The land question: special economic zones and the political economy of dispossession in India

Special Economic Zones (SEZs) have become the epicenters of ‘land wars’ across India, with farmers resisting the state's forcible transfer of their land to capitalists. Based on 18 months of research focused on an SEZ in Rajasthan, this paper illuminates the role of ‘accumulation by dispossession’ (ABD) in Indian capitalism today and its consequences for rural India. It argues that the existing theories of land grabs do not adequately explain why dispossession becomes necessary to accumulation at particular times and places, and seeks to reconstruct Harvey's theory of ABD to adequately account for it. It then shows the specific kind of rentier- and IT-driven accumulation that dispossession is making possible in SEZs and the non–labor-absorbing, real-estate–driven agrarian transformation this generates in the surrounding countryside. Land speculation amplifies class and caste inequalities in novel ways, marginalizes women and creates an involutionary dynamic of agrarian change that is ultimately impoverishing for the rural poor. Given the minimal benefits for rural India in this model of development, farmer resistance to land dispossession is likely to continue and pose the most serious obstacle to capitalist growth in India. The agrarian questions of labor and capital are, consequently, now rejoined in ‘the land question.’     

Hypothetical Questions as Strategic Devices in Negotiation

In this article, we analyze the use of hypothetical questions in integrative negotiation. We argue that hypothetical questions are useful devices for advancing implicit proposals and can also provide strategic argumentative support for the acceptance of a particular solution. To explain why negotiators prefer to use hypothetical questions when putting forward implicit proposals and to demonstrate how these questions fulfill negotiators' argumentative purposes, our study uses the pragma‐dialectical concept of strategic maneuvering and applies it to the analysis of a number of real‐life negotiations. We conclude by demonstrating that hypothetical questions can be effective devices for strategic maneuvering and that negotiators can employ these kinds of questions to resolve some of the rhetorical predicaments imposed by the negotiator's dilemma as well as to gain a competitive edge over their counterparts.     

Output,surpluses and ‘stressed commerce’: a study on farm viability and agrarian transition in West Bengal,India, in the new millennium

This paper intends to evaluate at the farm level, in the current millennium, the nature of surpluses and the emerging exchange processes in agrarian West Bengal through the lenses of socio-economic class differentiation. The paper concentrates on the structure and pattern of gross value added, farm labour and farm-disposable surplus that accrue to the peasants along with their repercussions on farm viability. Finally, it addresses the consequences of stressed commerce (carried out through price shocks) on the ratio of retention of surplus at the farm level as a larger question of farm viability, agrarian transition and conflicts. The study emphasises the region with higher capitalistic¹ development. The change in this region is found to be more significant in the context of agrarian transition. The same analysis is also followed for the more backward region, but just to put forward the distinction between the processes working in the two regions.     

The Baltic Question in West German Politics, 1949–90

While previous research by international lawyers has emphasized Bonn's value-neutral legalistic approach to the Baltic question from 1949 to 1990, this article–based on documents from the German Foreign Ministry archives–shows that the West Germans saw the Baltic issue as a political problem that interfered with their highest national aim: German unification. It addresses the following questions: first, why Bonn never made an official announcement of, and never publicly gave a justification for, its stance on the Baltic question; and second, why Bonn granted Baltic refugees the same rights that it offered other Heimat-less foreigners, whereas the remnants of Baltic diplomatic services or self-proclaimed exile governments found no official recognition in Germany. Finally, it comments on the role of the so-called German Balts in West German politics, and in Bonn's Baltic policies specifically.     

当前我国行政道德建设存在的主要问题及其思考

行政道德作为人类社会道德体系中的主干部分,对其他行业道德的发展具有特定的导向与示范意义。我国十分重视行政道德建设,并积极运用制度和法制在内的多种手段加强行政道德建设,培养提高公务员的道德自觉。但是,公共行政领域的行政道德失范现象并没有得到有效遏制,已经对社会健康发展构成了严重的障碍,造成这种局面的原因很复杂,其中行政道德建设本身存在的问题所产生的影响不容忽视。     

Conciliatory whiteness: white farmers’ accommodations and responses to land reform in Matabeleland South,Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT

This article seeks to contribute to growing academic literature on land reform and whiteness in Zimbabwe, where there have been calls for nuance in the analysis of agrarian change. The research which underpins it explores differentiated responses to land reform on the part of a sample of white farmers (as well as A1 and A2 beneficiaries), in the environs of Matobo district, Matabeleland South, Zimbabwe. It characterises a range of responses on the part of white farmers – dropping out, pushing back, accommodating and adapting – and charts the various outcomes of these strategies. I further utilise the concept of subjectivity to reflect on these diverse responses and to disaggregate essentialised or homogenised understandings of whiteness. The article focuses on the small number of white farmers who retain a connection to the land and agrarian production in the study area and argues they embody aspects of a particular subjectivity. This conciliatory subjectivity is characterised by openness to reconciliation, rapprochement and partnership-making. Specifically, it is located along the following lines: (1) in contrast to the perceived ‘islands of privilege’ of some of their peers; (2) within a challenging context where they no longer occupy a hegemonic position; (3) wherein they are inclined or required to (re)form collaborations and alliances in the new dispensation; and (4) the subjectivity of these farmers could be said to be pre-occupied less with issues of identity and belonging, than with surviving and ‘becoming’ amidst the multi-faceted challenges of contemporary Zimbabwean rural agricultural endeavours and socio-political life.     

论零雨的后现代诗歌写作

台湾新世代女诗人零雨的后现代诗歌写作,极富“知性”与“理性”以及由此而来的“反抒情”、“反历史”等审美特征。具体表现为对历史合理性与合法性的尖锐质疑,对主体丧失后的悲情进行形象观照,对权力话语的深度解构,表现日常生活的庸常性和凡俗性。从而在后现代的文化版图上,展现了人类生存的悲凉处境。     

切实抓好村干部培训促进农民致富增收

实现农民增收,离不开各级党委政府强有力的组织领导,离不开村干部的身体力行和模范带头.村干部的作用发挥得如何,取决于他们素质的高低.因此,提高村干部的素质应是县多两级党委政府今后一个时期的重要任务.县乡两级党委政府应把加强村干部培训作为加强农村基层党组织建设的重要内容和促进农民增收的重要环节抓紧抓好.     

我国家族企业信任问题分析

随着我国家族企业规模的不断扩大,家庭企业内部出现了信任问题。在我国文化空间下,家族企业比西方更加重视私人信任和血缘关系。信任对家族企业有着非同一般的重要作用,而信任缺失将会造成极大的危害。一般来说,从企业制度、企业文化、环境、沟通与交流、员工发展几个方面着手,家族企业能够有效地在内部创造信任。     

我国警察盘查权运行及其理论研究现状

近些年,随着国家民主法制建设的不断进步,公安机关的执法环境已经发生了很大变化:一方面,传统的执法制度、执法方式面临着许多挑战,如执法要充分体现公平、正义以及尊重和保障人权;要提高执法水平和接受各方面的监督。另一方面,公安机关又承担着日益繁重而复杂的刑事执法和行政执法任务,压力越来越大。面对新的执法环境所带来的挑战和压力,警察盘查权的运行总体上看情况还是比较好的,但也确实存在着一些带有普遍性的问题,甚至其中的一些违法行为已经引起了群众强烈的不满。因此,发现警察盘查权运行中的问题,研究相应的对策,建立和健全相关制度十分必要。