The Moroccan system of labour institutions: a class-based perspective

Abstract

The relevance of workers’ mobilisations in the 2011 Arab uprisings and – more recently – in the Algerian movement for democracy and social justice has encouraged a renewed interest in labour–state relations in the region. This article presents a class-based perspective on labour institutions, taking Morocco as a case study. In contrast to institution-based approaches, this research argues that it is problematic to treat the trade unions as analytical proxies for the working class, because this heuristic move conceals how class struggles – from below and from above – can transcend and transform labour institutions. The article proposes a framework to study labour–state relations, highlighting the relative autonomy of union officials from workers and vice versa. In this way, it shows how, in the neoliberal phase, the Moroccan state increased inducements to the unions while decreasing those to the workers and maintaining significant constraints on workplace organising. To use a simplified formulation, the regime included the unions to exclude the workers. In such a context of low union representativeness, the dangers of reducing the working class to the trade unions emerge clearly.     

中国境内德昂族汝买支系族群语言关系与语言自信研究

中国境内德昂族主要有布雷、汝买、梁三个支系。以往德昂族研究主要以布雷支系为主体研究对象,而其中偏居国境线一隅的点状散布居住的汝买人由于浸没于傣族、景颇族之中,几乎不被外界所熟知。以语言为核心对汝买支系族群语言关系与语言自信的研究不仅有利于解决当下境内濒危小语言现实社会处境、命运和语言归属问题,而且也是对濒危小语言活态的有利保护。     

“一带一路”倡议下西方国家对中资企业在非洲劳动关系的认知误区 ——以埃塞俄比亚东坚公司为例

自"一带一路"倡议实施以来,中国政府积极推进"一带一路"建设,中国企业加快了对沿线国家的投资。非洲的埃塞俄比亚是中国企业投资的重要国家之一。但是西方国家对中国在非洲的投资一直存在着许多认知误区,其中一个主要误区就是中国企业的劳动关系管理问题。研究以中国的劳动密集型企业东坚公司为例,从招聘雇佣、工资福利、劳动关系管理、企业文化等多个方面来考察中国企业是如何促进非洲发展的。研究认为,以东坚公司为代表的中国企业严格遵守投资对象国的法律,促进了当地的就业和工业化发展,但也存在本地化雇佣不够理想等问题。     

Asymmetrical rivalry between China and Japan in Africa: to what extent has Sino-Japan rivalry become a global phenomenon?

Abstract

To what extent is China–Japan rivalry a global phenomenon, and what is the nature of the rivalry they engage in outside their own region? Literature on Sino-Japanese rivalry abounds, but it pays scant attention to the relevance of the rivalry outside East Asia. This article argues that Sino-Japanese rivalry has indeed become a global phenomenon, that various forms of the rivalry are evident in Africa, and that they are mostly of an asymmetrical nature. Quantitatively, China’s contribution to Africa is far greater than that of Japan, with the exception of foreign direct investment (FDI). Qualitatively, though, Japan has a stronger sense of the rivalry than China has, revealing a psychological aspect to the asymmetry as well. Contextually, the types of activity that Chinese and Japanese actors carry out in Africa are not necessarily the same, which makes the rivalry all the more asymmetrical. The rivalry has become more apparent recently, not only because of the rise of China but also because of a change in the meaning of ‘Africa’ – from a region of ‘poverty’ and ‘hunger’ to a region of ‘economic opportunities’. That said, Africa – to a greater or lesser degree in each of its countries – still suffers from conflict and instability. As a result, the ability of Japan and China to exert power and influence throughout Africa is somewhat restricted.     

Purposefully Triggering Unintended Consequences: the European Commission and the Uncertain Future of the EU-ACP Partnership

ABSTRACT

The EU’s proposal to renew the EU-ACP Agreement in spite of a number of signals pointing in the opposite direction is, inter alia, the unintended consequence of independent decisions taken in three different policy areas (trade, environment, and foreign and security affairs). The common unintended consequence that the three decisions shared would not have materialised if the European Commission had not purposefully triggered it to justify its vision of future EU-ACP relations. These findings challenge the prevailing and superficial usage of the notion of the unintended as a synonym for unanticipated and undesirable, and demonstrate that unintended consequences do not necessarily presuppose lack of anticipation, but may well be the result of calculation by policymakers.     

论工匠精神与劳模精神

党和政府在大力推动劳模精神的弘扬和工匠精神的培育。通过对劳模精神与工匠精神的对比研究， 比较两者在产生条件、内涵价值导向及外在表现形式上的不同，探究两者在发展劳动观、重视道德培养上的联系， 有利于加深对它们本质的认识，从而在实践中更好地指导工作，打造一支懂技术能创新的工人队伍。     

Reframing the rising powers debate: state transformation and foreign policy

Abstract

The volume that we introduce breaks with the prevalent tendency in International Relations (IR) scholarship to treat rising powers (such as China, Russia, India and Brazil) as unitary actors in international politics. Although a neat demarcation of the domestic and international domains, on which the notion of unitary agency is premised, has always been a myth, these states’ uneven integration into the global political economy has eroded this perspective’s empirical purchase considerably. Instead, this collection advances the concept of ‘state transformation’ as a useful lens through which to examine rising power states’ foreign policymaking and implementation. State transformation refers to the pluralisation of cross-border state agency via contested and uneven processes of fragmentation, decentralisation and internationalisation of state apparatuses. The volume demonstrates the significance of state transformation processes for explaining some of these states’ most important foreign policy agendas, and outlines the implications for the wider field in IR.     

美国人工智能战略新动向及其全球影响

鉴于人工智能发展所带来的一系列机遇与挑战,特朗普政府对于人工智能的重视程度不断攀升,并从战略定位、体系架构、财政投入与对外政策四个方面对美国的人工智能战略做出了新调整。实际上,美国在高新技术方面的垄断地位是其维系全球霸权的重要基础。特朗普政府在人工智能领域所实施的一系列政策调整,目的就在于确保美国在人工智能领域的绝对领先优势。总体上,特朗普政府的人工智能战略呈现以"美国优先"为由的科技民族主义趋向、基于"绝对安全观"的技术战略扩张趋向以及威慑与遏制并行的现实主义趋向。鉴于美国的科技实力和全球影响力,特朗普政府推行的人工智能战略将使人工智能领域的国际合作受到较大制约,军备竞赛和地缘政治冲突将随之加剧,"科技脱钩"与治理缺失的风险也将不断凸显。作为人工智能技术发展和应用大国,中国应在保持战略清醒和定力的前提下,处理好发展与安全、合作与竞争之间的关系,在掌握发展主动权的基础上推动人工智能技术的健康、可持续发展。     

论《劳动合同法》中的“劳动基准”

我国现行《劳动合同法》中包含了大量背离普通民事法律规则的劳动关系强行运行规则,但这些规则仍属于私法领域,与公法属性的劳动基准存在本质差别。由公权保障实施,是劳动基准的特征之一。将过多的单位义务纳入劳动监察的保障实施范围,分散了劳动基准的公权保护力度,因此,不宜将现行劳动监察事项作为劳动基准的判断依据。对劳动合同书面形式、二倍工资、经济补偿金、用工档案等具体制度规则的分析表明,我国《劳动合同法》中的大量强行规则并非劳动基准。虽然《劳动合同法》与劳动基准关系密切,但其中真正涉及劳动基准的规定并不多,仅在非典型劳动关系调整中略有提及,因此,制定单独的《劳动基准法》,仍有很大的制度空间。     

Intergovernmental relations on immigrant integration in multi-level states. A comparative assessment

ABSTRACT

The study of intergovernmental relations (IGR) is a classical research area in scholarship on federalism and territorial politics. However, it has largely ignored the relatively new, and recently decentralized area of immigrant integration. The aim of this Special Issue is twofold. First, it aims to analyse how governments in multi-level states coordinate on immigrant integration. Second, it wishes to explain the dynamics that shape the features of intergovernmental relations. In doing so, we focus on four multi-level states; two of which are federal (Belgium and Canada) and two that are decentralized (Italy and Spain). Whilst we engage with the established literature on intergovernmental relations to formulate hypotheses about the nature and dynamics of intergovernmental relations, we also formulate less explored hypotheses. Our overarching argument is that the scholarship on IGR benefits from in-depth comparative case studies comparing IGR not just across countries, but also across policy areas and over time.