The Russian mafia: Expulsion of law

The purpose of this paper will be to determine whether the conditions that exist in present‐day Russia are congruent with Foucault's claim that power in modern societies is not ensured by law and punishment but by normalization and control, which go beyond the state and its apparatuses, and that law plays an increasingly subordinate role within contemporary disciplinary society. I will also see what conclusions can be drawn from the Russian‐Soviet case that are relevant to evaluating the paradigms supplied by Foucault in deciphering the modalities of power in the modern world. In what sense can he help us understand how discipline and law in Imperial and Soviet Russia created the necessary conditions for the emergence of the Russian Mafia? Law has been transformed in the hands of the Russian Mafia and has expanded its spheres of influence rather than being displaced. The conditions that exist in present‐day Russia can be applied to Foucault's claim that power in modern societies is not ensured by law and punishment but by normalization and control which go beyond the state and its apparatuses. But it is not the case that law plays an increasingly subordinate role in present‐day Russia. Rather, it is no longer controlled by the sovereign power of the monarchy or by the Soviet state and its apparatuses, but is now predominately controlled by the Russian Mafia.     

How the CT Community Failed to Anticipate the Islamic State

This article is a critique of the dominant approach within the counter-terrorism (CT) community that failed to analyze IS’s trajectory as a distinct group since at least 2006. We argue that two factors account for this failure. The first concerns the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF), the law that was enacted in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, providing options to the U.S. President to authorize the use of Armed Forces “against those responsible” for the 9/11 attacks. We contend that this law served as an incentive to lump regional jihadi groups under the AQ umbrella instead of discerning their differences. The second factor concerns what we term as the “al-Qa‘ida fixation,” it has to do with a post-9/11 bias towards understanding the threat emanating from jihadi groups around the world through the lens of AQ. This translated into falsely constructing a so-called “al-Qaeda Central” in the business of ‘franchising’ its brand and cloning its violent operations by establishing regional jihadi groups that served as its “affiliates” and carried out its orders. In the post-9/11 era, these two factors fed off each other. Our critique is not meant to suggest that the CT community is expected to predict the unpredictable, and we also recognize that one gains greater clarity with the benefit of hindsight. However, we argue that had the CT community given due attention to the differences between jihadi groups, there was ample evidence in the open source realm that was pointing to IS being AQ’s bête noire, and was seeking to outbid it.     

世界政治“平靖进程”的技术变迁支撑

二战后,世界政治经历了"平靖进程",具体体现为:"大国罕有战事""国家罕有消亡"。本文融合国际政治经济学与国际安全研究,展示二战后的技术变迁改变了大国的"意愿"与"能力",支撑了世界政治新变化。在马尔萨斯时代,由于技术水平低下,生存物资稀缺,生存保障匮乏,人类面临持续的安全难题。二战后,技术发展影响了当代大国的"意愿"与"能力",让世界政治呈现新变化。技术变迁给大国提供了更为丰富的选择,让大国使用武力征服的意愿降低;同时,随着技术变迁,尤其是在"核革命"后,大国确保自身安全的能力更强,使得"大国罕有战事"。得益于技术变迁,大国利益半径扩大,即便距离遥远地域的变化也与自身息息相关,大国保障遥远海外利益的意愿提升;同时,技术变迁扩大了大国的权力投射,让世界各国,尤其是大国保障体系稳定的能力更强,致使"国家罕见消亡"。随着技术变迁,世界政治已呈现出很多与传统智慧不同的方面,孕育国际交往的新理念。     

Welfare Reform and the Shifting Threshold of Support for Disabled People

Among the highly significant changes to the benefits system made by the Welfare Reform Act 2012 is provision for a new disability benefit, personal independence payment (PIP). PIP is replacing disability living allowance (DLA), received by three million people, as the principal form of state financial support towards disability‐related care and mobility costs for those of working age. The legislation, including regulations prescribing a new disability assessment framework, plays its traditional role in this field of rationing access to benefit and directing front‐line policy implementation. This article examines how, in the context of the Coalition government's welfare reforms, PIP shifts the threshold of entitlement for people with disabilities and it assesses PIP's potential impact on equality and the right to independent living, to whose realisation disability benefits may be expected to contribute significantly. It also considers the impact on disabled people of other relevant reforms, including the controversial ‘bedroom tax’.     

跨国诉讼追索流失文物的法律困境——基于查巴德诉俄罗斯政府案的分析

追索流失文化遗产的国际实践由来已久,其中通过诉讼的途径进行追索,但通常的诉讼途径为原文化财产来源国在文化市场国内对个人或团体提起诉讼,而在查巴德（Chabad）案中,俄罗斯作为文化财产的来源国却被迫参与到诉讼中,而其所依据的国有化法案却成为文化财产返还的障碍.诉讼结束后,俄罗斯拒绝对法院的判决予以执行,直接导致了两国在文化和外交上的冷战.本文以查巴德案为视角,分析在跨国追索流失文物案件中最突出的两个问题——国家的管辖权与判决的执行问题,并对诉讼以外的其他追索途径进行述评,以期为我国境外文物追索提供借鉴.     

POSTAL 2 plays in US court - Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment Merchants Association

In an unprecedented legal development, the case of violence in video games has now reached the highest American court. The US Supreme Court is set to decide whether states can restrict minors from buying violent video games in the case of Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment Merchants Association. The decision could have serious implications on the future of First Amendment rights and children’s ’welfare. To resolve Schwarzenegger, the Justices will need to decide how much First Amendment protection should be extended to violent video games and whether minors have a greater constitutional right to violence than they do to obscenity.     

失信联合惩戒的地方立法实践及反思

作为一种核心机制,失信联合惩戒在社会信用体系的构建中发挥着无法替代的功能,对于营造诚信的社会经济环境意义重大。实证分析显示,囿于全国性法律的暂时缺失,地方立法在先行先试的过程中出现对失信联合惩戒制度本身的规制缺位、失信行为的种类划分标准参差不齐、失信主体的救济措施缺失以及失信联合惩戒体系互异等现实难题。对此,应当以合法原则、后果与行为相当、必要限度以及责任自负为基本遵循,通过明确区分标准,将失信行为分门别类,完善立法设计,建立失信主体救济机制以及加强法律控制,对相关法律文件进行合法性审查,推进社会信用法律出台,构建统一的失信联合惩戒体系等举措,完善社会信用体系建设,助推国家治理法治化进程。     

试析我国刑事被害人补偿制度

从国家层面分析,国家救济体系是指基于法律、政策的保障,对遭受破坏的社会秩序的恢复,其目的旨在填补社会成员遭受侵害之后合法权益的损失。在上述由国家财力支持的救济体系中,刑事被害人救济制度则主要将帮扶对象限定为遭受犯罪侵害的刑事被害人,是指由国家主导并有统一立法,以缓解刑事被害人因受犯罪行为侵害而遭受到的困难、抚慰其精神创伤、减轻其合法权益所受到的损失为主要目的的救济制度。出于我国当前刑事被害人的巨大基数及保护现状,及早完善立法有着现实的必要性。     

从多层次到多支柱:养老保障体系改革再思考

在对多层次养老保险体系反思的基础上,从多支柱理论和我国现实国情出发,构建了以多支柱为核心特征的养老保障体系。零支柱:以低收入者和农民为对象的普惠制国民养老金,旨在防止老年贫困。第一支柱:以正式就业者为对象,由基本养老保险社会统筹部分改造而来的基本养老金,目标在于保障就业者退休后的基本生活,突出社会再分配。第二支柱:以正式就业者为对象,由基本养老保险个人账户部分和企业年金计划合并而来的职业年金计划,使退休职工生活水平比单一的第一支柱有所改善,同时有助于应对老龄化危机。第三支柱:自愿性的个人养老储蓄计划,为有较高需求的高收入者提供的更高层次的保护。     

论经济法学语境中的“经济国家”

经济国家是指国家受经济属性的嵌入与公私融合的驱动,超越单纯的政治主权组织而成为经济、社会发展的内生因素与主导力量,在促进经济、社会发展的同时亦引发自身的组织及行为变革。于实践而言,经济国家的发轫与勃兴乃是中国经济和社会成功转轨的根本所在,中国经济法的成长也正是得益于契合了经济国家对法律调整的需求。于经济法学理论而言,经济国家的提出代表着一种以经济与社会实践为根本、以增强经济法学理论解释力为核心的实践性总论研究进路。