Humanity,military humanism and the new moral order

The post-WWII period has been characterized by an endless process of international humanitarian law-making, aimed at protecting people from their governments. After the collapse of communism, human rights have allegedly transcended their Eurocentrism and have become the first truly universal moral justification for the use of force. This essay explores the meaning and scope of humanity and questions the range of normative resources mobilized in its name. In view of these doubts, it argues that the recent combination of humanism and military force is the outward sign of an emerging moral world order, which is criticized from a number of pragmatic, principled and realist perspectives.     

A Critical Theory of Social Suffering

Abstract

This paper begins by defending the twofold relevance, political and theoretical, of the notion of social suffering. Social suffering is a notion politics cannot do without today, as it seems indispensable to describe all the aspects of contemporary injustice. As such, it has been taken up in a number of significant research programmes in different social sciences (sociology, anthropology, social psychology). The notion however poses significant conceptual problems as it challenges disciplinary boundaries traditionally set up to demarcate individual and social phenomena. I argue that philosophy has a role to play in the attempt to integrate the diverging perspectives stemming from the social sciences. I attempt to show that, as it engages with the social sciences to account for the conceptual and normative issues thrown open by the question of social suffering, philosophy in fact retrieves the very idea of critical theory, as a conjugated critique of social reality and of its knowledge. I conclude by showing how the question of social suffering then becomes a useful criterion to distinguish between the different existing approaches in critical theory.     

Comparing federal institutions: Power and representation in six federations

The study of comparative federalism is often hampered by the diverse range of federal institutional arrangements in practice, as well as the ambiguity surrounding the concept of federalism. This article identifies three main conceptual approaches to federalism – sociological, constitutional, and governmental – then proposes a revised governmental approach that takes account of the institutional effects of federalism, for application in comparative politics research. Minimally defined, all federations are products of institutional rules that create separate territorial spheres of authority. This article compares Canada, the United States, Australia, Austria, Germany and Switzerland along two key institutional dimensions that structure politics in the federal state: resource allocation, and the representation of constituent units in federal-level decision-making.     

“5·12”地震后羌族婚姻习惯法变迁

羌族是一个人口众多、传统悠久的民族．现在主要居住在四川省阿坝藏族羌族自治州的汶川、理县、茂县以及绵阳市的北川县、平武县等地。据2005年的官方统计,户籍登记为羌族的人口约为32．65万。在2008年“5·12”特大地震灾难中,羌族人口损失将近10％。羌族地区至今仍保留着以原始宗教,万物有灵,多种信仰的灵物案拜为核心的民事习惯,婚姻习惯是其非常重要的内容之一。“5·12”地震后,羌族人的婚姻习惯法有了较大程度的变化,从形式到实质都更加符合国家法的理念与要求,这无疑是羌族社会文明发展的重大进步。     

Does Membership in Civil Society Organizations Foster Social Integration? The Case of Danish Voluntary Sport Organizations

ABSTRACT

Voluntary organizations are generally perceived as important arenas in which social integration can be fostered. There is, however, no consensus on the meaning of such integration, and the empirical evidence for the claim is lacking. This article studies social integration within voluntary sport organizations, which make up a significant element of civil society in most Western societies. The article provides a theoretical framework well suited for the study of social integration, which differentiates members according to their levels of social interaction and emotional bonding across four community types: Strong, pragmatic, mediated, and weak. When applying this framework to the case of Danish sport organizations, the distribution of members among the four community types indicates that, although sport organizations are important arenas for the development of social integration, there is also a large minority of members who do not experience social integration. This article shows that both individual characteristics linked to members and organizational characteristics linked to sport organizations exert significant influence on the level and nature of social integration. Jointly, the results demonstrate that there are grounds to reassess the general conception that sport organizations are important arenas in which social integration can be fostered.     

法定犯时代背景下犯罪附随后果的解构和重建

法定犯时代下,后工业社会中各种风险逐渐升格,古典自由主义刑法理论地位受到动摇,刑法制裁体系相应地吸收了积极刑法观理念,前置刑法干预起点,降低入罪门槛,而社会整体评价体系中却缺乏相应的轻罪或微罪评价模式、犯罪分层意识,从而导致刑法附随法律责任引发实质意义上罪责关系的不协调,违反罪刑法定、罪责刑相适应、责任主义原则等问题。同“以刑制罪”对“从罪到刑”的罪刑关系的反思,在意图限缩刑罚的法益理论逐渐沦为为刑法扩张“背书”的情况下,对犯罪附随法律责任的重视能够促进法益判断标准的实质化,从而有利于促进立法批判机能的实现,也能对保安处分科学化和刑罚“双轨制”发展有所裨益。基于新社会防卫论的论证逻辑也应该对附随后果的逆向论证逻辑以及定位做出限制,同时提出犯罪人处遇重构、引入复权制度等具体举措,以期达到法律体系内部法律责任的协调。     

Race-Based Judgments, Race-Neutral Justifications: Experimental Examination of Peremptory Use and the Batson Challenge Procedure

Practically speaking, the peremptory challenge remained an inviolate jury selection tool in the United States until the Supreme Court's decision in Batson v. Kentucky. 476 U.S. 79 (1986). Batson's prohibition against race-based peremptories was based on two assumptions: (1) a prospective juror's race can bias jury selection judgments; (2) requiring attorneys to justify suspicious peremptories enables judges to determine whether a challenge is, indeed, race-neutral. The present investigation examines these assumptions through an experimental design using three participant populations: college students, advanced law students, and practicing attorneys. Results demonstrate that race does influence peremptory use, but these judgments are typically justified in race-neutral terms that effectively mask the biasing effects of race. The psychological processes underlying these tendencies are discussed, as are practical implications for the legal system.     

Social Class is Dead. Long Live Social Class! Stereotype Threat among Low Socioeconomic Status Individuals

Stereotype threat effects occur when members of a stigmatized group perform poorly on a task because they fear confirming a negative stereotype that is associated with their ingroup. The present study investigates whether the observed achievement gap in standardized testing between high- and low-socioeconomic status (SES) American students can be due, in part, to this phenomenon. Participants were placed in one of four conditions that varied in level of “threat” related to socioeconomic status. Results show that when socioeconomic identity is made salient before taking a test, or when the test is presented as diagnostic of intelligence, low-SES students perform significantly worse, and report much lower self-confidence, than low-SES participants in the non-threatening conditions. When threatening conditions converge, performance of low-SES students is at its worst level. These results help us better understand the role stereotyping plays in the academic performance of low-SES students, and may partly explain the disparity on standardized test scores between low- and high-SES students.

非法经营罪规制目的的预设与生成

非法经营罪在实践中存在扩张适用的倾向,被认为是“口袋罪”,对其司法适用有必要进行限缩。传统限缩方法是采取等价解释,但无法对该罪的规制目的予以合理解释。立法者在创制该规范之际并无明确的目的预设,且可能希望该罪的规范保护范围通过自发方式在司法中生成。在整体法秩序发展之中,基于经济、法治等外部系统的变化,非法经营罪除了要保障行政许可制度之外,还应越来越关注对市场调整方式的现实保障。行业性的合规制度作为市场调整的方式,将成为判断非法经营罪的根据。     

从社会治安的发展变化谈公安基层基础工作

公安基层基础工作是公安队伍的基石。当前,随着形势的发展变化,社会治安出现了许多新情况、新问题,从中暴露出公安基层基础工作存在的许多薄弱环节和不足之处。因此,要充分认识加强公安基层基础工作的重要性,采取有效措施,全力推进。