The Limits of Black Politics in the Post–Civil Rights Era

Pluralist theorists have long contended that to exercise power and influence in the American political system, blacks should come together like any other organized interest group, form coalitions with other like-minded people (white liberals), and advocate for policy reforms. Beginning during the “Black Power” era, the goal of putting black faces in high places to help address black concerns became a driving force in black politics. The deteriorating social and economic status of many in the black community, however, has not been prevented by either the political incorporation of more than 11,000 black elected officials or even the election of the nation’s first black president. This article will show how the inherent limitations of the pluralist interest-group strategy and a growing white backlash fueled by an awareness of changing demographics in the country has spawned an economic and political crisis in black America.     

English proficiency in Australia, 1981 to 2016

Using Australian census data, the paper examines the incidence of poor English competency in Australia from 1981 onwards. The paper examines English competency in relation to various characteristics such as sex, age, language spoken, visa type, citizenship, duration of residence and location. It finds that there was a sharp rise in the numbers of people not speaking English well between the 2011 and 2016 Censuses and special attention is given to this rise in the paper. Recently, the Australian Government unsuccessfully legislated for the introduction of a requirement of English competency at the level of IELTS 6 (the commonly used university entrance level) as a condition for the award of Australian citizenship. The paper argues that this test would have led to a very large number of disenfranchised Australian permanent residents and this would be a highly undesirable result. Nevertheless, employment and social participation are strongly influenced by English competency and residents with poor English are disadvantaged. The policy suggestion is made that participation in a course of English language training for those without functional English skills could be made a precondition of the award of permanent residence—without the application of a passing grade.     

Modeling Finite‐Time Failure Probabilities in Risk Analysis Applications

In this article, we introduce a framework for analyzing the risk of systems failure based on estimating the failure probability. The latter is defined as the probability that a certain risk process, characterizing the operations of a system, reaches a possibly time‐dependent critical risk level within a finite‐time interval. Under general assumptions, we define two dually connected models for the risk process and derive explicit expressions for the failure probability and also the joint probability of the time of the occurrence of failure and the excess of the risk process over the risk level. We illustrate how these probabilistic models and results can be successfully applied in several important areas of risk analysis, among which are systems reliability, inventory management, flood control via dam management, infectious disease spread, and financial insolvency. Numerical illustrations are also presented.     

弱势群体公法保护视野下的社会帮扶问题

弱势群体保护问题是当今社会，尤其是公法学界所面临的严峻课题。为了有效应对这一问题，应采用比较研究、实证研究、文献研究的方法，在继续完善传统公法意义上的相关保障性制度的基础上，积极构建弱势群体的社会帮扶制度。弱势群体的社会帮扶制度一方面以服务行政理论为理论依据，要求弱势群体保护由当下的“政治负责”向“社会负责”过渡；另一方面，社会帮扶制度又以公共服务理论为理论支撑，要求政府由高权强制型向怀柔服务型转变。在实践中，弱势群体的社会帮扶制度应遵循政府与社会“两条腿走路”的基本逻辑，而该制度的构建应秉承若干基本思路：破除观念束缚，培育和构建公民社会；丰富社会主体形式，弥补行政保障不足；完善其他社会帮扶途径。     

基于FLOTRAN的燕尾形导轨气浮平台结构设计

闭式燕尾形导轨是常见的静压气浮导轨结构形式之一,其燕尾角度将直接影响导轨的承载能力,为保证设计的燕尾形导轨能满足工作要求,本文通过建立燕尾夹角在55°~70°范围变化的气膜有限元模型,以承载力和刚度作为主要性能指标,对导轨承载能力进行分析.通过分析发现:导轨垂直方向总承载力随着燕尾夹角θ的增大而增大.研究结果表明燕尾夹角θ=66°时,单边导轨垂直方向的承载力为87.26N,刚度为33.69N/μm,能较好地满足承载和工作要求.     

Churning races in Canada: Visible minority response change between 2006 and 2011

Why do most people have stable responses to census race questions, while some do not? Using linked Canadian data, we examine personal, social, and economic characteristics that predict response stability as White or as one of six large visible minority groups, versus a change in response to/from White or to/from another visible minority group. Response change rates in Canada are generally comparable to those in the US, UK, and New Zealand. Likely reflecting the centuries-old hegemony of Whites in these countries, White is the most stable response group in Canada as well as the US, UK, and New Zealand. Multiple-race response groups are among the newest and least stable response groups. Social statuses and experiences (mixed ethnic heritage, immigration status, and exposure to own-group members) are generally more predictive of race response stability and change than economic (income level and change in income) or personal statuses (education, age). This highlights the socially-constructed nature of race group boundaries. Joining and leaving a group are often predicted by the same status/characteristic and in the same direction, hinting that the status/characteristic adds complexity to the race-related experiences of constituents.     

Legislative responses to wrongful conviction: Do partisan principals and advocacy efforts influence state-level criminal justice policy?

The number of discovered wrongful criminal convictions (and resulting exonerations) has increased over the past decade. These cases erode public confidence in the criminal justice system and trust in the rule of law. Many states have adopted laws that aim to reduce system errors but no study has examined why some states appear more willing to provide due process protections against wrongful convictions than others. Findings from regression estimates suggest that states with a Republican controlled legislature or more Republican voters are less likely to pass these laws while the presence of advocacy organizations that are part of the ‘innocence movement’ make legislative change more likely. We thus identify important differences in the political and social context between U.S. states that influence the adoption of criminal justice policies.     

位移边界对2D-FGM板热应力影响研究

考虑不同的位移边界条件,建立了常物性2D-FGM板研究模型,并采用有限元法,得到其冷却瞬态热应力场分布图形。位移边界条件对常物性2D-FGM平面区域冷却瞬态热应力分布影响颇大,在简支和一端固定情况下,2D-FGM板自由边界上的热应力σ_x=0;两端固定情况下,其左右两边界均形成上中下三个应力聚集,应力分布形状和数值都发生了巨大的变化;将四周均设置呈固定约束后,热应力数值增长幅度较两端固定情况时更为明显。此结果为该材料的设计、制备提供了准确的理论计算依据。     

Explaining Italian “exceptionalism” and its end: Minimum income from neglect to hyper-politicization

Traditionally at the margins of the political debate, minimum income protection has recently become a key issue in Italian politics. After decades of social and political “neglect” letting Italy the only European country (with Greece) still lacking an anti-poverty minimum income safety net in the 2010s, finally a national programme called Inclusion Income was introduced in 2018, then replaced by a more robustly financed scheme, the Citizenship Income in 2019. The introduction of these new programmes was the object of an intense political debate, which raises two main puzzles. Why a policy field characterized by the low political resources of would be beneficiaries and low incidence on the overall welfare budget has become so important in the political debate? How did it occur in Italy, where minimum income protection had been absent in political discourses for at least five decades after World War II? To answer these questions, this article first elaborates a novel theoretical framework which combines the main properties of socio-political demand and political supply in order to explain the scope and direction of minimum income reforms. Second, it provides an analytically oriented reconstruction of MIS policy trajectory in Italy in the three different phases: the phase of MIS “neglect” (1948–1992) characterized by inertia; the period of political “contentiousness” (1993–2012), marked by attempts of path departure followed by policy reversals; the more recent phase leading to the introduction and institutionalization of a MIS. Third, the article provides a theoretically framed interpretation of the overall MIS trajectory in Italy.     

通过科学立法促进民族交往交流交融的法理探讨

在中华民族“多元一体”背景下，加强各民族交往交流交融，是铸牢中华民族共同体意识的必然要求。而通过科学立法建立完备的法律规范体系，则是运用法治思维和法治方式，促进各民族交往交流交融的根本前提。当前我国的民族法律规范体系虽已基本建成，但仍存在一些法律原则的表达不够严谨、法律概念的界定不够准确、法律规则的内容不够明晰和完整、规范体系的结构不够完备和和谐等缺陷和不足，难以满足在政治、经济、文化、社会和生态建设中通过法治方式有效协调民族关系，促进各民族交往交流交融的需要。这就要求立法者应遵循《立法法》确定的科学立法的形式合理性和实质合理性的要求，妥善处理法律规范体系与现实需要的适应性和可执行性，由此才能为通过法治促进各民族交往交流交融奠定坚实的制度基础。从科学立法与依法立法、民主立法的关系来看，遵循依法立法，是保障法的形式合理性的前提；坚持民主立法，则是保障法的实质合理性的根基。为提升立法的科学品质，必须健全违宪审查机制、协商民主机制和立法理论形成机制，确保依法立法、民主立法原则的有效落实。