《联合国反腐败公约》与刑事诉讼法再修改

《联合国反腐败公约》是联合国反腐败领域的第一个重要公约,加入和实施该公约对于我国的刑事司法改革和反腐败斗争必将产生深远影响。该公约的基本精神是“强化严惩犯罪的力度,保障正当程序的底线”。我们应当以此次刑事诉讼法再修改为契机,适时调整我国的刑事司法制度,与公约的要求相适应,以使我国的刑事诉讼法更趋于合理和科学。     

Commercial Diplomacy and Statecraft in the Context of Economic Reform: The Indian Experience

It is almost a decade since India began its economic reforms. Apart from the purely domestic economic objectives that the reforms were expected to achieve, there was a recognition that reform was imperative if India wanted to become an economic power of consequence within and beyond its region. This had important foreign policy implications. Official pronouncements reflected the concern that the balance of fiscal power as opposed to military power was the key factor in determining a country's international standing. This called for an integrated strategy to bring economic and foreign policies closer. The implementation of a vigorous foreign economic policy could not be undertaken without sharpening the commercial diplomatic tool. Indian foreign policy over the last decade has been grappling with this challenge. This article analyses the reorientation in Indian foreign policy, assesses the efforts undertaken so far to make commercial diplomacy viable and highlights the challenges that multi-layered diplomacy poses for a country like India.     

外国人居留证管理的现状及可行性改革思路

现行的外国人居留证件管理体系已难以适应形势的发展和需要,改革势在必行。取消现行大一统居留证模式,改版沿用了近50年的外国人居留证和使用了近20年的临时居留证,以磁卡式与贴纸式替代。是今后居留证体系可行性的改革思路。     

The Place for Custody Evaluations in Family Peacemaking

Custody evaluations can serve the dual purpose of providing neutral, objective information to the court while also contributing to the possibility of earlier settlement, which coincides with the therapeutic jurisprudence goal of more positive outcomes for children and families. Research suggests that most cases settle after custody evaluations. However, most of the literature is focused on the use of custody evaluations for litigation. Evaluators, attorneys, and mental health consultants can influence parents to focus more on children's needs and less on their conflict as they go through the evaluation process. This article urges family courts to develop processes and require professionals to learn skills needed for an interdisciplinary process to utilize evaluations in peacemaking.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:
• All custody evaluation processes should aim to reduce and/or shorten children's exposure to parental conflict.
• Evaluators, attorneys, and mental health professional consultants should use the evaluation process to influence parents to be more aware of their children's needs and less invested in their adversarial positions.
• Evaluators should learn to write and orally present information and state opinions with consideration of the parents themselves as consumers of the custody evaluation as well as the court.
• Attorneys and mental health professional consultants should help clients review the report, process their emotional reactions, and consider their options for settlement versus litigation in terms of emotional and financial costs to the family.
• Court processes should be developed to contain the time and cost of custody evaluations and provide dispute resolution after custody evaluations.

     

Redesigning the Family Law System to Promote Healthy Families

Family law professionals should be proactive in seeking and implementing constructive reforms. We identify some successful cutting‐edge reforms: (1) family resource centers, where all kinds of needs can be met; (2) informal family law trials, which streamline clogged calendars and provide an empowering and efficient forum; (3) licensed legal technicians, who increase public access to legal services; and (4) unbundled family law services. Second, we outline a protocol for implementation of reform developed by the Oregon Task Force on Family Law which is effective and replicable. Thoughtful reform of dispute resolution processes will serve family health and promote peace.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:
• Evolving family constellations, private ordering through pre‐ and postmarital agreements, an increase in self‐represented litigants, and shrinking judicial resources are changing family law dramatically.
• Thoughtful, practical process reforms are needed in order to accommodate these changes.
• Practitioners should be proactive about seeking out and implementing such reforms.
• Some reforms already finding success include family relationship resource centers, informal domestic relations trials, licensed legal technicians, and unbundled legal services.
• We outline a protocol with a proven track record of success for implementing cutting‐edge family law reform.

     

Presumptions,Burdens, and Best Interests in Relocation Law

The pure “best interests” approach to relocation law is a failure. It is unpredictable and expensive, increasing conflict and discouraging settlement. The “fundamental questions” proposed by Parkinson and Cashmore in their article will not reform the law. Real reform will require the use of presumptions or burdens to guide best interests. “Presumptions” are not “rules,” but only starting points. No simple presumption “for” or “against” all relocations can be justified, but there are large categories of cases that do warrant presumptions: interim moves, unilateral relocations, shared care, and predominant primary caregivers. The first three involve presumptions against relocation, while the last—the largest category—warrants a presumption that relocation is in the best interests of the child, unless the contrary is proved. There will remain a small minority of in‐between cases where none of these presumptions will operate, recognizing the limits of our general knowledge. It is time to move the relocation reform debate beyond pure “best interests,” to the next stage, to a serious discussion of which cases warrant presumptions, and of what strength.

Key Points for the Family Court Community
• Pure best interests approach to relocation law is a failure
• Presumptions or burdens needed to reform the law, but not just “for” or “against”
• Presumptions are identified for four categories of relocation cases: interim moves, unilateral relocations, shared care, and predominant primary caregivers

     

Multinational-firm responses to an Asian-crisis comeback: evidence from European transnationals

Abstract

Despite many predictions to the contrary, the Republic of Korea (ROK) is currently one of the countries with most pro-American attitudes. We investigate what is behind the extraordinary resilience in US popular standing in an allegedly least likely setting. Using survey data from 2002 and 2007 and a novel methodology, Classification and Regression Tree models, we test whether US standing is: (1) a matter of interests, i.e. a reward that the USA receives because it either provides security or international public goods; or (2) whether it is a matter of image, i.e. the recognition that the USA is a role model to emulate. We find that across a large number of predictors, the Korean public mostly liked the USA because they liked American ways of doing business, which gives support to the image hypothesis. Security interests played a secondary role in shaping US standing, while the provision of international public goods had no impact in the popular assessment of the USA in the ROK.     

日本地方议会改革视阙下的议会基本条例研究

由于受各种因素制约,日本地方议会一直面临权力有限、效能不彰、民众观感不佳等问题。地方分权改革为地方议会改革创造了有利条件。20世纪90年代地方政治经济环境的变化,则进一步倒逼议会进行自我革新。议会基本条例是由地方议会制定,对议会基本事务进行规范的地方立法。议会基本条例既是议会改革的重要成果,又为改革擎画出蓝图,提供了法律保障。地方议会依据议会基本条例,不断推动议会改革。     

菲律宾土地改革和粮食安全研究

菲律宾作为农业国家,经济发展落后,粮食产量供不应求。菲律宾忽视农业的制度安排导致粮食国际购买力下降,贫困率居高不下,并且一直威胁着菲律宾的粮食安全。菲律宾历届政府试图通过一系列的经济改革和土改制度安排来解决粮食危机,但效果不尽人意。本文通过对菲律宾粮食安全和土地改革的分析,发现土地改革政策的不彻底性、短期性、滞后性使政策效果大打折扣,贫困农民并没能从改革中真正获得好处。只有重视并维护农业的基础地位,彻底解决土地分配不公现象,通过全面配套改革措施,才能真正实现菲律宾粮食安全。     

重申人民主权:国家权力的结构改革

在建构现代国家的过程中,中华人民共和国确立了人民主权的基本原则。应当认为,目前的政体安排是中国民主革命的必然结果,也适应了中国开启现代化过程的历史要求,但它还难以坐实人民主权原则。在国家基本制度的安排上,人民代表大会制度与人民政协制度,其功能还没能得到真正发挥,无法有效落实人民主权,而执政党对于国家权力的掌控,自身高度的行政化定位,决定性地影响了国家权力的具体运行。因此,必须区隔党权与国权,进而从目前政府改革意义上所讲的还政于民逐步走向国家建构和政体选择双重意义上的还权于民,真正坐实人民主权原则。