Dumb Barter: A Seminal Form of Negotiation

Negotiation requires communication, but not necessarily verbal exchanges. Adjustments can be achieved incrementally by other means. This article will examine how some parties have managed to strike a deal in situations characterized by total distrust and even hostility, asymmetric power relations, major cultural differences, extreme logistical difficulties in reaching the place in which the trade is to be made, and several additional process risks by employing a type of bargaining known as “dumb barter.” This process presents a distinct paradigm with a specific and unique rationale. Sometimes called “silent trade,” it has been observed in many places (especially West Africa) for more than two millennia. It may well be the oldest form of trade negotiation and is still practiced in some parts of the world. An examination of this unlikely but real and effective process can also provide negotiation theorists with some useful insights into the fundamental nature of negotiation.     

Governing Climate Change: Towards a New Paradigm for Risk Regulation

This article argues that the ascent of climate change on the EU regulatory agenda signals a new era of risk regulation and calls for the establishment of a new paradigm for risk regulation. Climate change is altering the EU's conception of environmental risks and its design of regulatory responses. In contrast to conventional risk regulation, climate change regulation must prioritise the risks of business‐as‐usual over the risks of change, must target systemic change instead of stability, and must favour the virtues of integration and orchestration over those of individualisation and compartmentalisation. There is an important role for risk regulation scholarship to analyse this shift and its consequences for regulation, such as the relocation of legitimacy needs and the emergence of new risks of regulatory failure. Such an enterprise would both reinvigorate risk regulation scholarship and offer a vital contribution to the European Union as it tackles the momentous challenge of climate change governance.     

Distorting Vicarious Liability

The note considers the decision of the Court of Appeal in Maga v The Trustees of the Birmingham Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church and analyses the application of the status based risk approach to vicarious liability in that case. It considers its application outside of the area of clerical sexual abuse, and also the role in vicarious liability of job conferred status which materially increases the risk of the commission of a tort, or helps to facilitate a tort.     

民商事审判风险管理体系的建构——一个嵌入风险社会语境的逻辑证成

我国已经进入了风险社会,公共管理领域必须对此作出回应,民商事审判领域面对的矛盾纠纷,来自社会层面的风险与民商事审判本身的自有风险还可能叠加激化,出现激烈爆发的危险境地。民商事审判作为创新社会管理的手段,为阻却风险到危险的发展进路,应该植入先进的风险管理理念,建构前置风险评估、风险提示、风险预防、风险化解与应对的流畅风险管理体系。     

风险时代的秩序重建与法治信念——以“能动司法”为对象的讨论

转型时期中国社会呈现高风险状态。在民众中确立新的共同价值观和实现社会治理模式的规则之治是风险控制与秩序重建的两个基点。能动司法的出现回应了转型时期风险控制、秩序重建的需要,因而获得高度的政治合法性。能动应有之意包括:通过裁判确立风险社会的法治信念,重建社会共享价值体系;通过始终如一的适用法律,实现社会治理模式向规则之治转型;完善民众参与司法机制,让司法成为第一块公共领域。能动司法应当建立在对司法的本质属性与时代使命的准确把握基础上,在政治功能与审判职能之间保持必要的张力和平衡。     

风险社会中的产品刑事责任

面对风险社会的到来,我国在追究缺陷产品侵权责任的基础上,有必要将产品责任扩展到刑事领域。尤其在风险社会下,许多产品在生产和出厂销售之时无法发现缺陷的存在,但置于流通领域后该缺陷产品导致消费者人身伤亡的,生产者应该承担回收义务,如果违背回收义务致法益侵害进一步扩大,则应该追究其刑事责任。     

性别特质、身体实践与健康风险行为

健康风险行为是建构性别身份认同的重要方面,其中包含着不同性别特质的身体实践。在女性特质的实践中,女性的身体是被视为有缺陷并需要经过现代医疗技术的改造而与健康风险发生关联的;在男性特质的实践中,男性的身体是被视为优越于女性并需要不断以伤害自己的方式来展演其自身的优越性而与健康风险发生关联的。文章认为,在以男性为中心的社会中,不仅女性的身体面临极大的风险,男性的身体同样也是这种性别秩序的牺牲品。     

由主权负债危机引发对地方政府过度负债的思考

世界金融危机爆发后,中国经济经过结构调整,内生动力不断增强并带动区域经济的快速增长。与此同时,地方政府超常规融资积聚的风险隐患也在迅速增加,巨额的地方政府负债极有可能成为诱发新一轮危机的重要因素,成为制约中国经济发展的主要瓶颈。弄清地方政府过度负债的主要风险,衡量地方政府的负债能力,界定风险转变为危机的临界点,明确地方政府适度负债规模水平是稳妥地化解地方政府过度负债风险,防范危机的重要途径。     

防范消费卡式消费合同风险的法律对策

当今,消费卡式消费合同日渐走入消费者的日常生活,其消费行为的稳定、简便、时尚吸引了众多商家和消费者,但由于缺乏相应的法律监管,给一些不法商家提供了可乘之机,侵害了消费者的合法权益。因此,应加强对消费卡式消费合同的法律监管,明确规范消费卡的发行、使用以及资金安全保障等方面的行为,防范消费卡式消费合同的风险,从而更好地保护消费者的合法权益。     

次贷危机与我国金融安全

随着美国次贷危机的蔓延,资产证券化的风险对金融安全的影响不容忽视。结合对美国次贷危机诱因及目前资产证券化风险的分析,提出防范风险的核心是建立一套与我国金融安全相适应的一系列机制。