Andrii Liubka’s Carbide: Ukrainian democratic reforms through a dark glass

ABSTRACT

The Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine and its reforms are the topics of Andrii Liubka’s novel Karbid (Carbide, 2015). Employing Voltairean laughter and neo-Gothic aesthetics, Liubka presents the idea of European integration (one of the expected outcomes of the reforms) implemented practically by the corrupt elites of the imagined Transcarpathian town of Vedmediv as a money-laundering enterprise – an underground tunnel for smuggling drugs and people’s organs from Ukraine to Europe. The author proposes that the elites – most of whom are criminals – personify Julia Kristeva’s concept of abjection in the novel and represent social spheres that need reform. Contrary to the Euromaidan goals, these comprador elites desire even stronger borders between Ukraine and the European Union, as these facilitate their shadow economy, and they subject the local population to economic and social decline, turning them into disposable human waste. By applying the concept of abjection in its psychoanalytic and social forms to Liubka’s tragicomic novel, the author argues that his text points to Ukraine’s struggle to define itself as “West” and shed its totalitarian legacy of the Soviet “East,” and brings attention to the conflict between the post-Euromaidan national strivings of Ukraine’s citizens and the rampant corruption that negates their efforts.     

Causal dynamics of poverty reproduction in EU countries

This study investigated causal mechanisms of poverty reproduction in EU countries by placing emphasis on the parental background effect on sons’ poverty risk after having controlled for endogeneity among observable and non‐observable effects of the involved mechanisms. The countries under investigation were old EU member states representing the four welfare regimes in the EU. Having employed path models and utilised EU‐SILC 2005 data, the analysis yielded no statistically significant direct effect of parental background on sons’ poverty risk in Denmark. Greece, however, exhibited a statistically significant and quite strong direct effect. Germany and the United Kingdom stood in‐between. Moreover, the analysis found indirect channels through which the parental background affects sons’ poverty risk. These findings are expected to enrich the academic discourse and inform the policy‐making process on poverty reproduction and social protection in the EU.     

Childhood family structure and complexity in partnership life courses

This study investigated the associations between childhood living arrangements and complex adult partnership trajectories. The authors defined first union dissolution as the event initiating a complex partnership life course, and measured the level of complexity using a weighted cumulative index of subsequent partnership episodes. The analyses were based on a representative sample of the German population born in 1971–73 from the German Family Panel and used multivariate hurdle models to estimate the probability of experiencing the initiation of a complex partnership trajectory, as well as the level of complexity. Results showed that respondents who did not grow up with both biological parents (i.e. those who experienced an alternative family structure) had both a greater likelihood of experiencing the dissolution of their own first union, and followed more complex subsequent partnership trajectories. These associations varied across types of (alternative) family structures experienced during childhood and according to the level of parental partnership (in)stability. This study contributes to our understanding of contemporary partnership complexity and its precursors using a long term life course theoretical and methodological frame. We acknowledge that continuities and disruptions in the development of adult (complex) partnership trajectories can be linked to a growing diversity of family structure in childhood. Thereby, we expand knowledge on intergenerational interdependencies of family instability and complexity beyond the reproduction of the event of union dissolution.     

试论中亚的民族主义

本文根据中亚民族和国家在世界近现代史上的变迁,分析了该地区民族主义的内容、特征、性质及演变,文中指出,中亚的民族主义在历史上曾发生过由亚民族性质的部落传统向超民族性质的突厥或伊斯兰民族主义（沙皇俄国时期）、以及由要求民族自治、争主权到带有一定民族独立性质的民族主义（前苏联时期）的转变。     

苏联社会主义失败的根源何在?

苏联社会主义失败的根源在于政治体制问题。苏共过分重视民主的实际内容而忽视了民主的程序和形式。实践证明,没有程序和形式保障的民主发生了异化,背离了其初衷,民众的利益不可避免地受到了国家的侵犯。苏共始终作为人民的代理人管理着国家的一切,干部由党的组织部门挑选和层层任命,人民既无权选举他们,也无权监督他们,导致人民与政权长期分离。在没有民众的监督与制约下,苏共无法抵制权力的腐蚀作用,蜕变成为自身谋利益的党,干部特权制和权力私有化现象严重。苏共的执政理念也存在偏差,强国目标始终高于富民,对传统社会主义观念的忠诚始终强于对民众利益的忠诚。正因为人民无权对国家的发展施加影响,所以他们也不珍惜这样的国家,最后冷漠地注视着苏共失去政权,国家走向解体。     

集体劳资争议的刑事责任研究——以日本《劳动组合法》第1条第2款为中心

日趋增多的罢工、怠工等集体劳资争议给刑法学带来了新课题,引发学界对刑法是否及如何介入集体劳资争议的慎思.日本《劳动组合法》第1条第2款对集体劳资争议在区分正当与不正当的基础上分别规定了不同的刑事责任模式,堪称全球劳动刑法的典范.这对中国劳动刑法具有重要的借鉴意义:刑法应该积极介入集体劳资争议,并把正当的集体劳资争议视为刑法中的违法阻却事由,而以刑法中的普通犯罪追究不正当的集体劳资争议的刑事责任.     

Minimum income in the Western Balkans: From socialism to the European Pillar of Social Rights

In this article, we examine the evolution of minimum income programmes in the Western Balkans (comprising Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia). During socialism, Yugoslavia developed a rudimentary minimum income protection programme, while Albania did not have one. As countries moved towards a market economy, socialism's legacy remained relevant, but especially since 2000, governments have taken more direct responsibility for the minimum income schemes—typically under the influence of the World Bank. The attention was paid to strict targeting accuracy rather than to adequacy or sufficient coverage of the lowest deciles. In essence, neither socialist nor neoliberal policymakers ever recognised anything but the poverty relief function of the minimum income. Both ideologies were hostile, or at best indifferent, to increasing the adequacy and generosity of minimum income programmes, perceiving them as impediments and distractions that slowed socialist and neoliberal transformations. Despite some reform initiatives supported by the World Bank and, more recently, the European Union, the generosity and adequacy of minimum income programmes remain low, and coverage keeps declining. There have been very few efforts to develop inclusion function of the minimum income, while the activation aspect has achieved very little, sometimes degrading into punitive programmes of unpaid community work. In this dismal picture, the European Pillar of Social Rights action framework could serve as a guide for a long overdue third phase in the Western Balkans' minimum income policy evolution.     

苏共党内特权阶层究竟产生于何时

关于原苏共党内特权阶层产生的时间问题,国内学术界有产生于斯大林时期说、产生于赫鲁晓夫时期说以及产生于勃列日涅夫时期说三种不同的版本。本文作者通过大量史实论证了苏共党内特权阶层产生于斯大林时期说的正确性与可信性。     

从1922年苏俄民法典编纂看列宁法治理念的渊源与局限

列宁的法治思想源自于自彼得大帝以来诸位沙皇的依法治国理念,强调依法治国是俄罗斯近现代化转型中的一条重要主线,但是列宁的法治理念与诸位沙皇的依法治国理念的共同的局限性都在于法制不缺,但都不是作为保障民众自由的法治,而是作为统治阶级“改组社会的组织手段”的工具主义的法制。     

When Social Partners Unite – Explaining Continuity and Change in Austrian and Dutch Labour Market Governance

Why do Austria and the Netherlands, two highly corporatist, coordinated, consensual countries diverge with respect to the involvement of social partners in their Public Employment Service? By comparing and contrasting the competing predictions of the power‐resource, employer‐centred and social partnership approaches, we identify a key omitted variable that can explain the observed variations: the ability of the social partners to unite on reform positions. We demonstrate that when the social partners are divided, their collective power is reduced and partisan‐based policy outcomes become more pronounced. In turn, when the social partners jointly favour a particular outcome, their collective power increases and they can override governmental reform plans, even if the government holds a large legislative majority. These findings highlight the causal importance of power relations between and within the social partners for institutional continuity and change.