Issue definition: the neglected foundation of effective issue management

Many issue management models proceed from issue scanning and identification directly to determining an objective, with insufficient attention to the important element of formally defining the issue. Proper definition is a vital foundation for effective issue management, and comprises a sound understanding of the issue itself, choosing exactly the right words to best position the issue and securing agreement on the definition. It also requires a full appreciation of the techniques used by other parties to try to redefine the issue to their competing agenda, and this paper identifies and categorises three such techniques. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications     

“It’s Another Way Of Making A Really Big Fuss” Human Rights And Women’s Activism In The United Kingdom: An Interview With Tania Pouwhare

Following the “Encountering Human Rights” conference in January 2007, Emily Grabham interviewed Tania Pouwhare, a women’s rights activist working at the Women’s Resource Centre in London. Their discussion engaged with the professionalisation of activism, funding constraints and New Labour policies and their impact on immigrant women. Against a background of financial insecurity and huge demand for their services, many women’s organisations in the United Kingdom struggle to use human rights law to advance women’s rights. Nevertheless, the rhetoric of human rights remains powerful within women’s activism, and law remains relevant as a potential form of ‘direct action’ and “another way of making a really big fuss”.     

能动司法的路径选择

为回应社会形势需要，由最高司法机关主导的能动司法正在全面推进。由于中国相对缺乏西方国家所具备的司法环境，能动司法可能会带来一些负面影响。针对可能存在的权力滥用、司法权威受损等问题，对能动司法进行程序规制，保持适度能动并与司法职业化相结合是可行的路径选择，这有利于促进能动司法的规范化，保障司法的权威，推动法治的进程。     

司法能动主义视阈下的《香港截取通讯及监察条例》

《香港截取通讯及监察条例》的制定与实施是香港秘密侦查法治化进程中的里程碑事件。条例的出台直接渊源于香港法院秉承的司法能动主义。该条例对大陆秘密侦查法治化具有借鉴意义。     

法律解释：克制抑或能动

近来,实务界一直在高调倡导能动司法或司法能动,从而勾起了理论界对司法能动主义探讨的热情。像往常一样,实务界提出的问题,基本是在感觉的基础上理解能动意义的,没有经过认真的论证。从哲学的意义上看,司法能动是法律解释的本质,然而法治要求法律人应该是理性、克制地能动司法,否则能动就变成了毁坏法治的口号。在司法过程中即使少不了能动也不能忘记根据法律进行思维,不顾法律意义的安全性而任意能动不符合法治的基本要求。     

现代社会中司法的力量——兼论转型中国司法的两难困境及应对

在现代社会中,司法成为一种专门且相对独立的活动,这不仅是分权制衡的必要和纠纷解决的产物,也是现代国家统治正当化的策略选择。由此,司法活动既受内在限制,也蕴含了影响国家治理和社会发展的潜在力量。面对人们司法预期增长与法院自身能力不足的矛盾,司法力量的铸成需以克制为基本立场,并依靠相应的制度和司法技艺灵活处理可能危及自身安全和正当性的社会需求。相形之下,转型中国的司法尚未完成现代化就已经无法避免能动的角色担当,其力量的培育不仅需要在审判独立性方面着力,而且还要注重为法院"减压",并理性认识和评估法官实践中的智慧。     

司法的限度：在司法能动与司法克制之间

我国法院从司法改革初期积极扩张司法权的一端,转变到面对社会矛盾复杂性而采取自我限缩策略的另一端,暴露出司法权运作边界模糊的问题。社会需求决定了司法的供给,但司法权的能力是有限的,其机能的发挥有赖于一定的条件,而且当事人人数的多少、案件的复杂程度等都会影响司法权的能力。司法权应当恪守自己的边界。对超越自身能力的事情保持克制,是司法权威的必要保证。     

国民政府对云南土司的调查

土司制度是中国封建王朝在少数民族聚居区和杂居区实行的一种特殊的统治制度。清朝大规模改土归流后 ,土司制度逐渐被废除 ,但到民国时期云南仍有土司存在。本文根据国民政府对土司的几次调查 ,拟从民国时期云南土司存在的原因、国民政府对云南土司的调查及调查总结 3个方面进行探讨 ,说明民国时期云南一直存在土司制度 ,云南土司的存在体现了民国时期云南政治统治的两重性特点。     

Citizenship practices of non-citizens in Slovenia: ‘you cannot fight the system alone’

In the period of state formation (1991–1992), the Slovene Ministry of the Interior erased, that is, excluded from legal status, those immigrants from other parts of the former Yugoslavia who did not become Slovene citizens when citizenship was available under initial simplified criteria. Compared with the processes of independence in Estonia and elsewhere, exclusion in the form of erasure from the register of permanent residents in Slovenia extended beyond the creation of foreigners within the country (i.e. foreign citizens with the right to remain and support themselves); this exclusion created outlaws, legal freaks (Arendt) or homines sacres (Agamben) – bare human beings who were expunged from society and deprived of all former rights and roles. This article discusses the citizenship practices of the victims of the erasure and interprets these practices as emancipation processes: the erased used grass roots and legal means to attempt to obtain the right to dignity, the right to stay and the right to compensation for their ‘lost years’. The effects of their struggle went beyond matters of mere utility: by publicly defining themselves as ‘the erased’ and acting upon injustice; the erased challenged the boundaries of citizenship in terms of membership and content.