Immigration,society and modalities of citizenship in Singapore

In this article, I argue that three modalities of citizenship are at play in Singapore: liberal, communal and social. Using a grounded theoretical approach, I highlight the instances in which these modes of conceptualizing citizenship appear in discourse, practice and policy. While past scholarship has highlighted the contrast between liberal and communal modes of citizenship, the social mode has been largely subsumed and obscured within the rubric of communal (or communitarian) democracy and ethno-nationalist citizenship. The article analyzes the interplay among these three modes of citizenship as they played out in the discourse surrounding the 2011 General Election in Singapore. The tension between citizens and noncitizens has become a central political issue in Singapore. Less recognized, but highlighted in my analysis, liberal and communal senses of citizenship are in tension not only with each other but also with a notion of the social based on relationships of mutual benefit and obligation rather than communal, categorical belonging. Drawing on Robert Esposito's critique of modern ideas of community and (re)theorization of communitas, I argue that in the case of Singapore and elsewhere, reintroducing a notion of the social (as distinct from the communal) holds potential for discourses, practices and policies that can transcend the divisiveness associated with communalism and the socioeconomic inequalities associated with liberalism.     

‘More soy on fewer farms’ in Paraguay: challenging neoliberal agriculture's claims to sustainability

The knowledge claims of sustainable commodity discourses are often presented as ‘fact’ in policy debates. Such claims, however, are better understood as coproduced with neoliberal values and power, in the context of ‘more soy on fewer farms’ – the concentration of land and productive resources – in Paraguay. I analyze five claims that link ‘responsible soy’ to reduced deforestation, good agricultural practices, national economic growth, increased food security and public participation in soy governance. I examine ways in which each of these claims is contingent and contested. With an explicit commitment to equity, I argue that alternatives to ‘responsible soy’, that include rather than exclude small-scale producers in Paraguay's agricultural development trajectory, are likely to culminate in stronger claims to sustainability by redressing the equity issues that have been marginalized by neoliberal agriculture.     

Green pretexts: Ecotourism,neoliberal conservation and land grabbing in Tayrona National Natural Park,Colombia

While conflict-related dynamics are recognized as causes of land grabbing in Colombia, violent processes of exclusion and expropriation behind ‘greener’ projects are often seen as disconnected from them. The case of ecotourism in Tayrona National Natural Park makes it possible to explore the geographies of violence that sustain tourism in the area and their role in shaping everyday resource politics. This paper shows how green pretexts of paradisiacal spots in need of protection have contributed to privatization and dispossession. Furthermore, it details how land-grabbing dynamics have been enabled by processes of sociospatial demarcation that produce not-green-enough subjects as bodies-out-of-place.     

日本城市能源利用与节能减排

日本是世界第三大经济实体,同时也是资源消费大国。作为一个本身自然资源匮乏的国度,日本是如何在发展经济的同时,克服了能源短缺的问题?又是如何在提高能源利用效率的同时将对环境的污染控制到最低限度的?围绕上述问题,探讨日本在城市能源利用方面的节能措施以及对新能源在环保领域中所起的重要作用的同时,梳理了在京都会议后,日本的节能环保技术、理念,以及未来的发展趋势,以期为中国解决在新常态下,在推动城镇化经济发展的同时所面临的能源以及环境问题提供思路。     

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正Yangtze River Ecology Oriental Outlook December 19In today’s China,experts on water conservation seem to have become enemies with experts on ecological conservation.In 2013,discussion on the collapse of the ecological system in the Yangtze River once again triggered a conflict between the two groups.     

生态文明是人类自我拯救的必由之路

生态危机是人类自己制造出来的,经济发展的"负外部性"使传统经济发展成为一种自我毁灭的癌模式。生态文明需要系统思维,需要超越传统发展观狭隘的思维模式,科技并不万能,生态文明不能完全依赖科技发展。地球资源的有限性决定了人类社会经济发展是有内在限度的。生态文明是人类别无选择的历史选择。人类未来可持续地生活应该是一种简约的生活。     

Dutch civic integration courses as neoliberal citizenship rituals

The neoliberalization of the Dutch citizenship manifests itself through the responsibilization, contractualization, and marketization of civic integration. We conceptualize civic integration courses as a neoliberal citizenship ritual the migrants are required to participate in to earn Dutch citizenship. By studying the practice of Dutch civic integration, we demonstrate the repressive and productive aspects through which migrants and course providers become objects and subjects of the state's neoliberal citizenship ideology. Our ethnographic data enable us to understand how civic integration is experienced and interpreted by state agents and migrants. Cost optimization and quantitative policy targets have dominated; the quality of Dutch language teaching suffered, leaving the migrants without the power to vocalize and realize their own interests. The courses have become rituals to prepare for the civic integration examination, and the state's professed goal to create self-reliant citizens has been comfortably neglected in the shadow of a ritualized success story.     

Topologies and topographies of Ireland's neoliberal crisis

In this paper, we explore successive waves of neoliberalization in Ireland. We contend that neoliberalization remained largely “invisible” during the Celtic Tiger because a property bubble permitted a period of debt-driven growth, but was revealed and politicized by the crisis. Mobilizing the ideas of topology and topography, we explore the relationships which unfolded between the “financialization” of the global economy and the two twin pillars of the Irish crisis narrative: property and debt. We conclude that there is a need for future studies to consider how neoliberalism, financialization and uneven development are being reshaped by geographically situated responses to the crisis.     

Diversifying Nature Protection: Evaluating the Changing Tools for Forest Protection in Canada and Norway

Governments increasingly struggle to protect representative nature types and ecological diversity within their territories only via the instrument of publicly designated protected areas. This article examines the rise of voluntary conservation and certification (i.e., private conservation) as tools for forest protection in Norway and Canada. We contrast the differing potential of these private conservation tools with protection through government legislation and regulation using four evaluative criteria: the representativeness of protected areas, the strength of protection, the longevity of protection, and the information generated through protection. We find that private conservation tools can match the strength of legal protection and help to dispel conflict, but that private tools create protection that is more likely to be reversed in the future. However, we also show that voluntary private conservation can become public protection, which highlights the importance of examining different paths toward secure and long‐lasting protection.