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.     

Turkey – from tutelary to delegative democracy

Guillermo O’Donnell’s influential work ‘Delegative Democracy’ set the discourse on a peculiar type of democracy. Lying between representative democracy and authoritarianism, the uniqueness of delegative democracy lies in its features, including an absence of horizontal accountability, strong centralised rule, individual leadership with unchecked powers, a cult figure embodying the nation and clientelist practices. While delegative democracies seem to arise out of presidential systems, Turkey, though a parliamentary system, has also displayed the distinctive features of delegative democracies. This paper identifies three characteristics of delegative democracy, which are responsible for the lack of democratic consolidation, if not the erosion of democracy itself: anti-institutionalism, an anti-political agenda and clientelism. Arguing that delegative democracy is the best concept with which to examine contemporary Turkey, the paper lays out how, post-2011, Turkey has demonstrated the three elements of delegative democracy. The final section discusses the implications of the Turkish case for scrutinising the very possibility of delegative democracy in parliamentary regimes.     

Goals and tactics of President Gerald Ford's ethnic politics

This article analyzes initiatives of Gerald Ford's presidential administration toward nationalities or the so-called white ethnics against the backdrop of the legacy of Richard Nixon and the Republican Party's ethnic politics of the 1960s. Using archival and interview materials, it demonstrates that Gerald Ford intended to improve the relationship between the President's office and the ethnics who were involved in the Republican Party's structures. He consciously tried to respond to ethnics’ political concerns and even created a special position on his staff for working with the nationalities. While in office and during the election campaign of 1976, Ford succeeded in engaging the ethnics and in demonstrating his will to address their needs on the domestic “front.” He failed, however, to fully appreciate the importance of foreign policy to the nationalities. The article proposes that today, as in the 1970s, the American political establishment would benefit from recognizing international issues as crucial elements of white ethnics’ or nationalities’ political behavior.     

破产企业单位社区再造的治理路径研究——以成都市L社区为例

社会基层治理是国家治理的微观基础,城市社区是社会的基本单元.我国城市单位社区是城市社区的重要组成部分,因地制宜探索城市单位社区治理模式有利于完善城市社区建设、健全社会治理体制、提升国家治理能力.成都市L社区为破产企业单位社区,其治理以党建引领为核心,以共建共治共享为导向,以社区再造为路径,形成了"党委领导、政府负责、社...     

党的领导制度引领国家治理现代化的路径分析

新中国成立以来,我国逐步形成了以党的全面领导为核心的国家治理新模式.坚持和完善党的领导制度,有利于优化国家治理结构、提升国家治理能力、协调国家治理关系,是适应历史发展、坚持理论创新及顺应改革实践的必然选择.从治理主体、治理关系、治理模式三个维度入手,突出党的核心地位,优化党政职能结构,健全运行体制机制,是加快制度优势向...     

党在全国产业工人中成功建党的光辉范例——安源工运时期党组织建设发展的历程与现实启示

中国共产党成立后即在产业工人中建立党的组织,以领导产业工人运动。毛泽东、李立三、刘少奇等人在安源路矿创建了全国产业工人中的第一个党组织。安源党组织在领导和开展整个安源工运的历史进程中,发挥了党对工人阶级和工会组织的领导核心作用,卓有成效地开展了产业工人党组织的各项建设,引领安源路矿工人俱乐部的各项事业全面发展,最终率领数以万计的安源工人走上了中国革命的正确道路。通过近十年的探索和实践,党在产业工人中积累了较为丰富的、宝贵的建设发展的历史经验,至今仍具有重要的现实意义。     

论日本自民党派阀政治回归的必然性

日本自民党前任总裁小泉纯一郎在其当政期间采用了一系列标新立异的政治手法,使该党传统派阀政治一时间似乎面临消亡的境地。但是,小泉刚离任不久,曾经红极一时的"小泉政治"即迅速走向终结,派阀政治随之卷土重来。究其原因,小泉政治其实只是特定时期的特殊产物,而自民党的派阀则由于建立在日本社会、历史和文化基础之上,不可能轻易消亡。不过,对于自民党来说,不管是小泉政治还是派阀政治,从根本上说一切都是为了权力。     

日本公明党与中日邦交正常化

中日邦交正常化的政治过程,是一个显示日本对外政策与国内政治相互关系的典型事例。在这一过程中,包括公明党在内的日本各在野党发挥了非常重要的独特的“补充外交”作用。特别是公明党领导人竹入义胜等非政府人士的访华,为日本政府摸清中方意图、沟通两国领导人之间的看法、形成复交文件等发挥了极为重要的作用。当然,中国政府也充分认识到日本在野党在日本政治生活中的重要作用,并积极开展对日本在野党的工作,从而推动日本执政党转变对华政策。     

台湾地区2020年“二合一”选举结果及其对政党政治的影响

论文分析2020年台湾地区“二合一”选举结果及其对政党政治的影响。根据2016年以来三次选举中不同政党得票情况的起伏变化,观察“蓝、绿”和南北政治光谱的周期性变化规律,评估政党内部因素和外部环境对岛内选举结果的短期效应和长期影响,进而展望台湾政党政治的未来发展趋势。     

Postmortem Computed Tomography in Firearm Homicides: A Retrospective Case Series,

Postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) is integrated into the evaluation of decedents in several American medical examiner offices and medicolegal death investigative centers in many other countries. We retrospectively investigated the value of PMCT in a series of firearm homicide cases from a statewide centralized medical examiner’s office that occurred during 2016. Autopsies were performed or supervised by board-certified forensic pathologists who reviewed the PMCT scans prior to autopsy. PMCT scans were re-evaluated by a forensic radiologist blinded to the autopsy findings and scored by body region (head–neck, thoracoabdominal, and extremities). Injury discrepancies were scored using a modified Goldman classification and analyzed with McNemar’s test. We included 60 males and 20 females (median age 31 years, range 3–73). Based on PMCT, 56 (79.1%) cases had injuries relevant to the cause of death in a single body region (24 head–neck region, 32 thoracoabdominal region). Out of these 56 cases, 9 had a missed major diagnosis by PMCT outside that region, including 6 extremity injuries visible during standard external examination. Yet all had evident lethal firearm injury. We showed that PMCT identifies major firearm injuries in homicide victims and excludes injuries related to the cause of death in other regions when a single body region is injured. Although PMCT has a known limited sensitivity for soft tissue and vascular pathology, it can be combined with external examination to potentially reduce or focus dissections in some of these cases depending on the circumstances and medicolegal needs.