Documents found
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971.
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972.More information
This paper describes the current status of negotiations undertaken in 1986 following the PRC's application to resume its membership of the GATT as a Contracting Party. The author's account summarizes the progress made during the initial phase of discussions, discontinued following the events of June, 1989 in China, and since the resumption of talks in 1992 and the change of context due to the setting up of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995. The paper outlines the major issues brought up in the course of the negotiations. Some issues relate to the basis on which China's application should be dealt with, e.g. the procedure for acceding to WTO membership and China's claim to be treated as a developing country. Other issues raised by the application are substantive, and relate to the compatibility of China's economic and trade regime with WTO rules. The author, while acknowledging the crucial relevance of political and economic tensions between China and the US to the progress of negotiations, points to the very effective strategy pursued by the Chinese gouvernement in its dealings with developed countries. In the last analysis, however, he views the stop-and-go pattern followed by the discussions as basically and expression of divergent perceptions as to the significance of the WTO system and the constraints it puts on the economic policies of member states.
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974.More information
Massively multiplayer online game, virtual worlds where hundreds of thousands of players compete through epic quests, are becoming increasingly popular. Because of their popularity and their influence, they bring a range of major social changes, especially in terms of deviant behavior, and criminal offenders. In this paper, we will see how we can understand those universe and how deviant, delinquent and criminal acts are conducted through them.
Keywords: Jeux vidéo, délinquance, Internet, cyberespace, criminalité informatique, cybercriminalité, hackers, Video Games, Delinquancy, Internet, Cyberspace, Computer crime, Cybercriminality, Hackers, Juegos de video, delincuencia, Internet, ciberespacio, criminalidad informática, cibercriminalidad, hackers
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978.More information
Abstract A group's collective identity is a complex phenomenon which is always difficult to delineate and understand, but however one does so, historical antecedents must be a crucial element. This year's "Presidential Address" explores this important question, which was raised in an earlier presidential discourse. On that occasion, Robert Craig Brown noted that "historical knowledge is an essential component of a nation's sense of cultural identity. ' ' Professor Wallot elucidates this theme: without a concept of what you have been, you cannot know who you are, or what you can be. As one of the characters in Joy Kogama's novel Obasan observes, "you are your history. If you cut off any of it, you're an amputee. ' 'Professor Wallot sets out to explore this problem by examining the Lower Canadian identity between roughly 1780 and 1815, in order to place the colony within the context of the culture of the North Atlantic world. Though Quebec/Lower Canada has often been portrayed as a closed society, relatively homogenous in its attitudes, cut off from its intellectual roots, and somewhat unsympathetic to new ideas, study of aspects of its culture suggest otherwise. The colony had access to contemporary international thought, in all of its variety, and was more than a passive observer in the clash of ideas and the rhythms of cultural change then current in Europe. In arriving at these conclusions, the author presents a two-part defence; in the first part of his paper, he examines the means of cultural diffusion, the role of printed materials in the formation of attitudes and the rapidity with which European ideas were transferred to Quebec. He concludes that, when one removes the time required to transmit these ideas, the colony was aware of, and deeply involved in, the intellectual cross-currents of the North Atlantic world.The author then proceeds to test the validity of this point by examining three quite different aspects of public culture: the discussion aroused by the fear of overpopulation and consequent impoverishment; the banking system and money, and finally, parliamentary theory and practice. In each of these fields, Professor Wallot concludes, the colony's cultural élite, at the very least, was aware of, and responsive to, recent European thought. In a society which boasted nearly universal literacy, this conclusion suggests a culture far more up-to-date than previous work would lead us to expect.