Discourses of morality and truth in social welfare: the surveillance of British widows of the First World War

Drawing on Sarangi and Slembrouck's work on the language of State-sanctioned bureaucracy, this paper will explore one of the ways in which this developed in Britain in the early twentieth century. Looking in particular at the war widows' pension scheme as implemented under the Royal Warrant of 1916, this paper will explore how the first (financially) non-contributory pension, and the first specifically directed towards women in Britain, developed a system of State-sanctioned surveillance and parsimony that continues to this day. The data used draw upon a number of individual case studies, showing how the State saw part of its role as the obligation to subject women to scrutiny and judgement, making infidelity and misbehaviour grounds for the denial of their widows' pension. As this article will explore, a wide variety of agents positioned themselves as, in some way, responsible for the moral surveillance of widows and even the most gossipy reports appear to have been treated with some degree of seriousness. This article will illustrate how a “new” type of bureaucratic relationship developed between State and citizens in the early twentieth century that remains in place a century later.     

以司法伦理化为基础重塑人民陪审员制度

不同时期的人民陪审员制度具有不同的功能。当今条件下,将其功能定位于促进司法民主是一种误读,因而导致实施过程中的诸多困境。事实上,人民陪审员制度仅具有民主的形式,其根本作用在于建立起体现伦理性的人民陪审员在法庭上与职业法官分庭抗礼的审判制度,申言之,以民间法对抗国家法。     

First degree murder and complicity—conditions for parity of culpability between principal and accomplice

The Law Commission for England and Wales has published for consultation a proposal for an offence of first degree murder. A person found guilty of this offence whether as a principal or an accomplice will receive a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment. It is argued that the conditions for liability as an accomplice put forward by the Commission do not fulfil the Commission's aspiration for a "parity of culpability" between principals and accomplices. The discussion has general implications for the reform of complicity laws.

陈云关于文艺要体现“二为”方向的思想及其启示

陈云作为以毛泽东为代表的第一代中央领导集体和以邓小平为代表的第二代中央领导集体的重要成员,不仅为中国人民的革命、建设和改革开放事业做出了突出的贡献,而且还利用自己独特的身份以及对文艺的爱好和调查研究,发表了许多颇有见地的意见、建议等,尤其是对于新中国成立以后文艺的发展方向问题和应该注意的有关事项更有着十分独到的见解。今天,在深入贯彻落实党的十七届六中全会决定的过程中,研究和探讨陈云关于文艺要体现＂二为＂方向的思想对于有效建设和谐文化、提高文化产品质量、发挥文化引领风尚、教育人民、服务社会的作用无疑具有重要的理论指导意义和现实启示意义。     

编译局《共产党宣言》汉译本考

在《共产党宣言》的多种汉译本中,中共中央编译局译本是目前在中国大陆广为流行的通译本。关于编译局译本,应该澄清两个问题：其一,它最初是在1964年出版的,1958年译本不是编译局译本,而是唯真译校本;其二,它的母本并非俄文本,而是德文本;实际上,在《宣言》的汉译史上,根本不存在母本或主要母本是俄文本的任何译本。历史地看,现行人民出版社《宣言》单行本版权页上标示的＂1997年8月第3版＂存在模糊之处,有说明甚或更改的必要。     

The roots of the Lega Nord’s populist regionalism

ABSTRACT

Newth’s paper contributes to a greater understanding of the connection between regionalism and radical-right ideology by examining the roots of the Italian Lega Nord’s regionalist, populist and nativist discourse with a new framework of populist regionalism. By analysing the discourse of two waves of regionalist activism in Lombardy and Piedmont, represented respectively by movements for regional autonomy (MRAs) and the Lega Nord (Northern League), Newth underlines a significant connection between populist regionalism and the radical right, represented by the process of Othering directed against both internal and external migrants. At the same time, examination of narratives used during these two waves of activism reveals differences—at times nuanced, at times more explicit—between their respective populist and nativist identities.     

How to read Michelle Obama

ABSTRACT

Michelle Obama's role as the first African American First Lady is more than merely symbolic. Her self-representation as a professional woman, mother and spouse is directed towards a wider representativeness that is new in American political discourse. As a descendant of slaves and slave owners whose American ancestry can be traced back to the 1850s, she can lay claim to an African American legacy that the President lacks. As a result, some of her more controversial statements during the presidential campaign about the black family, class mobility and national pride need to be read in the context of an African American literature and historiography that challenges the American creed of equality, liberty and unconditional love of one's country. Michelle Obama's family history, her Princeton undergraduate thesis and her own words in interviews are analysed here in the discursive context of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, Toni Morrison's Beloved, Richard Powers's The Time of Our Singing, and Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave-girl, as well as the historiography of the civil rights movement. Such a reading reveals how Michelle Obama's background weaves the legacy of slavery into the American fabric, and shows that a redemptive construction of American history—in which the success of the civil rights movement of the 1960s and the Obama presidency are taken as fulfilment of the American creed (and of Martin Luther King's dream)—must be refused if a new national self-definition with African America at its heart is to take its place.     

行政主导下的简约治理——省级人大预算监督权悬空的政治逻辑

审核政府预算是现代议会的核心权力,然而,中国省级人大作为监督政府“钱袋子”的核心政治机构,其功能尚未得以充分发挥,法律赋予人大的预算监督权存在突出的虚置现象.深入研究省级政府运行过程可以发现,包括省级人大的预算监督权空泛化在内的很多政治现象都和“行政主导下的简约治理”这一政府管理模式密切相关.当前,应针对存在问题,从扩大公民参与;提升人大预算监督能力;修订公共预算的法律框架等三个层面入手,落实省级人大的预算监督权.     

论国家监察权的性质

监察机关对全体公职人员行使监察权,这是我国监督体系的有机组成部分,是通过预防和惩治腐败来对公职人员实施的专门性监督。在国家宪法层面上,各级监察委员会属于对公职人员行使监督、调查和处置职能的国家监察机关。监察机关不仅要对职务犯罪案件进行调查,而且其调查所取得的证据材料还可以直接在刑事诉讼中被作为证据使用,监察机关的调查权具有侦查权的性质和效果。监察机关的留置措施在取代"两规"方面取得了一些法治进步,但仍然属于在正式的刑事强制措施体系之外,兼具刑事强制措施和隔离审查措施的特殊调查手段。监察法在加强被调查人的权利保障方面取得了一些进步,但仍然存在诸多方面的缺憾。未来,对惩治腐败与保障人权加以兼顾,对于监察机关的权力进行有效的约束,仍然是一项重大的法治课题。     

Why Listening to Children and Young People is Important in Family Justice

During the last 30 years, there has been a growing body of evidence indicating that children and young people often feel marginalized when their parents are making critical decisions that will shape their young lives, and they are calling for family justice professionals to hear their voices. This article explores the research evidence, examines the relevant theories about child development, and demonstrates how a focus on age‐related competency fails to take account of children's subjective meanings about their lives. The authors consider a model of participation first designed to understand adult participation in government and show how this can be usefully applied to understanding children's participation in family justice.