Fund Accounting from the Italian Early Tradition to the U.S. GAAP for Governments

Surprising correspondences emerge from the parallel investigation of fund accounting practices in Italian entities until the late nineteenth century and in the contemporary U.S. public sector. The analysis attempts to interpret similarities and differences in light of dissimilar environmental features, and wonders if the Italian tradition could have some explanatory capability on the U.S. present standards. The “fund” concept and its use are strictly similar; they are founded on information needs for governance and internal control. Contemporary requirements for democracy and transparency, and opportunities coming from modern ICT tools bring U.S. organizations to be accountable to the citizenry.     

Parallel publics? Support for income redistribution in times of economic crisis

This article investigates the dynamics of support for income redistribution in Europe. With European Social Survey data spanning 2006 to 2012, it assesses whether the Great Recession resulted in substantial parallelism or increasing polarisation in preference change across various sub‐publics. After introducing hypotheses based on claims that social groups are affected differently by economic insecurity, the article proceeds in two empirical sections. First, whereas prior research suggests that hard times fuel diverging attitudinal patterns, it is found that income groups, ideological groups and educational groups did not shift differently over time during the first years of the crisis, thus providing strong evidence for the ‘parallel publics’ hypothesis in the European context and in times of economic turmoil. Next, the article addresses the extent to which change in aggregate support for redistribution came from changes in small minorities of the population, supposed to be more responsive to their economic environment. Using multilevel analysis, it is shown that the most educated significantly contributed to the overall change more than the others. As a result, they may have been partly driving the economic mood during the first years of the Great Recession.     

“Gendering” European security: policy changes,reform coalitions and opposition in the OSCE

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has rarely been considered in scholarship on gender and security, even though it was one of the regional security organisations whose gender policy predated the United Nations Security Council’s call for more international attention to issues related to women, peace and security in October 2000. Based on an analysis of official OSCE documents and on semi-structured interviews, we trace the integration of gender issues in the OSCE and explore the rationale behind and the challenges associated with it. We identify two phases of gender policy change in the OSCE and show how the integration of UNSCR 1325 brought about an expansion of OSCE gender policy from an exclusive focus on “soft” security issues towards increased inclusion of gender in the area of “hard” security. Drawing on historical and feminist institutionalism, we argue that reform coalitions were crucial for the policy changes in the OSCE but that they encountered institutional and ideational barriers, which hampered implementation of the gender policy. In light of rising opposition, our analysis warns of a backlash that might jeopardise current achievements.     

Does China’s middle class prefer (liberal) democracy?

Many surveys show that China’s political regime, under the Chinese Communist Party’s authoritarian rules, enjoys a high level of public support. However, it is still uncertain whether China’s emerging middle class will become the “agent of democratization” as suggested by modernization theory. Using the data of Asian Barometer Survey conducted in China in 2011, this article demonstrates that the relationship between class identity and preference for liberal democracy in China may be inverted U-shaped. The Chinese middle class shows a higher preference to features of liberal democratic regimes than its counterparts of the lower- and upper-class. Members of the Chinese middle class also tend to regard democracy as the best form of government. Thus, the middle class has the potential to initiate democratization in China if the Chinese government fails to keep satisfying the middle class’ quest for economic well-being and protection of property rights.     

生产、销售有毒、有害食品罪的成立与中止

生产、销售有毒、有害食品罪属于抽象危险犯,我国《刑法》144条规定：在生产、销售的食品中掺入有毒、有害的非食品原料足以严重危害人体健康的,才能认定抽象危险的产生,才成立犯罪。这种抽象危险产生后,也只意味着作为未遂的危险的发生,并不意味着既遂。故在抽象危险产生后,实害发生之前,只要行为人及时采取有效措施避免实害发生的,仍能成立犯罪中止。本罪与投放危险物质罪之间存在想象竞合关系,在两罪同时成立的情况下,应从一重处断。     

侵害著作权之赔偿论

为应对著作权侵权行为,采取合理而充分的救济制度来制裁侵权行为、保护著作权人的利益,是著作权法的核心内容。学界应从侵害著作权的行为方式入手,对侵害著作权的赔偿范围进行分析,引用惩罚性赔偿制度对侵害著作权的行为进行追究制裁,同时对赔偿数额的计算方式予以规定。     

养老社会保险制度的反贫困分析——美国的实践及对我国的启示

在不同的社会保障制度模式下,养老社会保险的反贫困功能不一样。不同的养老社会保险制度设计会影响其反贫困功能的发挥。美国的公共养老保险制度——"老年人、遗属和残疾人保险(OASDI)"在计发办法上的累退倾向,在受益对象上不限于退休者本人还包括配偶、遗属和残疾人,在实际给付时关于受益类型、课税、最低和最高收益、随生活成本进行调整等政策规定,对于低收入者保护倾向非常明显。与美国相比,我国目前的养老社会保险存在覆盖面窄、水平偏高,受益水平差异偏大,缺乏不同的受益类型设计等问题。为推动多层次养老保障体系建设,我国养老社会保险制度改革的政策取向应该是降低现有受益水平,扩大覆盖面,并通过覆盖更多的低收入者来增强制度的反贫困效果。同时评估和改革个人账户,以防止养老金差异过大。     

广西绑架勒索、非法拘禁犯罪规律特点和侦防对策

现阶段广西绑架勒索、非法拘禁犯罪活动愈演愈烈 ,发案逐年上升 ,社会危害性越来越严重。然而 ,绑架勒索、非法拘禁犯罪活动的隐蔽性 ,使侦察工作增加了极大的困难。不断地完善打击防范对策是公安机关的迫切要求。     

英国的陪审团制度

陪审团制度 ,是英美法系最具有特色的一种审判制度。英国陪审团对参与审理的法院和审理的案件类型 ,陪审团成员的任职资格和产生程序 ,陪审团在法庭上的职责等都有其特色规定 ;英国社会对陪审团参与法庭审理的评价也褒贬不一。     

万历四十七年投书日本德川幕府的“浙直总兵”考

明天启元年（1621）,明朝使者单凤翔一行渡海到达日本.单凤翔带来了两年前明朝“浙直总兵”申致日本德川幕府二代将军德川秀忠的外交文书,试图就海盗问题与日本德川幕府进行直接交涉.关于这一“浙直总兵”投书德川幕府事件,明朝方面的史料难以考见,日本方面却留有颇多相关记录.但是,关于投书日本德川幕府的王姓“浙直总兵”,日本方面的史料不明其人,迄今为止的先行研究也均未对之做过相关阐释.文章试对该“浙直总兵”做考述,并因以管见当时中日交涉之一端.