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.     

Reproductive health services: “Business-in-a-Box” as a model social innovation

Access to reproductive health services and products in remote and rural communities is a critical area of concern for developing countries. This article considers a pilot intervention in three districts of Pakistan where “Business-in-a-Box” as a model of place-based social innovation is used to improve the socio-economic conditions of women in remote rural settings through socially responsible micro-franchising. It finds that such programmes help build a sense of community, ownership and grassroots capabilities and skills. The article also discusses the impacts of such actions on the individual and community life, and the need to upscale and sustain these initiatives.     

民法总则民商主体界分的制度缺陷与完善思路

民法总则关于民商主体界分的整体制度设计因自然人与法人的不同而分别遵循了不同的逻辑标准，但都直接体现或隐含了“营利性目的”的内涵。民法总则民商主体界分制度在概念使用和标准贯彻上存在逻辑缺陷，进而导致实践中可能面临诸多难题。可行的完善思路是对商自然人的主体制度建构采取由基本法确立营业权和由单行法规定具体规则的方式；用“组织”作为主体概念统领“法人”和“非法人组织”；将商组织的具体制度纳入民法典专编或者商事基本法加以规定，并且在民商主体界分时采取法律判定与事实判定相结合的模式。     

宪法与民法典关系的四个理论问题

从宪法角度和法律三元分类角度看,民法典将基本民事主体表述为"公民"比表述为"自然人"更合适。各国宪法差异决定中国民法典表述基本民事主体不能复制德国民法典的规定。就性质而言,民事主体内部关系的内容是权利与权利,应避免使用"权力"之类术语来定义其内部组织或描述其功能。在数字化时代,民法典应着力保障在数字化背景下备受威胁的个人隐私权,促进民事主体实质性享有平等的发展权利,但不宜承担公法功能。     

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.     

民法典视野下担保合同效力的制度变迁

从担保行为历史、担保合同效力立法、司法实践的角度考查,担保制度经历了从人格向契约、再由契约向政策的变迁,各阶段的效力规定均体现了特定的社会背景并具有时代适应性。民法典对保证及物权担保合同中主从合同的效力关系进行了统一规定,其法定主义立场重申了对担保秩序稳定性的价值追求,反映了立法者在面对日新月异的担保现实时追求公平的整体目标,而在回应诸多新型担保方式的现实层面,司法则必将承担更宏大的历史重任。     

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.     

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.     

差异与成因：两大法系消极公诉权之评析——兼及我国消极公诉权之完善

消极公诉权在公诉权理论中占有极为重要的地位 ,两大法系都对之作出了积极的肯定 ,并在立法上作出了相应的规定。但是 ,两大法系对消极公诉权的规定又显示出了巨大的差异 ,这种差异是由于两大法系在国家政治哲学、法律传统、诉讼理念等方面的区别而造成的。本文分析了两者的差异 ,并对我国消极公诉权的完善提出了意见