Protecting the Public's Health in An Era of Bioterrorism: The Model State Emergency Health Powers Act

During the fall of 2001, public health law scholars at the Center for Law and the Public's Health at Georgetown and Johns Hopkins Universities were asked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and a series of national partners to develop the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act (MSEHPA). The MSEHPA provides a series of modern powers for states to consider in responding to catastrophic public health emergencies, including bioterrorism events. Since December 2001, provisions based on the MSEHPA have been introduced in nearly 40 states and passed in 20. Underlying the development of the act is a long-standing debate between legal and ethical scholars and law- and policymakers as to the appropriate ways to balance individual and communal rights. The drafting challenge was to create a comprehensive model law that provides adequate powers to protect the public's health while also respecting individual and group rights. The MSEHPA empowers public health agents with broad authority and simultaneously limits the exercise of power in time, duration, and scope to accomplish communal goals of abating serious public health threats. Coercive public health powers, particularly isolation and quarantine, are exercised on a temporary basis, only so long as are reasonably necessary and only among persons who justifiably may pose a risk to others because of their contagious conditions. Individual rights to contest the coercive use of public health powers, even during an emergency, are secured.     

社会优位下的权利本位

阶级性不是法的唯一属性,以权利为核心重构现代法理念,将成为现代法理念的核心内容。从法治国家的理念、权利和义务(权力)的关系、市场经济的需求来看,必须坚持权利本位。权利本位内涵着个人优位下的权利本位和社会优位下的权利本位。有些学者认为,西方社会已经由权利本位过渡到社会本位,这是一种误解,其实,西方社会正在由个人优位下的权利本位理念过渡到社会优位下的权利本位理念。社会优位理念和和谐社会的理念完全契合,当个人的权利和社会的权利发生冲突时,社会权利应优先于个人权利。建设和谐法治社会,应该坚持社会优位下的权利本位理念     

Public health care in the balance: exploring popular support for health care systems in the European Union

Which factors explain intra‐ and inter‐country variations in levels of public support for national health care systems within the European Union, and why? We propose that public opinion towards public health care is dependent on (1) the type of welfare state regime to which the various European welfare states belong, (2) typical features of the national care system and (3) individual social and demographic characteristics, which are related to self‐interest or morality oriented motives. To assess the explanatory power of these factors, data from the Eurobarometer survey series are analysed. Support for public health care appears to be particularly positively related to social‐democratic attributes of welfare states, whereas support drops with increasing degrees of liberalism and conservatism. Further, support for public health care proves to be associated with wider coverage and public funding of national care services. We also find higher levels of support in countries with scarce social services for children and the elderly, and larger proportions of female (part‐time) employment. Lastly, with respect to individual characteristics, we find remarkably little evidence for self‐interest oriented motives affecting the preference for solidary health care arrangements.     

论所有权的自由与限制

所有权对于公民的财产权利甚至整个法权具有重要意义。近代民法一直强调所有权行使的绝对自由,忽略了所有权应该受到的社会公益限制,其结果是使自由走向了反面。为克服所有权绝对自由带来的负面影响,现代民法开始由权利本位转向社会本位,逐步形成了所有权的社会化思潮,强调所有权的行使应该以尊重和维护社会公益为前提。但是由于社会公益的概念比较宽泛,范围难以确定,为了防止有人以公益之名谋私益之实,应该对社会公共利益的界定确立实体标准和程序标准,以解决因社会公共利益的界定产生的争议,寻求社会公益与个人私益的平衡,维护公民个人的实体权利。     

论弱势群体的社会法保护

弱势群体的大量存在引发一系列的社会问题,成为构建和谐社会的一大障碍。社会法作为兼具公法与私法双重属性的第三法域,可以为弱势群体提供最佳的保护。我国保护弱势群体的法律制度还不健全,对弱势群体的保护仍存在不足,应进一步完善社会法,向弱势群体倾斜,保障和促进弱势群体享有劳动权、社会保障权、结社权等各项基本人权。     

The Practice and Reconstruction of Village Communal Ownership: An Analytical Framework for Collective Forest Tenure Disputes in China

As shown in the many disputes occurring in reforms to collective forest tenure, reforms aimed at clarifying property rights that follow the contract responsibility system for arable land are not wholly compatible with the informal system of property rights followed in village communities up to the present. This highlights the fact that the existing theory of collective property rights no longer provides a sufficient or effective interpretation of the property rights game in the practice of collective forest tenure. Further, the existing institutional arrangements for collective property rights are conducive neither to the resolution of disputes over forest tenure nor to the sustainable management and utilization of forest land. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a more inclusive analytical framework for rural property rights: village communal ownership. This highlights the village community as the main force in the practice of property rights and integrates the communal ownership values accumulated and inherited in the course of village transition. The introduction of a rational mechanism developed through the practice of village communal ownership may be able to further improve and encourage the reform of rural property rights in China, leading to the construction of a modern system of rural property rights involving clear title to the land.     

The Practice and Reconstruction of Village Communal Ownership： An Analytical Framework for Collective Forest Tenure Disputes in China

中国集体林权制度改革实践中出现的诸多林权纠纷现象表明,仿效耕地承包制的明晰产权改革设计与村庄社区沿袭至今的非正式产权制度无法完全兼容,由此凸显的问题是：关于集体产权实践的既有理论已不足以对集体林权实践中展现出的产权博弈现象作出充分有效的解释。既有的集体产权制度安排,也不利于林权纠纷调处及林地的可持续经营利用。为此,有必要建构一种更具包容性的农村产权制度分析框架——村庄社区产权,以凸显村庄社区在产权实践中所具有的主体能动性,整合村庄变迁中积累传承的社区产权价值观。引入村庄社区产权实践中形成的合理机制,或许能够进一步完善和促进中国农村产权制度变革,进而建立产权明晰的现代农村产权制度。     

和谐社会语境下的互联网发展与治理

互联网的健康发展有利于加强对公权力行使的高效监督与约束,有利于促进私权利的快速发展与实现。但互联网在发展中也存在着诸如网络暴力横行,单边、不良和垃圾信息泛滥,个人信息资料遭泄露,大肆侵犯著作权,滋生网络无政府主义等问题,均不利于互联网本身的健康发展与社会和谐,因而有必要加强对互联网的治理。而互联网治理的基本路径可以概括为政府与民间互动,全球国际组织与主权国家协作,技术手段与规范手段并举,全方位、多角度、多层次治理。     

Anticipating modernity: the Jewish ‘welfare state’ in biblical and medieval times

The impact of religion on social policies and its role in the development, structuring and functioning of welfare states has only recently attracted significant attention. Studies of the relationship between religion and the welfare state have given little consideration to whether the religious precepts and values of the major religions, and the ways of life which they have shaped, are consistent with the idea of the welfare state. This paper shows that the elements of the definition of the modern welfare state were reflected in Jewish communal life as either prescribed by Jewish law (halakha) or lived during both ancient and medieval times, and that communal life was ‘welfare‐state‐like‘. In doing so this paper demonstrates that the idea of the welfare state is consistent with Judaism.     

学术话语权与中国社会学发展(英文)

作为“权利”的学术话语权,主要有创造更新权、意义赋予权、学术自主权等类型;作为“权力”的学术话语权,主要有指引导向权、鉴定评判权、行动支配权等类型。这些也体现在中国社会学百余年的发展历程中。在中国社会学初创阶段,严复等人在社会学本土化和学术话语创新方面进行了尝试。费孝通经历了中国社会学前期发展阶段近20年及后期56年全过程,其学术历程对于中国社会学发展史具有典型意义。在理论自觉基础上努力达致学术话语权的制高点,是中国社会学从世界学术格局边陲走向中心的一条必由之路。     

从制度伦理的发展看道德主体人格的成长

制度作为人类设计的制约人们相互行为的约束条件,是人类在共同体生活中博弈的内在规则。制度伦理从根本上说是为人的道德性存在立法。传统社会封建皇权制度下道德强调的是个人的依附性,个人权利缺位,是外在强加的形式化的道德;近现代工业文明背景下的制度伦理中个人主体性加强,但市场经济中"理性经济人"假设彰显的是"工具理性"和"个人理性",必然带来"价值理性"的退隐,引起个人与社会的冲突;当代社会公共领域扩大,在"政治国家"、"公民社会组织"、"市场"、"公民个人"四种力量博弈均衡之下的制度伦理,是个人发挥道德权利参与建构生成的,这种制度伦理作为新的道德规制范型,才是真实合理的实质化的道德。     

Crowding Out or Welfare Promotion? How Foreign Aid Affects Social Expenditures in Latin American Welfare Systems

Foreign assistance constitutes a significant share of government revenue in many low‐ and middle‐income economies and is targeted at poverty reduction and the promotion of social and economic well‐being. This study therefore examines fiscal responses by Latin American welfare states to the inflow of such aid. As a form of external non‐tax revenue, aid can function as a substitution for public welfare expenditure, with a crowding out effect being the likely outcome. This article investigates whether overall aid and aid that is particularly targeted at the social sector substitutes public welfare provision and, if so, whether it also substitutes its function. A time‐series cross‐section analysis of 19 Latin American countries for the period 1980–2008 provides limited support for the assumption that foreign aid payments influence the welfare budget. It is only the health care sector in middle‐income countries which experiences a small decrease in expenditures. Social security and education expenditures are not affected.     

历史性权利的法理基础与实证考查

习惯法上,任何得到国际社会公开或默示承认的权利都是合法权利。任何主权国家在领土主权方面的传统权利都应予以尊重。国际法上的历史性权利应该存在一个权利取得、强化和稳固的历史过程,而其他国家的某些当前事实行为构成了对权利国历史性权利的干扰和最大威胁。历史性权利往往源于国际习惯法,并不依据现代成文国际条约法而获得,当然也不应根据后来新产生的国际法律原则和规则来判断。     

The Legal Basis of Delegation of Governmental Powers in a Changing Society

In modern states, the delegation of governmental powers is a common way of executing governmental authority. The delegation of administrative power is widespread under China’s positive law, but there are problems with inconsistencies in the scope of the delegation, conflicts between delegation under different laws, etc. These problems originate in the weakness of Chinese legal theory on the subject, and especially in the lack of a dynamic interpretation of the historical background to such delegation, the absence of any scientifically constructed theoretical model of delegation, and the lack of effective regulations on delegation in the positive law system. The modern rule of law calls for reconstruction of the legal basis of such delegation against the background of social change. This requires clarifying the determinacy of the agents holding power, the relative division of powers, the overlapping nature of the agents to whom the powers apply, and the social character of the disposition of powers. Determination of the value orientation of system construction for the delegation of governmental powers should be based on limited transfer of governmental powers and functions, should be driven by the removal of obstacles to the exercise of governmental powers, should adopt a strategy of streamlining the execution of governmental powers and should aim at effectively integrating governmental powers.     

When is a Health Department not a Health Department? The Case of the US Department of Health and Human Services

Given the current policy debate over health reform in the United States, it is not possible to describe the organizational structure that might emerge from this process. This article explores five of the attributes that underpin the context for a discussion of the structure and operation of a health bureaucracy in the USA. First, ambivalence in the US society about a public commitment to health and a general scepticism about a significant public sector in this area. Second, separation within the system between types of activities (e.g. health research activities, provision of services, and financing of health efforts). Third, the health system operates in the context of a government with shared powers as well as federalism and an assumption that some issues belong to states, and sometimes localities, and not to the federal government. Fourth, difficulty in the US system when it attempts to focus on prevention activities. And fifth, the structure of HHS creates tensions between management initiatives and professional expertise and standards. The article concludes with a discussion of possible organizational alternatives.     

道德建设的公民认同路径

个人权利价值取向的普遍化是社会的道德现状,道德建设要帮助人们认识在现代社会个人权利属于公民权,以平等为基础,同公民义务相联系,逻辑地蕴含着对公共利益的尊重。自我中心、否定公共利益并不是个人权利的必然走向,而是其被抛弃了平等基础、公民义务后将自我利益膨胀到了极端的表现,是极其有害的;为了克服个人权利膨胀为自我中心、损人利己,要引导公民不仅要追求个人利益同时也要认同公共利益。因此,第一,引导人们认识利益相关性对公民权利的限定从而能够关注公共利益,避免极端个人主义。第二,提高人们对公民认同之于个人权利实现的价值的认识,以激励公民对公共利益的认同。第三,打造有利于公民认同的制度环境,用制度保障公民认同。     

关于我国发展城市公共卫生事业的若干思考

健康不仅是城市人与社会发挥功能的前提条件,也是城市人与社会全面、协调、可持续发展的一种社会财富。要大力发展城市公共卫生事业就必须加强对城市公共卫生事业发展的经济支持和社会政策支持,同时还要积极推进社区卫生服务体系,进而通过发展公共卫生事业来促进城市社会公平。     

Fat government,thin populace? Is the growth of obesity prevalence lower in more generous welfare states?

In the last few decades, the prevalence of obesity has expanded rapidly and now constitutes a grave public health concern across the developed world. Obesity is negatively associated with, among other factors, education and healthcare quality, which are factors that governments can and do influence through welfare policies. This study investigated to what extent the change in the prevalence of obesity is lower in more generous welfare states. Based on pooled time series cross‐section regressions for 15 developed countries over 25 years, we found that the more generous are transfer payments, health policy and education policy, the lower is the increase of obesity prevalence. These findings have important implications for public policy formation and the public health and welfare state literatures.     

多元权利基础、公权力权威与良法之治

推进中国法治进程 ,并不仅仅是法律制度的简单植入或法律体系的建构 ,也不仅仅是“依法治理”对秩序的促动 ,而关键在于重构国家与市民社会的良性互动关系。即大力推进市民社会自主性 ,以多元社会权利来平衡和制约国家权力 ,缩减国家权力职能和建立其合法性权威 ,并弘扬正义法精神以实现良法之治。只有这样 ,以权力制约和权利保障为核心取向的法治秩序才能最终确立起来。     

试论正确处理弱势群体权利保护中的几种关系

在弱势群体权利保护过程中,弱势群体的利益是否会与公共利益发生冲突?公共权力能否干涉弱势群体的权利?救助弱势群体是否只是社会的责任?在宪政法治条件下是否需要法制强权?要解决这些问题,必须以构建社会主义“和谐社会”作为时代背景,正确处理弱势群体利益与公共利益的关系;弱势群体权利与公共权力的关系;自我救助与社会救助的关系;宪政法治与法制强权的关系。