TRANSPARENCY IN PUBLIC–PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS: NOT SO BAD AFTER ALL?

Scholars' criticism of transparency in public–private partnerships (PPPs) often focuses on ‘external’ transparency, that is, the extent to which internal information is visible to the outside world. However, to achieve external transparency, internal transparency – the availability and inferability of information for the public procurer and the private party – is crucial. In this article we analyse input, process, and output transparency from three different perspectives (institutional, cognitive, and strategic) in four PPPs in the Netherlands. We conclude that input transparency is high, but process and output transparency less so. Moreover, output transparency has gained importance in PPPs. Whether this is problematic depends on the PPPs' institutional environment. In some partnerships the desired output is uncontested and predetermined by clear standards in the institutional environment, whereas other PPPs deal with contested output norms, decreasing the partnerships' transparency. These results nuance the current debate on the lack of transparency in PPPs.     

ONLY GOOD FENCES KEEP GOOD NEIGHBOURS! THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF MINISTRY–AGENCY RELATIONSHIPS AT THE SCIENCE–POLICY NEXUS IN GERMAN FOOD SAFETY POLICY

This article makes a further contribution to opening the ‘black box’ of micropractices in ministry–agency relationships. We argue that the mechanisms that come into play in the course of institutionalizing agencification reforms – such as renegotiating mutual roles and rules in ministry–agency interactions – are only poorly covered in the existing literature. To adequately address the negotiated and contingent nature of de facto agency autonomy and political control, we develop an interpretive approach based on the concept of ‘boundary work’. The empirical focus is on ministry–agency interactions at the science–policy nexus in the contested policy field of food safety. By studying actors' stories about the institutionalization processes following the fundamental reorganization of the German food safety administration in the wake of the BSE crisis from a longitudinal perspective, we show how actors manage boundary conflicts via increasingly differentiated backstage coordination.     

行政法上的利害关系人新探

从大陆法系国家公权利和反射性利益相区分的角度看,与行政主体相对的私人可以分成行政相对人、利害关系人和一般公众,他们是行政法"人像"的具体展开。从本质上看,利害关系人是由反射性利益人转化而来的一类公权利人,这类行政法上私人的确立必将改变行政过程中的利益结构,推动行政过程的民主化,促使行政法重心的转移。     

从唯物史观视野探析生态危机形成的根源

人类面临生态危机已成为共识,而全球生态环境的恶化仍在继续;究其原因,有人主张是“人类中心主义”。然而,形成生态危机的原因错综复杂,不能简单地归咎于“人类中心主义”。用马克思主义唯物史观分析,生态危机的形成与生产力、生产关系(经济基础)乃至上层建筑都有关系。     

独立学院问题研究述评

我国目前的独立学院问题研究,呈现非常活跃的研究态势。无论从数量还是质量上来说,都取得了较为丰富的研究成果。研究文献受到高等教育宏观背景的影响,呈现明显的阶段性特征和政策性研究倾向。目前的研究文献涉及独立学院的产生原因和背景、发展现状、存在问题、未来走势等多方面问题。未来应推动多视阈关照下的独立学院研究及比较研究。     

论职务发明制度内部利益的平衡

职务发明制度的内部关系调整的是单位与发明人之间的利益分配,无论是"重雇主主义"、"重雇员主义"还是"折中主义"的制度安排都存在一定的弊端,不能妥善解决内部关系中的利益冲突.本文基于洛克的财产权劳动学说和马克思的劳动价值理论分析指出,内部利益难以平衡的主要原因在于现行职务发明制度以权利的天然归属关系掩盖合意转让关系的本质...     

论合同附随义务违反的归责原则与法律后果

附随义务是债务人基于诚信原则,为维护债权人的固有利益,在给付义务之外所负担的必要注意及保护义务。在判断附随义务存在与否及其履行与否等问题上,债务人主观因素起着决定性的作用,因而附随义务的违反以过错为归责原则,这符合附随义务的性质、目的及交易实践。违反附随义务,债务人应当承担债务不履行责任,其最主要者,为承担损害赔偿责任,于例外情形还可成立强制履行和违约金责任,及构成合同解除之原因。     

当前爆炸案件现场勘查若干思考

爆炸案件现场勘查是获取爆炸信息的重要环节,由于爆炸案件现场的特点决定着勘查必须拟定相应的勘查预案,规范勘查程序。在保证勘查人员安全的情况下,根据案件的实际特点进行物证的发现、固定、提取等工作,并从证据学意义上对物证进行分析。     

The next steps in academic integrity — education,awareness, norms,duty and law

We conducted and analyzed several internet surveys in order to understand the profile of global research integrity and ethical awareness, encompassing global population distribution. These were (1) the global distribution of Committee of Publishing Ethics (COPE) membership; (2) the global distribution of “Integrity” or “Ethics” journals; (3) the level of academic integrity awareness in European higher education institutions and (4) awareness of academic integrity in the top universities of Asia and Africa. The results of this survey series highlight seriously imbalanced awareness of research integrity and publishing ethics across the world, especially in developing areas with the highest population density. We therefore propose a new index, the “Academic Integrity Awareness Index” for future discussions across the linked spheres of publishing and research.     

Selecting Constitutional Judges Randomly

This article discusses from the perspective of democratic theory an innovative proposal for the selection of constitutional, supreme court, or federal judges that aims at combining the values of expertise and political independence. It consists in combining a certification process – selecting a pool of properly qualified candidates – with a random selection among this pool. We argue that such selection procedure would better respect the separation of powers and the specific legitimacy of courts, and we champion this two‐stage mechanism vis‐à‐vis other, more traditionally employed, selection procedures. We then deal with a diversity of objections to our proposal and conclude by taking stock of both its virtues and limitations.