Economic Discussion of Conflict between Public Education Policies and Common Good Arts in the United States

Arts education in the United States, especially in public schools, has been neglected and its public funding has decreased. This is partly due to the difference in the conception of public education policies and the arts. The theory of economic goods and an analysis of two current education policies demonstrate that public education is treated as a public good that is needed by all people, and therefore funded with tax dollars. Because the arts are common goods that different people value in their own terms, education in the arts is treated as nonessential and funded sporadically in public school settings. Based on the theory of the commons, the author suggests that nonprofit arts organizations are equipped to deal with the common good and diverse nature of the arts and can provide sustainable arts education that fills the gap of arts education in public schools.     

Don’t reinvent the wheel: possibilities for and limits to building capacity of grassroots international NGOs

Abstract

How can support organisations build the capacity of volunteer-driven non-governmental organisations (NGOs)? Citizen aid for relief and development has expanded rapidly in the twenty-first century, and the number of American aid organisations operating in the Global South has grown to nearly 10,000. These grassroots international NGOs – GINGOs – are small-budget, volunteer-driven organisations typically launched by Americans without professional experience in international development or nonprofit management. These groups prize the expressive and voluntaristic dimensions of development work, yet face challenges of amateurism, material scarcity, fragmentation, paternalism and restricted focus. We investigate whether support organisations, whose primary goals are to build the capacity of organisations and strengthen the organisational field, offer solutions to GINGOs’ inherent weaknesses. We draw on 15 semi-structured interviews with a stratified selection of support organisations, including associations tailored towards international development and towards nonprofit work at large. We find that support organisations offer resources to help GINGOs in managerial and administrative domains. Fewer support organisations help GINGOs build technical development skills, and fewer still push GINGOs to critically reflect on their role in development. We find that peer learning and online platforms could help engage GINGOs volunteers in networking spaces, even as their geographic dispersal in the US encourages their fragmentation and isolation.     

审判中心视角下的行政诉讼制度构造

"以审判为中心"的政法政策同样适用于行政诉讼制度改革,它要求法院发挥自身司法能力和司法制度能力,有效地介入涉法行政争议之中,并藉此保护法益。在行政诉讼中,司法权与行政权之间是法律监督上的国家权力结构关系。法院优位于行政机关,法院作为独立裁判者指挥诉讼管理关系和裁判过程。以审判为中心的行政诉讼制度构造,应最大限度地发挥法院司法能力在解决行政争议上的优位角色,应完整地发挥行政诉讼法的制度能力,即发挥立法、司法解释、司法组织及指导性案例的制度功能。行政诉讼司法准入、行政机关负责人出庭应诉、诉讼管辖、庭审制度等,是否体现了"以审判为中心"的制度改革方向,主要看其是否有利于行政争议的实质解决和法益有效保护。"多元化纠纷解决机制"政策和行政行为合法性审查为中心的行政诉讼制度,影响了法院的诉讼角色和功能。回归司法权和诉讼制度本质,宜在行政争议、行政行为和法益之间构造出一致性的诉讼结构关系;宜从组织和体制改革转向程序改革,发挥行政程序和司法程序在塑造司法公正和司法效率上的作用。     

Assistive technology as support for the exercise of legal capacity

Exercising legal capacity refers to engaging in legal transactions and relationships and is essential for the full inclusion of people with disabilities in society. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has enumerated the right to legal capacity on an equal basis and has created a state obligation to provide access to support for the exercise of legal capacity. This article examines the use of assistive devices as support for decision-making in exercising legal capacity for individuals with physical and cognitive impairments; for example, the use of voice recognition programmes, screen readers, and screen enlargement applications to support people with mobility and sensory impairments to use online portals essential for legal actions such as banking. It also discusses the experimental use of cognitive assistance, including computer or electrical assistive devices, to facilitate communication for people with cognitive impairments including those with no external signs of consciousness. It highlights the diversity of options for ‘support for the exercise of legal capacity’ showing how they can assist people with various disabilities. Finally, the article examines the boundaries of the state obligation to provide such support, including issues of practical implementation and resource allocation.     

Does Country-Level Social Disorganization Increase Terrorist Attacks?

This study examines the effects of a measure of country-level social disorganization on levels of terrorist attacks and fatalities in 101 countries from 1981 to 2010. We measure social disorganization as the presence of state instability: revolutionary and ethnic war, adverse regime change, and genocide. The classic social disorganization perspective posits that individuals experiencing these types of rapid social change will be freed from the institutional and informal restraints that bind them to society, and keep them conforming to social norms and laws. We examine the extent to which this reasoning applies to the number of terrorist attacks and fatalities from terrorist attacks occurring in countries. To control for the possibility that better functioning states are better able to prevent terrorist attacks, we include two measures of state capacity. We find that controlling for state capacity and a wide variety of other variables, social disorganization is consistently associated with increases in terrorist attacks and fatalities. We consider implications of the results for future research and policy.     

自然人民事责任能力理论的重新检讨--兼论被监护人致人损害民事责任归属的立法选择

一切自然人都具有民事权利能力和民事责任能力。民事责任能力与民事行为能力无关,而取决于民事权利能力。被监护人致人损害的,应适用过错责任的归责原则。无民事行为能力人因为不存在过错,不承担民事责任。限制民事行为能力人致人损害时,被监护人自己如果有过错,应当承担民事责任。监护人在其履行监护义务时有过错的,应对被监护人致人的损害承担民事责任。我国关于被监护人致人损害民事责任归属的立法有修改的必要。     

对新《刑法》第18条的理解与运用

本文就我国新刑法第18条中精神病的涵义,精神病患者刑事责任能力评定,精神病的医学鉴定以及对精神病人的监护治疗问题谈个人看法。供执法者和鉴定工作者在处理有关精神疾病案件时参考。     

全球化与中国政府能力

较为系统地考察了中国政府在挑战全球化方面所取得的成绩,分析了中国政府驾驭全球化的能力及其存在的问题,着重阐述了中国政府在面临全球化的压力下为提高政府公共服务的质量和加强政府的公共责任所进行的改革。并且针对建立服务政府和责任政府提出了若干政策性建议。     

改进思想政治工作 加强执政能力建设

执政能力建设是党执政后的一项根本建设。思想政治工作作为党的全部工作的重要组成部分,是提高党的执政能力的必然要求和重要途径。新形势下思想政治工作必须从内容、方法以及机制等方面实现创新,服从服务于党的执政能力建设,其工作成效最终应体现到提高党的执政能力上来。     

法人侵权责任能力的理论预设与制度设计——以法人本质理论为线索

我国民法学界以法人实在说承认法人的独立意志为理由,论证了法人承担侵权责任能力的合理基础,继而对拟制说进行批判,而事实上法人承担侵权责任完全是基于特定利益衡量的立法构造,与其意志的有无没有必然的关联。法人的侵权责任是法人机关的侵权责任,从形式逻辑的角度而言,它与法人的工作人员的侵权责任是有本质区别的,但就立法构造而言二者区分并无实际价值,在法人侵权责任具体承担方式上应该采取让法人机关与法人承担连带责任的方式。