Coercive capacity and the durability of the Chinese communist state

Why has the Chinese communist state remained so durable in an age of democratization? Contrary to existing theories, this article argues that the strong state coercive capacity has survived the authoritarian rule in China. We demonstrate that the Chinese Communist Party has taken deliberate actions to enhance the cohesion of its coercive organizations—the police, in particular—by distributing “spoils of public office” to police chiefs. In addition, the state has extended the scope of its coercion by increasing police funding in localities where the state sector loses control of the population. We use and rely on mixed methods to test this theory.     

当代中国政治体制改革的演进逻辑

我国政治体制改革的思路主要立足于以下三个方面:选择适当的政治改革模式,选择恰当的改革时机,找准改革的突破口。经过30年的改革摸索,我国政治体制改革虽然取得了巨大的成就,但政治体制改革的步伐较慢。十八大报告中再次强调要更加注重改进党的领导方式和执政方式,保证党领导人民有效治理国家,这意味着今后政治体制改革的重点将是加强执政党执政能力的建设。     

家事协议的效力与认定

家事协议是由具备家事行为能力的家庭成员就家庭生活重要事项协商一致达成的约束所有家庭成员之协议。具体司法裁判中，家事协议效力应基于其与法律之多重博弈关系，通过考量司法政策取向、司法能力及其系统性影响等因素来认定和择取案件最佳裁判路径与效果。     

对警察职业能力培养的几点思考

当下公安院校的警察职业能力培养,在价值和制度层面还存在较多困难,如师资、课程建设和育人氛围仍需加强,学术评价体系之弊病影响教育者输出。应当克服路径依赖,须围绕教育者、教学内容和受教育者三大基本要素,全面加强师资队伍建设和课程建设,凸显课程设置地域特色,并完善以生为本的培养考核体系,提升现有培养模式中的文化内涵,以实现警察职业能力培养的科学发展。     

法官责任制度的三种模式

随着司法制度的不断发展和完善,我国的法官责任制度逐渐形成了三种模式.其中,结果责任模式发端于错案责任追究制,后被纳入违法审判责任制,如今则被视为防范冤假错案的重要制度保证.程序责任模式滥觞于违法审判责任制,如今则成为法院进行案件质量评查、对法官确定奖惩措施的主要依据.随着新一轮司法改革的推进,法学界发出了尊重司法规律、重构法官责任制度的呼声,一种主要针对法官违背职业伦理行为来构建法官责任的新模式——职业伦理责任模式,逐渐出现在各种司法改革的方案之中.上述三种模式都是司法体制改革的产物,都有各自得以存在的制度空间,也都有相应的局限性和实施障碍.通过总结我国法官责任制度的发展经验,可以为未来法官责任制度模式的选择确立一些基本准则.     

法律职业伦理现状及其培育——以实证调研数据为基础

通过对法律职业共同体成员的约束和引导,法律职业伦理能够促进共同体成员的自律,有利于提高其道德水平和综合素质,有利于腐败遏制和公正司法,对于法治建设具有重要意义。调研显示,法律职业群体,尤其是律师遵守职业伦理状况不容乐观。实践中存在律师乱收费、虚假承诺、虚假宣传,公检法人员办理"人情案"现象等;这些行为对法律职业群体的形象产生影响。通过加强法律职业伦理教育、对法律职业群体进行职业伦理培训、引导等方式加强法律职业伦理的培育,能够促进法律人的职业化和法治建设。     

个人职业信誉的婚姻财产归属论

商誉作为财产类型的一种,无论在学术界,还是在司法实践界都已基本达成一致意见。但是与之类似的个人职业信誉是否应该单独地予以界定为财产,从而在婚姻关系破裂时,将其作为夫妻共同财产进行分割,这应该说是一个富有争议的课题。婚姻应为夫妻双方分工合作,互惠共享的一个共同体,婚姻的这种性质决定了个人职业信誉界定为夫妻共同财产的必要性和可能性。     

Tackling unemployment in China: state capacity and governance issues

Abstract

This paper considers China's state capacity and changing governance as revealed through its policies to tackle unemployment. Despite high levels of growth, economic restructuring has resulted in rising unemployment over the last decade. The Chinese state has been able to manage job losses from state enterprises, demonstrating some state capacity in relation to this sector and some persistent command economy governance mechanisms. However both design and implementation of policies to compensate and assist particular groups among the unemployed have been shaped by weak state capacity in several other areas. First, capacity to gather accurate employment data is limited, meaning local and central governments do not have a good understanding of the extent and nature of unemployment. Second, the sustainability of supposedly mandatory unemployment insurance schemes is threatened by poor capacity to enforce participation. Third, poor central state capacity to ensure local governments implement policies effectively leads to poor unemployment insurance fund capacity, resulting in provision for only a narrow segment of the unemployed and low quality employment services. Although the adoption of unemployment insurance (and its extension to employers and employees in the private sector), the introduction of a Labour Contract Law in 2007, and the delivery of employment services by private businesses indicate a shift towards the use of new governance mechanisms based on entitlement, contract and private sector delivery of public-sector goods, that shift is undermined by poor state capacity in relation to some of these new mechanisms.     

The story of two administrative states: state capacity in Hong Kong and Singapore

Abstract

Hong Kong and Singapore are both typical administrative states with an efficient administration and a vibrant market, which had achieved rapid economic growth in the past decades. This article examines the trajectory of their state capacity, highlighting recent problems and challenges. Based on a conceptual framework that captures and links up four dimensions – namely polity, bureaucracy, economy and civil society – their commonalities and differences in response are discussed. Their experience should be of particular relevance to transitional authoritarian states in Asia such as China, which faces similar challenges to reform in the arenas of politics, administration, economics and society.     

Sex and Capacity: The Management of Monsters?

The first consideration by a civil court of the test of capacity to engage in sexual relations – X City Council v MB, NB and MAB – is as recent as 2005. This article places this and subsequent cases in the historical context of the way in which the law has constructed the sexuality of persons with intellectual impairment. The article argues that, beginning with a series of rape cases in the mid to late nineteenth century, which recognised the concept of consent given through the expression of animal instincts, the law has accepted and deployed a model of intellectual impairment which understands expressions of sexuality in terms of an increasingly unstable opposition between vulnerability and danger, understood as the presence or absence of instinct, and as indicating an underlying ‘monstrosity’. The article argues that the historical continuity apparent in the modern case law is unfortunate and should be rectified.