Reinterpreting India's Rise through the Middle Power Prism

Abstract

India's spectacular rise in recent years has been the source of hyperbolic theorising and speculation on its major power status. Middle power theory offers a set of dynamic analytical parameters which allow for re-evaluating India's global influence and identifying both strengths and weaknesses of its power projection and resources. Placing emphasis on themes of Third World leadership, good international citizenship, multilateral activism, bridge-building diplomacy, and coalition-building with like-minded states, the middle power concept can encapsulate key aspects of India's contemporary agency and account for structural dynamics which constitute a reformist world-view through the reconfiguration of the Indian state within the existing world order. Overall, middlepowermanship delineates fundamental continuities in India's foreign policy tradition, epitomises India's existing position in the neoliberal world order, while providing a good indication of the directions India will take on the global stage in the short and medium-term.     

Public support for democracy in hong kong

Hong Kong witnessed a large-scale public rally and extensive support for democracy in mid-2003. This article explains the support by means of variables extracted from cultural, instrumental and sociological approaches. Drawn from the cultural approach, ‘post-materialistic activism’ and low levels of ‘respect for authority’ are found to be most powerful in explaining mass support, among all explanatory variables. Since culture seldom changes overnight, popular support for democracy may be sustained in the short and medium term. The calculation of the economic consequences for democracy, a variable drawn from the instrumental approach, has no effect on mass support. Thus, any attempt to suppress popular demand for democracy by offering economic sweeteners alone may prove futile. The most important instrumental factor among the public is ‘their confidence in political parties’. Whether pan-democratic parties can elevate such confidence becomes pivotal to boosting and sustaining this support. The lack of relatively stronger support among the younger and more educated stratum of people in Hong Kong does not bode well for prospects of increased mass support in the future. Finally, the article offers a small footnote on the implications for the ‘Asian values’ debate.     

Impeachment and presidential politics in new democracies

Research on presidentialism has long assumed that presidential impeachment is a rare event, made difficult by design in order to enhance government stability. However, the experience of Third Wave democracies suggests that more presidents have been targets of impeachment attempts than the literature might lead us to expect. In this article I seek to identify the factors that make directly elected presidents more or less vulnerable to impeachment attempts in Third Wave presidential democracies from 1974 to 2003. I find several factors that mobilize deputies against the president: presidential involvement in political scandal, strong presidential powers, and a hostile civil society. Presidents are more likely to fend off such efforts when their party commands a higher share of seats. I also find that popular protest against a president helps to prompt a congressional impeachment drive. Frequent efforts to resolve presidential crises via such legal procedures may explain in part why extra-constitutional means of conflict resolution have become a less attractive option in new democracies.     

Protecting personal data in wartime: The destruction of the alphabetic tabulators in Oslo

As a contribution to this special issue of CLSR, Jon Bing offers a unique wartime account of one of the earliest attempts to prevent ‘online processing’ of personal data by the occupying authorities for oppressive purposes.     

无独立请求权第三人的诉讼地位

无独立请求权第三人是诉讼当事人。我国民事诉讼法关于无独立请求权第三人的立法规定存在着内在冲突,在理论和实务上产生了诸多令人困惑的问题,立法应明确无独立请求权第三人的诉讼当事人地位。当事人申请参加是无独立请求权第三人参加诉讼的适当方式,法院依职权追加和通知无独立请求权第三人参加诉讼,是超越司法被动性原则的体现,立法上应取消这一规定。     

马克思的社会形态演进理论与全球化解析

全球化热潮在当今世界发展进程币日趋明显,一系列伴随的问题和困惑正迎面而来,在以马克思主义为主流意识形态的中国,必须用马克思主义的理论和观点来指导和认识社会历史的发展状况,对于全球化,深入理解而不是简单认识马克思的社会形态演进理论十分关键。全球化和马克思的社会形态演进理论之间的关系将迎刃而解,社会历史发展的规律和中国在全球化之下的发展路径和疑惑将得到解决。     

从思想世界的重演到法律历史整体性的终极指向

思想世界的通达应当是我们研究法律历史整体性的一个基本前提。但是,如何进入古人的思想世界,依据何种标准进行评价及其在价值论基础上重新进行认同,进而演绎活着的法律文化传统,是一个相当重要的核心问题。正是在此意义上,在这个没有封闭的框架中,我们需要找出一种适应时代阐释的活着的东西——历史中从来无法断绝的更为本原的思想。它不仅仅需要历史的传统来界定和彰显它的存在,而且需要一种出自日常生活的观念来支持和认同此种活着的思想。人类社会变迁的历史就是从虚无性之中开出的历史,所有的历史都是被人类的思想观念赋予了相对意义的历史,全部人类行为所到之处都被异化为一个意义世界。职事之故,传统中国的法律道路也只能在这个前置性的框架中才能得到建构和确切的理解,也只有在逐层剥离思想精义的外壳之后,方有可能看清楚法律道路的走向。     

评但丁《论世界帝国》中的法律思想

但丁是意大利文艺复兴时期的著名诗人,也是西方政治法律思想发展过程中由神学传统转向人文主义传统的过渡性人物。通过概述但丁《论世界帝国》一书中的成书背景,总结了其中的法律思想,并评析了但丁法律思想的哲学立场、时代特征和历史影响。     

新帝国主义论及其理论缺失

“9.11”事件后,库珀提出了新帝国主义论,将当今世界的国家分为后现代国家、现代国家和前现代国家三类。库珀的新帝国主义论暗含三个错误的前提假设,即:前现代国家是一撮无可救药的“失败国家”;前现代国家是恐怖主义泛滥的直接责任者;新自由主义式的全球治理是解救前现代国家的灵丹妙药。对于库珀所谓的后现代国家来说,要从治本的意义上根除这些影响世界秩序的不稳定因素,只有祛除其所奉行的经济帝国主义,改革现有的不公正、不合理的世界经济秩序,而不是诉诸于新帝国主义,维护和加强现有秩序。     

The governance of the World Bank: Lessons from the corporate sector

The World Bank Group (WBG) is a multilateral organization as well as a large financial conglomerate. The debate on its governance, however, has mainly focused on how to ensure more inclusive decision-making by strengthening the voice and representation of its entire membership. The WBG’s governance as a set of arrangements that enable the principal (shareholders) to oversee the agent (management) has so far been overlooked, even though the adequacy of such arrangements is relevant in all institutions wherein shareholders delegate to management the achievement of organizational objectives. In reviewing the institutional, historical, and current underpinnings of the WBG’s decision-making, we elaborate on the extent to which the Group follows best-practice corporate governance standards that have been designed with the aim of improving shareholders’ oversight. Drawing from a methodology developed by the IFC, an entity of the WBG, we analyze the Group’s internal governance, highlighting which aspects are furthest from (or closest to) current financial-sector best practices. In so doing, we provide a framework for prioritizing the most critical areas in which the WBG’s governance falls short of private-sector standards, and we identify the nature of possible remedies.