Japan's military research and development: A high technology deterrent

Abstract

This article examines the increased linkage between domestic and foreign policy that has been a consequence of democratization and globalization in Korea. It argues that while prior to 1987 foreign policy-making saw very little public input, and while democratization did not lead to a weakening of domestic political institutions nor a rise in nationalism, it did open up domestic political space where foreign policy-making increasingly became part of the contentious electoral competition. The globalization policy, initiated with the purpose of raising Korea's international status, which has remained a goal of succeeding administrations, created a complex interdependency which led to a breakdown in the separation between the domestic and international, and that often brought with it a domestic backlash. As a consequence foreign policy-making, in the absence of a tradition of political compromise, increasingly runs the risk of either inconsistency, or even deadlock.     

The regional outcome of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement five years down the road: Are external forces playing a progressive role?

ABSTRACT

The Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of January 2005 is the outcome of regional and international mediation led by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD)1 and the IGAD Partners’ Forum broadened to include the United States of America, Norway, the Netherlands, Canada, Italy and the United Nations. Five years into its implementation the peace agreement appears to have transformed the war between North and South Sudan into a series of engagements of conflicting nature. Numerous contradictory actions by both the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the National Congress Party (NCP) (the main political forces behind the CPA) have been noted during the ongoing implementation process (Grawert forthcoming 2010; Grawert and El-Battahani 2005; Wassara 2008). Although internal Sudanese forces are the key actors in implementing the CPA, external forces are critical in providing the support and pressure needed for a complete realisation of the peace deal. The New Regionalism Approach (NRA), as advanced by Grant and Soderbäum (2003), is instrumental in understanding this dynamic. This article is based on the result of a study that seeks to examine why positive engagements of external forces are needed for a timely implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.     

Understanding European asylum cooperation under the Schengen/Dublin system: a public goods framework

Abstract

Recent developments in European Union (EU) asylum cooperation raise important questions about the nature of cooperation and the potential problems facing collective action in the realm of EU internal security. The emergence and the subsequent stability of the Schengen/Dublin system is especially puzzling, given the highly inequitable distribution of costs and benefits that this system entails among the participating states and begs the question as to why those states that are likely to face a disproportionate ‘burden’ under the system would have agreed to it. This article seeks to provide an alternative approach to answering this question by drawing on a public goods framework. We argue that a simple focus on free-riding and exploitation dynamics, as emphasized in the traditional collective action literature, falls short as an explanation and instead demonstrates how more recent theoretical contributions to the public goods literature can offer new insights into the origin and evolution in cooperation in this sensitive policy area.     

中国高水平参与DEPA的关键领域与路径选择

申请加入DEPA不仅是中国主动参与全球数字治理的“先手棋”,更是深化国内改革和高水平开放的关键决策,有助于中国加快构建新发展格局。为推动数字经济由产业创新驱动转向更多依赖技术创新、制度创新驱动的新阶段,中国可重点在数据流动、数字技术、数字产品、数字创新和网络安全五大领域主动对接DEPA协定要求;进一步地,系统化构建以数字自由贸易港为核心,以数字营商环境示范区为抓手、以数字经济产业先行区为重点、以数字经济国际合作区为纽带、以数字经济创新试验区为动能的“一港四区”格局,推动中国数字经济开放发展、创新发展。     

《巴黎协定》下碳市场实施环境完整性风险及其应对研究

市场方法是减缓气候变化、降低减排成本的重要手段。继《京都议定书》灵活履约机制之后,《巴黎协定》第六条提供了减缓成果国际转让机制(ITMOs)和可持续减缓机制(SMM)两种碳市场机制,但在实施过程中却很容易导致环境完整性风险。从理论层面看,影响环境完整性的因素主要有转让单位的质量、国家自主贡献(NDCs)的多样性与力度、国际转让的稳健核算等。对此,未来国际气候谈判中针对《巴黎协定》碳市场机制的实施,应从完善国际报告和审查制度、设定资格标准以及完善相应调整等方面来确保环境完整性。同时,我国在国内碳市场建设中,也需要不断强化碳市场制度体系与能力基础设施建设,保障碳交易实施的环境效果,为有效衔接《巴黎协定》下国际碳市场进行充分准备。     

民国时期集体劳动合同立法述论 —— 以 1930 年《团体协约法》为中心

民国时期,通常将个别劳动合同称为劳动契约,而将集体劳动合同称为团体协约。中国劳工立 法较迟,团体协约立法则更晚。国民政府有关团体协约的立法最早可以追溯至 1929 年《劳动法典草案》的编纂, 其后在《工会法》起草过程中也有团体契约权的规定。延至 1930 年,国民政府正式颁行《团体协约法》,这是 中国历史上第一部有关集体劳动合同的专门法律。《团体协约法》的出台因应了当时中国工业化过程中劳资冲 突的实际需求,但也不可避免地存在历史局限。     

两岸投资争端解决机制的制度创新及其完善

投资争端解决机制是《海峡两岸投资保障和促进协议》（简称《两岸投资协议》）中体现两岸特色的重要制度创新之一。相较于传统双边投资协议中的投资争端解决机制而言,两岸投资争端解决机制除了引入两岸私人投资争端解决方式,还规定了投资者与投资所在地一方投资争端的协调、协处和调解等多元化机制,实现了单方规定的协议化和国际实践的两岸化,从而有效降低了两岸投资争端的“泛政治化”风险。未来,应进一步完善两岸投资补偿争端的调解程序,确保调解协议的法律约束力和执行力。     

The Governance of Cross-Border Data Flows in Trade Agreements: Is the Cptpp Framework an Ideal Way Out?

The regulations of cross-border data flows is a growing challenge for the international community. International trade agreements, however, appear to be pioneering legal methods to cope, as they have grappled with this issue since the 1990s. The World Trade Organization (WTO) rules system offers a partial solution under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), which covers aspects related to cross-border data flows. The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) have also been perceived to provide forward-looking resolutions. In this context, this article analyzes why a resolution to this issue may be illusory. While they regulate cross-border data flows in various ways, the structure and wording of exception articles of both the CPTPP and USMCA have the potential to pose significant challenges to the international legal system. The new system, attempting to weigh societal values and economic development, is imbalanced, often valuing free trade more than individual online privacy and cybersecurity. Furthermore, the inclusion of poison-pill clauses is, by nature, antithetical to cooperation. Thus, for the international community generally, and China in particular, cross-border data flows would best be regulated under the WTO-centered multilateral trade law system.     

Peace in Northern Ireland and the Remaining Issue of the “On-the-Runs”

The return of devolution to Northern Ireland in May 2007 marks an important turning point in the Northern Ireland peace process, but there remains the issue of the “on-the-runs”—a term used to describe persons suspected of committing a range of terrorist acts during the Troubles, who were never arrested, charged, prosecuted, or tried. It is thought that the On-the-Runs want to return to Northern Ireland, but determining the conditions for their return is a difficult and controversial issue, raising legal and moral concerns and causing strong and painful reactions among the victims of terrorist violence on all sides of the Northern Ireland conflict. It is also an issue that is complicated by the fact that while the Belfast Agreement of 1998 did not address expressly the situation of the On-the-Runs, it did provide for the accelerated release of a significant number of paramilitaries, both republican and loyalist, from prisons in both Ireland and Northern Ireland. This paper reviews the possible options in law for addressing the situation of the On-the-Runs, including extradition and prosecution, as well as trial and amnesty, and pardons. While the paper makes clear that the political offence exception to extradition is no longer the obstacle it once was, it also concludes that politics, rather than law, or simply the passage of time is more likely to offer the solution to the problem posed by the On-the-Runs.

新时期知识产权保护面临的挑战与对策

以《与贸易有关的知识产权协议》（TRIPS）为中心的知识产权国际保护制度建立以来,国际贸易自由化遭遇知识产权保护制度的挑战。为有效防止知识产权保护制度成为新的贸易壁垒,抑制科技创新与发展,进而成为发达国家掠夺发展中国家的工具,我国应在充分研究TRIPS协议的基础上积极回应,使知识产权保护制度切实为我所用,在国际贸易自由化的大趋势下发挥其应有的效用。