Clarity of responsibility and foreign policy performance voting

Do voters’ assessments of the government's foreign policy performance influence their vote intentions? Does the ‘clarity of responsibility’ in government moderate this relationship? Existing research on the United States demonstrates that the electorate's foreign policy evaluations influence voting behaviour. Whether a similar relationship exists across the advanced democracies in Europe remains understudied, as does the role of domestic political institutions that might generate responsibility diffusion and dampen the effect of foreign policy evaluations on vote choice. Using the attitudinal measures of performance from the 2011 Transatlantic Trends survey collected across 13 European countries, these questions are answered in this study through testing on incumbent vote the diffusion‐inducing effects of five key domestic factors frequently used in the foreign policy analysis literature. Multilevel regression analyses conclude that the electorate's ability to assign punishment decreases at higher levels of responsibility diffusion, allowing policy makers to circumvent the electoral costs of unpopular foreign policy. Specifically, coalition governments, semi‐presidential systems, ideological dispersion among the governing parties and the diverse allocation of the prime ministerial and foreign policy portfolios generate diffusion, dampening the negative effects of foreign policy disapproval on vote choice. This article contributes not only to the debate on the role of foreign policy in electoral politics, but also illustrates the consequential effects of domestic institutions on this relationship.     

Comparison of Impact of Procedural Justice and Outcome on Victim Satisfaction: Evidence From Victims’ Experience With Registration of Property Crimes in India

Crime victim–police interface and registration of crime are the early and fundamental interactions in the criminal justice system. The process of lodging a complaint is marked by the pain of victimization, sharing of information, and expectation of quick remedial action from the police. The nature and quality of experience of the victim and outcomes impact the level of satisfaction with services of police. Through a survey of victims of property crimes, in different areas of a state in India, the author examines the impact of procedural justice and outcomes on victim satisfaction. The study illuminates the outcome oriented expectations of the victim, and the unique dynamics of victim–police interaction, which strains the legal ethical framework of the criminal justice system.     

Choosing to be political: some reflections on youth activism in the US

This article explores youth activism in the US, not through the lens of collective action, but as the product of personal choices. By drawing on existentialism, and particularly on the work of Jean-Paul Sartre, this article proposes to shift the focus of the debate from youths’ collective action to the self – a conscious self that observes, perceives and makes sense of the surrounding world through personal experience. It is this conscious self that decides how, and whether, to intervene against the ‘wrong’ that the self experiences. In this perspective, it is not only the acts (of citizenship) that matter, but the conscious process through which the self chooses to become political. Such an understanding will ultimately help uncover not only how the undocumented act and how to conceptualise their acts but also how they perceive and experience their current status and who they want to become.     

Multinationals as global institution: Power,authority and relative autonomy

This article aims to inform the long‐standing and unresolved debate between voluntary corporate social responsibility and initiatives to impose binding legal obligations on multinational enterprises. The two approaches share a common feature: neither can fully specify its own scope conditions, that is, how much of the people and planet agenda either can expect to deliver. The reason they share this feature is also the same: neither is based on a foundational political analysis of the multinational enterprise in the context of global governance. Such an analysis is essential for providing background to and perspective on what either approach can hope to achieve, and how. This article begins to bridge the gap by illustrating aspects of the political power, authority, and relative autonomy of the contemporary multinational enterprise. The conclusion spells out some implications for the debate itself, and for further research.     

Conceptualising corporate community development

Globally there is an increasing focus on the private sector as a significant development actor. One element of the private sector’s role emphasised within this new focus has been corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, whereby the private sector claims to contribute directly to local development. There is now a substantial body of work on CSR but it is a literature that is mostly polarised, dominated by concerns from the corporate perspective, and not adequately theorised. Corporations typically do development differently from NGOs and donors, yet the nature and effects of these initiatives are both under-researched and under-conceptualised. In this paper we argue that viewing CSR initiatives through a community development lens provides new insights into their rationale and effects. Specifically we develop a conceptual framework that draws together agency and practice-centred approaches in order to illuminate the processes and relationships that underpin corporate community development initiatives.     

The Significant Development of the Exclusionary Rule of Illegal Evidence in China: from the Perspective of the Promulgation of “The Rule of Strict Exclusion of Illegal Evidence”

The function and value of exclusionary rule of illegal evidence lie not only in the prevention of mistrial, but also in the manifestation of procedural justice, the regulation of judicial conduct and the emphasis on the protection of human rights. The promulgation of “the rule of strict exclusion of illegal evidence” has made a positive response to the practical problems during the implementation of exclusionary rule of illegal evidence. Many provisions in this rule are much more strict than before, such as further defining the scope of illegal oral evidence, clarifying the method of excluding the repeated confessions, emphasizing the timeliness of exclusion of illegal evidence and the synchronization of supervision of investigation, attaching the importance of collection and application of process evidence, and exerting the review of the legitimacy of evidence in pre-trial conference. After the promulgation of “the rule of strict exclusion of illegal evidence”, we should continue to focus on the implementation of exclusionary rule of illegal evidence, ensuring its function of post-punishment and illegal prevention.     

Re-conceptualizing State Responsibility: Human Security Protection, Confl icts and Governance

Different from the perspective of traditional national security, human security is an essential component of non-traditional security. Human security is influenced by multi-dimensional factors. Human security will be threatened if one or more of these dimensional factors get twisted. Such threats, once accumulated to a certain level, may trigger a confl ict. While some factors may have a low correlation with confl ict, some other factors may have a multiplying effect in triggering the confl ict. Further, confl ict may be triggered by a single factor or multiple factors. Poor governance may lead to escalation of confl icts. Deep understanding of triggering effects and their correlation with confl icts is essential to addressing the root causes and the management of conflicts effectively. Concepts of human security, state responsibility of protection and neo-interventionism have been developed in succession. Though the people-centered security framework draws global attention, it should be recognized that there is no international consensus on an optimal type of governance. However, according to the Charter of the United Nations, the primary responsibilities of human security protection should be rested on the government of a state. The principle of sovereignty remains the fundamental principle of international relations, which should be the guiding principle for addressing human security issues.     

浅议开发商迟延办理商品房权属证书的法律责任

近年来商品房买卖合同纠纷案件的数量急剧上升，而其中又尤以开发商迟延办理权属证书引发纠纷的比例居多。此类纠纷的爆发具有群体性特征，开发商与购房者间的利益冲突尖锐．审理判决稍有疏失或法律适用未能完全说服当事人便可能引发社会秩序不稳的后果。因此。厘清实践中普遍存在的开发商迟延办理商品房权属证书的违约责任及其诉讼时效的法律依据与法学原理．为审判实践提供统一的适用标准与理论支撑无疑兼具重要的学术价值和现实意义。本文从该类纠纷所涉的基本法律概念与原理入手，通过综合比较学界的不同论点与法律、法规、司法解释的效力层级，力求清晰的体现审判实务中迟延办证违约责任追究及其诉讼时效的法律适用。     

大陆法系缺席判决制度价值取向研究——从缺席判决主义到一方辩论主义视角的考察

缺席判决制度自古罗马时即已有之,从缺席判决主义模式到一方辩论主义模式的变迁反映了缺席判决制度从纯粹作为的一种终结程序的手段和一种惩罚措施转向更加重视程序的正当性即程序公正问题,但就缺席判决制度本身而言,它是为了诉讼的效益而设。     

论农村社会保障法律制度构建中的政府责任——基于社会法视阈

农村社会保障法律关系错综复杂,政府、社会及农民在农村社会保障中既有相应的权力(利),也要履行一定的义务。行政法、经济法和社会法各自具有独特的法律价值和调整对象,本文分别基于这三个法域检视农村社会保障法律制度构建中的政府责任,考察农村社会保障法律制度构建中政府责任的越位和缺位,反思政府在构建农村社会保障法律制度中所发挥的主导和基础作用,提出在社会法视阈下政府应定位在承担法律制度构建、财政支撑和监督管理之责任。