The power of everyday subordination: exploring the silencing and disempowerment of Chinese migrant domestic workers

This paper examines how Chinese female migrant domestic workers are influenced by different forms of subordination; how norms, practices, and power relations enable and legitimize their subordination; and the ways in which subordination elicits compliance while silencing and disempowering the workers. I advance a new perspective on subordination, linking forms of subordination with forms of consciousness. Consciousness of one’s treatment and how one is changed by it informs the decision of whether to remain silent. Compliance, silencing, and disempowerment are facilitated by recognizable and subtle forms of subordination that can directly control individuals’ actions, shift their perspectives, and cause them to act against their own interests. When workers are not conscious of the insidious impact of subtle subordination upon their attitudes, perspectives, and behavior, they are far less likely to resist.     

How foreign policy recommendations are put together: A computational model with empirical applications

This paper presents and applies empirically a computational model of the way in which bona fide high level foreign policy recommendations by U.S. policy makers are assembled. We begin by pointing out that policy making can be seen as the connection of certain strings of words to other strings. We then discuss how these connections constitute certain types of foreign policy making phenomena as such. To theorize about such connections, one first needs to specify essential features of these phenomena, and we do so for one phenomenon: bona fide recommendations. We next turn to a discussion of the theory that links together the categories by which these features are represented. That theory explains how certain strings of words are assembled into new proximate goals, missions, and tools. The theory can be modeled computationally using the programming language Scheme, and we next present that model. We conclude by presenting a run of the model, showing the close fit between actual and generated strings.     

司法人道主义的历史进步——晚清司法改革的价值变向

作为对外部挑战与内部情势的司法回应,晚清修律和司法改革运动首先意味着司法理念与司法原则的历史性转变,进而标志着一种区别于传统司法文明价值系统的近代型司法文明价值系统的应运而生,展示了从传统走向现代的司法文明进步成长的历史图景。这场司法变革运动的启动性举措,乃是删除最重之法,推行恤刑庶狱,彰显了司法人道主义的价值取向,从而为编订《大清现行刑律》和《大清新刑律》奠定了重要基础,在近代中国法律与司法发展进程中产生了深远影响。     

论涉台投资法律保护的现状、问题及其相关思考

自1988年以来,祖国大陆先后颁布了一系列涉台投资法律和法规,尤其是1994年全国人大常委会制定的《台胞投资保护法》和1999年国务院颁布的《台胞投资保护法实施细则》,在促进台胞直接投资、确保台商合法权益以及推动两岸经贸交流方面取得了积极而富有成效的成果。但随着时间的推移和现实情况的发展变化,这些法律和法规在实施过程中也暴露出一些亟待解决的问题,需要我们面对和审视,并提出健全和完善的合理化建议。     

社会主义革命和建设时期党的农民思想政治教育的历史考察

社会主义革命和建设时期中国共产党主动顺应农村形势与任务的发展变化,很快适应了从革命党到执政党的角色转变,围绕党的中心任务开展了内容丰富的农民思想政治教育工作.该时期农民思想政治教育的理论与实践蕴涵着经验、教训,更留给我们深刻的启迪.     

越南李朝兵制与唐宋兵制关系探析

兵制是一个国家的重要典章制度,同时也是维护国家独立和民族繁荣的有效手段。李朝作为11至13世纪中南半岛上的强国之一,十分重视兵制的建设。由于中越复杂的历史联系,李朝立国后在兵制的设置上借鉴了唐宋兵制,尤其是重点效仿唐宋兵制的军事领导体制、武装力量体制和兵役制度等军事制度。不过,李朝兵制并没有完全照搬唐宋兵制,它既吸收了唐宋兵制的精华,又因地制宜地发展出了符合李朝自身国情的兵制,并增设了新的兵种"象兵"。李朝兵制无论是在平定内乱抑或开疆扩土中,都契合了国家发展的实际需要。反过来,李朝兵制也对宋朝的兵制产生了一定的影响,宋朝也参考了李朝兵制对其兵制进行改革。宋朝兵制在改革中充分借鉴了李朝的军事编制,尤其是"军"这种新的军队编制的创设,成为宋朝改革军队编制的开端。从李朝兵制大力效仿唐宋兵制,再到宋朝亦在兵制建设上借鉴李朝兵制的优点,这种相互学习与借鉴,增进了古代中国与周边国家的关系,也进一步促进了二者之间的相互交融和融合,从而形成了今天的中国与周边国家的文化中你只有我、我中有你的文化格局。     

The Taliban: a new proxy for Iran in Afghanistan?

Abstract

Iran has pursued a highly contradictory policy towards Afghanistan. On the one hand, it became a significant beneficiary of the overthrow of the Taliban regime by the US-led military intervention in 2001 in Afghanistan. The new Afghan government established cordial ties with Iran, allowing it to expand its political, economic and cultural influence in the country. Yet Iran has also provided significant support to the Taliban in its campaign to violently upend the political, social and economic processes in the country. This article examines the underlying domestic and regional security dynamics that contribute to this contradictory behaviour. It offers an assessment of how tensions between the United States and the Islamic Republic, as well as Tehran’s growing threat perception following the rise of the Islamic State – Khorasan in 2014, impact on Iran’s policy towards the Taliban. The paper argues that Tehran views the Taliban as an instrument to disrupt the influence of other actors in Afghanistan. The instrumentalisation of the Taliban, however, is likely to be counterproductive for Iranian security in the long run as it contributes to Afghanistan’s instability and insecurity and undermines Iran’s own long-term interests.     

论公安机关侦查人员法律素养的差异化培养*--以教育培训为侧重

十八届四中全会以来，依法治国成为整个社会发展的主题。刑事侦查领域也提出了侦查法治化的思想，其中加强刑侦队伍正规化建设，提升刑侦队伍执法素养成为一个重要的环节。应该剖析侦查人员法律素养的内涵，立足于侦查人员不同的学习背景，提出差异化培养的思想，并通过有针对性的教育培训等途径提高侦查人员的法律素养，推动侦查工作的法治化进程。     

Migrant Workers or Working Women? Comparing Labour Supply Policies in Post-War Europe

ABSTRACT

Why did some European countries choose migrant labour to expand their labour force in the decades that followed World War II, while others opted for measures to expand female employment via welfare expansion? The paper argues that gender norms and the political strength of the left were important structuring factors in these choices. Female employment required a substantial expansion of state intervention (e.g. childcare; paid maternity leave). Meanwhile, migrant recruitment required minimal public investments, at least in the short term, and preserved traditional gender roles. Using the contrasting cases of Sweden and Switzerland, the article argues that the combination of a weak left (labour unions and social democratic parties) and conservative gender norms fostered the massive expansion of foreign labour and a late development of female labour force participation in Switzerland. In contrast, more progressive gender norms and a strong labour movement put an early end to guest worker programmes in Sweden, and paved the way for policies to promote female labour force participation.