马克斯·韦伯法律社会学中的方法论问题

作为其全部社会理论的一个组成部分,马克斯·韦伯的法律社会学是建立在一套较为系统的社会科学方法论基础之上的。正是根据这一方法论以及具体的理想类型方法,韦伯提出了法秩序的社会学概念,对法律制度进行了类型学分析,并对法律制度进行了比较研究。从根本上说,韦伯是站在外部观察者的立场上对法律制度进行探究的,但是他始终无法从根本上摆脱他所反对的价值判断。     

STRAINED LIVES AND CRIME: EXAMINING INTRA‐INDIVIDUAL VARIATION IN STRAIN AND OFFENDING IN A SAMPLE OF INCARCERATED WOMEN*

When applied to the study of changes in an individual's offending, general strain theory posits that individuals will be more likely to offend during periods of high strain. Using 36 months of retrospective data collected from female inmates, we explore the relationship between intra‐individual changes in strain and changes in offending and drug use. We also examine how different dimensions of strain‐recent composite strain, duration, clustering and accumulation, contribute to the explanation of offending. We find that changes in strain are associated with changes in violence, drug use, and property crime and that these relationships remain after the addition of control variables. Moreover, the strain‐crime relationship holds when the correct causal order is specified. When modeling offending, taking various dimensions of strain into account does increase the amount of variation explained for some outcomes, but other dimensions are highly correlated. We conclude that conceptualizing the interaction between strain and crime as a dynamic process is constructive and that general strain theory will be improved if criminologists move beyond static conceptions of strain.     

2004年美国大选的结果及其对美国外交的影响

美国总统大选结果的各种因素的解释,不只是经济状况、内外政策和候选人个人品格,更重要的是一些存在于美国政治运行中的经验性规律。在伊拉克的硝烟未尽之时,在“9·11”的创痛未愈之际,此次美国总统大选的结果所将产生的影响也将是深远的。这种影响不仅仅是促使美国本身的内外政策稳健与温和,对国际局势,包括美中关系也产生重要的积极作用。     

Opposition Coordination in Singapore’s 2015 General Elections

Abstract

Recent political science scholarship suggests that when opposition political parties are able to coalesce into a united coalition against an authoritarian regime, they will perform better in authoritarian elections, and can more credibly bargain with the regime for liberalising reforms. Yet, most of this literature pays little attention to the variety of ways in which opposition parties cooperate with each other. Drawing on the literature on the bargaining model of war, the author sketches out a theoretical framework to explain how opposition parties coordinate to develop non-competition agreements. Such agreements entail opposition parties bargaining over which political party should contest or withdraw in which constituencies to ensure straight fights against the dominant authoritarian incumbent in each electoral district. The author then applies this framework to explain opposition coordination in Singapore’s 2015 general elections, focusing on the conflict between the Workers’ Party and the National Solidarity Party.     

Singapore’s 2015 General Election: Explaining PAP’s Resounding Win

Abstract

While Singapore’s 15th general election came about as expected, the ensuing results did not. In view of the opposition’s performance in the 2011 general election and the general sense that the ruling party had done well despite its performance being anything but sterling, the results were somewhat shocking. Even the leaders of the ruling party were caught by surprise at the party’s ability to garner 70% of the valid votes, 10% more than in the previous election. While many factors played a role, it was the opposition parties that lost the election rather than the ruling party that won it. Most of the opposition parties were rejected by the voters on grounds of not being worthy of support. The leading opposition party, the Workers’ Party, also suffered as many voters feared that it might perform too well to the detriment of the ruling party. In the end, the 2015 general elections strengthened the one-party-dominant state in Singapore and the quest for greater political representation was placed on the back burner.     

Can General Strain Theory Help Us Understand Violent Behaviors Among People with Mental Illnesses?

Recent work suggests that violence among people with mental illnesses is not simply due to the symptoms and comorbidities that define mental illness. We further this work by examining the extent to which strains or stressors explain the link between mental illness and violence. Specifically, we apply general strain theory (GST) to a longitudinal sample of adults with mental illnesses to investigate the lagged effects on violence of several strain measures, while controlling for mental illness symptoms, substance abuse, past violence, and other key variables. Parental drug abuse from childhood and stressful life events across the life course predict violence in adulthood. In a prospective model, relationship strain from an earlier time period significantly predicts changes in later self-reported violence. The results shed light on the ability of criminological frameworks to explain violence among people with mental illnesses.     

“Hand-to-mouth” citizenship: decision time for the UK Supreme Court on the substance of Zambrano rights,EU citizenship and equal treatment

UK benefit rules strip Zambrano residence rights, for UK national children and their third country national primary carers, of equal treatment entitlement. These rules are challenged in a case pending before the UK Supreme Court. This piece argues that Zambrano creates an EU-citizenship-based right to reside which necessarily entails equal treatment. UK national children in Zambrano families fall within the scope of EU law so are not prevented by the wholly internal rule from claiming equal treatment with EU national children in Teixeira families. And they are protected by equal treatment as a general principle of EU law, which requires equal treatment with other UK national children. The justifications for automatic unequal treatment put forward before, and accepted with alacrity by, the Court of Appeal, are poorly reasoned and ill-matched with the rules in question – most notably because Zambrano families may have strong connections with the UK. A CJEU reference is likely; a Zambrano right is the right to reside in the Union – it is the right to have EU rights. The substance of EU citizenship is at stake.     

论中国法院的“合一制”——历史、实践和理论

中国法院经过较长时间的历史演变,于20世纪80年代初确立了独特的合一制组织模式。合一制指的是一种审判与(司法)行政彼此交织融合、由院长全面负责的科层化的制度安排。合一制一度对中国持续快速的经济增长产生积极影响。但是,随着社会中心议题及正当化机制从经济增长逐渐向社会可持续、综合性发展转变,司法行政与审判融为一体的组织结构已不合时宜。将司法审判从过度的科层结构和总体性框架中脱域出来,进而促进宏观政治社会的功能分化,应作为一种发展取向。     

民生论

在我国社会主义现代化建设取得巨大成就的同时,我国民生状况也有很大改善,但由于种种原因,民生问题日趋严峻,已成为我国社会关注的焦点问题。中国共产党坚持和发展了马克思列宁主义、毛泽东思想的民生理论,形成了以共同富裕、社会和谐、以人为本、执政为民为核心的中国特色社会主义民生理论,并以此指导保障和改善民生的实践活动,重点是完善保障和改善民生的制度安排。