How to change other people's institutions: discursive entrepreneurship and the boundary object of competition/competitiveness in the German banking sector

Abstract

The paper explores recent public debates about the structure of the financial system in Germany. It pays particular attention to their symbolic-strategic dimension, that is, to attempts by several institutional entrepreneurs to reformulate the criteria of organizational legitimacy, concentrating on the sense-making and legitimization processes involved in institutional persistence or change. The paper discourse-analyses a campaign by institutional entrepreneurs – mainly representatives of commercial banks – who attempted to homogenize the criteria of organizational legitimacy in the German banking sector by questioning the fundamentals of the three-pillar system and the non-commercial banks. Institutional entrepreneurs are understood as discursive entrepreneurs whose actions refer to institutionalized generalizations of value. In the case of the financial sector in Germany, it was the generalized value of competition/competitiveness that served as a discursive device to legitimize the attempts of commercial banks to alter the institutional structure.     

“HEALTHFUL GOODS”: HEALTH,HYGIENE, AND COMMERCIAL CULTURE IN EARLY TWENTIETH-CENTURY SHANGHAI

Abstract

This article examines the development of Shanghai’s household-chemical industry, which produced and sold soap, toothpowder, and toothpaste, and other personal hygiene items, and discusses how the ideas of health and hygiene became an integral part of the city’s commercial culture in the early twentieth century. Through various commercial strategies, Shanghai’s businessmen promoted their commodities and hygiene practices simultaneously. They also actively participated in mass movements organized by the Nationalist state, since such movements provided a marketing opportunity for them. This article argues that precisely because they were doing business, Shanghai’s small entrepreneurs successfully connected personal hygiene, national strength, and the act of buying.     

论建设工程合同规范定位的嬗变及完善

建设工程合同的规范调整,经历了从统一到分离的长期演变过程,其最终从承揽合同中分离乃因其规范的法律关系的特殊性。然而此种特殊性已非民事合同规范所能容纳或解决,未来建设工程合同制度的规范定位,有待注重商事合同规则和社会公共利益的要求。     

商品房买卖预约合同强制履行的适用研究

对于商品房买卖预约合同强制履行的问题,理论界在争议过程中基本形成了"强制缔结本约-强制履行本约"的通说。但是该通说无法避免自身的缺陷,而且司法实务中肯定或否定商品房买卖预约合同强制履行的裁判立场并存,该争议并无真正的定论。通过选取样本,统计分析商品房买卖预约合同实务案例中体现出的违约方、违约原因、卖方和卖方的违约比例等,根据利益平衡和保护购房者一方的理念,应仅支持商品房买受人关于商品房买卖预约合同强制履行的主张,而房地产开发企业作为出卖人的情形,不支持其关于强制履行的请求。     

A Bonfire of the Regulations,or Business as Usual? The UK Labour Market and the Political Economy of Brexit

Employment and labour market regulation initially appeared as one of the solid red lines in the UK's renegotiation of the country's place in the EU. The basic argument is that the UK's more deregulated labour market would sit uneasily in the more organised models, based on statutory instruments or collective bargaining, found on the continent. While there is a legitimate problem here, EU employment regulations appear manageable from the point of view of business, while unions see them as important tools for socially responsible economic restructuring. Most of UK employment case law is now deeply entangled with EU law; labour market regulations have, on the whole, become part of the way of doing business in the Single Market; and a simple cost–benefit analysis appears impossible because some costs are not quantifiable and the costs of others are reduced when taken as a bundle. Labour unions agree that transposition of European law needs to be done taking into account local sensitivities, while internationally oriented companies do not see EU regulations on the whole as detrimental to business. Importantly, though, the costs and benefits of EU employment regulations are not symmetrically distributed across different companies: large companies are better able to reap the rewards and accommodate the costs of operating in the Single Market than smaller companies.     

Public Service and Commercial Broadcasting: Impacts on Politics and Society

This article provides an accessible overview of the growing research literature on the impact of public service and commercial broadcasting and highlights its main implications for policy discussions about the future of public service broadcasting in Western societies. It shows that the populations of countries with public service broad‐ and narrowcasting are better informed about government and politics, are more trusting of other people, have more positive civic attitudes, have greater confidence in democratic institutions and are more likely to engage in democratic politics. Moreover, levels of social trust are higher in countries which have a significant public service element in their media systems, even among individuals who do not habitually watch public TV channels. The article ends with a brief discussion of the implications of this research for the future of public broadcasting in the Western world.     

权利对行政的规范及其制度建构——依法行政机制的另一规范性维度

当前我国的依法行政机制是建基于人民主权这一宪法原则,围绕立法者授予行政机关管理职权的授权法规范,以行政主体——具体行政行为——司法审查为基本结构而建构的,其规范行政的法律逻辑是越权无效逻辑。但这一机制适用范围有限,而且公民权利不能作为行政之规范,而这又无形中导致行政机关形成只关注上级法令、不关注人民权利的行政思维。要全面规范行政,就必须在坚持授权法规范对行政的规范功能、加强行政正当性的同时,强调权利对行政的规范功能,通过确认公民与行政机关之间权利——义务关系的权利规范及违法有责逻辑来规范行政。为此,我们有必要重述依法行政原则,确立法律优先、违法有责原则,强化和提升国家赔偿法的规范地位,建构独立的行政赔偿诉讼类型。     

侵犯商业秘密罪中“重大损失”范围的基本解读

侵犯商业秘密罪作为结果犯,其“重大损失”的认定对罪与非罪具有重要意义.司法实践囿于缺乏法律的明确规定而对重大损失的范围界定模糊不清.从重大损失中“损失”界定的理论分野出发,对重大损失中物质性损失与非物质性损失、直接损失与间接损失的争端进行批判性反思,可形成对重大损失范围的清晰认识：提倡重大损失包括直接损失与间接损失具有理论合理性与实践需求的双重价值;物质性损失与非物质性损失的分类及纷争应予以消解.     

侵犯商业秘密罪的立法定位与司法认定

商业秘密在刑法中与在民商法、经济法中有不同的定位,基于刑法谦抑性,应对刑法中的商业秘密进行严格解释。刑法与民法是站在不同的立场,出于不同的目的看待损失的,在侵犯商业秘密罪中,重大损失认定的依据应以侵权获利额为原则,业秘密罪中常见的犯罪形态,在本罪的行为模式中,外的个人也有构成单位犯罪的可能。特殊情况下可参考许可使用费。单位犯罪是侵犯商个人的侵权行为与单位的行为具有对向性,单位之     

浅析内地与澳门区际民商事诉讼平行管辖权的协调

香港、澳门回归已过了10多年,“一国两制”政策在我国得到了充分的实施,使我国境内存在着“一国多法域”的现象,因此我国也出现了区际民商事诉讼平行管辖权冲突的问题.在实践中,我国区际民商事诉讼平行管辖权的冲突可以借鉴国际上的解决办法,以受诉在先原则、不方便法院原则等为指导,解决内地与澳门之间就同一关联案件管辖权的争执.