The Personal Sources of Responsiveness. Introduction to a Special Section

Responsiveness is a core value in democratic politics. Individual legislators are important mechanisms for implementing this concern in real‐world settings and thus facilitating responsive government. This introduction to the special section on this topic starts out by highlighting the special relevance of individual legislators in this regard and by sketching important theoretical considerations that emerge from the political science literature on this issue. In its main part, it summarizes the key findings of the contributions in relation to its main theme, namely the personal sources of responsiveness. We end with a short conclusion that reflects on possible tensions between responsiveness and the personalization of representative systems.     

国家监察委员会的监察法规制定权限:三步确界与修法方略

全国人大常委会通过决定方式授予国家监察委员会监察法规制定权,形成了以人大立法权为核心且以行政立法权、监察立法权和军事立法权为补充的更优的“一元三系”立法分工体系,监察权也得到了极大丰富,进而有利于织密权力监督之网。当前的紧要任务在于明确界定监察法规制定权限,以在推进监察法律规范体系立体建设的同时保障监察法规制定权规范演进。利用“三维考察+三层掘进”的阐释模型耙梳可以发现,目前国家监察委员会既可以为执行监察法律、监察直接相关法和间接相关法的规定,单独或者联合其他国家机关进行执行性立法,也可以在遵守法律保留原则的前提下,就领导性管理事项进行创制性立法,还可以基于全国人大常委会的专门授权,就法律的相对保留事项和监督性管理事项进行授权性立法。接下来应当在《全国人民代表大会常务委员会关于国家监察委员会制定监察法规的决定》的基础上对制定监察法规的立法权限、形式和备审等内容作进一步规范,以备我国《立法法》修改之需。     

Influencing the Penal Agenda? The Justice Select Committee and ‘Transforming Justice’, 2010–15

This article assesses the policy influence of the House of Commons Justice Select Committee, established to oversee the work of the Ministry of Justice following its creation a decade ago. The committee has, from the outset, overseen many contentious policy and legislative developments in the penal field, although none so extensive as those introduced following the formation of the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government in 2010. Despite the newsworthy nature of its business, the committee has, to some extent, operated in the shadows of its high‐profile sister, the Home Affairs Select Committee, and has received surprisingly limited attention from criminologists and political scientists alike. Forming part of a wider investigation into the work of the committee, this article examines the extent to which it was able to influence penal developments during the coalition years. This period is of particular interest given that it heralded the end of the New Labour administration and welcomed the ‘fresh thinking’ of a coalition leadership keen to emphasise its progressive attitude towards law and order. While the committee was able to influence the direction of penal policy on several occasions, this mostly occurred as a result of its proactive or niche inquiries. The committee had less impact when conducting inquiries that assessed the government's flagship policy agenda, however. Such findings brought into question the ability of the committee to influence the most significant justice transformations in this era of new penal governance.     

Dimensions of Authority in Oversight Agencies: American and Australian Comparisons

Fraud, waste, and abuse damage public administration. Responding involves law enforcement and best practice administration. Many jurisdictions create watchdog agencies to perform this role. A model, which includes seven dimensions of jurisdiction and authority that policymakers should consider when creating an oversight entity, is presented. The model goes beyond the simple functional jurisdiction, i.e., who is overseen and how oversight occurs. Four subnational watchdog agencies in two countries are examined to demonstrate the trade-offs that occur in each dimension when the agencies are designed. This analysis demonstrates there are significant balancing issues at stake, which impact watchdog effectiveness.     

Ideological proximity and valence competition. Negative campaigning through allegation of corruption in the Italian legislative arena from 1946 to 1994

We consider the possibility for the parties to invest in negative campaigning – a behavior that, in our framework, involves blaming alleged insufficiencies of the rival concerning commonly shared values. Within a simple one-dimensional model, we deduce the hypothesis that the parties’ incentive to “attack” each other increases with the parties’ proximity on the left–right space. We test our hypothesis on an Italian case, focusing on the emphasis placed by the Communist Party on political corruption issues during the government investiture debates that spanned from the postwar period until 1994, when the traditional party system abruptly collapsed. The statistical results are largely consistent with our theoretical insights.     

《治安管理处罚法》的立法缺憾剖析——兼与相关法律规范之比较

《治安管理处罚法》是一部对我国社会生活有着重大影响的法律。虽然该法在立法理念、立法内容等方面取得了一定的突破,立法成本和调整社会关系的成本也相对降低。但对该法的立法进行深层剖析以及与相关法律规范的比较分析后发现,该法仍在立法理念、规制权力以及与相关法律衔接、协调等方面存在着诸多缺憾,需要进一步改进和完善。     

渎职罪主体新论 ——对一个立法解释的解读

渎职罪主体是学界长期纠缠不休的一个焦点问题.全国人大常委会2002年12月28日通过的<关于刑法第九章渎职罪主体适用问题的解释>对这一焦点问题作了定论.对于渎职罪的主体应作广义上的理解,包括国家机关中法定从事公务的人员以及受国家机关委托、聘用、受国家机关委派从事公务的人员.     

两种正义观与两种立法精神——从西塞罗谈起

在人类生活与历史中体现出来的正义是绝对而永恒的,还是只是相对而临时的?这个问题的分歧导致了两种正义观。永恒正义观把正义法则看作是人-神或天-人共有的法则,因而不只是"人法",同时也是"天理"与"神律",它不仅涉及人世间的利益关系,而且涉及人-神(天-人)之间的神圣关系;而相对正义观则把正义法则仅仅看作人世间的利益关系的法则,只涉及利益关系,因而正义法则只是世间的人法,而不具有任何神圣性。两种正义观产生两种立法精神:有超越维度的立法精神与没有超越维度的立法精神。对理性的自由的觉悟,是认识正义法则绝对性与立法精神超越性的一个根本性进步。     

举报人权利保护制度的立法完善

举报对于预防和惩治腐败、维护法律尊严具有积极意义。近年来,举报人遭打击报复的事件频频见于媒体,为更好地开展举报工作,应对举报人采取严格的保密保护措施,建立起一套长效的举报人保护机制。     

高校教师升等评审管制之司法审查——公法及大学自主性视野论之

我国司法实务对教师职务评审委员会所作之升等与否之决定,仍停留于内部管理行为及非具体行政行为之阶段;唯从我国之教育之立法管制政策、相关法令规定及对大学自主权之规范结构并无意将此评审行为视为特别权力关系之一部分,而拒绝司法审查。行政法学理论与实务之落差,不能不谓之为司法缺位。如果理论与实务之落差可以缩减,而消除行政法可以保护公民、法人或者其它组织合法权益但不可能得到行政诉讼法之全部保护之迷思,则我国迈入最高层之法治国境界不远矣。