Les dockers dakarois. L’organisation du travail dans un port ouest-africain, 1910–1990s

This paper deals with the long-term evolution of dock labor in Dakar. Through the utilization of archival sources and their analysis, this investigation explores the changes that occurred in this sector and primarily the reform plan developed during the world wars but that was never introduced into the labor regulations, mainly due to the colonial regime. In addition, this paper studies the legal changes since the 1970s when the dockers’ statute was settled. Furthermore, this research uses oral testimony from retired Senegalese dockers to study the way these workers observed these structural changes. It is the first time that this topic has been explored for the port of Dakar from a historical long-term perspective.     

The Chinese Political Opposition in Exile: A Chequered Development

Deploying the perspectives of diaspora politics and transnational social movements, this article analyses the impact of the key factors conditioning the overall environment in which the overseas Chinese democracy movement (OCDM) has operated since the 1989 Tiananmen event in Beijing (where weeks of mass protest rallies by students, intellectuals, workers, and citizens led to a violent crackdown by the People’s Liberation Army on the demonstrators on 4 June). China’s phenomenal rise as a global power, its transformed relations with the West and diaspora communities, and its toughening control over political dissent inside and outside the country have created an increasingly arduous and complex mobilising terrain for the dissidents in exile. Meanwhile, Taiwan’s democratisation, political nativisation, and China-focused economic exchanges have minimised Taipei’s role as the mainland exiles’ traditional backer. Finally, the shifting norms, demographics, and practices of the overseas Chinese diasporas have further compounded these challenges.     

Jimmy Carter and the Sale of the AWACS to Iran in 1977

It appeared that as 1977 dawned, the political climate in the United States might render multi-billion dollar arms sales into unstable regions a thing of the past. Jimmy Carter triumphed in the presidential election of November 1976 on a popular platform of arms control and the introduction of human rights considerations into American foreign policy. His transition from that idealistic candidate to the president who agreed to sell Iran a fleet of highly advanced AWACS aircraft, as part of a record breaking $5.7 billion arms package, is therefore outwardly confusing. Yet, when examining the entrenched policy path that Carter inherited regarding arming Iran, and the larger needs of Cold War containment, the logic of Carter’s decisions essentially to betray his own policies in this case becomes clear.     

Buyer Beware: How Market Structure Affects Contracting and Company Performance in the Private Military Industry

Private military and security companies are integral components of the defense and intelligence operations of some of the world's most powerful states. Despite the increasingly pivotal role of contractors, analysts have yet to develop theories explaining when governments should outsource national security responsibilities or what conditions cause private defense markets to function efficiently. This inquiry addresses this gap in the literature by demonstrating that varying market structures—that is, the quantity of firms providing similar services and the number and purchasing power of those buying these services—have significant effects on costs, oversight, and company performance in the private defense industry. A principal–agent framework is developed to explain variation in the performance of firms in different markets across the industry. Evaluation of three private defense markets yields the surprising conclusion that monopsony, rather than a competitive market, is the ideal structure for governments outsourcing aspects of national defense.     

Public Perceptions of Income Inequality in Hong Kong: trends,causes and implications

This article examines the patterns and changes in public perceptions of domestic income inequality in Hong Kong in the past two decades and explains individual variations in these perceptions. It found that the perceived seriousness of income disparities had been persistently high, while the perceived unjustness of income disparities showed a fluctuating trend. Our findings lent partial support to the structural position thesis that the privileged groups are less likely than the underprivileged groups to consider existing income disparities to be serious and unjust. Nonetheless, the popular understanding of poverty is still biased towards ‘individual’ explanations, and this perhaps explains why the government is less willing to tackle the economic and political foundations of poverty in Hong Kong.     

加强公安队伍职业化建设的几点思考

公安队伍职业化建设是公安工作走向现代化、社会化的一个必然变迁过程和形态,具有相对严格的构成要素。推进公安队伍职业化建设,必须大力加强政治建警,理顺组织管理体制,健全教育培训机制,优化监督惩戒机制,推进公共关系建设。