International Scientific Conference ‘Legal Imaginaries of Crisis and Fear’ 9 November 2024, Sofia Bulgaria

 

I am delighted to be part of this conference and with thanks to the remarkable Martin Belov for bringing us all together. The Conference, ‘Legal Imaginaries of Crisis and Fear’, will he held from 8:30 - 18:30 in the New Conference Hall, Main Building (Rectorate) of the University of Sofia ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’.

The conference ‘Legal Imaginaries of Crisis and Fear’ aims at exploring the legally relevant feelings, emotions, and imaginaries of fear. It will present the outcomes of a multifaceted scientific analysis of the constitutional and international law dimensions of crisis and fear. Dark feelings and the (un)constitutional politics of fear are at the core of the research interest of a group of leading and internationally recognized scholars that have been gathered by prof. Dr. Martin Belov of Sofia University in a network researching the legal imaginaries of fear.

The conference shall start with an outline of fear constitutionalism. It will present the epistemological, semiotic, semantic, and heuristic approaches to dark emotions in constitutions and constitutional law. Special attention shall be devoted to affectual constitutionalism and the collective emotional self-identification of the constitutionally framed socio-political communities and the various groups that are framed by them. Dark constitutional memories, memory politics of fear, and the emotions of constitutional transition and social transformation will be assessed marking the transtemporal research of constitutional darkness and fear politics. Special part of the conference shall be devoted to the international and transnational imaginaries of crisis and fear. The conference shall conclude with heuristic analysis of the images of fear.

This event is organised by the European Values and Social Challenges (EUVaSC) research group under the SUMMIT project of Sofia University St Kliment Ohridski. The project SUMMIT - Sofia University Marking Momentum for Innovation and Technological Transfer is financed by the European Union-NextGenerationEU, through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan of the Republic of Bulgaria, project No BG-RRP-2.004-0008.

The Programme follows below. More information ay be accessed through the QR Code:

Looking forward to presenting my paper there as well.

The Contradictions of Employment in New Era Socialist Modernization: 习近平 促进高质量充分就业 [Xi Jinping, Promoting high-quality full employment]

 

 IN its latest issue (2024/21), Qiushi 《求是》distributed  the text of a speech given by General Secretary Xi Jinping speech at the 14th collective study session of the 20th Central Political Bureau on May 27, 2024. The speech is entitled 习近平  促进高质量充分就业 [Xi Jinping, Promoting high-quality full employment].

The distribution of this speech is important for several reasons.  The first is to foreground the importance to which the State attaches to employment--or rather to the challenge of unemployment.  The second is to align employment policy with the core principles of socialist modernization and high quality productivity as developed in the 3rd Plenum of the 20th CPC Central Committee (here, here). And the third is to distill the general structure of the application of New Era Socialist modernization to the challenge of employment. These were reduced to five points of emphasis:

1. First, always adhere to employment priority. We must unswervingly implement the new development concept, more consciously take high-quality and full employment as the priority goal of economic and social development, make the process of high-quality development a process of improving the quality and expanding the capacity of employment, and enhance the employment driving force of development. [第一，始终坚持就业优先。要坚定不移贯彻新发展理念，更加自觉地把高质量充分就业作为经济社会发展的优先目标，使高质量发展的过程成为就业提质扩容的过程，提高发展的就业带动力。] This serves as the framework for applying the general principles of high quality development of the 3rd Plenum. But it also suggests the ways in which the premises of new quality development will be contextualized in the employment context. It also suggests the potentially important foregrounded alignment of employment with the general contradiction of the new era--that is employment as an element of just distribution of the benefits (and responsibilities) of socialist modernization.

2. Second, focus on solving structural employment contradictions. The mismatch between supply and demand of human resources is the main contradiction facing my country's current employment field. [第二，着力解决结构性就业矛盾。人力资源供需不匹配，是当前我国就业领域面临的主要矛盾。] Among the most interesting aspects of this is the effort to overcome the hierarchy of labor value. "We should create a favorable public opinion atmosphere and inclusive social environment that is conducive to employment and entrepreneurship, such as "no profession is noble or humble, and labor is respected", "there are top talents in all 360 professions", and "grassroots employment can also be outstanding"," [营造“职业无贵贱，劳动受尊重”、“三百六十行，行行出状元”、“基层就业，同样出彩”等有利于就业创业的良好舆论氛围和包容社会环境，]

3. Third, improve the employment support policy for key groups. [第三，完善重点群体就业支持政策。]. These include students, migrant workers (especially in encouraging relocation back to place of origin), groups with employment difficulties (the elderly, disabled and the long term unemployed), and retired soldiers and women. Again, the focus appears to be on employment at the margins and in contexts where both the state and private sector wil have to expend a more substantial effort to achieve goals.  The critical questions here, though is the extent to which provincial and local officials will require nudging from the center.  In this context, certainly, the use of data driven assessment measures might be usefully applied--assuming the administrative apparatus takes the tie to develop and correctly deploy them.

4. Fourth, deepen the reform of the employment system and mechanism. We must give full play to the decisive role of the market in the allocation of human resources, better play the role of the government, and focus on solving the problems that restrict the improvement of employment quality, the expansion of employment capacity, and the optimization of employment structure. [第四，深化就业体制机制改革。要充分发挥市场在人力资源配置中的决定性作用，更好发挥政府作用，着力解决制约提升就业质量、扩大就业容量、优化就业结构的卡点堵点问题。]. Here the complementary dual pathway system of public and private enterprises coordinated by the CPC, will play a leading role. But that differentiation may also become more visible. See for example Law of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Promoting Private Economy (Draft for Comments) [中华人民共和国民营经济促进法 （草案征求意见稿）] Text and Source Materials.

5. Fifth, strengthen the protection of workers' rights and interests. It is necessary to improve labor laws and regulations, standardize labor standards for new employment forms, improve the social security system, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of workers in labor remuneration, rest and vacation, labor safety, skills training, social insurance and welfare. [第五，加强劳动者权益保障。要健全劳动法律法规，规范新就业形态劳动基准，完善社会保障体系，维护劳动者在劳动报酬、休息休假、劳动安全、技能培训、社会保险和福利等方面的合法权益]. This includes a number of projects, from flexible employment and occupational injurt policies to stricter supervision of labor and labor rights.

 The full text of the remarks follow below in the original Chinese and in a crude English  translation.

Risky Business--A New Batch of Exclusions From the Norwegian Pension Fund Global's Investment Universe and One Discontinuance of Observation: Suppressed Economic Sectors, Human Rights, Corruption, Environmental Harm

Pix credit here

The Norwegian Pension Fund Global has recently announced a number of exclusions on the basis of a variety of bases. Three touch on investment or operation of investment-suppressed fields (tobacco and nuclear weapons); one was based on risk of contributing to human rights abuse; one was based on contributing to or responsibility for gross corruption; and the last for contributing to severe environmental damage. 

The three forbidden economic sector decisions include the following. It bears recalling that the Fund applies a broad reading to its rule respecting nuclear weapons ("The assessment’s starting point is that companies which produce nuclear weapons or key components thereof shall be excluded from the GPFG" (General Dynamics, text, below).

Turning Point Brands Inc 

Turning Point Brands Inc is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and manufactures and distributes tobacco products, among other things. The company's annual report for 2022 states that it produces snuff tobacco in its own operations. The company distributes a number of other products based on tobacco and cannabis, but these are produced by others. The Council has approached the company and invited it to disclose further details. The company has not replied to the Council’s query

Company is excluded from the Fund’s investment universe due to its production of tobacco products.
Please find the Council’s recommendation here; text here.


Larsen & Toubro Ltd  

 Since the 1990s, India has undertaken the development of its own SSBN fleet for use as launch platforms for nuclear weapons. The country’s first domestically produced SSBN, INS Arihant, was launched in 2016. In 2022, another SSBN, the INS Arighat, was launched. A further two Arihant-class submarines are presumed to be under construction. . . Part of L&T’s role is to produce the boats’ hulls, which are fabricated and equipped at L&T’s shipyards. The company has mentioned this in several of its annual reports

Company is excluded from investment by the Fund Global (GPFG) due to its production of key components of nuclear weapons. Please find the Council’s recommendation here: text here.

 General Dynamics Corp 

 It is clear that GD is the main contractor for the construction of Columbia-class SSBNs and that these boats are built and equipped at the company’s shipyards. Since the construction of the Columbia-class fleet will continue for many years to come, it must be presumed that the company will engage in this activity for the foreseeable future. It is further evident that GD supplies components for the construction of the UK’s Dreadnought-class SSBNs.

Company is excluded from investment by the Fund Global (GPFG) due to its production of key components of nuclear weapons. Please find the Council’s recommendation here; text here.

Decisions based on risk of serious human rights abuses, risk of gross corruption, and risk of severe environmental damage include the following decisions.

Prosegur Cia de Seguridad SA 

Prosegur is a Spanish company which, among other things, provides security services in several Latin American countries. The company’s subsidiary in Brazil has been involved in severe acts of violence and abuse of tribal people’s rights, providing security services for two clients. Since the company continues to perform the assignments where the abuse took place, and also operates in numerous countries in which there are land disputes and serious antagonism between commercial companies and local populations, the Council presumes that new situations may arise involving a considerable risk of human rights abuses. The Council on Ethics finds that Prosegur has not substantiated that its systems for identifying and managing such risks are adequate, and deems the risk that Prosegur will contribute to serious human rights abuses in future to be unacceptable.

Company is excluded from investment by the Fund due to an unacceptable risk that the company is contributing to serious human rights abuses. Please find the Council’s recommendation here; text here. The most interesting aspect of this decision is the continued refinement of the risk analysis of decision making. Even more interesting is the presumption of an increasingly tight alignment between the administrative structures and operational policies and informal determinations of public authorities and expectations of seamless compliance by the administrative apparatus of private enterprises around which their operations are to be organized. 

The Council notes that Prosegur has established governing instruments and reporting systems that are intended to ensure respect for human rights. Since the company does not perceive recommendations from the prosecuting authorities as alerts of human rights abuses, the Council considers that these systems are of limited significance. When the company sets such a high threshold for addressing the risk of human rights abuses, it is difficult to both identify risks and establish adequate initiatives to mitigate them. (text here.)

Neither bad nor good, but further indication of the trajectories of alignment of public and private techno-bureaucracies operating under conditions of compliance driven by public policy.

China State Construction Engineering Corp Ltd (CSCEC) 

CSCEC’s primary business activities include the construction of all types of public buildings, as well as infrastructure such as railway lines, motorways, bridges, ports, etc. The Council’s inquiries have shown that CSCEC may be linked to allegations or suspicions of corruption in a number of countries in the period 2004–2021. CSCEC operates in a business sector and in many countries in which the risk of corruption is high. Moreover, China’s enforcement of corruption abroad has been ranked in the lowest category by Transparency International. The Council has therefore contacted CSCEC and asked it a number of questions concerning the company’s measures to prevent, detect and react to corruption, but the company has failed to reply to the Council’s queries. On this basis, and in light of the cases described, the Council considers that the risk of gross corruption linked to CSCEC’s operations is unacceptable. (here)

Company is excluded from investment by the Fund due to an unacceptable risk that the company is contributing to or is itself responsible for gross corruption. Please find the Council’s recommendation here; text here. The case is interesting both for its reminder that failure to reply to Fund inquiries can be read quite negatively and for the presumptions built on the relationship between risk and compliance measures. The real question centers around sanction (exclusion versus observation), the jurisprudence of which remains still uncomfortably close to discretionary determinaitons with no real check. The Ethics Council's summary of its anti-corruption structural and compliance expectations follow below. 

Tianjin Pharmaceutical Da Re Tang Group Corp Ltd 

Tianjin Pharmaceutical Da Re Tang Group Corp Ltd is a Chinese pharmaceutical company that manufactures and markets Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The company’s products contain body parts from globally threatened species such as leopard bones, pangolin scales and musk from musk deer. The use of threatened animal species in TCM products may contribute to illegal wildlife trade and increases the risk to of these species becoming extinct. There is no information concerning the quantity of body parts of threatened species that the company uses, where the animal parts originate from, what stockpiles exist and how these are replenished. When such data is not made available, the Council on Ethics concludes that the company contributes to severe environmental damage. The company has not disclosed any specific plans to replace the ingredients based on threatened species with other ingredients. Company is excluded from investment by the Fund due to an unacceptable risk of the company contributes to severe environmental damage.

Please find the Council’s recommendation here; text here. This case is another in a growing list of cases that suggest that the Fund has a special interest in the environmental consequences of Chinese traditional medicine procurement.

In addition, following a recommendation from the Council on Ethics, Norges Bank announced its decision to discontinue the observation of the company Supermax Corp Bhd.

Supermax is a Malaysian company that produces rubber and latex gloves. . . In February 2022, the Council on Ethics recommended that Supermax be excluded from the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) due to an unacceptable risk that the company was contributing to human rights abuses. The Council’s recommendation was based on reports of extremely poor living and working conditions for migrant workers at the company’s production facilities in Malaysia. In June the same year, Norges Bank decided to place Supermax under observation. During the observation period, Supermax reported that it has implemented measures to improve conditions for migrant workers. . . In September 2023, furthermore, the US authorities lifted import restrictions on Supermax’s products because the conditions that had led to the company being blacklisted due to the risk of forced labour had been rectified. This could indicate that conditions for workers at Supermax’s production facilities have improved, and that the risk of the company contributing to serious or systematic human rights abuses no longer unacceptable.

Please find the Council’s recommendation here; text here. Here, as in earlier cases, the Fund appears willing to rely determinations by the state apparatus of other public bodies on which to base its assessment. The regularization of this impulse remains to be developed in a useful way.

Announcing Online Publication Volume 37 Issue 7 of the International Journal for the Semiotics of Law/ Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique

 

I am delighted to share the announcement of the online publication of Volume 37 Issue 7 of the International Journal for the Semiotics of Law/ Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique. This issue includes 22 quite interesting essays, many of them open access, on a variety of topics. Among these are Piarangelo Blandino's consideration of possibilities of uniform language among what Niklas Luhmann might have been tempted to describe as the management of the communicative aspects of structural coupling among critically interlinked sub-systems of human collective organization (open access); Jorge Nuñez examination of the concept and conception of sovereignty; Aagnieszka Bielska-Brodziak, Marlena Drapalska-Grochowicz, and Marek Suska's examination of legislative hermeneutics in the service of specific objectives (open access); Ali Haif Abbas's consideration of a critical cognitive discourse analysis of the Rohingya crisis; and Piotr Pieprzyca on the possibilities of an image jurilinguistique des animaux dans les codes civils français et polonais.

 The Index with links to the articles follows below.