Globalization,State Autonomy and the Fight against Cross-Border Crime: Greater China's Cooperation with the World

Although globalization has stimulated the rise in cross-border crime, it does not really undermine the autonomy of the mainland Chinese state, the Taiwan state, and the city-states of Hong Kong and Macao. Instead, through cooperation with law-enforcement agencies in other countries, the law-enforcement agencies of these four places, notably the police and customs, have ensured the persistence of state autonomy vis-à-vis cross-border criminal groups and individuals. In the case of Greater China (mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao), interstate cooperation involving the police and customs can maintain state autonomy vis-à-vis criminal groups and individuals. The mechanisms of such interstate and intergovernmental cooperation embrace the sharing of criminal intelligence, the occurrence of anti-crime joint operations, the holding of seminars and conferences, and the administrative arrangements of extraditions. In a nutshell, intergovernmental cooperation in the combat against cross-border crime can maintain state autonomy in the midst of globalization, as the case of Greater China shows.     

The Relationship Between State Government Performance and State Quality of Life

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between government performance and quality of life in the American states. We contend that the management capacity of state governments should have direct, tangible impacts on the overall social and economic well‐being of state citizenry. In order to test this idea, we examine the influence of state management capacity (using the 1999 Government Performance Project grades), alongside other economic and political variables, on two prominent measures of state quality of life—The Morgan Quitno “Most Livable State” Index and State Policy Reports' (SPP) “Camelot Index.” We find that both state economic conditions and governmental policy priorities have significant impacts on state performance levels. But, our results clearly indicate that the management capacity of state governments also contributes directly to improving the overall quality of life for state citizens.     

Curbing Corruption in India: An Impossible Dream?

This article analyses the serious problem of corruption in India by examining its causes and the various anti-corruption measures employed by the government from the formation in 1941 of the first anti-corruption agency, the Delhi Special Police Establishment, which was expanded to form the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in April 1963. India's ineffective anti-corruption strategy can be attributed to the lack of political will of its leaders and its unfavourable policy context, which has hindered the enforcement of the anti-corruption laws. The lack of political will in fighting corruption is manifested in the lowest per capita expenditure and least favourable staff-population ratio of the CBI when compared to those of its counterparts in Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and Thailand. To enhance the CBI's effectiveness, it should be removed from the jurisdiction of the police and be established as an independent agency dedicated solely to curbing corruption. The Constitution of India should also be amended to empower the CBI to investigate corruption cases at the state level without obtaining the consent of the chief minister of the state. In view of the lack of political will, this article concludes that curbing corruption in India remains an impossible dream in the foreseeable future.     

Trust Management in the Finnish Ministries: Evaluation of Management Systems

Abstract

Our purpose was to find out to what extent civil servants—managers, specialists, and experts—in 13 Finnish ministries have confidence in their management systems. We defined trust as a kind of deep sentiment, more fundamental than mere acceptance, satisfaction or legitimacy. Trust and mistrust are strong motivators for cooperation and collaboration. They are logical outcomes of social interaction in terms of management systems and context. We found out that civil servants are more likely to trust management if it acts professionally with no emphasis on political factors. Ministers, for instance, can efficiently earn their trust with administrative experience and behavior norms. Our analysis showed that there are both well‐trusted and ill‐trusted components in management systems implicating that management must be the object of continuous development. As a whole civil servants have more confidence in work community than in strategy, structure, people policies, and administrative processes of the ministries.     

Enforcing consensus? The hidden bias in EU democracy promotion in Central and Eastern Europe

Democracy is a primary export norm of the European Union (EU). It has also played a key role in the conditionalities that have governed the accession processes of new member states in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The EU has often been accused of offering little guidance regarding the specifics of desirable democracy models and the means of their consolidation. But are these accusations justified? In the first part of this article a detailed examination of European Commission opinions and reports reveals that it has consistently promoted a specific model of democracy in future member states. It shows a strong bias in favour of Lijphart's model of consensus democracy, which is indiscriminately advocated for prospective member states. The second part of the article draws attention to the serious obstacles which exist in the region to the realization of this model. We question the wisdom of the Commission's one-size-fits-all democratic model given these obstacles and the real-life diversity of political contexts in the region.     

“中三角”空间范围与发展定位

"中三角"以湘鄂赣三省为宜,以武汉城市群、长株潭城市群和大南昌城市群为主要载体。应分别从空间定位、功能定位、产业定位、特色定位等四方面对"中三角"及各大片区发展进行战略定位。研究表明,"中三角"应定位为我国重要的"两基地三区、一中心一枢纽",成为中部地区崛起的重要战略支点和核心增长极,成为我国具有国际性功能、跨省域影响力和较强创新能力的区域性经济中心和重要的经济区,成为继珠三角、长三角、环渤海之后中国经济增长的第四极。     

论规制堕胎行为的考量

堕胎的问题,无论是医学伦理学还是生命伦理学抑或在法学领域内已早有讨论,但对胎儿是否为"人"或"位格之属性"尚未有定论。再者,就胎儿和孕妇关系而言,从"位格"特性之实体性、关系性、目的性分析了作为合二为一的"独立性实体"与"关系性实体"之间的关系,作为"关系实体"的胎儿应受到应有的尊重。德国联邦宪法法院坚持国家利益的立场,限制堕胎行为,对自由堕胎行为进行了规制,但也存在例外情形;美国堕胎案中,最高法院在韦德案秉持的是一种自由主义,堕胎是孕妇的一项宪法所保护的隐私权,而在凯瑟案中最高法院采取了限制堕胎自由,国家为了保护潜在的生命,可以限制堕胎。自此,堕胎自由式微,国家对胎儿有保护义务。     

苏区红色标语及其现实价值探析

苏区红色标语,为建设和巩固革命根据地发挥了积极的宣传鼓动作用。目前,在井冈山及中央苏区所在地,仍保存着大量的红色标语。这些历经磨难保存下来的红色标语,既是革命前辈留给后人的一批珍贵的革命历史档案,也是中国共产党的极为珍贵的精神财富,其价值功能不仅彰显在革命历史时期,更体现在对现实社会的深远影响。     

Civil society

The idea of civil society has proved very elusive, escaping conceptual grasps and evading sure-footed negotiation of the concept itself. Resurrected in a very definite historical setting, that of authoritarian states, the concept of civil society came to signify a set of social and political practices that sought to engage with state power. The close connection with the re-emergence of the concept and the collapse of dictatorial states made civil society attractive to a variety of political agents pursuing different agendas: expanding the market at the expense of the state, transiting from mass politics to single-issue and localised campaigns, undermining confidence in accepted modes of representation such as political parties, and in general shrinking the domain of the state and that of accepted modes of politics. That the concept of civil society could suit such a variety of different political projects is cause for some alarm, for it might well mean that civil society has come to mean everything to everyone remotely interested in it.     

中亚安全形势的变化及其影响

2014年以来,中亚安全形势发生了较大的变化。塔利班频频越境袭扰,"伊斯兰国"不断向中亚渗透,加之跨境贩毒的有增无减使得中亚面临的安全压力不断增加。中亚安全形势变化的背后有着较为复杂的原因,其中既有美国对中东和阿富汗政策调整的因素,也有中亚国家自身政治经济军事体制转型过程中诸多问题的反应,此外还与中亚地区复杂的历史和民族问题有关。中亚安全形势的变化不仅迟滞了中亚国家的社会政治转型进程,还对参与该地区博弈的俄美欧等大国,尤其是对俄罗斯产生了重要的影响,对中国西北边疆的安全及即将实施的"丝绸之路经济带"战略也带来了较大的挑战。虽然目前中亚安全形势总体上仍在可控范围,但是中亚安全问题解决的前景仍然充满了不确定性,中短期内中亚的安全形势难以大幅改观。未来,我们必须要从多边、双边和个人等多个层面入手,加强国际合作,以有效应对中亚安全问题对中国的威胁。