The rationale for and potential role of the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement

This article examines the potential role the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) could play in stabilising countries experiencing a high degree of economic volatility. The CRA is a US$100 billion pooled reserve fund that has its origins in the fifth BRICS Summit hosted in Durban. The CRA was set up to help emerging nations deal with liquidity shortages and to strengthen financial systems during crisis. The article examines the debate on the effect of capital market liberalisation and collates some relevant macroeconomic data on the BRICS economies in order to explore the case for a contingent reserve facility. It is found that emerging economies that rapidly liberalised their capital accounts experienced increased economic volatility, creating an uncertain macroeconomic environment and hampering the ability of policymakers to conduct appropriate stabilisation policy. The article takes the position that the CRA could play an important role in providing liquidity to distressed emerging economies. However it concludes that the CRA facility does not signal a significant break from the Bretton Woods institutions on the part of the BRICS countries.     

监狱学理论的新拓展：监狱形态理论——“监狱人文五论”解读之二

《监狱形态论》在监狱形态研究上,以监狱的物质形态为核心,厘清了监狱形态的基本范畴,明晰理出了监狱形态研究的基本脉络;监狱形态的功能设计,应以监狱规划为核心,贯穿现代监狱的人文主义精神实质,监狱的形态应是工具性质的特定功能与人文精神的矫正教育的有机统一;该书宏观设计了中国监狱形态的发展路径,建构了较为完善的监狱形态的理论体系,进一步丰富和完善了监狱学理论,对我国目前正在进行的监狱体制改革既具有理论指导意义,又具有实践价值。     

Automated consent through privacy agents: Legal requirements and technical architecture

The changes imposed by new information technologies, especially pervasive computing and the Internet, require a deep reflection on the fundamental values underlying privacy and the best way to achieve their protection. The explicit consent of the data subject, which is a cornerstone of most data protection regulations, is a typical example of requirement which is very difficult to put into practice in the new world of “pervasive computing” where many data communications necessarily occur without the users' notice. In this paper, we argue that an architecture based on “Privacy Agents” can make privacy rights protection more effective, provided however that this architecture meets a number of legal requirements to ensure the validity of consent delivered through such Privacy Agents. We first present a legal analysis of consent considering successively (1) its nature; (2) its essential features (qualities and defects) and (3) its formal requirements. Then we draw the lessons of this legal analysis for the design of a valid architecture based on Privacy Agents. To conclude, we suggest an implementation of this architecture proposed in a multidisciplinary project involving lawyers and computer scientists.     

BRICS,the southern model,and the evolving landscape of development assistance: Toward a new taxonomy

In recent years, there has been an explosion of categories and labels to account for the expansion of forms of cooperation beyond the membership of the Development Assistance Committee. Such hype has led to the construction of the so‐called southern model as the archetype of development cooperation coming from non‐Development Assistance Committee countries that are somehow committed to the principles of the South–South cooperation. The present article challenges the idea of a southern model by providing an analysis of drivers, tools, and modality of development assistance.