Traveling AI-essentialism and national AI strategies: A comparison between South Korea and France

In this paper, I investigate what common discourses National AI Strategies (NAISs) share and how they have unfolded differently in diverging national contexts. For this purpose, I compare the South Korean and French cases by relying on the notions of sociotechnical imaginary and future essentialism. I analyze (1) the emergence of the common discourses, which I call AI-essentialism, over the past decade; (2) the development of imaginaries around IT in Korea and France in the twentieth century, namely technological developmentalism and the American challenge, respectively; and (3) the integration of the traveling AI-essentialism and nationally embedded imaginaries of IT into each country's NAISs. The analysis indicates that: (1) AI-essentialism incorporated discursive strategies, enabling political and industrial leaders to naturalize AI development, hence justifying increased investments in the field; (2) two countries' imaginaries of IT diverged due to the successes and failures throughout the second half of the twentieth century; and (3) while two countries' NAISs share AI-essentialism's discursive instruments, their specific measures and unfolding have varied in relation to each case's existing imaginaries of IT.     

How governance boundaries affect regional collaboration on atmospheric governance—Evidence from China's Yangtze River Delta

Regional public affairs will become more complex when contradictions emerge between administrative boundaries and policy issues that require cross-boundary collaboration. Breaking administrative boundaries has become a prerequisite for facilitating inter-local government collaboration. This study categorizes governance boundaries into the administrative boundary and the ecology-based policy boundary and then examines how these two governance boundaries and their interactive relationship contribute to the intergovernmental collaboration network in China's regional atmospheric governance (RAG). Using data on the atmospheric governance collaboration from 30 cities in the Yangtze River Delta region from 2013 to 2018, we employ the MR-QAP model to find that cities within the same administrative boundary are more likely to collaborate and cities within the ecology-based policy boundary, compared with those beyond, are more likely to collaborate but with a lagging effect. Ecology-based policy boundary has a positive but lagging moderating effect on the contribution of the administrative boundary to the formation of intergovernmental collaboration networks.     

Pay to protect: Examining the factors of the use of market-based instruments for local water sustainability

Given the myriad of policy instruments aimed at enhancing water quantity conservation available to municipalities, what drives them to opt for a market-based instrument (MBI)? MBIs can be effective and efficient policy instruments to enhance water quantity conservation, but there is little known about why municipalities utilize them. This study hypothesizes that three contextual elements influence a municipality's use of an MBI: the natural, political, and structural environment. The results from two logistic regression models suggest that in a municipality suffering a higher drought level, both a conservative political environment and operating under a council-manager form of government (with the effect more pronounced under a non-council-manager form) will increase the likelihood that it will use an MBI to address water conservation.     

Understanding the political goals of non-binding resolutions: evidence from the Mexican Chamber of Deputies

By primarily focusing on bill initiatives, the literature on legislatures and parliaments has understudied other important legislative instruments -such as non-binding resolutions, minutes or speeches- which might help parties and legislators achieve their electoral and policy goals. Non-binding resolutions (NBRs) do not carry the force of law and are primarily used for parties or legislators’ position taking and the request of government actions. This article examines the political goals of NBRs by examining these tools in the lower chamber of the Mexican Congress. Employing a novel dataset, we claim that legislators strategically utilise NBRs to strengthen their relationship with their political principals. We find differences on the use of these instruments across political parties, based on the types of policy areas they choose to target. The analysis also indicates that SMD legislators tend to introduce more particularistic NBRs that might further their political careers at the subnational level.     

票据救济对抗事由评析

票据救济对抗是指在票据救济过程中因某种事由的出现而导致救济无效的法律后果。票据救济是票据丧失后的补救措施,其结果是真实票据权利人不持有票据行使票据权利。在挂失止付期间有人请求付款、在公示催告期间有人主张权利、在普通诉讼付款后持票人请求付款,都会引起票据权利争议,以确认票据的归属,但是票据被善意取得和无过失付款的结果却使票据救济归于无效。     

THE KOLMAR V. SUTEX CASE ON RECIPROCITY IN FOREIGN JUDGMENTS ENFORCEMENT IN CHINA: A WELCOME DEVELOPMENT OR STILL ON THE WRONG TRACK?

In December 2016, the Nanjing Intermediate People’s Court in China issued its ruling in the Kolmar v. Sutex case, where a monetary judgment from Singapore was recognized and enforced against a local textile company. The case confirms that once a foreign country has taken the initiative, Chinese courts will follow up to enforce judgments from that country reciprocally. This is the doctrine of de facto reciprocity adopted by some Chinese courts. The paper surveys the judicial practice of Chinese courts and finds that this area of law is full of confusion and uncertainties due to the lack of applicable rules. Recent developments suggest that China may move away from this approach and adopt a relaxed version of reciprocity, which is worthy of close attention.     

On Music,Censorship, and Globalization

Malik Bendjelloul’s music documentary, Searching for Sugar Man (2012), uses the narrative of its central figure, American rock “n” roll musician Sixto Rodriguez, to allegorize South Africa’s emergence from censorship and isolationism to a post-apartheid and increasingly transnational dispensation. I look at the cultural politics of apartheid-era censorship in attempt to account for Rodriguez’s cult appeal in South Africa, despite his artistic shortcomings and his obscurity in the USA. I then focus on the film’s final concert sequence, featuring Rodriguez’s first South African performance, which Bendjelloul subtly positions as a moment of celebration over the new possibilities enabled by the demise of apartheid and the rise of an increasingly integrated global culture.     

Differing patterns of marriage between a city and villages in 18th century Korea: The case of Taegu Area

While the urban area was increasingly filled with middle- and low-status residents, the rural area was dominated by high-status settlers whose number increased because of migration from the city and natural growth. Remarkable differences existed between urban and rural marriage features such as marriage age and rate of remarriage. The more sincere adoption of the high-status marriage culture in the rural area may be attributed to its occupational homogeneity. In the rural agrarian settings, landlords, self-cultivators and tenants shared a similar living pattern and value system based on the agricultural cycle. The urban area, however, exhibited a variety of work patterns of local functionaries, artisans and merchants. Many middle- and low-status people might well have found the high-status culture of the rural area incompatible with their own.     

¿Por qué prevalece el estado de derecho? una aproximación comparada a las explicaciones centradas en la cultura de la legalidad

The objective of this paper is to analyze the relation between the concept of the Rule of Law and the culture of legality from a compared approach in order to establish the scope and limitations of explanations that are based in cultural factors. More specifically, we are interested in comparing the scope and limitations of culture-based explanations on why the Rule of Law prevails in certain countries: these explanations are centered in the construction of wide agreements between social actors and the control by civil society. Also we consider equally important the comparing of different definitions of culture of legality and the strategies and instruments that allow its construction. For this purpose we will center, specially, in the experiences of Hong Kong, Palermo and Bogotá.