Psychiatrists,criminals, and the law: Forensic psychiatry in Switzerland 1850–1950

Between 1880 and 1950, Swiss psychiatrists established themselves as experts in criminal courts. In this period, the judicial authorities required psychiatric testimonies in a rising number of cases. As a result, more offenders than ever before were declared mentally deficient and, eventually, sent to psychiatric asylums. Psychiatrists also enhanced their authority as experts at the political level. From the very beginning, they got involved in the preparatory works for a nationwide criminal code. In this article, I argue that these trends toward medicalization of crime were due to incremental processes, rather than spectacular institutional changes. In fact, Swiss psychiatrists gained recognition as experts due to their daily interactions with judges, public prosecutors, and legal counsels. At the same time, the spread of medical expertise had serious repercussions on psychiatric institutions. From 1942 onwards, asylums had to deal with a growing number of “criminal psychopaths,” which affected ward discipline and put psychiatry's therapeutic efficiency into question. The defensive way in which Swiss psychiatrists reacted to this predicament was crucial to the further development of forensic psychiatry. For the most part, it accounts for the subdiscipline's remarkable lack of specialization until the 1990s.     

Area Differences and Time Trends in Crime Reporting: Comparing New York with Other Metropolitan Areas

Police measures of crime are shaped by victims’ decisions to notify the police. To obtain a better understanding of US crime trends, this study uses the National Crime Victimization Survey to examine geographic differences and temporal trends in crime reporting in New York and other metropolitan areas for the period 1979-2004. We find that net of crime characteristics and survey methodology, the New York metropolitan area showed fewer increases in crime reporting than did other metropolitan areas. These divergent trends suggest that the real differences in the drop of nonlethal violence between New York and other areas may have been smaller than those indicated by police-based crime statistics. We also find that from the early 1990s to 2004, New York showed a sharp decrease in the likelihood of victims perceiving that “police wouldn’t help.” This trend suggests that police reforms in New York City have not resulted in more victims using police-related reasons to explain their nonreporting behavior. Instead, researchers need to develop a broader theoretical framework (not an exclusive focus on police actions) to understand how police- and nonpolice-related factors may explain the geographic variation in the trends of reporting observed in this study.     

Third time lucky? Establishing diplomatic relations between Russia and South Africa

Diplomatic relations between Russia and South Africa were established in 1992, before South Africa's transition to democracy was completed. This move was perceived as a betrayal by many in both countries and beyond. For many decades the Soviet Union supported the African National Congress in its fight against the apartheid regime. South Africa's National Party government, in its turn, presented the USSR as the main force behind the ‘total onslaught’ – an all-out war purportedly waged against South Africa by international communism. Yet it was with the National Party government that the Russians established diplomatic relations. This article looks into the reasons for this change of heart in Moscow and Pretoria, discusses the political forces behind the decision to establish diplomatic relations, and analyses the process that led to this event and the results of establishing diplomatic relations the way it happened and at the time it happened for both countries.     

《虚假的事实》:印度民族自我的“寓言”

耶谢巴尔是印度现当代进步主义文学的代表作家,他的创作以现实主义的描绘,关注祖国和民族的前途与命运,表现出强烈的爱国主义精神和人道主义情怀。他创作于20世纪50年代的长篇小说《虚假的事实》,以印度独立前后纷繁复杂的社会现实为背景,通过生动的情节和艺术的形象体系,以文学虚构叙述,重新建构印度的"民族自我",是后殖民语境中印度民族自我的"寓言"。小说在印巴分治、教族冲突的民族灾难反思中,提出正视现实,清理殖民统治带来的文化后果,革除独立政府新权贵的种种弊政,经过历史风雨的洗礼后,建设一个进步繁荣、平等团结、理性奉献、自力更生、代表民众利益和愿望的新的民族自我。这个"民族自我"在小说主人公达拉与和布兰身上得到"寓言"式的体现,达拉的经历和命运是印度民族的象征性写照,她勤勉温雅、宽容仁慈、正直清廉的性格,是新的"民族自我"的人格化。小说的构思也艺术地体现了寻求"民族自我"的突出特点:在历史框架中虚构情节,民族知识分子聚会,本土风习描写,坚信民族光明前程的结局。小说在表现耶谢巴尔一贯的创作思想和艺术风格的同时,鲜明地体现了探讨"民族自我"的主题。     

国家公园法是否应当确认游憩功能

研究者对于正在制定的我国《国家公园法》是否应当确认游憩功能,尚有争议,这将直接影响该部法律的相关制度安排。否认立法应确认游憩功能的观点,具有保护环境的合理性,但未关注国家公园的全民共享性,未以发展的眼光看待保护理念与国际潮流的顺应,欠缺科学性。通过立法确认国家公园的游憩功能具备自然基础、现实基础和社会价值。国家公园游憩功能的法律确认与制度安排,以游憩功能的法律属性界定为核心,游憩不是自然权利及法定权利,也不是主观权利,只能是客观秩序,公众无法向国家提出诉求,游憩利益只有依托国家履行义务才能实现。我国《国家公园法》的相关制度安排,应以管理主体的职责配置为重心,充分保障游憩这一客观秩序的实现。     

State transformation goes nuclear: Chinese National Nuclear Companies’ expansion into Europe

Abstract

Most of the literature on state transformation focuses on China’s relations with African, Asian and Latin American countries and the National Oil Companies’ overseas expansion to show that China has become fragmented, decentralised and internationalised. This article contributes novel findings by focusing on China’s relations with Europe and the actions of China’s National Nuclear Companies (NNCs). It shows that NNCs, which have become relatively autonomous actors, often pursue their agendas of expansion into Europe without much coordination with, or even in contradiction to, other ministries’ agendas and interests, especially the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Instead of being orchestrated by the central government, their expansion reflects considerable disorganisation and sometimes undermines China’s official strategy. The article demonstrates this through case studies of NNCs’ involvement in the UK and Romania.     

美国等西方国家对华“分化”策略的新变化及对策思考

基于政治制度和意识形态的冲突、地缘政治的竞争和战略的不信任,以美国为首的西方国家对华实施"西化""分化"的战略图谋一刻也没有松懈。近年来,中国的快速发展迫使美国调整了对华实施"分化"战略的策略;同时,由于中国正处于社会转型、改革深化的关键时期,社会矛盾的增多、社会冲突的加剧为美西方的"分化"活动提供了诸多契机和借口。面对美国等西方国家的"分化"活动出现的新形式与新特点,为了维护国家的政治安全,中国不仅要在策略方面进行应对,还需要在战略层面提出适应国家整体发展的"顶层设计",更为重要的是在"软实力"上构建一套让全世界都信服且能与西方相抗衡的价值体系。     

How to stay populist? The Front National and the changing French party system

Abstract

The main aim of this contribution is to assess the relevance of the notion of ‘exclusionary populism’ for the characterisation of the Front National (FN) in France. Since its emergence in the 1970s, several categories or notions have been applied to this political party. Once considered as the resurgence of a traditional extreme right, it has since been classified as a case of a new European right-wing extremism, or as one of the neo-populist parties that obtained electoral successes in the 1990s. The recent evolution of the party has also been described as a sort of ‘normalisation’. Is therefore ‘exclusionary populism’ still a category that can grasp the evolution of the party, as well as its present position in the French party system? To answer this question, this article examines political discourses and various electoral platforms of the Front National to gather some empirical evidence. The argument is twofold: The Front National, despite its ‘dédiabolisation’ strategy, is still a classic populist party characterised by exclusionary populism and a sort of ‘catch-all populism’; its evolution is, however, dependent on the recent evolution of the French party system.     

新时代中国参与中东安全治理的理念与实践

进入新时代以来,中国始终坚持共同、综合、合作、可持续的安全观,倡导构建中东安全新架构。在参与中东传统安全治理、化解地区冲突方面,中国始终推动对话协商,致力于公正合理解决中东热点问题,构筑兼顾各方合理关切的集体安全架构。在改善地区安全环境方面,中国抓住中东地区主要安全矛盾,顺应地区国家寻求缓和与发展的时代潮流,取得了促成沙特与伊朗复交的重大成果。在参与非传统安全治理方面,中国与中东国家共同提高应对非传统安全威胁的能力,共同维护发展中国家的权益。在参与中东安全治理的过程中,中国形成了以共同安全破解独享安全、以综合安全破解分割安全、以合作安全破解竞争安全等理念和经验,在中东安全事务中发挥了重要的建设性作用。