Civilization and international society: the case of European Union expansion

Joining a society of some kind requires the fulfillment of certain standards. In international society, states acknowledge the need for certain collective standards of international conduct if international order is to be maintained. The first truly global application of international norms took place during the nineteenth century through the process of the expansion of the European society of states and its gradual transformation to the contemporary global international society. In this process, the standard of ‘civilization’ played an essential role in determining which states would join the expanding European society and which ones would not. Despite the major changes that have occurred, the standard of ‘civilization’ has remained an international practice as well as a benchmark against which the attitudes and policies of states are assessed. Nowhere can this be seen more clearly than in the EU policy of ‘membership conditionality’. Although many explanations for EU expansion have been put forward rather absent from debate has been the civilization dimension which is embedded in membership conditionality and which should be given more emphasis.     

The State and Human Rights: Governance and Sustainable Human Development in Yemen

International Relations theory has had difficulty explaining the global spread of human rights norms, and in particular the spread of human rights norms in the non-Western world. An exploration of Yemen's integration of human rights-based approaches to economic development into its policymaking gives the empirical foundation to examine the interplay of both norms and self-interest and external and internal pressures in framing such policies. In the case of Yemen, at least, each of these contrasting pairs is to a large degree mutually constituted. Conceptualizing norms and self-interest and external and internal pressures as mutually constitutive differs from the usual contrasts painted between these pairs in international relations theory, but is an important step in moving beyond an impasse among realist, liberal, and constructivist theories and toward a usefully integrative approach.     

Islamic Fundamentalism and Women's Employment in Indonesia

It is commonly observed that the economic position of women seems particularly precarious in countries where political Islam is on the ascendant. The usual interpretation is that the first condition is a result of the second. Drawing on evidence from a wide variety of countries, but particularly Indonesia, this paper demonstrates that Islamic doctrines are by no means universal, that they do not invariably discriminate against women in economic terms. A review of the recent economic and political changes leading to the rise of political Islam and changes in female labour market participation patterns suggests that establishing a causal relationship between the two is problematic and can be misleading. Evidence from Indonesia challenges ideological reductionism based on stereotypical assumptions about the impact of Islam to explain women's economic roles.²     

Information Asymmetry and the Financial Consumer Protection Policy

As complex structure of financial products severely limits consumers' understanding and causes an information asymmetry, the need to protect financial consumers has been a target of heated debates. This study designs a game theory-based model and presents that the reason behind an inadequate advisory service by financial institutions is a combination of consumers' poor financial literacy and sellers' abuse of such weakness to pursue their own profits. Our model shows that when there is information asymmetry on both product characteristics and investment preference of financial consumers, having competing companies that offer substitute products is not enough to ensure a proper advisory service. Two measures may be considered to address this issue. The first measure would be voluntary market efforts to strengthen financial consumer's literacy and self-regulatory mechanism. The second measure would be to step up administrative regulations on financial product sellers in both ex-ante and ex-post mechanisms.     

Admitting a Bad Influence: Contracting the Public Service

Abstract

Emulation of the private sector is a longstanding controversy in public administration, but could it constitute a bad influence, of the kind that parents seek to guard against by scrutinizing their children's peers? Effectiveness provides a perspective on how helpful or harmful private sector influence has been for the public service. The practice of contracting-out under the A-76 process receives particular scrutiny relative to maintaining the effectiveness of public agencies. A second perspective on private sector influence examines, through the theoretical perspective of transaction-cost economics, the promise of cost savings that justified recent acceleration of contracting-out. The author, himself a government contractor, also bases his analysis on personal experience.     

Continuity and change in Russia's policy toward Central and Eastern Europe

The accession of the CEE states to NATO and the European Union has put an end to the geopolitical ambiguity and implicit insecurity in the region between Russia and the so-called ‘Old Europe’. Instead of being an area of great powers' rivalry, elements of ‘buffer belts’ lacking meaningful strategic options, objects of raw Nazi-Soviet deals, or zones under Russian occupation and domination, the three Baltic States and the Visegrad group countries became full-fledged members of the European Union and were given NATO's security guarantees. By the middle of the 2000s, one would conclude that traditional geopolitics had ended in this region.However, the changes in the strategic situation in CEE have not changed the deep rooted moving forces and long-term strategic goals of the Russian policy toward the region. Moscow seeks to have the position, as its official rhetoric says, of an ‘influential centre of a multipolar world’ that would be nearly equal to the USA, China, or the EU. With this in view Moscow seeks for the establishment of its domination over the new independent states of the former USSR and for the formation of a sphere of influence for itself in Central Eastern Europe. If it achieves these goals, then Europe may return once again to traditional geopolitics fraught with great power rivalries and permanent instabilities radiating far beyond CEE borders.Yet a few questions remain. Has Russia come to the conclusion that attempting to restore its privileged position of influence in Central-Eastern Europe is wrong? Has Russia enough power to threaten the CEE countries? How credible are NATO's security guarantees? How may Russian behavior in CEE affect a wider European geopolitical context? These questions are appropriate in the light of Russia's ‘resurgence’ as a revanchist power and because Russia is, and most probably will remain in the next five to ten years, a weighty economic and strategic factor in areas along the Western borders of the former USSR.     

论卧底警察权益保障机制之构建

随着有组织犯罪活动日益猖獗,传统侦查措施已难以与之抗衡。而卧底侦查这一隐蔽型侦查措施,逐渐成为了打击此类犯罪的一把利刃,卧底警察更是被誉为"刀尖上的舞者"。然而,在危险系数颇高的卧底任务中,卧底警察的权益保障几乎处于真空状态。因此,有必要通过完善卧底警察选拔机制、卧底警察培训机制、卧底警察心理调试机制、卧底警察身份保密机制、卧底警察岗位预留机制、卧底警察奖励与补偿机制等方式,来构建一套科学合理的卧底警察权益保障机制。     

安徽新生代农民工维权保障与政治认同

在对安徽省新生代农民工访谈和调研的基础上,探讨新生代农民工维权保障在政治认同中的作用。由于城乡二元结构导致的分野,使新生代农民工在身份定位上、权益保障上、利益诉求表达渠道上遭遇众多尴尬、困惑和迷茫。为此,应高度重视对新生代农民工维权的保障,采取积极有效的政策和措施,从法律制度建设和政府行政效率提升入手,不断创新维权保障路径,增强安徽新生代农民工的政治认同。     

完善侨胞权益法律保护提升国家自主创新能力

海外侨胞是提升中国自主创新能力的重要力量,该文从保护海外侨胞权益、完善相关法律体系、完善创业环境、加强知识产权保护等多个方面,为提升国家自主创新能力提出相关政策与法律建议。     

论宪法基本权利与刑事诉讼

宪法基本权利具有根本性、普适性、强制性等特征。刑事诉讼法是国家刑罚权具体化、现实化而形之于诉讼程序的法律规范。为了实现正义的理想、安定的目标,为了大众的利益,为了实现刑罚,追究犯罪过程中很可能忽视被追诉人的基本权利。国家与个人的利益只有在刑事诉讼上才有如此尖锐的冲突。国家为确认刑罚权实行追诉与审判的职权活动,决定了刑事诉讼对宪法基本权利的公法限制属性。为防止这种限制的过度与失衡给公民权益造成侵害,刑事诉讼中必须贯彻法律保留原则及比例原则,以加强对人身自由等基本权利的保障运作和个人防御权的行使。