Hukou and land: market reform and rural displacement in China

Scholarship about the Chinese hukou (household registration) system has focused on the advantages and entitlements associated with urban hukou. This paper shifts attention to the key entitlement provided by rural hukou – village land. While early hukou reforms were mainly designed to open up urban labor markets to rural migrants, recent reforms have also begun to open up rural land markets, by replacing hukou-based land rights with market-based rights. These reforms are designed to facilitate land concentration and the transfer of land to outside developers and agribusiness companies, which has been hindered by hukou-based land rights. Underlying the reforms is the government's agenda of promoting large-scale agriculture and urbanization, both of which require the removal of a large portion of the rural population from the land. By focusing on land rights rather than urban benefits, this paper provides a new perspective on the evolution of the hukou system, and highlights the negative implications of recent reforms for livelihood security in the countryside.     

Controlling land they call their own: access and women's empowerment in Northern Tanzania

Formal rights to land are often promoted as an essential part of empowering women, particularly in the Global South. We look at two grassroots non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working on land rights and empowerment with Maasai communities in Northern Tanzania. Women involved with both NGOS attest to the power of land ownership for personal empowerment and transformations in gender relations. Yet very few have obtained land ownership titles. Drawing from Ribot and Peluso's theory of access, we argue that more than ownership rights to land, access – to land, knowledge, social relations and political processes – is leading to empowerment for these women, as well as helping to keep land within communities. We illustrate how the following are key to both empowerment processes and protecting community and women's land: (1) access to knowledge about legal rights, such as the right to own land; (2) access to customary forms of authority; and (3) access to a joint social identity – as women, as ‘indigenous people’ and as ‘Maasai'. Through this shared identity and access to knowledge and authority, women are strengthening their access to social relations (amongst themselves, with powerful political players and NGOs), and gaining strength through collective action to protect land rights.     

The Impact of the Unemployment Rate on Unemployment Benefits in Barbados: An Impulse Response Approach

The purpose of this article is to determine how the rate of unemployment will impact on unemployment benefits in Barbados using annual data from 1982 to 2009 with the use of an impulse response function. The results show that when a shock is applied to the rate of unemployment, which causes it to rise, unemployment benefits will contract marginally and this reaction will not stabilize until the 14th period when a new equilibrium will be attained. Since this new equilibrium will lie below the original equilibrium, rising unemployment will impact negatively on unemployment benefits although this decline will only be marginal.     

小议侦查程序中的人权保障

侦查程序是刑事诉讼中非常重要的一个环节,然而,由于长期以来侦查机构权力过大,得不到有效制约,而屡屡发生侵犯公民权利的事件。为此,我们应当构建一种能够有效制约侦查权力的司法机制,以实现侦查程序中的人权保障。     

法律如何在"社会情境"下存在——读昂格尔的《批判法学运动》

在对自由主义法学传统中的形式主义和客观主义批判的基础上,昂格尔提出"偏差原则"与重塑民主和市场制度形式的主张.这其中,以对法律与社会的适当关系的认知为理论支撑点,以权利体系的重新规定为主要内容之一.认为制度设计和"社会情境"的相互彰显是昂格尔思想中的核心之一,故以其为切入点,围绕法律如何在"社会情境"下存在这一问题,分析昂格尔意义下的"社会情境"的理论内涵和这一场景下昂格尔对法律中权利体系的方案设计,并对其理论构想的成立与否做出评价.     

论"非羁押式强制措施"的刑期折抵——以权利保障为视角

我国的刑事法律仅规定"羁押"的日期应当在被告人被判处的自由刑中予以折抵,而将取保候审、监视居住这样的"非羁押式强制措施"限制人身自由的日期排除于折抵刑期之外.从刑事司法公正、被追诉人的权利保障及权利与义务的对等性三方面论述"非羁押式强制措施"应予折抵刑期的合理性和正当性,并提出具体的立法建议.     

英国普通法"程序先于权利原则"的思考

"程序先于权利"是英国普通法中一项重要的原则,它产生和发展于令状制度的兴起与成熟,而之所以能够在普通法中形成程序决定权利的格局,不仅在于权利本身就和程序之间有着密切的联系,还在于英国经验主义哲学传统中以程序为核心的思维方式.     

由建设社会主义新农村看"农民工"权益保障

党的十六届五中全会提出了建设社会主义新农村的重大历史任务,这不仅是解决"三农"问题的重大战略举措,而且是一项惠及广大农民的民心工程.作为从农民中剥离出来的农民工是城市化发展的必然结果也是建设社会主义新农村的必然要求,然而面对农民工的权利伤害对建设社会主义新农村构成了一个障碍,因此有必要采取相关对策以实现建设社会主义新农村的终极目的.     

有限责任视野下公司内部人控制的合理性分析

内部人控制是现代公司制企业中普遍存在的现象,运用股东有限责任制度、公司独立人格制度和权利义务对等原理对内部人控制存在的原因进行分析发现,就公司权力配置的应然状态而言,内部人控制有其存在的制度空间、组织基础和法理依据,其作为经营管理层面上的控制权,存在于股东有限责任制度所构建的权利和利益平衡体系之中.     

一种双重面向的权利——论福利权的法律性质

尽管,福利权为美国学者所采取的主要用语,但在其他不采用该用语的国家,福利权的类似争论也在进行.其中,主要涉及到福利权是消极权利还是积极权利、福利权是道德权利抑或法律权利以及其是否需要宪法规定.而事实上,福利权可能更是一种带有混合性质的权利,在不同的面向上需要不同的保障方式.