Crafting the language of consensus

Conclusion In summary, the consensus process provides a necessary set of procedures and standards that provide the essential foundation for reaching mutually supported settlement of disputes. Adjudicatory or voting processes are antithetical to the very nature of the consensus process. When voting takes place, winners and losers are explicitly defined. This can lead to lessened support for implementation of solutions—and even to the losers preferring that implementation fail.As with any other processes, consensus-based processes can—and, at times, should—fail. Where consensus fails, participants will have recourse to other alternatives for making decisions, including administrative, legal, and political forums, the alternative forums which provided the impetus for disputing parties to seek mutually agreeable solutions through a consensus process. Gerald W. Cormick is a mediator specializing in public policy dispute settlement and a Senior Lecturer in the Graduate school of Public Affairs at the University of Washington. His mailing address is 15629 Cascadian Way, Mill Creek, Wash. 98102.This column is based on materials developed by the author for the British Columbia Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, 8 April 1991.     

Kawabata's views of language and the postwar construction of a literary genealogy

Abstract

This paper shows the ways in which, in the immediate post-war period (1945–1951), Kawabata Yasunari (1899–1972) reflected on his earlier, pre-war literary career and re-envisioned his postwar literary trajectory by constructing a new genealogy of the modern novel in Japan, in relationship to the intricate issues of the literary styles of the modern novel, ‘national language’ (kokugo), and the literary tradition. By examining his Shin bunshō tokuhon (New Guide to Literary Language, 1950), which presents Kawabata's past and present views of literary language, I will argue that Kawabata's changing views of language and literary style must be understood in the context of contemporary debates over national language policy and language reform movements. I will show the manner by which Kawabata formulated his views of language in dialogue with his two rival writers: Yokomitsu Riichi (1898–1947) in the prewar period and Tanizaki Junichirō (1886–1965) in the postwar period. As we shall see, the death of his close literary colleague Yokomitsu in 1947 and Tanizaki's unflagging literary exploration during and following the war prompted Kawabata to position himself in a genealogy of modern Japanese literary writers as well as in relationship to the linguistic and literary tradition of Japan.     

对全球化语境下我国俄语人才培养的几点思考

中俄之间的文化交流已经有三百多年的历史。目前中俄关系步入了历史上最好的时期,时代提出了新的挑战和要求。然而中国的俄语人才培养还存在着诸多的问题和不足,其中包括对中国留俄学生的关注严重缺失等问题。     

Words count: taking a count of the changing language of British aid

A word analysis of six UK government White Paper policy statements on aid (selected between 1960 and 2006) compares the top 20 words and key word pairs used in each document. Characteristic sentences are composed of the top 20s to represent the spirit of each paper. Results illuminate changes in the content of White Papers on aid, and point to trends in the history of the UK's approach to international development. A characteristic sentence to illustrate the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness is contrasted with a sentence of words that did not appear in that document. Readers are invited and challenged to identify words they would like to be used and acted on more commonly in development.     

传播学视野下的海外华文传媒与中华文化之传承——以新、马、泰、菲华文报纸为例

长期以来,海外华文媒体被赋予了传承中华文化的功能。作为重要的海外华文报刊集中地之一,东南亚华文报纸如何发挥其作用,成为学者们关注的话题。本文以新加坡、马来西亚、泰国、菲律宾四国华文报纸为例,运用传播学的某些理论对它们传承中华文化的历史实践进行归纳分析,并指出其所面临的问题。     

Speaking the language of security: the Commonwealth,the Francophonie and the CPLP in conflict management in Africa

The last decade has seen an unprecedented increase in conflict management activities in Africa by international organisations. This has been accompanied by a flurry of academic publications and of policy reports that stress the comparative advantages at the legal and operational levels of regional and other intergovernmental organisations. The article assesses this dominant favourable view by examining the role of the Commonwealth, the Francophonie and the CPLP in Africa. Traditionally regarded as cultural organisations, they have gradually extended their profile to include a security mandate. Drawing from fieldwork and an extensive review of the literature, the article presents the first comparative study of the conflict management activities of these organisations in Africa.     

The Soldier, The State, and The Clash of Civilizations: The Legacy of Samuel Huntington

The major military challenge that the United States faces today is the war in Afghanistan. The U.S. military is engaged in a grueling counterinsurgency campaign against the Islamist movement known as the Taliban, which is based among Pashtun tribes in Southeastern Afghanistan and Northwestern Pakistan, who have never been permanently subdued by a foreign military force. This challenge comes in the wake of that other grueling counterinsurgency war that the U.S. military has had to conduct in Iraq, where its chief adversary was the Islamist movement known as al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. Moreover, the challenge in Afghanistan comes on what could be the eve of an impending military challenge, perhaps even a war, with Iran, as that Islamist state relentlessly moves toward acquiring nuclear weapons. In its entire history of two- and-a-quarter centuries, the United States has never been engaged in an unbroken succession of three wars, in three different countries. Together, the U.S. wars with or within Islamist countries add up to what is a “long war,” indeed.     

建设天津东疆自由贸易港区 促进环黄渤海区域经济发展与合作

国务院已经正式批准设立天津东疆保税港区,并允许东疆港区借鉴国际惯例在通关、外汇、物流、贸易、税收等多个领域先行先试,成为我国对外高度开放的示范区。保税港区是自由港的雏形,是向自由港的过渡。自由贸易港区是天津东疆保税港区的发展目标。建成后的天津东疆保税港将成为天津港作为世界一流大港的标志性区域和现代港口功能示范区,港口的建设与发展将对环黄渤海合作与发展产生不可估量的影响。     

世俗制度的矛盾以及融合性的国家权力

现代欧美国家的权力体系可以被看为世俗化过程的产品,政教分离的过程推动了现代国家制度和权力逻辑的改革。除了主权和民主体系的凝聚之外,国家和社会的分离以及对公民权利的保护更成为欧美自由主义的核心要义。人民在宗教自由的保护之下能够抵抗国家强迫人民接受特定教义的宣导,但是个人的自由却也让共同体认同逐渐流失。中立性让国家无法凝聚共同价值观,现代世俗国家因此陷入进退两难的窘境:世俗制度一方面给予多元社会和平生存的环境,但是另一方面也让国家体系受到社会瘫痪的威胁,自由国家在制度上给予平行社会生长的土壤。现代国家在面对恐怖主义和极端民粹思维时要重新考虑国家承担的政治责任问题,除了要掌握融合性的国家权力之外,更要在政治思想上重新创造共同的价值观。     

韩国首都圈建设中的政府作用及其对京津合作发展的启示

韩国政府在首都圈发展过程采取了制定规划、建立协调机构和产业指导等多种措施,促进首都圈内分工与合作的良性局面。在控制首都圈的过程中,政策也出现过失误,致使首都圈过度集中问题依然十分严峻,这些都对京津发展具有借鉴意义,即树立城市发展的区域观念,加强政府作用与市场作用的对接、中央政府与地方政府的沟通,发挥科学规划的指导作用,加快立法工作的步伐。     

中国与菲律宾税制比较研究

本文通过对比中国与菲律宾的税收制度,得出以下结论:菲律宾的宏观税负略高于中国,这与菲律宾政府所采取的高福利政策有关。中国是以商品和劳务税为主,有利于财政收入的筹集,菲律宾是所得税与商品和劳务税并重,说明政府在税收政策方面是兼顾公平与效率。菲律宾的企业所得税标准税率为30%,与国际其他国家相比税率略高,不利于引进外资,并且在企业所得税优惠政策中没有体现对创新、创业方面的支持,说明菲律宾仍不够注重科技创新发展。但菲律宾在个人所得税方面却表现了更加灵活的一面,即个人所得税中增加了附加扣除项目,有效地降低了成员过多、贫困家庭的税收负担。菲律宾消费税中累进税率的运用,更能体现出税收稳定器的作用。     

The role of actors and institutions: The difficulties of democratic survival in Mali and Niger

Mali and Niger, two neighbouring countries in Francophone West Africa, offer a good opportunity for identifying key factors favouring the survival of a young democracy. While democracy has so far survived, just about, in Mali, it ended in Niger with a coup d'état in January 1996. Given comparable levels of poor economic development and similar troubled modern political histories, economic and societal preconditions do not provide clues to the different experiences of the two countries. Instead, the answer must be sought in the institutional choices made and in the interaction between key players during the democratic transition. An electoral system with proportional representation resulted in political instability in Niger, while a majoritarian system ensured a stable political majority in Mali. Political crisis in Niamey provided an opportunity for the army to retake power. While the military had been alienated from the Nigerien national conference, it had participated actively in and supervised the Malian conference. Mali and Niger provide tentative lessons for other ‘late democratizers’.     

The Transformation and Prospects of NATO

The end of the Cold War has undermined NATO’s raison d’être.But instead of disintegrating,NATO has survived and,moreover,reformed and expanded.An epitome of the swiftly changing international security landscape,NATO’s development is the product of policy adjustment across the Atlantic and is constrained by conflicting interests both within and outside the organization.In the future,the extent to which NATO can exert its influence depends on its capacity to tackle new threats. Transforming NATO has posed a s...