CSR and social conflict in the Brazilian extractive sector

ABSTRACT

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an important means to address conflicts, support local development and build trust between businesses and civil society. Yet CSR often fails to live up to its ambitions and can even exacerbate conflicts between companies and communities. In this article we consider how changing CSR strategies over the past four decades between Brazilian company Vale to Norwegian company Hydro have fomented or mitigated company–community conflicts in Northern Brazil. We find that paternalistic and philanthropic approaches of Vale over time led to deep resentment and mistrust due to underdevelopment and environmental damages. Moreover, while Hydro’s more modern CSR strategies sought to deepen community engagement and build legitimacy, the company has struggled in addressing the legacies inherited from Vale and past and current civil society grievances. The case suggests that even forward-thinking CSR approaches are vulnerable to failure where they prioritise business risk over community engagement, neglect to account for past legacies in areas of operation, and fail to create a shared vision of future development. It suggests that EI companies should both understand and engage with their social and environmental impacts in the past, present, and future and create shared economic benefits in the short and long term in order to address social conflicts.     

Adding to the Controversy? Civil Society’s Evaluation of the National Conference Dialogue in Yemen

ABSTRACT

This article assembles a picture of Yemen’s 2013–14 National Dialogue Conference (NDC) by collecting perspectives from local civil society organizations (CSOs), which are contrasted to the views of international commentators. Despite all efforts by internal parties as well as the international community, the dialogue failed to avert war, which broke out shortly after. Through interviews with 50 CSOs, we reconstructed the reasons for failure, as well as paying attention to the observed strengths of the dialogue. Half of the consulted organizations were directly involved in the NDC, either as an invited participant or in a brokerage role. The other half concerns outside observers. We identify aspects on which the opinion of the CSOs converge, but also highlight striking divergences depending on insider/outsider status. In contrast to the view espoused in the international literature, the CSOs overall feel that, in spite of all its procedural and substantive flaws, the NDC was a significant junction in the long road towards peace and stability and laid important groundwork for future dialogues.     

Empty schools and Silencios: pedagogical openings for memory-making in Colombia

This paper draws from Silencios – a photography series by the Colombian artist Juan Manuel Echavarría. Silencios comprises more than 120 portrayals of abandoned schools due to armed conflict in Los Montes de María, Colombia. Sharing Echeverría’s belief that ‘these chalkboards have lessons to tell us about war’, the author of this paper advocates for the pedagogical use of Silencios to promote and support memory works in Colombia. The present analysis acknowledges that hegemonic memories and narratives have a negative impact on conflict-affected societies due to their authoritarian and oppressive character.

Therefore, the pedagogical use of Silencios seeks to ignite multiple narratives and counterhegemonic memories that might emerge as the public interacts with the photography. The visuals, in this sense, become an educational opportunity to stimulate reflection and resistance against the monopoly of the past in a country that is currently emerging from conflict. In this paper, the abandoned schools are considered as memory sites, and as renewed learning spaces to stimulate reflections and debates upon the armed conflict. Silencios can contribute to peacebuilding efforts by bringing up the possibility to reconsider essentialist conceptions of peace, memory, and pedagogy, that might hinder potential venues for enduring peace in Colombia.     

Applying Stone in a Western Landscape: Ranchers,Conservationists, and Causal Stories in the “American Serengeti”

As the emergence of nongovernmental conservation efforts generates conflict among various stakeholders, the causal story that each party articulates regarding conservation and the causes of land degradation reflects their unique interests. This study uses existing literature to evaluate causal stories surrounding a contemporary conservation effort: Montana's American Prairie Reserve. Through qualitative review of web‐based documents and newspaper articles, it generates a preliminary account of key stakeholders' causal stories. The case study suggests that parties who might be disadvantaged by ascribing responsibility for environmental harms in an adversarial fashion may instead elect to articulate causal stories that are more neutral than existing approaches might forecast. The study concludes by suggesting that further development of causal story literature may enable it to better address contemporary conservation efforts.     

"堰塞湖"型社区治安管理模式探析 ——以北京市崔各庄东辛店村为例

基层治,则天下安。在新型城镇化纵深推进大背景下,对流动人口住处的疏解整治成为解决"大城市病"的必要手段,但实践中拆迁整治引发了"堰塞湖效应","堰塞湖效应"使得流动人口流入地社区演变成"堰塞湖"型社区。对此类社区的治安管理应革新以往防范式治安管理模式,有针对性地构建社区治安问题"审视→分析→反应→评估"的治安管理模式,根据"堰塞湖"型社区治安问题产生的原因及管理困境,形成一套从宏观到微观的逻辑严谨、运行有序的治安管理体系。具体可从树立"善治"和"共治"治安管理理念、促进流动人口社区融合和社区治安资源整合等方面入手解决"堰塞湖"型社区治安问题,以维护社区安全稳定。     

UNESCO,world heritage and the gridlock over Yemen

Abstract

Since March 2015, the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen has had devastating consequences for the country, its people and its rich cultural heritage. This article traces the responses of the world’s foremost multilateral body concerned with heritage promotion and protection, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Drawing on extensive interviews, archival research and long-term ethnographic research on UNESCO itself and, more specifically, its responses to the war in Yemen, it documents UNESCO’s profound failures in protecting Yemen’s heritage and in confronting the Saudi-led coalition. To do so, the article utilises the framework of ‘gridlock’ to analyse how and why multilateral bodies such as UNESCO become hamstrung in confronting powerful member states in conflict. The article concludes by arguing that UNESCO’s failures in Yemen hold powerful lessons about the role of multilateral institutions in addressing conflict.     

试论山区县市公安基层基础工作

洪江市公安局在强化公安基层工作中,结合山区特点,坚持以“苏州”、“杭州”会议精神为指导,围绕派出所“防范、管理、打击、服务”这一基本职能,狠抓思想认识提高。狠抓社区警务规范建设,狠抓治安联防队伍等群防群治建设,狠抓村级警务站建设,确保了警务前移、警务下沉,着力开创派出所新型警务运行机制的局面,努力实现警民共刨安全文明社区。     

欧盟通用产品安全法律制度初探

欧盟通用产品安全法律制度的框架是通过两项具有里程碑意义的指令 (GPSD 92 / 5 9和GPSD 2 0 0 1/ 95 )来建立和完善的。这两项指令均为采用产品安全立法新模式的横向指令 ,即直接规定对生产者和销售商的通用产品安全义务———只能将安全产品投放市场。本文通过对两项指令重要条款的比较分析 ,介绍了欧盟通用产品安全法制的发展及现状     

Fear of victimization and health

Fear of victimization may have consequences for subjective well-being. I develop and test a model linking fear of victimization to subjective health. I hypothesize that two processes link fear to subjective health-psychological and behavioral. Specifically, I hypothesize that fear of victimization increases psychological distress, and fear decreases outdoor physical activity, especially walking. High levels of psychological distress and low levels of walking, in turn, are associated with poor self-reported health. I find empirical support for the hypothesized processes in a representative national sample of 2031 adults aged 18 to 90 interviewed by telephone in 1990. The negative association between fear and health is explained largely by psychological distress and walking. However, a significant direct effect remains. I conclude with suggestions for future research linking crime and health, focusing on the need for collecting information on community disorganization. Community context is likely the ultimate exogenous variable-the one that sets in motion the destructive cycle of fear, distress, inactivity, and poor health described here.     

论“三队一室”警务模式存在的问题及完善

“三队一室”警务模式是集防范、管理、控制、打击乃至于服务于一体的运作模式,它符合社区警务要求的运作模式,能够大大促进警务效率。作为一种新模式,“三队一室”还存在推广应用、内部规范、外部协调等问题。为此,公安部应对“三队一室”作出明确的统一规定,目前,应在各地的城区派出所和有条件的乡镇派出所先实行,然后逐步推广“三队一室”模式。另外,对“三队一室”的权责应当明确,避免内部职能的冲突和外部权责的混乱。