Investment Treaty Law and the Fear for Sovereignty: Transnational Challenges and Solutions

This article addresses the vagueness, and the interpretative challenges associated with, international investment agreements (IIAs) and develops a new normative framework for interpreting these treaties. It focuses on the historical embedding of investment protection as a means of facilitating economic development as well as upon its synthetic public law nature. The analysis shows that a teleological approach to interpretation imposes boundaries on the meaning of substantive IIA provisions. The article then elaborates how the transnational dimension of IIAs provides a benchmark, which is the level of protection offered to economic actors against interference by the state in countries with the highest rule of law standards. The article then shows how the resulting challenges of comparative public law could be addressed through the methodology of re‐ and pre‐statement of transnational uniform ‘principles’: sophisticated and detailed rules striking the proper balance between private economic interests and the public regulatory interest, so as to provide more legal certainty for both investors and host states.     

Mental Capacity Act,Anorexia Nervosa and the Choice Between Life‐Prolonging Treatment and Palliative Care: A NHS Foundation Trust v Ms X

The Court of Protection decided in A NHS Foundation Trust v Ms X that an anorexia nervosa patient lacked the capacity to refuse treatment for her eating disorder, but that it was not in her best‐interests to be subject to force‐feeding to prolong her life. The Court, vindicating previous judgments in similar cases, considered that the eating disorder rendered the patient incapable of deciding on nutrition and, therefore, that she lacked the capacity to refuse treatment for anorexia nervosa. This paper questions the narrow way in which the patient's decision was characterised by the Court in this and previous cases, which led to an application of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 that is incompatible with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities because, based on a diagnosis only, anorexia nervosa patients were denied the right to decide where the balance lies between quality and duration of their own lives.     

Human (In)Security and Democracy in Central America

Human security has increasingly shifted attention to the individual, while the state has become guarantor (or violator) of security given its role in governing the domestic environment. This article examines how variations in regime forms influence security, pointing to the importance of political security in the wider human security framework. To illustrate, the article examines the nature of political security in Central America, a region with weakly democratized states and histories of political violence. The findings suggest a link between democracy and human security that is mediated by state capacity and the ability to control non-state violence against individuals.     

城市交通可持续发展的出行决策障碍分析

阻碍城市交通可持续发展的因素中，由出行决策引起的障碍，不容易破除。该文具体分析了城市可持续发展的公众出行决策障碍来源，通过对城市交通可持续发展机制的研究。在总结中国城市交通发展建设经验的基础上，借鉴其他国家的相关经验，提出了一套包括机制建设、政策法规、交通基础设施建设和技术在内的城市交通系统可持续发展出行决策障碍的综合解决策略。     

坚持科学发展观 推动山西经济健康发展

片面的发展观曾使山西的经济发展迷失了方向,而科学发展观的提出则更新了山西的发展理念,使山西省委省政府确立了正确的政绩观、群众观、人才观和发展观,从而为山西的发展指明了正确的方向。只有正确地把握科学发展观,大力发展循环经济,对传统工业进行改造;加强创新体系建设,整合资源延长产业链;挖掘历史文化资源,大力发展旅游业;对企业发展重新定位,先做强再做大,才能把山西的经济发展不断地推向前进。     

城市可持续发展评价指标体系的理论依据和基本框架

构建任何一种评价指标体系都必须有理论上的依据。建立城市可持续发展评价指标体系的若干理论依据和城市可持续发展系统的结构特点,提出由社会、经济、人口、资源、环境、域外6个子系统组成的指标体系基本框架,并且按照对立统一关系将其划分为相互对应的两个指标群,可以大大增强该指标体系的分析比较功能。     

社会主义民主政治建设的新突破--村民自治对中国政治发展的深远影响

村民自治是中国农民对社会主义民主建设的各种各样民主的新形式,是对社会主义民主发展的新贡献。村民自治将重新塑造农村民主政治的主体、改变农村传统的政治文化、辐射城市民主化进程、加速政治体制的进一步改革。     

论网络经济及其对传统经济的影响

网络经济的形成及发展是以网络产业的兴起和发展为标志的,而网络产业的兴起和发展是信息产业和互联网发展的必然结果。网络经济正对传统的经济理论、经济体制、经济政策、经济结构、经济全球化、全球资源分配等一系列问题产生重大而深刻的影响,对此,我们必须给予充分重视。     

"入世"对大连旅游业的影响及发展对策

中国加入WTO之后,将会给我市旅游业带来更加广阔的发展前景,同时也对我市的旅游工作提出相应的发展挑战.机遇和挑战并存.从实际发展情况看,我市的旅游业要大力加强大型旅游设施建设,组建旅游企业集团,加大文化旅游企业内涵,进一步增强大连的国际化色彩,加强旅游从业人员的管理和培训,丰富旅游菜单等多角度的工作.     

科学发展观与高等教育创新

科学发展观是我国近期提出的一个全新的社会发展理念。它必将对我国各项事业的发展起重要的指导作用 ,对高等教育创新和改革更是如此。教育是培养人的社会活动 ,高等教育是民族的创新之源。面对新形势的迫切需要 ,高等教育必须锐意改革 ,以人为本 ,健康发展 ,为社会持续发展作出贡献