黑社会性质组织犯罪的反思

重庆打黑行动结束后，几乎所有涉黑案件的犯罪分子都被检察机关起诉犯组织、领导、参加黑社会性质组织罪，然而，几个主要案犯都否认自己组织、领导黑社会性质组织。究竟什么是黑社会性质组织，尽管立法机关已经做出立法解释，但司法实践中仍然难以把握。因此，必须设立一套认定黑社会性质组织的程序规范，使打击黑社会性质组织犯罪常态化、制度化、规范化，形成“打防结合，预防为主”的机制。     

Big Societies,Little Platoons and the Problems with Pluralism

Conservative talk of a ‘big society’ is one more mutation of the unstable family of pluralism. It is a large family, with both benign and progressive left wing members and rogue right wing black sheep. The progressive contribution has been substantial, but pluralism is not a homogeneous ideology or set of policies, and the single word conceals stresses and irreconcilable oppositions in theory and practice. An examination of this variety gives clues to the latest contributions, and to some of the more regressive uses to which pluralism can be put. The left needs both to insist on its own major contribution to progressive pluralism, and to beware of wolves in pluralist clothing.     

The Feminisation of the Conservative Parliamentary Party: Party Members' Attitudes

Under David Cameron's leadership reforms have been made to the Conservative party's parliamentary selection procedures and distinct women's policy initiatives have been developed. This article, based on focus group data with party members, explores attitudes towards measures designed to recruit more women Conservative MPs. Broadly, we find that, despite widespread support for the principle of greater social diversity among PPCs, members are uncomfortable with the specific measures that have been introduced. This is largely on the grounds that anything approaching 'positive discrimination' should be eschewed in favour of the 'meritocratic' selection of candidates. Further, the members tend to resent central party 'interference' in what has traditionally been the domain of local Constituency Associations.     

Fragile Proxies: Explaining Rebel Defection Against Their State Sponsors

Foreign governments frequently intervene in armed conflicts by sponsoring rebels against their adversaries. A sponsorship is less costly than a direct military intervention, but rebels often defy orders, desert fighting, or turn guns against their sponsors. Under what conditions do rebels defect against their sponsors? Drawing on organizational theory, I argue that as rebel organizations become less centralized and formalized, the rebels are likely to defect against their sponsors. This occurs because non-centralized organizations have weak central leadership and allow for dispersed decision-making, both of which narrow the manipulative capacity of sponsors. Due to these disadvantages, non-centralized rebel movements are less accountable to their sponsors, cannot credibly commit to rapidly change their policies in response to changes in the sponsor’s demands, and suffer from frequent and destructive quarrels between the top and lower echelons. Using multilevel logistic models for panel data, I test my argument on a novel dataset. My quantitative analysis shows that rebel structure is a robust predictor of defection.     

群体劳动争议的隐患与预防实证研究

企业群体劳动争议数量逐年上升,而我国对群体劳动争议的名称、法律规定、行为结果乃至预防制度大都模糊不清。针对劳动关系市场化进程中日益激烈的劳资矛盾,集体协商机制的健全愈发显得有效而重要。观察我国几项典型群体劳动争议的前因后果,研究企业、劳动者、社会共存共亡的发展规律,重新构建集体协商谈判机制、完善工会权责制度、用法律手段处理群体劳动争议,以降低其负面影响的长效机制显得尤为必要。     

Doctors Doing Gender at Eye Clinics—Gender Constructions in Relation to Waiting Times for Cataract Extractions in Sweden

Why do eye clinics differ in their waiting times for women’s and men’s access to cataract extraction (CE)/“grå starroperation”? Taking a doing-gender perspective as the starting point, this study explores how gender constructions embedded in Swedish eye clinics contribute to longer waiting times for women than for men. Focus group interviews were conducted with doctors at two Swedish eye clinics: one with a larger and another with a smaller than average gender difference in waiting times for CE. Several differences were found between the clinics regarding how gender was constructed: Women and men were constructed as different with respect to ascribed traits such as assertiveness and care-seeking behaviour. Their need for visual acuity in working life was perceived as different by the doctors, and the study indicates differences between the clinics regarding their interest and awareness concerning issues related to inequity, reflected in the dissimilar prevalence of jokes with racist and misogynist connotations at the two clinics.     

Buying Amendments? Lobbyists' Campaign Contributions and Microlegislation in the Creation of the Affordable Care Act

When do campaign contributions matter? This article advances the claim that a group that gives campaign contributions to US Members of Congress is more likely to achieve legislative success when (1) a single legislator can deliver to the group (2) a private benefit (3) without attracting negative attention. Using an original data set based on the written comments of nearly 900 interest groups lobbying the US Senate Finance Committee on health reform legislation in 2009, I link group requests to corresponding legislation. The analysis shows a significant relationship between lobby groups' campaign contributions and their legislative success, and at distinct units of analysis—the group, the side, and the group-senator dyad. The relationship is particularly strong in predicting senators’ amendments in committee. The rare data presented here offer compelling evidence that interest groups' legislative victories are sometimes connected to campaign contributions in a way that previous studies could not identify.     

Long-Term Absenteeism From Work: Disentangling the Impact of Sector,Occupational Groups and Gender

Absenteeism is critical to organizational performance. Although absenteeism is higher in the public than in the private sector, surprisingly little public administration research has studied this topic. We investigate and test potential explanations for these differences: is it because the public sector employs more women and occupational groups that have higher absence? Using register data, we find that for six out of seven occupational groups long-term absenteeism is more likely for public than for private sector employees; generally, this is true for both genders. We discuss potential explanations and future avenues for investigating these sector differences.     

Researching norms,narratives, and transitional justice: focus group methodology in post-conflict Croatia

This article is based on the assumption that norms can help better understand one of the expressivist aims of transitional justice, that of building a new narrative about the past. The main argument is that focus groups, as an interactive method of inquiry, are well suited to investigating how this “judicial” narrative interacts with the official and dominant war narrative in Croatia. Focus groups are more adept at this than other methodological approaches since they can effectively reflect independence of opinion; they lead to more truthful answers through spontaneity; they effectively probe taken-for-granted concepts; and they can more easily overcome distrust in post-conflict societies, especially with ex-combatants. The approach faces new challenges in such a situation since recruitment problems, insider/outsider status, and post-traumatic stress disorder, among other ethical concerns, present problems that often arise due to the group process. The powerful and unpredictable effect of the group dynamic can, therefore, provide a deep exploration of social norms, but it can also cause significant upset among participants. In this instance the methodology explores how widely accepted the war narrative is, how it is constructed, and how important the public believes it is not to question it.     

从"民族内婚"到"族际通婚"的突破——关于凉山彝族族际通婚的探讨

上个世纪50年代完成的民主改革,结束了在凉山延续千年的奴隶制度。但与原有社会形态相适应的以"民族内婚、家支外婚、等级内婚、姑舅表优先婚和姨表不婚"等为核心内容的旧有婚姻制度仍然主宰着凉山彝族的婚姻生活,且得到习惯法的严格保护。直至改革开放,凉山彝族旧有婚姻制度才被打破,族际婚姻不断增加和扩展。本文主要讨论凉山彝族婚姻制度之"民族内婚"到"族际通婚"的突破、演变及其影响。