The provenance of émigrés: the validity of measuring knowledge of places

Establishing the origin of those seeking asylum is essential but difficult as asylum seekers often cannot corroborate their origin claim with documents. The aim of the present study was to assess whether asking knowledge questions, sketch questions and impossible questions are valid methods to determine the veracity of an origin claim. Participants (N?=?105) from Tilburg (truth-tellers), Maastricht (partial liars) and Gothenburg (full liars) were asked to convince an interviewer that they originated from Tilburg. Half of them prepared and half of them did not prepare themselves for the interview. They were asked 10 knowledge questions typically asked to assess the credibility of origin claims, 4 impossible questions and 1 sketch question. Participants from Tilburg answered more questions correctly than participants from Maastricht and Gothenburg. Performance also improved with preparation. Even though the results did provide some support for the validity of assessing claims about origin by asking knowledge questions, the differences between the groups were modest, and it was impossible to correctly identify all truth-tellers and liars. Changing the output modality from verbal answering to sketching contributed to the credibility assessment of origin claims, whereas impossible questions were not discriminatory.     

论民事诉讼中的第三人

目前,我国民事诉讼第三人制度已不能充分满足社会实践的发展要求,有必要在理解、巩固第三人制度的基础上,吸收先进国家有关第三人规定的经验,科学设计,不断完善民事诉讼第三人制度。文章根据我国民事诉讼第三人的法定分类,分别对有独立请求权第三人和无独立请求权第三人进行了论述,以期丰富民事诉讼第三人制度。     

The Insurance Act 2015: Rebalancing the Interests of Insurer and Assured

The Insurance Act 2015 is the first piece of legislation since the eighteenth century to seek to lay down new principles governing the formation and operation of insurance contracts. Exactly 250 years after Lord Mansfield articulated the routinely‐cited principle of utmost good faith in insurance law in Carter v Boehm (1766) 2 Burr 1905, that principle has been recast, with important implications for both the pre‐ and post‐contractual duties of the parties. The Insurance Act has also imposed important restrictions on the enforcement of policy terms by insurers, and clarifies the law affecting fraudulent claims. The Marine Insurance Act 1906, a codifying measure, looks increasingly outmoded.     

Long-term monarchical survival in the Middle East: a configurational comparison, 1945–2012

The survival of eight monarchies during the “Arab Uprisings” has put centre stage the fundamental question about the durability of this subtype of authoritarian regime. Seen from a broader historical perspective, however, the idea that monarchies have an inherent advantage in retaining power is less evident: a number of authoritarian monarchies broke down and subsequently became republics (Egypt 1952, Iraq 1958, North Yemen 1962, Libya 1969, Iran 1979), while others survived (Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates). To account for these divergent long-term pathways we systematically compare the 13 current and former Middle East monarchies. Using a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), we concentrate on five central explanatory factors derived from previous research – namely, external support, rent revenues, family participation, the monarch's claim to legitimate rule, and hard repression. Our findings highlight the existence of three broad pathways to monarchical survival – linchpin monarchies, like Jordan and Morocco, versus the dynastic Gulf monarchies – and also reveal a possible hybrid third pathway, one which shares linchpin characteristics, but relates to cases on the Arabian Peninsula (Oman and the historical Imamate in North Yemen).     

环境民事公益诉讼的理解与完善

《中华人民共和国民事诉讼法》第55条创设了我国的环境民事公益诉讼制度,以规制污染环境等损害社会公共利益的行为。然而该规定过于粗陋。本文分析了设立民事公益诉讼制度的正当性基础,并对环境公益诉讼的纠纷的可诉性、当事人适格、及诉之类型和诉讼请求等基本问题予以界定。同时,本文认为构建与适用环境民事公益诉讼制度不应脱离我国的司法状况和具体国情,而应在此基础上进行具体完善。     

论我国小额诉讼程序制度的完善

新修订的民事诉讼法确立了小额诉讼程序制度,对我国民事司法审判格局产生了重要影响。但在实践中,由于立法不完善,规则欠缺,导致出现了在司法过程中小额诉讼程序被基层法院和法官虚置的状况。国外主要发达国家适用小额诉讼程序的实践经验对我国司法实践具有积极的启示借鉴意义。笔者以A、B两地基层法院小额诉讼程序适用的实证调查为基础,提出了降低程序启动标准、降低小额诉讼案件收费标准、成立专门机构、统一审理模式等对策建议,以兹我国小额诉讼程序制度立法司法借鉴与完善。     

回溯性求偿与国际战争的诱发

既有理性主义战争成因理论认为围绕战争的预期效用计算主导着国家冲突行为的选择。将沉没成本和各类既往互动经历纳入效用计算在上述理论路径下被视为非理性行为。这种理论偏见限制了理性主义战争成因理论的解释力。事实上，对于物质和时间沉没成本的关注导致了国家行为体互动时呈现极端的相对收益敏感。为规避特定一方的相对物质收益或时间优势过度累积而使冲突双方实力失衡，自认为处于损失框架下的国家不时地采取无法被对方所接受的回溯性求偿行为，进而使冲突双方的和解方案交集被极大限缩；加之求偿国与被求偿国判断对方所持决策框架时产生的认知落差，冲突双方的风险承担意愿随之增加，同时双方也高估对方的敌意而低估对方的冲突决心，冲突升级为战争的可能性因而增加。2022年的乌克兰危机和第一次世界大战前的军事动员竞赛可以分别论证两类典型的回溯性求偿行为——围绕物质利益争夺展开的受害者—加害者战略互动和为争夺时间优势而被迫采取的后发先至策略——对国际战争的诱发性影响。