Exclusivity of citizens’ initiatives: Fuel for collective action?

ABSTRACT

Self-organized citizens’ initiatives are a form of collective action and contribute to society through the production of public goods and services. Traditional collective action theory predicts that such initiatives are near impossible because of the persistent problems of free-riding. Citizens’ initiatives however do exist and function properly, and their numbers seem to be increasing in countries such as the Netherlands. This article argues that free-riding problems can be overcome when some form of exclusivity is arranged in citizens’ initiatives. We assume that citizens’ initiatives use active and/or passive strategies to limit free-riding behaviour. Using three illustrative cases, our research shows that position rules, boundary rules, and authority rules are used in a subtle and often implicit way to differentiate the level of influence and authority between the more and the less committed members, enabling collective action. Such rules, though advantageous, may be paradoxical to the goals of the citizens’ initiatives and can undermine the virtues associated with them.     

“合理化”的内涵与实现——哈贝马斯的“交往行为理论”

哈贝马斯是当代社会理论领域最为著名的思想家之一,“交往行为理论”的提出者.“交往行为理论”认为,“交往行为”是最具合理性的行为,会在交往的向度内实现社会的合理化.选择恰当的语言进行对话、遵守共同的规范标准、达到生活世界与系统间的一致协调,则是实现“合理化”的途径.     

妨害公务罪中被害人问题初探——从四起案例谈起

近年来,因暴力抗法引发的妨害公务案件不断增多。在办理妨害公务案件中遇到的问题也逐渐凸显,文章通过四起妨害公务案,阐述了妨害公务罪中被害人的认定及维权等问题。     

新经济下的双层股权结构:理论证成、实践经验与中国有效治理路径

新世纪以来选择双层股权结构成为新经济公司的一种新趋势。坚持一股一票的传统公司治理理论主要从公司民主、最优表决权结构和代理成本三个方面反对双层股权结构,认为双层股权结构将降低上市公司价值。股东的共同目标是股东利益最大化而非公司民主;最优表决权治理结构是因公司而异多元化的,一股一票虽普遍然非最优;表决权监督机制非唯一治理成本的约束机制,双层股权结构比一股一票更有助于公司关注长期利益和科技创新。从经验研究来看,双层股权结构与上市公司价值并不存在确定的负相关关系,甚至存在正相关关系。契合新经济公司的双层股权结构有助于在“轻资产、重人力资本”的新经济公司中根据合同而非物质资本进行控制权分配,有助于激励创始股东/管理者进行专属人力资本投资,有助于满足新经济公司的特殊治理结构需要。我国科创板已经引入双层股权结构,为实现中国的有效治理,除目前科创板集中于事前治理外,还应强化事中治理和完善事后治理,最终对双层股权结构进行有效治理实现兴“利”除“弊”。     

The Panglossian politics of the geoclique

ABSTRACT

Solar radiation management (SRM) – a form of geoengineering – creates a risk of ‘termination shock’. If SRM was to be stopped abruptly then temperatures could rise very rapidly with catastrophic impacts. Two prominent geoengineering researchers have recently argued that the risk of termination shock could be minimised through the adoption of ‘relatively simple’ policies. This paper shows their arguments to be premised on heroically optimistic assumptions about the prospects for global cooperation and sustained trust in an SRM deployment scenario. The paper argues that worst-case scenarios are the right place to start in thinking about the governance of SRM.     

The evolution of cleavage voting in four Western countries: Structural,behavioural or political dealignment?

Since the heyday of cleavage voting in the 1960s and 1970s, the majority of studies presents evidence of a decline in cleavage voting – caused by either structural or behavioural dealignment. Structural dealignment denotes changes in group size responsible for a decrease in cleavage voting, whereas behavioural dealignment concerns weakening party–voter links over time. A third phenomenon posited in this article is the collective voting abstention of certain (social) groups, here referred to as ‘political dealignment’, which results in a new type of division of voting versus abstention. The purpose of this article is to examine the three underlying mechanisms for the decline in social class and religious cleavage voting across four Western countries (Great Britain, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States) over the last 40–60 years using longitudinal post-election data. The results prove a strong presence of political dealignment and increasing turnout gaps regarding both the class and religious cleavage. Furthermore, whenever a decline in cleavage voting is present, it is mainly caused by changes in the social groups’ behaviour and less by changing social structures in a country.     

A call for critical reflection on the localisation agenda in humanitarian action

Abstract

Calls for a greater inclusion of local actors have featured for some time in debates on how to make humanitarian action more efficient and address unequal power relations within the humanitarian system. Though the localisation agenda is at the core of current reform efforts in the humanitarian sector, the debate lacks a critical discussion of underlying assumptions – most strikingly, the very conceptualisation of the local itself. It is argued that the current discourse is dominated by a problematic conceptualisation of the local in binary opposition to the international, leading to blind spots in the analysis of exclusionary practices of the humanitarian sector. As such the localisation agenda risks perpetuating the very issues it wants to redress. A critical localism is thus proposed as a framework for much needed research on the localisation agenda.     

《民法典》第157条(法律行为无效之法律后果)评注

本条中“民事法律行为”既包括财产行为也包括身份行为,既包括负担行为也包括处分行为;“确定不发生效力”既包括效力待定法律行为终未获追认、已成立终未获审批的情形,也包括法律行为未成立的情形。本条中“财产”包括一切可转让的利益,就权利移转型合同而言,财产返还请求权系物权性的回复原状请求权,它主要指有形财产的占有回复和权利簿册记载的回复。折价补偿请求权为特殊的不当得利请求权,在合同无效清算场合,应一般性禁用《民法典》第986条得利丧失抗辩规则。损害赔偿请求权是一种特殊的缔约过失赔偿请求权,可适用于双方明知或应知合同违法、背俗而无效的场合。本条并非宣示性条款,它规定了三项独立的请求权基础。在法律对建设工程合同等特殊合同以及其他法律行为无效另有特别规定时,应各依该特别规定处理。     

The legacy of social conflicts over property rights in rural Brazil and Mexico: Current land struggles in historical perspective

This article proposes an approach to the agrarian question that focuses on the establishment of absolute private property rights over land in Brazil and Mexico. The author argues that current land struggles are conditioned by the property regimes inherited from past struggles. The author examines the liberal reforms of the nineteenth century and argues that the balance of class forces led to the slow establishment of absolute private property in Brazil, while in Mexico they triggered the Revolution of 1910–1917, which limited agrarian capitalism. The author then turns to the consequences of these different property regimes in the twentieth century and argues that capitalist social relations have been more dominant in the Brazilian than in the Mexican countryside. The conservative modernization of the 1960s and 1970s is identified as a turning point in the fully capitalist development of agriculture in Brazil. The shift toward food imports, the elimination of subsidies, and the reform of Article 27 of the Constitution signal the re-establishment of the conditions for capitalist development of agriculture in Mexico. The article ends with an assessment of the MST and EZLN's strategies to protect peasants’ access to land and to influence the institutional setting determining access to land.     

对我国行政行为反向保全制度的几点思考

公权力与私权利的冲突始终是公法的主题之一 ,在强大的行政权力面前 ,如何在保持行政行为公定力和执行力的情况下 ,尽可能地维护行政相对人的利益 ,引入行政行为反向保全制度则具有重要的现实意义。文章在此借鉴国内外民事行为保全制度的成功经验 ,以司法权为中介 ,试图建构我国的行政行为反向保全制度。