Exploring the actions of Government Affairs Managers during economic and financial crises—an exploratory study in the European Union

This paper is a response to the paucity of theoretical and empirical research into the political actions undertaken by organisations to influence policymakers' responses to economic and financial crises. By using original, primary data gathered from semi‐structured interviews conducted with Brussels‐based Government Affairs Managers of multi‐national enterprises, it reports the results of inductive, exploratory research into corporate political activity during the 2007–2011 financial crisis. Results suggest that not all firms are in favour of increased regulatory intervention during times of economic upheaval. They also imply that, during recessions, firms are more likely to seek long‐term as opposed to short‐term relationships with policymakers, they also have a greater propensity to engage in collective political action than individual political action and they use information strategies more frequently than constituency‐building and financial‐incentive strategies. These results are subsequently used as the basis for a conceptual framework that draws on numerous theoretical traditions to capture the antecedents of firms' political behaviours during economic crises. Given the absence of theoretical and empirical work that actively engages with this issue, the research makes important contributions to the existing literature on corporate political activity. It also has practical implications for corporate political strategists and policymakers. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

论《治安管理处罚法》的域外效力

法无明文规定、没有上位法根据、举重以明轻、人权保护和尊重行为地国法律是《治安管理处罚法》没有域外效力的主要根据。《治安管理处罚法》没有域外效力会导致相关刑事案件侦破困难、规避《治安管理处罚法》行为多发、同样的违法行为不能同样对待和对违法行为地扩大解释牵强等问题。《刑法》与《治安管理处罚法》的衔接、属人主义和保护主义的双重优先性、尊重受害人意志和对"举重以明轻"的正确理解是《治安管理处罚法》应该有域外效力的根据。通过增加规避《治安管理处罚法》行为是治安违法行为、司法解释明确、实现《治安管理处罚法》与《刑法》的全面衔接和公安部解释等途径,可以具体实现《治安管理处罚法》的域外效力。     

东南亚新娘现状及其对中国国家安全的影响

随着我国经济社会的发展以及与东南亚国家间人口跨国流动的日益频繁,由于婚姻市场构成的变化、国家之间收入和生活水平的差距、战争、自然灾害和宗教等因素,致使一些东南亚女子因婚姻流入中国的数量也悄然上升,这些东南亚新娘呈现出分布扩散性、流向单向性、类别多样性和数量加速性等四个特点。东南亚新娘本身就是传统安全因素,如非法东南亚新娘入境对边境管理的挑战;同时,她们又与经济安全、社会安全、婚姻安全、人口安全以及卫生安全问题等非传统安全因素紧密相连,一定程度上很有可能会引起社会秩序的某种混乱,导致出现婚姻买卖和人口贩卖走私现象等一系列非传统安全威胁。在中国出生性别比长期失衡的大背景下,需要特别引起注意和研究。     

The Europeanization process and Kurdish nationalism in Turkey: the case of the Democratic Society Party

This study aims at analyzing the impact of the European integration process on Kurdish nationalism in Turkey by focusing on the Democratic Society Party (Demokratik Toplum Partisi, DTP) as the major pro-Kurdish political party in Turkey between 2005 and 2009. It argues that the Europeanization process in Turkey, which accelerated in the post-Helsinki period, has brought about some important consequences concerning the recognition and expression of Kurdish identity. The study examines Europe's impact on the DTP through analysis of party documents and interviews with party representatives, in order to investigate the meaning and use of the European integration process in the DTP's sub-state nationalist ideology. This analysis shows that, although the Europeanization process in Turkey has somewhat broadened opportunity structures for Kurdish sub-state nationalist politics, overall the EU's impact on the DTP's nationalist politics has remained indirect and limited.     

Of veto players and entity-voting: institutional gridlock in the Bosnian reform process

Entity-voting in the Bosnian Parliamentary Assembly is a veto mechanism in Bosnia's consociational institutional setting and an important reason for the country's orientation towards the political status quo. An empirical analysis of the number and nature of adopted and rejected draft laws during the legislative period 2006–2010, embedded in George Tsebelis's veto player approach, leads to the conclusion that the veto players in the parliament – either delegates from Republika Srpska or delegates from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina – have pushed the consociational system of checks and balances to its extremes. Entity-voting enables the veto players to “hijack” the parliament for their exclusionary ethnic interests and discourages cooperation and compromise between the veto players. Significant legislation, which in the present article is defined as legislation relevant for the European Partnership, faces severe obstacles to getting passed. In the light of these findings, the article discusses three policy implications: institutional redesign, a change of the actors, and an active role of the European Union for providing the actors with a realistically achievable goal which they equally share. This should reset the current calculus of self-interest and encourage cooperation between the veto players.     

Go West: Georgia's European identity and its role in domestic politics and foreign policy objectives

This article sheds light on the Euro-Atlantic discourse in Georgia by situating it in a wider frame. It provides an analysis of its Euro-Atlantic orientation by presenting it as a continuation of past efforts to involve European powers in Georgian affairs and highlights changing trends in this aspect of contemporary foreign policy. Far from determining whether or not the Georgians are European, the different arguments that have been used to support Georgian “Europeanness” are evaluated to assess its role in the national identity construction process. Focusing primarily on the United National Movement government led by Mikheil Saakashvili, we demonstrate how the Euro-Atlantic discourse has been employed domestically by the political elite as a legitimacy management strategy and explore its function in seeking Western patronage, a key foreign policy goal.     

Modernization as Westernization? The geopolitical consequences of ethno-nationalism analyzed through Russian Art

This paper argues that ethno-nationalist models of state organization encourage and strengthen sectarianism by accentuating differences between respective majority populations and those with non-majority characteristics as problematic, and identifies and explains the impacts of this for intra-state security in the West and for building partnerships with non-Western populations, citing negative implications on how we understand political behavior and for influence in military operations. The paper uses nineteenth-century Russian identity as a case study, considers the conflation between modernization and Westernization occuring at the time and uses Russian Art of the period as an analytical tool to uncover nuances that are relevant to debates concerning security, identity, and political behavior.     

中国对六方会谈的战略思考及演变

20世纪90年代中期以后,中国开始积极利用多边安全合作维护自身的利益。为了解决朝核危机,中国促成了六方会谈,并在会谈中发挥了建设性作用。和平解决朝核问题、维护国家安全以及通过会谈改善中美关系是中国的重要战略思考。提高国际形象以及推动朝核六方会谈向机制化方向发展也是中国的长远考虑。因六方会谈的长期中断和国际形势的变化,中国的基本战略思考也发生了微妙的演变,即中国希望朝核六方会谈的机能向一般意义上的安全对话平台方向扩展。另外,通过推动重启六方会谈的实际行动,表露了半岛危机必须和平解决的立场,借以维护朝鲜体制安定,同时也表现了愿与美国协作、和平解决地区安全问题的态度,以避免新的冷战出现。     

Notes on contributors

In the Kosovo crisis, Germany for the first time since 1955 joined NATO military combat operations in a major way. While this has often been interpreted as a fundamental major departure ('normalisation') in Germany's post‐war foreign policy, this article argues that Germany's willingness to contemplate joining a NATO war even without a mandate by the UN Security Council represents an evolution, rather than a fundamental change in Germany's foreign policy orientation. This evolution can be explained best as a logical and consistent response of Germany's foreign policy identity which reconciled, through modification, its traditional post war foreign policy identity as a ‘civilian power’ to a radically different security environment.     

Political Constitutionalism and the European Union

What kind of constitution is emerging in Europe? There are two approaches to answering this question. The first, a ‘foundational’ approach, rejects the premise: there can be no real constitution in the absence of a ‘demos’, a foundation which exists only nationally. The second, ‘freestanding’ approach, depicts it as paradigmatic of a broader phenomenon of cosmopolitan constitutionalism, based on individual rights guaranteed through a transnational rule of law. Rejecting both for their failure to account for European constitutionalism as a historical process of polity‐building, a third approach, ‘political constitutionalism’, is proposed, capturing the dynamic quality of constitutionalisation in the EU. From this perspective, what is emerging in Europe is a constitution that reflects a common good (predominantly conceived in economic terms), albeit one which is legally, political and socially contested. It is by capturing this complex picture of the political formation of Europe that the constitutional question will be most fruitfully pursued.