Institutional Actors in the Brazilian Amazon: Possibilities for NGO and Public Sector Collaboration in Rural Agriculture

Public sector institutions in Amazonian Brazil are experiencing structural reforms, budget cuts, and overburdened missions. Services needed to support appropriate resource use practices by rural farmers are gradually being provided by NGOs where the public sector has failed to provide them. But local NGOs are institutionally weak, and their activities are poorly coordinated with other regional service providers. This article analyzes three models for NGO organization and partnership that were designed outside of the Amazon region, and tests their applicability to the small-farming sector in Pará State in the eastern Brazilian Amazon. With some adaptation, these models can effectively help coordinate three overarching needs in the region: institutional strengthening, regional planning, and improving program effectiveness and efficiency.     

运用“502”粘合剂显现长时间潜在手印的研究及应用

本文对“502”粘合剂显现手印法进行适当的技术改进,通过显现一起潜在手印遗留时间长达一年以上罕见案例的实际应用,并对操作方法和影响因素等方面进行讨论,以拓宽“502”粘合剂显现潜在手印的应用范围.     

论加强我国西部地区与周边国家的禁毒合作——西部地区毒品犯罪对全国禁毒工作的影响研究之一

毒品犯罪的特点决定了各国必须进行广泛的禁毒合作。就我国毒品犯罪的严峻形势而言 ,加强西部地区与周边国家的禁毒合作已迫在眉睫。只有加强西部地区与周边国家在情报交流、替代种植、区域警务、技术交流和人员培训等方面的禁毒合作 ,才有可能从根本上解决西部地区的毒品犯罪问题 ;只有先解决西部地区的毒品犯罪问题 ,才有可能完成全国禁毒工作的任务。     

英美刑法的正当防卫制度之优劣

正当防卫作为一项最古老的辩护制度,历来是世界各国刑事立法、刑事司法和刑法理论关注的焦点。由于历史文化传统的不同,英美法系国家关于正当防卫制度的规定与我国以及大陆法系各国存在着较大的差异。     

从松花江跨境污染事件透视企业环境责任的重要性

1972年《斯德哥尔摩宣言》的签署标志着由联合国主导的世界性环境保护运动的开始。21世纪,人们对企业的社会责任越来越重视,企业社会责任的内涵也从企业对员工的责任延伸到企业对环境、社区以及客户的责任。松花江跨境污染事件提示我们应结合国际环境保护运动的背景,从道义、国内程序法和国际法三个不同角度正确认识企业环境责任的严格性和特殊性,引导企业树立科学的发展观,积极履行环境保护的法律义务和社会责任。     

国外劳动争议调解制度及其启示

目前,国外存在独立机构调解、行政调解、劳动法院调解和三方机制调解等四种类型的劳动争议调解制度。国外劳动争议调解立法及其成功运行,对于我国完善劳动争议调解制度有以下四点启示:一是调裁机构合一;二是劳动争议协调处理机构专门化;三是取消劳动争议仲裁调解和诉讼调解;四是实行积极的沟通。     

Local Renewable Energy Initiatives in Germany and Japan in a Changing National Policy Environment

Our article explores the contribution of local initiatives to the creation of path dependencies for energy transition in Germany and Japan in the face of resistance from entrenched incumbents at the national level. We use a process‐tracing methodology based partly on interviews with local participants. In particular, we explore the role of local initiatives in securing “socio‐political space” for the expansion of renewable energy (RE) and in embedding themselves in “ecosystems” of public and private institutions. German energy activists were more successful than their Japanese counterparts in expanding this space and creating positive feedback in part because they were able to build horizontal networks that anchored the energy transition firmly in local communities. Although problems with grid technology have led to retrenchment in both cases, Japanese activists' reliance on vertical networks has limited their ability to weather a backlash from national government and utility actors. Our study demonstrates the interaction of political, economic/technological, and legitimation paths to energy transition and highlights the importance of the latter two.     

African states in international organisations: A comparative analysis

The active participation in international organisations (IOs) is an important condition for the ability of states to exert influence over the content of international norms and rules. Thus, this paper adopts a comparative perspective and examines how active African states are in more than 500 international negotiations and under what conditions they are likely to remain silent. This reveals that diplomatic staff capacities are an essential precondition for active participation, while incentive structures, such as the scope of interests, impact how often states take the floor. An alternative to voicing national interest is to negotiate on behalf of regional organisations or regional groups. This paper shows that especially weaker and smaller African states benefit from regional group membership and use references to them in order to increase their leverage in international negotiations and improve, thereby, their chances to exert influence over the international architecture of rules and norms.     

Not so Fair after All? Perceptions of Procedural Fairness and Satisfaction with Democracy in the Nordic Welfare States

The Nordic countries are known for their well-functioning public administrations. In indices measuring control of corruption and the quality of the rule of law, they frequently occupy top positions. However, as we demonstrate in this article, a country's top position in comparative indices does not automatically imply that citizens view the state of affairs in the same way as depicted by experts. The observation is in no way trivial: Drawing on theories of procedural fairness, we go on to show—statistically, using individual level data—that widespread public perceptions about the unfairness of civil servants may have a negative effect on the legitimacy of the political system even in so-called high-trust and “least corrupt” settings such as the Nordic ones.     

Land grabbing in post-Soviet Eurasia: the world’s largest agricultural land reserves at stake

‘Land grabbing’ in Africa by China, and other populous, high-income Asian countries such as South Korea, has received considerable attention, while land grabbing in post-Soviet Eurasia has gone largely unnoticed. However, as this article shows, foreign state and private companies are also acquiring vast areas of farmland in this region. The article first discusses the factors that make post-Soviet Eurasia such an attractive region for international investment, arguably encompassing much greater agricultural land reserves than most regions of sub-Saharan Africa or Asia. Second, in view of the use of media and web-based data in this article, the methodological limitations of researching land investments are discussed. Third, an overview is given of the processes of land accumulation and farm acquisition. Both domestic and international accumulation of land are dealt with in the domestic context of agricultural development and institutions. Furthermore, the main actors (investors) involved in land grabbing are distinguished (according to their country of origin and legal or institutional form). Fourth, the article outlines the main obstacles (and points of contention) concerning the emergence (and effectiveness/performance) of domestic, and especially international, agroholdings in the region. Some preliminary findings are presented on the possible effects of land grabbing on local populations in this region.