Institutional Design and Corruption Prevention in Hong Kong

In recent years, the Hong Kong government has sought to supplement its highly successful, rule-based anti-corruption strategy with value-based elements which stress the importance of ensuring personal integrity and avoiding conflicts of interest. The introduction of these elements raises issues about the relationship between rules and values within public organizations seeking to enhance their integrity management systems. In the Hong Kong case, it is argued, the predominance of the rule-based system means that value issues, such as potential conflicts of interests, tend to be pushed up through the hierarchy for resolution at higher levels in the organization. In addition, the development of informal rules relating to value issues limits the extent to which public officials can exercise personal discretion. The article is based on a survey of Ethics Officers and Assistant Ethics Officers in the Hong Kong government in June 2010 and on follow-up interviews conducted between October and December 2010.     

Japan and its impact on South‐east Asia

J.E. Dreifort, Myopic Grandeur: The Ambivalence of French Foreign Policy in the Far East, 1919–45 (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1992). Pp.xiv + 334. £31.50. ISBN 0–87338–441–5.

R.J. Aldrich, The Key to the South: Britain, the United States, and Thailand during the Approach of the Pacific War, 1929–42 (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1993). Pp.xxiii + 416. £25.00. ISBN 0–19–588612–7.

A. Gilchrist, Malaya, 1941: The Fall of a Fighting Empire (London: Robert Hale, 1992). Pp.185. Price unstated. ISBN 0–7090–4684–7.

P. Elphick and M. Smith, Odd Man Out: The Story of the Singapore Traitor (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1993). Pp.xv + 265. £17.99. ISBN 0–340–58762–8.

P. Bates, Japan and the British Commonwealth Occupation Force, 1946–52 (London: Brassey's, 1993). Pp.xviii + 270. £29.95. ISBN 1–85753–000–4.     

The political economy of China and Japan's relationship with Africa: a comparative perspective

China and Japan's policies towards Africa in the 1990s have converged, ostensibly around enhanced economic interaction with the continent based on the premise of integrating the continent into the global economy. At the same time, both countries view Africa as a useful buttress to their respective political and diplomatic goals in the international system. Connected to this and in order to garner support for their agendas, both countries promote themselves as possessing specific pro-South identities. This identity is premised around the notions of ‘non-Westernness’ and, in the case of China, in resistance to the North's hegemony. Yet paradoxically, by pursuing their respective policies in Africa, both states act to further deepen the penetration of the West into Africa. The inherent contradictions in Chinese and Japanese policies towards Africa raises questions as to the long-term viability of the current agendas being pursued by the two countries in Africa.     

英国公共住房政策和立法的发展及其对中国的启示——以利物浦为中心的案例分析

快速的城市化和工业化给公共住房问题带来了巨大的压力,社会的发展和不同历史时期政治的变化必将导致公共住房政策和立法的不时调整,这其中更多应属延续而非突变,但其中必有一些内在的本质因素属于解决城市公共住房问题所不可忽视的共性基因.利物浦是英国公共住房政策的先锋,以此为主要研究对象予以个案分析,将有助于对英国公共住房政策和立法的成功经验、失败教训予以总结.比较当代中国所面临的公共住房问题的现状,英国公共住房政策和立法的经验教训也许能为中国处理好21世纪的公共住房问题提供借鉴和启发.     

How "natural' are "kinds' of sexual orientation?

Law and Philosophy -     

How “Natural” are “Kinds” of Sexual Orientation?

Law and Philosophy -     

Crime and Security in Cyberspace

As we have become dependent on the internet, as the ‘network of networks’, so we have become vulnerable to criminal and terrorist networks that use cyberspace as a means to undermine and circumvent state control. Protecting against those that wish to attack the integrity, confidentiality and availability of systems, and the data they process, is primarily an issue of implementing appropriate security measures. But how do governments react to such threats against social and economic stability? This article examines recent inter-governmental harmonisation initiatives addressing the suitability of the criminal code, the adequacy of law enforcement powers to investigate cyberspace activities and the need for greater transnational co-operation. Such reforms challenge some traditional conceptions of state control and authority and can be seen as threatening existing rights and interests.