Establishing a Social-Darwinist Mentality in Japan’s Paternalist State: The Potential of Resistance by a Counter-Public

ABSTRACT

From a historical perspective, the welfare net in Japan was established from above without democratic participation and expanded only slowly. This expansion in many cases was aimed at enhancing national cohesion, especially during war time. During the current neoliberal era, Japan’s paternalistic welfare state has been able to put into practice the dismantling of national pension and health-care systems without the need for any theoretical re-orientation. In response, counter-publics have engaged in protest and resistance. By doing so, the victims of modernization and those who are socially weak and disadvantaged in multiple ways are able to regain their self-esteem and personal integrity.     

A Conceptual Typology of Kin‐State Mediation

In this article, I argue that kin states can play major roles in international mediation processes involving their kin communities. Although kin states may be naturally biased toward their kin, kin states are sometimes actively involved in mediation processes and such involvement is even encouraged by third‐party mediators. In this study, I divide the various roles assumed by kin states in mediation into four main conceptual categories: promoter, quasi‐mediator, powerbroker, and enforcer. My analysis presumes that a kin state can use its close ties with its kin community to make third‐party mediation more successful. I support and illustrate this model using cases of kin‐state involvement in peace processes and examine both the benefits and complications that kin‐state mediation can entail. This study contributes to scholarship examining the effectiveness of biased mediators. I conclude that the role a kin state assumes in a mediation is often context‐dependent, but that third‐party mediators and the international community can use their leverage over kin states to improve the peace process.     

The Minimal State and Indigent Defense

Very few scholars discuss the moral basis of the right of persons accused of crimes to be supplied with attorneys if they cannot afford them. More discussion of the topic is needed, in particular because political theorists who prefer a minimal state deny that indigent persons have such a moral right. This article addresses their contentions by developing three arguments for supplying poor persons accused of crimes with defense attorneys. First, doing so will prevent state officials from becoming emboldened in their dealings with the poor, such that they might come to pose a threat to the non-poor. Second, poor persons who believe that the state does not treat them fairly will have reduced incentives to abide by the law, which will, in turn, increase the cost of the minimal state. Third, the better off should show solidarity with the poor in demanding that the minimal state honor all citizens’ rights to life, liberty, and property. Crucial to these arguments is the claim that a right of indigent defense is unlike other welfare rights in that securing it protects other basic moral rights that minimal statists acknowledge.     

论警察枪械致害之国家责任

《人民警察使用警械和武器条例》规定了警察违法或合法使用武器造成人员伤亡、财产损失时应该承担的法律责任。由于相关规范抽象模糊,以致在司法实践中滋生不少亟待解决的问题,有必要重新探讨警察用枪行为的性质,构建警察枪械致害赔偿案件统一的救济模式。同时,警察用枪合法与否的判断有赖于一套科学、公正的枪案调查制度。经客观、专业的枪案调查,如若警察用枪行为合法则,警察机关应承担国家补偿责任,相应的补偿渠道和补偿标准值得探讨。     

国家赔偿费用支付方式存在的问题及解决办法

我国现行国家赔偿法对国家赔偿费用支付方式的规定,在落实中存在若干问题。建议从以下几个方面对其予以完善：一是建立统一的国家赔偿基金;二是由申请人直接向国家赔偿基金管理部门申请赔偿;三是建立公正合理的国家赔偿评估机制;四是限制国家赔偿基金管理部门的审查权。     

国有资源有偿使用收入：经验与借鉴

随着国有资源使用制度改革的不断深入,国有资源管理制度不断完善,资源管理逐渐由实物管理向资产化管理转变,资源性收益已成为政府非税收入的重要组成部分。我省作为资源大省,国内外国有资源（资产）管理的经验对我省大有可借鉴之处。     

析中国古代家族法

家族法是中国古代法制中的一个独特现象,有其产生的特殊背景。我国古代家族法与国家法并存,形成一种二元结构。古代中国家族法作为国家法的补充,发挥了重要的作用,在今天看来,仍然有一定可取之处。但是,它毕竟是古代奴隶制、封建制的产物,也有其内在的不足。     

论警务实战指挥决策风险与控制

指挥决策风险在警务实战行动中是客观存在的。风险与决策风险是由若干要素构成的。在实战中,决策风险直接影响和制约指挥活动的成效,决定实战行动的成败。通过分析,我们可以了解和掌握影响决策风险的要素。对指挥决策风险进行有效控制,这是公安机关指挥员的一个重要任务和课题。     

贴近实战 进一步提高公安民警警务技战术水平

随着全国公安机关大练兵的深入开展,辽宁省公安民警的技战术水平有了长足的进步,公安队伍正规化建设和公安各项工作呈现良好的发展态势。文章肯定了辽宁省公安民警技战术水平已取得的较好成绩,同时也提出了现有的技战术水平在一定程度上还不能与履行职务和警务实战行动相适应,还需进一步提高,明确指出了以考促训、贴近实战、注重实效、真正树立“练为战”服务的指导思想。     

Changing South Korean Water Policy after Political and Economic Liberalisation

This study explores the way in which South Korean water policy has been dynamically (re-)constructed by continuing political contestations among diverse social forces acting in and through the state in the face of political and economic liberalisation. The path-dependency of the state-driven water resource policy under the former authoritarian regime did not disappear even after the democratisation. It was difficult to transform the old authoritarian and hierarchical water governance to the newly democratic and environmentally friendly one because the Ministry of Construction, as a main actor in driving water policy under the authoritarian regimes, did not give up its interest in a dam-based policy orientation, although it did partially accept institutional tools for democratic policy making, such as public hearings and the participation of civil society in the process of establishing the water policy plan. It also showed democratic and environment-friendly gestures using the rhetoric of environmentalism and localisation. Overall, this article emphasises the importance of the path-dependency of the past authoritarian regimes under democratised society to better understand the current democratic regime’s policy orientation.