宪法危机与1919年南北和谈

1919年议和前后南北政府混乱的宪法依据,以及双方各利益集团的不同考虑,凸显出南北议和的一个难点:宪法问题.也正因此导致第二次南北和谈缺乏一个能够统摄各方的中心,并使南北军阀在和谈前期达成的利益妥协不能实现,和谈最终陷于瘫痪.     

论明治宪法中议会预算审议权的形成

1889年的明治宪法是一部以天皇大权为中心的专制宪法,议会的权限有限,但是由于它被赋予了重要的预算审议权等财政权限,促使战前日本天皇制的政治体制中竞产生了政党政治。那么,宪法的缔造者——伊藤博文为什么会把这么重要的权力赋予议会？有学者认为,伊藤博文等人对“宪政及各类政体的精神”有着“深刻的理解”是重要原因。而本文则通过对近世以来日本地方上存在的租税协议惯行、明治维新后地方民会和府县会的预算审议权以及宪法发布前政府及民党的宪法草案内容等进行分析,认为议会拥有预算审议权等财政权限已是当时普遍的基本的认识,具有广泛的社会基础,伊藤博文不可能逆社会潮流而动也是重要的原因之一。     

孙中山五权宪法思想及其实践

五权宪法思想是孙中山三民主义学说中民权主义的重要组成部分。它的产生是晚清国粹思潮与孙中山对西方政治制度深刻认识相结合的产物。其理论来源是西方资产阶级国家政体分权制衡原则和中国封建政治制度中某些合理性因素,孙中山在革命实践中将其逐步完善,最终形成比较完整的思想体系。孙中山始终不渝地实践着五权宪法,这种实践虽然在小范围内部分地取得了成效,但作为一种完整的整体构想却始终未获成功。孙中山五权宪法思想的提出及其实践是对西方资产阶级三权分立政治思想的重要发展。是中国政治变革史上的一件大事,推动了近代中国民主政治的发展。     

Aiming for a Just Society

Abstract

I think it is time that theologians, as well as the Church at large, speak up and speak to the social injustice we are faced with because of the economical collapse in Iceland in autumn 2008. If we think theology (i.e. the discourse about God) does not happen in a vacuum, if we think it is affected by, and is also affecting its context, then theology must have a part to play in the political discourse. If we think everything related to our human condition is affecting our understanding and our talk about God, then all theology has to be political in the most inclusive sense of the word. In this article the intention is to test major theological terms against the situation we are faced with in our society, which is recovering from an economic collapse. Thus the question: to what extent are key theological terms useful when we need to address the outgrowth of social injustice and self-inflicted economical catastrophe?     

The “informer” and the political and organisational culture of the Irish republican movement: old and new interpretations

This article will analyse recent interpretations of the “informer” as a subject of political and historical significance for a balanced understanding of the trajectory of the Provisional Republican movement. It will do so in part through a discussion of some recent fiction and memoir-writing devoted to the figure of the informer. Specifically, this will involve an exploration of the recent fictional re-imagination of the real-life case of Denis Donaldson, by the French journalist Sorj Chalandon (Mon traître, 2007 and Retour à Killybegs, 2011) (These novels have been translated into English as My Traitor (2011) and Return to Killybegs (2013)). All subsequent references are to the English versions. In the first section, the article analyses the historical evolution of the phenomenon and recent revelations regarding the apparently widespread existence of informers in the movement during the Troubles. This section engages with the academic debate concerning the effects of these revelations upon the morale and internal political culture of the republican movement; it is argued here that the “Republican family” has been significantly affected by these disclosures in the “post-conflict” era, and that they have become an important element in the contestation between leadership supporters and “dissenters” within contemporary republicanism. The second section utilises old and new literary representations of “the informer”, particularly based around Liam O’Flaherty’s The Informer and Chalandon’s work, to discuss continuities and changes in the image and perception of this phenomenon. It is argued that the interweaving of fiction with real-life and factual historical detail is a particularly appropriate means of interpreting the role and effects of the informer.     

新中国四部宪法与“特定人”权利的变迁

"特定人"是指基于宗教、种族、文化、身体等原因在社会上处于劣势,或者为了社会全面发展、保障人权的需要而由宪法特别指定,在一般公民基本权利的基础上享有特殊保障的特殊群体。《中华人民共和国宪法》在修改过程中,对"特定人"权利的保障经历了基本确立、停滞倒退、初步恢复、快速发展的变迁轨迹。导致这种变迁的原因涉及经济条件、主观认识、客观情况等方面。宪法对"特定人"权利的规定与保护的变化过程,在一定程度上反映了我国民主政治的发展过程。     

《中华人民共和国宪法》制订与修改、修正的历史考察

文章详细地叙述了《中华人民共和国宪法》制订及其三次修改、五次修正的基本过程 ,论述了它们之间的内在联系 ,总结了我国立宪、修宪中的主要特点 ,充分肯定了《中华人民共和国宪法》作为我国的根本大法 ,在制订、修改、修正的过程中 ,对于建设中国特色的社会主义民主政治 ,对于推进社会主义民主政治的制度化、规范化、程序化所产生的重大作用。     

坚持宪法基本原则 推进民族共同繁荣

深刻认识民族区域自治制度的丰富内涵,深入贯彻实施宪法的基本原则,对于更好地坚持民族区域自治制度、推进民族共同繁荣,具有十分重要的现实意义。     

The Militia Ordinance of 1642 and the 14th‐Century Great Statute of Praemunire

This article opens with a review of the important scholarship concerning the conflict over prerogative between the crown and parliament from mid 1641 through the winter of 1642. The resulting impasse was over which of these institutions would control the militia. This article argues that the Militia Ordinance committee was committed to ‘the legal process’ in developing its directive of March 1642. The balance of the study reviews the medieval Statute of Praemunire, its subsequent development, and how that law would have provided an essential basis for the parliament to assume control of the militia. The article concludes that the Long Parliament acted legally with the Great Statute of Praemunire as a reference point for the adoption of the Militia Ordinance. This conclusion rests on five evidentiary considerations: (i) surviving texts of Commons’ private diarists; (ii) the probable role of John Selden in the Militia Ordinance committee deliberations; (iii) the September 1642 publication of John Marsh's An Argument Or, Debate In Law of the Great Question Concerning the Militias; (iv) proposition five of the Nineteen Propositions; and (v) language parallels between the 1393 Great Statute and the Militia Ordinance itself.     

How Constitutional Concerns Framed the US Contribution to the International Human Rights Regime From Its Inception, 1947–53

The United States has been reluctant to agree to binding international human rights instruments ever since the very first meeting of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in 1947. This article explores structural causes for that reluctance. Internal government papers show that US government officers worried that a human rights treaty might expand federal jurisdiction at the expense of the jurisdiction of the United States' constituent states and could provide an opening for judicial activism by the courts. These concerns made domestic political sensitivities more acute and raised principled questions about the desirability of pushing domestic reforms through international law-making. US representatives made repeated efforts to ensure that an international bill of rights was drafted as an aspirational declaration rather than a legally binding treaty. They also proposed clauses designed to delay or limit the domestic effects of any agreement, while reassuring the US Senate that domestic power balances would not be disturbed. Constitutional concerns thus framed the United States' contribution to the creation of an international human rights system from the very beginning.