A closer look at risk factors for public-private partnerships in Singapore: six case studies

ABSTRACT

Despite its global popularity over the past few decades, the public-private partnership (PPP) has not always led to successful outcomes, due largely to a number of risk factors associated with the projects. To explain how and why PPPs sometimes fail, this study considers the success-failure continuum of Singapore’s recent PPP experience from 2000 to 2019. After taking a critical, close look at the six failed cases, we identify the following latent risk factors: unstable financial capacity during the execution period of a project, force majeure unforeseen problems that arise, a lack of technical and/or financial foresight, poor corporate management (e.g. delays in construction and poor-quality service delivery), and an unfavourable investment environment stemming from the lack of a clear and supportive governance framework. In addition, we find that most risk factors tend to appear during the contract management (pre-operation) and project management (operation) phases. Such risks seem to drive the operational failure and subsequent contract termination of multiple unsuccessful PPPs, simultaneously (and sometimes sequentially) rather than in isolated fashion. All in all, this study offers for policymakers that better risk allocation and proper, mutual coordination between the public and private partners represent essential factors for PPP success.     

The High Representative and directoires in European foreign policy: the case of the nuclear negotiations with Iran

ABSTRACT

The negotiations with Iran about its nuclear programme have seen the most protracted involvement of the High Representatives of the European Union in a high-profile policy case. This article traces the evolution of the High Representatives’ participation in the negotiations, from the first contacts with the E3 (Germany, France and the United Kingdom) in 2003 to the adoption of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2015. It focuses on the institutional role the High Representatives played in relation with the directoires leading the talks with Iran – first the E3 and, since 2006, E3/EU. In this context, it examines the personal and organisational factors that affected the influence each of the three High Representatives (Javier Solana, Catherine Ashton and Federica Mogherini) had in regard to the directoires. The analysis distinguishes specifically between the phases before and after the 2009 Lisbon Treaty. The article shows how similar personal qualities of the three High Representatives in terms of problem-solving and trust-building gave them political capital that enabled them to adopt a fairly constant role as bridge-builders within the directoires and between the directoires and other actors. The reforms of the Lisbon Treaty had only a minor impact.     

刑法现代化理论的续造

根据党的十九届四中全会决议,在国家治理体系和治理能力现代化的背景下,刑法现代化需要继续发展。反观我国刑法学领域,现代化刑法的追求还占据着当代刑法学人的思维,遮蔽了中国刑法现代化之未来图景的真实面貌,妨碍了中国刑法现代化的进一步发展。为此,我们有必要从现代性的一般特征出发,尝试着以现代之后的视角看待刑法现代化发展及其遭遇的“陷阱”。在对现代性中的基础主义、表象主义,以及普遍主义的批判基础上,实现现代刑法经由自由刑法向风险刑法、单一法典化向立法多样化和实践理性向交往理性三个维度的转化,并为中国刑法的现代化事业提供更为充足的理论动力。     

我国个人信息匿名化的法律标准与规则重塑

大数据时代,匿名化规范既是个人信息保护中风险预防的手段,也是我国数据经济发展中数字流通的法律基础,但匿名化的法律标准在我国法律中还有待明确。欧盟已通过《一般数据保护条例》提出明确的匿名化标准,但该条例基于流程设置的标准适用于欧盟境内尚可,适用于我国或显得过于严苛,有碍数字经济的发展。我国个人信息匿名化法律标准与规则的重塑应当考虑环境、再识别风险,建议进行功能性匿名化。将比例原则应用到我国匿名化法律标准和规则的重塑之中,并将其引入到评估匿名信息接收者的风险等级,有助于降低个人信息被再识别的风险亦有利于匿名化的法律标准制定和规则构建。     

试论企业内部控制体系在党风廉政建设中的作用

反对腐败、建设廉洁政治,是党一贯坚持的鲜明政治立场。这个问题解决不好,就会对党造成致命伤害。目前,腐败涉及的数字触目惊心,坚决惩治、有效预防腐败和加强党风廉政建设,是党必须始终抓好的重大政治任务。内部控制体系建立的目的就是为了保证经济资源的安全完整、经济信息的正确可靠、经营行为的合理合法、经济活动的有序进行,以及经营风险的有效规避,使其在党风廉政建设中发挥积极作用。     

生物多样性预防公益诉讼的制度逻辑及实现路径

随着当今社会风险的不断加剧、不可逆转损害后果的频繁出现,生物多样性保护不应局限于事后的补救性救济,而应当积极拓展其预防功能,将隐患消弭于尚未发生之际是生物多样性预防公益诉讼的应有之义。就现行司法救济体系而言,尚存在法源理论上的不相妥协、立法维度上的事后救济为主、司法实践中的固守谨慎等鲜明特征。因此,应当在风险预防原则与比例原则的引导下,加快推进生物多样性专门立法、明确“重大风险”判断基准、完善生物多样性多元保障体系、打造查、审、执相互贯通的全链条式体系。     

风险社会下农村重大疫情防控策略及其治理逻辑——基于河南省H村新冠肺炎疫情的防控分析

新冠肺炎疫情是时空压缩的现代化中社会风险的突发呈现,具有强传播性、不确定性等特点,这增加了防控和治理难度。农村社会为化解疫情防控资源不足和设施薄弱等问题,实现了由常规治理向运动式治理的快速切换,通过集中资源、快速决策、硬核管控、群众参与等方式,建立起“低成本、高效率”的治理体系,实现了疫情的高效防控。农村高质量的防控源于治理模式的转换,也得益于村庄日常性合作文化的培育、组织载体的建设和群众路线的坚守,这对基层治理能力的提升、乡村振兴的实践及国家应急管理体系的完善都具有重要借鉴意义。     

The expanding role of expert psychological evaluations and testimony in Hague child abduction litigation

Hague Convention cases are a growing niche in forensic assessments. These cases focus on returning children, or preventing their return, after international abductions, by one of the parents, has occurred. This article focuses on the legal underpinnings of the Hague Abduction Convention, the “affirmative defenses” that may be invoked to prevent a return order, including “grave risk of harm,” “mature objection”, and the “well settled defense.” The article will also focus on the increasing roles that forensic evaluators play in these matters, the distinction between the role of forensic experts in custody proceedings and Hague cases, and the inherent limitations present in these unique kinds of evaluations.     

Environmental Harm or Natural Hazard? Problem Identification and Adaptation in U.S. Municipal Climate Action Plans

A number of cities in the United States have devised climate action plans (CAPs) to mitigate the effects of climate change. However, few of these plans address strategies to adapt to the long term effects of climate change that will occur in the near and distant future. The research presented in this article examines why cities choose to embed adaptation provisions in their CAPs. Our study codes the content of CAPs for all cities (N = 98) in the United States with populations greater than 50,000. We find cities that frame problems associated with climate change in the language of hazards are more likely to include adaptation strategies in their CAPs than cities that focus on other types of environmental harm. Our findings suggest that more robust efforts to plan for climate change will require the activation of communities of interest beyond those that have been instrumental in setting the current climate agenda.     

Regulatory dynamism of environmental mobilization in urban China

In China, urban middle class mobilization against potential pollution risk has become increasingly common. This article examines this phenomenon through a detailed case study of a 2009 anti‐waste incinerator campaign in the Panyu District of Guangzhou, which culminated in a sizeable public protest and government U‐turn. This episode revealed tension between the narrow, state‐centered regulatory model fixated on end‐of‐pipe pollution control, and a much broader decentered approach advocated – and practiced – by project opponents, which incorporated public consultation and much greater emphasis on upstream waste reduction and sorting. In the process, the Panyu campaign progressed beyond a case of “regulation by escalation,” whereby beneficial regulations are belatedly enforced following populist pressure. Instead, it transformed into an open dialogue between a plurality of actors, including citizens, journalists, experts, and officials, about what regulation should constitute and who should determine acceptable levels of risk. By focusing on the processes through which regulatory issues emerged and changed during the Panyu campaign, this article highlights the regulatory dynamism of environmental mobilization in a context of regulatory uncertainty, and campaigns against “locally unwanted land uses” more broadly.