THE MAINLAND OF CHINA’S PARTY DISCIPLINE INSPECTION COMMISSIONS: ANOTHER TYPE OF THE SPECIALIZED-ANTICORRUPTION-COMMISSION MODEL?

Given the comprehensive reforms of and the temporary good scores achieved by the Commissions of Party Discipline Inspection (CDIs), it is important to understand these reforms to answer how long this anticorruption movement could last and whether it could finally succeed. Targeted at the CDIs’ historical problems and the adapting problems of the specialized-anticorruption-commission model (SAC), this article is composed of five parts, including: the historical non-specialized mission and the structural three-transform reform of the CDIs; the historical non-independence of the CDIs within the dual leadership framework, and its recent reforms; a new understanding of the sufficiency of the CDIs’ capacity compared with China’s Hong Kong’s ICAC, a successful example of the SAC, to overcome the distance problem in adapting the SAC; recent reforms on the accountability and disclosures of the CDIs to overcome the time consistency problem; and the conclusions for current achievements, with brief discussions of recent anticorruption strategies and the limitations or unresolved issues, and the lessons to adapt the SAC.     

Electricity Market Restructuring and Energy Contracts: A Critical Note on the EU Commission’s NEA Decision

As highlighted in the economic literature, contracts are crucial policy instruments to organize and manage restructured electricity markets. In the early 90’s, during the restructuring of the electricity market in UK, the three main Scottish electricity generators stipulated a long-term, “take-or-pay” contract, the Nuclear Energy Agreement, which contained provisions for the trade of wholesale electricity in Scotland.The European Commission scrutinized such contract in order to derive the congruity of the agreement to European laws. Whilst the NEA was awarded an exemption under Article 85, paragraph 3 of the EU Treaty, the Commission recognized the inner anticompetitive content and potential effects of the contract.In this paper, we criticize the Commission NEA decision and economic reasoning and provide an alternative reading and analytical approach, which lead to opposite results and conclusions (the NEA contract is not anticompetitive and it enhances efficiency in competitive electricity markets). Given that the restructuring process in the EU electricity market is still in fieri, we select the NEA contract as a benchmark-case, in order to provide an alternative reading and a case-study for eventual, future energy contracts administration and authority decisions.JEL K, K2, K230     

'Between a Rock and a Hard Place': The Coalition,the Davies Commission and the Wicked Issue of Airport Expansion

In 2010, the Conservative‐Liberal Democrat Coalition placed a moratorium on airport expansion in the south‐east of England. In office, however, it has faced a sustained political campaign from supporters of the aviation industry and expansion, leading to the appointment in September 2012 of the Davies Commission on airport capacity. This paper critically evaluates this nascent policy reversal in aviation policy, analysing the political backlash in favour of expansion and the political mediation of such demands by the Coalition. It argues that while the shifting political context has placed new pressures on the coalition, its current difficulties cannot be divorced from the continued resonance of the logic of aviation expansion embedded in British institutions at the end of the Second World War. The paper concludes with an assessment of the challenges facing the Davies Commission, the coalition and campaigners, when set against the continued ‘grip’ of aviation on our collective consciousness.     

检察机关行政执法监督的机制构建

检察机关的行政执法监督是检察权的组成部分,不但有现行宪法的依据,而且还有一些行政法规和规范性文件的有益探索。应当修改现行《人民检察院组织法》,将行政执法监督权规定进去。这是实现权力制衡的需要,也是解决现存问题的需要。行政执法监督应当坚持特殊监督、事前与事后监督相结合、合法性审查的原则。在监督的对象上,应当限于对限制、剥夺人身自由的行政行为、对涉嫌犯罪案件不移送刑事司法程序的行为以及严重损害公共利益的行政违法行为进行监督。在监督的方式上,应当赋予检察机关监督审查权、发挥检察机关在＂行刑衔接＂机制中的监督作用、以及赋予检察机关提起行政监督之诉的权力。