Politics of scale and strategic selectivity in the liberalisation of public services – the role of trade in services

One of the most contentious issues of the neoliberal agenda has been the privatisation of public services. The WTO GATS negotiations over the liberalisation of trade in services, which commenced in the year 2000, led to a strongly contested debate over whether the international level would provide an additional channel for the privatisation of public services. In particular, the position of the European Union was criticised for promoting this agenda. More recently, this question has regained its significance with the start of negotiations for the Trade in Services Agreement and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Thus, this article seeks to analyse the politics of scale in the field of trade in services and its specific impact upon the liberalisation of public services. By applying a Neo-Poulantzian IPE approach, we propose a typology of (i) scalar forms in trade policy and (ii) of particular liberalisation strategies. Our results suggest that the multilateral level is but one element in a strategic politics of scale, with the former primarily fulfilling the role of locking-in liberalisation gains achieved at other levels, while other scalar forms, in particular bi- and plurilateralism, are primarily used to progressively advance the liberalisation agenda.     

Theorising the Korean State beyond Institutionalism: Class Content and Form of ‘National’ Development

Although the Korean developmental state has been heavily discussed in various disciplines and across diverse political spectrums, the statist notion that the developmental state is autonomous from and disciplines society, and is therefore effective in achieving ‘national development’, has more often been taken for granted than problematised. Statism is also pervasive in institutionalism that emphasises the linkages rather than dichotomies between state and market and in the recent discussions on the transformation of the developmental state. This article proposes an alternative conceptual framework by reformulating ‘the form critique of the state’ pioneered by Evgeny Pashukanis and further developed in the ‘German state derivation debate’ on the one hand, and ‘world system analysis’ on the other. Extending the Marxist critique of ‘commodity fetishism’ to the theorisation of the developmental state, it inquires into the origins of statism and argues that it is the uneven dynamics of capitalism as a global system that give rise to statism in the first place.     

McCloskey, economics as conversation, and Sprachethik

In writing about the 'rhetoric of economics' - particularlyabout the standards which prevent situations where 'anythinggoes' in argument - McCloskey takes an eclectic approach totwo philosophical positions, based on Rorty and Habermas respectively.But these positions, despite sharing some common aspects, alsodifferentiate themselves from each other sharply in importantways. In this paper, it is argued that this eclecticism of McCloskeyis not coherent, as a result of her not completely graspingthe fundamental differences between these two positions, andthat this incoherence has damaging implications for her projectof the rhetoric of economics.     

高校法制宣传教育的现状及对策分析

高校法制宣传教育是国家全面推进依法治国方略之必需,也是依法治校构建和谐校园的重要途径。目前高校法制宣传教育工作还存在着重视不够、氛围不浓、地位不独立、师资力量薄弱等问题。因此,必须从提高法制宣传教育的认识入手,建立专职领导机构,做好师资和经费保障,拓展宣传教育形式,构建合理的法制宣传教育体系,确保这项工作取得实效。     

文化转向:经济地理学研究的一个新方向

文化转向是20世纪90年代以来西方经济地理学研究的一个新方向。文章简要介绍了西方经济地理学对文化与文化转向的理解，分析了文化转向得以形成的原因，探讨了文化与经济的关系以及经济对社会文化的根植性，提出了我国经济地理学开展“文化转向”研究的一些建议。     

群体性事件的法理分析及法治应对

近年来,中国群体性事件频繁发生,规模不断扩大,表现形式日趋多样性,手段方式趋于激烈,造成的后果和影响日益严重。群体性事件的发生主要是因为中国正处于社会转型时期,各种利益相互冲突。在这个过程中,民众利益被漠视,又缺乏调整利益的法律体系,法律诉求渠道不畅,有关部门执政理念落后,缺失法治理念。对此,应完善相关法律体系,加强社会管理法治化,畅通法律救济渠道,建立法治政府等以应对群体性事件。     

Exploring policy options in joint intertemporal-spatial trade models using an incomplete markets approach

In this paper we discuss the desirability of service trade liberlization in the presence of incompleteness of markets where there is both inter-spatial and intertemporal trade between countries. We use numerical simulation methods for insights and relate our discussion to the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) in the WTO. We interpret the absence of intertemporal trade as an absence of intermediation services provided by both domestic and foreign service providers. For simplicity, we consider extreme cases where intertemporal intermediation services can only be provided by domestic providers, so that when intertemporal trade in services is not allowed, markets are not complete. To our knowledge, this type of models is not used in the trade literature as general comparative statics results are unavailable. We first consider the liberalization of trade in financial services in an inter-spatial and intertemporal model of two countries, and we show how services liberalization can be welfare worsening in the presence of a tariff on spatial trade in goods. We show that this can hold in an artificial world with no domestic financial services provider. We compare financial service trade autarky in which there is no intermediation to financial service trade liberalization which involves costless intertemporal intermediation provided by foreign service providers. We also consider a more complex (and realistic) world where costly intermediation services can be provided by both domestic and foreign providers. This paper draws in part on material of an earlier paper, “Financial Services Trade Liberalization in A Joint Spatial Intertemporal Multi-Country Model” by Huang et al. (2004). We acknowledge the financial support from The Centre for Intentional Governance Innovation (CIGI), Waterloo, Canada and from National Social Science Foundation of China (SSFC Grant 07AJL002), National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC Grant 70825003) and “Humanities and Social Science” Major Project, Chinese Ministry of Education (Grant Number 07JJD790145).     

Communicative action and the radical constitution: the Habermasian challenge to Hayek, Mises and their descendents

This paper evaluates Jurgen Habermas's typology of action andhis recent call for a radically democratic rule of law. Thetheory of action that Habermas develops, however, differs significantlyfrom the science of action (praxeology) of the Austrian school.As such, it represents a methodological challenge to Austrianpraxeology. Additionally, Habermas's criticism of the welfarestate is shown to be somewhat consistent with Hayek's criticisms,but his alternative to the welfare state challenges the politicalvision of many Austrian economists. This paper attempts to demonstratethat both Habermas's and the Austrian school's efforts sufferfrom similar weaknesses and epistemological pretences.     

浅析法制宣传语境中的异化倾向

自普法工作开展以来,我国公民的法律意识明显增强,但是,法制宣传效果还不尽如人意,法制宣传过程中还存有异化倾向。法制宣传不到位或者错位对法治化的推动及法治理念的形成造成了不良影响,因此,对法制宣传的规范已经刻不容缓。     

中国现代法律文化建设之程序公正

法律文化现代化是中国法治建设的重要组成部分,现代法律文化建设受到诸方面因素的影响。程序公正以及与程序公正相关的法律制度在我国传统法律文化中不健全、不完善,是制约我国现代法律文化建设的主要因素之一。从而提出程序公正对建设现代法律文化的重要性,摒弃传统法律文化重实体轻程序的观念,不断完善程序公正理论,从而推动现代法律文化的建设和社会主义法治国家的全面实现。     

公司经营者的法律义务及其规制

笔者从公司经营者应对公司承担的法律义务切入 ,在对经营者承担的法律义务内涵界定的基础上 ,尝试构建经营者法律义务的体系结构 ,并对法律义务提出相应的规制措施 ,以期为遏制经营者滥用经营权侵蚀公司及股东利益的行为提供有效措施 ,同时为现行公司制度的完善提出立法建议。     

从法律英语词汇的特点看《物权法》的英译

作为正式化程度最高的一种文体,法律英语在词汇方面有它自身的特点,如措词准确和古体词、名词化结构和词语重复结构的使用等。因此在进行法律文件的汉译英翻译活动中,译者应当尽量地使译文词汇具有上述特点以实现＂信＂、＂达＂、＂雅＂。文章从这些特点出发,对2008年北大法学院翻译的《中华人民共和国物权法》中的一些译文进行分析,指出不恰当之处,提出修改建议。     

河北省中小企业法治环境分析

完善的法律制度是保持中小企业持续快速发展的制度保障,为促进河北中小企业进一步发展,必须建立和完善中小企业法治环境。     

基于市场周转率的股票市场收益预测

我国许多股票交易者在交易时追求流行,偏爱交易高周转率的热门股票,偏爱在市场火热时入市。这种行为使高周转率的股票以及高周转率的市场时期可能具有超额利润。我们利用两个自回归求积移动平均法模型成功地发现中国股票市场的周转率可以预测股票收益。     

证券争议:两种法律解决途径的比较分析

新兴加转轨的中国证券市场中,披露虚假信息、内幕交易、非法关联交易、操纵市场等欺诈行为猖獗,由此产生了大量的证券争议.证券争议法律解决途径主要有证券侵权民事赔偿诉讼以及证券纠纷仲裁制度.笔者认为,中国目前有关证券侵权赔偿的司法救济途径存在较多问题,应当在司法解决途径之外,考虑借鉴美国的证券仲裁制度,在中国大力推广非诉的争议解决方式--仲裁.     

对从ATM机中取出假币的民事责任分析

准确界定ATM机性质是解决储户“从ATM机中取出假币”这一诉讼纠纷的关键。通过理顺储户与银行之间的法律关系,并结合实际情况从实体、诉讼角度出发分析得出银行应在此类案件中承担相应的民事责任的结论,并提出对储户在诉讼中证据保全难的解决办法,以期对司法实践有所帮助。     

Uncertainty,Rationality and the Study of Social Institutions

The insight that both ontological and epistemological perspectives are intertwined is certainly correct, but at the same time insufficient to differentiate mainstream from heterodox approaches to economic institutions. As this paper argues, it is important whether one starts from ontological or epistemological considerations first. The paper suggests that the difference can be described in terms of function versus rules and demonstrates that an intersubjective ontology for institutions requires also an intersubjective epistemology. Otherwise, ontological precepts contradict the epistemological ones with important repercussions for understanding knowledge, rationality and institutions.     

关于中国城市水务企业产权改革问题的思考

现代产权制度是现代企业制度的核心。当前,中国城市水务企业正面临着内部机制不活和外部竞争日益激烈的双重压力,从产权角度对城市水务企业进行改革,是城市水务企业建立现代企业制度,在市场化进程中谋求长远发展的必然选择。     

对我国循环经济立法的思考

发展循环经济是实施可持续发展战略的重要途径。发达国家已经建立了比较完善的循环经济法律体系并收到了良好的社会效果,然而我国目前相关立法却还存在诸多不足。我国应借鉴发达国家的成功经验,分阶段、分层次地构建循环经济法律体系并确立合理的基本法律制度。