Identities: Engaging self and other in Modern Sudanese Narrative Discourse

Contrary to the prevalent tendencies of ‘state-centrism' and legal formalism in the literature, this article studies the Ottoman Land Code of 1858 not as an initiator of trends but as a product of social change. The Code recognized private property on land, enlarged liberties of landholders, and pushed inheritance rules further towards gender equality. Deeply influenced by the uneven development of the capitalist relations of production, agrarian conflict, and the complex matrix of the interests of ruling groups, Ottoman land law in the nineteenth century unmistakably evolved in the direction of modern law based on the abstract individual and full commodification of land.     

Social media,civil unrest and government responses: the Zimbabwean experience

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the discontent that increased against the Robert Mugabe led government as a result of grave socio-economic and political grievances, and in the context of accessible social media platforms which mobilised and empowered disenfranchised Zimbabweans to challenge the regime after the 2013 elections. Among other factors, the mounting discontent was caused by the belated payment of civil servants’ salaries, inability to create employment opportunities, refusal to enact electoral reforms, rampant corruption and the introduction of import ban restrictions. This led to the formation of civic organisations which demanded the resignation of Mugabe and these included, but were not limited to, #Tajamuka and #ThisFlag. In response, the Mugabe led government used rigid and repressive measures targeting the protesters, as well as traditional and social media platforms to safeguard itself.     

Agricultural trade liberalization and the APEC process

The liberalization of agricultural trade in the Asia-Pacific region is important to the relatively efficient, low-cost exporters of farm commodities that are participating in the APEC process. While the Uruguay Round negotiations succeeded, for the first time, in extending the GATT trade liberalizing process to agriculture, the agreement was modest. Japan and Korea were allowed more time in which to prepare for the opening of their markets. But the farm-support policies of both are destroying their agricultures. The sooner they are changed, as those of Taiwan have been changed, the better it will be for the Japanese and Korean economies—for consumers, public finances, land prices, and the farmers who remain. Among his many writings on agricultural policy, he is author of the seminal wookWorld Agriculture in Disarray (Macmillan and St. Martin’s Press, 1973 and 1992).     

Regional economic communities and peacebuilding: The IGAD experience

This article examines the role of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in peacebuilding, considering its experience in peacebuilding in the greater Horn of Africa. The article critically examines IGAD’s performance in executing its mandates, as defined in the regional body’s constitutive act. IGAD’s peace mediation and peacebuilding efforts show mixed outcomes. This mixed outcome is attributed to a number of factors that include the structure of IGAD, its dependence on external funding, a dearth of capacity and the member states’ narrow national interests. The article argues that problems arising from the structure of IGAD are compounded by its heavy dependence on external aid; in addition, Ethiopia’s domination has rendered the organisation very weak in its peacebuilding efforts in the region compared to other African regional economic communities.     

External engagement: The Baltic experience

Abstract

The analysis of the Baltic transition reveals the importance of external actors' participation in the process of state transformation. Based on the experiences of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, this article establishes six broad policy principles for effective external engagement. First, the nature, level, and scope of engagement directly correlates with the sustainability of transition. Second, equality in bilateral cooperation brings trust and openness among partners. Third, for a transitional state to succeed it needs sufficient external motivation to sustain it through political and economic fluctuations. Fourth, if foreign aid does not come hand in hand with adequate accountability standards, it brings corruption and stagnation. Fifth, building local (and not foreign) capacity is the primary duty of an external actor. Finally, the reputation of an external actor is as important as the work that this actor conducts. All these principles form the backbone of successful and sustainable actor-to-actor cooperation.     

Repression and development in the periphery: South Korea

Abstract

American social scientists have recently expressed deep concern over the stare of “human rights” in the third world The source of this concern can be pinpointed precisely as the “new moralism” of the Carter Administration. Like Mr Carter, these social scientists address the problem by isolating human rights as a distinct phenomenon which can be dealt with in the abstract, detached from the root characteristics of the political economy within which it occurs. The typical analysis focuses on the individual dictator, who, ostensibly, has available to him a range of choices on the amount of social control that is to be maintained. For example, if the United States were to exert pressure and to discontinue aid, then, according to this view, the dictator would restore democratic rights.     

Introduction: market adaptations,interventions and daily experience

This special issue illuminates diverse realities of post-Soviet development in Central Asia through a multidisciplinary prism. The contributing articles are grounded in a range of social science disciplines including architecture, anthropology and geography, as well as drawing from mainstream social sciences. The analyses demonstrate how a synthesis of specialist knowledge from area studies and individual disciplinary methodologies can provide well-grounded critical positions on development.     

Participatory constitution-making and why it matters: A review of the Egyptian experience

This article considers the making of Egypt's post-Mubarak constitution after considering the fact that participatory constitution-making is accepted as a democratic norm allowing citizens to be involved in the creation of their constitution and their future. The author argues that the process by which a constitution is made is crucial for the framing and legitimising of that constitution. Therefore, political elites and state institutions should not wholly control the process. The views of two schools of thought – idealism and realism – are considered. These views, together with the influence of the state and the concept of participation of the citizenry in the constitution-making process, are measured against international law requirements and further applied in a critical evaluation of Egypt's constitution-making process from 2011 to 2014.     

印度农产品市场准入:分析及借鉴

农产品市场准入是WTO《农业协定》的三大支柱之一,同时也是WTO各成员国在多边贸易谈判中用以保护国内市场的最有效的工具之一.印度是WTO的创始成员国,在利用《农业协定》特别是农产品市场准入规则来规避风险方面,有着丰富的经验.本文通过分析印度农产品市场准入的承诺、实际执行情况以及政策实施效果,旨在为中国在WTO新一轮多边贸易谈判中趋利避害提供借鉴.     

Exchange controls and national capitalism: The Philippines experience

(There is an) unnecessary degree of unreality and Western bias involved in most economic theorizing about the rural tropical world, as well as economists' gullibility in their use of official statistics…¹     

The Vietnamese experience and the third world

Abstract

Based on Vietnam's experience over the past years, I wish to make some general observations about development in the third world. The major consideration, though not the sole one, for my treating such a topic is undoubtedly my own participation in the Vietnamese experience and my personal familiarity with many of the aspects involved. Furthermore, the historical process has moved so fast over the past years in Vietnam that my country has passed rapidly through a succession of different phases. Over a period of 15 years, an adult would have lived under totally different social, political and economic regimes, directly experiencing such important movements as a war of national liberation, land reform, and the transition from a colonial and feudal regime to an independent and finally socialist state.     

越南农业政策变革与粮食生产

越南政府的农业政策变革是影响二战后世界粮食格局的一个主要因素.1950年代中期开始的农业集体化运动不仅导致了生产率和稻米产量的下降,也使原来作为世界三大米市之一的越南在世界稻米出口舞台上变得无足轻重,甚至在有些年份没有任何影响.1980年代以后,越南逐渐将以前以合作社为主要生产单位的相对集中的农业生产方式变为以家庭为主要生产单位的相对分散的农业生产方式,从根本上解决了农民生产积极性不高的问题,结果大大提高了农业生产的效率和稻米的产量以及出口量,越南也一跃成为世界粮食舞台上一支举足轻重的力量.促使越南做出这一决定性改变的是越南普通农民在面对集体化运动时为维护和争取自己私利所做出的一些本能行为.他们以这些行为告诉越南党和政府他们喜欢什么,怎样做才是最有效率的.