沉默权：一个无法沉默的话题——从我国刑诉法“应当如实回答”谈起

我国刑诉法规定了犯罪嫌疑人面对审讯人员的审讯：“应当如实回答”的义务,使其在刑事诉讼中处于不利的地位。是否赋予犯罪嫌疑人沉默权,由“口供本位”转向“物证本位”,彻底改变目前的侦查模式,是我国刑事诉讼法修改的一个不容忽视的重要问题。     

Against Localism: Does Decentralising Power to Communities Fail Minorities?

The continued decline in levels of political engagement among British citizens has led many politicians, commentators and academics from across the political spectrum to advocate a move toward a more direct form of democracy via some kind of localism. The claim is that citizens feel increasingly estranged from the democratic process, and from those organisations on which they have historically relied to represent them within the political system. Consequently, localists argue, there now exists a gap between the people, the institutions which are supposed to work on their behalf, and the decisions made in their name, so the system needs to be reformed in such a way as to give individuals and local communities more of a direct input into the decision-making process. Calls for a more direct form of democracy via localism are popular among members of the progressive left and the 'new Conservative' right, and have become so dominant in political discourse that it is often suggested that 'we are all localists now'. This article raises questions about the localist agenda, and suggests that the adoption of a more direct form of democracy in Britain may not only fail to address the decline in political engagement, but may also result in the exclusion, marginalisation, and oppression of minority groups.     

Revisiting the 'Responsibility to Protect'

The Declaration on 'the responsibility to protect' (R2P), unanimously endorsed by the Security Council in April 2006, identified both national and international responsibilities in relation to genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity. This was highly significant in appearing to accept that the prevention of mass atrocities was a legitimate international concern. Subsequently, there has been some disappointment about the limited practical impact of R2P, and also anxiety that its progress may be impeded by the fear that it is designed to legitimise military intervention. However, this article concentrates on a different concern. Arguing that an earlier version of R2P (in the International Commission on Intervention and Sovereignty of 2001) linked the issues with those of human security and development, it suggests that the contemporary focus is far narrower, undermining its critical potential with regard to the policies of the global North and reducing its appeal to developing countries.     

Relativism

Modern democracies increasingly confuse civic or political equality with a radical relativism that calls into question legitimate principles of hierarchy and the very idea of reasonable value judgments. This confusion reflects a “corruption,” in Montesquieu’s sense, of democracy rooted in a refusal to recognize distinctions that are integral to both human nature and social life. A moderate form of cultural relativism is a genuine intellectual achievement that helps combat ethnocentrism and allows one to better appreciate the full range of human experience. But criteria of meaning and truth are by no means entirely dependent upon cultural context. Our contemporary awareness of the “relativity” of cultures and historical experiences must be complemented by a robust appreciation of the universality of Reason and citizenship.

Liberal Democracy Series I, 1972–1988: Definition, measurement, and trajectories

The purpose of this paper is to provide the definitional and empirical background to the Liberal Democracy Series I Index of democracy that is available in Bollen (1998) but whose rationale has not been published. More specifically, the paper (1) gives a definition of liberal democracy that has guided the formation of this index, (2) describes measures that correspond to this definition, (3) provides a measurement model that links the indicators of democracy to the latent variables that represent the concept, (4) explains the construction of the Liberal Democracy Series I Index, and (5) compares the Series I democracy measure to two other widely used democracy measures in a latent curve model. The Liberal Democracy Series I Index provides a simple unweighted measure of liberal democracy that minimizes the bias in expert ratings, is highly reliable and highly correlated with the latent liberal democracy variable. The evidenced reviewed here suggests that its measurement properties are superior to the Polity and Vanhanen democracy indices with the exception that it is available for a more limited period of years than these latter two.     

执政安全与党内民主建设中的风险防范

维护执政安全,防控执政风险,是执政党巩固执政地位的必然要求.执政党的执政风险可能来自多个方面,其中包括执政党自身的民主建设状况,故必须加强党内民主建设,发展党内民主.如果在党内民主建设中出现原则性偏差或措施失当,有可能在党内造成思想多元、成员分层、组织分派、政治权威降低等,从而削弱党的凝聚力和战斗力,进而威胁党的执政地位和党的生存发展.因此,在推进党内民主建设时,必须强化风险防范意识,并从目标、方向、道路、制度、程序等方面着手,探索出一条增量式、渐进式的党内民主发展道路.     

坚持和巩固马克思主义指导思想的一元化——兼论西方“普世价值”观的本质

近年来,国内外某些人鼓吹和宣扬的以民主、自由、人权等为主要内容的“普世价值”观,实际上是资产阶级在当今世界实行西化、和平演变和“颜色革命”的工具。社会主义社会是高度重视和发展民主、自由、人权的社会;坚持和完善社会主义民主、自由、人权,是中国特色社会主义发展的重要任务。在社会意识形态领域中,必须毫不动摇地坚持马克思主义指导思想的一元化。     

60年党的建设新的伟大工程的历史沿革及理论创新

新中国成立60年,党的建设伟大工程也走过60个春秋。在此期间,党的建设新的伟大工程的提出、实施经过了两个时期、四个阶段,即党的建设伟大工程和党的建设新的伟大工程两个时期;四个阶段是：党的建设伟大工程的提出,党的建设新的伟大工程的酝酿、确立和创新发展阶段。党的十七大站在新的历史起点上,第一次提出了以改革创新精神全面推进党的建设新的伟大工程的新思想,不仅指明了党的建设的政治方向,而且为新的伟大工程的实施提供了前进动力。     

论桂林在“泛珠三角”区域合作中的借势发展

“泛珠三角”区域的合作发展战略,是促进本区域经济社会全面、协调、可持续发展的有力举措。“泛珠三角”合作正面临着国际金融危机的挑战,但也蕴含着难得的机遇。参与“泛珠三角”区域合作,是桂林市经济社会建设的又一次发展契机,充分发挥区域合作优势是桂林借势发展的最佳选择。     

从十六大到十七大：中国共产党党内民主的逻辑演绎进程

党的十六大以来,从提出“党内民主是党的生命”到“要以扩大党内民主带动人民民主,以增进党内和谐促进社会和谐”的论断,中国共产党在新的历史条件下,根据世情、国情、党情的变化和新形势新任务对党的建设提出的新要求．把推进党内民主建设作为保持和发展党的先进性和加强党的执政能力的一项根本性建设,以改革创新的精神积极发展党内民主,在理论和实践上取得了重要进展。