公民诉讼代理：立法者的艰难抉择

基于对公民诉讼代理弊端的考量,2013年《民事诉讼法》对公民诉讼代理进行了严格的限制。这种限制违背了实事求是和法制统一的立法原则,阻碍了公民诉权的行使。诚然,公民诉讼代理需要规制,但这种规制不能矫枉过正、因噎废食,违背法治精神。     

基层自治场域中公民精神的存在样态及其反思

基层民主自治的发展亟待具有公民精神的积极公民。公民精神的现实样态存在着理论层面的"匮乏"共识与危机刺激下"集体顿悟"两种截然不同的判断。以实证探究基层自治场域中公民精神的真实存在样态,并依从中国语境对公民精神成长样态及建构模式等进行反思具有现实意义。     

法律下的中国：一个构建法治中国的法理议题

构建法治中国是中国当代社会的基本共识,也是执政党法治观的集中表达。共同建设法治观和一体建设法治观建立在法律的同一性原则上,也承认了国家、执政党和社会的相对独立性。执政党法治观是构建中国国家法治观的前提,其落脚点在于对中国国家共同体的具体阐释。从法律的规范角度理解中国国家共同体,显示出其与历史中国、文化中国和政治中国等视角在方法论、内容上和目标上的差异。法律共同体揭示了公民身份对法治中国的构成性功能。法律下的中国作为一个时代命题需要处理政府集权和行政集权、宪法建制与公民忠诚、全球规则与中国国家行为等关系,破解国家权力高度统一与集体能力低下的历史悖论,创造国家治理能力法治化的总体性方案。     

农村环境治理公众参与中的社区介入:必要、可能与实现

农村环境治理中公众参与已上升为国家意志,多元共治已成为农村环境治理共识。现阶段政府主导下的环境治理公众参与在实践操作层面存在参与意识薄弱、参与过程模糊以及参与机制缺失等参与失灵困境。不同于政府主导下的环境治理公众参与,社区介入依托于社区自身具有的激励优势、民主优势与自治优势为公众参与提供有利契机,有助于化解公众参与失灵困境。农村环境治理实践中通过社区介入推动公众参与的经验诠释了公众参与的动力系统、运作系统与强化系统等关键问题。有别于西方社会自下而上的公众参与模式,我国农村环境治理需要在政府推动下借助社区介入从宣传认同、公开互动与授权合作等方面提升农村环境治理公众参与度。     

A Quantum of Force: The Consequences of Counting Routine Conducted Energy Weapon Punctures as Injuries

In a recent paper, researchers reported increases in the risk of citizen injury associated with police use of conducted energy devices (CEWs), a finding that is contrary to that reported in most previous studies. These authors speculate that the differences in findings when compared to other similar studies may be due, in part, to the exclusion of routine CEW dart punctures as injuries by other researchers, and they called on the research community to collectively agree on how CEW injuries should be operationalized. In this paper, we empirically demonstrate the differences in findings when routine CEW puncture wounds are included as citizen injuries and when they are not. Ultimately, we reject the authors’ measurement approach as inconsistent with how injuries associated with other types of force are routinely coded and measured.     

街政治理中的公民参与:现实意义与建设途径

本文以街政流程为线索,具体分析了街政治理中公民参与的现实意义。在此基础上,提出了加强新公民资格培育、拓殖社区参与公共领域等五条加强公民参与机制建设的对策建议。     

以治理理论重塑我国公共服务市场化的进路

以治理理论重塑我国的公共服务市场化,其实质在于培育多元化、多渠道的公共服务主体,从而对服务的"生产职能"与"安排职能"实现相对分离。首先,鉴于公共服务领域存在着严重的"政府失灵,"应该打破政府垄断公共服务的格局,明确政府只是服务的提供者,并非一定是生产者的角色,在市场化进程中应慎用政府机制;其次,市场机制可以促进服务质量的提高、服务成本的降低、提高服务效率,充分发挥市场作用。然而,政府机制和市场机制都存在着固有的缺陷,公民社会在分担服务职能等方面也起到了十分重要的作用,培育公民社会也是市场化不可缺少的环节。     

各行其道：刑民冲突案件的审理思路——以非法吸收公众存款、集资诈骗和民间借贷纠纷案件的冲突为视角

审理刑民冲突案件的前提是确定刑事诉讼程序与民事诉讼程序的启动与否以及处理刑民案件时的先后顺序。＂刑民独立、并行为主＂应为审理之基本原则,并以＂先刑后民＂、＂先民后刑＂为例外。非法吸收公众存款、集资诈骗案件与民间借贷案件之间的冲突是刑民冲突的典型表现,司法实践中的处理各有不同。     

Private Military and Security Companies and the Liberal Conception of Violence

Abstract

The institution of war is the broad framework of rules, norms, and organizations dedicated to the prevention, prosecution, and resolution of violent conflict between political entities. Important parts of that institution consist of the accountability arrangements that hold between armed forces, the political leaders who oversee and direct the use of those forces, and the people in whose name the leaders act and from whose ranks the members of the armed forces are drawn. Like other parts of the institution, these arrangements are responsive to changes in military technology and needs, to geopolitical facts, and to moral and political norms. In particular, they are sensitive to the forms that military organization takes. Since the emergence of modern states in Europe some 500 years ago, there have been three main such forms: private providers—in the form of mercenaries, in early modern Europe—then professional standing armies, which in turn developed into citizen armies. Although elements of the three organizations have coexisted in many armies, the citizen army model has dominated until recently. That model brought with it a particular conception of the accountability relations between the army, the state, and the people. The state had authority over and directed the army, which was accountable to it. In turn the state was accountable for its use of the army to the people, on whose behalf it acted.

The dominance of state authority over the military is now under strain, with the professional and private elements—in the form of private military and security companies (PMSCs)—having increasing importance. As those elements increase in power and presence, so it becomes more difficult to make the state accountable to the people for its use of the military, and more difficult for the people to act as a restraining force on the way in which the military used.

In this essay, I outline and assess these developments—with particular emphasis on the emergence of PMSCs—in the light of a liberal view of (political) violence. The essay focuses on the situation in the United States, which possesses by far the most important military force in the world today, and in which the use of PMSCs is most developed. The paper has three main sections and a brief conclusion: the first section sketches the liberal view of violence and its implications for organizations dedicated to its use; the second outlines the salient characteristics of the three historically dominant forms of armies; and the third looks at the current situation in which the three forms coexist uneasily.     

Who Will Graduate? Disruption of High School Education by Arrest and Court Involvement

Little research has assessed the effects of juvenile justice involvement during high school on educational outcomes. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, this study assesses the effect of first‐time arrest and court involvement during high school on educational attainment. In addition, differential effects by structural location are examined. Findings suggest support for the labeling perspective. First‐time court appearance during high school increases the chances of dropping out of high school independent of involvement in delinquency. Furthermore, the effect of court appearance is particularly detrimental to less delinquent youths.