Relatively Absolute? The Undermining of Article 3 ECHR in Ahmad v UK

The recent decision of the European Court of Human Rights in Ahmad v UK dangerously undermines the well‐established case law of the Court on counter‐terrorism and non‐refoulement towards torture, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment. Although ostensibly rejecting the ‘relativist’ approach to Article 3 ECHR adopted by the House of Lords in Wellington v Secretary of State for the Home Department, the Court appeared to accept that what is a breach of Article 3 in a domestic context may not be a breach in an extradition or expulsion context. This statement is difficult to reconcile with the jurisprudence constante of the Court in the last fifteen years, according to which Article 3 ECHR is an absolute right in all its applications, including non‐refoulement, regardless of who the potential victim of torture, inhuman or degrading treatment is, what she may have done, or where the treatment at issue would occur.     

Constructing courts after communism: Reevaluating the effect of electoral uncertainty

A prominent view in political science is that electoral uncertainty leads institutional designers to prefer independent and powerful courts. Yet few scholars have examined the design of constitutional courts systematically across Eastern Europe and those who have employed the results of elections held after constitutions were adopted to estimate the actors' perceptions of the balance of power prior to the court's design. This work reevaluates the effects of electoral uncertainty in post-communist Europe using more appropriate data and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to outline the different causal configurations linking electoral uncertainty to the initial judicial empowerment.     

Japan: Still searching for a role

Japan's Rise to International Responsibilities: The Case of Arms Control, by Reinhard Drifte. Athlone Press, London, 1990. xi + 112 pp. £25. ISBN 0–485–11385–6.

Japanese Defence: The Search for Political Power, by S. Javed Maswood. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, 1990. ix + 113 pp. US$12.00. ISBN 981–3035–39–0.

The Emergence of Japan's Foreign Aid Policy, by Robert M. Orr Jnr. Columbia University Press, New York, 1990. x + 178 pp. $32.00. ISBN 0–231–07046–2.

Same Bed, Different Dreams: America and Japan—Societies in Transition, edited by Alan D. Romberg and Tadashi Yamamoto. Council on Foreign Relations Press, New York, 1990. xi + 138 pp. $14.95 paperback. ISBN 0–87609–082‐X.     

Politics of Trade in Post‐neoliberal Latin America: The Case of Bolivia

Deploying a two‐level perspective, this article analyses the regional and domestic space that the Morales administration has in which to implement the vision of trade articulated in its Plan Nacional de Desarrollo (PND; National Development Plan). Regionally the Morales administration has attempted to combine the solidarity principles of the Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América (ALBA; Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America) with the market‐oriented growth possibilities provided by more orthodox integration projects such as the Comunidad Andina de Naciones (CAN; Andean Community of Nations) and the Mercado Común del Sur (Mercosur; Southern Common Market). Domestically the Movimiento al socialismo (MAS; Movement Toward Socialism) government must negotiate the destabilising effects of its trade strategy in a polarised national context where business and civil society actors are critiquing from their respective positions both the solidarity principles and market‐oriented elements of the PND trade strategy.     

论后工业时代的生态伦理思维

随着工业革命的发展,21世纪人类进入了以科技和信息为标准的后工业时代。在这一时代,生态危机越来越严重,已经成为工业社会的“瓶颈”。因此,后工业时代的任务在加速发展科技和经济的同时还有一个更为严峻的问题——生态问题。要解决生态问题,我们需要的就是生态伦理思维。生态伦理思维有利于我们改变工业革命时期的不良思维,为后工业时代更好发展提供便利。     

社区矫正的性质再论

社区矫正的性质关乎其今后的发展方向。针对我国现阶段社区矫正的实践现状,必须对社区矫正的性质进行准确定位,由此引发对社区矫正有关的处遇定义、理论根基、价值理念、法律规定、国外经验的梳理,最终认定其为一种综合性的非监禁处遇措施,并在正确定位后进行了一系列改革措施的构想。     

经济赔偿与国家刑罚权关系的正确解读

文章通过＂赔钱赎刑＂现象,结合办案实践,多方面深入解读经济赔偿与国家刑罚权的关系。同时提出了建立财产保全、国家补偿制度、丰富非刑罚惩罚手段等建议,以期发挥经济赔偿在新刑罚改革中的作用,为刑事案件轻缓化处理提供更为合理的法律依据。     

和谐社会之历史源流与宪政分析

中国和西方古典和谐社会思想有较大差异:中国古代思想家形成了一套以“和谐”为根本价值基础的完整理论体系,其中涉及社会理想、伦理道德、治国理念、民本思想等等;西方古代的合谐思想包含公平与正义、城邦公民的公共利益、限制君主权力滥用等系列内容。和谐社会是以人为本,尊重人格、保障人权、体恤人性与追求人自身的自由全面发展的社会,宪政的根本价值内核也在于将人置于崇高的地位,二者相通之处都在于凸显人、尊重人、保障人,实现人的全面发展。以人为本既是和谐社会的评判标准也是宪政的根本出发点。     

口供补强证据规则基本问题初探

在我国刑事诉讼中,犯罪嫌疑人的供述发挥着直接证据的诉讼功能。建立口供补强证据规则非常必要和迫切。《刑事诉讼法》第46条的规定充其量只是具有证据补强意义的制度设计,而不是补强证据规则本身。我国应加强对口供补强证据规则基本问题的研究,同时借鉴美日等国有关补强证据规定,建立和完善我国的口供补强证据规则。