Vigilantes,gangsters, and alcohol: clashing citizenship regimes in postwar Guatemala

In this volatile moment in Latin America, when relations between the state and citizens are in flux, people at the margins of society draw on various notions of citizenship in social conflicts over proper behavior and the common good. I examine an intergenerational conflict over the legality of alcohol in an indigenous village in Guatemala to show how its protagonists creatively recombine different aspects of the various citizenship regimes that they have encountered. Elders have formed vigilante justice groups to combat the youth they consider gangsters. While the vigilantes draw upon a discourse of obligation to justify their actions, the generation below them counters with a language of rights. Some argue that citizenship is less meaningful in contexts where state power is ambiguous and extralegal violence is commonplace. I argue that in such contexts, it is not that citizenship does not have meaning, but rather that its meaning is intensely contested.     

Silent citizenship among Asian Americans and Latinos: opting out or left out?

In his classic study, Who Governs?, Robert Dahl interpreted the patterns of political assimilation of ‘white ethnic’ immigrants and their children during the mid-twentieth century as a hopeful sign of the potential of democratic pluralism in the USA. While acknowledging that immigrant groups faced discrimination and structural barriers that might lead them to be silent, Dahl predicted that social mobility and assimilation would eventually erase these deficits in political participation among immigrants. Building from Dahl's analysis, we investigate the extent to which pluralism in the USA can and does work the same way for immigrants who are also racial minorities. We highlight factors that can lead these groups to become silent citizens, including lack of legal status, lower levels of political mobilization by institutions, and discrimination as structural impediments to minority participation. Our findings suggest that both resources as well as structural impediments structure the political behavior of Asian Americans and Latinos, determining whether they are vocal citizens or silent citizens.     

Vernacular rights cultures and the ‘Right to Have Rights’

We use a case study of the Landless Workers Movement (MST) in Brazil and the Via Campesina network of which they are part to develop the concept of ‘vernacular rights cultures’. Vernacular rights cultures calls attention to the way in which demands for the right to have rights call on particular cultures, histories and political contexts in a manner that can transform the rights inscribed in constitutions and political imaginaries. What Ranciere (1999) and Balibar (2002) call the democratisation of democracy, we therefore argue, does not just involve a logic of equality and inclusion through which dispossessed groups demand already existing rights. Rather, it also occurs as mobilisations alter the means through which rights are delivered and transform the content and meaning of the rights demanded.     

绿色壁垒之法律透析

自20世纪70年代末80年代初欧洲率先掀起绿色环保运动以来,相关的绿色环保法规、绿色产品认证制度及标志、绿色包装要求等相继在整个发达国家蔓延,且标准和要求日益提升。实践表明,绿色壁垒已逐步成为继反倾销之后影响国际贸易的另一主要障碍,并呈现出进一步增强的趋势。深入系统地剖析绿色壁垒的成因、特点及现状,对于我国突破这一市场准入门槛,规范和促进本国对外贸易的良性发展具有十分重要的现实意义。     

绿色GDP核算与山西可持续发展

山西经济结构为重型结构,资源与环境问题非常突出。文章通过对山西绿色GDP核算的研究,提出山西可持续发展的对策:树立绿色GDP的理念,转变经济增长方式;建立完善山西资源开发和环境损耗的经济补偿机制;以绿色GDP促进循环经济发展;将绿色GDP纳入干部的考核体系中。     

Strengthening Citizenship in Brazil's Democracy: Local Participatory Governance in Porto Alegre

In Latin America, and particularly Brazil, inequality and social exclusion continue to plague the quality of democracy despite two decades of transition and consolidation. Still, in Brazil, the Workers' Party has been remarkably successful over the past decade, explicitly addressing the problem of social exclusion and 'incomplete citizenship'. This paper provides an analysis of the case of Porto Alegre covering the four Workers' Party municipal administrations from 1989 to the present in order to assess the significance of social incorporation and citizenship for the quality of democracy in Brazil. The paper discusses some conceptual notions that are relevant for the question of democracy in Brazil, particularly the role of citizenship and civil society in 'deepening' democracy. Then the paper goes into the evolution and dynamics of Porto Alegre's system of 'participatory budgeting'. The paper's assessment of this experience with respect to its performance, depth and robustness shows that 'participatory budgeting' has had positive effects with respect to the provision of public goods services, the quality of governance, and citizens' participation in what is seen as a new 'public space' shared by the local state and grass roots organisations. The paper concludes by relating the case experience to the question of citizenship, civil society and democracy and by reflecting upon its wider implications for the current and future quality of democracy in Brazil.     

试谈可持续发展战略下的绿色营销

经济可持续发展问题即市场可持续发展问题.如何在激烈的市场竞争中找到企业的营销导向就需要通过分析人口、资源、环境等可持续发展因素,最终选择绿色营销作为我们的营销导向.     

郑州市绿色交通概念

通过对可持续发展概念的介绍和城市绿色交通理念的论述,逐步阐述了城市发展绿色交通的重要性和紧迫性;借鉴国内外城市交通建设的先进经验,应用城市规划、需求分析、系统工程等原理,对郑州市现有的交通状况以及存在问题进行分析并提出解决方案。     

我国发展循环经济面临的问题及对策

要实现经济的可持续发展,关键在于经济发展方式的转变。而循环经济可以为优化人类经济系统各个组成部分之间关系提供整体性的思路。本文重点探讨了目前我国发展循环经济面临的主要问题及解决的对策。     

西部民族地区退耕还林还草的法律保障探讨

我国制定“退耕还林还草”战略决策最主要的目的,就是为了给西部地区人民营造一个新的生存和发展空间。实施“退耕还林还草”的战略决策,必须尊重群众意愿,确保林草的成活率;必须遵循自然规律,因地制宜,宜林则林,宜草则草,实行综合治理;必须严格执行国务院关于“退耕还林、封山绿化、以粮代赈、个体承包”的法规措施;必须认真落实保护农民土地经营权的法律规范,树立生态环境要持续发展的法律协调观;必须建立和健全西部地区生态效益补偿机制,充分利用价格杠杆的作用促进西部地区的生态平衡。