Introduction: the politics of public justification

ABSTRACT

Introducing the special issue, this introduction sketches a broad frame for studying public justification. Addressing the relevance of studying this phenomenon, we contend that justificatory processes are very much at the core today’s politics. Defining the concept inclusively, we highlight the relevance of communicative agency and, at the same time, the salience of communicative contexts that enable this agency. Casting our net widely, we show how public justification is related to other, more thoroughly studied concepts, such as legitimacy, authority and power. Encouraging students of public justification to add to our understanding of justificatory processes, we highlight multiple fruitful methodological avenues for studying the concept.     

Eritrea's politics and governance crisis as political culture epiphenomena

The emergence of Eritrea as a new nation apparently required the government to transcend inherited forms of identity. It has tried to do this by forging a new political culture out of collective memories of war, but this attempt was only partially successful. Largely steeped in political symbolism and populist rhetoric of sacrifice and self-reliance, the regime's attempt to socialise the Eritrean society with valorised revolutionary values is designed to camouflage the political reality of repression. By taking the concept of political culture as a framework for analysis, this article argues that Eritrea's double tragedy has two major causes. Firstly, it emanates from the surreal, tightly controlled personal rule of Isaias Afeworki who, in the face of declining legitimacy and a tenuous grip on power, has raised the level of repression to new heights. Secondly, it has its origins in the chasm in political orientations and belief systems between the body politic and society, resulting in a culture of anomie which expresses itself in mistrust, impunity, acquiescence and fatalism. The article argues that a viable political framework of state-building is only possible when two conditions are met. In the first place it is necessary that political institutions evolve within a political structure that is rooted in a rule of law that promotes the legitimacy of incumbents and policy governance. In addition, the political framework must facilitate the promotion of civil society as a political space for political education in order to foster the stable reproduction of democratic values of tolerance and coexistence.     

政治合法性中的伦理因素

政治合法性与道德领域及其建设紧密相连,这主要表现在,价值认同是政治合法性的重要思想前提和基础,责任伦理对政治合法性的构建产生十分重大的影响;同时,道德因素也在合法化过程中起着极为关键的作用.     

法的合法性问题研究

法的合法性问题是很重要的 ,西方许多思想家都对此作了论述。一种法律要被人们遵守 ,首先必须被信仰 ,而法律信仰的本质是对它的合法性 ,即正当性和权威性的确信。这种确信是以人们对法律的合法性评价为基础的。合法性评价应从实质和形式两个方面进行 ,二者各有其评价标准。     

COMPROMISED POLICE LEGITIMACY AS A PREDICTOR OF VIOLENT CRIME IN STRUCTURALLY DISADVANTAGED COMMUNITIES*

This study examined whether indicators of compromised police legitimacy explained variations in violent crime within New York City police precincts from 1975 to 1996. Integrating models of urban cultural attenuation and procedural justice, the study hypothesized that variations in patterns of police misconduct and over/under policing (the indicators of police legitimacy) would predict variations in violent crime rates of communities characterized by concentrated structural disadvantage. Using a panel design and controlling for the relevant ecology of crime factors and spatial autocorrelation, the study found that in communities characterized by high disadvantage, incidents of police misconduct predicted variations in violent crime; in communities characterized by extreme disadvantage, both indicators of compromised police legitimacy (misconduct and over policing) predicted variations in violent crime. The study found no significant relationships between the indicators of police legitimacy and violent crime in communities of low disadvantage. Findings support emerging arguments that emphasize the importance of formal institutions of social control in the most structurally disadvantaged communities (that is, those often subjected to cultural attention) and suggest implications for the ecology of crime model and police accountability.     

公共管理职业活动中的三个伦理问题

公共管理是一种新型的社会治理模式,是政治文明发展的最新成果。研究公共管理问题,需要从职业活动的角度出发,因为,这样就会把伦理的视角引入到对公共管理的认识中来。通过研究公共管理者的道德能力问题、道德行为选择过程中的道德判断问题以及公共管理活动中的权威与自由的实现问题,就能够对公共管理获得一种全面的认识,从而在构建公共管理这一服务型社会治理模式中得到科学的支持。     

排他性法律实证主义——兼评拉兹的权威理论

当代法律实证主义内部的一大理论争议是排他性法律实证主义与包容性法律实证主义.对它们的介绍与研究不仅可以帮助我们切出法律实证主义今日之脉动,而且可以帮助我们窥测其未来之风向.     

公共政策的合法性探究

合法性问题是政治学研究的一个重要问题 ,而作为政府政治输出的公共政策 ,其合法性的高低直接影响到政府统治的正当性和有效性 ,它是政府合法性的外在表现。公共政策的合法性基础包括政策制定主体即政府的合法性权威 ,政策运行程序的正当性 ,政策价值标准的合理性     

罚没收入使用制度研究

我国在罚没收入的使用方面缺乏统一的规定,这与我们对罚没收入的性质缺乏准确的把握有直接关系。罚没收入是基于他人违法而给财政增加的收入,它不宜用于公权力机关的经费和福利;它作为公权力主体制止违法而带来的副产品,还应该用于制止违法和预防违法,以及用于对因他人违法而得不到充分救济的公民;它作为解决因社会深层矛盾而产生的违法问题的措施的副产品,还应该使用于对产生违法现象的根源治理上。     

行政指导的权力性——比较法和社会学意义上的考察

传统观点认为,行政指导是一种非权力行为,这一定论形成的深层次原因是日本法学从德国继受而来的分析法学传统。但通过社会实证分析,就会发现“事实上的强制力”和“给予好处”等保障机制使行政指导至少在一定范围内带有权力色彩,这也正是各国特别是日本加强对行政指导的法律控制的认识论基础。“非权力行为”的定性与高强度法律控制之间出现的悖论导源于两种方法论基础的冲突。