Security culture,transnational challenges and the Economic Community of West African States

This special issue explores how one particular regional organisation, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), has defined certain transnational issues as security threats and how it has addressed them. In this introductory article, we begin by providing an overview and analysis of some of the most important transnational security challenges facing West Africa. Specifically, we discuss some of the problems raised by cross-border insurgencies, health challenges, organised criminal activities, terrorism and environmental degradation. We then examine the different levels at which actors have responded to these challenges. The section ‘Security culture: shaping the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) response?’ sets out our approach to thinking about the concept of security culture and asks whether it might be relevant to understanding how and why ECOWAS has focused on responding to certain transnational security challenges and not to others. The final section provides an overview of the other articles in this issue.     

中国开拓俄罗斯建筑市场的一面旗帜——对布拉戈维申斯克市华富公司的调查与思考

苏联解体后 ,国内外很多企业家赴俄开拓新市场。由于转轨中的俄罗斯政局动荡 ,经济滑坡、法规不健全等原因 ,企业经营风险很大 ,为此绝大多数企业难以为继并先后离俄回国。中国华富公司却独辟蹊径闯出了一条成功之路 ,成为中国开拓俄罗斯建筑市场的一面旗帜。该公司成功的奥秘是根据俄国国情 ,审时度势 ,适时打好五张牌 :质量牌、信誉牌、经营牌、本土牌和远见牌     

THE SEXUAL SUBALTERN IN CONVERSATIONS “SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN”: LAW AND THE OLD POLITICS OF COLONIALISM

Ratna Kapur’s recent book entitled Erotic Justice proposes a new politics of postcolonialism whereby the sexual subaltern disrupts the normative principles of the universal, liberal, legal domain. Kapur traces legal strategies regarding censorship, sex-work, homosexuality, sexual harassment, trafficking and migration which travel a treacherous path, countering allegations of ‘unIndian’ and Western practice with cultural histories of ‘authentic’ sexual legitimacies, towards a new politics of desire. Kapur frames her analysis through postcolonial feminist theory as providing a tool for feminist struggle, yet distinct from and disruptive of a liberal project of global sisterhood. This review deeply values the role of the sexual subaltern which disrupts the tenets of a linear, progressive liberalism. Drawing upon Indian feminist and Western feminist perspectives, the review considers how the distinct position of the postcolonial sexual subaltern subject informs the generic role of law as a tool constructing relations of domination regarding gender, sexuality, caste, property and religion. Kapur observes that both the West and the Hindu Right have engaged with liberal legal principles. This engagement, I argue, exposes and informs law as a historical and contemporary tool of gendered legal colonialism, for sisters to disrupt across the Western and Eastern terrains.Review of Ratna Kapur’s Erotic Justice, Law and the New Politics of Postcolonialism, London: Glasshouse Press, 2005, 219 pp., ￡26, ISBN 1-90438-524-9     

跨国公司人权责任研究——人权法新发展及中国的应对机制

跨国公司作为私的行为主体，是否应当承担国际人权责任，成为尚无普遍共识的议题。在民族国家并存的国际社会结构体系内，基于人权目的，由跨国公司母国及东道国对跨国公司的人权违反行为实施防范或惩处行动，被设定为最佳模式。在构建政府主导模式的同时，我国应充分培育和发挥民间人权力量，推动跨国公司尊重和保护人权。     

跨国公司人权责任之法哲学考量与实证分析

尊重和保护人权是传统国际法主体应尽的责任。跨国公司作为私的行为主体，是否应当承担国际人权责任或言承担何种性质的国际人权责任，尚无普遍共识。在民族、国家并存的国际社会结构体系内，基于人权目的，由跨国公司母国及东道国对跨国公司的人权违反行为实施防范或惩处行动，被设定为最佳模式。我国应积极参与国际组织制定跨国公司人权责任体系的行动，表达中国立场。在构建政府主导模式的同时，我国应充分培育和发挥民间人权力量，推动跨国公司尊重和保护人权。     

企业间借贷合同的效力认定及责任承担

企业间借贷合同符合合同法原理,现行政策及有关立法并未一概否定其效力,原有司法解释缺乏法律依据,现已着手修改,并已先行对部分企业之间变相借贷合同的效力予以认可,因此,应确认企业间借贷合同的效力。从经济学上说,利息就是货币的时间价值;在法律上,利息是由作为主债权的金钱债权而产生的法定孳息。因此,在责任承担上,利息的性质决定着在企业间借贷合同中,除本金债权外,利息债权也应予以保护,对此相关判例已经先行一步,期待司法解释能够根据合同法的规定予以明确,以便统一司法尺度。     

试论跨国公司的社会责任

As for international direct investment, the transnational corporations are playing a leading role in the fields of international trade, international investment and international intellectual property. In theory and reality, this authors analyze the rationale of the social responsibilities taken by transnational corporations, the main problems in the social responsibilities of transnational corporations and the legislative status, and put forward the functions of the social responsibilities of transnational corporations in promotion of the legal construction of socialist market economy, the reform of the corporate governance and the development of transnational corporations in China. Wang Chuanli, Professor and Doctoral Supervisor of China University of Political Science and Law, Vice-chairman of China Society of International Economic Law, and Vice-chairman of Research Institute of WTO Law (China Law Society), also Arbitrator of China International Economic & Trade Arbitration Commission and Beijing Arbitration Commission. Her main publications are “The Legal Effectiveness of Foreign Economic Contracts”, “International Trade Law of Sales of Goods”, “International Protection of Intellectual Property Rights” and “International Trade Law Government Control on Business”. Moreover, she has published over ten influential discourses on international economic law. In addition, her ongoing research projects include WTO Agriculture Agreement and the Rules of International Agri-products Trade, WTO and International Core labor Standards, and the Role of Judicial Independence of European Court of Justice to Promote the Integration of Europe.     

跨国公司对国家经济主权的挑战

随着全球化的发展,跨国公司作为经济全球化的载体,在给世界带来利益的同时越来越具有一定的政治行为,跨国公司控制国家经济,参与国家政治,影响国家文化,对主权国家的经济、政治、文化主权提出了挑战。面对国际大环境中日益激烈的竞争,各国联系越来越密切,跨国公司为了追求利益最大化的目标而向国家经济主权提出挑战,使得无论是东道国经济主权,还是母国经济主权都面临严峻的挑战。挑战有利有弊,跨国公司与民族国家要趋利避害,达成相互依存、相互合作的关系,共同发展。     

当代商人习惯法理论的发展述评

自20世纪90年代以来,全球化和全球公民社会的发展使商人习惯法的发展再次驶入快车道,有人认为已经进入崭新的商人习惯法阶段。饱受批评的商人习惯法的确定性因规范的编纂而增强,相应地,商人习惯法的理论研究也活跃起来。有学者提出商人习惯法从一开始就是一种独立于国家法和国际法之外的法体系,并用＂自创生＂理论加以论证。但反对者甚至从商人习惯法的历史基础入手来解构这一论点,指出中世纪商人习惯法就不是自治法而独立于其他正式法运行和发展。支持商人习惯法的学者和反对者之间展开了激烈论战,这些论战加深了人们对商人习惯法体系的认识,也使这一法律部门进一步为跨国商业界所熟悉。     

Deeper SCO Cooperation Promises Regional Peace and Development

正LEADERS of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization(SCO)member states gathered on September 11 and 12 in Dushanbe,capital of Tajikistan,for a summit that is set to chart the course of the regional group’s development