Building partnerships between Northern and Southern development NGOs: Issues for the 1990s

The number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) involved in development in the North and the South has increased dramatically over the last ten years, provoking calls for new partnerships between them. But Southern NGOs have often been disadvantaged in the search for true NGO partnerships, because they know too little about their Northern counterparts. This article therefore describes some important features of Northern NGOs. It then goes on to identify critical issues involved in negotiating partnerships with them. Finally, the need for equitable NGO partnerships is considered in the broader context of strengthening the third sector in civil society.     

The utopia of suburbia: the unchanging past and limitless future in Doraemon

The long-running Japanese children's media franchise Doraemon is commonly interpreted both inside and outside academic discourse as a representation of a positive vision of the future, an analysis based partially on its portrayal of a lovable robot. This view is supported by the series' use of ‘science’ to represent unlimited accessibility, and the branding of the series as a companion to children's scientific education. Doraemon's celebration of the future's boundless potential is complicated, however, by the impulse in recent works to reject the same notion of ‘progress’ on which the series relies. The works remain frozen in a romanticised vision of 1960s’ Japan, and have come to connote childhood nostalgia while presenting characters that do not grow or change over time. In the 2008 film Nobita to Midori no Kyojinden, the perpetual act of returning that defines much of Doraemon today is taken to a dramatic extreme, as a pre-modern ideal becomes the blueprint for both morality and might. Doraemon constructs temporal mixtures that simultaneously glorify both the past and the future.     

The rise and fall of donor funding for advocacy NGOs: understanding the impact

NGOs in Asian countries often experience fluctuations in funding because of the constantly shifting priorities of their international donors. Without domestic sources, Asian NGOs are forced to re-align their priorities with donor interests in order to compete for funding. In the case of advocacy NGOs, the resulting asymmetry in donor–grantee relations often leads to a crisis of legitimacy and deteriorating effectiveness for the NGO. Because of the political nature of advocacy work, these NGOs must maintain a reputation for independence and legitimacy if they are to be influential in the political process. This article analyses the impact of fluctuating international donor assistance to advocacy NGOs in Cambodia, the Philippines, and Thailand, and offers recommendations for donors. While donors have spent significant resources on building the capacity of advocacy NGOs in South-East Asia, funding trends usually undermine the effectiveness of their grantees long before funding is ended.     

How some reflections on the United States' experience may inform African efforts to build court systems and the rule of law

This study examines how court systems capable of holding public officials accountable evolve. Although its main purpose is to inform the way we understand this process in Africa and other parts of the developing world, the account tries to make general points by way of a short, idiosyncratic excursion through United States' judicial history. The purpose is to examine more closely important aspects of explanations often not considered. Reform requires more than an incentive to seek change. Leadership, appropriate framing, a supply of ideas, and institutional capacity all matter too. Rarely do these things come together at the same moment, although happy conjunctions are more likely to occur in some political systems than in others. Change happens slowly, in fits and starts, with the benefits realized only after the ingredients are all assembled. Whether it is possible to sustain the impetus for reform while the pieces come together may depend heavily on the existence of organized civic groups and the links between the members of these groups and those in power.     

NGOs and Ethnic Conflict: Lessons from the Work of the Project on Ethnic Relations in the Balkans

This article examines the impact of nongovernmental organization-sponsored contact and communication on fostering peaceful solutions to ethnic conflict via case studies of the activities of the Project on Ethnic Relations (PER) in Romania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo, and Serbia. It explores five operational principles that guide PER activity: creating credible, neutral forums for dialogue; maintaining momentum; working within political realities; encouraging indigenous solutions from within existing processes; and acting with the backing of powerful states. These principles explain PER's success as a "weak mediator" of ethnic conflicts. According to this analysis, PER also exhibits organizational characteristics that contribute to success, including nonpartisanship, area expertise and extensive networks of local contacts, and an ability to secure the trust of local actors.
A significant indicator of the success of PER activities is the establishment by conflicting parties of institutionalized mechanisms for addressing their differences. Contrary to the view that electoral competition contributes to conflict, this study finds that the possibility of achieving an electoral advantage by participating cooperatively in conflict resolution activities creates incentives for local actors to recognize opportunities offered by PER activities and leads local actors to heed PER's advice. Finally, the article offers a cautionary observation. While PER's perceived influence with major international actors may contribute to its local successes, once a state actor with the power to impose a solution has committed itself to ending a conflict, its preferences outweigh any local interests in determining the outcome and renders the efforts of a "weak mediator" such as PER irrelevant.     

Sharing the Burden: The Role of Government and NGOs in Protecting and Providing for Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Japan

This article examines the background to Japan's current refugeerecognition and protection regime in the thematic context ofburden-sharing. It considers recent legislative reforms andthe role of local NGOs with the aim of setting Japan's domesticprotection framework against the background of its internationallegal obligations. The analysis suggests that the policy andpractices of the Japanese government have resulted in the exclusionof many who seek to enter the country and that for those in-countrythere is inadequate state social and welfare provision. Thearticle questions whether Japan's significant financial contributioncan adequately discharge its international burden-sharing responsibilitiesand argues that the government has effectively shifted responsibilityfor protection and support to local NGOs. It concludes thatwithout further changes burden-shifting and not burden-sharingwill remain a predominant feature of Japan's approach to protectingand providing for asylum seekers and refugees in Japan.     

Mobilizing Information: Local News and the Formation of a Viable Political Community

This article offers a rhetorical understanding of the practices and influences of news media on democratic citizenship during an environmental conflict. I compared two newspapers' ability to foster and suppress the formation and activation potential of citizens to participate in the decision-making process of a solid waste facility siting. One newspaper used language that fostered the formation of community by overcoming apathy and encouraging residents to act collectively. In contrast, the other newspaper's coverage suppressed the formation of community by reinforcing the belief that residents were powerless against the entrenched economic and political power base. This research also establishes a rationale for why it is important to the discipline to expand the definition of mobilizing information in the news media.     

Making feminist sense of the “anti-globalisation movement”: Some reflections on methodology and method

The central purpose of this paper is to outline what I take to be the distinctive contributions that a feminist understanding of politics can offer to the study of social movements in general and the “anti-globalisation movement” in particular. In other words, my objective is not to provide a theoretical or empirical account of anti-globalisation politics but rather to explore how one would go about constructing such an account if one allowed feminist insights to guide one's research. In this sense, then, I am interested in drawing out the kinds of questions that feminists would ask about this movement, the lines of inquiry that they would open up and the personal and academic worries and problems that may arise while pursuing this research.     

Enhance People-to-People Exchanges Promote Common Prosperity:on the Visit of Study Group of NGOs in Central and Eastern European Countries

<正>At the invitation of CAFIU,a joint study group consisting of representatives from NGOs,think tanks and media in Czech Republic,Hungary,Poland,Romania and Russia visited China from April 13th to 23rd,2015.The study group visited Beijing,Lanzhou,Zhangye and Shanghai.     

Towards the global social: sociological reflections on governance and risk in the context of the current financial crisis

This article explores the relationship between contemporary forms of governance and risk. International Relations scholarship tends to locate governance within a theoretical framework derived from sovereignty. I suggest that a Foucauldian notion of ‘governmentality’ entails a better understanding of modes of governance, especially in so-called advanced liberal societies. In these societies, a particular form of rationality and a series of invasive techniques render individuals as objectified, classified and calculable things, in turn, making them more amenable to risk-based technologies of control. Via a survey of credit-rating, auditing, insuring and other calculative practices, I examine that ways in which governance operates as a biopolitical technology. This clears the way for thinking about governance in terms of the ‘global social’.     

Health of internal labour migrants in India: some reflections on the current situation and way forward

Social and development policies have not been successful so far in mainstreaming health issues of internal labour migrants in India. This opinion paper reflects on the current situation of migrants and puts forth some perspectives on the way forward. It suggests some avenues for further research and scaling up of migrant-friendly health programmes.     

万隆会议：推动亚非国家联合自强的重要里程碑——纪念亚非会议50周年座谈会综述

2005年3月30日,中国亚非发展交流协会在北京国际饭店国际厅举行纪念亚非会议50周年座谈会.部分亚非国家使节、资深外交官,国内知名学者和16位我国前驻亚非国家大使应邀出席.     

The Influence of Religion and Ethnonationalism on Public Attitudes towards Amnesty: Northern Ireland as a Case Study

The granting of amnesties has now become a cornerstone of peacebuilding efforts in societies emerging from conflict. Yet, the impact of the role of religion and ethnicity in determining attitudes towards such arrangements has not been empirically assessed. Mindful of this omission, this article investigates the relationship between a range of religious measures — religious practices and beliefs in and about God — and ethnonationalist identity on public attitudes toward amnesty in Northern Ireland. Based on nationally representative survey data, the results suggest that, although Protestants are significantly more opposed to such an initiative than Catholics, both religious beliefs and ethnonational identity are significant, albeit divergent, net predictors with respect to their differing views.     

Negotiating the politics of gender and rights: Some reflections on the status of women's human rights at ‘Beijing Plus Ten’

This article undertakes a review of the development of the women's human rights project, focusing particularly on violence against women and issues of sexuality and reproductive rights. It notes gains by activists in promoting the women's human rights agenda and highlights the continuing impediments to the project from increasingly influential groups and some United Nations member states opposed to women's human rights. A more general problem is a lack of political will from those member states ostensibly committed to the cause who have often failed to translate this ‘commitment’ into effective action. It concludes that, as we approach the tenth anniversary of the ‘Conference of Commitments’, the implementation of initiatives has often been slow and somewhat ineffective. Governments have mastered the rhetoric of respect for women's human rights, yet the full realisation of women's human rights across the world remains elusive.     

转型与升级：近年菲律宾南部恐怖主义发展研究

在“伊斯兰国”席卷全球的背景下,作为伊斯兰世界重要的外围区域之一,东南亚地区恐怖主义的发展模式与路径值得进一步研究与关注。自20世纪70年代以来,由于历史、宗教等矛盾的交织,尤其是中央与地方政府的矛盾,菲律宾南部爆发了声势浩大的摩洛人分离运动。此后,菲律宾南部分离型恐怖主义逐渐向极端型恐怖主义“转型”,并在地区恐怖主义中扮演重要角色。进入21世纪,随着全球反恐战争的展开,东南亚地区恐怖主义一度沉寂。2014年“伊斯兰国”的崛起,给东南亚地区恐怖主义的复兴注入了新的“活力”。在“伊斯兰国”的直接影响下,以阿布沙耶夫组织等为代表的菲南恐怖主义再度“升级”。在“伊斯兰国”与地区恐怖分子的参与、回流下,出现了马拉维武装对峙事件,同时也标志着菲南恐怖主义的国际化“升级”。未来,菲南地区的恐怖主义区域化与国际化互动可能进一步加强,马拉维武装对峙模式亦可能在其他地区被复制或模仿。要彻底解决菲南问题,不仅需要妥善处理国内的分离主义问题,还需有地区、国际层面的反恐支持。     

“双重国籍”的放弃——中国与印尼开辟睦邻外交的突破口

有学者认为,中国产生于1909年的第一部国籍法是与西方殖民主义者争夺华侨的产物.的确,对后世中国地缘政治外交产生一定影响的"双重国籍"问题即由此而来,但从国际政治和国际关系的角度来看,此说只是揭示了问题的现象,而并未触及其深层的原因.本文试图通过回顾华侨"双重国籍"问题的历史发展,并探讨新中国解决与印尼"双重国籍"问题的外交背景,以更好地认识"双重国籍"问题的解决对于新中国外交所具有的积极意义.