North American first peoples: slipping up into market citizenship?

This article explores the nature of Aboriginal demands for a citizenship regime grounded in a substantive recognition of cultural difference and inherent rights in Mexico and Canada. It provides an overview of the different evolution of Aboriginal citizenship in each country but focuses on two recent development projects, the Puebla Panama Plan in Mexico and the Mackenzie Valley pipeline in Canada. These cases demonstrate the ways in which neo‐liberal globalism is reshaping the substantive recognition of Aboriginal cultural difference and inherent rights. While contemporary neo‐liberal rhetoric recognizes cultural difference, the models of development employed effectively separate territory from the ideas of self‐government, culture and identity. The article concludes that the neo‐liberal turn in the construction of Aboriginal citizenship undercuts potentially much richer conceptions of Indigenous citizenship offered by the First Peoples of North America.     

Decentralisation of service delivery as adopted by the Central District Council in Botswana

The Central District Council (CDC) in Botswana expanded service delivery to five sub‐districts in January 2000 using a model adapted from the South Somerset District Council, UK. As little data were available on the effectiveness of decentralised service delivery, officials and councillors throughout CDC were interviewed regarding their perception of the process. They not only provided recommendations for enhanced implementation but also identified some of the tensions resulting from it. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Palestinian state‐building: police and citizens as test of democracy

This article explores police‐society relations by assessing the impact of current state‐building efforts by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank. The article presents an outline of the emerging civilian policing model and its wider implications for citizens’ rights and the dominant political order. The specific focus of the paper rests on an examination of the potential tensions associated with the perceived need for strong coercive security structures (including the civil police) as part of state‐building efforts and the desire by the population for increased freedom and pluralism. This issue is further complicated by the ambiguous nature of the current experiment in limited autonomy underway in those areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip where Israeli redeployment has taken place.     

The Shi'a of Saudi Arabia: a minority in search of cultural authenticity

This article focuses on the transformation of Saudi Shi'a resistance from one which centred on military confrontation in the 1980s to one which invokes searching for cultural authenticity (al‐asala al‐shi'iyya) in the 1990s. Today the struggle of the Shi'a for equal status among the Sunni majority draws attention to the attempts of Shi'a intellectuals to write their own regional history. Shi'a intellectuals and opposition leaders deconstruct official representations of themselves and provide alternative historical narratives which anchor their community in Saudi history and society, thus dismissing suggestions that they are a non‐indigenous community. This article examines Shi'a historical narratives in an attempt to understand the transformation in their struggle against discrimination in Saudi Arabia.     

论民营企业参与对外贸易

随着我国加入WTO和新《外贸法》的实施,民营企业在外贸领域日益活跃,已成为中国在世界市场中的一支不可忽视的力量。虽然我国民企参与对外贸易的态势良好,国际国内环境也相当有利,但仍要居安思危。民企自身要努力学习、运用WTO的规则和法律,政府有关部门也应积极予以扶持,加强公共信息服务,健全促进民企参与对外贸易的政策体系,充分发挥民企在对外贸易发展中的潜力和作用。     

创新:构建社会主义和谐社会的主题

构建社会主义和谐社会具有深远的历史意义.那么,怎样构建社会主义和谐社会,构建一个什么样的和谐社会呢?包括科技创新、制度创新、文化创新等在内的"创新"是推动物质文明、政治文明、精神文明发展的根本动力,它不断为社会主义和谐社会的构建提供物质、制度、文化等方面的条件,是社会主义和谐社会得以实现的根本途径.我们所要构建的和谐社会也是充满"创新"活力的社会.正是在"创新"的基础上,构建社会主义和谐社会,同建设社会主义物质文明、政治文明、精神文明实现了有机的统一.正是在这个意义上,我们说"创新"是贯穿构建社会主义和谐社会整个过程的主题.     

私营企业主政治参与中的满意度研究

在私营企业主政治参与的实践中,开展对私营企业主政治参与满意度的研究,可以了解和测定私营企业主 政治参与的满意水平,厘清制约和影响私营企业主满意度的关键性因素,发现改进和提升私营企业主政治参与满意度的 机会和空间,为推进私营企业主政治参与的发展寻求方向和路径。本文参照计量经济学的费耐尔逻辑模型,从六个方面 具体探讨了制约和影响私营企业主政治参与满意度的因素,并指出了获取私营企业主政治参与满意度的具体方法。     

一个简单的错误——关于事实婚姻的刑法意义新论

在民事法律语境中,事实婚姻是一种非法同居关系,但在刑事法律语境中,事实婚姻的婚姻效力却被目前的刑法解释学所确认。关于事实婚姻问题,刑法解释学犯了一个简单的错误。刑法规定的重婚行为,其最典型特征是两个有效的法律婚姻之重合,事实婚姻与法律婚姻的重合,因不侵犯一夫一妻制度中的婚姻登记制度而不应该构成重婚罪,所以,即使在刑法解释学中,事实婚姻也同样不应具有婚姻效力。     

推进农村"三化" 解决"三农"问题

"三农"问题是现阶段全面建设小康社会和实现现代化的重点与难点.如何从根本上解决"三农"这个大难题,社会各界进行了广泛的研究和讨论.加快推进农村"三化"即工业化、城镇化、产业化战略的实施,是重点解决"三农"问题的治本之举.     

社会资本与正义的实现

社会资本是倍受当今社会科学领域关注的热门概念和分析的重要起点。随着社会的不断发展,市场与国家已不能也无力承担起正义实现的全部内容,社会资本理论的兴起为正义实现问题的研究提供了新思路。丰富的社会资本能使公民自觉并自愿地服务于公共利益,促进社会调剂,以实现社会经济平等;提高公民道德自律,确保公民自由的实现;并使社会拥有大量社会信任与自组织网络,增强社会合作,实现社会正义。