英国革命、司审判与宪制转型:查理一世审判的宪制意义

对于查理一世的审判是英国革命的重要事件之一,然而长期以来学界只将其作为历史叙事的一部分,而忽略了审判本身的宪政意义.英国内战解决了主权归属的问题之后,革命者通过常规司法审判的方式清算了查理一世的内战罪行,创制终结君主豁免的先例,明确了国王在宪政体系中的地位.更为重要的是,通过常规司法审判清算旧政权下的专制王权,其官僚制色彩能够避免革命的暴力与意识形态之争摧毁常规国家建构的进程,从而有助于绝对主义国家向宪政国家的转型.     

美国经济等待"软着陆"

充当全球经济"火车头"的美国经济显出了疲态.美国商务部公布的最新统计数据显示,美国经济今年第三季度仅增长1.6%,不仅远远低于市场预期,而且创下了近4年来的最低季度增幅.     

宪政理念更新与经济体制转型的关系研究

中国经济的发展经历了从计划经济体制向市场经济体制的转变.经济体制的转型使得宪政理念由传统走向了现代.本文阐述了中国经济体制改革的目标,分析了宪政理念的更新与经济体制转型的关系,并进一步提出了完善宪政机制的要求,以期宪政理念更好的为经济体制转型服务.     

新制度经济学缘起之意识形态归因透析

新自由主义是新制度经济学的价值支撑。新制度经济学充当了新自由主义在当代中国的代言人。作为一种新自由主义思潮,新制度经济学缘起之意识形态归因主要有:凯恩斯主义的失效与福利国家的"破产"、自由主义思潮在经济领域的修正发展、经济全球化大肆渲染的资本主义意识形态及社会主义与资本主义两种制度的并存、竞争与对立等。对新制度经济学缘起之意识形态归因的透析有助于深刻认识其本质。     

论新教伦理意识形态人力资本的经济功能——"韦伯命题"的启示

新制度经济学家诺斯认为意识形态是能够产生极大外部效果的人力资本.以"韦伯命题"的论证为基础,分析了新教伦理孕育下的意识形态人力资本的载体以及新教徒的资本主义精神体现,并围绕"韦伯命题"的答案--新教伦理是资本主义文明在西方得以发展的精神动力,重点探讨了新教伦理的意识形态人力资本对资本主义企业的资本积累、劳动力储备、劳动力自我激励和自我约束、企业管理费用的节约以及企业家精神的培育等方面的重大作用,以此启示我国企业在制度构建过程中,要加强对企业文化核心层--企业精神和价值观等的建设,充分发挥意识形态人力资本这一非正式制度的作用.     

当代大学生主流意识形态教育对策研究

当代中国社会主流意识形态是以马克思主义为指导思想的社会主义核心价值体系,意识形态教育作为统治阶级服务的角色,承担着传播统治阶级意识形态的重要作用。当代大学生代表了中国的未来和希望,对当代大学生进行社会主义主流意识形态教育,不仅关系着大学生个体的成长,而且关系到国家和民族的发展,社会的进步。文章从加强主流意识形态教育的实效性,丰富主流意识形态教育途径和优化主流意识形态教育环境三个方面对当代大学生主流意识形态教育的对策进行了深入的研究。     

强世功对“不成文宪法”以及中国宪政秩序的研究

长期以来,由于中国的政权组织方式与西方所认同的模式有着相当大的出入,西方学术界普遍认为中国缺乏一套"合格的"宪政体系。但是我们不能简单地将宪政主义的发展与建设视为一项复制西方模式的"反向工程"。从功能的角度上来讲,一个宪政体系的成功运作并不取决于对西方政治制度的机械性效仿。这篇文章以强世功对"不成文宪法"以及中国宪政秩序的研究作为出发点,进一步对中国的宪政体系发展进行深层次的讨论。本文认为,中国宪政的发展道路在某种程度上并不违背新兴的全球宪政主义原则,因为国际上普遍认同的宪政原则需要根据中国自身条件,以一个有鲜明中国特色的方式被应用。中国宪政秩序的核心在于共产党的政治决策权与政府机关的行政管理权之间的分权模式。如果中国特色宪政可以得到适当的应用,我们没有理由将中国制度拒于普遍认同的宪法合法性之门外。     

创建发展一套健全的中国宪政理论——强世功有关中国宪政形式主义与合法性问题的论述

宪政原本是一种建立国家的方法,但这个概念逐渐演变成为一种大众民主和民意的表达形式,之后又以跨国宪政主义的形式迈向全球化。在诸多现代宪政体制中,基于马克思列宁主义理论的一党制度一直颇具争议性。这篇文章将关注强世功对中国一党宪政制度合理性及合法性的论述。本文同时还将探讨强世功针对中国制度所提出的一种结合基本民主机制与中国共产党代表性的一党宪政体系。强世功的研究并没有停留在有关合法性问题讨论的阶段上,他更关注的是中国宪政如何根据自身的逻辑实现长远发展。中国宪政发展取决于如何处理公民教育以及党与政府分权这两个关键问题。中国宪政秩序的核心为其独有的分权模式,即政府机构的行政权力(包括依法行政)与共产党的政治权力(包括国家宪法规范)之间的区分。     

当代中国宪政建设的路径分析

宪政是现代社会一种最合理的政治制度,实现宪政是现代国家政治的根本标志和常规形态,宪政之于中国可以说还是一个复杂而艰巨的系统工程.要推进我国宪政建设必须加强我国的各项制度建设,积极培育公民的宪政意识,并且切实加强对公民权利的保护,高度重视宪法的监督实施.     

论自由主义宪政在发展中所面临的困境

长期以来,人们一直将民主制度作为宪政必不可少的内容,但是随着后现代法学理论的不断发展,宪政在其发展过程中遇到了前所未有的挑战.他不仅没有促进民主制度的发展,反而从某种意义上限制了民主制度的发展.本文就从宪政发展的发展史以及民主制度发展的概念出发分析和梳理宪政发展过程中所遇到的问题,并提出了不成熟的解决方案.     

The normal, the natural, and the harmonic

Use is made of rigorous definitions for the terms normal, natural, and harmonic to reveal a number of unfamiliar aspects about them. The Gaussian distribution is not sufficient to determine who is normal, and fluctuations above or below a natural-growth curve may or may not be natural. A recipe for harmonically sustained natural growth requires that the overlap during the substitution process must be limited. As a consequence the overall growth process must experience good as well as bad “seasons”.     

The brain, the mind, and the future

Within psychology, brain research, and the sciences generally there has been a greater emphasis on the investigation of phenomena in terms of present and past than in terms of the future. This restriction in time frame has led not only to a fragmentation of theory and research in all the sciences, but also, in a time of great social, political, and economic change, to a failure by social science to provide the kind of guidance through improved prediction that might help ease our passage through this global turbulence. To remedy this situation much more work is needed in the relevant areas of brain research, in a closely wedded psychology of consciousness and the mind as a whole, and eventually in artificial intelligence and systems analysis as a means of testing and advancing theory. This article examines the basis for such an advance in the work of Luria, Pribram, and others with the frontal brain; Sperry, Bogen, and others with brain hemispheric differences; and von Neumann and others in artificial intelligence and systems analysis. It examines the nature of the prediction task philosophically and psychologically, states a model for brain functioning and forecasting suggested by a synthesis of prior research, and reports the supporting evidence for this model from philosophy, psychology, cybernetics, and recent experimental and field studies. It closes with a consideration of needs for continuing research and the implications of advancement in this area for science and society.     

Luddites, the industrial revolution, and the demographic transition

Technological change was unskilled-labor-biased during the early industrial revolution, but is skill-biased today. This implies a rich set of non-monotonic macroeconomic dynamics which are not embedded in extant unified growth models. We present historical evidence and develop a model which can endogenously account for these facts, where factor bias reflects profit-maximizing decisions by innovators. In a setup with directed technological change, and fixed as well as variable costs of education, initial endowments dictate that the early industrial revolution be unskilled-labor-biased. Increasing basic knowledge then causes a growth takeoff, an income-led demand for fewer but more educated children, and a transition to skill-biased technological change in the long run.     

OPEC, rationality, and the macroeconomy

This paper builds a simple two-nation macro-model which includes a large manufacturing economy, such as the OECD and OPEC. Its distinguishing feature is that OPEC is a revenue-maximizing cartel who exploits the imperfectly elastic oil demand curve emerging from the rest of the world's use of imported oil as an intermediate good. Unlike the case of a small open economy facing OPEC, the large open economy is found to have a vertical aggregate supply curve. Consequently, anticipated macro-policies have no effect on real GNP. Moreover, micro-policies which induce the adoption of oil-saving technologies are also found to be neutral.     

Computers,Input-Output,and the Future

While all regions are exposed to natural hazards, most disasters (such as droughts, earthquakes, extreme temperatures, floods, slides, storms, volcanoes and wildfires) tend to occur in developing regions. Underdeveloped countries and poor people concentrate the un-natural impact of natural hazards, deepening the existent inequalities within and across countries. The paper analyzes the empirical evidence on the incidence of disasters and maps worldwide disaster risks, to then assess the factors as to why disaster risk concentrates on certain people, areas and countries. It uses a conceptual framework on the links among risk, vulnerability, and impacts to understand the multi-dimensionality of disaster effects and the increasing challenges that countries have to overcome in the face of climate change.     

Economic Growth, Inequality, Democratization, and the Environment

We augment the Stokey (1998) model by allowingagents to differ with respect to environmentalquality and income in order to analyze theimpact of income and environmental inequality,and of democratization on aggregate pollution.We find that the impact of a more equal incomedistribution depends on the degree ofdemocracy. In a complete democracy a more equalincome distribution generates, ceterisparibus, less pollution, which is consistentwith indirect empirical evidence, whereas theopposite is the case if democratic rights arehighly restricted. Furthermore, ademocratization is argued to typically lowerboth the income and the environmental qualityof the median voter. In this case, if, inutility terms, the fall in environmentalquality is worse than the fall in consumptionthe median voter decides to tightenenvironmental legislation so that aggregatepollution decreases.     

Megatrends, the annual report, possibilities

The successful leader and manager have two very important challenges: to scan the horizon and not be thrown into crisis by not seeing predictable surprises, and to recognize the longer, more pervasive trends that are in the distant future. An annual autopsy of the past year and a review of the years ahead will not only fulfill the requirements for an annual report, but will be a learning experience for the team. When we are open to new ideas, lead by inviting dialogue rather than demanding, and openly trust, believe in, and inspire others, the organization will also adopt these values as its operating framework. Our annual plans will then be living documents that create the roadmap for excellence.