Unfulfilled promises of the consultation approach: the limits to effective indigenous participation in Bolivia’s and Peru’s extractive industries

Indigenous peoples’ right to prior consultation and to informed consent represents the basis of the new global model shaping state–indigenous relations. Consultation processes promise to enable indigenous people to determine their own development and are especially promoted when extraction projects with significant socio-environmental impacts are planned on indigenous lands. In this article we draw on debates on participatory development in order to analyse the first state-led consultations in Bolivia’s and Peru’s hydrocarbon sectors (2007–14). The analysis shows that effective participation has been limited by (1) an absence of indigenous ownership of the processes; (2) indigenous groups’ difficulties defending or even articulating their own visions and demands; and (3) limited or very general outcomes. The study identifies real-life challenges, such as power asymmetries, a ‘communication hurdle’ and appropriate timing – as well as simplistic assumptions underlying the consultation approach – that account for the unfulfilled promises of this new model.     

TRANSPARENCY IN PUBLIC–PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS: NOT SO BAD AFTER ALL?

Scholars' criticism of transparency in public–private partnerships (PPPs) often focuses on ‘external’ transparency, that is, the extent to which internal information is visible to the outside world. However, to achieve external transparency, internal transparency – the availability and inferability of information for the public procurer and the private party – is crucial. In this article we analyse input, process, and output transparency from three different perspectives (institutional, cognitive, and strategic) in four PPPs in the Netherlands. We conclude that input transparency is high, but process and output transparency less so. Moreover, output transparency has gained importance in PPPs. Whether this is problematic depends on the PPPs' institutional environment. In some partnerships the desired output is uncontested and predetermined by clear standards in the institutional environment, whereas other PPPs deal with contested output norms, decreasing the partnerships' transparency. These results nuance the current debate on the lack of transparency in PPPs.     

ONLY GOOD FENCES KEEP GOOD NEIGHBOURS! THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF MINISTRY–AGENCY RELATIONSHIPS AT THE SCIENCE–POLICY NEXUS IN GERMAN FOOD SAFETY POLICY

This article makes a further contribution to opening the ‘black box’ of micropractices in ministry–agency relationships. We argue that the mechanisms that come into play in the course of institutionalizing agencification reforms – such as renegotiating mutual roles and rules in ministry–agency interactions – are only poorly covered in the existing literature. To adequately address the negotiated and contingent nature of de facto agency autonomy and political control, we develop an interpretive approach based on the concept of ‘boundary work’. The empirical focus is on ministry–agency interactions at the science–policy nexus in the contested policy field of food safety. By studying actors' stories about the institutionalization processes following the fundamental reorganization of the German food safety administration in the wake of the BSE crisis from a longitudinal perspective, we show how actors manage boundary conflicts via increasingly differentiated backstage coordination.     

个人信息匿名化处理法律标准探究

个人信息匿名化处理法律制度作为联通个人信息保护与个人信息流通利用的制度桥梁,能够以一种隐私友好的方式满足社会的信息需求.我国现行"无法识别特定个人且不能复原"的匿名化处理法律标准缺乏可操作性,难以有效规范匿名化处理实践.我国可以确立操作方法标准与识别风险检验标准协同的匿名化处理法律标准:关于操作方法标准,可以在技术领域...     

网络环境下的高校科技查新途径探析

因特网的出现及电子信息资源建设的快速发展,加快了信息的交流与传播,也给查新工作带来挑战和机遇。解决网络环境下的高校科技查新工作存在的问题,加强文献资源建设、完善检索方法、注重查新队伍建设及建立学科馆员制度,完善高校科技查新途径,已成为新时期查新工作必须解决的重要任务。     

邓小平的富民思想探析

邓小平的富民思想是邓小平经济理论的重要组成部分,它以社会主义本质为存在依据,构成一个完整理论体系,同时又具有鲜明的时代特征。中国改革开放的实践证明,邓小平的富民思想引导中国人民走向了致富之路。     

习近平总书记关于社会主义协商民主重要论述的主要内容和时代价值

党的十八大以来,习近平总书记多次强调要重视发挥社会主义协商民主的作用,围绕着完善和发展社会主义协商民主提出一系列新理念和新举措,深刻阐明社会主义协商民主的形成逻辑、科学内涵、历史定位、显著优势、完善路径等.习近平总书记关于社会主义协商民主重要论述提升了协商民主的实践价值,彰显了以人民为中心的理论价值,突出了社会公平的政...