市场经济需要加强地方立法

市场经济是法制经济 ,要建立社会主义市场经济 ,就必须加强法制建设 ,把市场经济纳入法制的轨道。立法是法运行的开端 ,加强法制建设必须加强立法工作。我国地域辽阔 ,人口众多 ,各地区经济发展不平衡 ,所以 ,在暂不便由国家先行立法或国家来不及立法的领域由地方先行立法 ,既保证了地方经济的发展 ,又为中央立法在该领域积累了实践经验。同时 ,地方立法又可为国家法律的贯彻实施起到重要的保障作用     

论赋予设区市的地方立法权

赋予设区市的地方立法权是城市经济发展、解决社会矛盾、处理地方事务以及发挥法治在地方改革引领作用的必然结果。但在全面赋予设区市地方立法权时如果制度设计不当,可能会带来法治碎片化、立法质量下降、助长地方保护主义以及侵蚀中央立法权的危险,对此要有充分的准备和对策。对设区市地方立法权的赋予可采取稳步推进方式,实现成熟一个赋予一个的渐进性路径,在一定期限内还要对受赋权的地方立法加强备案审查以及定期评估,并科学配置地方立法权限,以确保地方立法质量。     

Iron Houses in the Tropical Heat: Decentralization Reforms in Africa and their Consequences

Abstract

Decentralization reforms introduced to Africa have not always delivered the intended outcomes. Through interaction with the broader historical, political, social and economic context, reforms seem to have engendered political consequences beyond decentralization itself. Most of the literature on decentralization and development emphasizes questions of institutional design and policy, but here we expand the focus of analysis and incorporate the harder-to-pin-down political patterns marking the workings of decentralization in Africa. Through the case-studies of Ghana, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Ethiopia and Uganda we seek to connect the debates on development with the scholarly literatures on comparative federalism, comparative decentralization and local democracy. The conclusion that emerges is that no magic formula which can turn countries into peaceful, stable and prosperous democracies overnight exists. And, importing formal institutions without regard to the local historical, political, social and economic context risks leaving us with elegant but dysfunctional iron houses in the tropical heat.     

Advancing Knowledge through Grassroots Experiments: Connecting Culture and Sustainability

Since 2006, hundreds of communities in Canada have produced Integrated Community Sustainability Plans, based on a four-pillar model of sustainability and developed in consultation with residents and stakeholders. These community-based experiments have developed models, knowledge, and insights about the place of culture in local sustainability. Both conceptual thinking and planning practices regarding the role of culture in sustainable communities were at an embryonic stage when these initiatives took place. The discussions, plans, and implementation processes have advanced both theory and “leading edge” practices with regard to culture and community sustainability, illustrating the importance of a robust relationship between research and practice.     

Poverty amid plenty: structural violence and local governance in western Congo

The protracted conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has drawn sharp criticism regarding the model of liberal peacebuilding employed in the country. Critics emphasise the importance of local ownership of peacebuilding mechanisms at sub-national as well as national levels. This raises questions in relation to the popular legitimacy and efficacy of local mechanisms. Drawing on field research conducted in the relatively affluent province of Bas-Congo in Western Congo, this article highlights a lack of popular legitimacy for provincial-level political authority within the province stemming from an acute marginalisation of the population from local structures of power and wealth. The article also demonstrates the inefficacy of more local, village and neighbourhood-based political structures which, aimed at conflict mitigation rather than transformation, ignore the structural roots of local conflicts and do little to counteract the growing social distrust, conflict and disintegration within local communities.     

Democracy,development and chieftaincy along South Africa's ‘Platinum Highway’: some emerging issues

South Africa's ‘Platinum Highway’ (Generally referred to as ‘the platinum belt’.) – ‘a 150?km continuation of platinum group metals (PGM)-bearing reefs’ [Havenstein, R. (2004). “The Platinum Highway – Where Does It Lead?” Accessed May 10, 2011. http://web.up.ac.za/sitefiles/file/EBIT-Innovate/The_Platinum_Highway-where_does_it.pdf, 1] – has ushered in a new era of considerable accumulation of mineral revenues by a few traditional authorities on whose communal lands platinum ore is extracted. The Royal Bafokeng community in the North West province stands as an epitome of this phenomenon. However, not much is known about the relationships at local governance level, particularly the interface of mineral wealth and community development. Adopting the Bafokeng community as an empirical case in this article, I argue that, despite some observed benefits, vast mineral wealth is likely to deepen tensions between local power holders within the sphere of rural local governance, thus paradoxically hampering development, particularly in a context where traditional authorities are the architects and champions of resource-engendered community development.     

Morphing the Demos into the right shape. Normative principles for enfranchising resident aliens and expatriate citizens

In this article I criticize, first, democratic inclusion principles that are indeterminate with regard to democratic boundaries and indifferent towards the structural features of polities. I suggest that a democratic stakeholder principle passes these critical tests and can be applied to democratic polities of different kinds. Second, I compare birthright-based and residence-based membership regimes at state and local levels and consider how they can accommodate international migrants. Third, I argue that these two regimes are not freestanding alternatives between which democratic polities have to choose, but are combined in a multilevel architecture of democratic citizenship, in which the inclusion and exclusion dynamics of birthright and residence mutually constrain each other and every individual is included as a citizen in both types of polities.     

行政诉讼司法建议制度的功能衍化

行政诉讼司法建议原本是一项裁判执行措施,但随着最高人民法院司法政策的变化,其发挥的事实功能被大大扩展。实践中,行政诉讼司法建议在规范性文件修改中发挥着功能性审查的作用。从社会变迁的视角观察不难发现,维稳压力、协调和解政策与地方发展型政府的模式变迁,诱发了对于行政诉讼司法建议的制度性需求,从而迫使司法建议成为行政诉讼工具箱中的重要工具。行政诉讼司法建议制度的功能衍化,为法社会学研究提供了一个极具价值的制度样本,亦为行政诉讼法的未来发展提供了背景材料。     

Covenant of Mayors: Reasons for Being an Environmentally and Energy Friendly Municipality

The Covenant of Mayors (CM) is the mainstream European movement involving local authorities who voluntarily commit to increase energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources within their territories with the aim of reducing CO₂ emissions and meet the European Union objectives by 2020. One country that has a greater number of signatories of this agreement is Spain. This article analyzes which factors influence the decision of Spanish local authorities to join the ever‐growing movement. An empirical model is formulated to describe the behavior of Spanish local governments, this being a binary choice model which is a function of various political, economic, and technical factors. Among the prominent factors that influence this decision are population, availability of renewable energy, fiscal and environmental stress, citizens’ political preference, the contagion effect of neighboring municipalities, the existence of covenant coordinators, and finally, economic motivations.     

清代江南地区民间的健讼问题——以地方志为中心的考察

以清代地方志为基本史料,用实证的方法对清代江南地区民间的健讼问题进行考察,可以看到导致健讼产生的根本原因一是人口的膨胀,二是中国传统的专制制度的弊端。健讼给地方财政造成压力,加速了传统社会的解体,客观上有利于清末司法改革的推行。