Climate Change and UK Politics: From Brynle Williams to Sir Nicholas Stern

In 2000 the UK Labour government abandoned annual real fuel duty increases - a policy it had inherited from the preceding Conservative administration - in the face of direct action by farmers and hauliers. A short-term Conservative lead in the polls opened up. In 2006, the same Chancellor, Gordon Brown, announced an increase in air passenger duty from February 2007 in the light of the newly published Stern Review. The opposition parties denounced this as too feeble.
As Stern points out, all citizens in the world are in a global N-person prisoners' dilemma. Everybody knows that a world without global warming is better than a world with it; but each actor is unconditionally better off from continuing to pollute than from restraining her polluting.
Everybody expects somebody else to drive less. Now, however, all parties have committed themselves to tax and/or emission trading policies to mitigate global warming. The paper examines this transition.     

Open Borders and the Right to Immigration

I do not argue for or against substantive immigration policies in this paper. Rather, my thesis concerns what kinds of reasons are morally salient in the construction of just immigration policies. I argue that philosophical proposals for regulating immigration should be evaluated according to the following methodological principle: The unit of analysis in terms of which principles for regulating immigration must be evaluated is the socially situated individual. I defend this principle indirectly by applying it to cosmopolitan principles for regulating immigration in order to demonstrate the moral inadequacy of theories of immigration that adopt an inappropriate unit of analysis. Failure to evaluate the moral adequacy of their own substantive proposals in terms of their effects on socially situated individuals leads some cosmopolitans to endorse substantive recommendations for regulating immigration (namely, open borders) that, I argue, disproportionately burden members of institutionally disadvantaged groups.

“一带一路”倡议推动全球经济治理变革的逻辑根源——基于发展逻辑与资本逻辑的比较分析

长期以来,全球经济治理由西方国家主导,遵从新自由主义的资本逻辑和竞争单方取胜的经济全球化运行逻辑,建构单方面契合西方国家利益偏好的统一规则治理模式。当前,这一传统的全球经济治理面临前所未有的困境而亟待变革。中国倡导的"一带一路"以"中国道路"的成功为事实基础,顺应发展导向与实践理性相互加强的理论逻辑,践行"发展共赢"的包容性全球化运行逻辑,塑造以包容性发展机制为核心特征的全球经济治理"中国方案"。对发展逻辑而非资本逻辑的遵循是"一带一路"倡议能够推动全球经济治理变革的逻辑根源。     

Regionalism in the Global South: Mercosur and ECOWAS in trade and democracy protection

ABSTRACT

The aim of this article is to analyse the performance of regionalism in the Global South through a comparative analysis of Mercosur and Ecowas with regard to the trade and democracy protection agendas, by contrasting their institutional design and regional leadership concerning the two issues. Firstly, it analyses the evolution of intra-regional trade as well as the trade agenda of each bloc concerning international negotiations with other states or economic blocs. Secondly, it discusses the relevance of democratic stability in the two regional organisations and how each organisation has performed in cases of democratic rupture in member states. When comparing the dynamics of the two organisations, we argue that differences in terms of institutional design and regional leadership have meant that Ecowas has been less ambitious than Mercosur in its trade agenda, but more decisive vis-à-vis the region’s democratic stability. Thus, this article aims to contribute to the comparative regionalism literature, setting out an analytical comparative framework for assessing the performance of regional organisations, which remains a difficult task for this particular research agenda.     

Women’s international Democratic Federation,the ‘Third World’ and the Global Cold War from the late-1950s to the mid-1960s

ABSTRACT

This article examines the work of the Women’s International Democratic Federation (WIDF) with women from Africa, Asia and Latin America. It analyzes their role in the WIDF’s decision-making process and activities during a period marked by decolonization and the intensification of women’s rights activism outside Europe. This analysis contributes to a better understanding of the extent to which the WIDF’s official position on support for the rights of women in the Global South was translated into the practical work of organization. The article is based on materials from Moscow archives that have hitherto not been explored in research on the WIDF. It shows that, in spite of the WIDF’s formal anti-colonial stance, women from the Global South were not always given a voice or able to insert their demands into WIDF policy.     

The European Union in global environmental governance: Leadership in the making?

For well over a decade, the European Union (EU) has proclaimed its leadership role in global environmental governance (GEG). In this article, we examine both the nature of its leadership and the underlying conditions for ‘actorness’ upon which leadership must depend. The EU’s record in the global conferences as well as its influence on the reform of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) are also investigated. We argue that the EU has frequently sought to shape international environmental negotiations and promote sustainable development as an organising principle of global governance. Despite its inadequate status at the UN and internal problems, it has had a significant effect on the global agenda. However, due to persistent diplomatic opposition from other coalitions, its real, directly visible influence has been more modest. For genuine directional leadership, which goes beyond the defence of self-interest, the Union will have to make internal policy coherence a greater priority. Moreover, apart from relying solely on its weighty presence in the international system or its potential capabilities, the EU needs to achieve a high level of credibility in order to enhance its powers of persuasion.

Norway in UN environmental policies: ambitions and influence

This is a study of Norway’s ambitions for influencing UN environmental policies and then on the scope for impact. On the whole, it is clear that Norway has not been particularly successful in its general efforts at strengthening UNEP. These proposals have failed, due mainly to opposition from key states. Norway is after all a minor player in global governance issues, even in those pertaining to the environment. Norway has been more successful in efforts that indirectly strengthen UNEP, by supporting UNEP in initiating new MEAs. We found three main factors that help to explain why Norway has a relatively high level of influence at the international environmental arena compared to its size. First, there is a relatively straightforward domestic decision-making process with little conflict. Second, Norwegian officials and NGOs possess considerable expertise in these issues, adding to the intellectual leadership role of Norway in pushing for new principles and international legislation through UNEP. Third, Norway is sometimes able to join forces in environmental alliances with other like-minded countries. This would seem to carry the widest scope for increasing impact.

The effectiveness of UN environmental institutions

This is a study of the effectiveness of key UN institutions focussing on environment and sustainable development: the global conferences on development and the environment, the CSD and UNEP, primarily its co-ordinating functions. According to the indicators used to measure effectiveness here, it is concluded that the overall effectiveness of these institutions is quite low. This particularly applies to the CSD. UNEP has been quite effective in creating new institutions but has been less effective in co-ordinating them. As to the global conferences, their significance has been reduced over time.

国际税收透明度同行评议及中国的应对

为实施国际税收透明度和信息交换原则而组织的全球税收论坛同行评议是国际税收合作中的新机制。评议中发现在涉外信托、无记名股票和名义持有人三个问题上各国普遍存在信息透明度不足的缺陷。我国作为大陆法系国家,现行的法律法规与论坛所设计的标准也有一定距离,值得引起注意。应当在完善信托税制的实体法律基础上加强获取信托信息的税收征管程序立法,对国内信托和涉外信托分别制定信息申报规则;有必要对公司法第130条进行修订,取消发行无记名股票的规定;制定隐名投资中的名义股东的信息保存法,对名义股东施以信息报告义务。     

Global functioning and suicide among Chinese rural population aged 15-34 years: a psychological autopsy case-control study

As the relationship between global functioning and young suicide remains unclear in rural China, this study was aimed to explore the relationship between them. Data of 391 rural suicides and 416 controls, all aged 15-34 years in three provinces in China were used for this study. The Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale was adopted to assess global functioning of suicides and controls. The results showed that GAF score was stronger than mental illness in predicting suicide in China. Different correlates of GAF score were found between suicides and controls. Unsurprisingly, GAF score was significantly correlated with mental illness in both suicides and controls. Different characteristics were also found among three types of suicide which were classified using GAF score. Assessing global functioning is useful and GAF scale should be regularly used in suicide prevention practice.