Assessing Kaliningrad's Geostrategic Role: The Russian Periphery and A Baltic Concern

Recent developments in post-communist Europe and Latvia in particular have raised questions about political stability in new democracies there. This article argues for taking a long-term perspective on this problem in place of short-term judgments. In doing so, it makes special reference to the EU's political conditionality and its impacts on Latvia and then applies comparative lessons on democratic consolidation based on the concept of ‘partial regimes’. It becomes clear in this analysis that the consolidation process in Latvia has advanced over the past decade and more and, in this respect, the EU did have an important, though limited and rather specific, impact. Yet this process is still incomplete, with historical legacies being a major factor. The ethnic divide has also remained largely unresolved, party development problems have persisted and the public is still unconvinced by the actual democracy they see before them and is alienated by political elite behavior in particular. Hence, Latvia does not have a defective democracy as such, but further change is necessary before democratic consolidation may be achieved there.     

MEASURING THE THREAT OF GLOBAL CRIME: INSIGHTS FROM RESEARCH BY THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS INTO THE TRAFFIC IN WOMEN*

Despite increasing concern about the threat of global crime, it remains difficult to measure. During the 1920s and 1930s, the League of Nations conducted the first social‐scientific study of global crime in two studies of the worldwide traffic in women. The first study included 112 cities and 28 countries; researchers carried out 6,500 interviews in 14 languages, including 5,000 with figures in the international underworld. By drawing on archival materials in Geneva and New York, this article examines the role of ethnography in developing a social‐science measure of global crime threats. The discussion covers the Rockefeller grand jury and formation of the Bureau of Social Hygiene; the League's research in Europe, the Americas, and the Mediterranean; controversy concerning the use of undercover researchers; the League's research in Asia; and the end of the Bureau. The League's experience demonstrates the promise of multisite ethnography in research about global crime as well as the difficulty of mapping crime on a global scale.     

Corporate social responsibility as new challenge for the IT industry

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a relevant topic for enterprises offering products and services on a global scale. International organizations provide for guidelines and private associations publish codes of conduct requiring businesses to integrate social, environmental and ethical aspects, human rights as well as consumer concerns into their operations. Not at least the EU is promoting CSR through an Agenda for Action 2011–14. The implementation of CSR is a multidimensional ethical process and gains particular importance for the IT industry which by its nature is global. Therefore, IT enterprises are invited to conduct a CSR assessment, to develop a CSR strategy and to implement CSR commitments. These tasks are to be done by introducing specific CSR processes and compliance measures for risk assessment and risk mitigation.     

从依法治国看法律监督与社会管理创新

社会管理创新是中国共产党作为执政党在新的历史时期的一项重要工作,也是进一步贯彻落实依法治国基本方略的内在要求。在社会主义法律体系初步形成的背景下,改革现有社会管理模式、创造新的社会管理模式,难点在于革除现有的以行政权力为主导的社会管理模式的若干积弊,遏制权力运行不受法律制约的现象;重点在于加强和完善法律监督的力度,尤其是加强和完善检察机关的检察监督职责。在创新社会管理的过程中,既要认识到法律监督的重要保障作用,也要认识到法律监督作为社会管理有机组成部分的重要地位,从外部保障和内部效用两方面不断探索和完善法律监督工作,促进社会管理创新取得实效。     

从传统走向现代：社会保障权司法救济的检省与矫正

社会保障权是社会保障法的核心,是现代社会的一项基本人权,其本质是社会权。有权利就应当有救济,其中司法救济又是权利救济途径中最权威、最行之有效的方式,是保障公民社会保障权利恒久不易的追求。由于社会保障权的特殊性质,传统的民事和行政救济体系已不能适应社会保障争议的需要,打破传统的普通诉讼程序,借鉴国外成熟经验,完善和创设符合社会保障权特征的现代的特殊司法救济机制已成为必然之选。     

美国对社会思潮冲击的应对模式及其启示

美国流派纷呈的社会思潮对其思想政治教育有着复杂的影响。美国在应对社会思潮冲击的过程中,形成了包括美国资本主义制度及其优越性的教育、责任公民的教育和美利坚民族精神教育等在内的较为完备的思想政治教育体系。美国还通过采用显性教育与隐性教育相结合的方式,走学校教育与社会教育相结合的路径,实现了数量众多的外来移民的"美国化"。美国的这些做法对我国具有重要启示。我们要坚持用社会主义核心价值体系引领社会思潮;加强应对社会思潮时的"无意识教育";增强应对社会思潮时的"教育合力"。     

法官视角中的能动司法

能动司法是司法创造力的体现。在美国,这种司法能动的突出表现形式是司法审查权,通过多年的案例发展,美国已经形成了较为完备的司法审查体制。在英国,至今法院尚无对立法的审查权。但在英美法系国家,由于有判例法传统,法官的司法能动性相对较大,在案件审理中,区分相似案件事实和不断发展法律规则是法官司法技术的重要组成部分。英美法系的司法能动对我国司法实践具有积极的借鉴意义。在我国,司法能动在审判领域的主要表现形式是最高法院司法解释、个案法官法律论证,其主线是政策考量与法律考量,也可称之为社会效果考量与法律效果考量。     

Economic Insecurity,Blame, and Punitive Attitudes

This study examines the relationship between punitive attitudes toward criminals, two measures of economic insecurity and a measure of blame for stagnating incomes that targets welfare, affirmative action, and immigration. In effect, we are testing whether punitiveness toward criminals is part of a general constellation of resentment toward what Gans (1995 Gans, H. J. 1995. The war against the poor, New York: Basic Books.  [Google Scholar]) has termed the “undeserving poor” and that Garland (2001 Garland, D. 2001. The culture of control, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) has described as the “politics of reaction.” Survey data involving 1,476 adults are assessed using OLS regression. Results indicate that blame of welfare, affirmative action, and immigration is the strongest predictor of punitiveness. Economic insecurity has variable input to punitive attitudes that depends on the measure used and the sex and race of respondents. Some evidence of an “angry White male” phenomenon is also provided by the results.     

Gang Membership,Drug Selling,and Violence in Neighborhood Context

A prominent perspective in the gang literature suggests that gang member involvement in drug selling does not necessarily increase violent behavior. In addition it is unclear from previous research whether neighborhood disadvantage strengthens that relationship. We address these issues by testing hypotheses regarding the confluence of neighborhood disadvantage, gang membership, drug selling, and violent behavior. A three‐level hierarchical model is estimated from the first five waves of the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, matched with block‐group characteristics from the 2000 U.S. Census. Results indicate that (1) gang members who sell drugs are significantly more violent than gang members that don’t sell drugs and drug sellers that don’t belong to gangs; (2) drug sellers that don’t belong to gangs and gang members who don’t sell drugs engage in comparable levels of violence; and (3) an increase in neighborhood disadvantaged intensifies the effect of gang membership on violence, especially among gang members that sell drugs.     

Strain,Crime, and Contingencies

Hypotheses from General Strain theory are addressed using data from a random sample of adults in Raleigh, NC. Analyses examine three issues: (1) whether strain predicts self‐projected criminal behavior; controlling for past self‐reported crime; (2) whether negative emotions mediate the relationship between strain and projected crime; and (3) whether social support and criminal peers serve as contingencies or mediators for strain in predicting criminality. Results are generally consistent with previous studies focusing on youth. Three of four measures of strain are found to predict the crime measures. However, that relationship is not mediated by negative emotion and the measures of social support and criminal peers do not act as contingencies or mediators. The results suggest that strain may not operate through negative emotions and that theoretical refinement is needed to identify which potential contingencies are likely to be operating under various circumstances.