RACIAL–ETHNIC INTOLERANCE AND SUPPORT FOR CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: A CROSS-NATIONAL COMPARISON*

This article tests cross-nationally the minority group threat thesis that public sentiments toward repressive crime-control policies reflect conflicted racial and ethnic relations. Using multiple data sets representing France, Belgium, the Netherlands, East and West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Denmark, Great Britain, Greece, Spain, Finland, Sweden, Austria, Canada, Ireland, and Portugal, we examine whether racial and ethnic intolerance—animus, resentments, or negative sentiments toward minorities—predicts greater support for the death penalty. Our results reveal that the respondents were significantly more likely to express support for capital punishment if they were racially or ethnically intolerant while controlling for other covariates of public opinion. These findings indicate that the link between support for capital punishment and racial and ethnic animus may occur universally in countries with conflicted racial and ethnic relations.     

Participation,education, and pluralism: towards a new extension ethic

The concern driving current debate on agricultural extension is increasingly that of how to help farmers learn how to deal with the complex world around them responsibly and profitably, in such a way that the extension worker is ancillary. This article seeks to deconstruct and provide a more reasoned assessment of agricultural extension services through a reflection on development paradigms, adult education, individual empowerment, and institutional pluralism. By calling into question the underlying ethical dimensions of agricultural extension, it is possible to develop an alternative paradigm and thereby generate new insights into it. The article concludes that the raison d'être of agricultural extension today must be to create an ethical basis which ensures that extension practices are more inclusive and thus responsive to the needs of farmers and other rural populations, integrating individual expectations into the wider socio-economic, cultural, political, and geographical environment.     

侵权行为法的社会功能

我国大多数学者认为侵权法的社会功能包括惩罚和预防功能,甚至有很多人主张将惩罚性损害赔偿制度全面引入我国的民事法律制度中。但是,在现代社会,侵权法的基本功能应是填补损害,传统侵权法中的预防功能已经成为填补损害的反射作用,惩罚功能在侵权法中已消失。     

20世纪90年代以来中国公民资格权利的发展

从公民资格权利发展角度考察我国的社会转型有利于分析、解释国家面临的挑战和宏观发展轨迹。1990年代以来,在市场经济的发展、社会的分化和利益的多元化、社会公平问题、政府转型的大背景下,我国公民资格权利取得了一定进展:与市场经济建设相关的公民权利内容进一步发展,民主政治的实践使公民政治权利的形式和内容有所充实,社会权利的保护和发展尚处于探索当中。从宏观角度看,公民资格诸权利呈现出分化发展和相互推动的特点;国家主导制度构建与公民积极行使权利构成公民资格权利发展的双动力;户籍制度对权利的分等作用弱化,平等的公民资格权利的普遍化进程加速;程序性权利的设置与保障仍然不足,呈现出探索性特征。     

弱势群体保护的社会契约分析

社会契约的“订立”旨在使人类摆脱“自然状态”进入“社会状态”;作为国家“存在原理”,社会契约主旨是解决个人、社会和国家之间的权利与义务问题,其终极关怀是人民的福祉——保障安全、自由、财富和尊严等。但这些可欲的价值的实现须符合一种正义的原则和道德要求:平等对待和惠及包括弱势群体在内的社会合作体系中的每一个立约者。平等、互惠构成弱势群体保护的社会契约基础和道德义务,也是社会契约和社会秩序的实现条件。在这一意义上,不保护弱势群体,社会契约目的就不能达到,政府合法性就被质疑。弱势群体保护需要对社会契约进行动态完善——创新保护模式、着力后续调整、突出经济权利、建立诉讼制衡机制、高扬人本立约观。     

韩国首都圈建设中的政府作用及其对京津合作发展的启示

韩国政府在首都圈发展过程采取了制定规划、建立协调机构和产业指导等多种措施,促进首都圈内分工与合作的良性局面。在控制首都圈的过程中,政策也出现过失误,致使首都圈过度集中问题依然十分严峻,这些都对京津发展具有借鉴意义,即树立城市发展的区域观念,加强政府作用与市场作用的对接、中央政府与地方政府的沟通,发挥科学规划的指导作用,加快立法工作的步伐。     

消除财富歧视实现共同富裕

全面建设小康社会的内容是多方面的,而共同富裕具有决定性的作用。实现共同富裕要坚持效率优先兼顾公平,要提倡创造性劳动,重视资本的合法性,培养纳税人意识,建设趋向共同富裕的机制。     

浅论社会性规制的理论依据—兼论我国政府对食品与药品质量规制制度

长期以来,我们比较重视对经济性规制的研究,而忽视了对社会性规制的研究。作为社会性规制中的政府对产品质量规制应被重视。本文在对社会性规制的理论依据分析的基础上,就我政府对食品与药品质量规制制度进行分析,以期理论界对此问题有更准确的把握。     

Flipping burgers or flipping pages? Student employment and academic attainment in post-Soviet Latvia

Latvian higher education has undergone a dramatic transition since 1991. This study employs a survey of nearly 1000 social science students studying in 13 different institutions in Latvia to consider the impact of the increase in the number of students who are working while studying. Evidence indicates employment has a strong and significant negative impact on school performance, and the negative impact increases as weekly hours worked increase. This manifests itself through reduced class attendance and reduced time spent in independent study. Finally, we find that the probability of student employment is most significantly affected by the availability of financial aid, gender, ethnicity, and age.