Linkages and the promotion of democracy: the EU's eastern neighbourhood

The EU's eastern neighbourhood with its considerable divergence in regime types is a more challenging testing ground for democracy promotion than Central and Eastern Europe. This article explores the diversity of the international linkages in the eastern neighbours (Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan) and the role these linkages play in domestic politics. International linkages are filtered and activated by domestic politics. If diverse linkages reinforce domestic political competition, they can contribute to the creation of democratic openings. Conversely, in the absence of domestic political competition, international linkages can insulate a regime from internal pressures for reform, in particular if the linkages are deep and undiversified. This article focuses on one causal mechanism, namely stateness issues acting as a filter for international linkages.     

Democracy,autocracy and the news: the impact of regime type on media freedom

Mass media is critical for the functioning of every contemporary political system. Thus, we can expect a variation in media freedom depending on the type of government since political regimes differ with regard to the political, legal and economic framework in which news coverage operates. This article investigates the effects of regime types, namely democracy and autocratic subtypes, on media freedom. It is argued that regime legitimation and governance are the driving forces behind diverging media policies in autocracies. From this theory, hypotheses regarding media freedom and regime type are derived and tested empirically, relying on statistical analyses that cover 149 countries over a period from 1993 to 2010. The empirical results demonstrate that democracies lead to significantly higher levels of media freedom than autocracies, with other things being equal. Within the autocratic spectrum, electoral autocracies, monarchies and military regimes have the freest media, whereas the most illiberal media can be found in communist ideocracies, where the ruling party holds a communication monopoly. Media freedom in personalist and non-ideological one-party regimes is on an intermediate level.     

The CBD at ten: The long road to effectiveness

Abstract

This article reviews progress and challenges in the implementation of the Convention on biological diversity since its adoption in 1992. Progress has been significant in many ways, although difficult to measure beyond procedural improvements (creation of new institutions, guidelines, national processes) and the development of new tools. Many challenges remain, both at the level of the operation of the regime and of national implementation, in part due to the nature of the convention and the complexity of its relationships with other regimes. Since knowledge about the state of biodiversity is scant and indicators poor, the argument is advanced that we should assess CBD's success and effectiveness by its ability to promote several of the preconditions of regime effectiveness. Accordingly, this article considers the record of the CBD in terms of learning, capacity‐building, network building, transparency, and the elaboration and diffusion of new norms.     

Defection of North Korea's ideologist a sign of regime crisis

Abstract

The defection of Hwang Jang‐yop, one of North Korea's major ideological authorities and a senior member of the leadership, is a clear indication of regime crisis in Pyongyang. Hwang's assessment of the nature of the Kim Jong‐il regime, which he regards as incapable of reform and committed to war with South Korea, will strengthen those in Seoul who argue for a tough approach to be taken in negotiations on security issues with North Korea. At the same time, his remarks on the extent of communist influence in South Korean politics may influence the outcome of the 1997 presidential elections.     

Imperial Violence: the ‘Ethnic’ as a Component of the ‘Criminal’ Class in Victorian England

This article seeks to identify how, and in what ways, the debate over ethnic identity acquired saliency during the different phases of black settlement in England, especially against the backcloth of the socio-cultural processes and the economics of colonialism. It outlines how the ‘other’ was constituted in different discourses, policies, and practices, and how these constructions were appropriated by the criminal justice agencies. Critically, ethnic identity as subordinate and ‘inferior’ was produced by many of the same mechanisms as was developed with regard to the indigenous ‘criminal’ class in Victorian England. Societal reaction, through criminal and civil statutes, established the identity of the ethnic minorities of early nineteenth century England, not just as subordinate strata, but also by a more complex process, as a variant of the newly emergent ‘criminal’ class. It is argued that, caught in the hub of empire, the ‘ayahs’, the ‘lascars’ and the domestic servants (See R. Visram, The Ayahs, Lascars and The Princes (London: Pluto).) in England’s ports found themselves reconstructed as part of the ‘criminal’ class and subsequently subjected to disciplinary measures of social control and surveillance. The author argues with regard to the indigenous population, conceptions of the threat of the non-Western crystallised around the same popular images of ‘savagery’ and of moral degeneracy, a process reinforced in imperial fiction. A desire to ‘civilise’ and improve the peculiar habits of the non-Western followed directly from indigenous precedent.     

维护个人的尊严与日本障碍者福利法制

二战后,日本残疾人即障碍者福利法制在生存权理念的指引下得以建立与发展。进入21世纪,日本障碍者福利法制在强调生存权理念之同时,更加注重维护个人的尊严理念,并将这一理念贯彻于障碍者福利法制的内容之中,日本障碍者福利法制出现了社会权与自由权相统一的倾向。     

江西地方红军与东固革命根据地

东固建立了赣西最早的地方革命武装和第二块赤色区域。江西红军独立第二、四团是创建东固革命根据地的重要支柱,对救援红四军做出了突出贡献。东固“秘密割据”的形式,丰富了毛泽东“工农武装割据”思想。独立二、四团的发展,扩大和巩固了以东固为中心的赣西赤色割据区域。     

青年群体亚健康——现代化与人类生存危机

亚健康问题，特别是青年群体的亚健康问题是现代化社会中激烈竞争、环境恶化、人际关系弱化、不良家庭环境的负面影响以及个体亚健康的生活方式的后果，关系到人类的生存危机。预防与治疗亚健康，需要从建设生态文明，树立正确的人生观，提倡健康的生活方式和工作方式，加强家庭、社区和社会支持的角度提出社会干预措施。     

我国人事争议仲裁制度建设的回顾、问题和前景

人事争议仲裁制度是具有中国特色的一种权益救济制度。人事争议仲裁制度的发展经历了起步、发展和完善三个阶段,现仍然存在着人事争议仲裁为行政裁决的认识问题以及适用法规层位低、基础理论研究薄弱、受案范围混乱、机构和人员配置不尽合理等实践问题。在完善人事争议仲裁制度成为共识后,完善模式的选择需要比较研究。