Environment and Energy: The Baltic Sea Gas Pipeline

Germany and Russia have agreed to build the Nord Stream gas pipeline. The 1,200 kilometers-long structure will run from Vyborg, Russia to Greifswald, Germany traversing the Baltic Sea. The Baltic countries, Finland, Poland and Sweden, have expressed concerns about the project. At issue is the environmental impact of the project as well as the energy, political, and socioeconomic implications.     

Family Formation in the Baltic Countries: A Transformation in the Legacy of state socialism

This article examines the transformation of nuptiality patterns in the Baltic countries since the late 1960s, in the context of long-term trends. The aim of the study is to compare the entry into first conjugal union in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and analyze the position of the Baltic countries in a broader European perspective. The analyses employ microdata from national surveys conducted in the framework of the European Family and Fertility Surveys program. Our main results on the timing and mode of union formation show that in Estonia and Latvia the shift from direct marriage to cohabitation started well before the fall of the state socialist regime, and followed a trajectory close to Scandinavian countries. In Lithuania, on the other hand, the change in the pattern of union formation has been much slower. The article discusses the factors underlying the observed similarities and dissimilarities in union formation.     

客观性的探索与主体性的确立——“日本的哲学”课题

真正的"哲学",应该说并不是在一个背离"生命"的、抽象思辨的过程中被捏造出来的学问。倒不如说,它的本质就在于我们的"存在经验的精炼化"。日本一直以来都是站在具体事象的立场,以自身的存在经验所凝练出来的精神活动为核心,由此来展开自身的学术研究。"日本的哲学"这一研究本身应该说带有了双重内涵:第一,应该是一个学术探索,即如今要站在"哲学的"基础上来认真地、客观地重新探索日本人的"人生观.世界观"的历史传承;第二,应该说是一个哲学研究,即不局限于第一个立场,而是要在"现代"这一科学技术极度发达、文明冲突与异文化摩擦频繁发生、充满了冲突与争执的全球化人类社会之中,我们日本人面对世界必须形成一种主体性的自觉,必须提出并树立起一种新的"哲学性"的"人生观·世界观"。     

东南亚国家产业结构的演进及其特征

战后,随着东南亚国家的工业化进程,各国的产业结构发生了一系列变化,这主要表现为:农业在国内生产总值和就业的比重不断下降,工业(尤其是制造业)增加值和就业比重迅速提高,服务业增加值和就业比重总体上趋于上升。东南亚国家产业结构演变的趋势,是与世界各国工业化中产业结构变化的规律相适应。不过,由于各国经济发展存在着历史性、结构性和制度性的差异,东南亚国家产业结构的变化又有许多不同的特点。     

发达国家治理历史虚无主义的实践与启示

近年来,历史虚无主义在发达国家政治生活和舆论空间时有体现,成为不和谐因素,引起了执政当局的高度关注。为了维护意识形态安全和国家安定团结,发达国家不遗余力治理历史虚无主义,在政界、学界和新闻工作中始终强调历史清醒和"政治正确",树立底线意识;加强青少年爱国主义教育,强化历史观塑造;通过立法和司法实践,维护历史共识和民族英雄声誉;着力治理网络舆论,源头防范网络历史虚无主义。发达国家治理历史虚无主义的实践是维护资产阶级政治统治的重要举措,存在典型的"单向度思维"和不可避免的局限性,采取的一些做法对当前我国反对历史虚无主义,具有一定的借鉴意义和参考价值。     

Pathways of democratisation to human development in post‐communist countries

The article investigates the consequences of post‐Cold War regime transitions on human development in the former Soviet bloc. Relying on a mixed‐methods research strategy that combines econometric and qualitative comparative analysis, it proceeds through three consecutive steps. First, there is a discussion of how democratic institutions may solicit governments’ attention toward social issues. Second, the relationship between democratisation and human development in 21 post‐communist countries is tested. Third, democracy in its core attributes is unpacked, and qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) is used to identify a few alternative institutional configurations favouring human development. The analysis reveals that not only full democracies, but also some hybrid regimes, have been successful in this task.     

Enhancing Precision and Clarity in the Study of Policy Narratives: An Analysis of Climate and Air Issues in Delhi,India

The study of policy narratives is challenged by inconsistencies and a need for more precise definitions and measurements. The goals of this article are to build precision and clarity in the study of policy narratives by developing a network‐based approach—the ego‐alter dyad—for coding characters and their interactions around a policy issue and then to illustrate this approach in the analysis of air and climate issues in Delhi, India. The empirical results show that (1) the same actors are often heroes and villains, (2) heroes and villains are associated with different actions but with similar victims or beneficiaries, (3) narrators differ in their propensity to tell hero‐heavy or villain‐heavy policy narratives, and (4) the proportion of hero‐heavy or villain‐heavy policy narratives changes over time and differs across subtopics. The article concludes with a research agenda for further theoretical and methodological advancement in studying policy narratives.     

自然法与西方法律文明史

自然法从古希腊伊始,至今一直是法律思想领域的一柱栋梁,它历经西方社会各大学派的吹捧或是抨击,从兴盛到没落再到复苏,不得不说它是西方法律文明史上不可或缺的重要学说。它奠定了西方法律人权、民主、分权等观念的基础,它的超然、实然、应然的内容层次也为现代法律制度的构建提供了一定的价值标准。对它在西方法律文明史上的地位研究,有着重要的理论价值和实践意义。     

China in Pacific Regional Politics

Abstract

Foreign aid from China to the island countries of the Pacific has grown rapidly over the last few decades and an expanding body of literature has examined various aspects of what this means for politics in the region generally. This article focuses on China’s impact on Pacific regional politics partly from the perspective of identity politics. It suggests that China has substantially increased its engagement with the Pacific island states by making use of its own identity as a South–South development partner in contrast to traditional (mainly Western) donors in the region. Unlike most traditional donors, however, China’s diplomacy and engagement are based largely on bilateralism, and this is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. This approach could continue to limit its impact on Pacific regionalism, regardless of how it projects its image.     

Impediments besetting the negotiations for a comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the European Union and East and Southern Africa (2007–2014)

Several African, Caribbean and Pacific countries are currently negotiating World Trade Organization (WTO)-compatible reciprocal economic partnership agreements (EPAs) with the European Union (EU), agreements intended to supersede the one-sided trade preferences of the Lomé Convention. This study focuses on impediments which have bedevilled the EU–East and Southern Africa (ESA) negotiations for a transition from an interim EPA to a comprehensive EPA. These talks, which ran from 2007 to 2014, followed the expiry of a WTO waiver and the ESA's successful resistance to elements of the EU's agenda considered offensive, despite envisaged benefits provided for by the Cotonou Partnership Agreement of 2000 calling for EPAs. The study is based on qualitative primary research in which data from interviews was augmented by a synthesis of secondary sources and analysed through a thematic coding system. Findings reveal asymmetrical power relations, a marked heterogeneity in the ESA and outstanding issues in the interim EPA and WTO regulations as major impediments to the transition to a comprehensive EPA.