Market structure and disempowering regulatory intermediaries: Insights from U.S. trade surveillance

Public agencies outsource a wide variety of tasks to nonstate actors, or what can be referred to as regulatory intermediaries. In certain circumstances, these agencies may seek to disempower those regulatory intermediaries by reclaiming, duplicating, or transferring the outsourced task. When will these disempowerment attempts be successful? This article presents the Market Structure Hypothesis, which contends that the level of competition between regulatory intermediaries will, all things equal, determine whether disempowerment attempts succeed. To test this hypothesis, this article examines the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's attempts to acquire the independent capacity to conduct nationwide trade surveillance in the 1980s (Market Oversight Surveillance System) and 2010s (Consolidated Audit Trail). Evidence derives from archival materials, a Freedom of Information Act Request, and 60 interviews in Oxford, London, Toronto, New York City, and Washington, DC. The empirical results corroborate the hypothesis' expectations, contributing to our understanding of public-private partnerships and shedding new empirical light on an understudied topic of securities regulation.     

All quiet on election day? International election observation and incentives for pre-election violence in African elections

This article argues that the increasing international interest in elections as exemplified by the rise of international election monitoring induces temporal shifts in the use of violent intimidation by political actors. The presence of international electoral missions lowers the potential for election-day violence relative to the pre-election period because domestic actors likely refrain from intimidating opposition candidates or voters before the eyes of international observers, but creates incentives for political actors to engage in violent manipulation in parts of the electoral process receiving considerably less international attention, such as the pre-election period. The article expects that international election observation increases the incidence of violent manipulation during electoral campaigns. An empirical analysis of election-related violence for African elections in the 1990–2009 period shows that the presence of election observers increases the incidence of pre-election violence, but has no effect on election-day violence.     

Fighting for a name on the ballot: constituency-level analysis of nomination violence in Zambia

ABSTRACT

What factors increase the likelihood of nomination violence? Nomination violence can be an expression of both horizontal conflict, between local political elites, and vertical conflict, between national and local elites. We theorize about factors that may increase the risks of vertical and horizontal conflict and leverage a unique dataset of constituency-level nomination violence obtained from surveys with 464 domestic election observers active in the 2016 Zambian general election. Our statistical analyses show constituencies with an incumbent standing for re-election were more likely to experience nomination violence. Also, contrary to previous research on general election violence, we theorize and find that more rural constituencies had a higher propensity for nomination violence than urban constituencies. Our findings highlight the importance of intra-party power relations and the bargaining relationship between the centre and periphery.     

颈椎端提法治疗神经根型颈椎病62例

目的:观察端提法治疗神经根型颈椎病的临床疗效。方法:将120例患者随机分为两组,治疗组62例采用端提法治疗,对照组58例采用斜扳法治疗。结果:两组总有效率比较,差异有显著性(P<0.05),端提法明显优于斜扳法。结论:端提法治疗神经根型颈椎病临床疗效显著。     

论权力资源的法律调控动因

对权力资源实行法律调控,是法治的重大主题,是权力资源合法化的必经之途,是抑制权力弊病所必需。权力资源对社会历史有重大作用,但也容易滋生弊病:作为一种支配性力量,权力资源是使许多追求它的人堕入深渊的重要原因;一个被授予权力的人,总是面临着滥用权力的诱惑;权力的行使常以不可忍受的压制为标志;不受制约的政治权力乃是世界上最肆无忌惮的力量之一;对自由和权利而言,最大的威胁和危险来自权力的滥用和权力的侵害。抑制权力资源的弊病,离不开法律调控。对权力资源实行法律调控,亦完全可能。法律可成为权力来源的制度渠道,先进的法律注重寻求国家生活的稳定和进步、社会生活的和平和安宁,因而对权力往往表现出来的侵略性、扩张性具有天然的抑制作用,发达的法律制度总是经常致力于阻止压制性权力结构的出现。权力和法律都是强力的象征,法律对权力资源实行调控是强强碰撞和强力之间的抑制和平衡。当然,法律对权力资源的调控作用并非没有限度。     

基于价格影响的期货市场操纵规制理论:反思与重构

在基于价格影响的期货市场操纵规制理论中,操纵被定义为故意制造人为价格的行为。人为价格的判断依赖于替代的价格标准,即执法实践中经常采用的参照系比较方法。这种判断方法不仅证明困难,且在行政处罚听证会或法庭辩论中容易受到质疑,导致期货市场操纵问题上的监管无力。要改变此种状况,首先,在判断操纵行为是否造成人为价格时,所关注的重点应当是影响市场价格的力量和因素,而非操纵行为造成的价格是否偏离了正常供求力量下应有的价格水平。其次,应当将意图作为操纵的核心要件,运用价格影响测试的分析框架,以行为人的不正当行为和其他直接或间接证据为支撑,并辅以经济或经验分析等方法进行综合判断。最后,当行为人的操纵行为未造成或未能证明造成人为价格时,引入试图操纵进行规制。     

A critical discourse analysis of pavement advertisements of herbal medicine and spiritual healing services in Central Johannesburg

Abstract

This article discusses the language in a range of advertisements for herbal medicines and spiritual healing services, as found in fliers distributed on the pavements of the Johannesburg central business district. The socio-cognitive approach to critical discourse analysis (CDA) was employed to analyse the language used. The purpose was to identify the ways in which the producers of the advertisements, through careful choice of discourse, attempt to manipulate potential customers. It was established that the producers purported to have solutions to a broad range of problems affecting society. These included sexual, marital, business-related and social problems, for which the healers claimed to have quick and permanent solutions. Stylistic techniques include the use of juxtaposition, rhetorical questions, hyperbole, punctuation marks, indigenous languages, first-person narratives in testimonies, illustrations and the naming of herbs. The conclusion can be drawn that the advertisements demonstrate a perceived power imbalance between their producers and the target audiences. This may lead certain clients to be deceived by the herbalists and spiritual healers, sometimes with disastrous consequences. It is, however, acknowledged that not everyone in South African society believes all the claims made in these advertisements.     

证券市场操纵问题初探

我国立法始终重视证券市场投资者保护问题,法律明确规定“禁止操纵证券市场行为。”操纵证券市场行为给证券市场的秩序造成极大的危害,其直接侵害了投资者的合法权利。文章对操纵证券市场行为进行探析,并提出完善我国规制证券市场操纵行为的法律制度构想。     

理筋正骨手法联合消瘀接骨散治疗陈旧性踝关节扭伤临床观察

目的 观察理筋正骨手法联合消瘀接骨散治疗陈旧性踝关节扭伤的疗效.方法 采用随机数字表法将60例陈旧性踝关节扭伤患者随机分为治疗组和对照组,每组30例,治疗组患者采用理筋正骨手法联合消瘀接骨散治疗,对照组患者采用中频电联合消瘀接骨散治疗.采用视觉模拟量表(visual analog scale,VAS)对患者治疗前后踝关节疼痛进行评分,采用压痛仪测定患者主诉最为疼痛部位的数值,采用表面肌电(surface electromyography,sEMG)检测仪及其配套电脑软件采集并分析治疗前后中位频率(median frequency,MF)和积分肌电(integrated electromyography,iEMG)的值,采用Baird-Jackson踝关节功能评分评价治疗前后踝关节功能改善程度,并参考《中医病证诊断疗效标准》进行疗效评价.结果 治疗组临床疗效显著优于对照组(P<0.05).与治疗前比较,两组治疗后VAS评分减少,压痛数值、Baird-Jackson踝关节功能各项评分、腓骨长短肌iEMG值和MF值增加,差异均有统计学意义(P<0.05);且各指标减少或增加程度,治疗组与对照组比较,差异均有统计学意义(P<0.05).结论 理筋正骨手法结合消瘀接骨散可有效减轻陈旧性踝扭伤患者的疼痛,改善踝周肌肉募集程度,降低踝周肌群疲劳度,改善踝关节功能,且疗效优于中频电疗法结合消瘀接骨散.     

各国市场操纵证明问题的横向比较

在行政执法中,市场操纵的证明是行政机关、当事人和其它行政程序参与人按照法定的范围、方式、标准和程序,运用证据查明、阐明和认定与市场操纵相关的特定事实或争议事实的法律活动,是连接行为事实与法律责任的核心环节,在证券执法领域具有极其重要的意义。本文将从证明构成要素的各个层面,对美国、德国、英国、澳大利亚、香港和中国内地行政执法中市场操纵的证明机制进行比较研究,总结和提炼出一般原则和主要特点,以期为中国的证券执法提供有益的借鉴。