法院调解适用范围探析

作为法院调解制度适用的前提,法院调解的范围应予明确界定。一般来讲,法院调解的应有范围可界定为,只有当事人可以相互让步的案件才契合调解的特质,方有调解发挥功效的空间;而身份关系案件和形成之诉案件的当事人无任何自由处分的权限,诉讼的性质亦使调解无法产生相应效力,故此两类案件自无调解适用之余地。     

调解立法理念之转换:从国家本位到权利本位

中国针对调解的司法政策受制于民事诉讼的功能预设和现实状况,每每作出重大调整。政策多变的背后是国家本位立法理念的深刻影响,调解制度沦为实现国家司法功能的工具,丧失了独立发展的内在动力和基础,跌宕起伏在所难免。在未来的调解立法与实践中,应实现立法理念从国家本位到权利本位的转换,在保障当事人诉权、实体处分权和程序选择权的基础上,使用利益调控之手段,合理控制案源以利于诉讼功能之实现,使诉讼制度与调解制度相得益彰。惟有在权利本位的立法理念下,调解制度才能奠定平稳发展之坚实基础。     

论法院委托调解

法院委托调解是中国司法实践中为了激活调解资源、吸收社会力量解决纠纷、实现良性诉调对接而进行的一种创新,其直接的法律依据是<调解规定>第3条.法院委托调解兼具法院调解和人民调解的属性,关键要注意"四个合适":将合适委托调解的案件,委托给合适的调解机构,采用合适的调解程序,赋予调解协议以合适的法律效力.法院委托调解具有值得信任的一面,也有不值得信任需要警惕的一面.中国当前尚不具备人民调解前置的必要性和可行性.以法院委托调解为契机,建立附设法院的调解,是中国诉前调解前置的可行办法.     

Robust regression: an inferential method for determining which independent variables are most important

Consider the usual linear regression model consisting of two or more explanatory variables. There are many methods aimed at indicating the relative importance of the explanatory variables. But in general these methods do not address a fundamental issue: when all of the explanatory variables are included in the model, how strong is the empirical evidence that the first explanatory variable is more or less important than the second explanatory variable? How strong is the empirical evidence that the first two explanatory variables are more important than the third explanatory variable? The paper suggests a robust method for dealing with these issues. The proposed technique is based on a particular version of explanatory power used in conjunction with a modification of the basic percentile method.     

Mechanisms of the Effect of Involuntary Retirement on Older Adults’ Self-Rated Health and Mental Health

This study examined mechanisms of the effect of involuntary retirement on self-rated health and mental health among adults aged 50 or older. Using two waves of the Health and Retirement Study (2006 and 2010), we selected a sample of 1,195 individuals working for pay at baseline who responded to a lifestyle questionnaire in both waves. Regression-based path analyses were conducted to test the mediating effects of financial control, positive and negative family relationships, and social integration on the relationship between involuntary retirement and self-rated health and mental health. Results of mediation analyses indicated that transition to involuntary retirement was directly negatively associated with subsequent self-rated health and indirectly negatively associated with mental health via perception of less financial control. Voluntary retirement was indirectly positively associated with both self-rated and mental health via perception of more financial control. No significant direct or indirect effects of retirement were found when retirement was measured with an aggregate measure without specifying its voluntariness. Findings emphasize the importance of specifying the voluntariness of retirement and recognizing the heterogeneity in the mechanisms of involuntary and voluntary retirement.     

WHAT IS THE MULTITUDE?

Nicholas Brown and Imre Szeman continue their conversation with Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri. (See ‘The Global Coliseum: On Empire’ in Cultural Studies, 16.2, (March 2002), p. 177–192). In this new interview they press the authors of Empire and Multitude on questions that have arisen both out of their own involvement with the theoretical issues generated by Empire and from new areas opened up by Multitude. Why is the multitude not a class? How can the unity of a political project be maintained in the multiplicity of the multitude? Is democracy still a project for the future? Can a political subject constitute itself outside the structure of sovereignty? In other words, what is the multitude?     

论白璧德人文主义视阈中的“二元人性观”

白璧德的人文主义主张人内在具有两种法则,即"物之法则"和"人之法则",以"人之法则"来诊治西方自18世纪以来的"物之法则"的肆掠和僭越,即人内在的"更高意志"对"较低意志"进行控制以达到适度。这种"内在控制"以"生命辩证法"体现出来,这种辩证法不是以"冲突"为特征的主客二分思辨为目的,而是以"调和"为特征的生命实践。在西方人信仰缺失和国际交往日益密切的背景下,白璧德试图内转西方"依他的"、外扩的文化,以矫正外扩的文明方向。     

法社会学视野下的农村人民调解解读与重构

法社会学的外部分析视角、对活法的关注以及对法律的功能分析对于农村人民调解有良好的借鉴价值。农村人民调解充分考虑到法律及影响法律的其他外部因素,考虑到农村的传统习惯与活法对社会冲突的作用,而且农村人民调解有利于农村社会有机体的自我调整和自我完善。农村人民调解应在受理范围上进一步扩大与明确,在队伍建设和组织机构上应进一步提高与完善,在与法院诉讼和行政调解的关系上应做好良好的分工与衔接。     

Divorce and Coparenting: A Qualitative Study on Family Mediation in Italy

This qualitative study intended to assess how intergenerational transformative family mediation is a resource in promoting and supporting coparenting during the transition of divorce. There were 2 goals: to assess parents’ perceptions of key topics of family mediation and to compare their perceptions concerning different moments of the intervention. Fifteen Italian parents were interviewed using an ad hoc semistructured interview. Data were analyzed using the textual analysis software T-LAB. Findings showed mediator, pragmatic aspects, and family relationships as the most salient aspects of mediation. Significant differences emerged among the beginning, the middle phase, and the end of this intervention.     

THE MYTH OF THE GRINGO CHIEF: AMAZONIAN MESSIAHS AND THE POWER OF IMMEDIACY

In this article, I investigate the sociocultural grounding and sociopolitical position of Randy Borman, the “gringo chief” of the indigenous Cofán people of Amazonian Ecuador. Born to North American missionary-linguists, Borman grew up in Cofán communities, attended school in urban Ecuador and the United States, and developed into the most important Cofán activist on the global stage. I consider him alongside other ethnically ambiguous leaders of Amazonian political movements, whom anthropologists have described as “messianic” figures. The historians and ethnographers who write about Amazonian messianism debate the relationship between myth and reason in indigenous political action. Using their discussion as a starting point, I propose the concept of “mythical politics,” a type of transformative action that concentrates enabling forms of socio-temporal mediation in the shape of individual actors and instantaneous events. I develop my approach through a discussion of the work of Georges Sorel, Georg Lukács, and Antonio Gramsci, three theorists who debate the role of myth in political mobilization. By applying their insights to the case of Borman, I explore the relationship between myth, mediation, and rationality in Cofán politics and political movements more generally.