Regionalising the state: political topography of regulatory regionalism

In recent years new modes of regional governance such as peer review, policy networks, and multi-level governance, have emerged not only in the European Union but in other regions such as the Asia Pacific. This article explains the rise of these new modes of governance in terms of the framework of regulatory regionalism. It suggests that these new modes of governance constitute distinctive forms of regionalised governance within the state. Hence emerging practices of regional governance are not above the national state, but instantiated within it. Just as much as the national territorial state was consolidated over the nineteenth and much of the twentieth century, the twenty-first century is likely to see the consolidation of new forms and practices of regional governance in which the ‘regional’ becomes incorporated within the political space of the state.     

论比较警察学研究

比较研究是科学研究的重要方法 ,也是科学的重要分支。改革开放以来 ,我国警察比较研究取得了一些成果 ,但是尚不能满足公安教育、理论研究和公安改革的需要。在加入世贸组织以后 ,为了适应市场经济和改革开放的发展 ,必须加快公安改革 ,为此 ,应当深刻认识和高度重视开展比较警察学研究的意义 ,同时遵循一定的原则 ,并对当前亟需的几个重点问题加强研究。     

保护作品完整权的重构--对我国著作权法相关条款的质疑

我国著作权法上有关保护作品完整权的规范同日本、德国一样 ,都来源于《伯尔尼公约》。但后者却将其内容划分为作品本身遭受改动和作品本身没有遭受改动两种情形并规定了不同的构成要件。我国著作权法中有关作品完整权的规定在法律构造、保护水平上都失之偏颇。通过比较法上的分析 ,笔者对我国著作权法中有关作品完整权的规定提出了自己的建议。     

司法鉴定领域分类和能力范围表述的国内外比较研究

对司法鉴定领域开展科学、有效的分类,进行统一规范的能力范围表述,有助于建立完整的司法鉴定标准化体系,能为司法鉴定机构合理规划组织结构、准确定位发展方向提供指引,也能为司法鉴定行业管理部门的规范化管理提供帮助。对该领域分类和能力表述开展国内外比较分析,是实现上述目标的基础性研究。目前我国在司法鉴定领域的分类方法尚未统一,与国外法庭科学认可分类方法相比,尚有部分项目未纳入分类范围之内;国内能力范围表述在目的、方式、详细程度上与国外相比亦有不同。本文对国内外行业管理组织和国际权威认可机构司法鉴定领域分类及能力范围表述进行了比较分析,研究解析其内容及差异,并提出了制定司法鉴定领域分类国家标准、扩展司法鉴定领域分类内容、适时调整司法鉴定能力范围表述内容等建议。     

Comparative Politics and the Synthetic Control Method

In recent years, a widespread consensus has emerged about the necessity of establishing bridges between quantitative and qualitative approaches to empirical research in political science. In this article, we discuss the use of the synthetic control method as a way to bridge the quantitative/qualitative divide in comparative politics. The synthetic control method provides a systematic way to choose comparison units in comparative case studies. This systematization opens the door to precise quantitative inference in small‐sample comparative studies, without precluding the application of qualitative approaches. Borrowing the expression from Sidney Tarrow, the synthetic control method allows researchers to put “qualitative flesh on quantitative bones.” We illustrate the main ideas behind the synthetic control method by estimating the economic impact of the 1990 German reunification on West Germany.     

Fiji’s Foreign Relations: Retrospect and Prospect

Abstract

Of all the island states of the Southwest Pacific, Fiji’s foreign relations have been the most fraught since the advent of independence in the region, due largely to a succession of coups d'état. These have invariably precipitated adverse responses from major partners and aid donors, notably Australia, New Zealand, the United States and the European Union. The last coup in 2006 also unsettled relations in Fiji’s more immediate region, especially among some of its smaller Polynesian neighbours, contributing to Fiji’s unprecedented suspension from the Pacific Islands Forum. This article reviews Fiji’s foreign relations from the time of independence in 1970 through the period of successive coups to the 2014 elections. It also examines Bainimarama’s strategies in extending foreign relations in the broader international sphere as well as issues surrounding the ‘normalisation’ of relations with its traditional partners.     

Investment Treaty Law and the Fear for Sovereignty: Transnational Challenges and Solutions

This article addresses the vagueness, and the interpretative challenges associated with, international investment agreements (IIAs) and develops a new normative framework for interpreting these treaties. It focuses on the historical embedding of investment protection as a means of facilitating economic development as well as upon its synthetic public law nature. The analysis shows that a teleological approach to interpretation imposes boundaries on the meaning of substantive IIA provisions. The article then elaborates how the transnational dimension of IIAs provides a benchmark, which is the level of protection offered to economic actors against interference by the state in countries with the highest rule of law standards. The article then shows how the resulting challenges of comparative public law could be addressed through the methodology of re‐ and pre‐statement of transnational uniform ‘principles’: sophisticated and detailed rules striking the proper balance between private economic interests and the public regulatory interest, so as to provide more legal certainty for both investors and host states.     

The Chimera of Proportionality: Institutionalising Limits on Punishment in Contemporary Social and Political Systems

The concept of proportionality has been central to the retributive revival in penal theory, and underlies desert theory's normative and practical commitment to limiting punishment. Theories of punishment combining desert‐based and consequentialist considerations also appeal to proportionality as a limiting condition. In this paper we argue that these claims are founded on an exaggerated idea of what proportionality can offer, and in particular fail properly to consider the institutional conditions needed to foster robust limits on the state's power to punish. The idea that appeals to proportionality as an abstract ideal can help to limit punishment is, we argue, a chimera: what has been thought of as proportionality is not a naturally existing relationship, but a product of political and social construction, cultural meaning‐making, and institution‐building. Drawing on evolutionary psychology and comparative political economy, we argue that philosophers and social scientists need to work together to understand how the appeal of the idea of proportionality can best be realised through substantive institutional frameworks under particular conditions.     

Federal Dynamics of Changing Governance Arrangements in Education: A Comparative Perspective on Australia,Canada and Germany

Abstract

Education policy is a highly interesting field from the point of view of governance, given the substantial changes that have been made throughout the world to the governance of such policy over the last 30 years or so. Western governments in particular have made significant changes in the governance arrangements of their education policy in order to achieve two fundamental goals: increased efficiency and greater accountability. In this process, the role of governments has changed but not diminished. This paper explores such developments by comparing the trajectories of governance reforms in three federal countries (Australia, Canada and Germany). What emerges is that the role of governments is key to all governance mixes modelled by the reform processes in the three analysed countries, and that there is greater “national” coordination than before, but also significant differences in the strategies adopted and in the content of reform, due to the differing nature of such countries’ federal dynamics.     

Pension Programs Around the World: New Comparative Global Policy Data

Abstract

Income protection during old age is a universally recognized human right. Are nations fulfilling their responsibility for income support for older adults? Using a new global dataset on social protection conceptualized and built by two of the authors, this paper examines whether countries have legislated for national pension systems, and the characteristics and adequacy of those systems.