The Diffusion of Human Trafficking Policies in the Post-Soviet Region: A Comparative Analysis of Policy Adoption in Ukraine,Latvia, and Russia

This paper analyzes how human trafficking policies diffused in the post-Soviet region. By adapting the diffusion of innovation framework to fit the international context, I examine whether human trafficking adoptions in the post-Soviet region were due to internal determinants and/or diffusion effects. A comparison of Russia, Latvia, and Ukraine found that internal determinants such as state commitment to human trafficking policy and interest group strength were more important to policy adoption than external pressures from the international community while state capacity and bureaucratic restructuring impeded policy adoption. I argue that policymaking, even in authoritarian regimes, is more nuanced than blind compliance with international treaties and shows that interest groups and policy entrepreneurs work within the constraints of national policymaking to adopt human trafficking policies.     

冷战后美国对华战略转变的根本逻辑与手段——兼论奥巴马政府的对华政策

奥巴马政府对华战略的变化,更多的是冷战后美国对华战略转变的一个延续。冷战后,美国不断开辟新领域,试图将中国塑造为敌人或对手,但屡战屡败,导致多届美国政府对华战略在任期内和问题领域内的双重起伏。美国对华战略转变背后的根本逻辑是美国民族主义化的爱国主义,其具体手段是安全化理论所论述的安全化/非安全化。它曾经并将继续主导美国的对华战略转变。在两国共建21世纪积极合作全面的中美关系和应对共同挑战的伙伴关系的同时,这一逻辑和手段可能导致双方在三个领域内的潜在争端:双边关系领域内的气候变化与能源—环境、中国制造产品等议题;多边关系中中美关系涉及的第三方因素;中美在国际体系规范领域的斗争。     

尊宪守宪，行宪护宪——纪念现行宪法公布施行三十周年

30年前的12月4日，五届全国人大五次会议通过了现行宪法。这是新中国颁布的第四部宪法，与广纳民意、深得民心的1954年宪法一脉相承，同“文革”色彩鲜明的1975年宪法、“左”的思想尚未彻底清除的1978年宪法进行了果断切割。现行宪法根据改革开放新时期的使命和任务，全面体现了党在社会主义初级阶段的基本路线，     

A critique of quantitative measures of the degree of democracy in Israel

The question addressed in this study is: ‘How accurate and meaningful are quantitative measures of the degree of democracy in Israel?’ With the increasing use of such measures in studies of democracy, an answer to this question becomes increasingly important. The Freedom House and Polity IV measures of democracy in Israel contend that there is a very high level of democracy, but their characterization is contradicted sharply by the views of many scholars. In seeking to account for this contradiction, we will assess the accuracy and meaningfulness of the two quantitative measures. We find that both empirical and conceptual problems affect the utility of the measures. Empirical inaccuracies are suggested by three findings: the role in Israel's democracy of the largest minority group, the Israeli Arabs, is ignored or substantially discounted; the discrepancies between the two indices suggest that at least one of them is not capturing empirical reality accurately; and neither index seems very sensitive to democracy-related events in the country. The degree to which these empirical findings are indicators of inaccuracies is dependent upon the conceptualization of democracy. Conceptually, the indices differ from each other and from the concepts used by many others who examine Israeli democracy. Two conclusions are reached: the indices measure imperfectly what they call Israeli ‘democracy’. Furthermore, a prima facie look at the scores characterizing democracy in other countries suggests that the ‘democracy’ they measure in Israel is not the same as the ‘democracy’ they measure elsewhere. The implications are several: on the academic side, the accuracy of general knowledge developed using these measures becomes questionable. On the practical side, the indices contribute little to knowledge that may be applied to overcoming the complex problems democracy in Israel is facing or the building of democracy in other countries of the Middle East. Thus, their accuracy and meaningfulness is limited.     

‘The backbone of the village’: gender,development, and traditional authority in rural Zanzibar

Recent processes of political decentralisation and the parallel movements asserting indigenous identity and autochthony have led to a resurgence of academic interest in ‘traditional’ and local forms of leadership and authority. Based on ethnographic research on the hirimu age-set system and related forms of traditional authority in the Zanzibari village of Jongowe, this article explores how these systems rooted in local history and identity are mitigated by contemporary national and international political circumstances. By examining how ‘traditional’ systems both create and circumscribe space for gendered expressions of power and how they work with the emerging forms of non-governmental organisation characteristic of contemporary development, the article considers how these dynamic local systems of governance maintain their legitimacy through both association with the past and engagement with contemporary politics. It argues for an understanding of ‘traditional authority’ that expands beyond hereditary leadership positions, and suggests that such forms of power, though embedded in historical collective identity, are expressions of contemporary forms of governance.     

汶川地震应对经验与应急管理中国模式的建构路径——基于强政府与强社会的互动视角

巨灾的频发使得风险治理的公共政策系统受到巨大挑战。由于特定的危机形势和政策制定系统的局限性,造成了各种各样的政策困境,尤其是汶川地震促使我们重新审视国家力量在巨灾应对中与社会力量之间的互动关系。基于以上背景,本文试图通过研究团队三年多来针对汶川地震应对的全景式实证性研究,并结合中国应急管理系统建设发展的历史性回顾揭示出相应的挑战和机遇,探索一个基于强政府与强社会互动的分析视角和发展路径。