俄罗斯实现持续经济增长面临的主要挑战

随着俄罗斯经济从金融危机中复苏,其经济增长的内在稳定性和长期可持续性问题再次成为理论研究和政策制定关注的焦点。经济学中的内生化增长理论告诉我们,经济长期持续增长受到诸如资本、劳动力、技术进步、人力资本、政府作用和分工等因素的制约。本文依据经济增长理论的逻辑思路,运用俄罗斯经济增长实际数据,对俄罗斯实现持续经济增长面临的主要挑战和制约因素进行了检验和分析。     

State of the world 2018: democracy facing global challenges*

This article analyses the state of democracy in the world in 2018, and recent developments building on the 2019 release of the V-Dem dataset. First, the trend of autocratization continues and 24 countries are now affected by what is established as a “third wave of autocratization”. Second, despite the global challenge of gradual autocratization, democratic regimes prevail in a majority of countries in the world (99 countries, 55%) in 2018. Thus, the state of the world is unmistakably more democratic compared to any point during the last century. At the same time, the number of electoral authoritarian regimes had increased to 55, or 31% of all countries. Third, the autocratization wave is disproportionally affecting democratic countries in Europe and the Americas, but also India’s large population. Fourth, freedom of expression and the media, and the rule of law are the areas under attack in most countries undergoing autocratization, but toxic polarization of the public sphere is a threat to democracy spreading across regimes. Finally, we present the first model to predict autocratization (“adverse regime transitions”) pointing to the top-10 most at-risk countries in the world.     

Women and globalisation: challenges and opportunities facing construction workers in contemporary India

This article identifies the opportunities and constraints faced by female construction workers in urban India, citing empirical research conducted in the city of Ahmedabad. The Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) conducted three surveys in 1998, 2003, and 2007 to learn more about the needs and priorities of construction workers in the context of economic globalisation. While enthusiastically endorsing the role that training and certification can play in providing skilled women with opportunities for quality employment, the author emphasises the need for wider policy intervention at the state and national levels to ensure that such programmes have replicable, sustainable, and gender-equitable results.     

The Australian journalism vs cultural studies debate: implications for South African media studies

ABSTRACT

This article describes an investigation into factors required for a development programme in intercultural business communication amongst the personnel of a South African company operating in the Japanese market. Drawing from items that were identified in the literature, and amongst individuals who operate in the Japanese market, a set of criteria was identified that could be included in a South African-Japanese intercultural business communication course. These criteria were used in a structured questionnaire, which was pre-tested in interviews and a focus group, and then administered to a group of company managers who had travelled to Japan on business. The results of the research are a set of items ranked in terms of salience within three categories. The first comprises degree of knowledge of important aspects of Japanese life, the second consists of factors that lead to culture shock, and the third includes aspects that are deemed to be important in a course on South African–Japanese intercultural business communication.     

Designating structures: cultural studies,philosophy and semiotics

SUMMARY

In this article the author deals with the subject of the philosophical underpinnings of the field of cultural studies, with reference to the traditions within which and against which the field originally defined itself. The social and historical context within which cultural studies originated defined which theoretical agendas were valid for the kind of discussions that were possible in the field. While these may have been relevant for the time and place of the field's origins, the validity of the frameworks in contexts other than the original one may be doubtful. Against this, he suggests some directions in which to explore the possibility of reconstituting the idea of culture within alternative conceptual frameworks. These include the methodological semiotics and pragmatic semantics of C S Peirce, Wittgenstein's notion of the public essence of signification, and revisionist concepts in the Philosophy of Science.     

The human organisation: challenges in NGOs and development programmes

It is frequently contended that NGOs and the wider context of development are intrinsically different from other organisational settings within which Human Resource Development (HRD) is believed to play an important role. The author outlines the basic concepts underpinning human development within organisations, and organisational development, and sets out the arguments for greater investment in people. While this can raise ethical and practical issues in organisations that depend on external funds rather than generating their own income, the failure to develop the staff on whom a development organisation ultimately depends carries far greater risks. Management and specifically HRD are not desk-bound activities that can be pursued through the application of protocols and sanctions, but require vision, leadership, and hands-on engagement.     

The North down under: antinomies of conflict and intervention in Solomon Islands

Drawing upon recent critiques of the ways in which organised political violence in the global ‘South’ is interpreted and responded to, this paper examines the recent conflict and intervention in Solomon Islands. We argue that standardised liberal templates have served to frame both the aetiology of the Solomons conflict and the manner of its proposed resolution. Australia's intervention in Solomon Islands can be said to represent the ‘local North’ as it seeks to impose a liberal peace over a ‘deviant’ and ‘unruly’ neighbour. We draw upon published material to highlight the social, cultural and historical contexts of the conflict. We then demonstrate how the ‘off-the-shelf’ intervention, with its emphasis on asserting a liberal peace, fails to account for these complex social dimensions of the conflict. The antinomies of conflict and intervention in Solomon Islands demonstrate how both the liberal interpretation of developing-country conflict and its bedfellow, the liberal peace, attempt to divorce conflicts from their social contexts. In doing so, the demonstrable potential for violent intrastate conflict to result in positive social transformation is reduced.     

The crisis of governance: Present and future challenges

One of the principal challenges facing individual states and the international community is the threat of ungovernability, of the declining ability of governments to govern. This comes in two forms, the rise of a range of internal economic, social, and political problems beyond the ability of governments to cope with; and actions of governments that increasingly alienate their citizens. Ethnic, religious, and political upheavals that leave millions dead or homeless and require increasing international intervention to deal with have become features of the international political landscape. Among the most serious challenges to the stability of governments and to the possibility of sustainable democratic institutions is the rise of various international criminal organizations able to defy local governments and to operate with great freedom across international community does not respond. There must be an effort to strengthen institutions and capabilities to deal with the growing problem of organized crime and ungovernability.     

Hand in hand against climate change: cultural human rights and the protection of cultural heritage

Within the debate on climate change and human rights, the field of culture, or cultural heritage in particular, plays a marginal role. At first glance, this seems reasonable, given the range of more concrete challenges people face in the context of climate change. However, the protection of cultural heritage is an important goal in its own right, even against the backdrop of other seemingly more pressing tasks. A human-rights-based approach to the debate on cultural heritage and climate change, it is argued, reinforces the international community's obligations to take necessary mitigation activities. Cultural rights and the corresponding duties, especially those under Article 15(1)(a) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, have the potential to provide an effective additional normative basis for the protection of cultural heritage from the adverse consequences of climate change.     

Teaching international relations in Vietnam: chances and challenges

This paper traces the evolution of the teaching of internationalrelations (IR) in Vietnam, from the establishment of the firstInstitute of International Relations in 1959 to the proliferationof departments of IR or international studies from the 1990s.It notes the limitations facing teachers of IR and efforts todevelop and standardize the curriculum in recent years. It alsoexamines the way national history is portrayed in the teachingof Vietnam's foreign policy and regional relations in SoutheastAsia, with increasing attention paid to the Association of SoutheastAsian Nations from the 1990s. Received for publication August 28, 2008. Accepted for publication October 2, 2008.     

The role of security sector reform in sustainable development: donor policy trends and challenges

This paper attempts to account for the gap between donor policies in support of SSR in developing countries, in particular in post-conflict African states, and their record of implementation. It explores the inadequacies of the present development cooperation regime and argues that a substantial part of this gap can be explained by the tension that exists between the prevalence of a state-centric policy framework on the one hand, and the increasing role played by non-state actors, such as armed militia, private security and military companies, vigilante groups, and multinational corporations on the other hand, in the security sector. This paper, which acknowledges the growing importance of regional actors and questions the state-centric nature of SSR, recommends a paradigmatic shift in the current approaches to development cooperation. The external origin and orientation of SSR needs to be supplemented by more local ownership at the various levels of SSR conceptualisation, design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation in order to enhance synergy between donor priorities and interests on the one hand, and local needs and priorities on the other hand.     

Turning down the heat: Influences on conflict management in enduring rivalries

Enduring rivalries represent the most difficult challenges for policy makers seeking to promote international peace and security. Once in place, enduring rivalries account for a disproportionate number of crises, militarized disputes, as well as wars, and include conflicts that are more likely to escalate than those falling in other conflict contexts. Unfortunately, we know very little about conflict management in enduring rivalries from either a theoretical or policy perspective. This study seeks to account for why some rivalries are successfully managed while others persist at high and unabated levels of conflict In addressing these concerns, we explore 35 enduring rivalries over the period 1945–1992. We find that although enduring rivalries are quite resistant to influences that produce changes in their dynamics, both endogenous and contextual influences can exercise a significant impact upon the prospects for conflict management between enduring rivals.     

推倒高墙:论中非关系中的软实力建设

近年来,中非关系中硬实力(经济和贸易关系)和软实力(文化和价值观的吸引力)未实现同步发展的现实,以及西方舆论对中非关系的负面报道和指责凸显出中非关系中软实力建设的紧迫性与必要性.从构成软实力基础的三大要件(文化、价值观和政策)来看,我国对非洲软实力外交既有优势,同时也面临不足.为推进中非关系中的软实力建设,我们应首先在战略层面,从道义高度上确立对非洲外交目标.帮助非洲实现减贫发展和联合国千年发展目标,以及共享全球化成果,应是现阶段我们对非洲外交最适宜高举的旗帜.其次,在战术层面则要加强我们在国际事务中的议程设置能力,重视对智库和市民社会的培育,积极开展对外舆论引导工作,加强与非洲的发展经验交流,以及多渠道开展对话,等等.而我们内在软实力的厚积则是对外软实力推广薄发的基础.     

浅析广西与东盟文化产业的交流与合作

中国与东盟都重视文化产业的发展,积极开展双方文化产业交流合作。广西在参与中国-东盟自由贸易区建设中具有得天独厚的优势,这在一定程度上推动广西走上国际文化交流的前沿。本文主要分析广西文化产业的发展现状、存在问题及广西在中国-东盟背景下的文化产业交流与合作的优势及前景。