论我国法律援助制度中亟待解决的问题

2003年9月,《法律援助条例》正式实施,标志着中国法律援助制度的正式确立。在条例实施的两年多来,法律援助工作在我国得到了迅速的发展,取得了一定的成绩。但是,受经济、社会、法治发展水平的限制和相关因素的制约,在实施的过程中也出现了许多问题和困难,严重阻碍了法律援助制度的顺利发展,如宣传力度不够、经费匮乏、机构设置混乱、人员不稳定问题等。提出在现有条件下解决这些问题的对策和建议,用以完善我国的法律援助制度很有必要。     

The International Humanitarian Regime and its Discontents: India’s Challenge

Abstract

In recent years, concerns over whether the humanitarian regime as we know it will survive a many-pronged challenge have spurred humanitarian organisations to embark on processes of soul-searching and innovation. With a steadily increasing aid budget and its more active and vocal role in development and humanitarian politics—and in global politics more generally—India has acquired the label of ‘emerging’ humanitarian actor. This article, however, shows that in many ways India has been a humanitarian pioneer, and connects the norms and values of the international humanitarian regime with India’s own philosophical, religious and democratic traditions. It also discusses how Indian policy-makers have critiqued the current United Nations-led international humanitarian regime and investigates how the government of an increasingly powerful and influential Commonwealth country from the South interacts with an international regime created in Europe. For many Indian policy-makers, current humanitarian practices are tainted by what they see as North American and European interventionist and highly political agendas in the South. The article concludes that while there is still a lot to be said for a global, multilateral humanitarian regime led by the United Nations, it need not be Western-biased, either in theory or in practice.     

Introduction: market adaptations,interventions and daily experience

This special issue illuminates diverse realities of post-Soviet development in Central Asia through a multidisciplinary prism. The contributing articles are grounded in a range of social science disciplines including architecture, anthropology and geography, as well as drawing from mainstream social sciences. The analyses demonstrate how a synthesis of specialist knowledge from area studies and individual disciplinary methodologies can provide well-grounded critical positions on development.     

Contextualising emergency responses to famine among Turkana pastoralists in Kenya

The pastoralism of the Turkana has persisted in the challenging environment of northwestern Kenya for some 200 years. Yet many pastoralists find that they increasingly rely on food relief during droughts and famines. This article contextualises emergency responses to famine among Turkana pastoralists by considering their encounters with colonialism, development, and humanitarian interventions. It uses key informant interviews, participant observation, and content analysis, to analyse the benefits and challenges of a small-scale food relief programme. The article argues that such programmes can weaken the viability of pastoralism, and concludes with considerations for future policy and programming.     

Pledges not kept: JICA's project challenges in Ghana

Japan's project aid initiatives for capacity development still occupy a large part of the aid discourse of the country's development cooperation programme. Over the years, Japan's development rhetoric has been significantly adapted to the wider policy shifts of Western donor countries and has introduced in its programme and project documents such terms as ‘ownership’, ‘needs-based approach’, and ‘participatory’ initiatives in order to achieve more ‘sustainable’ results. Furthermore, the importance of ‘institutional memory’ has been repeatedly highlighted by Japan as an important element for greater project effectiveness. This article investigates how this development rhetoric translates in Japan International Cooperation Agency's (JICA) project practice in a three-year community-based initiative in rural Ghana. The results illustrate that despite the short-term benefits the project has brought to the targeted communities, the development practice of JICA falls short of its discursive representation and more effort is needed by JICA toward a more committed and inclusive project practice.     

Challenges and dilemmas of international development volunteering: a case study from Vanuatu

This article looks at the key challenges and dilemmas of international development volunteering (IDV) as experienced within a community project in Vanuatu. By focusing on the nature and significance of IDV engagements at the local community level, it offers critical insights into roles and relationships among international development volunteers and local host communities, together with the complex global–local interface in which projects are negotiated and constructed. The article concludes by offering some ways in which IDV can be more effective in assisting community projects address the needs of contemporary village life.     

美援与台湾工业职业教育的发展

20世纪50年代初到60年代初期,为了帮助台湾解决技术人才短缺的问题,美国将对台湾教育援助的重点放在职业教育特别是工业职业教育方面,协助台湾设立相关机构,设计课程,建设实训工场,推动台湾的工业职业教育走向务实成熟。台湾工业职业教育的进步不仅推动了台湾工业的发展,而且还提升了台湾在美国亚太地区战略体系中的地位。     

提升新农村警务效能的思考

随着新农村建设的推进,农村警务工作空间不断扩展,内容不断增多,难度不断加大,迫切需要提升农村警务效能。而当前农村警务存在保障乏力、引导功能发挥不够充分、部分驻村民警服务意识不强等问题。为提升新农村警务效能,应建立健全以公安派出所为主体的警务运行机制、适应新农村建设要求的公共安全服务机制、情报信息采集研判机制和以驻村民警为主导、社区民众为基础的治安综合防控机制。     

民间救助:汶川赈灾的法律视角——兼谈完善志愿者服务立法

民间救助是抗震救灾不可忽视的力量,是国家应急机制的重要组成部分。民间志愿者专业、理性与多元化的救助行动体现了对生命权的尊重。志愿者救助行动具有非政府性、公益性、自愿性、无偿性、随意性、义务性等法律特征。“汶川震灾”的民间救助呼唤加快志愿者立法。     

The Effect of Bargaining on US Economic Aid

This article is designed to explore the effect of bargaining power on the distribution of US economic aid. Conceptualizing US foreign assistance as the outcome of aid-for-policy transactions between the donor and its recipients, it shows why the bargaining issue is an integral part of US economic aid. A two-tiered stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) is then developed to integrate the bargaining effect into our empirical analysis. Applying the model to US economic aid for the period of 1976–2011, I show empirical results that strongly support the bargaining approach. The results show that the bargaining effect explains a fundamental part of the cross-recipient difference in the level of US economic aid. On average, the donor US enjoys more bargaining power. However, a huge variation in bargaining capability on the recipient side is equally noteworthy. As for the contributors to the difference, the statistical results reveal that bargaining efficiency increases with higher per capita income, ongoing civil war, violations of personal integrity rights, and a more democratic regime, on the one hand. Importing heavily from and having an active defense pact with the US, on the other hand, affect bargaining efficiency negatively.