The road home: an examination of the successes and challenges of housing non-profits in New Orleans since Katrina

Hurricane Katrina claimed the lives of nearly 1000 Louisiana residents and damaged about 80% of the building stock in New Orleans. Unequal protection from the hurricane and uneven recovery patterns have left some communities (predominantly low-income and black) with few options to rebuild their homes. These factors have created a high demand for housing non-profits specializing in new construction as well as low-cost home repairs. Drawing from interviews with a number of stakeholders including non-profits completing home repairs and new construction for low-income residents, this article identifies the type, amount and target areas for work done by housing non-profits in post-Katrina New Orleans. Additionally, it identifies the challenges for future work and limitations in the non-profits’ ability to address housing inequity in New Orleans.     

Defining Environmental Justice Communities for Regulatory Enforcement: Implications from a Block‐Group‐Level Analysis of New York State

The absence of a clear definition of environmental justice areas has been cited as one of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's major deficiencies in managing federal environmental justice programs. Several states have explicitly defined potential environmental justice areas and integrated targeted efforts into the policy‐making process. At the block‐group level, this study evaluates the effects of New York State's environmental justice policy, which defines communities of concern in terms of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics as well as mandates supplemental regulatory enforcement activities for these neighborhoods, on the agency's policy implementation practices under the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. The empirical findings suggest that there is inconclusive evidence regarding race/ethnicity‐ and class‐based environmental inequity. Also, the state's policy intervention is not universally effective. Moreover, task environments of a given community are a consistent determinant of the agency's regulatory compliance monitoring and assurance activities. This study then derives broader implications regarding the adoption of a policy instrument that defines and screens potential environmental justice communities.     

滨海新区构建生态新城的生态学解析及立法思考

天津滨海新区要建成生态城区,其开发开放离不开生态环境的保护与恢复。该文着眼于滨海新区开发开放中生态环境保护,基于该区生态环境现状,在分析天津市十一五环境规划相关内容的基础上,从生态哲学、环境立法角度对滨海新区的生态环境保护与建设进行了理论探索。     

万山特区新农村建设面临的问题及对策

贫困落后地区把握好历史机遇克服困难,奋力推进社会主义新农村建设的根本出路在于争取国家政策倾斜,加强农村教育,提高农民素质;改善优化环境;加强农村基层组织建设,完善村级管理。     

跨国制造冰毒案的特点与对策——以邵春天案为例

跨国制造冰毒案大多为集团性、高智性犯罪案件,案件涉及的范围大,在管辖上具有特殊性,同时案件环节多,各环节变化快,在侦破时机上也有一定特点。邵春天案件中,集团成员警惕性高,反侦查能力极强;犯罪活动错综复杂、跨区域大、流动频繁;犯罪实施地在境外,国内侦控措施鞭长莫及;犯罪过程短暂,捕捉战机难度大。针对跨国制造冰毒案的特点,侦破对策重点应该强调统一性、精干性、高尖性和创新性。     

Maple Leaf Zeitgeist? Assessing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Policy Changes*

In the October 2015 elections, the charismatic Justin Trudeau led the Canadian Liberal Party to its first majority government in 15 years, overturning nearly a decade of conservative government. His premiership is generally considered to have begun well. This article examines Trudeau’s conduct of the election campaign, his choice of a young and diverse Cabinet, his courtship of the media and image making, and assesses changes in foreign and domestic policy. These have yet to prove substantive but Trudeau has signalled a reversal of Stephen Harper’s conservative policies and especially in regard to migration has tapped into images of ‘compassionate Canadians’. In foreign policy, this has been evidenced in relations with the United States and with a re-engagement with the Commonwealth especially in its soft power aspects. Trudeau’s green credentials and stance on Climate Change are a contrast to those of his predecessor but he has yet to confront the different environmental profiles and policies of the Canadian states. Canada’s Strategic Partnership with the European Community and the ratification of CETA are priorities and he has to come to terms with the implications of Brexit.     

China in Pacific Regional Politics

Abstract

Foreign aid from China to the island countries of the Pacific has grown rapidly over the last few decades and an expanding body of literature has examined various aspects of what this means for politics in the region generally. This article focuses on China’s impact on Pacific regional politics partly from the perspective of identity politics. It suggests that China has substantially increased its engagement with the Pacific island states by making use of its own identity as a South–South development partner in contrast to traditional (mainly Western) donors in the region. Unlike most traditional donors, however, China’s diplomacy and engagement are based largely on bilateralism, and this is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. This approach could continue to limit its impact on Pacific regionalism, regardless of how it projects its image.     

The rise and fall of “Novorossiya”: examining support for a separatist geopolitical imaginary in southeast Ukraine

In the spring of 2014, some anti-Maidan protestors in southeast Ukraine, in alliance with activists from Russia, agitated for the creation of a large separatist entity on Ukrainian territory. These efforts sought to revive a historic region called Novorossiya (“New Russia”) on the northern shores of the Black Sea that was created by Russian imperial colonizers. In public remarks, Vladimir Putin cited Novorossiya as a historic and contemporary home of a two-part interest group, ethnic Russian and Russian-speaking Ukrainians, supposedly under threat in Ukraine. Anti-Maidan agitation in Ukraine gave way to outright secession in April 2014, as armed rebel groups established the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhans’k People’s Republic on parts of the eponymous Ukrainian oblasts. Rebel leaders aspired to create a renewed Novorossiya that incorporated all of eastern and southern Ukraine from Kharkiv to Odesa oblasts. To examine the level of support for this secessionist imaginary in the targeted oblasts, our large scientific poll in December 2014 revealed the Novorossiya project had minority support, between 20 and 25% of the population. About half of the sample believed that the concept of Novorossiya was a “historical myth” and that its resuscitation and promotion was the result of “Russian political technologies.” Analysis of the responses by socio-demographic categories indicated that for ethnic Russians, residents of the oblasts of Kharkiv and Odesa, for older and poorer residents, and especially for those who retain a nostalgic positive opinion about the Soviet Union, the motivations and aims of the Novorossiya project had significant support.     

新民主主义革命时期党的职工教育研究

新民主主义革命时期党的职工教育是中国无产阶级教育史上的一页光辉篇章。这一阶段的职工教 育开办工人学校、推动工人教育立法、完善职工教育体系,以为党育人为根本宗旨,以马克思主义教育理论为实 践遵循,以服务职工为中心,开创和发展了我国职工教育理论和实践。新时代,职工教育要以培养“完整人”为目标, 以先进的思想引领职工,以优秀的文化培育职工;构建服务职工终身学习的教育体系,培养高素质的职工队伍。     

地方政府突发公共事件应急机制初探——以新公共管理理论为视角

随着各种突发性公共事件的频繁发生,突发性公共事件管理已经成为各级政府的最重要管理职能之一。目前地方政府突发性公共事件应急管理中存在着一些问题,积极探索和构建其应急机制非常必要。我们应以新公共管理论为视角,确立构建地方政府突发性公共事件应急机制的可行性对策。