Songs of seduction: popular music and Serbian nationalism

In Serbia, culture is never far removed from politics. When writing about the relationship between politics and folklore, the Serbian ethnologist Ivan * olovi ' commented that Serbian politics is saturated with folklore and that, from the late 1980s, every political leader, without exception, every political programme and every political battle made reference to folkloric texts that resorted to a raft of traditional clichés. The main vehicle for carrying the imagery, values and antagonisms of these mythical tales has been the pesma , which may be translated as either 'poem' or 'song' since the words in Serbian are interchangeable. Indeed, the traditional song has long been embedded in Serbian cultural identity, and has been inspiring Serbian nationalism since the nineteenth century. In the 1990s the stimulation of nationalism by popular and traditional Serbian songs involved a process of ethnification--a cult of the folkloric--in which popular music contributed to the estrangement, alienation and distancing of the Other. This was both a process with roots long buried in the past, as well as one that continued to flourish at the dawn of the twenty-first century. Hudson explores the impact of culture on Serbian politics, especially from the perspective of the relationship between identity formation and ethnic conflict. He investigates the links between popular musical forms and nationalism in Serbia, through an analysis of the lyrics, language and meanings of a selection of songs in a variety of different musical genres that were popular between the late nineteenth century and the beginning of the twenty-first century.     

Re-examining the evidence on the electoral impact of terrorist attacks: The Spanish election of 2004

This paper re-examines the electoral effect of the 11-M terrorist attacks in Madrid. Previous research has focused on post-electoral surveys to construct counterfactuals for the evaluation of the electoral impact of the attack. Bali (Electoral Studies, 2007) claims that the terrorists attacks had an important electoral impact while Lago and Montero (2005) claim the opposite. In this paper I propose to re-examine the evidence using a methodological approach based on actual votes instead of opinions revealed by surveys, and the difference-in-differences estimator. The calculations under the counterfactual of “no terrorist attack” support the forecasts of the polls taken prior to the terrorist attack and the results of Bali (2007). The incumbent (conservative) party would have won the election with between 42% and the 45% of the votes, while the socialist party would have obtained 37% of the votes.     

The Sephardi and Oriental Jews of Haifa and Arab-Jewish relations in Mandate Palestine

Abstract

This article examines the development of the relations between Jews and Arabs in Haifa during the British Mandate period from the perspective of the Sephardi and Oriental Jews (Mizrahim). It focuses on the two Sephardi neighborhoods in Haifa: Ard al-Yahud and Harat al-Yahud. The article examines the character of the shared Jewish-Arab space that existed in both these mixed neighborhoods, which were inhabited by both Jews and Arabs. The character of this spatial system was exposed during the course of a local political struggle to secure representation for the Sephardi and Oriental Jews and to improve their social condition, as well as during periods of security tension. The article also examines the attitude of the Sephardi leadership toward the ‘Arab question’, and discusses the manner in which everyday life in Ard al-Yahud and Harat al-Yahud manifested the existence of an Arab-Jewish identity during the Mandate period.     

Transgender Marriage and the Legal Obligation to Disclose Gender History

Section 12 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 as amended by the Gender Recognition Act 2004 requires transgender people to disclose their ‘gender history’ to the other party to a marriage prior to the marriage ceremony. Failure to do so enables the other party to exit the relationship through nullity proceedings. This article argues that this provision is discriminatory and encroaches on the right to privacy, breaching Articles 14 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. It challenges the idea, implicit in the provision, that non‐disclosure of gender history is unethical or fraudulent. Crucially, the article considers and rejects the claim that discrimination against and encroachments on the privacy of transgender people are justified because inadvertent sexual congress with a transgender person is potentially harmful. Finally, if a consent‐based right to know exists, it argues that it ought to be trumped by considerations of justice, legal consistency and public policy.     

传统与西化的取舍:民国旧知识人的法律观——以《清史稿·刑法志》编纂为中心的考察

民国初年,当时政府特开设清史馆编纂清史。入馆之人大多为深谙传统文化的饱学之士,并非如后人所谓均为"遗老"。虽然相对"五四"新文化人来说,这批人可称为"旧知识人",但其政治态度、法律观念并非完全保守与落后。考察《清史稿.刑法志》的编纂过程及其所体现的在传统法律与西方法律之间的取舍态度即可见一斑。     

通往宪政国家的路径选择——从欧洲的哲学构建到北美的理性实践

在经历中世纪宗教束缚,以及文艺复兴、宗教改革的观念冲击后,17—18世纪欧洲思想家从哲学上建构了现代国家理论,摆脱了自然理性和宗教理性对国家观念的支配,开启了人类理性占主导地位的现代国家理论的建构。英国经“光荣革命”从传统封建王朝变革为现代立宪国家后,北美大陆通过独立战争向世界宣称“美利坚合众国”正式成立。一群既具长远政治眼光、又有强烈现实主义倾向的政治家,探索出一条建构现代宪政国家的政治道路。     

美国法律解释权的配置与行使探析

美国法律解释权的配置与行使具有明显的发展脉络。18世纪以前,法律解释权的配置不确定。18～19世纪前期,逐步确立法院的法律解释权。19世纪中期到20世纪前期,法院保守地行使法律解释权。20世纪中期以来,法院与时俱进地行使法律解释权。美国法律解释权的这种配置和行使状况,深受美国社会发展状况和法律自身情况的影响。     

China's campaign-style Internet finance governance: Causes,effects, and lessons learned for new information-based approaches to governance,

China's Internet companies and citizens are now world leaders in developing and using the Internet and related information technologies for financial transactions. Accordingly, it is important that China becomes a world leader in identifying challenges posed by Internet finance, and providing law and governance solutions to address these challenges. While the Internet and its associated technologies are now globally available, a core question is whether, and to what extent, regulatory challenges and opportunities are common across different jurisdictions, or whether they reflect local circumstances. In short, an interesting question is what can the world learn from China as it takes the lead in addressing Internet finance challenges, and what can China learn from the world as it seeks to do so?This article first identifies the landscape of China's burgeoning Internet finance market, including key technologies and services and government and nongovernment players. The article then turns to key regulatory challenges, with a focus on factors especially significant in China. The article then examines the “top down” “campaign style” approach to regulation, which is China government's initial response to emerging challenges. Following an analysis of the campaign, some suggestions are then made for future possible governance strategies. We explain how emerging “information” based and experiment-based approaches to governance are drawing on both global and Chinese experiences to harness the capabilities of the Internet and the collective energies of Internet finance enterprises and users to advance the regulation of the China Internet finance system in a way that is conducive to the public interest.     

Developing regulatory standards for the concept of security in online dispute resolution systems

Online dispute resolution (ODR) has improved access to justice in the digital world. ODR users benefit from faster and cheaper dispute resolution mechanisms compared to traditional litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution. There are few and quite varied regulatory systems for ODR.This research aims to develop a set of standards to measure the concept of security and to increase the consistency of security in ODR systems. An exploratory mixed method approach is used, involving a quantitative (survey) and mainly qualitative approach (face-to-face interviews) for gathering data. We identify three elements of information security, privacy, and authentication as standards for an appropriate ODR legal framework. Finally, these findings led to practical implications for policy makers and regulators.     

Journey history reconstruction from the soils and sediments on footwear: An empirical approach

The value of environmental evidence for reconstructing journey histories has significant potential given the high transferability of sediments and the interaction of footwear with the ground. The importance of empirical evidence bases to underpin the collection, analysis, interpretation and presentation of forensic trace materials is increasingly acknowledged. This paper presents two experimental studies designed to address the transfer and persistence of sediments on the soles of footwear in forensically relevant scenarios, by means of quartz grain surface texture analysis, a technique which has been demonstrated to be able to distinguish between samples of mixed provenance.It was identified that there is a consistent trend of transfer and persistence of sediments from hypothetical pre-, syn- and post-crime event locations across the sole of the shoe, with sediments from ‘older’ locations likely to be retained in small proportions. Furthermore, the arch of the shoe (the area of lowest foot pressure distribution) typically (but not exclusively) retained the highest proportion of grain types from previous locations including the crime scene. A lack of chronological layering of the retained sediments was observed indicating that techniques that can identify the components of mixed provenance samples are important for analysing footwear sediment samples. It was also identified that the type of footwear appeared to have an influence on what particles were retained, with high relief soles that incorporate recessed areas being more likely to retain sediments transferred from ‘older’ locations from the journey history. In addition, the inners of footwear were found to retain sediments from multiple locations from the journey history that are less susceptible to differential loss in comparison to the outer sole. These findings provide important data that can form the basis for the effective collection, analysis and interpretation of sediments recovered from both the outer soles and inners of footwear, building on the findings of previously published studies. These data offer insights that enable inferences to be made about mixed source sediments that are identified on footwear in casework, and provide the beginnings of an empirical basis for assessing the significance of such sediment particles for a specific forensic reconstruction.