合法性要件,在设定主体上,全国人大及其常委会和经授权的国务院有权设定地方事务。同时,为适应综合治理的需求,1985年关于经济体制改革的授权决定应及时增补其他领域。在规范形式上,只有宪法、法律与依行政法规程序制定的暂行规定或条例可以胜任;并且要以宪法为依据,以法律为主体,提高人大立法的比重,控制授权立法。在制修程序上,代表团得充分行使提案权,为地方事务的设定发声;“中央和地方协商办事”的治理原则须转化为法定程序,以便地方意见的收集。     

The politics of mortgage credit expansion in the small coordinated market economies

Abstract

Recent contributions to the comparative political economy literature claim that liberal market economies are vulnerable to asset booms and busts because of financial deregulation, shrinking welfare states and a political ideology emphasising financial self-sufficiency. This article examines the rapid expansion of mortgage lending in three coordinated market economies (CMEs): Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands. This expansion is puzzling given that all three countries are CMEs with generous welfare states. Yet the pattern of mortgage lending resembles the Anglo-Saxon or liberal market economies (LMEs) more than other CMEs. The article argues that mortgage bubbles in the small CMEs emerged as the unintended outcome of pairing neoliberal programmes to expand home ownership with collectivist housing institutions. This resulted in supply restrictions and rising property values which saddled households with extraordinarily high mortgage debts. In short, mortgage credit bubbles are not unique to Anglo-liberal welfare states and may have different origins.     

Hybrid Coordination for Coping with the Medical Surge from the COVID-19 Pandemic: Paired Assistance Programs in China

The COVID-19 pandemic poses unprecedented challenges to public health care systems and demands intergovernmental coordination to cope with the resulting medical surge. This essay analyzes the operation of Paired Assistance Programs (PAPs) in China, offering a timely comparative case for researchers and practitioners to examine when reflecting on the classic debate over the hierarchical versus network approaches to coordination in emergency management. PAPs highlight the importance of network management and necessity of institutionalizing mechanisms of governance to facilitate coordination within multilevel response systems.     

民商事典型案例的实践指导价值

在中华法系发展的历史长河中,司法案例具有重要地位和独特价值,通过研究典型案例,传承中华法系司法文明,汲取营养,择善而用,是弘扬中华民族优秀法律传统、坚定不移走中国特色社会主义法治道路的必然要求。2010年11月26日,最高人民法院发布《关于案例指导工作的规定》,以规范性文件形式正式确立了中国特色案例指导制度。2018年10月26日,全国人大常委会通过修订的《中华人民共和国人民法院组织法》,在法律层面明确规定,最高人民法院可以对工作中具体应用法律的问题发布指导性案例。     

Directors’ duties under the 2019 Companies Act of Ghana

The scope of directors’ duties forms perhaps the most important part of corporate governance. This paper considers the trajectory of the regulation of directors’ duties under Ghanaian company law from the Companies Act, 1963 (Act 179) to the Companies Act, 2019 (Act 992). Using the 2017 to 2019 financial institutions’ insolvencies in Ghana as a backdrop, it considers whether the scope, formulation and structure of directors’ duties within the new legislation is capable of promoting corporately-beneficial director behaviour. It also discusses whether the framework is apt to deal with similar lapses in corporate governance marked by reckless and opportunistic director behaviour. It discovers that Act 992 places a greater reliance on specific rules while retaining the largely principles-based regulatory technique adopted for regulating director conduct under Act 179. The overall tenor of the framework of directors’ duties under the new Act points to a firmer legislative view of the serious consequences of reckless director conduct. The paper concludes that the language of the framework regulating director conduct is capable of promoting corporately beneficially director behaviour and is also apt to deal with the kind of lapses in corporate governance which led to mass financial sector insolvencies in Ghana.