Accounting for Future Generations: Intergenerational Equity in Australia1

Australian governments have published three intergenerational reports since 2002. In line with a general international trend these reports pointed to a problem said to arise from an ageing population which exposes Australia to the risk of a future major fiscal crisis. In this article we argue that by failing to use a generational accounting framework, the reports privilege the elderly at the expense of young people. Added to this, they fail to engage any discussion of intergenerational equity defined as distributive fairness and justice. In this article we explore the value of various approaches to intergenerational justice, focusing on the Principle of Intergenerational Neutrality derived from Rawls' theory of justice. We argue that this does not work as well from a policy point of view as Sen's freedom‐as‐capabilities approach. We conclude that linking Sen's approach to justice to a generational accounting will enable governments to address future issues of equity.     

Opportunity Lost? Victorian Labor's Enactment of Community Development 1999–2006

The idea of community development has been evoked by Australian governments over many decades. The expressions of community have differed widely, often as a result of politics rather than informed policy. In 1999, after seven years of radical neo‐liberal restructuring in Victoria, the Bracks government found itself unexpectedly elected to power. They faced new challenges such as a diminished public sector, growing social inequality and climate change. The first two terms of Victorian Labor were a seminal period in terms of the role they would invoke for ‘community’. Did grass roots participation take a central place, or did rhetoric rule over substance? The evidence points to a government maintaining a neo‐liberal trajectory, and thereby losing an opportunity to enable an active citizenry.     

受托人忠实义务分析

受托人忠实义务是信托的核心。尤其是在扩展的信托关系中,典型的是推定信托,有时并不存在信托财产,但受托人也负有最严格要求的忠实义务,对于有些忠实义务原则,我国《信托法》有缺失,需要进行修改。     

公平正义视域下的基本公共服务均等化

基本公共服务均等化是保障公平正义的基础,公平正义是基本公共服务均等化的本质要求。我国基本公共服务供给不足、发展失衡直接影响着社会公平正义的实现,需要深化行政改革,通过建立以民为先的责任体系、参与和监督体系、合理的考核体系等,提升政府服务意识,推进政务公开透明,建设服务型政府,从而促进基本公共服务均等化。     

Is overpunishment fairer than underpunishment? Perceptions of deviations from equity

Abstract

Three studies are presented which test hypotheses derived from Equity Theory, Prospect Theory and the principle of Diminishing Marginal Value with regard to preferences for overpunishment and underpunishment in the assignment of penalties to offences of varying severity. The first two studies showed that, with different subject samples, offences, and kinds of punishments, subjects indicated a marked preference for over-punishment rather than underpunishment, when both over punishment and under-punishment deviated from ideal, or equitable, punishment to the same degree. However, the effect was only apparent for serious offences. A third study showed that the overpunishment preference for a serious offence existed even when the overpunishment deviated 30% more from ideal punishment than underpunishment, but again no preference was shown' for the less serious offence. As the results cannot be readily explained in terms of any of the three explanatory principles, a possible explanation in terms of concept of negative reciprocity is advanced.     

Making space for space

This article explores the effectiveness of appeals to ‘active citizenship’ as an answer to the ‘neoliberal’ political vocabulary of consumer choice and market freedom. It does so through a case study on recent reforms to post-compulsory education in Australia. A common response to education and social welfare policy is to expect government to accord with ideals of citizenship such as self-determination, participation and equality. However, the case study suggests that the governmental rationalities of modern mass-education systems are irreducible to these abstractions. Reference to the social rights of citizens is embedded in the rationales of social and education policy. Nevertheless, this should not be construed as the recognition or misrecognition of an absolute ideal or principle. Instead, the negotiation of social rights can be seen as the product of the mass school system's own capacity to apply common norms to a population and to use these norms in maintaining the settlements negotiated within expanding social welfare systems.     

Community Participation in Spatial Planning: Exploring Relationships between Professional and Lay Stakeholders

The literature that explores relationships between lay and professional stakeholders in community participation generally suggests that professionals perceive five main difficulties in working with lay people: it is unnecessary within democracies; lay people lack expertise; they are not representative; there is commonly a lack of trust, and decision-making is made more complex. In respect of spatial planning in South West England, from survey evidence these difficulties are not so apparent except in respect of complex decision-making. It is likely that the variation between the literature and the survey is influenced by the longer heritage of community participation in the spatial planning process in England, than in most other local authority services.     

论“环境治理公平”

如何完善中国环境治理体系,健全地区环境治理结构,是我国当前亟待解决的重要问题。本文提出"环境治理公平"的思想,试图建构适用于中国的环境公平理论。本文还分析了中国环境治理的现状和特点,探讨了中国环境治理的制度安排与执行绩效等方面存在的不公平问题,并基于此对中国环境治理公平提出若干政策建议。     

价值取向与历史演进——我国侵权法归责原则立法之选择

归责原则居于侵权法的核心地位.不同历史时期的不同社会需求导致了不同归责原则的出现.构建适应现代民法发展的侵权法归责原则体系是我国制定民法典面临的一大问题.我国侵权法归责原则应由过错责任、无过错责任与公平责任原则组成.