Caveat: addressing public justification as an empirical phenomenon

ABSTRACT

Instead of a conclusion, this special issue ends with a discussion between Liah Greenfeld, on the one hand, and Uriel Abulof and Markus Kornprobst, on the other hand, about the merits of studying public justification and how best to do so. Greenfeld suggests that public justification is predicated on the autonomy of the political sphere, the importance ascribed to public views, and to the prevalence of justification. Seeing public justification as ultimately a cultural phenomenon, this caveat urges scholars to study it in only specific historical contexts, which are, for now, limited to predominantly ‘Western liberal democracies’.     

Cave Dwellers or Labyrinth Diggers? Castoriadis and Plato on Philosophy and Politics

Beginning with a consideration of Castoriadis’s elucidation of autonomous thinking, both by way of the contrast he draws with the inherited tradition and in relation to his account of the demands of the political project of autonomy, we compare Plato’s story of the Cave to suggest that Castoriadis overestimates the power of questioning and of creating new social forms. We then argue that Castoriadis and Plato emerge as two extremes: whereas the first favours the power of questioning to the exclusion of receiving value, the second privileges the power of receiving over creation and creativity.     

New localism or fuzzy centralism: policymakers’ perceptions of public education and involvement in education

This research examines local authority involvement in education as a function of local policymakers’ perceptions of education as a public service – namely, whether public education is for the benefit of society as a whole, or for individual students and parents. Perceptions of education and involvement in education were assessed through 107 questionnaires returned by mayors and heads of local education departments in Israel. The results show that (1) local policymakers tend to perceive public education as a general public service, and (2) the relationship between this perception and involvement in education varies with the locality’s centre-periphery status. In peripheral localities, perceiving education as a general public service and an understanding of ‘society’ as the local community leads to greater involvement in education. In central localities, involvement rose with a more individualised perception. Implications of the findings are discussed in line with viewing education in the spirit of new localism.     

民族自治区域法律冲突探析

民族自治区域享有自治权、法律的变通权,使民族自治区域法律冲突的产生成为必然。随着《民族区域自治法》及《国务院实施〈中华人民共和国民族区域自治法>若干规定》越来越有效地贯彻和实施,随着各自治区域不断开放和经济不断的发展,民族自治区域法律冲突,从产生的种类及数量上必然会越来越多,本文主要对法律冲突的成因及其解决进行探讨。     

民族文化自治历史命运的转折与引进设想（二）

在当代各国为解决民族、种族、文化集团问题提出的思路与建立的机制中,与联邦制、民族区域自治、多元文化主义等政治思路与机制相对应的,是文化思路与机制,即"民族文化自治"的思路与机制.但该思路与机制自提出之日起,就遭到种种质疑和抵制.直到20世纪90年代以后,其历史命运才出现了转机.文章对此种转机出现的历史背景、民族文化自治的价值蕴含等进行了详尽的分析和论述.此外,对中国是否能以及怎样引进民族文化自治提出作者个人的初步设想.     

试论作为授权规范的“私法自治”

在宪政层面,"私法自治"承载着人们对于法治的基本信念.然而,在法律规范层面,"私法自治"却是立法者的产物,是国家干预的体现.私人依据"私法自治"条款只是从立法者那里获得了为自己制定主要规则的权限;这一规则变成法律规则需要经受立法者设定的种种资格考验.法院接受立法的授权,既是私人规则能否具有法律效力的审查者和决定者,同时也是法律效力得到确认的私人规则的执行者之一.     

Race and the probability of pleading guilty

The legal ramifications of pleading guilty and findings of an interdependence between pleading guilty and sentence severity suggest that the guilty plea decision is a significent turning point in case processing. The present research examines the variables affecting the probability of pleading guilty. The first analysis involves estimating a single probit equation of main effects of variables previously found to be related to pleading guilty. A second analysis is conducted estimating the same equation separately for black defendants and white defendants. Findings from the first part of the analysis indicate that physical evidence, number of charges, and confessing to the crime during police/prosecutor interrogation increase the probability of pleading guilty, whereas the number of witnesses, use of a weapon, and offenses carrying a minimum penalty of 5 years in custody with no maximum prison term decrease the probability of pleading guilty. Findings from the second analysis indicate that the effect of marital status, prior record of felony convictions, type of counsel, number of charges, and use of a weapon on the probability of pleading guilty varies by defendant's race. The research concludes by offering several competing explanations of these findings in hope of stimulating further research on the variables affecting the route of case disposition in felony processing.     

民法中的财产权竞合规范以优先规范为中心

作为多重财产权并存的一种，民法中的财产权竞合以债权竞合、物权竞合和债权物权竞合为基本形态，其基本规范要素是管制强弱和时间先后，其规范不同于其他财产权并存规范，但又有相当的关联性。作为核心规范的优先规范以公示为基础，并引申出法定顺位规则，而权利人的意思自治能改变优先规范，由此产生顺位意定规则。     

完善业主委员会的法学思考

在物业管理自治组织中,作为业主大会执行机构的业主委员会对于维护业主们的共同生活秩序,协调彼此之间之利益纷争,真正实现业主自治管理目的具有重要意义。但由于历史和现实的诸多原因,目前我国业主委员会在运作中还存在很多问题,就此笔者提出相关法律完善思路。