Flexibility and Authority: Resolving Labor Disputes in a County Government in Western China

Xin He
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引用次数: 4

Abstract

Existing literature regards flexibility and authority as key characteristics of informal justice. We further contend that the combination of the two is crucial for informal justice to be effective. We investigate the process of dispute resolution by a Chinese labor agency. Following the life cycles of a sample of 810 labor disputes, we find that this informal justice forum was efficient and effective, made possible by the combination of flexibility and authority. Flexibility means that the agency attracts certain types of cases that are usually screened out of the formal legal system and that agency officials use "informal," hence flexible, techniques. Authority means that the administrative agency possesses additional powers over the disputants, hence the disputants are under pressure to follow its suggestions and decisions. A comparative analysis of various cases of informal justice reinforces the importance of combining flexibility and authority. We further demonstrate that flexibility without authority is insufficient, and that some informal justice forums are effective because they enjoy both.
灵活性与权威性:西部某县政府劳资纠纷的解决
现有文献将灵活性和权威性视为非正式司法的关键特征。我们进一步认为,两者的结合对于非正式司法的有效性至关重要。我们调查了一家中国劳工机构解决争议的过程。通过对810个劳资纠纷样本的生命周期分析,我们发现这种非正式的司法论坛是高效和有效的,这是灵活性和权威性相结合的结果。灵活性意味着该机构吸引通常被排除在正式法律体系之外的某些类型的案件,机构官员使用“非正式”,因此灵活的技术。权威是指行政机关对争议者拥有额外的权力,因此争议者受到压力,必须服从行政机关的建议和决定。对各种非正式司法案件的比较分析强调了灵活性和权威性相结合的重要性。我们进一步表明,没有权威的灵活性是不够的,一些非正式的司法论坛是有效的,因为它们两者兼得。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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