Understanding the Hermit Kingdom As It Is and As It Is Becoming: The Past,Present and Future of North Korea

North Korea, a Cold War remnant in East Asia, has long been treated as an impenetrable mystery and an excruciatingly difficult subject to comprehend given its closed system, under which it has maintained its isolation even from its closest allies and neighbours. The idiosyncrasies that revolve around North Korea do pose challenges for understanding the country through the “conventional wisdom.” Nonetheless, as acknowledged by the scholarly works reviewed in this article, the regime in Pyongyang must be dealt with as it is and as it is becoming so as to better understand both the challenges and opportunities for the country. The difficult task for the United States (US) and its allies in East Asia, however, is to be pragmatic in terms of dealing with the regime in Pyongyang and to project strength in a way that promotes long-term regional and global peace as well as the betterment of people in the country. The books reviewed are Charles Armstrong, Tyranny of the Weak: North Korea and the World, 1950?1992, Andrei Lankov, The Real North Korea: Life and Politics in the Failed Stalinist Utopia and the collection edited by Kyung-ae Park and Scott Snyder, North Korea in Transition: Politics, Economy, and Society.     

美国的东南亚民主战略与《东盟宪章》背后的困境

冷战结束之后,美国大肆向全世界推销其民主制度和价值观,一直将民主外交作为其非常重要的外交手段之一。在世界各地,美国都通过扶持所谓的民主力量,大力施展其"软实力",推进全球民主战略。这其中,东南亚是美国长期重视的地区,为了抵消中国、日本等国在东南亚地区天然的地缘优势上的影响,美国更是在该地区推行民主战略方面下足了功夫。而东盟作为该地区发展最为成功、对团结东南亚国家贡献最大的组织,一直以来都在其现实需要与美国压力之间进行平衡,最终将不干涉内政和推进民主人权都写进了作为其重要里程牌的文件《东盟宪章》之中。然而,由于东盟成员国的经济发展水平和政治文化制度参差不齐,这种矛盾性的策略反而使其陷入困境。如何在发展多元化民主政治的同时维护其政治安全,达成其一体化目标,这是值得东盟进一步思考与实践的难题。     

The North Korea Problem: Perspectives on the Nuclear Debate,Economic Reforms and Beyond

ABSTRACT

Despite a plethora of research on North Korea, understanding and managing the challenges posed by the country have long been complicated with no simple solution to put an end to this decades-long security and economic predicament on the Korean Peninsula. With the potential for international conflict, attention must be given to the converging messages emerging from the scholarly works reviewed in this article: Glyn Ford, Talking to North Korea: Ending the Nuclear Standoff, Van Jackson, On the Brink: Trump, Kim, and the Threat of Nuclear War and William Overholt’s collection North Korea: Peace? Nuclear War? These works speak to the need to: take seriously the risk of nuclear war; consider the connectedness of the North’s decades-long security and economic reform dilemmas; and to acknowledge that the mistrust that is deeply rooted on all sides must be mitigated to bring peace. These books are published at a critical juncture of increased tensions following a highly publicised but remarkably short-lived effort at a breakthrough on the Korean nuclear issue, Pyongyang’s rapidly evolving security posture and its perennial domestic challenges. Each of these volumes provides valuable insights on these challenges for North Korea and internationally.     

法律论证与司法裁判的正当性追求——转型中国语境下的司法裁判困境及其反思

司法裁判的正当性问题及以对话理论为主要内容的法律论证理论,近年来在我国受到学界广泛关注。为增强司法公信力,司法实践对此也作出了应有的回应和探索,重点是强化庭审功能,推行裁判文书改革。尤其强调裁判理由阐释及论证,要求法官必须公开其心证过程。但在中国转型社会的现实语境中,实质公正仍是司法裁判追求的最高目标,法官适用法律存在多重困境,法律论证过程不可避免地遭遇尴尬。司法裁判的正当性追求仍应以实现法律之内的正义为基础,同时应回应立法目的与社会利益。     

Interdependence,asymmetric crises,and European defence cooperation

Although international crises are often believed to represent windows of opportunity to strengthen European defence cooperation, recent crises have not seemed to produce a clear convergence of European Union (EU) member states’ security interests. This article seeks to address this puzzle by arguing that European defence cooperation is a response to crises that place European states in a situation of military interdependence. Conversely, asymmetric crises, i.e. crises that affect European states unevenly, encourage those states to maintain their autonomy of action. This theoretical argument is supported by two case studies: the failure of the European Defence Community in the early 1950s and the current difficulties experienced by the EU’s military operations. These two cases illustrate a striking continuity in that, because of (neo)colonial ties in particular, European states are often unevenly affected by international crises, which tends to make defence cooperation less effective.     

均衡困境与金融安全：国际货币制度变迁及问题

全球金融危机的爆发和对金融安全所产生的巨大影响,为国际货币体系的制度变迁创造了强大的外部动力,并使之成为二十国集团(G20)主导的全球金融治理改革的核心议程之一。随着危机影响的逐渐消散,国际货币体系改革陷入了"均衡困境",即国际货币体系的制度变迁在达到或持续趋近于最优状态之前,便停滞于某种相对稳定的状态,危机所创造的变迁动力逐渐减弱,主要国家行为体继续维持、接受或无力独自改变既有国际货币体系。在此均衡困境下,国际货币体系存在已久的诸多问题依然没有解决,主要包括主权货币充当国际货币的相关问题、汇率制度多样化以及随之而来的汇率波动和汇率失调、国际收支调节不力导致的宏观经济失衡、国际货币组织低效等。从国际货币制度变迁与金融安全的角度而言,后危机时期的改革并未带来一个更加安全的金融世界。     

论周作人的日本诗歌翻译

周作人曾翻译介绍过许多日本诗歌,他调动了现代口语丰富的表现功能,有力地传达出了日本小诗的神韵。周作人翻译日本诗歌的用意是希望中国的诗歌能借鉴日本诗歌的精华,希望中国的新诗坛能够摆脱创作的困境。遗憾的是,这种含蓄而意境悠远的诗歌却始终没能在中国诗坛上出现。日本诗歌给予中国诗坛的影响更多的只是形式上的借鉴。     

Climate Change and UK Politics: From Brynle Williams to Sir Nicholas Stern

In 2000 the UK Labour government abandoned annual real fuel duty increases - a policy it had inherited from the preceding Conservative administration - in the face of direct action by farmers and hauliers. A short-term Conservative lead in the polls opened up. In 2006, the same Chancellor, Gordon Brown, announced an increase in air passenger duty from February 2007 in the light of the newly published Stern Review. The opposition parties denounced this as too feeble.
As Stern points out, all citizens in the world are in a global N-person prisoners' dilemma. Everybody knows that a world without global warming is better than a world with it; but each actor is unconditionally better off from continuing to pollute than from restraining her polluting.
Everybody expects somebody else to drive less. Now, however, all parties have committed themselves to tax and/or emission trading policies to mitigate global warming. The paper examines this transition.     

东北亚国家安全体系:从双边困境到多边合作的安全路径分析

作为经典国际安全理论的安全困境理论无法充分说明后冷战时代东北亚区域国家安全状态。无论从体系引导型安全困境亦或国家引导型安全困境,都难以找到东北亚各国安全战略差异产生的根本原因。东北亚各国间的安全互动已经形成了一个超越安全困境并以美国为核心的地区国家安全体系。通过对东北亚国家安全体系结构和流动性安全要素的考察可以发现,各国安全战略的不同与其在国家安全体系结构中的位置和对流动性安全要素的控制能力密切相关。这有助于进一步探寻东北亚国家间安全关系从双边困境到多边合作的路径。     

绿色消费文化助力城市隐形贫困人口“脱贫摘帽”

近年来,"隐形贫困人口"一词成为网络流行语并受到部分城市青年群体的认同,该部分青年群体将其作为自己的身份标签以自嘲消费与收入之间巨大落差。这一现象引发了社会的广泛关注。有学者将其产生的原因归结为非理性消费,事实上,我们更应深刻地认识到我国城市隐形贫困人口是我国社会发展过程中的历史性、阶段性现象,其在动机、方式、心态方面均表现出双重属性,这折射出当前中国社会在现代化发展过程中面临着消费文化价值观缺陷,也反映我国社会优化整合功能不充分的消费困境。因此,解决城市隐形贫困人口的"脱贫"问题,需要积极倡导并践行绿色消费文化,实现人自身、人与自然、人与社会的共荣共生。