Russia’s idea of the multipolar world order: origins and main dimensions

Contemporary international relations are rife with the ideological struggle over the potential nature of the rapidly changing world order. Two distinct paradigmatic positions have surfaced. One champions economic, cultural, and political globalization conducted under the leadership of the Western world. The other advocates a more particularistic approach that fends for a balance of interests, multiplicity of politico-cultural forms and multiple centers of international influence. The latter doctrine, often referred to as the multipolar world theory, is the subject of this paper. The discussion argues that the idea of a multipolar world order has emerged as Russia’s main ethical and ideological position advanced in the international arena. Its philosophical tenets buttress Russian society intellectually at home, providing the expedients to pursue the country’s foreign policy goals abroad. The paper examines a substantial value package with roots in both Russian and Western philosophy that sustains the multipolar world order theory.     

Diminishing returns: Russia’s participation in the World Trade Organization

Russia’s 2012 accession to the World Trade Organization was widely expected to spur economic growth and modernization, by helping the country abandon its import-substitution model and fully integrate into the global economy. However, thus far, Russia’s compliance record with its WTO commitments has been mixed, and WTO membership has given Russia limited economic benefits and few political gains. In analyzing why, this article uses neoclassical realism as a framework for assessing Russia’s behavior in WTO trade disputes and negotiations. During Russia’s economic recession, the regime of President Vladimir Putin advanced protectionist policies and maintained statist control over the heights of the economy, while using rhetorical strategies to counter accusations from Western powers that Russia had violated WTO norms. Russia’s struggling economy weakened its status as a global economic power, and it was viewed as unqualified to sit among the core group of negotiators in the WTO.     

No solid ground: Max Aub’s roots and routes

While Max Aub’s unique and prolific body of work has been the subject of numerous studies and monographs, his work remains undervalued in transnational contexts. An analysis of two of his plays, San Juan (1943) and El rapto de Europa (1946), and a collection of poems, Diario de Djelfa (1944), makes it possible to rethink the ways in which aesthetic projects, produced either during World War II or shortly afterwards, reveal a geography of the war’s forced displacements, in which the Spanish Civil War, European colonialism in North Africa, and its enduring postcolonial remainders become the most important landmarks. While the present analysis centers on Aub’s routes between Spain, France, Algeria, and, finally, Mexico, a persistent yearning for roots, for a sense of belonging, or, to use one of his characters’ words, for “solid ground” haunts his writing. The interplay between roots and routes therefore makes it possible to consider Aub’s work in a postcolonial context and within a transnational memory.     

试评《物权法（草案）》对银行业务的影响

物权法是调整财产关系的重要法律,与我们每个人的切身利益都息息相关,银行亦不例外。为此,我们对《物权法(草案)》进行了认真研究,以期更好地指导业务的开展。该草案将对银行产生有利的影响,比如扩大了可用于担保的财产范围、增加了最高额质押这种担保形式、建立了方便快捷的统一登记制度等,这些都将极大地促进银行信贷业务的稳健发展。但是,我们也应看到,草案给银行带来机遇的同时,也使银行面临着更大的挑战。新的异议登记、预告登记、将来的动产抵押以及居住权制度等,都对银行提出了更高的要求。在对该草案的有利影响和不利影响进行分析的基础上,本文还提出了银行的应对措施。     

Overreaching In Registered Land Law

Beneficial interests under a trust were not intended to be overriding interests under section 70(1)(g) of the Land Registration Act 1925. The position was altered by Williams & Glyn's Bank Ltd v Boland , which determined that an interest under a trust for sale would bind a purchaser if the beneficiary were in actual occupation. The decision raised the question whether such interests could be overreached once the beneficiary was in occupation of the trust property. City of London Building Society v Flegg held that the relevant beneficial interest had been overreached. Both decisions assume that overreaching in registered conveyancing takes effect as it does in unregistered land. Yet there is considerable evidence that the Land Registration Act contains its own overreaching machinery. The House of Lords applied the wrong overreaching provisions in Boland and Flegg and there is no legal basis on which to recognise that trust interests can override a subsequent disposition under section 70(1)(g).     

缅甸有现代化进程吗？——兼论第三世界国家现代化进程的起点

现代化是一个从传统农业社会向现代工业社会全面转变的历史过程,不等于工业化。第三世界国家的现代化进程开始于殖民统治时期,部分封建国家的“防御型现代化改革”也可以视为该国现代化进程的启动。第三世界国家政治上的独立和明确的工业化战略的提出只是这些国家现代化历史进程划分不同阶段的标志,而不是现代化的起点。因此,目前经济发展水平较低的缅甸也有一个缓慢但是比较完整的现代化进程。     

IMF、WB和WTO的比较研究

被誉为世界经济三大支柱的国际货币基金组织、世界银行和关贸总协定 ,自成立以来 ,已走完了半个世纪的风雨历程。它们都对二战后世界经济的复苏和振兴起到了举足轻重的作用。然而 ,关贸总协定及世界贸易组织发展更为迅猛 ,从三大支柱中脱颖而出。展望世界经济发展前景 ,惟有加强三大支柱自身的改革和彼此之间的协调与合作 ,世界经济才能鼎足而立。     

Linkages between the Montreal and Kyoto Protocols – Enhancing Synergies between Protecting the Ozone Layer and the Global Climate

The international treaties for the protection of the ozone layer and the global climate are closely related. Not only has the Montreal Protocol for the protection of the ozone layer served as a useful example in developing the international climate regime, but policies pursued in both issue areas influence each other. This paper gives an overview of the many ways in which both treaty systems are linked functionally and politically. It investigates, in particular, the tension that has arisen with respect to the use of fluorinated greenhouse gases and the potential for drawing on the experience under the Montreal Protocol regarding data reporting and policy design on fluorinated greenhouse gases under the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The potentials for enhancing synergy in these areas are explored, and related options discussed. Some initiatives for exploiting these potentials are already underway, aiming in particular at enhancing learning and exchanging of information. However, political choices concerning some of the issues willeventually need to be made, if action at the international level is to contribute to their solution.     

A Century of Green Lessons: The Contribution of Nature Conservation Regimes to Global Governance

This paper reviews the lessons learned over the past 100 years in international management and conservation of the Earth's natural heritage and biological resources (fauna and flora), in the face of growing threats of degradation and extinction. The focus is on the effectiveness of intergovernmental and non-governmental institutions – in terms of agenda-setting, regime formation, implementation and compliance, and reactions to non-compliance. Among specific case histories analysed are the ivory trade ban, the whaling moratorium, and attempts at establishing an international forest regime. Innovative governance features highlighted in the field of global living resource management include active NGO participation, the use of selective economic incentives and disincentives (e.g. multilateral or bilateral trade sanctions), and a number of judicial enforcement remedies for both species-based and area-based conservation agreements. The paper concludes by assessing the prospects of transition from the paradigm of 'permanent sovereignty over natural resources' towards new concepts of public trusteeship and stewardship.     

物“在世界之中存在”

海德格尔批判了传统形而上学“主客对立”、“对象化”的物的概念。他从人与物的关系角度 ,说明人与天地万物的内在关联 ;就物本身来说 ,每一物与存在合而为一 ,都处在天、地、人、神的共在状态中