析黑社会犯罪

近年来,我国一些地方具有巨大破坏性的黑社会组织犯罪呈现出蔓延和泛滥的趋势,给国家和社会造成了严重危害。因此,适时分析黑恶势力犯罪的特点、突出表现、成因及法律适用,以期构筑打防机制,是十分必要的。     

对我国民事申请执行期间制度的初步检讨——以《民事诉讼法》第219条的修改为对象的分析

于2007年10月28日修改后的民诉法第215条将当事人向法院申请执行的期间统一规定为二年,从而摈弃了修改前的民诉法区分不同性质的执行当事人而设不同的申请执行期间之立法范式,但这并不意味着此次修改有实质的进步。这是因为从诉讼法理上讲,申请强制执行乃当事人对代表国家之法院所享有的公法上的请求权,是当事人行使诉权的具体体现,不应有期间的限制。此外,申请执行期间制度之设立客观上亦损害了民事实体法所确立的诉讼时效制度的完整适用,造成了民事程序法与民事实体法之间不必要的冲突。从根本上讲,我国民诉法关于申请执行期间制度的设立实乃基于积淀20余年的错误认识之不正确立法,应予以废除。     

Co-producing a post-trafficking agenda: collaborating on transforming citizenship in Nepal

This article discusses how a new agenda on post-trafficking is gaining momentum through academic and activist anti-trafficking collaborations focused on co-producing knowledge with women who have returned from trafficking situations. Co-production of this nature is important as the issues raised by post-trafficking scenarios are largely ignored in anti-trafficking strategies, and the stigmatisation and poverty which women in these circumstances encounter means they rarely have a voice in policy-making. Drawing on research in Nepal, we present four types of co-produced data around transforming citizenship post-trafficking, and reflect on the strategies for generating and using them for advocacy purposes.     

A cooperative Peru: Is centralisation of cooperatives better for local development?

Research shows that some agricultural cooperatives implement development projects in their local communities. What remains to be explained is why certain cooperatives pursue local development while others do not. Through a comparison of coffee cooperatives in two regions of Peru, this study examines the implications of a regional cooperative for local development. The creation of a regional cooperative leads to a concentration of resources and a decrease in the need and ability of local cooperatives to pursue independent development projects. At the same time, it allows for more equal access to those resources and to the benefits of cooperative-led development projects.     

A no-displacement option? Rights,risks and negotiated settlement in development displacement

“Voluntary” land transfer agreements, negotiated directly between “willing buyers and willing sellers”, present a seemingly empowering alternative to the use of legal instruments for land acquisition or transfer which entail forced displacement. Yet asymmetrical bargaining power between the negotiating parties can undermine the fairness of negotiated outcomes and the right of the sellers to a “no-displacement” option. Viewed against a complex background of bourgeoning land transfers in multiple sites, this article examines rights-based and risks-based approaches to negotiated settlements, concluding that measures to address asymmetries in bargaining power must look beyond enhanced negotiation procedures to address underlying social and political dimensions.     

The origins of international child sponsorship

International child sponsorship typically involves the pairing of an individual, identifiable child, or young adult in a developing country with an individual donor or sponsor in a relatively wealthy country. Regular payments by sponsors, accompanied by the exchange of personal information, characterise a fundraising phenomenon which currently links sponsors to more than eight million children globally. Although child sponsorship underpins a multi-billion dollar flow of funds to developing countries, its origins have become obscured by the passing of time, to the point where many international NGOs utilising it as a fundraising mechanism are unaware of the aims and context of its early use. This article argues that the pairing of individual children with international donors was initiated by the UK-based Save the Children Fund and the Society of Friends Relief Mission in post-First World War Austria in 1919. Unlike the long-term support that would characterise later programmes, early sponsorship funded the short-term assistance of children and avoided the creation of dependency.     

The marginalisation of participation “as an end” development: an Ecuadorean case study

The evolution of participatory practices clearly evidences movement away from local participatory projects implemented with the use of participatory methodologies such as participatory rural appraisal, and towards citizen participation in government activities. This trend reflects development discourse concerning participation, and in particular responds to the critique aimed at local participatory development. Using case study data from Ecuador, the article discusses the previously overlooked effects of this phenomenon, namely a uniformity of participatory development practice and a lack of opportunities for people to engage in development activities that provide participation “as an end” benefits such as empowerment and confidence-building.     

信息公开与政治公议的合法化展开——一种关于“网络谣言”的宪政主义解读及解决思路

当下围绕着"公意主题事件"而生成的"网络谣言",多为公民基于参与公共政治的联动机制而形成的信息求索机制,属于公民权利的宪法机能形式。它在填补公民参与公共政治的信息赤字的同时,为建构良性的官民互动和公信机制提供了充分契机。伴随着互联网所建构的平面化信息交流机制的日益深入,以及开放、透明的公共信息机制需求在现代国家的民主政治建设中的作用日益凸显,制度设置必须提供更为开放和多元的信息交流机制,尤其是公民参与政治的公共信息获取路径。因此,需要阐明互联网上的信息生成和传递作为国民公共信息获取程式的必要性,澄清政治公议的宪法化展开逻辑,为"网络谣言"所犯政法禁忌解套,实现借助互联网有别于官方话语系统的政治公议的常态化和合法化,并最终寻求其正当性的法理根基。     

Contesting Citizenship in the Arab Revolutions: Youth,Women, and Refugees

Focusing on youth, women, and refugees in the context of the ongoing Arab revolutions, this article explores how constructions of citizenship are being challenged. More than 40 percent of the population in the Arab world is under the age of eighteen, and youth are expressing a strong civic motivation and agency for change. Second, with regard to women’s participation in the Arab revolutions, while highly visible on the Arab streets, to date they have been largely excluded from participating in subsequent more formal political processes. Third, the ensuing large refugee populations in the Arab world further challenge understandings of citizenship. This article proposes that exploring the role of youth, women, and refugees in contesting citizenship in the ongoing revolutions of the Arab world challenges not only conceptions of citizenship in the Arab world but also how we understand conceptions of civil society.