Ubuntu. The missing link in the rights discourse in post-apartheid transformation in South Africa

ABSTRACT

A human rights discourse has been central to both the anti-apartheid struggle of South Africa and the country's post-apartheid transformation. But in the drive to extend constitutionally mandated social and economic rights to all South Africans, the approach has had shortcomings. The current neo-liberal economic policy framework constrains policy choices and, in some instances, restricts fair adjudication of rights by the courts. The revival of notions of African Renaissance and indigenous ethnophilosophies, notably ubuntu, which shares the primacy of human dignity of a rights discourse, offers new perspectives. This article looks at the limitations of the human rights discourse and at how ubuntu, as a principled basis for judicial decision making, can contribute to the evolution of the rights discourse in South Africa and lead towards greater realisation of constitutional rights for all.     

The Politics of Universalisation: Establishing National Health Services in Southern Europe

Italy, Portugal, Greece and Spain have enacted reform laws during the last 20 years with the intention of turning their health insurance systems into national health services. Universalisation of access to public health care was at the centre of the political debates which led to the passing of the reform laws. This article analyses the policy-making processes that allowed for such institutional change, as well as achievements and shortcomings of the implementation processes that followed. The analysis draws on the insights of the actor-centred neo-institutionalist approach in the policy sciences.     

DIFFERING OPINIONS DO NOT SPOIL FRIENDSHIPS: MANAGING PUBLIC–PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP (PPP) INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS IN JORDAN

This research investigates the approaches, strategies and challenges facing the management of the implementation phase of public–private partnership (PPP) projects in Jordan. Jordan is a newer but common user of PPPs in the Middle Eastern region, where PPPs not only are of economic strategic importance but also entail significant investment risk given resource scarcity. This research involves semi‐structured interviews with senior managers representing different partnering organisations in two case study organisations in Jordan. The research finds that, despite the management difficulties confronting PPP managers, strategies adopted by them limit the impact of these challenges. The research makes an important theoretical contribution in providing a detailed analysis of effective PPP management approaches in response to difficulties at the implementation phase, which had not been systematically explored in extant PPP research, and broadens PPP research to the Jordanian context. Moreover, the research contributes greater understanding of how partnerships should be effectively managed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Elections and landmark policies in Tanzania and Uganda

Much of the relevant literature on Africa downplays the salience of elections for policy-making and implementation. Instead, the importance of factors such as clientelism, ethnicity, organized interest groups, and donor influence, is emphasized. We argue that, in addition, elections now motivate political elites to focus on policies they perceive to be able to gain votes. This is based on analyses of six landmark decisions made during the last 15 years in the social, productive, and public finance sectors in Tanzania and Uganda. Such policies share a number of key characteristics: they are clearly identifiable with the party in power; citizens are targeted countrywide; and policy implementation aims at immediate, visible results.     

农民专业合作社承担土地整治工作初析

农民专业合作社承担土地整治工作是土地整治实施模式创新的重要方向,也符合国家扶持农民专业合作社发展的政策要求。有关地区关于开展合作社承担土地整治工作的实践探索取得了一定成效,但也面临合作社管理不规范、与现行规定不符合、相关支持政策不配套和实施监管制度不健全等问题,需要从加强制度建设、创新项目管理、做好政策配套、强化监督指导和扩大宣传示范等方面加大支持力度,有序推进农民专业合作社承担土地整治工作,持续创新土地整治实施模式。     

刑法视野下的法律拟制新探——价值协调与机制缺失

法律拟制大致经历了从诉讼拟制到实体拟制、从司法拟制到立法拟制、从技术拟制到规范拟制的发展进程,它是工具价值与规范价值相融合的产物,从本质上讲,它是一种有意识的＂立法类推＂。刑法拟制本身并没有是否违反罪刑法定原则的问题,只有法律拟制的工具价值是否受到规范价值的制约并与之协调的问题,对于我国刑法中拟制条款的质疑与检讨就是看其设置是否符合刑法的目的。法律拟制除了规范价值的内在制约外,还需要合宪性审查机制的外在制约。     

UNDERSTANDING DEVELOPMENT PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION: AN ACTOR‐NETWORK PERSPECTIVE

Development projects are central to international development, yet the actual practice of their implementation is under‐researched. In particular, we know little about how practice affects project performance and about how politics is enacted within such projects. This paper investigates these knowledge gaps through analysis, using actor‐network theory (ANT), of a donor‐funded reform project in the Sri Lankan public sector. By analysing, using mobilisation, interaction and disintegration of the local and global actor‐networks that typically surround such development projects, the paper explains the project's trajectory. These actions represent the practice of politics that must, in turn, be understood in relation to network actor power: not through a static conception of ‘capacitive power’ but through the dynamic enacted concept of ‘associative power’. The paper concludes by reflecting on the contribution and limitations of ANT's local/global networks component in analysing development projects, and in providing insights for development project practice. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

政治文明的宪政维度

政治文明是个历史的范畴 ,不能无指向、无语境地空谈。如果以近现代意义上的宪法诞生为界限 ,那么 ,在此之前的“政治文明”即古典政治文明 ,与宪政似无太大联系 ;但宪法诞生后 ,政治文明就与宪政形成了不可分割的结构性关联。从历史理性的角度看 ,宪政是近现代政治文明的必然选择 ,是近现代政治文明的基础与标志 ;从功能分析的角度看 ,宪政比民主更契合近现代政治文明的核心内容 ,更适合充当近现代政治文明之“核心”这一角色 ;从价值理性的角度看 ,宪政的“真”、“善”、“美”内质使其鹤立于一般的政治要素群 ,宪政乃近现代政治文明之灵魂。     

行政主体的义务范畴研究

行政主体的义务范畴是一个非常重要的行政法学理论问题,在现代法治政府之下政府行政系统的责任越来越突出,“责任政府”概念也成了政治学、行政法以及行政法学解释相关问题的基本概念。在责任政府这一现代理论的指导下,行政主体对公民、社会、国家承担义务就自然而然地成了行政法治以及行政法理论的核心问题,与之相对应,行政主体义务的基本范畴就成了近年来各国行政法学关注的热点问题。行政主体应具有推行宪法和法律,接受立法和司法监督,改善社会环境和促进社会发展,使国内事务与国际事务接轨等宪法义务;具有为行政相对人提供利益和保护,为行政行为说明理由和承担赔偿责任等行政法义务。     

宪法修改与宪法解释

宪法修改和宪法解释都是宪法演进的方式,但宪法解释是顺着宪法文本的原意往前走,而宪法修改则是对宪法文本的改变或补充,它多多少少改变了其方向——不是整个宪法的方向,而是宪法中的某些条文的方向。考察我国现行宪法的31条修正案,其中有些条文是应该修改、必须修改、也是只能用修正案的形式而很难用宪法解释的方式表现的;但也有些条文是可以用宪法解释的方法、而不必启动宪法修正案的形式加以改变的。