Why this Charity Begins Abroad: Comparing Nigeria’s Foreign Peacekeeping Undertakings and Domestic Counter-insurgency Operations

The Nigerian state has had a turbulent history and even more worrisome present. Its sovereignty has been flagrantly challenged and its territorial integrity undermined by domestic non-state actors. The contemporary security challenges and indeed the incapacity of the security apparatuses to contain them contrast sharply with their past records, especially in peace enforcement abroad. Thus, this paper seeks to account for the apparent gulf between past strengths and current weaknesses of the Nigerian security machinery. It explores the country’s involvement in external peace support operations and domestic counter-insurgency efforts. The author identifies the politicisation of and corruption within the military establishment as plausible explanations for the disconnect between the recorded past (victories) and the inadequacies of today. From the standpoint of this author, to address these issues there is the need for a holistic security sector reform in Nigeria.     

Is the Sum Greater than the Parts? The Terms of Civil War Peace Agreements and the Commitment Problem Revisited

The dominant theoretical approaches to civil war negotiations in the field of political science have sought to explain both the scarcity and high failure rates of negotiated agreements in civil conflicts. This historical pattern, however, has fundamentally changed in the last two decades as changes in international norms and laws, as well as the increased prevalence and competence of peacebuilding professionals, now require conflict actors to have a greater commitment toward negotiations and the enforcement of agreements. While actors in interstate wars seek to avoid accountability, civil war actors seem to embrace the opportunities that these new dynamics create to achieve broad‐based reforms across numerous areas of policy and government. The result, we suggest, is that stakeholders evaluate agreements based on their potential to accomplish an array of sociopolitical objectives. In addition, for strategic and practical reasons, they perceive that those agreements that include more reforms across multiple policy sectors will have the greatest potential. Our examination of nearly two hundred agreements found evidence that the peacemaking potential of a negotiated agreement between civil war adversaries is greatly enhanced when reforms are pursued across many different policy domains. Conversely, our analysis suggests that the greater the number of policy areas left untouched by a peace agreement, the more likely the stakeholders will be to follow that agreement with additional negotiations to enhance that agreement, or, alternatively, the more likely that violence will resume.     

推进平安监狱建设刍议

监狱是社会不稳定因素的聚集地,是影响社会稳定的炸药包、火山口。作为和谐社会建设的重要组成内容,平安监狱建设事关社会稳定大局,是构建和谐社会的必然要求。我们必须牢固树立“监狱安全无小事”的理念,始终绷紧监狱安全稳定这根弦,切实担负起推进平安监狱建设的政治责任、社会责任。     

Clustering of Multilateral Environmental Agreements: Potentials and Limitations

The concept of clustering of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), i.e. the integration of groups of MEAs or parts thereof, has acquired prominence in recent discussions about reforming international environmental governance. Understood as a continuing process, clustering of MEAs aims at advancing the ongoing process of integrating the elements of this system more systematically and dynamically. This paper proceeds in three steps. First, it demonstrates that a distinction needs to be made between clustering of organisational elements of MEAs and their functions, since the conditions and the effects of their integration differ significantly. Second, it argues that – in contrast to several existing approaches that seek to build clusters starting from similarities in one dimension – any attempt to integrate elements of MEAs needs to be based upon the analysis of a range of factors that influence the prospects of such integration (including overlap of membership and issues, practical feasibility, legal obstacles, and functional requirements). Third, the article contrasts the main potential benefits of a clustering of MEAs, namely efficiency gains and an increase in the coherence of international environmental governance, with the main challenges of international environmental policy, namely reaching agreement, implementing such agreement effectively and preventing/managing inter-institutional conflict. While clustering cannot be expected to make a significant direct contribution to addressing these challenges, it has a potential to economise and enhance the system of international environmental governance with positive indirect effects promoting better international environmental protection in the longer term.     

Will International Investment Rules Obstruct Climate Protection Policies? An Examination of the Clean Development Mechanism

Rules governing the global environment and the international economy are currently decided in separate arenas. Yet, environmental agreements can have strong economic implications, particularly with the growing use of market mechanisms. Economic liberalization rules, meanwhile, may limit the effectiveness of environmental agreements. This paper assesses the potential interaction between one important market-based environmental mechanism – the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change – and the framework of international investment law.     

《盟吐蕃碑》——中国古代法中的和谐观分析

人类历史的发展进程从来就是多元的而非单元的,而多元社会的自然发展过程有和平的,也有暴力的交往.但究其历史,经常的交往一般都是通过和平的途径.暴力交往尤其不可能成为经常交往的方式.有数千年文明史的中国更是如此.《盟吐蕃碑》这篇九世纪的原始文献向世人显现了中国唐代时期的一份国际和平条约.它揭示了作为一个大国的唐帝国如何与周边国家和平共处,创建外交上的和谐周边的典范,而究论这种与周边国家甚至与古代东西两极国家相处的和谐共处原则,则是中国古代传统文化的特色.     

试论和谐社会构建中的预防犯罪机制——内外三元结构动态预防论

预防犯罪是整个社会系统中具有特殊功能的一个子系统。在提高构建社会主义和谐社会能力的过程中,如何最大限度地合理发挥预防犯罪的功能不仅是一个实然问题,更是一个应然问题。从规律研究的角度出发,预防犯罪应形成一种机制。这种机制是受其内在规律及特定社会环境影响的;因而,在现实预防犯罪活动中,预防犯罪机制应遵循内外三元结构动态预防的基本思路。在我国现阶段,提高构建社会主义和谐社会能力的需求决定了对现有的预防犯罪机制必须要在预防犯罪目标、预防犯罪结构和运行保障方面进行梳理,尤其要从社会发展的角度深刻认识“打防结合、预防为主”的社会治安综合治理方针。     

WTO框架下的“环境例外”措施及其适用规则

本文分析了国际贸易规则与环境例外措施的相互关系,讨论了环境例外措施的主要内容,总结了适用环境例外措施的基本规则,并评析了中国实施环境例外措施的法律基础和经验教训。     

国际战略思想的新发展——浅论以合作谋和平，以合作促发展的新理念

以合作谋和平,以合作促发展,把合作作为解决和平与发展的基础,把和平、发展和合作相提并论,这一新理念顺应了时代发展的趋势,符合中国人民的根本利益,集中了中华民族的政治智慧。合作是新一代党的领导集体国际战略思想的新发展和创新。在合作理念的指导下,中国将以自己的发展来推动世界的和平和发展,成为国际政治中维护世界和平的重要力量。     

Increasing Participation and Compliance in International Climate Change Agreements

Scientific and economic consensus points to the need for a credible and cost-effective approach to address the threat of global climate change, but the Kyoto Protocol to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change appears incapable of inducing significant participation and compliance. We assess the Protocol and alternative policy architectures, with particular attention to their respective abilities to induce participation and compliance. We find that those approaches that offer cost-effective mitigation are unlikely to induce significant participation and compliance, while those approaches that are likely to enjoy a reasonably high level of implementation by sovereign states are sorely lacking in terms of their anticipated cost effectiveness. The feasible set of policy architectures is thus limited to second-best alternatives.