Violence and Statebuilding in a Borders Conflict Context: A Study of the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict

Violence, while conceived of and defined as objective, is in reality a subjective phenomenon that takes on myriad forms (political, physical, and psychological). From a constructivist perspective, the identification of violence is contingent on conflicts to signify actions as legitimate; in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, the experience of different forms of violence has meant that violence has come to acquire multiple meanings. This violence is legitimate from both Israeli and Palestinian points of view, and it creates and fulfils a cycle that perpetuates intractable conflict. This article aims to demonstrate how strongly this culture of violence has affected the state-formation process in this area, and it calls attention particularly to ongoing statebuilding processes in Palestine. The paper will also explore the intricacies related to violence and border definition in terms of ‘mapping practices’ and territoriality, and examine how, in the wake of the Oslo agreement, the Palestinian statebuilding process is created under the ruling power of the Israeli military force, restraining Palestinian capacity to create state bodies capable of establishing and retaining the monopoly of violence.     

宅基地管理与物权法的适用限度

对土地管理制度的既有讨论,通常是从宪法第10条出发,没有考虑宪法第6条对\"生产资料的社会主义公有制\"的规定,将\"国家所有\"与\"集体所有\"片面理解为民法所有权而忽视其所有制内涵。物权制度是所有制关系的法律反映,\"生产资料的社会主义公有制\"是超越新中国历部宪法和其它具体法律的基本宪法原则,运用物权规则完善宅基地管理制度,需以公有制为大前提。忽视公有制前提的物权化改革建议,陷入\"私法‘宪法中立\",的认识误区,加上对宅基地经济社会属性的误会,所提出的改革方案缺乏法理与现实依据。现有制度在实现社会财富公平分配、公共资源有效管理和农民权利保护等方面基本有效,下一步改革只需做局部调整而无需全盘重建。     

“一带一路”倡议下的中非海上安全合作

随着中国\"一带一路\"倡议的提出与推进,其涉及范围逐步向非洲大陆扩展,特别是习近平主席最终确定将\"21世纪海上丝绸之路\"穿越非洲大陆。在此背景下,中国政府有必要借助\"2l世纪海上丝绸之路\"扩展到非洲的机遇,在现有中非经贸、政治及安全合作的基础上把中非关系扩展到海洋领域。鉴于非洲多国政局并不稳定、非传统安全威胁加重,其中来自海上的非传统安全问题日渐突出等局面,在依托\"2l世纪海上丝绸之路\"扩展中非合作关系的过程中,中国需要与非洲相关国家加强各领域特别是海上的安全合作,并争取其他域外大国的良性参与,避免恶性竞争,共同创建一个\"中非海上安全共同体\",为包括中国、其他域外国家在内的各国在非洲经贸领域的合作及发展保驾护航。这样既能巩固和加强中非传统合作关系,推动其发展到新的层次,更好地保护中国在非洲的海外利益,也能避免与其他域外大国在非洲走向\"零和博弈\"。     

俄罗斯联邦国务委员会的起源、发展及作用——基于国家权力结构变迁视角

叶利钦执政早期,国务委员会充分发挥了协调整合行政权力的功能,使俄国家权力结构避免了宪制改革后的严重混乱失衡.1993年《俄罗斯联邦宪法》颁布后,俄罗斯的国家权力结构趋于多元化,国务委员会既无法解决中央层面的总统与立法机关的结构矛盾,又无法解决源自地方分裂主义的"央地"权力结构松散,因而归于沉寂.2000年普京开始执政后重设国务委员会.尤其在2004年"别斯兰事件"发生后,俄罗斯的国家权力结构再度集中,系统性压力激增,国务委员会的作用不断被强化,国务委员会的事务性工作人员得到扩充,工作机制和议事规则得到进一步规范.2008—2012年,国务委员会成为紧密联系"央地"的关键纽带,在一定程度上,维系了国家政治局势的稳定发展.2012年,在普京第三任期,其成功地协调了因"统一俄罗斯"党崛起而引起的联邦中央权力结构张力,缓解了央地行政层面的权力结构矛盾.2020年修宪后,国务委员会的作用向协助总统整合"全联邦"国家权力的方向转变.同时,"国务委员会"获得宪法地位,成为宪法性权力机关.     

Policy Adoption and Policy Intensity: Emergence of Climate Adaptation Planning in U.S. States

The United States is experiencing growing impacts of climate change but currently receives a limited policy response from its national leadership. Within this policy void, many state governments are stepping up and taking action on adaptation planning. Yet we know little about why some states adopt State Adaptation Plans (SAPs), while others do not. This article investigates factors that predict the emergence of SAPs, both in terms of policy adoption and policy intensity (goal ambitiousness). Applying the diffusion of innovation theory, I consider the relative influence of internal state characteristics, regional pressures, and test for conditional effects between government ideologies and severity of the problem. The results show interesting differences between predictors that influence policy adoption and ambitiousness. States are more motivated to adopt a policy when faced with greater climate vulnerability, have more liberal citizenry, and where governments have crossed policy hurdles by previously passing mitigation plans. The intensity of policies and goal setting, moreover, is more likely to be driven by interest group politics and diffuse through policy learning or sharing information among neighboring states in Environmental Protection Agency regions. These findings support an emerging scholarship that uses more complex dependent variables in policy analysis. These variables have the potential to differentiate symbolic from substantive policies and capture finer information about predictors of importance.     

Darfur and Chad: A fragmented ethnic mosaic

In this article, I examine some of the interactions between the crisis in Darfur and Chad through its increasingly complicated ethnic threads and explain how Chad slid back into authoritarianism in 2004. Factionalism broke down the mesh of ethnic politics into personalised rule and allegiances. The international response to the crisis in Darfur allowed the Chadian leadership to reinforce its position in the country. Ever since, a precarious equilibrium set in. Déby has become the longest-serving president in the history of modern Chad. Previously weakened by interfactional agreements and oil wealth expectations and then by the crisis in Darfur, the regime re-established internal and external means for preserving the status quo. Yet appearances can be deceiving. The argument is based on fieldwork and secondary literature.