‘Triple wins’ or ‘triple faults’? Analysing the equity implications of policy discourses on climate-smart agriculture (CSA)

This paper analyses contrasting discourses of ‘climate-smart agriculture’ (CSA) for their implications on control over and access to changing resources in agriculture. One of the principal areas of contestation around CSA relates to equity, including who wins and who loses, who is able to participate, and whose knowledge and perspectives count in the process. Yet to date, the equity implications of CSA remain an under-researched area. We apply an equity framework centred on procedure, distribution and recognition, to four different discourses. Depending on which discourses are mobilised, the analysis helps to illuminate: (1) how CSA may transfer the burden of responsibility for climate change mitigation to marginalised producers and resource managers (distributive equity); (2) how CSA discourses generally fail to confront entrenched power relations that may constrain or block the emergence of more ‘pro-poor’ forms of agricultural development, adaptation to climate change, or carbon sequestration and storage (procedural equity); (3) how CSA discourses can have tangible implications for the bargaining power of the poorest and most vulnerable groups (recognition). The paper contributes to work showing the need for deeper acknowledgement of the political nature of the transformations necessary to address the challenges caused by a changing climate for the agricultural sector.     

If territorial fragmentation is a problem,is amalgamation a solution? – Ten years later

ABSTRACT

Over the last decade, municipal territorial amalgamation has occurred in 15 European countries. The same period has seen spectacular progress in research on the relationship between municipal size and the functioning of local governments, as well as the impacts of territorial reforms on economic performance and local democracy. Quasi-experimental designs treating territorial reforms as specific “research laboratories” have constituted an important part of that trend. However, there are still important gaps in the knowledge and the study results are often inconclusive. These observations call for a research agenda for the future.     

银川会展经济发展问题研究——基于承办中阿经贸论坛的视角

银川会展经济发展水平是中阿经贸论坛成功举办的重要因素。概述银川会展经济的发展现状和前景,分析存在的主要问题,提出依托中阿经贸论坛大力发展银川会展经济的对策,促使银川成为西部核心会展城市。     

台湾南北区域产业经济发展失衡之多层面多因素分析——以PAM理论架构为视角

区域产业经济发展失衡不仅是发展中国家或地区的顽症，同样也是发达国家或地区的难题。本次研究以台湾地区南北产业经济发展为例，打破以往的“单层面研究”，创新性地引入公共事务管理整合（PAM）架构，采用深度访谈、参与式观察、实地调研、文献阅读等多种方式，层层抽丝剥茧，展开对台湾南北软环境、硬环境、自然资源（条件面）的差异性研究，进一步探析条件面上的差异对台湾南北部的民众、政府官员、专家学者在事实判断、价值判断、个体与群体的兼顾联结（本质面）上的影响，以及对台湾南北经济、社会、政治等宏观影响（现象面）。研究发现，台湾南北产业经济发展失衡的根本原因并非表面的政府与政策失灵，而是受民情文化（条件面）、公民认知（本质面）、社会政治（现象面）等深层次、多因素的影响。在两岸交流进入加速阶段的时代背景下，文章最后建设性地提出改善两岸关系的新启示。     

黑龙江省对俄经贸合作转型升级研究

随着中俄两国战略协作伙伴关系的深入发展,特别是俄罗斯加入WTO、全面实施远东大开发战略,我国实施东北振兴和沿边开发开放战略,为黑龙江省深化对俄经贸合作,实现对俄经贸合作创新发展与转型升级带来诸多机遇,也面临许多挑战。为此,黑龙江省应抢抓机遇,全力推动对俄经贸合作实现"五个"转变,打造完善"三个"平台;打造全国对俄经贸合作的大高地、第一大通道、外向型产业大基地,构建高层次的对俄经贸科技文化合作交流大平台;主动承接"两个"转移,积极扩大自俄进口规模,增加保税区,完善对俄营销网络,创新管理与服务,建设对俄电子商务运营与管理平台。     

发扬“工匠精神”对于振兴实体经济的现实意义

自2016年3月5日李克强总理作政府工作报告时首次正式提出"工匠精神"以来,党和国家领导人为振兴实体经济多次提出要发扬"工匠精神"。发扬"工匠精神"对于振兴实体经济有着重大的现实意义。我国实体经济在经济社会转型期表现出的发展缓慢问题,在国际市场上表现竞争力不强问题,根本原因之一就在于我国企业缺乏更多拥有"工匠精神"的高素质职工队伍。培育、关心尤其要大幅提高拥有"工匠精神"品牌职工的待遇和地位,是打造更多享誉世界的"中国品牌"的前提和基础。以弘扬"工匠精神"为目标的职工文化是振兴我国实体经济的有力抓手。     

Qatar’s humanitarian aid to Palestine

The purpose of this paper is to document Qatar’s recent contribution of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians. We consider Qatar as an example of a mini state that relies on its wealth and soft power to further its interests in the Middle East and support a beleaguered Arab-Muslim state. The paper carries out analysis of Arabic newspapers and other documentary evidence to contextualise and estimate Qatar’s financial contribution 2010–2016. Contextualising Qatar’s aid necessitates considering Israel’s military control of the Palestinian Territories, and its ability through hard power to regulate the inflow of aid to Palestine. The paper concludes by calling for adopting the political economy perspective in dealing with humanitarian aid.     

The Greening of the Americas

ABSTRACT

This paper evaluates global capital’s ecological management and extends the assessment to the “green economy,” as developed in the first “green” neoliberal project, in Costa Rica. Costa Rica has been an important “laboratory” for experimentation in environmental governance mechanisms using debt-for-nature financial exchanges and other instruments of the Kyoto Protocol. I explore how “greening” can be understood as a new phase of capital accumulation, as I go into its five main aspects.     

大力推进县域绿色经济发展——以山西柳林县为例简

通过对柳林县发展绿色经济的SWOT分析，可以发现其存在政府财政资源增长迅速、民间资本较为充足、特色农业发展潜力大等优势，存在地形狭小、城市扩展余地小、产业结构布局不合理等劣势，拥有国家、省、市给予政策导向的机遇，但同时也面临着新兴产业发展趋势不明、支柱产业短期内发展受限等威胁。因此，柳林县应积极制定并施行能充分发挥优势、规避劣势、应对威胁的可行性对策，包括科学规划资金使用、因地制宜规划土地使用、创新发展模式、调整产业结构等。