Editor’s Note

Envisioning a well-ordered society composed of filial subjects who obeyed the law, avoided disputes, shunned religious heresy, paid their taxes, and peacefully engaged in agriculture, the Kangxi emperor’s “Sacred Edict of Sixteen Maxims” (圣谕十六条) has often been considered a declaration of the alien Qing dynasty’s Confucian bona fides. While the rhetoric of the pronouncement echoed traditional moral values, the political acumen of the Qing rulers was readily apparent in the eighth maxim, “explain the laws to warn the ignorant and obstinate.” Melding moral and legal education, the eighth maxim specifically endorsed the efficacy of the law. The importance placed on legal knowledge was abundantly clear in one of the earliest commentaries, which explained all sixteen maxims with examples of applicable legal guidelines. Thus, the “Sacred Edict” was a shrewd maneuver that endorsed traditional moral values, but it also foreshadowed a “legislative turn” in the Qing rule that was discernible in the evolving ethos of criminal justice. Despite the extensive efforts to propagate the “Sacred Edict,” violent crime was on the rise in the Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong reigns. When transformation through moral “teaching and cultivation” (jiaoyang 教养) failed to alleviate social conflict, Qing rulers reconsidered and revised the established practice of criminal justice and the existing concept of criminal behavior. By the end of the eighteenth century, the effort to stem the tide of violent crime relied less on ideological exhortation and more on legislation that articulated harsh punishments. This “legislative turn” in Qing criminal justice resulted in an aggressive policy of deterrence that facilitated the greater use of capital punishment.     

深刻理解坚决维护党中央权威的重要命题——恩格斯《论权威》的当代启示

中国共产党是中华民族觉醒、崛起和腾飞的核心领导力量,维护党中央权威是实现中华民族伟大复兴的根本保障。恩格斯《论权威》中包含的权威思想仍然是我们当今时代认识权威,了解权威与服从、权威与自治关系的理论蓝本。当前,中国现代化转型所产生的多元价值的冲突、利益格局分化、党内腐败滋生等问题使政党权威产生了信任危机和认同危机。为消除权威危机的存在因素,我们必须回到马克思主义权威思想,重新审视权威何以重要,正确认识维护新时代党中央权威的核心要义,积极引入法治权威,实现政党与法治的良性互动,夯实维护党中央权威的学理基础和法理基础。     

放管服改革背景下的基层机关事务管理创新

机关事务管理改革与创新是放管服改革在政府内部的开展,也是放管服改革进一步推进的必然要求。在放管服改革深入过程中,县乡基层政府面临职责加重、政务事权加量、基层政府与公务员任务翻倍的情况,机关事务管理尤其是基层机关事务管理的管理体制、服务结构、管理模式、管理格局、保障水平面临挑战。基层机关事务管理改革需要通过职能定位、权力配置与机构设置、运行规则和法律保障等多路径进行创新,使之与放管服改革相配套。推进基层机关事务管理的法制化、规范化、社会化、信息化、专业化、标准化对于确保放管服改革落到实处、避免腐败和提高基层公务员士气具有重要意义。     

论中国古代士人“清”之廉政文化品格——以江西古代士人为中心

作为一种文化精神与品格,士人之“清”有着丰富的内涵和鲜明的精神气质:个人生活的清俭、为人修养的清白、为官的清正、为政的清明。清俭、清白是古代士人对君子人格及道德操守的追求与坚守,它更多的是一种个人的内省与自律。清正、清明则是从政和处世的一种精神品格,本质上是一份责任与担当。士人的“清”使他们的人生价值达到了新的高度,同时也成就并丰富了中国廉政文化的品格与内涵。     

Constructing identities of “difference” and “resistance”: the politics of being Muslim and British

A number of existing academic researches exploring experiences and attitudes amongst the UK's Muslim population have highlighted the varied forms of discrimination encountered as a ‘‘fact of life’’ of minorities in contemporary Britain. The combination of prejudice, discrimination and exclusion appears to have heightened emphatic self-definitions of religious identity, often ruling out any proximity to being British. An ‘‘identity of difference’’ through asserted religio-cultural distinctiveness is usually interpreted as a response to compound racism; the combined effects of colour and cultural racism. Further, whilst colour racism is generally declining, there is an empirical reality of pervading anti-Asian cultural attitudes resulting in an increasing ‘‘identity of unbelongingness’’. The assertion of ‘‘Muslimness’’ in opposition to a discriminatory hegemonic British identity provides a universal ‘‘belongingness’’ which further undermines the national identity. This paper will explore the construction of identities of difference and resistance amongst British Yemeni Muslims based on findings from research recently undertaken.     

The Internet: A Virtual Training Camp?

This study aims to investigate how Al Qaeda uses the Internet for military training and preparation. What kind of training material is available on jihadi webpages, who produces it, and for what purpose? The article argues that in spite of a vast amount of training-related literature online, there have been few organized efforts by Al Qaeda to train their followers by way of the Internet. The Internet is per today not a “virtual training camp” organized from above, but rather a resource bank maintained and accessed largely by self-radicalized sympathizers.     

The Liberal Left Opts for Terror

For a century, intellectual debate on political violence has been dominated by efforts to romanticize the extremist and to invest him with the aura of the altruistic “freedom fighter.” It is astonishing that in the post-9/11 era, the terrorist's image continues to remain habitually mystified and ennobled, while terror attacks are justified as self-defense. “Terrorist discourse” is indicative of the universality of the intellectual position of the Left with regard to terror, national discrepancies notwithstanding. The present article evaluates leftist liberals' attitudes towards terrorism in the 20th-century Russian Empire, Europe, the U.S., and especially Israel—one of the epicenters of terrorism today. The article proposes to examine psychological responses to terrorism in conjunction with a range of contemporary reactions to threats, acknowledged or displaced with an assortment of mental constructs and rationalizations.     

In the name of king,country, and people on the Westminster model and Bhutan's constitutional transition

In 2008 Bhutan inaugurated a written constitution thereby instituting the state as a constitutional monarchy. The constitution is almost unanimously described as democratic by international media and academics. The ease with which this apparent consensus on its democratic character has been achieved, however, raises the important question of how best to approach the theory of constitutional democratization. In approaching the issue of democratization as a move towards popular control, this article discusses the ambivalence of the Bhutanese constitution towards this principle in a cultural context where social order is seen as constituted within the unity of king, country, and people. Curiously, this language is not as unique to Bhutan as one might expect, but influenced by the Westminster legacy in its emphasis on the principle of “Crown in Parliament”, its ritualization, and ideas of political inequality. It raises the question whether this model is suitable as a blueprint model for countries with different historic and cultural trajectories from the European ones? The article advocates a novel approach to the analysis of constitutional transition that transgresses the dichotomy between an institutional and linguistic approach, thus opening up interesting new insights on the waxing and waning of processes of expanding popular control.     

Fantasy depictions of child sexual abuse: The problem of ageplay in Second Life

Abstract

This paper explores the arguments put forward for prohibiting the possession of fantasy images of child sexual abuse within the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, and applies them to sexual ageplay in Second Life. Sexual ageplay is the virtual act of simulating child sexual abuse using animated child characters operated by consenting adult users. The arguments underpinning the legislation centre on the issue of harm and the relationship between online, virtual behaviour and real world contact offences. It is argued that extant research does not support a causal connection, although some work on fantasy offence planning and online paedophilia chat groups suggests a link. Due to the lack of empirical work in the area it is concluded that legislation to criminalise such behaviour on grounds of harm causation is currently unjustified, although prohibition of sexual ageplay for known sex offenders is recommended. Further research into the extent, use and effects of sexual ageplay is required.     

Using immersive virtual reality and ecological psychology to probe into child molesters' phenomenology

Abstract

Child molesters (n=13) and sexually non-deviant subjects (n=29) were immersed with virtual characters depicting relevant sexual features while their sexual arousal and gaze behaviour were assessed to characterise their sexual preferences and intentional dynamics. Sexual arousal was measured using circumferential penile plethysmography (PPG). Gaze behaviour dynamics were derived from average gaze radial angular deviation (GRAD) and GRAD coefficient of variation (GRADCV). Results show distinct sexual arousal profiles according to sexual preferences and point towards the existence of specific gaze behaviour dynamics guided by sexual intentions. Theoretical interpretations are based on the ecological psychology of J. J. Gibson, the extended mind theory and the integrated theory of sexual offending. Theoretical underpinnings stemming from these approaches are advocated as being especially well suited to explain how virtual reality can help probing into child molesters' phenomenology as lived from the “first-person” stance.