司法政策论要——基于行政诉讼的考察

司法政策作为国家处理司法问题的一种导向或立场、态度,是司法机关所制定的对司法活动进行指引和规范的规则,体现了司法机关对司法活动以及司法机关的角色所表达的基本观点和态度。法院审理案件的过程实际上是徘徊在法律与司法政策、政府与民众、个人利益与公共利益之间进行利益衡量、价值衡量的过程。司法政策内在本质上兼具了政治性与司法性的特质,外在表现为灵活性、平衡性、统一性、开放性、动态性。司法政策具有指引、补充、协调、创制、试验等功能。由于缺乏稳定、成熟的司法哲学作为支撑,过于强调或突出司法政策对司法实践的作用,会影响法律的权威地位,易对法治建设造成一定的负面影响。制定与实施司法政策的核心命题就是要处理法律与司法政策的关系,目前已形成司法政策代替法律、司法政策改变法律、司法政策补充法律这三种模式。     

改革开放以来执政文化自觉的内在逻辑

改革开放以来,中国共产党执政文化自觉的最伟大成果就是坚持中国特色社会主义道路,形成了中国特色社会主义理论体系。对中国特色社会主义理论体系加以解析,我们可以发现一个内在的执政文化自觉的逻辑结构:邓小平理论实现了执政文化形态自觉,"三个代表"重要思想实现了执政文化主体自觉,科学发展观实现了执政文化内涵自觉。     

论防制假冒伪劣商品犯罪的刑事政策

我国防制假冒伪劣商品犯罪的刑事政策自改革开放初期至今，经历了从严厉惩治的对策到宽严相济刑事政策的演变过程。针对假冒伪劣商品犯罪贯彻宽严相济刑事政策，要合理认识假冒伪劣商品犯罪的社会危害性，妥当处理报应与预防相统一的问题，并理性地看待《刑法》对防制假冒伪劣商品犯罪的实际作用。在具体贯彻中，应当正确认识和运用“严惩源头”的刑事政策，注意长期坚持从严惩处的刑事政策，同时也要济之以宽，做到“严中有宽”，常态化地惩治和防范制售假冒伪劣商品的犯罪。     

落实《老年法》之政策支持探究简

新的《老年人权益保障法》是一部关系数以亿计的社会老年成员在保证晚年阶段生活质量的重要法律，但如果没有各级政府制定和完善的政策支持，该法律的相关条款则势必难以落到实处。因此，“精神赡养”、“就近居住”等条款，需要政府配套劳动、就业政策的支持；建立“长期护理保障”制度，政府需拿出符合中国国情的方案；构建新的养老服务体系，重点应完善养老机构的布局与建设；老年人宜居环境应不止于公共设施，还包括住宅设计、社区服务环境建设等；鼓励老年人“参与社会发展”，需要改革退休政策、防止就业歧视。     

The post-Lisbon high representatives: an introduction

ABSTRACT

The Lisbon Treaty recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. The 2009 legal text was an attempt to enhance the unity, consistency and effectiveness of the EU’s action in an increasingly volatile world. And yet, the post-Lisbon time period has been characterised by multiple crises coming from the West, the East, the South, and even from within the EU. Against this backdrop, our Special Issue makes a systematic assessment of the EU's foreign policy post-Lisbon and of its evolution by focusing on the role of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR/VP). Assessing the post-Lisbon HR/VPs provides important insights on EU foreign policy processes over the past decade. In this introduction, we discuss the three research questions that guide our collection of articles, as well as our theoretical and empirical contribution to existing scholarly literature.     

Food Brexit and Chlorinated Chicken: A Microcosm of Wider Food Problems

This paper situates food safety concerns raised in the Brexit debate since the referendum and suggests that, although the issue of chlorinated chicken entered public discourse, it represents wider concerns about food safety standards. Food safety has had high resonance in the UK since the 1980s, but Brexit shows how it connects to wider concerns also raised about Brexit, such as impacts on healthcare, the effects of austerity on food poverty, the limitations of low waged employment, concerns about migration and labour markets, and regional economic disparities. Brexit’s impact on the UK food system is immense because food has been highly integrated into EU governance. While food standards can be portrayed as a single narrow issue, the paper suggests it provides a useful lens with which to examine, interrogate and comprehend these wider Brexit politics. The complex realities of food politics and wider food system dynamics undermine any simplistic political narrative of ‘taking back control’.     

The Effect of Medical Marijuana Laws on the Health and Labor Supply of Older Adults: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study

Older adults are at elevated risk of reducing labor supply due to poor health, partly because of high rates of symptoms that may be alleviated by medical marijuana. Yet, surprisingly little is known about how this group responds to medical marijuana laws (MMLs). We quantify the effects of state medical marijuana laws on the health and labor supply of adults age 51 and older, focusing on the 55 percent with one or more medical conditions with symptoms that may respond to medical marijuana. We use longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study to estimate event study and differences‐in‐differences regression models. Three principle findings emerge from our analysis. First, active state medical marijuana laws lead to lower pain and better self‐assessed health among older adults. Second, state medical marijuana laws lead to increases in older adult labor supply, with effects concentrated on the intensive margin. Third, the effects of MMLs are largest among older adults with a health condition that would qualify for legal medical marijuana use under current state laws. Findings highlight the role of health policy in supporting work among older adults and the importance of including older adults in assessments of state medical marijuana laws.     

Uneven institutional configurations and sectoral variation in China's socialist market economy: a comparative study of three pillar industries

By comparing three Chinese pillar industries, automobile, petroleum, and machinery, this paper analyzes how the development of uneven institutional configurations bred sectoral variation in transitional China. In 1994, at the dawn of the Chinese socialist market economy, the State Council issued guidelines for national industrial policy and proposed the enactment of similar growth-promoting policies for all pillar industries. The level of policy enactment and the resulting outcomes, however, vary significantly across the industries. Previous literature on China's rapid industrialization has sought to build a single model encompassing China as a whole, and has emphasized either the state's institutional capacity or China's unique governance mechanisms. This study investigates China's industrialization by taking account of the uneven development of institutional capacity amid macro institutional reforms. Every idea and institution evolved at a different pace in these reforms, and the incremental nature of the reforms further deepened the gaps between sectors. This paper argues that, due to this uneven development, the Chinese state was not strong enough to be considered a developmental state until at least the early 2000s.     

Climate change policy discontinuity and its effects on Australia's national electricity market

Australia's National Electricity Market (NEM) became unstable in 2016/2017 after 20 years of consistent performance. The South Australian grid collapsed on 28 September 2016 – Australia's first black system event since 1964. Wholesale prices in the region trebled to $120+/MWh; soon after Hazelwood power station announced its exit with just 5 months’ notice. The problem spread as prices elsewhere doubled to $89/MWh from a long‐run average of $42.50. The NEM is experiencing a supply‐side crisis. Consistent with the requirement to decarbonise the system, aged coal‐fired generators are exiting but decades of climate change policy discontinuity has frustrated the entry of new plant. Long‐dated capital‐intensive asset industries like electricity supply anticipate a conventional policy cycle. What they have experienced instead is consistent with garbage can theory. Policy clarity may be emerging for only the second time in two decades. As with the NEM, its durability will depend on cooperative federalism.     

International advocacy for contract-based public private partnerships through case studies: a re-interpretation of Southern Cross Station,Melbourne

In response to urban infrastructure deficits, international organisations, such as the United Nations, encourage governments to harness private finance. Contract-based Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) represent one policy option enabling infrastructure to be privately financed and constructed, and for service provision to occur. With PPPs also a contested policy option, private sector policy intermediaries advocate for their adoption, including through the selective promotion of case studies. In recognition that favourable case study narratives may leach out local context, a multi-dimensional analytical framework is introduced distinguishing between de-institutionalised, aspatial, non-historical, uncritical and non-futuristic perspectives. Recently the private sector-led World Economic Forum published ‘Harnessing Public-Private Cooperation to Deliver the New Urban Agenda’, which reported upon the PPP-led development of Spencer Street (or Southern Cross) Station in Melbourne, Australia. In deploying the framework, this paper concludes that case study narratives can be reductionist and locally detached in various ways. The role of policy intermediaries in the transfer of policy information therefore requires carefully interpretation, not least because of the malleable use of case studies to reveal desired conclusions.