区域安全合作研究的建构主义范式

作为国际关系理论的一种研究范式,建构主义为分析区域安全合作问题提供了一个新的视角。建构主义包括国家利益论(国家身份理论)、国际体系结构理论、国际体系转换理论以及安全共同体理论,与此相对应,运用建构主义理论分析区域安全合作问题也包括四个部分,即区域安全合作中的国家身份和国家利益、区域安全合作发生于其中的国际体系结构、区域安全集体认同的形成以及安全共同体理论对区域安全合作的解析。     

浅析国家豁免的几个问题

国家豁免泛指一国的行为和财产不受另一国的立法、司法和行政等方面的管辖。国家豁免是一项国际法原则,主权平等理论是其主要法律依据。国家豁免的主体包括国家及其政府机关、联邦国家的组成单位、国家政治区分单位、国家机构或部门和其他实体、国家代表。关于国家豁免范围,许多国家先后抛弃了绝对豁免的主张,转向限制国家豁免的立场。     

行政不作为违法的国家赔偿责任研究

行政不作为是相对于行政作为而言的行政行为。行政不作为违法同样会给公民、法人及其他组织的合法权益造成损害 ,这种损害 ,国家应承担赔偿责任。在我国以法律形式确立这项赔偿责任 ,对于完善我国《国家赔偿法》和行政立法是十分必要的     

The media,civil society and democracy in South Africa: State of the Nation Address 2015

This article reports on an investigation into the events surrounding the State of the Nation Address in 2015 (SONA2015), during which opposition party members interrupted proceedings to raise questions about the controversial R208-million security upgrade to South African President Jacob Zuma's personal homestead, Nkandla, in KwaZulu-Natal, using public funds. The event raised issues about the constitutionality of the use of police in the National Assembly; the use of cell phone blocking devices; and the fact that television broadcasters were not allowed to broadcast the events as they happened. The investigation drew on a quantitative content analysis of print media coverage of SONA2015, as well as qualitative interviews with members of the Right2Know (R2 K) campaign in Cape Town and Durban. It explored their activities to “take back Parliament” and calling for a “people's Parliament”. At the core of the investigation was the role of civil society in the media-politics nexus with regard to strengthening democracy and democratic participation in South Africa, through an exploration of the case study.     

Why ‘Uganda’s anti-homosexuality bill’? Rethinking the ‘coherent’ state

How we understand the state is important when addressing issues of human rights. During the debate on the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in Uganda, the country was, at times, presented as nearly uniformly homophobic, exemplified by references to ‘Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill’. The state, which does discriminate against gender and sexual minorities, is comprised of different institutions and people, holding, at times, conflicting positions. This paper documents these differing positions that parts of the state adopted, along with how those positions changed over time in response to political changes and lobbying from civil society. Uncovering gaps in the coherence of the state by identifying these opposing views is useful both for how we understand and study the state, and for activism against political homophobias. Strategies against legislation similar to the Anti-Homosexuality Bill can target those within most likely to oppose such laws.     

超大型国家治理中的地方法治试验及其制度约束

地方法治试验既能够激发地方政府的创造性,又能够科学有效地规范地方政府权力运作。竞争动力学理论从经济发展产生的内生性驱动和官员晋升锦标赛产生的外在压力两方面,解释了地方法治试验的动力机制。中国采取“政府集权+行政集权”模式在促进国家统一同时,扩大了国家的治理规模,增加了国家的治理负荷,引发了超大型国家治理的结构性难题。中央试图通过允许地方进行法治试验的方式,来解决这一难题。它能够在统护法律统一的前提下,及时调整中央集权与分权的程度。中央通过宪制约束、组织约束和政策调控等多种手段,加强对地方法治试验的约束,确保国家整体主义体制结构的实现。地方法治不是一个脱离中国整体法治而存在的本体论意义上的概念,而是一个具有强烈方法论意义的概念。     

Curriculum Reform in The Common Core Era: Evaluating Elementary Math Textbooks Across Six U.S. States

Can a school or district improve student achievement simply by switching to a higher-quality textbook or curriculum? We conducted the first multi-textbook, multi-state effort to estimate textbook efficacy following widespread adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and associated changes in the textbook market. Pooling textbook adoption and student test score data across six geographically and demographically diverse U.S. states, we found little evidence of differences in average achievement gains for schools using different math textbooks. We found some evidence of greater variation in achievement gains among schools using pre-CCSS editions, which may have been more varied in their content than post-CCSS editions because they were written for a broader set of standards. We also found greater variation among schools that had more exposure to a given text. However, these differences were small. Despite considerable interest and attention to textbooks as a low-cost, “silver bullet” intervention for improving student outcomes, we conclude that the adoption of a new textbook or set of curriculum materials, on its own, is unlikely to achieve this goal.     

Planteamiento teórico y evidencia del desplazamiento gradual del Estado autoritario al Estado pragmático en México: la transformación de las élites

Analyses of political change in Mexico since the government shift achieved in July 2000 have been undertaken with a focus on the democratic political transition that led to the so-called alternation, that is, from the stance of a classical approach about State transformations that led from an authoritarian stage to democratization. Analytical approaches in Mexico concerning political change are focused on the undeniable democratic practice at the ballot boxes; however, the outcomes' transparency, the adoption of a new regime, and the procedural condition of the young Mexican democracy make it appropriate to consider this shift from the realist view of the exercise of power and major mechanisms for the establishment of élites' political-governmental decisions. Thus, pragmatism is put forward as an alternative political approach. This article intends to establish that political change in Mexico has gradually changed from its past condition as an authoritarian State to become a pragmatic State, favored by the advent of governmental technocracy, globalization, the market, the us hegemonic ideology, and the obvious involvement of corporate elites contained in State power institutions.     

On filtering longitudinal public opinion data: Issues in identification and representation of true change

The Kalman filter is a popular tool in engineering and economics. It is becoming popular in political science, touted for its abilities to reduce measurement error and produce more precise estimates of true public opinion. Its application to survey measures of public opinion varies in important ways compared to the traditionally understood Kalman filter. It makes a priori assumptions about the variance of the sampling error that would not usually be made and does so in a way that violates an important property of the Kalman filter. Consequently, the behavior of the filter modified for public opinion measures is less well-known. Through simulations we assess whether and to what extent filtering: reliably detects the characteristics of time series; does so across series with different rates of autoregressive decay; and does so when the variance of the sampling error is unknown. We also examine whether the filtered data represents the level of true underlying variance and the extent to which filtering assists or hinders our ability to detect exogenous shocks. We learn a numbers of things. Most importantly, taking into account sampling error variance when filtering data can work well, though its performance does vary. First, filtering works best identifying time series characteristics when assuming a stationary process, even if the underlying process contains a unit root. Second, the performance of filtering drops off when we incorrectly specify the variance of the sampling error, and especially when we overestimate it. Third, when estimating exogenous shocks it is better to make no a priori assumptions regarding a measurement error variance unless we are absolutely certain we know what it is. In fact, applying the filter without specifying the measurement error variance is more often than not the best choice.     

蒙古国修改宪法的原因及结局分析

蒙古国自1989年底开始受苏联东欧剧变的影响,颁布实施1990年的过渡性宪法。实行多党制、两院制的议会制。即第四部宪法。在此基础上经一年多的酝酿之后于1992年1月13日颁布了现行宪法。新宪法颁布实施近8年之后,于1999年12月24日由在议会中拥有席位的三党修改宪法。蒙古国通过本次修宪削弱了总统、宪法法院甚至议会少数党委员们的权力,扩大和加强议会多数党及其领导的权力,其结局是权力大集中。