Experimentalism in the EU: Common ground and persistent differences

Our central claim in this rejoinder is that experimentalist forms of organization in making regulatory rules, organizing social services, and articulating constitutional norms arise and diffuse as the problem that the actors and the state face shifts from ignorance to uncertainty. We argue that this has consequences for forms of accountability and for the conception and organization of democracy and constitutionalism. The EU, founded by diverse states in a period of continuing uncertainty, intensified by growing interdependence, proves to be a natural laboratory for observing urgent efforts to adjust to this new situation, and the symposium focuses on developments there. The symposium has brought us to see that there is more common ground in these debates than prior exchanges may have suggested. We therefore emphasize convergence on large points, while underscoring and, we hope, clarifying persistent differences, with the aim of encouraging the joint exploration of them already underway, in part explicitly, in part implicitly.     

Transparency as a Core Public Value and Mechanism of Compliance

Abstract

Private security contractors are just the tip of an outsourcing iceberg. Across the three Ds of defense, diplomacy, and development, American foreign policy has been privatized. The Obama administration inherited a government that had been hollowed out to an unprecedented extent, and in many realms it had and has no choice but to depend on contractors to conduct what used to be state business. This essay examines the reasons for and unintended negative consequences of this outsourcing of American power. It argues that turning the clock back and returning everything to in-house assignments is both undesirable and impossible. Instead, government must pursue contracting in ways that do not undermine the public interest. It can do this by identifying the things that should never be outsourced and ensuring that the letter and spirit of the Federal Funding Transparency and Accountability Act is upheld. Greater transparency in contractor–government relations will foster private security contractor compliance with ethical norms while bolstering our capacity for self-government. Transparency is thus both an end in itself and a means to sustainable democratic deliberation. While tension can exist between national security and open government, that tension is often overestimated.     

浅析我国地方行政立法监督机制的完善

我国现行地方行政立法监督机制存在审查监督的标准不明确、监督主体多元、职责不清、监督程序不完善等问题。应建立地方行政立法问责制,明确审查监督的标准,合理划分各监督主体的监督职责,并建立相互协调和衔接的监督机制,以进一步强化与完善对地方行政立法的法律监控。     

试论政府善治视域下我国行政问责制的建构

在我国目前的政治语境下，建立和实施行政问责制具有重要的现实意义。行政问责制是建设责任政府、推进民主政治的一个重要途径，也是实现政府良好治理的关键。然而，目前我国行政问责制在实践中仍面临异体问责薄弱、问责法律缺失、政府信息公开匮乏等诸多困境。因此，将成为加强异体问责，实现问责主体的多元化；健全行政问责的法律体系；推行政务公开，实现“阳光行政”。     

论我国公司社会责任的制度完善——兼论对欧盟国家公司社会责任实践的借鉴

公司社会责任是指公司对社会、环境和雇员、消费者、临近社区等利益相关者所承担的法律义务与道德义务。欧盟国家对公司社会责任争议不大,其公共政策的方方面面都在积极落实公司社会责任。我国新公司法第五条规定了公司的社会责任,该规定对立法和司法都是有指导意义的。我国应完善公司社会责任的强制性规范、任意性规范与倡导性规范,更要完善公司社会责任的道德建设。     

对"被就业"说"不":民法视野下的救济之道

大学生“被就业”现象的出现，是各种利益背后博弈的结果。虽为无夺之举，却也掩盖不了其违法本质，在涉嫌就业率欺诈的同时，尚构成对受害大学生姓名权、就业自主权等权利的侵犯，需追究相关责任主体的民事责任。     

商事案件中表见代理构成的解析与重塑

在商事案件审理过程中判断是否构成表见代理时，需要考虑从安全与效率的商事活动价值博弈入手，对照民事表见代理与商事表见代理的区别，不能以被代理人过错作为表见代理的构成要件，而以审查被代理人行为与代理权外观是否具有关联性作为表见代理构成的事实基础。完成对这一关联性的审查之后，还应综合考量构成关联的各项客观事由是否足以引起善意第三人信赖的因素，以最终判断是否成立表见代理。     

论行政诉讼与行政问责之衔接

行政诉讼与行政问责密切关联又相互区别。就行政主体对行政利害关系人之责任而言,行政诉讼是一种重要的行政问责机制。在行政诉讼承载着监督行政主体及其人员依法行政之功能的前提下,行政诉讼又是人民法院及其司法人员发现行政公务人员违反政纪或法律并依法移送行政问责案件从而启动行政问责程序的重要渠道。《行政诉讼法》第56条就行政诉讼与行政问责的衔接问题有所涉及,但存在诸多欠缺,有待通过构建相关的配套制度加以落实和完善。     

An institutional assessment of the public interest and accountability committee (PIAC) in Ghana’s oil and gas sector

ABSTRACT

Ghana’s Petroleum Revenue Management Act 815 (amended to Act 893 in 2015) established the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) in 2011 with the mandate to ensure accountability and transparency in the management and usage of oil and gas revenue. This paper critically examines the activities and operations of the PIAC from 2011 vis-à-vis its legally reposed mandate. It points to severe deficit in accountability but improvements in transparency in the management of oil and gas revenues in spite of the existence and operations of the PIAC. After eight years of operation, the PIAC continues to suffer monumental challenges that undermine its effectiveness in serving as an accountability and transparency initiative in Ghana’s oil and gas sector. The paper makes some recommendation based on the empirical challenges of the PIAC identified to strengthen the PIAC to deliver effectively on its mandate.     

"非直接利益冲突"的规律及制度性应对思考——对重庆万州事件、四川大竹事件、贵州瓮安事件的反思

非直接利益冲突已经成为当前执政与治理的极大难题。它表现出冲突双方强弱差距越大,参与可能性越大;强势方态度行为越强横,参与的速度越快;政府部门的处置不及时,参与的程度越深等规律。预防非直接利益冲突的发生发展,需要加快建设促进社会良性运行的基础法律制度,加速完善提高执政权威与效能的行政法律制度,健全社会力量整合与引导的社会法律制度。