Killing in defence of property

This article comprises a study of several approaches by member states of the Commonwealth on the question of when, if ever, it is permissible to kill in defence of property. Arising from this study, the suggestion is made that the law should recognise a right to apply fatal force where the danger includes a combination of a threat to property and to the person. Furthermore, the law should recognise a partial defence to murder where excessive force has been used in defence of property.     

Distance health services under the general agreement on trade in services

This Article discusses the state of distance health with respect to the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). After examining the various aspects of telemedicine and its place in international trade, the author looks at the structure and functioning of GATS and how telemedicine is regulated under this agreement. The author argues that the potential for telemedicine under this agreement has yet to be fulfilled and suggests a number of ways to realize its potential. Ultimately, however, the author concludes that the single most important international trade objective for the United States healthcare industry should be to get its own house in order with respect to cross-border provision of health services. From an international trade perspective, the problem of non-uniform state licensure requirements within the United States makes it very difficult for the United States to negotiate market access commitments for distance health services with other countries. Therefore, it is not realistic to expect significant progress in the liberalization of distance health services until the United States has in place a reasonably uniform domestic system of licensure and regulation for telemedicine practitioners.     

Contextualizing Corporate Governance: the case of China's central state enterprise groups

Beginning in 2004, the Chinese central government introduced the concept of boards of directors to wholly state-owned enterprise groups (guoyou duzi qiye jituan, 国有独资企业集团). Increasingly, creating external boards (waibu dongshi, 外部董事) has also been emphasized to realize effective corporate governance. This latest state effort exemplifies how the Chinese party-state is searching for feasible—but not necessarily the best—ways to accommodate market-oriented institutions with local political-economic realities, thus creating its own regime of corporate governance. To this end, this study examines the rise of external boards, standing committees, and the rules of two-way interventions (shuangxiang jinlu, 双向进路).     

Diffusion,transmutation, and regulatory regime in socialist market economies: telecoms reform in China and Vietnam

Abstract

Marketization and state restructuring are proceeding apace in China and Vietnam. China and Vietnam are not, however, converging upon the global regulatory model, even allowing for customary national variations. Rather, they are building up distinctive forms of regulatory regimes aiming to maintain the party-state's control over key state sectors, while at the same time integrating with the global economy and conforming to international norms and standards. This study argues that the regulatory model being adopted in Vietnam and China is the product of a specific kind of transition from a command to a market economy within an authoritarian political regime. While diffusion theories are of use in identifying external driving forces for the reform effort, these theories are of limited value for unveiling the dynamics of local contexts. Indigenous incentives, opportunity structures, and the experimental nature of public policy explain why, despite their exposure to global reform movements and commitment to multilateral institutions, China and Vietnam are likely to end up not with just a variety of the same regulatory regime, but a different one. The case of telecommunications regulation is used to illustrate this.     

Human Capital Flows in Taiwan’s Technological Catch Up in Integrated Circuit Manufacturing

This paper examines how knowledge gained by the diaspora abroad played a strategic role in driving technological catch up in the integrated circuit industry in Taiwan. The evidence shows that efforts led by the government created conditions for the return and circulation of strategic human capital and the evolution of the absorptive capacity necessary to drive technological catch up. The integrated circuit industry was successful in getting human capital endowed with tacit and experiential knowledge to return and to circulate with considerable rooting in Hsinchu Science Industrial Park, which helped propel the integrated circuit industry in Taiwan to the technological frontier.     

Remaking the Chinese State and the Nature of Economic Governance? The early appraisal of the 2008 ‘super-ministry’ reform

This report explains the shifts and strains in the 2008 super-ministry government reform, focusing on the reform of government institutions of economic governance. Drawing on interviews with officials and scholars in Beijing after the reform, and on Chinese-language reports and books, this study suggests that the key to substantial progress in remaking the Chinese state into a macroeconomic regulator is the reform of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), which was lacking in the 2008 scheme. Its powerful authority for investment endorsement is particularly problematic. A continued administrative malaise in the energy sector and strategically articulated state engagement in industrial development also should be noted as the salient features of China's economic governance.