FROM THE INSIDE OUT: CALLING ON STATES TO PROVIDE MEDICALLY NECESSARY CARE TO TRANSGENDER YOUTH IN FOSTER CARE

It is well known that transgender youth in foster care often face egregious discrimination and victimization based on their gender identities. Unfortunately, transgender youth in foster care have also been deprived of transgender-specific medical care that is vital to their health and well-being. This Note advocates that child welfare agencies adopt legislation that will demonstrate their commitment to fulfilling their constitutional duty to provide medically necessary care to transgender youth in their custody. This Note examines recent case law on the topic and addresses counterarguments to the proposal, including risks associated with treatment, high cost, and the stigma of gender identity disorder. Ultimately, this Note concludes that adopting the proposed legislation is a necessary step toward securing health care rights for transgender foster care youth.     

对爱国主义的解读

对爱国主义的正确解读建基于:准确把握爱国的"国"的内涵及爱国的主体身份,爱国主义才不会与狭隘的民族主义、伪爱国主义相混淆;在宪法、法律等制度框架内爱国,爱国主义才是理性的;将爱国主义教育融入我们日常的自治生活中,才能培育出真实的爱国主义情怀;我们之所以爱国,是因为这个"国"是建立在"健全的个人主义"基础之上的"为国人共谋安宁幸福之团体"。     

宪政认同：民族认同的现代性转向——兼析少数民族发展权的宪政认同建构功能

民族认同是当代中国的宪政问题之一。民族间的和谐共存与发展不能仅仅依赖于历史与市场经济的内在凝聚力及公权的强制力,它更应基础性地依赖于民族间发展出一种拥有最大公分母的精神层面共识以及资源理性配置的制度性条件与框架。宪政认同便是对这种依赖的回应。宪政认同是在承认民族认同间差异的基础上,进而为这种差异构建一种法政层面的共性与交集,为民族认同这种历史、文化与感性的认同奠定一种更深层次的制度性认同框架、规范与发展方向。在当今中国语境下,民族认同应以宪政认同为转向目标,公权对少数民族发展权进行法律保障能使其承担起重要的民族完政认同构建功能,而民族宪政认同的发展对民族分离态势的消解起着基础性的作用。     

China's new generation trade agreements: Importing rules to lock in domestic reform?

Since the beginning of the 21st century we have witnessed a proliferation of Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) in Asia Pacific. China has been at the forefront of this development. Initially, China's PTAs were very shallow and mainly aimed at building friendly relationships with developing countries. However, over time, China has started to negotiate deeper PTAs with developing and developed countries alike. This notable shift has thus far been understood to result from four broad motivations: China's desire to access key export markets; the facilitation of regional production networks; to address resource security concerns; and/or to further geostrategic interests and political influence. We propose that these motives are not sufficient to fully account for China's new generation trade agreements. We suggest that China is increasing its integration into the world economy to push for domestic marketization and reform by credibly committing to trade liberalization through PTAs. Deep and comprehensive PTAs oblige a country to follow a set of rules that leave little leeway to violate the terms. In order to successfully implement and enforce PTA commitments, China has also gradually strengthened its regulatory state by investing in regulatory capacity and capability in the field of trade policy. We test the plausibility of our argument through an in-depth analysis of the PTAs signed by China since 2000 and find evidence that China's PTAs are indeed in part driven by a desire to lock in domestic economic reform, which has gone hand in hand with a strengthening of its regulatory state.     

A comparative analysis of voter turnout in regional elections

Elections to regional assemblies have become increasingly important as the power and responsibilities of regional governments have increased. Yet, few studies have attempted to explain the considerable variation in turnout in regional elections from one region to another. This article conducts a cross-sectional examination of voter participation in regional elections across nine multi-level OECD states between 2003 and 2006. It contends that standard models of voter turnout in national elections are insufficient to explain variation in turnout in regional elections and argues for the use of independent variables tailored to capture variation across regional communities and regional political institutions. Our findings suggest that variations in the strength of political autonomy and the strength of attachment to the region among the electorate have a strong and positive impact on the level of turnout in regional elections.     

复合身份政治:西亚大国参与阿富汗安全事务的三重维度

“阿拉伯之春”爆发以来,西亚伊斯兰大国土耳其、伊朗和沙特阿拉伯(简称“沙特”)形成了复合身份。教派争端导致三国在西亚地区的战略博弈阵营化;阿富汗弱政府、强社会的权力结构使三国的战略博弈代理人化。作者提出“复合身份政治”概念,认为土耳其、伊朗和沙特以三重身份参与阿富汗安全事务。从族群和教派身份看,土耳其与阿富汗北部乌兹别克人和土库曼人等突厥语族群形成特殊关系;伊朗与中部哈扎拉人和塔吉克人形成特殊关系;沙特与南部普什图人形成特殊关系。从区域身份看,土耳其借助突厥语国家委员会,伊朗借助经济合作组织,沙特借助伊斯兰反恐联盟,三国在“向东看”过程中分别将阿富汗纳入各自主导的多边机制,形成了制度均势。从全球身份看,土耳其以北约的名义参与在阿富汗的军事行动,伊朗加入上海合作组织,沙特利用伊斯兰合作组织,三国与世界大国形成了议题联系。复合身份政治使土耳其、伊朗和沙特构筑相互交错的次体系,稀释了世界大国主导的阿富汗问题安全倡议,阿富汗安全格局由“多极”走向“多中心”。     

Demanding Their Rights? Collective Identity and the Tactics of Older Persons’ Organisations at the UN

ABSTRACT

Recent scholarship in International Relations focuses on the tactics of international non-government organisations and transnational advocacy networks, with scholars mostly explaining the diverse and dynamic tactics of organisations working on similar issues. Based on multiple qualitative data sources, this article explores why the members of a transnational advocacy network, comprising organisations of, and representing, older persons, that are calling for a UN Convention on the Rights of Older Persons adopt tactics that are static, uniform and surprisingly softly-softly, despite their modest gains since the issue was put on the UN’s agenda nine years ago. The article demonstrates many of the existing explanations for tactical choices, but it extends what we know by importing the concept of collective identity from social movement studies. It argues that the older persons’ network has a weak collective identity that is conservative in nature, which influences the tactics deployed at the UN.     

I have a Facebook account,therefore I am – authentication with social networks

ABSTRACT

Social login is the use of a social network account to get access to other services. Since the internet in its architecture does not have the possibility to identify the internet user, for many services, social logins are the solution to authenticate users without the need to set up individual identity management systems. Social logins are not useful for all types of services, however, and the potential lock-in and lock-out of users needs to be considered.     

The Impact of Gender Identity on Female Offending: A Quantitative Assessment Using the BSRI

Despite considerable research showing the importance of masculinity in male offending, the role of gender identity in female offending remains unclear. The current study explores the impact of gender identity on female offending among a sample of 843 college women using the Bem Sex Role Inventory and Multiple Problem Behavior Index. The impact of gender identity on rates of general deviance, as well as behaviors typically in high male and female participation, aggression and self-harming, respectively, were examined. Results found that women with masculine identity were more likely to engage in aggression as well as general deviance broadly. Gender identity was not found to impact rates of self-harming.     

Asia's competing multilateral initiatives: quality versus quantity

East Asia has many distinctive features that set it apart from other comparable regions, not least attitudes to regional development and cooperation. Despite a growing number of regional initiatives in East Asia, however, they are generally distinguished by their ineffectiveness. It is entirely possible that ‘institutional balancing’, like its more well-known power balancing counterpart, is designed not to facilitate but to prevent something from happening. The sort of ‘multilateralism 1.0’ developed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has a lot to answer for in this regard: having established its own pattern of institutional effectiveness ASEAN's ‘leadership’ has caused it to be replicated under the new wave of ‘multilateralism 2.0’. Consequently, I suggest that not only is China very comfortable with the idea of a rather feeble and ineffective institutional architecture, but the USA is also unlikely to do anything to change this picture, especially under a Trump administration that is highly skeptical about the efficacy of multilateral institutions at the best of times.