Feeding finance: a critical account of the shifting relationships between finance,food and farming

Abstract

Whether in the form of commodity index funds, farmland investment funds or commodities trading by agri-food companies, there is evidence of an increasingly close relationship between finance, food and agriculture. While these developments have received some critical attention of late, existing accounts of the ‘financialization of food’ are limited to the extent that they view finance as an external force with emphasis placed on the unnaturalness of its relationship with agriculture and its distortive effects on agricultural markets. Recognizing that finance and agriculture have a long history, this paper offers a more nuanced account of the place of financialization in the agricultural sector. Specifically, it examines how agriculture's emergence as an investment opportunity has reconfigured the terrain of agricultural interests and logics while creating new knowledge demands and agricultural visibilities. These dynamics are explored through a case study of the role of finance and processes of financialization in the recent demise of the Canadian Wheat Board as a state marketing agency. Through this discussion, the paper offers valuable insights into not only the reworking of agriculture as a particular type of financial space, but also the nature and limits of financialization itself as a way of engaging with the world beyond urban financial centres.     

Current practices for procuring affordable housing: The Canadian context

Abstract

This article describes the current housing system in Canada, focusing particularly on the various mechanisms still available for providing affordable housing. Beginning with an overview of the Canadian housing system, it provides a brief history of Canadian housing policy and program initiatives instrumental in developing the inventory of affordable housing available today.

Current practices and procedures in private lending for affordable housing are highlighted. A discussion of current initiatives available to provide affordable housing follows, with a focus on the role of government, the third sector, and new partnership arrangements implemented to encourage more affordable housing. The conclusion highlights recent changes, the current state of the affordable housing sector, and the impact these changes may have on low‐ and moderate‐income households in Canada.     

Economic Democracy: The Left's Big Idea for the Twenty-First Century?

While the notion that parts of the economy should be subject to democratic oversight is not particularly new, it is only recently that the term “economic democracy” has begun to emerge as a political label and a political project in its own right. Interest in economic democracy is at a historical high as more and more people search for a comprehensive alternative to neoliberal capitalism that is neither state socialism nor social democracy. In addition, the fact that mainstream concern with economic inequality is at a historical peak means that economic arrangements are on the political agenda in a way that they have not been for many years. The central argument of this article is that economic democracy has the potential to be the “big idea” of the left this century for two main reasons. First, although economic democracy is usually thought to be concerned solely with workplaces, in fact it has implications far beyond this. Indeed, economic democracy is best understood as a comprehensive critique of the economy and a corresponding encompassing vision of an alternative. This article thus aims to offer a sympathetic overview of the main facets of economic democracy—the attempt to democratize workplaces, finance, investment, and the market system—as a holistic and integrative project. Second, economic democracy offers an important method for challenging inequality. The expansion of democratic accountability through representation, and particularly the expansion of opportunity for direct participation in economic decision-making is a fundamentally important method of redressing the structural inequality that continues to be a defining dilemma of our societies.     

Trends in suicide by carbon monoxide inhalation in King County, Washington: 1996-2009

Carbon monoxide (CO) inhalation is one of the leading methods of suicide in the United States. A sharp increase in suicide by inhaling the CO produced from burning charcoal has been reported in parts of Asia; however, the incidence of this method has not been determined in a U.S. population. Thus, we determined trends of CO suicide in the ethnically diverse population of King County, Washington, U.S.A. During the period 1996-2009, we identified 158 cases of suicide by CO poisoning, with 125 because of automotive exhaust, 26 because of charcoal burning, and seven from other CO sources. While historical U.S. data indicate >99% of CO suicides in the United States occurring by automobile exhaust inhalation, in the most recent years analyzed, c. 40% of CO-related suicides in King County, Washington, were because of charcoal burning, indicating a possible shift in suicide trends that warrants further scrutiny in additional populations.     

Mentally ill offenders in prison: the Belgian case

According to the EUPRIS-study on mental health in prisons (2007), available data on mental disorders in prison are scarce. Therefore, this study aims at summarizing and discussing the available knowledge on incarcerated mentally ill offenders concerning: (1) the screening and assessment for detecting mental health; (2) the psychiatric expertise in order to evaluate the mental status; and (3) the development and provision of forensic psychiatric treatment and care. These findings will be applied to the current situation in Belgium, which is a particularly interesting case. Belgium is currently facing difficulties concerning a large population of interned mentally ill offenders residing in correctional establishments.Implications with regard to the penal code, general or mental health legislation, screening, assessment, and treatment could deliver interesting viewpoints on how this problem could be tackled more effectively. Therefore, the findings will be discussed with reference to the international scientific and policy debate, focusing on ethical implications.     

Horizontal Effect and the Constitutional Constraint

This article offers a new interpretation – the ‘constitutional constraint’ model – of the duty the Human Rights Act imposes on the courts to give horizontal effect to European Convention rights through the common law. The model requires courts to develop the common law compatibly with the Convention, but only where compatibility can be achieved by incremental development. We argue that models requiring more than incremental development are unsustainable; that deep constitutional norms compel the constraint of incrementalism, which is preserved under the HRA; and that by virtue of section 2 of the HRA, Convention rights function as principles rather than hard‐edged rights in this context. This further undermines the idea that the courts must strictly apply Convention rights and cannot allow them to be overridden by non‐Convention factors. The final section explores the nature of incrementalism in this context and the impact of the model on the doctrine of judicial precedent.     

Digital evidence from peer-to-peer networks

In this paper we examine the legal aspects of the forensic investigation of peer-to-peer networks. Organisations may encounter instances where employees have used peer-to-peer software for a variety of types of computer misuse including the dissemination of copyrighted materials or indecent images, or instances where peer-to-peer software has been involved in the transmission of malware for malicious or criminal purposes. In this paper we examine the process of the forensic investigation of peer-to-peer networks, and the issues relating to obtaining digital evidence from such peer-to-peer networks.