Resistant to Change? The European Commission and Expert Group Reform

This article examines how the European Commission has responded to external criticism and demands for the democratisation and reform of the way it uses expert groups in EU policy making. The article analyses the nature and character of the Commission’s dialogue with its critics and the degree and extent to which it was prepared to adapt its existing internal processes and procedures to the reform agenda. Recent theories inform us that organisations respond in different ways to external criticism and demands for reform, including full adaptation, evasion, institutional decoupling and reinterpretation. The main findings suggest that the Commission was not completely resistant to changing its approach to the use of expertise. The Commission reinterpreted its critics’ demands by introducing reforms that defused this external pressure, while protecting the effectiveness of its existing internal ideology and processes. These findings serve to enhance the Commission’s image as an increasingly normalised bureaucracy and reinforce the importance of knowledge and expertise as a key source of Commission legitimacy.     

Competition and solidarity: union members and immigration in Europe

This article addresses an understudied question in the comparative political economy of migration. How have trade unions shaped the attitudes of their members toward immigration? Unions are at the core of left-wing politics in most European countries, and support for immigration is usually a left-wing position. However, many of the core constituents of unions are those whose interests are most likely to be adversely affected by an increase in the supply of labour. The article shows that the pattern of European trade union leaders becoming supportive of open immigration policies has solidified over the past decade. It then provides evidence that this rhetoric has shaped the attitudes of union members and that the effect has become stronger over time. Finally, it shows that the effect is robust to the exclusion of countries where self-selection into unions on the basis of ideology is likely to be strongest.     

Gender Equality as a General Interest of a Pluralistic Society: An Analysis of Constitutional Precedent in Colombia

The article explores the relationship between the legal principles of general interest and gender equality, both consecrated in Colombia's 1991 Constitution. Through an analysis of the precedents set by the Constitutional Court, the article provides a hermeneutical approximation of the behaviour of jurisprudence concerning the general interest. It demonstrates how this principle could be used to foster a more encompassing definition of gender equality. The precedents set by the Constitutional Court have opened up the spectrum of women's rights so as to grasp their relation to the principle of general interest as well as their basis as fundamental rights.     

Who’s in favour? Same-sex union laws in parliament

The article analyses which parties support registered partnership and same-sex marriage bills in parliament in Western Europe. Existing comparative research indicates that left parties back same-sex union laws. This article shows that support is not limited to the left camp. Liberal and even Christian democratic parties have expressed above-average support as well, albeit with certain exceptions. The chief opponents of same-sex union laws are Protestant parties and the parties of the far right; in terms of numbers, however, both are largely insignificant. Far more relevant for these laws’ chances of success are the positions of the large parties at the centre and at the right of the political spectrum. The analysis reveals considerable inter-country differences in these parties’ attitudes, which can be explained to a large extent with the two-worlds-of-morality-politics distinction introduced by Engeli, Green-Pedersen and Larsen: countries in which centre and right parties continue to oppose same-sex union laws are part of the religious world, with the exception of France. The results for France indicate a need for further research.     

In need of a cultural shift to promote restorative justice in Southern Europe

The article describes the main results of a European project on restorative justice (RJ) called Freedom Wings (FW) and presents a new model to promote RJ in Southern Europe, which was developed from FW findings. The principal mission of the FW project is to disseminate best practices of RJ within a transnational network and to promote community participation in conflict prevention and resolution, in order to support individual and social well-being. This paper presents the main findings of multiagency and professional focus groups exploring restorative approaches and community justice. Observation of experts’ social representation of RJ helped the authors to understand the operation of the justice systems in each country and the attitudes of senior officials towards implementing restorative practices in a way that actively involves the community. The analysis shows the necessity of a cultural change in order to switch from a form of RJ managed by the judicial system to one led by the community. The EU project enabled the research team to theorize a model for promoting a relational and restorative community.     

Identifying deviant sexual interest in a sex offender sample using dual-target rapid serial visual presentation task

To investigate the dual-target rapid serial visual presentation (dtRSVP) task as a measure of deviant sexual interest (i.e. a sexual interest in children), we administered a dtRSVP with gender- and age-specific pictorial stimuli to child sex offenders (n = 69), other sex offenders (n = 43), non-sex offenders (n = 14), and community controls (n = 88). We hypothesized that (1) stimuli belonging to the preferred gender and age group presented as targets (both T1 and the subsequent T2) in the serial sequence would be more accurately detected than non-preferred stimuli and that (2) this increased detection would reduce the detection of targets later in the serial sequence (T2) due to an attentional blink. Our findings supported hypothesis 1 and partly supported hypothesis 2. Although we found group differences, individual indices based on detection rates did not allow for individual-level diagnostic categorization of participants.     

从民族生态的特点看移民式扶贫开发——以广西环江的跨县异地安置为例

环江自1993起的十年时间内,以异地安置方式先后接收了近6万大石山区贫困人口。经过多年发展,移民们已较好地融入了环江当地的生产生活,从搬出来,到稳下来,正奔着“富”起来的目标踏实前行着。分析上述事件有诸多视角,本文意欲从现实民族生态的特点出发作一番尝试性思考。     

信息分化与弱势群体的权利贫困

信息分化是指在当代社会信息化发展过程中．由于信息技术的迅速发展与有效应用而导出的一种人类社会的不同信息活动主体之间的信息差距及其不断扩大的社会分化现象。它与公民的权利贫困相关,它往往进一步加剧弱势群体的权利贫困。对于社会弱势群体的权利贫困状况,各级政府要给予高度重视,应该加大“信息扶贫”的力度,让弱势群体回归主流社会。     

社会转型期利益群体与中国地方政府善治

社会利益分化和利益结构重构成为社会转型时期最重要、最深刻的变化。越来越多的利益群体对地方政府决策和公共政策产生着重要的影响,并已经成为影响地方政府善治的一个不可回避的现实问题。本文分析了社会转型时期利益群体的重要特点、利益群体对地方政府善治的积极与消极的双重意义,并提出了解决问题的途径与措施。     

中国古代不动产优先购买权制度研究

以亲、邻优先权为核心的中国古代不动产优先购买权 ,滥觞于中唐 ,于宋、元形成制度 ,至明、清则融于交易习惯和家法族规。该项制度的产生 ,主要是受中国古代社会注重维护宗法家族利益精神的影响 ,也与维护乡党利益、处理相邻关系及其些赋役征发的法例和习惯等因素有关。该项制度与中国古代国情基本相适应 ,具有一定的合理性。