Media Dissent and Peri-urban Land Struggles in Vietnam: The Case of the Văn Giang Incident

ABSTRACT

This article explores the role of media-led dissent in Vietnam's contemporary land struggles. The analysis focuses on Vietnamese-language material published online by domestic and foreign media about the so-called V?n Giang incident – a high-profile land dispute that shook the country between 2009 and 2012. Looking at how the media treated this incident broadens studies of land struggles in Vietnam, which up till now have focused on peasants’ resistance strategies. This case not only shows that media practitioners engage in dissent with regard to land politics, but also that they engage in more straightforward criticism of the state and its corporate redevelopment partners than what most analyses of rural land struggles in Vietnam, centered on the micro-level and on “lawful” (O'Brien) forms of resistance, would lead one to believe. Illustrating this point, the author shows that media dissent throughout the V?n Giang land dispute openly challenged the government's justificatory discourse about “displacement for development” as well as the mismanagement of land resources on which political and economic elites rely to dispossess peasants from peri-urban lands. If it has not yet provoked major institutional changes, the media's contribution to land struggles has nevertheless succeeded in creating a genuine, national public debate on land politics in rapidly urbanizing Vietnam.     

东盟国家间领土边界争端的成因及影响

二战后东盟国家之间大都存在着领土边界争端,其实这种争端主要有两种:一种是东盟国家之间的陆上疆界或岛屿主权的争端;另一种是东盟国家之间因海洋资源的获取、领海及大陆架疆界的划分问题而出现的争端.本文认为,东盟国家间所产生的这种领土边界争端的原因主要是"殖民主义的遗产"、历史纠葛和国家之间经济利益的争夺.这种争端不仅给东盟国家之间的关系造成不稳定的影响,而且也影响到东盟的安全协调体制.     

China’s Response to the Ebola Virus Disease in West Africa

This article examines the Chinese response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, first surveying Chinese interests in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Many Chinese workers have been evacuated and projects postponed. For the first time, China has extended humanitarian aid to countries facing a public health emergency. China is under pressure to ‘do something’ but faces its own developmental challenges as well as problems of logistics. Chinese knowledge of Africa is still relatively weak and uninformed. Although China’s assistance dwarves that from the other BRICS, the Ebola crisis has revealed problems in Sino-African relations, not least the gap between rhetoric and reality.     

The local impacts of large-scale land acquisitions: a review of case study evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

Large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) are controversially discussed with respect to their local impacts. On the one hand, they are regarded as an opportunity for employment creation and a transfer of knowledge and technology, which enhances productivity and output in agriculture. On the other hand, they are said to impair food security and to foster land conflicts and environmental degradation. Despite the existence of numerous case studies, systematic evidence on the impact of LSLAs on local communities is not available. In this paper we review the existing literature in order to provide a summary of the characteristics of LSLAs and of the impact they have on local livelihoods. We find that while positive effects arise through employment creation and the provision of public goods and services, these benefits are offset by inadequate compensation, land conflicts, and environmental degradation. Overall, most case studies find a negative impact of LSLAs on local livelihoods.     

A historical and dignity‐centred perspective on Haiti's struggle for justice

Abstract

In 1804 Haitian and African revolutionaries defeated their French former masters to achieve the only successful slave revolt in history. In C. L. R. James's (1963, 391) standard account of this event, it is described as the moment West Indians first became aware of themselves as a people. Slavery was abolished and Haiti was transformed to a legal sanctuary for all Africa ‐ descended people seeking freedom; a great justice milestone. However, the country's subsequent 200‐year history has been dominated by the struggle for justice; crippled by a dysfunctional judicial system with ‘justice’ bought and sold to the highest bidder. What justice? Better yet, whose perspective of justice? This article attempts to explicate a Haitian conception of justice by looking at the historical underpinnings of justice theories in Haiti, the ‘inside‐the‐court formal system and the outside‐the‐court form of community justice’ (Moore 1992, 15). It argues that for any system of justice to work it must be based on a Haitian perspective of justice grounded in Haiti's history and its dignity‐centred approach to justice.     

Energy cooperation problems in Northeast Asia: Unfolding the reality

It is a truism that Northeast Asian states could benefit very much if they were to cooperate in the energy security realm. However, to many, especially economists, their behaviour to this common sense solution has been bewildering: there has been simply no progress towards this end and it still remains a puzzle, even to many energy specialists. This article attempts to answer a simple question: Why do the Northeast Asian states, namely China, Japan, Korea, and Russia, not cooperate? For its analysis, the author of the article relies on content analysis of recently released official governmental long-term energy policy and strategy documents of these states, and notes that cooperation for energy security reasons at the regional level is conspicuously absent, which possibly implies a lack of desire and willingness to do so amongst themselves. The article, however, deliberately omits from its study Korea, simply because no such long-term energy policy exists today. It attributes the major cause to the strong propensity by energy specialists to interchangeably use the concepts of ‘energy cooperation’ and ‘energy security’ in their analysis.     

Police Reform and the Peace Process in Guatemala: the Fifth Promotion of the National Civilian Police

After 36 years of mostly authoritarian rule and often bitter civil conflict in Guatemala, the December 1996 Peace Accords prepared the ground for a new phase of reconstruction, democratisation and social and institutional reform. Prior to the Peace Accords, policing in Guatemala had been often violent, repressive and subordinated to the counterinsurgency logic of the military. Security sector reform intentions included the abolition of existing police forces and the creation of a new National Civil Police (PNC). The PNC was meant to give substance to a new way of policing in tune with the building of democratic governance and effective law enforcement. This paper examines the general background of the reforms, discusses the limitations of the results so far, and takes a particular and critical look at one of the key components of the police reform: the recruitment and training of PNC aspirants, using the case of the 1999 Fifth Promotion that entered the Academy of the PNC.     

Moving beyond a donor-recipient relationship? Assessing the principle of partnership in the joint Africa–EU strategy

ABSTRACT

The Joint Africa–EU Strategy (JAES, 2007), aimed to break with the traditional donor-recipient relationship between the EU and Africa and to develop a true partnership. This paper investigates whether the JAES has succeeded in this aim. Particularly, it focuses on the principle of equality, defined as a situation where the more powerful partner does not impose its will on the less powerful partner. Empirically, it investigates the thematic partnerships on peace and security and democratic governance and human rights. Based on a review of primary and secondary literature and 32 expert interviews, the paper argues that the EU has overall treated its African counterparts as equal partners in these thematic partnerships, namely by respecting ownership and jointly deciding on what to discuss in the partnership. Nonetheless, divergences based on differences in interests and values have in some cases led to the perception from African partners that the EU did not treat them as equals.     

防范化解政治领域重大风险探析

政治安全是国家安全的根本。维护国家政治安全,是新时代进行伟大斗争的必然要求,是实现中华民族伟大复兴中国梦的重要保障。当前,我国政治安全形势总体保持稳定、向好的基本态势,但同时面临的风险与挑战也是前所未有的,影响政治安全的不利因素日趋复杂。必须坚持底线思维,增强忧患意识,认真贯彻落实总体国家安全观,加强有针对性的防范打击...     

日本典型劳动社会保障智库研究:主要类型与特征分析

中国特色新型智库建设已经成为国内外学术焦点,而率先步入少子高龄化社会的日本,其劳动社会保障智库建设可为中国提供有益参考。分别考察了日本具有代表性的劳动社会保障民间智库、官方智库和高校智库的发展演进历程。民间智库通过与公益财团法人结合,得以保持其专业性与财务可持续性;官方智库体现出较显著的整合趋势,由法律赋予其相对独立的法人地位;高校智库在财务可持续性上有天然优势,而有效整合内外部资源是其主要抓手。日本劳动社会保障智库的特征包括:重视田野调查与数据挖掘,依据智库性质分类治理,智库资金来源多元化,智库影响渠道多层次。     

Low Intensity Democracies: Latin America in the Post-dictatorial Era

In the context of the Cold War and accompanied by the doctrines of National Security, authoritarian and often repressive military or civil-military regimes emerged in a number of Latin American countries. However, military regimes were not the only ones contributing to the formation of societies mutilated by fear and terror. During the last four decades, the continent became affected by a cycle of violence that involved various armed actors, from the armed forces to the guerrilla, from the paramilitaries to the narcotics-trafficking Mafia, or from the committees of self-defence to the 'common' criminals. This article focuses on the persistence of military influence and organised political violence more general in post-authoritarian and indeed post-Cold War Latin America. After briefly reviewing the historical legacy of so-called 'political armies' in the region as a whole, I offer an assessment of the consequences of this legacy for the current agenda of democratic consolidation in Latin America. Two possible scenarios are examined: that of fairly progressive democratisation and civilianisation of politics, and that of the re-emergence of violence despite the formal rule of democracy. In the latter scenario, de facto harsh and violent regimes collide with a growing array of rival perpetrators of political and other forms of organised violence.     

The International Criminal Court and the Darfur crimes: The dilemma of peace and supra-national criminal justice

ABSTRACT

The supra-national criminal prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of the alleged crimes committed in Darfur raises critical legal and conceptual issues. This article addresses the dilemma of peace, justice and reconciliation from a legal perspective, as well as the justice options that are available. The article also assesses the Sudan's criminal and military laws (both at the substantive and procedural levels) in terms of the country's ability to prosecute international crimes such as war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. In this respect, the article argues that these laws fall short of international criminal law standards and principles – particularly the amendments introduced after the United Nations Security Council referred the Darfur situation to the ICC. The article critically examines the Sudan government's policy of non-engagement, which ultimately led to supra-national criminal prosecution (represented by the ICC intervention under the complementarity principle of the Rome Statute). Finally, the article interrogates the report issued by the African Union High-Level Panel on Darfur (AUPD), and evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of its recommendations.