How governance boundaries affect regional collaboration on atmospheric governance—Evidence from China's Yangtze River Delta

Regional public affairs will become more complex when contradictions emerge between administrative boundaries and policy issues that require cross-boundary collaboration. Breaking administrative boundaries has become a prerequisite for facilitating inter-local government collaboration. This study categorizes governance boundaries into the administrative boundary and the ecology-based policy boundary and then examines how these two governance boundaries and their interactive relationship contribute to the intergovernmental collaboration network in China's regional atmospheric governance (RAG). Using data on the atmospheric governance collaboration from 30 cities in the Yangtze River Delta region from 2013 to 2018, we employ the MR-QAP model to find that cities within the same administrative boundary are more likely to collaborate and cities within the ecology-based policy boundary, compared with those beyond, are more likely to collaborate but with a lagging effect. Ecology-based policy boundary has a positive but lagging moderating effect on the contribution of the administrative boundary to the formation of intergovernmental collaboration networks.     

Examining the nexus between situational factors and job performance through the mediating role of work engagement and self-efficacy

The situational perspectives theory of job performance is a fundamental aspect of organizational and managerial psychology. Consequently, there is growing interest in conducting additional research to assess situational factors and job performance through the theoretical frameworks of social learning and social exchange theories, which are seldom applied in these domains. The data has been collected from 365 employees working in Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL). It was found that supervisor support stimulates job performance. It is also deduced that self-efficacy mediates the relationship while work engagement does not mediate the relationship between supervisor support and job performance. The situational perspectives theory of job performance provides a supportive framework for the development of PTCL employees. This work should be of interest in the area of situational factors and performance improvement. This study is one of the very few studies conducted to empirically assess the influence of situational factor on performance through the mediating role of work engagement and self-efficacy.     

‘Working’ the international child protection case: a snapshot of local authorities’ experiences within an evolving legal context

Child protection proceedings often concern children with international connections. In recent years, the courts of England and Wales have handed down a number of significant judgments examining the application of international legal instruments (in particular Brussels IIa) to care proceedings. This article considers the impact of court judgments on the practical ‘working’ by Local Authorities of international child protection cases. A case study was conducted, oriented by socio-legal theory, consisting of a small number of qualitative interviews with Local Authority lawyers and social workers. The article concludes that some judgments have acted as a catalyst to change working practices for Local Authorities. However, international child protection cases present a variety of challenges for Local Authorities, and judgments provide an imperfect site for the provision of procedural and substantive guidance in this complex area. Further, there was often a tension between the need to conscientiously adhere to such guidance, and the welfare needs of the children with whom the Local Authority was concerned.     

以审判为中心与国家监察体制改革

从以审判为中心的视角审视国家监察体制改革,具有独特的意义和价值。监察机关调查活动中的刑事调查部分,与刑事诉讼程序具有密切联系,为以审判为中心的视角分析国家监察体制改革提供了正当性基础。从以审判为中心在证据规则方面的要求考察监察机关调查活动中司法审判证据规则的适用范围、调查活动的法律规制存在问题;以以审判为中心对诉讼职能的影响为工具,可以发现国家监察体制改革面临司法审查原则的贯彻、职务犯罪侦查权的配置、监察证据在刑事诉讼中的使用、辩护律师的参与等多方面的挑战;诉讼主体的权力配置,则体现出国家监察体制改革带来的深层次问题。国家监察制度的未来完善之路,将面临一系列挑战和课题。     

行政协议司法审查的法律适用

在遵循依法行政原则的前提下,行政协议各方约定各自的权利义务从而实现行政目的。行政协议的主体和内容的二元性,即行政性和民事性,决定了行政协议的司法审查法律适用的复合性。行政协议的司法审查应公共利益和私人权益兼顾,并力求合法性与合约性、安定性之间适当平衡。     

Administrative justice in Wales: a new egalitarianism?

Administrative justice systems are under a variety of pressures, in particular austerity-inspired civil justice reform. I argue that such pressures do not necessitate the decline of administrative justice, and that a developing Welsh model has cross-jurisdictional appeal, especially to legal orders currently lacking a relevant organisational centre and joined-up approach. I examine the efficacy of existing conceptions of administrative justice and delineate a developing Welsh approach grounded in egalitarian principles. The nascent Welsh model emphasises reforming administrative justice hierarchies so that they work harmoniously with regulatory and value-promoting parts of the system, focusing on user perspectives and tackling the risks of less transparent forms of bureaucratic decision-making.     

Mapping current issues in administrative justice: austerity and the ‘more bureaucratic rationality’ approach

This article critically reviews recent developments in the administrative justice system; in particular, it considers three key themes: improving initial decisions; administrative review; and the future of tribunals. In each of these areas, some aspects of administrative justice work well, but austerity has presented acute challenges in ensuring the fair and just treatment of people through restrictions upon legal aid; the withdrawal of some appeal rights; and the expansion of administrative review. Consequently, the system is moving away from a ‘legal’ model of administrative justice to the ‘bureaucratic rationality’ model, which focuses upon accurate and efficient implementation. However, the reality does not correspond with the goals of the model. Rather than accurate and efficient implementation of policy, what we find is poor decision-making made by junior officials with insufficient quality controls. Digitising tribunals may have potential benefits in terms of increased accessibility. Nonetheless, the prospects for administrative justice are weak.     

民事诉讼法律审的功能及构造

为了满足法律适用的统一性要求,有必要在我国民事诉讼中实行有条件的法律审制度。引起法律审的事由应当是裁判违法,包括违反法院应当适用的法律规范,违反日常经验法则等,裁判违法应当与裁判结果具有因果关系;当事人提起法律审应经由原审法院;法律审仅审理法律适用问题且仅以上诉人主张的范围为限;法律审的裁决对重审法院应当具有约束力。     

试论我国行政监察的法治化途径

行政监察工作法治化是依法行政的必然要求,纵观我国现行行政监察体制和运行机制,存在着明显的缺陷和不足。探索一条科学有效的社会主义行政监察之路,需要在马列主义、毛泽东思想、邓小平理论以及“三个代表”重要思想指导下,弘扬民主理念,完善行政监察立法,深化体制改革,建立专职的行政监察队伍,实现国际社会联合协调行动。     

行政裁量法律控制研究

对行政裁量法律控制机制进行研究,论证了权力机关对行政裁量的法律控制,在分析我国权力机关进行监督现状的基础上,提出应当借鉴一些国家实行的议会监察专员制度并结合我国国情加以改造使之符合我国的法治实践,对完善我国权力机关对行政裁量的监督提供了参考思路。在论证行政机关对行政裁量的法律控制时重点放在行政程序对行政裁量的法律控制上,对行政程序控制行政裁量的回避制度、听证制度、信息公开制度、参与制度、说明理由制度、职能分离制度进行了初步探讨。具体分析了司法机关对裁量的法律控制,提出了行政裁量权属于行政机关,司法机关不能审查,行政裁量属于行政权的运用活动、司法机关可以审查的观点,说明了审查的范围只限于行政裁量的合法性,在认定滥用职权的主观方面时主张采用“过错推定”的原则。结束语说明现代社会对行政机关提出的是积极进行行政裁量更好地为社会服务的要求,现代行政法上的行政裁量制度是以有效发挥行政裁量权的积极作用为目标。提出建立一支高素质的公务员队伍、提高公务员的依法行政意识和依法行政水平应当是解决行政裁量问题的最终途径,完善岗位责任制、发展责任控制模式是对行政裁量进行法律控制的最佳方案。