Spoken moments of a pernicious discourse? Querying Foucauldian critics' representations of development professionals

Critics influenced by Foucault understand development professionals to be determined by the official knowledge produced within their discourse to actions that harm their putative beneficiaries. This discourages these authors from looking more closely at development professionals and limits their value as allies for the social movements they champion. Through a series of interviews this paper finds that development professionals have a range of understandings of their knowledge, that each suggests distinct ranges of permissible action and that these offer terrains for the formation of alliances that are not anticipated by Foucauldian critics. It also finds that the practices required to exploit these opportunities perversely reinforce the status of official knowledge and that this status may ultimately constrain development in ways that are neither anticipated by Foucauldian critics nor operationally acceptable.     

China–CEE Trade,Investment and Politics

Abstract

The growing and intensifying cooperation between China and 16 Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries has generated extensive criticism by and concerns among EU institutions and Western European member states of the Union. According to diplomatic presumptions, China aims to gain political leverage in exchange for economic benefits in the EU through its CEE members. The following article attempts to evaluate the correlation between the quality of bilateral political relations and economic relations of China and CEE countries in order to draw conclusions on the importance or, on the contrary, the irrelevance of Chinese activity in the region.     

Democratic ‘freedom’ in Myanmar

In Robert Dahl’s work on ‘polyarchy’, democratic ‘freedom’ is liberty from the abuses of the state and freedom for citizens to formulate and express their preferences. This meaning of freedom is central to contemporary scholarship on democratization. At the same time, freedom has also been a key concept for activists and leaders involved in Myanmar’s long democratic struggles. Yet, when freedom is referred to by Burmese activists and democratic leaders, does this entail support for liberty or freedom of the type outlined by Dahl? This article argues that Berlin’s distinction between ‘negative’ and ‘positive’ freedoms can help to clarify overlaps and divergence in notions of freedom. When exploring ‘negative’ democratic freedoms, such as freedom from government restrictions on speech or association, there is considerable overlap between the visions of Burmese activists and democratic leaders and the key elements of Dahl’s democratic freedom. In considering ‘positive’ freedoms, however, there is more divergence. Amongst activists and democratic leaders in Myanmar, there is a focus not on freedom as the exercising of own entitlements but rather on freedom for moral conduct; freedom to bear to the responsibilities and discipline of democracy.     

Misrecognitions and missed opportunities: post‐structuralism and the practice of development

Over the past 20 years post‐structuralist scholars have produced critiques of the field of development. In some circles it is now quite broadly accepted that this approach is futile and that we ought to move into a ‘post‐discourse’ era. By way of counterpoint, this paper argues that such exchanges are based on misrecognitions whose acceptance forecloses possibilities that both critics and their detractors would welcome. The paper is broken into two sections. The first engages problems ascribed to post‐structuralist critiques that seem to have been particularly successful in discouraging further engagement. The second explores three aspects of a single moment of post‐structuralist thought that have been obscured by current debate. Engaging these aspects, while bringing difficulties of its own, may secure conditions necessary for the emergence of the sorts of partnerships often claimed as necessary both by developers and by their post‐structuralist critics.     

REMEMBERING THE FORGOTTEN： INTERNATIONAL LEGAL REGIME PROTECTING THE STATELESS PERSONS STOCKTAKING AND NEW TENDENCIES

Statelessness and protection of stateless persons under public international law has not traditionally been in the forefront of academic legal research. This paper aims at drawing a picture on the legal status of stateless persons under public international law, shedding light onto the rather sporadic but noteworthy legal developments after the adoption of the core global instrument in this field, the 1954 New York Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons.     

Why Is the Equal Merit Principle (Almost) Straightforwardly Wrong?

This article challenges the ‘Equal Merit Principle’, introduced to the judicial appointment process by the Crime and Courts Act 2013. The author argues that this principle does not take diversity seriously enough and none of its possible justifications stand up to close scrutiny. The author also claims that the doctrine that judges should be appointed solely on the basis of merit is either wrong, for the very same reasons as the Equal Merit Principle, or rather uninformative because it fails to give sufficient guidance to those who select judges.