Heroism and ambiguity: Ngo advocacy in international policy

NGO advocacy is sometimes portrayed in a heroic light, but efforts to influence World Bank-supported economic policies confront considerable ambiguity. Influence is difficult to demonstrate, but advocacy should be more rigorously assessed in the interest of transparency and effectiveness. Two (partial) solutions to this ambiguity are to focus on the process of NGO campaigns themselves; and to monitor impact on component parts of a model of institutional change at the Bank. This article assesses a recent advocacy campaign by testing it against five criticisms of NGO campaigning, then proposes that NGO advocates develop a practical model of policy change and monitor and evaluate their efforts with reference to the model's component parts.     

Farm-Level Pathways to Improved Nutritional Status: Introduction to the Special Issue

Abstract

Global, national and local policies and programmes for agricultural development are recurrently justified based on their alleged role in improving food and nutrition security. However, strikingly little evidence is available to prove that a direct, household-level link between agricultural production and improved nutrition exists. The objective of this special issue is to systematically and empirically test, using data from Africa and South Asia, whether a relationship between household agricultural production and nutrition can be found. Overall, the studies in this special issue support the hypothesis that household agricultural production has direct and important linkages with dietary patterns and nutrition.     

The heritage of autonomy in Carpathian Rus’ and Ukraine's Transcarpathian region

As the Soviet Union disintegrated and eventually dissolved in 1991, many of its peoples, both so-called titular nationalities and national minorities, put forth demands for independence or, at the very least, self-rule for territories that were said to represent the national patrimony. Among the many peoples who put forward such demands were Carpatho-Rusyns, who, together with fellow citizens of other national backgrounds, demanded autonomy or self-rule for the region (oblast) of Transcarpathia in far western Ukraine. This essay examines from a historical perspective the question of autonomy or self-rule for Carpatho-Rusyns and for all or part of the territory they inhabit, historic Carpathian Rus’. The autonomy question in Carpathian Rus’ is hardly new, but one that goes as far back as 1848.     

证明责任制度的改革完善

本文以我国刑事诉讼法修改为着眼点,针对我国现行刑事证明责任制度的特点和问题,指出我国立法应当明确规定检察机关在公诉案件中承担证明责任。在检察官承担证明责任的前提下,法官所承担的证据上的责任具有补充性、核实性以及加强性的特点。同时,还注意到,法官完全被动,只判定而不主动调查的制度安排不符合追求实体真实这一我国刑事诉讼的目的与精神。而过分地赋予法官查证责任则将损害审判的中立、独立,损害司法公正,也不符合我国诉讼制度改革的要求。     

制度权威缺失的原因探究

“徒法不足以自行”。当前,在我国的制度建设进程中,树立制度应有权威是一项非常紧迫的任务。制度权威缺失有其内外部原因:制度权威和政治权威缺乏相容性、正式制度和非正式制度缺乏相容性是其外部因素;制度与制度体系的自身不足是其内部因素。     

Queensland's Role in the 2019 Australian Federal Election: A case study of regional difference

This article explores the role of Queensland voters in the 2019 Australian federal election. The article identifies five key elements of a Queensland political culture before offering evidence that the Liberal-National Coalition's exceedingly strong performance in Queensland in 2019 was not a single aberration, but one of a long and continuing pattern of electoral nonconformity. The article also argues Queensland's complex regional diversity necessitates analysis across not one or two constituencies but via six geographically, economically and demographically diverse regions. Third, the article argues the unexpectedly large swing against the Australian Labor Party in Queensland in 2019 was fuelled, overwhelmingly, by five factors, each consistent with the five core elements of a Queensland political culture.