An overview of the EU–SA Strategic Partnership 10 years on: Diverging world views,persisting interests

ABSTRACT

The European Union–South Africa (EU–SA) Strategic Partnership has entered its 10th year. It is a product of its time and particular regional and international circumstances. These having changed somewhat over the course of the last decade, it is not surprising that the dynamics of the relationship, expressed through the strategic partnership's parameters, have undergone commensurate changes. Based on the recognition that the partnership is between a multilateral institution and a state, the difference in their respective strategic positions is inevitable. The challenge, therefore, is for the EU–SA Strategic Partnership to maintain a flexibility that allows for continued contestation, development and relevance. This paper reviews the historical context of the partnership and the challenging dynamics that have evolved over the lifespan of the partnership, providing the basis for the thematic discussion which follows in this issue. The analysis in this article demonstrates that, in spite of acknowledged challenges, the functionality of the strategic partnership based on persisting interests remains intact.     

Measuring Civilian Defensive Firearm Use: A Methodological Experiment

Estimates of the incidence of victim gun use from the National CrimeVictimization Survey (NCVS) are consistently lower than are those fromother studies. To examine the divergence, we conducted a survey that gaugedthe impact of methodological differences between the NCVS and the otherstudies. For half of the sample, we asked questions from the NCVS, followedby questions from the other surveys. For the other half of the sample, wepresented the questions in the reverse order. We examined two hypotheses:(1) survey methods account for the divergent results, and (2) the questionscover unrelated activities. The results provided some support for the firsthypothesis, but respondents also reported many more defenses to thequestions from the other surveys than to the NCVS questions. Consistent withthe second hypothesis, this suggests that the NCVS and the other surveysmeasure responses to largely different provocations.     

审前准备程序的职能及制度完善

《民事诉讼法》及相关程序立法,特别是最高人民法院《关于民事诉讼证据的若干规定》,对民事诉讼审前程序做出了相关界定,但相对简单、粗放,当事人参与程度极低。审前准备程序需要完善制度保障,包括强制诉答制度、诉讼失权制度、律师强制代理制度等。另外,法官释明对明晰当事人请求的内容及其诉讼目的,促进诉讼适当解决意义重大。     

试析对区域性国际组织运用武力的法律控制

区域组织运用武力问题在科索沃战争后更为引人关注。在联合国宪章体系下 ,区域组织运用武力有三种类型。其中 ,集体自卫和授权型运用武力对及时有效地反对地区霸权主义、维护国际和平与安全具有重要意义。但从国际关系实践来看 ,区域组织运用武力尤其是授权型运用武力存在着较多问题 ,只有对其实行有效控制 ,才能发挥区域组织在维护国际和平与安全方面的作用     

公安民警依法使用武器训练存在的问题及对策

公安民警在依法使用武器训练中存在着教材水平差、训练方法单一、缺少实践教学环节、培训量不足、师资队伍组合不合理等问题。这些问题的产生是由于没有重视依法使用武器训练的重要性、没有科学设计训练任务实现方案、没有对武器使用涉及的法律问题进行专门研究、没有科学的考核办法等原因所致。为此,必须通过重新设计武器使用训练内容、采用多种形式教学方法、大力加强教材建设、深入研究使用武器涉及的法律问题、严格使用武器培训管理等措施,来提高公安民警依法使用武器的水平。     

收集和运用商业贿赂犯罪证据需要注意的问题

商业活动中的贿赂犯罪不仅严重阻碍和破坏社会主义市场经济的正常运行和健康发展,而且还败坏社会风气,造成国家税收流失,社会危害性极为严重。认定商业贿赂犯罪的关键和核心是证据问题。商业贿赂犯罪证据有自身的特点,在收集和运用上也有较强的规律性和特点。     

农村宅基地使用权流转再探——兼谈小产权房合法化问题

小产权房合法化问题的核心是农村宅基地使用权流转的限制问题。我国现行法律实际上并没有禁止农村宅基地使用权的转让。从理论角度和现状考察分析,农民对其拥有的宅基地使用权都应该有权自由流转,因此小产权房合法化有其合理依据。我国应完善相关立法并逐步放开宅基地使用权流转限制,还农民的主人地位,使农民真正拥有宅基地房屋的支配权。     

Injury‐Related Healthcare Use and Risk of Filicide Victimization: A Population‐Based Case–Control Study

Research on child‐related risk factors for filicide is scant. We investigated whether prior healthcare use for injury (including poisoning) influences filicide risk. Victims (0–14 years; n = 71) were identified in a national autopsy database for the years 1994–2012 and compared to matched, general population controls (n = 355). Healthcare use data were retrieved from a national patient registry. Risks were estimated using odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). For females, prior inpatient care for injury conferred a statistically significant sevenfold risk (OR = 6.67 [95% CI: 1.49–29.79]), and any prior injury‐related healthcare use conferred a statistically significant fourfold risk (OR = 3.57 [95% CI: 1.13–11.25]), of filicide victimization. No statistically significant risks were found for males. Healthcare personnel should be aware that children treated for injuries, especially females, may be at an elevated risk of filicide victimization. Nevertheless, the filicide base rate remains low, and parents may be stigmatized by unfounded alerts; thus, prudent reflection should precede reports to the authorities.     

Globalization and regulatory change: The interplay of laws and technologies in E-commerce in Southeast Asia

Electronic commerce has brought about business and technological changes globally, and these global changes have given rise to major legal reforms across nations. In the fast-changing global digital economy, states need strategies to maintain competitiveness of their markets while simultaneously ensuring the secure and effective use of technologies involved in conducting electronic transactions. This paper examines how the use and recognition of electronic signatures are regulated in Southeast Asia – the region that has shown the most significant growth in global e-commerce in past few years. Based on a comparative analysis of the laws of four representative ASEAN member states – namely Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam, this paper argues that there is a regional trend towards adopting more liberal and technology-neutral standards for electronic signatures. Electronic signature regulation in Southeast Asia is now built upon limited technological neutrality (or the so-called “two-tiered” approach) as a shared regulatory understanding, but this approach is operationalized differently in each state due to distinctive national contexts. Within the common legal framework, each state has developed its own system of control and management with respect to higher-level signatures (using advanced technologies). The principle of technological neutrality, a concept originally developed for the regulation of technologies in response to the liberalization of telecommunications market, has been the central theme of discussions on the e-transactions policy-making scene. As the author shows, in the process through which states localize the global standards of technological neutrality, ASEAN as a vehicle of regulatory change has played an essential role in translating this principle to the national context.     

Maximizing order or harm? Arrests among a social network of people who inject drugs in a large urban city

Encountering the criminal justice system at the first point of entry---an arrest---is associated with heightened HIV and Hepatitis risk behavior among people who inject drugs (PWIDS). Intervening structurally through the criminal justice system impacts public health; therefore, determining arrest patterns is an important tool for risk reduction. Among a sample of 740 PWIDs, and their social network members recruited from predominantly African-American neighborhoods in Baltimore City, a third were recently arrested in the previous six months, and of those, the arrests were disproportionately African-American persons and characterized as nonviolent, i.e., drug possession/attempt to purchase (38%) and loitering (29%). Poisson regression models were built adjusted for age, sex, race, education level, homelessness, and monthly income after exploring bivariable characteristics of arrests using chi-squared tests. Active drug use was associated with a recent arrest (adjusted prevalence ratio: aPR 2.38 95% CI 1.6, 3.6), in addition to participants who recently reported attending a syringe exchange program (aPR 1.45 95% CI 1.1, 2.0). Our findings are suggestive of recent media coverage and burgeoning research revealing the prioritization of policing resources toward both communities of color and neighborhoods of intensified drug trafficking. Further research is warranted to contextualize the operationalization of criminal justice resources and the impact on community health.