South Africa as an emerging power: from label to ‘status consistency’?

South Africa proudly wears the label ‘emerging power’, with its membership of the BRICS and G20 probably the most visible signs of this conferred status. This paper explores the concept of the emerging powers within the context of current global power shifts and locates South Africa within this group. It discusses the criteria for and characteristics of emerging powers, and then turns to some of the constraints and challenges faced by these states. Specific attention is paid to the ‘how’ of these states' recognition and inclusion in global institutions and the impact of domestic conditions and regional politics on their positions, focusing particularly on South Africa. It concludes that these factors will continue to challenge South Africa's ability to rise above the semblance of importance conferred by its inclusion in the category of emerging powers to a position in which it exercises this status to its own advantage, including its idealistic objectives of promoting greater global equality and recognition for Africa and the global South. Although other emerging powers face similar challenges, South Africa's domestic constraints and related lack of regional and global reach, politically and economically, threaten its ‘status consistency’ as an emerging power.     

Banking in a theory of the business cycle: a model and critique of the Basle Accord on risk-based capital requirements for banks

This paper presents a theoretical framework for understanding the investment decisions and financing decisions of financial and non-financial enterprises over the business cycle. At the core of this theoretical framework is an agency problem between relatively more risk averse depositor/bondholders and relatively less risk averse stockholders. The solution to this agency problem is a corporate governance system that takes the form of an up-front contract that directs managers to make portfolio/investment decisions in the interest of their stockholders, and financing decisions in the interest of their depositor/bondholders. This enables depositor/bondholders to offset any risk shifting portfolio/investment decisions made on behalf of the shareholders thereby mitigating the moral hazard problem among debtors and creditors. The Basle Accord on risk-based capital requirements for depository institutions is one particular regulatory application of this more general theoretical framework. The paper concludes with a comparison between the Basle Accord and the 100% reserve or narrow banking proposal as the means of achieving a risk-free medium of exchange and a financial system that facilitates the optimal transfer of resources from savers to investors consistent with society’s aversion towards risk.     

云南高校女性学学科建设的本土化尝试

文章根据云南的实际,阐述了云南女性学学科建设的历程,指出女性学教学的理念及实行社会科学与医学结合、校际结合、师生和生生互动的尝试。     

高校第二课堂在英语教育体系中的作用

高校英语第二课堂教育除具有营造英语学习氛围,提高学生英语学习兴趣功能之外,更具有制造英语学习所情境、提供团队学习、条件,提高英语语感,感受英语文化,提高内隐学习效果等重要的作用。     

高校对大学生网络使用的引导及管理

互联网已成为高校学生获取和交流信息的重要渠道。但网络使用不当已成为引发大学生不良表现的重要原因。而高校对学生上网教育和引导的漠视,更在一定程度上助长了危害的滋生蔓延。高校作为教育的主体,应该积极主动出击,将网络的不良影响降到最低。     

SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS AND VIOLENCE: A SUB‐NATIONAL TEST OF INSTITUTIONAL ANOMIE THEORY*

Messner and Rosenfeld's institutional anomie theory is grounded in the assumption that relatively higher crime rates in the United States are due to (1) the overwhelming influence of economic motives and institutions in society, and (2) the subjugation of all other social institutions to cultural economic interests (e.g., the American Dream). Our analysis is designed to extend the limited body of empirical research on this theory in several ways. First, we seek to test the utility of institutional anomie theory for predicting crime rates across aggregate units within the United States (counties). Second, we draw out the theory's emphasis on instrumental crime and suggest that measures of noneconomic social, political, familial, religious, and educational institutions will be particularly relevant for explaining instrumental as opposed to expressive violence. Third, in contrast to prior research, we develop conceptual reasons to expect that these factors will primarily mediate (as opposed to moderate) the relationship between economically motivating pressures and instrumental violence. Our negative binomial regression analyses of data from the Supplementary Homicide Reports and various censuses indicate that the measures of noneconomic institutions perform well in explaining both instrumental and expressive homicides, but that these measures mediate the impact of economic pressures (as measured by the Gini coefficient of family income inequality) to commit instrumental violence most strongly. Further, we find only very limited support for the more popular moderation hypothesis.     

谈高职法律院校语言能力教育

语言能力教育是学校教育的主要内容之一。但是，在我国的高等教育阶段，语言能力教育却在许多方面存在着明显断层和不足，应该从教育理念、教学内容、教育程度、教育方式、教育衔接等诸多层面加以改进。高职法律院校受自身性质、特点的决定，更应采取有效措施，加强学生语言能力的培养。     

宪法与弱势群体的权利保障

宪法与人权密不可分,保障人权是宪法的根本价值追求。当代宪法在关注自由的同时,越来越关注平等,关注平等就是关注社会的弱势群体。当前,我国弱势群体的权利保障出现了前所未有的新问题。按照我国宪法"国家尊重和保障人权"的基本原则和精神,构建和发展我国保障弱势群体权利的法律制度,对于建设和谐社会具有极其重要的现实意义。     

行政类事业单位改革路径初探

新一轮事业单位改革中,行政类事业单位面临"不得突破政府机构限额和编制总额",即在"两个不突破"的约束性条件下,实现"行政职能回归"的艰巨挑战。但是,在"两个不突破"的约束性条件下,行政类事业单位不能完全实现"行政职能回归";即使放宽"两个不突破"的约束性条件,某些法律、法规授权或者法律、法规委托的行政类事业单位,也不能以行政机构的方式回归。行政类事业单位既然长期存在,又符合"分散化公共治理"的趋势,不如重新界定事业单位,在事业单位法人类型下涵盖行政类事业单位,通过法定机构或执行机构的方式改革行政类事业单位,实现政府决策职能和执行职能的相对分离与相互制约,是行政类事业单位改革一个值得考虑的路径。