Why Democratic Allies Defect Prematurely: Canadian and Dutch Unilateral Pullouts from the War in Afghanistan

Why do some democratic allies prematurely withdraw from ongoing military US-led coalition operations? Why are some democratic allies more reliable than others? This article proposes a multifactorial integrated framework consisting of several causal mechanisms drawn from ideological, domestic, and alliance explanations of premature defection. It compares and contrasts two neglected case studies, namely the Canadian and Dutch withdrawal of combat troops from NATO’s counterinsurgency mission in southern Afghanistan. The comparative analysis finds that democratic institutional designs, parliamentary war powers, leadership turnover, as well alliance dependence and threat perceptions did not play a meaningful role in both cases of premature defection. It rather finds that domestic elite consensus interacted with electoral calculations to account for pullout choices. Right-wing ideological beliefs held by state executives also slowed down the decision to withdraw, and alliance pressures interacted with domestic elite consensus to account for commitment renewal into a noncombat mission. The article concludes with some implications for the theory of democratic alliance reliability.     

From Cronyism to Oligarchy? Privatisation and Business Elites in Myanmar

Privatisation is often contentious yet in Myanmar it has not so much been its merits or drawbacks that have attracted attention as questions around implementation. In Myanmar, the implementation of privatisation has broad significance for the political economy. A first phase of privatisation was focused on small and medium-sized enterprises and did not have a significant economic impact. A second phase, commenced in 2008, consolidated the interests of a business elite with personal connections to the military regime. The impact of this second phase of privatisation was such that some elements of this elite strengthened to the extent that they no longer relied entirely on patronage, creating opportunities for diversification in their strategies of wealth creation and defence. For this reason, it is argued, the wealthiest strata of Myanmar’s business elite is now best conceived as not simply consisting of cronies but rather as a nascent form of oligarchy. In theoretical terms, this suggests that greater attention to the qualitative difference between cronyism and oligarchy is warranted, as is close study of processes – like privatisation and political reform – that enable or require a wider range of strategies of wealth defence.     

Fixing Financial Plumbing: Tax,Leaks and Base Erosion and Profit Shifting in Europe

Aggressive tax planning by multinational enterprises (MNEs) costs EU member states between €50-70 billion and €150-190 billion per annum through base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS). This tax gap has been blamed on ‘unethical’ companies acting legally, but inappropriately. Action to curtail this behaviour has been made possible by the confluence of two powerful movements: a popular articulation of tax morality as it relates to MNEs and the high issue salience reached as a consequence of the financial crisis and austerity in Europe, an emerging discourse around tax morality, and the efforts of prominent whistleblowers. As a result, domestic governments have removed their ‘soft’ veto and facilitated supranational bodies in innovating on corporate taxation, helping to rebalance the technical and structural superiority of MNEs in the international tax system.     

我国行政补偿制度运作实践中的问题及其对策——以征地补偿为中心

中国行政补偿的执法和司法实践中存在着强度偏弱、标准偏低、司法救济疲弱等问题,从而成为影响社会稳定的重要因素。为解决这些问题,应该转换思想、更新观念,树立服务行政的理念,逐步增强行政补偿的强度,相应提高行政补偿的标准,进一步探索行政补偿的新方式,制定《征收征用法》,强化行政补偿的司法救济措施。     

关于强化处系共管学生模式的几点思考

公安院校在管理学生的模式上一直是系管学生或处管学生,而“处系共管”是一种新的管理理念,具有特定的优势。     

Civil and Uncivil Actors in the Guatemalan Peace Process

Abstract This paper examines the Guatemalan peace process by focusing on different actors in civil society. It considers the peace negotiations between the government/ military and the guerrillas, rather than the realm of electoral procedures, to be the main locus of political transition. Challenging the work of many elite-centred theorists of democratisation who claim that civil society is an ephemeral and largely insignificant actor in transitions, the analysis considers both popular actors and business associations, one of the major‘ uncivil’ actors in Guatemalan civil society, and shows that civil society can have an impact on transitions on multiple levels. In attempting to explain the degree of impact, the paper illustrates the need to examine both the surrounding political opportunity structure and internal factors such as organisation, strategy and leadership.     

关于国有控股公司的几个问题

国有控股公司是政府作为国有资产所有代表行使其出资权利的中间层次。本对国有控股公司概念、分类、成因及组建方式进行了探讨,并提出了发展和完善国有控股公司所应注意的几个问题。     

试析冷战后美国维和行动政策的演变及未来走向

冷战后,随着美国对外战略、国内政治及联合国维和行动的发展,美国的维和行动政策不断调整。美国对联合国维和行动的政策先后经历了积极主导、消极参与、有限参与等阶段,但在联合国框架外的维和行动则呈扩大趋势,并带有明显的强制性与干预性。随着世界格局多极化趋势日渐增强,预计美国将调整其单边式维和政策,更加借助联合国和区域组织实施维和行动,并且维和行动的方式也将更加多样化。     

高校毕业生就业服务体系的网络结构和运行机制

采用逻辑演绎和比较分析方法,结合中国高校毕业生特点以及就业服务参与主体的优势和劣势,从促进多主体相互合作的角度研究就业服务体系的网络结构和运行机制,尝试将相关主体进行结构化,建立就业服务体系的网络结构,探讨各主体在这一网络结构中的职责和沟通协作的途径,并归纳阐述保障这一网络结构顺畅运行的机制。在充分利用互联网平台基础之上,完善各项就业保障机制,通过构建合作统一的就业网络结构实现就业效率最大化。研究目的在于完善整个就业服务体系并提高其运行效率,为解决当前毕业生就业难题提供新的思路。     

论欧盟法中跨国企业集团破产的管辖权

跨国企业集团是由在各国成立的不同法律实体以某种形式的控制权或所有权相互连结而形成的经济组织。在欧盟破产法中,跨国企业集团破产管辖权可以分成两个层次:一是基于债务人主要利益中心地的管辖;二是基于债务人营业所所在地的管辖。