The Malay Community: Voting Trends and Issues

Abstract

This article attempts to analyse the reasons for the Malay community’s seeming support for the People’s Action Party (PAP) government in Singapore, in spite of online discontent that was expressed towards the party immediately prior to the elections. The article makes three main arguments: first, that the reasons explaining the community’s support for PAP are similar to other Singaporeans, such as the death of founding leader Lee Kuan Yew and the risk-averse nature of the electorate; second, that institutional impediments exist with regard to the community that heavily favour the government; and third, that the main opposition party, the Workers’ Party, has not been able to present itself as a viable alternative to PAP for the community in terms of either quality of candidates or ideas for governance.     

《违法行为矫治法》性质解读

《违法行为矫治法》脱胎于劳动教养制度。《违法行为矫治法》不是行政刑法,违法行为矫治也不属于行政处罚,应当将违法行为矫治定性为行政强制措施,并凸显其可诉性、非惩罚性以及保安性之特质。在此基础上,应当在《违法行为矫治法》中设置相应的救济措施,具体措施应倾向于矫治,且矫治措施应当尽可能多样化。     

使用假身份证实施的反侦查行为初探

使用假身份证实施的反侦查行为,是指犯罪行为人针对侦查机关的侦查行为,使用假身份证向侦查机关传递虚假信息,干扰侦查视线、破坏侦查线索,以躲避侦查、逃避打击的行为总和。使用假身份证实施反侦查行为的外部影响因素有科技水平、犯罪亚文化、个案的侦查措施和手段。其表现形式有：犯罪预备阶段的反侦查行为、犯罪实施阶段的反侦查行为、犯罪后潜逃阶段的反侦查行为。对此类反侦查行为的利用,侦查人员应主动收集反侦查信息,把握犯罪活动中的信息转移规律;同时还应采用传统侦查措施与信息化侦查措施相结合的方式综合判断嫌疑人身份。     

施米特对魏玛宪制的反思及其政治宪法理论的建构

施米特政治宪法理论是其保守主义政治思想体系的重构成,也是魏玛德国国家法理论流派中极具挑战性的一支.施米特理论具有明确的魏玛宪制处境,基于对魏玛代议制之思想基础、制度安排与实践表现的全面批判,重申了民主的同质性原理,弱化了民主的自由主义程序属性,为其政治决断论、绝对宪法论和领袖护宪论的连贯性理论建构提供了历史和思想前提.施米特政治宪法理论以其独特的政治概念和宪法概念为逻辑支点,以非常政治为情境预设,以政治同质性和单一领袖人格为理想目标,形成了相对系统的理论体系.该体系具有浓厚的政治神学背景,缺乏可资借鉴的“转型原理”,但在政治宪法核心概念与分析体系上具有重的思想和方法论启示.     

Women in the Korean Civil Service

Abstract

Are organizational characteristics, such as agency type, size, and growth, linked to female representation in the Korean civil service? This study analyzes the aggregate data regarding the female workforce in the Korean civil service in 2001 through multiple regression analysis. Findings indicate that the Korean women are likely to be underrepresented in most national agencies and severely underrepresented at higher‐level grades. While the Korean women doubled in the civil service for the last two decades, employment of women at the highest grade levels did not improve significantly. Redistributive agencies are directly linked to female representation in the Korean civil service regardless of grade levels, whereas agency size and growth are not related to female employment representation. To achieve gender equality and to expand female senior executive feed levels, the Korean government has provided the quotas for successful female applicants in the civil service entrance examinations at the lowest through middle level grades since 1996. The use of quotas and policies for gender equality could lead to changes in the entire public workforce, particularly fair representation at higher‐level positions as well as the elimination of agency and occupational segregation.     

Explaining the Vientiane Action Programme: ASEAN and the institutionalisation of human rights

Abstract

Existing explanations for the emergence of human rights on the political agenda in ASEAN focus either on the role of external pressure on ASEAN member states to ‘do something’, or on the way those states copied the form, but not the function, of other regional organisations such as the EU. Both approaches tacitly acknowledge that given the strong preference for intergovernmental governance displayed by ASEAN, regardless of interpretations, that it was states that drove the institutionalisation of rights forwards. Through examining in detail the causes and consequences of the Vientiane Action Programme this article disagrees with that assertion. At crucial moments before and after 2004 it was the Working Group for the Establishment of an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism, a track III actor, which both inserted human rights into ASEAN discussions and forged the link between protecting those rights and the continuing success of ASEAN's security goals. Through understanding the role of the Working Group as a norm entrepreneur, assisting in the localisation of human rights standards, this article suggests that existing explanations of ASEAN institutionalisation need to be revised to include a wider range of political dynamics than previously were acknowledged.     

Singapore's National Day Rally speech: A site of ideological negotiation

This article analyses the inaugural National Day Rally speeches of three Singapore prime ministers. It locates these speeches in the continuous ideological work that the People's Action Party (PAP) government has to do in order to maintain consensus and forge new alliances among classes and social forces that are being transformed by globalisation. Increasingly, these speeches have had to deal with the contradictions between nation-building and the tensions between the liberal and reactionary tendencies of the global city. It is argued that such a situation has made it futile for the government to attempt a straightforward ideological mobilisation of the people into a relatively homogeneous national community. The PAP government's ideological struggle to forge consensus has been balanced by a strategy of divide-and-rule. Ironically, the rally speeches have been as much about dividing as they have been about uniting.     

群体性纠纷解决机制的建构原理

群体性纠纷带来问题的根源在于它与两造诉讼结构的紧张关系,但是,不同类型的群体性纠纷带来的挑战并不完全相同,对纠纷解决机制的要求也不尽相同。通过对西方国家代表性的群体性纠纷解决机制进行结构的、功能的和技术的比较,可以发现,行政机关执法、社会团体与行政机关提起的不作为之诉、撇去不法收益之诉、加入制群体诉讼、退出制群体诉讼分别适合特定类型的群体性纠纷;群体性诉讼中的费用风险问题,则可以通过诉讼费用制度、律师收费制度的调整或者第三方资助的途径解决。     

代表人诉讼制度设计缺陷

实证调查表明,代表人诉讼制度不是法院处理群体纠纷案件的唯一方式。当事人人数多少及其相互关系、案件类型、审判成本、外部压力等都是影响法院处理群体纠纷方式的因素。代表人诉讼制度设计存在明显缺陷,导致这个在理论上和立法上被赋予高度期待的制度在实际运作中遭遇重重障碍,群体纠纷案件处理结果成为多方力量博弈的产物。该制度的缺陷提醒我们:法治建设过程中不能抛开国外法律制度产生的特定历史背景、文化基础和制度环境,简单化理解,甚至曲解他国立法,"为我所用"式地盲目借鉴。     

集团诉讼在德国:“异类”抑或“蓝本”?

德国学者关于美国集团诉讼的研究始于1970年代初期。这类研究在1970—1980年代主要集中在消费者保护领域,在1990年代,则主要集中在大规模侵害领域。进入21世纪,德国法学家提出了一系列系统改革德国群体性诉讼制度的立法建议,其中的某些内容已经被最新立法所采纳。可以肯定的是,虽然德国法学界一直拒绝在德国引入集团诉讼,但德国群体诉讼制度的发展其实已经受到了集团诉讼的影响。对于德国法学家来说,集团诉讼是异类,也是蓝本。