Organized transnational crime in the Black Sea Region: a geopolitical dilemma?

States are unique and individual entities. However, geographic proximity, a common history and fate may cause existential threats to have common causes and solutions. To understand how, and why, states experience transnational organized crime as a national security threat differently, it is necessary to learn about the states and the culture of organized crime in the geographic region in which they are embedded. The objective here is to present the Post-Soviet Political Criminal Nexus as a part of the identity of Newly Independent States in the Black Sea Region (Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) which poses an international security threat and impedes democratic development.

政治变迁中的养老金改革:对中国台湾经验的反省

中国台湾国民年金的规划及发展长达十五年,1993年"内政部"社会司邀请学者专家及政府相关单位共同组成"国民年金制度研议小组",开启国民年金在政府部门的大门。其后历经数届政府部门的规划协商,最后才于2007年通过三读实施。论文从政策过程的分析视角,说明民主化过程的中国台湾政治生态,如何影响了养老金改革的理念与制度形成,借此检视民主政治中的社会政策形成过程。反省中国台湾养老金改革的经验,可以丰富我们对于东亚养老金改革的理解,并在这个基础上与现有的养老金改革研究文献对话。     

"治安承包"的理论探讨

"治安承包"是将某一特定区域的治安防范任务有偿承包交给某个人或某一组织,承包人组织人员开展巡防工作,相关政府部门根据区域内的刑事案发数量和承包人抓获的犯罪嫌疑人数等指标对承包者进行考核奖惩的社会化安全管理新模式。其理论依据:治安承包体现了社会主义法制的民主原则;公共治安是一种公共物品,但并不排斥由私人来生产:公共治安需求的多样性与提供的单一性矛盾,需要引入多元公共治安的提供方式;治安承包具有经济上的合理性;治安承包是社会治安综合治理的一种具体操作。     

美国的战略目标与东南亚

"9·11"事件后,美国全力重返东南亚,这在东南亚及其周边引起了震撼。美国关注东南亚由来已久,但当前政治、经济与安全等国家利益的需要和东南亚特殊的战略地位,使美国在东南亚倍加用心。冷战后,特别是"9·11"事件后,美国将其全球战略三大目标:安全保证、经济振兴和全球民主化,与东南亚结合起来,开拓性地把东南亚在美国战略中的角色定位为反恐第二战区、地缘战略区、经济利益区和民主扩展区。     

民进党时期的台湾政治生态--以"核四"事件为分析个案

本文旨在以"核四"事件为分析个案,对当前台湾政治生态进行研讨.本文认为在台湾的"民主政治"表象之下仍保留着大量不良的政治文化,不过相对于过去而言,台湾目前在政治制度发展方面的若干实践仍是值得肯定的.     

民主工具的开发与执政能力的提升——解读温岭“民主恳谈会”的一种新视角

学术界在研究温岭的"民主恳谈会"时都使用了民主的定语.总体上可以把此前的研究概括为三种视角:民主的治理视角、民主的参与视角和民主的制度视角.试图提出一种民主的工具视角来概括"民主恳谈会"的长时段发展,并且通过对民主工具的各种比较,从理论和经验两个层面上阐发"民主恳谈会"的发展机理及其理论与实践意义.提出,现有三种视角所概括的"民主恳谈"的时空范围都非常有限,都没有讨论到选举与民主的内在关系.一种新的民主工具视角既可以在更大的时空范围之内观察"民主恳谈"活动的发展,又可以在一种新的视角下提炼民主化道路的差异.在这种新的视角下,民主是由包括选举在内的一系列工具的复杂组合;在不同的时空背景下,各种工具的开发顺序在一定程度上决定着特定国家在特定发展阶段上的民主化路径与方式.作为一种民主工具的"民主恳谈"活动,虽然是基层党务官员为了提高执政能力而使用的一种工具,但是这种工具的开发也有利于在特定时空范围内激发出其他的民主工具.     

Why we should not believe every lesson Andrew Moravcsik teaches us: A response

This article is a response to Andrew Moravcsik’s “What Can We Learn from the Collapse of the European Constitutional Project?”, published in No. 2, Vol. 47 (2006) of the PVS. In our reply we focus on three main points. First, we argue that Moravcsik’s apologia of the status quo does not convince in light of the challenges that a European Union currently with 27 member states and increasing heterogeneity is facing. Second, we discuss his causal chain model linking participation, deliberation and political legitimacy. We argue that Moravcsik confuses causality with conditionality. By doing so, he exaggerates claims of normative political science about the causal relationship between participation, deliberation and legitimacy, and makes it an unjustifiably easy target for critique. Third, we critically examine Moravcsik’s notion of democracy in order to show that his view of democracy as guaranteeing “certain social goods” brings about the risk of producing a theory of democracy without democracy.     

Old Dogs,New Tricks? The Role of Regional Organizations in the Mediterranean after the Arab Revolts

Taking its point of departure in how specific regional organizations function and interact in the Mediterranean, this article attempts to show to what degree this institutional setup has influenced the developments in the Arab Mediterranean states after the Arab revolts. The analysis of the organizational and institutional setup in the Mediterranean is theoretically founded in the new institutionalism tradition. Furthermore, a regionalism perspective is applied, touching on discussions related to European normative ambitions. It is demonstrated that the regional organizations only to a limited degree have contributed to democratization processes or to democratic consolidation in a post–Arab Spring context, and it is argued that it seems unlikely that these organizations in the future will develop into tools for democratization in the Mediterranean region.     

Different forces in one: the origin and development of organizational cultures in the Japanese Ground and Maritime Self-Defense Forces, 1950–present

This article explains the processes in which the two SDFs’ organizational cultures were formed by examining the ways in which the two Self Defense Forces (SDFs) were established in the early 1950s and have interacted with their US counterparts since that time. The article argues that the reason that the Ground Self Defense Force (GSDF) has been so cautious about sending troops to overseas operations, whereas the Maritime Self Defense Force (MSDF) has been willing to provide any possible support for the US Navy (USN), is that they have developed different organizational cultures – different collective beliefs and understandings about how to contribute to the national interest that they defined – through their decades-long relations with their US counterparts since the early 1950s. It is especially important to consider what type of Japanese actors were in charge of establishing each of the two SDFs in the early 1950s, what intentions they had when they established the two SDFs, and what kind of relations they had with their US counterparts. It is also important to consider how the USAR and USN responded to the requests from their Japanese counterparts in the 1950s and 1960s.     

社会力量助推乡村振兴的内源性发展路径研究--基于“振兴村”试点的分析

乡村振兴背景下,如何实现城乡资源要素的合理流动,培养农民参与乡村振兴的主体性意识,实现农村的内源性发展是当前亟需解决的问题。文章以一个乡村振兴试点村为例,探讨了以退休干部牵头的社会组织,通过社会力量助推乡村内源性发展的策略和路径。研究表明:社会组织可以通过“融入-培育-助推”的行动逻辑来助推以农民为主体的乡村振兴,具体表现为:社会组织通过融入国家政策体系、地方行政体系和乡村社会体系,引入外源式资源培育农民公共事务参与意识和集体行动能力,助推村社实现产业和治理的组织化,推动农村内源性发展。这种发展路径与社会力量不同阶段的助推策略相呼应,且各阶段相互交错,是一个双向非线性的过程。在此过程中,社会力量促进了外来资源引入与内生动力培育的融合,实现了村庄的内源性发展。