Japan's foreign aid: old and new contests

Abstract

Domestic and international contests explain the transformation of Japan's foreign aid programme begun in the early 1950s. Through contests between domestic players, Japan has streamlined its aid processes by introducing institutional innovations, accommodating new actors in aid policy and delivery, and responding more sensitively to public opinion and independent advice. At the international level, contests have come from the Development Assistance Committee/Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (DAC/OECD), the USA, and China. Through these contests, Japan has emerged as a more rounded aid donor. Its new aid model blends Western principles with concepts of ‘self-help’, favouring large infrastructure projects that serve both Japan's and recipient countries’ interests.     

“Us” and “Them”: Ulster Loyalist Perspectives on the IRA and Irish Republicanism

This article draws on data from one-to-one interviews with members and former members of the Ulster Volunteer Force, Ulster Defence Association, Red Hand Commando, Ulster Political Research Group, and the Progressive Unionist Party to explore the dynamic and fluid perceptions of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Sinn Féin among Ulster loyalists. The article will explore how attitudes and perceptions are influenced by the shifting political landscape in Northern Ireland as Ulster loyalists come to terms with the new realities created by the peace process, security normalization, decommissioning, and the rise in the threat of dissident republican violence. The article will also demonstrate that these perceptions are not purely antagonistic and based on the creation of negative, stereotypical “enemy images” fuelled by decades of conflict, but pragmatic, bound to societal and local events, and influenced by intragroup attitudes and divisions, in addition to the expected conflictual ingroup vs. outgroup relationships. Finally, the article will explore how loyalists employ republicanism and the transformation of the Provisional IRA in particular, as a mirror or benchmark to reflect on their own progress since 1994.     

中国崛起与全球安全治理转型

中国崛起与全球安全治理转型是21世纪初国际关系领域两个备受瞩目的全球性现象。文章以全球安全治理体系中的安全制度安排和安全规范设定为主要分析路径,以全球政治安全治理和全球经济安全治理为主要分析单元。一方面,自二战结束以来全球安全治理体系可分为"单边全球主义"和"全球单边主义"两个阶段,并且每一阶段的全球安全治理体系均可分解为政治制度、经济制度、政治规范和经济规范四个领域;另一方面,运用比较研究法,对各个时期全球安全治理体系在上述四个领域所体现出来的差异性进行剖析,可以发现,这种差异性集中表现为正在进行中的全球安全治理体系转型,崛起的中国在此次转型过程中开始发挥参与者、建设者和贡献者的作用。在传统全球安全治理体系陷入危机之时,中国崛起在相关领域所带来的制度效应和规范效应正在逐渐潜移默化地嵌入到全球安全治理体系中,中国的政策和实践也将相应日益形成规范化的趋势。     

European Law Beyond ‘Ever Closer Union’ Repositioning the Concept,its Thrust and the ECJ's Comparative Methodology

The article investigates competing understandings of European law. It supports, against the prevailing EU‐centred understanding, an ecumenical concept that embraces EU law, supplementing international instruments, the European Convention on Human Rights and, importantly, various domestic laws enacting or responding to such transnational law, as well as European comparative law. To keep the concept in sync with European politics, it posits a new idea that binds the parts together: to provide for a European legal space rather than further European integration (the ever closer union). This idea can also serve as European law's functional equivalent to forming one legal order. European law thus conceived grasps the puzzling complex of interdependent legal orders, sets a common frame for corresponding reconstructions (European composite constructions, legal pluralism, network theories, federalism or intergovernmentalism) and allows forces with diverging outlooks to meet in one legal field, on one more neutral disciplinary platform. Within this framework, European comparative law finds a new mission as well as a sound legal basis.     

农村土地承包经营权财产性与社会保障性的冲突之解析——以贵州农村土地承包经营权流动现状为基础

农村土地承包经营权具备财产性和社会保障性双重特质,由于自身所追求价值目标的不同和外在所强加的使命,农村土地承包经营权财产性与社会保障特质相互冲突,财产特质无法反映现代市场经济的需求,造成了效率的低下及其他经济、社会问题的产生。因此,有必要在法律层面和实践层面进行修正和努力,以促进农村绿洲社会的发展和维持社会的稳定。     

Public Beliefs in the Causes of Wealth and Poverty and Legitimization of Inequalities in Russia and Estonia

The article analyzes the attributions of the causes of poverty and wealth in Russia and Estonia in 1991 and 1996 and their determinants. Among the latter are the perceived actual justice of the society, the perceived size of the middle class, and the personal position in the system of inequalities. Despite the economic hardships and a rise in inequalities in both countries, individualistic explanations of wealth and poverty have increased over the 5 years between the surveys. At the same time respondents in both countries demonstrated a growing awareness of the importance of starting positions and connections to achieve wealth. The perceived middle class has a significant effect on attributions of poverty but not on wealth. Russians in Estonia have a particular bias against wealth, whereas non-Russians in Russia are more likely to justify wealth on the basis of individual merit. Explanations of poverty and wealth in Estonia are more rooted in the factors of socialization (age, education, and gender), whereas in Russia they are more rooted in the changes in the family financial circumstances between 1991 and 1996. There was a general increase in support for government intervention in distribution in both countries.     

农村公共产品的有效供给与政府职能转变

农村公共产品是具有非竞争性和非排他性、用于满足农村公共需要的产品。现阶段,我国农村公共产品供给的现状不容乐观,存在着供给总量不足、供给结构失调、供给机制有失公平和供给监督管理体制缺失等问题。本文在分析农村公共产品供给不足的症结———政府职能的“错位”、“缺位”和“越位”的基础上,提出了转变政府职能,确保农村公共产品的有效供给的对策和措施。     

中国外贸转型与国际分工地位改变

中国外贸增长方式转型问题关系到中国在国际分工中的地位改进。发展中国家在国际分工中的地位不平等,遭受着经济利益与生态利益的双重损失,而中国这样的大国处于垂直型国际分工的低端地位,在发展工业化进程中更是放大了背离可持续发展的后果。中国必须在外贸转型中改变国际分工地位。可从出口制造品附加值、服务贸易、原料产品加工、绿色产品、农业对外投资经营这五个领域进行这一转型的努力。     

科技成果转化和技术转移的比较及其政策含义

科技成果转化和技术转移是两个互相渗透互相包容的概念,该文通过对这两个概念内涵的比较,揭示了中国和西方相关科技法律和政策的差异,指出了中国在市场经济条件下坚持科技成果转化工作的必要性及努力方向。     

积极推进桂林旅游资源整合 加快旅游产业转型升级

建设桂林国家旅游综合改革试验区,要牢固树立资源整合、立体开发的观念,把发展旅游产业与相关产业结合起来;牢固树立培育精品、系统开发的观念,把观光游览型和文化产业型旅游结合起来;牢固树立以人为本、环境第一的观念,把生态农业和旅游业结合起来;牢固树立依托旅游、促进开放的观念,把发展旅游产业与对外开放结合起来。