Organized Crime in Asia: A Review of Problems and Progress

This paper provides a preliminary overview of research on organized crime in Asia drawing on selected papers from a symposium held at the National University of Singapore in June 2007. We draw on these contributions to emphasize the enterprise nature of organized crime and the common problems encountered by law enforcement in controlling and preventing the many harms inflicted by serious criminal activity. Recent attempts to address the changing character and forms of transnational organized crime, especially through the strengthening of mutual legal assistance by regional bodies such as ASEAN, are noted. These measures have yet to develop into the cross-border institutional frameworks now found in Europe, and the level of effective co-operation can only continue to improve. Countering organized crime in Asia also faces additional difficulties arising from the cultural diversity, relative weakness of law enforcement in some states and the lack of common strategies in respect to illicit markets.

From CNOOC to Huawei: securitization,the China threat,and critical infrastructure

ABSTRACT

This article uses critical discourse analysis to examine how China has been constructed as an existential threat by the United States. Specifically, it explores how US reactions to the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) in 2005 created precedent for similar reactions to Huawei a decade later. It uses these case studies to demonstrate how the interplay between the China threat and security discourses of critical infrastructure has worked to successfully securitize China within broader American discourse. These examinations demonstrate a deliberate and protracted securitization of China by US elites, and they support more critical approaches to securitization theory that emphasize cumulative and incremental aspects over a securitized/de-securitized binary. Discourse analysis of key texts allows the reader to uncover how security issues are socially constructed, and discursive examinations of CNOOC and Huawei illustrate how concerns about national security are now employed in everyday American political discourse so that the China Threat Discourse has become the primary reading of China by US observers.     

论语篇功能分析在文学分析中的应用

韩礼德建构系统功能语法的目的之一是为语篇研究提供一个分析框架。国内用语言学理论特别是系统功能语法理论来分析文学作品还不多见。本文尝试对海明威的一个短篇小说《雨中的猫》进行语篇功能分析,旨在揭示小说主题,再现海明威写作之特点,从而通过本文的讨论、分析来检验系统功能语法在文学作品分析中的可操作性。     

An Economic Analysis of a Swedish Environmental Liability Case

A High Court case illustrates Swedish legal reasoning. The case extends the use of strict liability, although the main liability rule is negligence. The aim of the paper is to show the usefulness of the economic analysis in a practical case. The case concerns liability for damages caused by a leaky, hot-water pipe. The defendant maintained that it should not be held liable because it had not acted negligently, and the district court and the court of appeals supported the defence. Nevertheless, the High Court decided on strict liability. The High Court used a line of argumentation that, partly and implicitly, may have been economically correct. However, the precedence was most limited and unclear. Given an explicit goal of economic efficiency, the precedence would, in this simple and straightforward case, be that strict liability should prevail where the cause is unilateral and the injurer is able to cover and/or insure the loss.     

吉林省民营经济症结分析与发展路径研究

吉林省民营经济发展起步晚、规模小、效益不高、结构不合理,与发达地区相比还明显处于落后状态。而市场的约束、融资瓶颈的制约、发展环境差、缺少优秀企业家队伍等都是吉林省民营经济发展落后的症结;从振兴东北老工业基地出发,民营经济的发展对吉林省经济社会的发展将起到不可或缺的作用。因此,全社会应达成共识,积极营造民营经济健康、公平、快速、持续发展的社会环境,使之获得更大的发展。     

行政文化创新中需要注意的几个问题

行政体制改革应同时把握体制性要素改革与文化性要素改革两大主要环节,文化性要素改革也即行政文化创新问题。就目前有关这一课题的讨论来看,需要注意的问题主要有:对“创新”含义的界定,认识行政文化创新必须体现时代特征,符合行政现代化与社会发展的客观要求;行政文化创新应当继承民族传统,培育具有中国特色的行政文化体系;行政文化创新需要开阔胸襟,广泛吸收人类在这一领域创造的优秀成果;行政文化创新应当坚持与时俱进原则,在行政实践中不断革新发展;行政文化创新要坚持科学态度,提倡求真、讨论和争鸣的精神。     

换一种思路看犯罪分析技术

近几年，通过刑侦理论界有识之士的不懈努力，犯罪现场重建等先进的犯罪分析技术已经被许多刑事侦查人员所认知，其中一些理念已经应用到实战中。但是，在实践中，一些刑侦人员的现场分析水平往往连传统现场分析所要求的标准都达不到，所以我们应该将先进的犯罪分析技术引入侦查实践，重视和弥补犯罪分析技术在实际应用中的不足之处，使犯罪分析技术更好地为侦查破案服务。     

立案与侦查之间关系的新认识

立案与侦查之间的关系非常复杂,简单对刑事诉讼中立案与侦查两程序的先后顺序进行判断不符合诉讼规律。从司法实践、法律检讨、诉讼价值、哲学理性、逻辑推理、制度比较等多角度、多层面纵横立体以及动静结合透视立案与侦查之关系有助于不断深化认识、转变观念、更新理念,从而提升刑事诉讼制度的改革动力,明确改革方向,重新科学合理设计、构建立案与侦查程序。     

A comparative analysis of regionalism in the Global South: The security and defence dimension of Unasur and the African Union

The aim of this article is to compare Unasur and the African Union with regard to their institutional structure, agenda and performance. Although some scholars have made comparative assessments of regional institutions in the same region or comparisons between regional projects worldwide and the European Union, there are still few academic contributions which develop a cross-regional comparison among regional initiatives from different regions of the Global South. By assessing the cases of Unasur and the African Union, and particularly Unasur’s Defence Council and the AU’s Peace and Security Council, taking into account their institutional structure, performance and limitations, and the role of regional leaders and exogenous actors in both cases, we have elaborated an analytical framework aiming to identify and explain the similarities and differences between two regional institutions outside Europe. Based on the contributions of comparative regionalism and the evaluation of Unasur and the AU, we conduct a comparative analysis of both regional organisations, giving specific attention to their security and defence agendas, moving forward the empirical and analytical agenda of comparative regionalism.     

The impact of EU multi-level regionalism strategy on Bulgarian local authorities: qualitative comparative analysis among nine border areas

This article suggests a new perspective on the analysis of the EU multi-level regionalism strategy (EUMRS) by emphasizing the important role of local authorities in border areas. The EU, indeed, has been pursuing a multi-level strategy formed by three action layers corresponding to three new regional trasnational spaces: (1) the European Union itself; (2) the strategic macro-regional actions – such as the EU Strategy for the Danube Region; (3) cross-border cooperation. Particularly, the article tries to explain why local officers working for different Bulgarian municipalities perceive the EUMRS in a different way. The perception of the EUMRS represents the internalization and impact of the EUMRS among the interviewed local officers of nine borderland Bulgarian municipalities. The research is grounded on a qualitative comparative analysis to identify and explain the different combinations of causally relevant conditions linked to the specific outcome.