公共物品供给与国内冲突的复发

根据新制度经济学理论,不同类型的公共物品供给是国家对国民接受现存政治秩序和纳税的回报。长期的政治和社会经济物品供给不妥或不足会导致国民的“怨恨”,破坏统治合法性,从而为反政府武装组织的动员和招募打开机会窗口,激发国内冲突。怨恨不会随着战争的结束而自动消失。对于普通士兵而言,怨恨是否会平息或化解取决于公共物品供给的变化。无论是原统治集团继续掌权,还是反叛集团取而代之,改善公共物品供给都是无法回避的问题,也是决定内战是否死灰复燃的关键因素。基于1947-2008年“武装冲突数据库”的“生存分析”支持了本文的基本假设,那就是公共物品供给显著地降低国内冲突复发的风险。经验研究还发现,战后和平建设主要是一个国内政治过程。国际战争、经济相互依存等国际因素会产生局部的显著影响,但作用并不大。国内政治物品的供给,尤其是政治参与和政治竞争对于冲突复发的遏制作用远比其他类型物品强。相对于经济物品,社会福利物品能够产生及时的作用,和平效果明显。此外,族群冲突的复发受制于更多类型的国内公共物品供给,因此较之非族群冲突,实现持久和平的机会更多,相对更容易化解。     

A question of trust: military defection during regime crises in Benin and Togo

This article examines the role of trust between military officers and opposition forces in fostering mass defections of military personnel during pro-democracy uprisings. The current literature on military defection emphasizes the role of either opposition characteristics, or government control policies. Combining the two, however, takes better account of defection as an interaction between officers and the opposition. Through an analysis of civil–military relations during mass uprisings in Benin (1989–1990) and Togo (1990–1993), this article finds that loyalist stacking creates a core of military personnel with a strong stake in regime preservation, while counterbalancing leaves open the possibility for a military-opposition alliance. Alliance also depends on civic resistance campaign characteristics (the unity of the movement, its nonviolent character, the presence of opposition leaders with social ties to military personnel) and promises to military personnel that acknowledge the latter groups’ interests. These findings provide a new theoretical framework for understanding military actions during regime crises.     

Polarization and the environmental movement in Turkey

Environmental civil society organizations in Turkey have been drawn into the deep cultural and religious divide that characterizes Turkish society more broadly. Turkish environmental organizations are viewed by the Islamist leaning government as proxies for secularist opposition forces and not as independent voices truly committed to environmental protection. Interview data from fifty environmental leaders and Turkish state officials are analyzed to demonstrate how effective civil society functioning in the environmental sphere has been undermined by these deep partisan divisions. Local environmental struggles create one area of opportunity where environmental advocates can bridge the divide and work in collaboration with conservative government supporters.     

Environmentally friendly food initiatives in Iran: between environmental citizenship and pluralizing the public sphere

In this article I analyze acts of citizenship within environmentally friendly food initiatives in Iran. I show that act of environmental citizenship intersects with politics of pluralizing the public sphere within these initiatives. I present original research that shows how these practices are determined by state-society relations. It is shown that the main objective of most of the initiators of these enterprises is to provide a source of information about healthy and environmentally friendly food as well as providing access to such food. In contrast, many consumers also use these initiatives as spaces where they can experience and make a more pluralistic public sphere. This article contributes to a better understanding of the concept of environmental citizenship and demonstrates the relevance of the concept to broader notions of citizenship.     

Building peaceful citizens? Nation-building in divided societies

ABSTRACT

Interventions aimed at citizenship formation and nation-building in divided and post-conflict societies place great emphasis on promoting and entrenching peace as a cornerstone of economic development and statehood. Such efforts are multi-scalar, encompassing interventions to build democratic institutions and responsible citizens with the pursuit and maintenance of peace at the heart of these ideals. Dominant international pedagogies and policies for liberal-peace-building in divided societies can be used to maintain existing power relations and hierarchies, and may prevent the realization of social (and other forms of) justice while stifling dissent and criticism through exhortations to patriotism, unity, civility, and nation-building. Thus, the ‘goodness’ of peace makes this concept particularly useful as a technique of governance. However, ‘peace’ can also be reworked to suit counter-hegemonic political purposes that open up rather than shut down the question of what peace means. Through an exploration of contestations around the notion of ‘peace’ and its deployment in efforts to promote particular foreign policy agendas we highlight the incongruities in civil society actors’ approaches to peace, and their efforts to achieve sometimes conflicting aims, within divided societies.     

Transnational advocacy networks in global supply chains: a study of civil society organizations’ sugar movements in Cambodia

As a contribution to the growing literature on transnational advocacy networks (TANs) in the global production networks, this article examines how civil society organizations (CSOs), which have adopted the TAN approach, influence the sugar industry in Cambodia. Due to ineffective domestic influencing strategies, the CSOs adopted the TAN approach and escalated to an international supply chain movement approach (ISCMA) aiming to influence international stakeholders at each stage of the sugar supply chain in order to leverage boomerang pressure on the sugar producing companies and the Government of Cambodia. Despite its resourceful networking strategies, the ISCMA failed to leverage significant influence on the sugar companies and the government to achieve its demands. The failure was not due to weak networks, but was in part due to the political nexus between the government and the sugar companies. This article suggests that to ensure the effectiveness of CSOs’ actions within the TAN framework in the global production networks, one should take into account the power of the government in relation to local politico-commercial elites.     

Resistance and reform: discourses on marital law in Japan*

This article examines opinions concerning fūfubessei (a married couple retaining their birth surnames) posted on an online forum. Recently, the topic of fūfubessei has once again come under a spotlight, since the Japanese Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Civil Code Article 750, which stipulates that a married couple must choose either the husband's or wife's surname upon marriage registration. Owing to the large number of women forfeiting their surnames, the fūfubessei issue has often been researched from feminist perspectives, which may have hindered the voices of others. This article analyzes, using text mining (quantitative analysis) and discourse analysis (qualitative analysis), a large number of opinions from people of various cultural backgrounds. The results of this study reveal a diversity of beliefs and attitudes towards Article 750, reflecting the complexity of the issue. In general, proponents of reform claim the law violates equality, rights and liberty. From opponents there was a strong push to conform rather than to recognize a need for individual choice. Moreover, the many personal narratives provided insight into issues on the ground and revealed how many in Japanese society have dealt with the law, social pressure and social expectations and why they have followed the path they have chosen.     

Macroeconomic Development and Civil Litigation

This paper contributes to the explanation of the tremendous rise in civil litigation activity in Austria over the last four decades by analysing the influence of macroeconomic conditions on civil litigation. We find that the number of transactions per individual—proxied by the level of real per capita GDP—positively influences the amount of litigation per capita. Inertia in litigious behavior reinforces effects. In the short run, however, we observe a countercyclical pattern of litigious activity. Cointegration analysis confirms the short run negative association, and a long run cointegrating relationship between GDP and civil litigation. Several robustness tests corroborate our results. Rent-seeking interpretations, and possible detrimental effects on the long run growth prospects cannot be excluded.     

民事审前准备程序研究

民事审前准备程序,是指法院正式开庭审理民事纠纷前,为充分辩论所做的一切准备活动及其过程。我国民事诉讼法虽然规定了开庭前的准备条款,但这些准备活动主要集中于法院(法官)之准备工作,缺乏当事人的参与,忽略了当事人作为诉讼主体的权利保护,建立和完善审前准备程序应是我国民事审判制度改革的关键环节。     

英美民事证据开示若干问题研析

作为实现司法正义的重要手段,英美的民事证据开示制度发挥了关键作用。从"形而上"的角度看,该制度背后最基本的理念是FairPlay精神。本文主要从微观角度对证据开示的一些具体制度,即开示的主体、对象、范围、时限要求、法定例外、有关专家证言是否开示、相关会议安排以及对滥用开示制度的法律制裁等进行研讨。证据开示制度内容丰富,程序严谨,有利于平等保护双方当事人的权益,值得我国学习和借鉴。