Large-scale land acquisitions,state authority and indigenous local communities: insights from Ethiopia

The convergence of diverse global factors – food price volatility, the increased demand for biofuels and feeds, climate change and the financialisation of commodity markets – has resulted in renewed interest in land resources, leading to a rapid expansion in the scope and scale of (trans)national acquisition of arable land across many developing countries. Much of this land is on peripheral indigenous peoples’ territories and considered a common property resource. Those most threatened are poor rural people with customary tenure systems – including indigenous ethnic minority groups, pastoralists and peasants – who need land most. In Ethiopia large areas have been leased to foreign and domestic capital for large-scale production of food and agrofuels, mainly in lowland regions where the state has historically had limited control. Much of the land offered is classified by the state and other elites as ‘unused’ or ‘underutilised’, overlooking the spatially extensive use of land in shifting cultivation and pastoralism. This threatens the land rights and livelihoods of ethnic minority indigenous communities in these lowlands. This article argues that recent large-scale land acquisitions are part of state strategy for enforcing political authority over territory and people. It examines the implications of such strategy for indigenous ethnic minority groups, focusing particularly on the Benishangul-Gumuz region.     

开发少数民族地区体育资源加快贵州经济发展

贵州省拥有丰富的民族传统体育资源,充分开发利用贵州省民族传统体育资源,是贵州民族传统文化开发战略中的重要组成部分。本文对贵州民族传统体育资源开发过程中,面临的问题进行了分析并提出了对策。     

华南少数民族妇女与宗教文化

少数民族妇女是华南少数民族宗教文化活动中的重要社会角色。一方面,女性宗教偶像崇拜表现较为突出,形式多样。另一方面,少数民族妇女也积极参与各种宗教活动,充分发挥社会性别的功能特色。进一步丰富了华南少数民族地区宗教文化的发展内容与特点,也从一个侧面反映了少数民族妇女在社会发展中所具有的历史作用。     

民族地区发展绿色税收的对策研讨——贵州黔东南州"木头经济"发展演变引发的思考

落实科学发展观最重要的一条,就是要落实到加强对自然资源的合理开发利用,保护生态环境、促进人与自然的和谐发展上来。在我国西部许多民族地区,生态环境其实是很脆弱的,这些地区的经济社会发展,将愈来愈受到资源环境的严重制约。在今年的《政府工作报告》中,温家宝总理强调要"抓好资源节约工作,要利用价格、税收等经济手段促进中国走向节约型经济和节约型社会"。因此,从今年开始,我国对一次性筷子和实木地板等木制品将征收5%的消费税。这不仅是完善环境保护政策,开创绿色税收的尝试,也是促进环境友好型、资源节约型社会建设的一项重大举措。本文从黔东南民族自治州"木头经济"发展演变引发的思考,对绿色税收进行初步研讨。     

民族文化自治历史命运的转折与引进设想(一)

在当代各国为解决民族、种族、文化集团问题提出的思路与建立的机制中,与联邦制、民族区域自治、多元文化主义等政治思路与机制相对应的,是文化思路与机制,即"民族文化自治"的思路与机制.但该思路与机制自提出之日起,就遭到种种质疑和抵制.直到20世纪90年代以后,其历史命运才出现了转机.文章对此种转机出现的历史背景、民族文化自治的价值蕴含等进行了详尽的分析和论述.此外,对中国是否能以及怎样引进民族文化自治提出作者个人的初步设想.     

台湾少数民族的丧葬民俗文化

台湾少数民族丧葬民俗文化,受社会生产力发展水平的制约,主要表现了其原始性与分散性的特点。本文从墓地选择、葬具构成及丧葬礼仪几个方面,反映明清时期,乃至近代,台湾少数民族丧葬民俗文化演变的历史状况,从一个侧面认识台湾少数民族社会经济文化的发展规律与特色,通过比较,从更多方面透视台湾少数民族文明发展的历史进程。     

Residual history: memory and activism in modern Poland

This article examines the divide between national and local collective memory in Poland and investigates the role of “memory activists” in mediating and exploiting this divide. It narrows its focus to the ethnic cleansing of Poles by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) from 1943 to 1944 and the forced relocation of Ukrainians in Poland, Operation Vistula, in 1947. It surveys local and national newspapers to understand competing interpretations and analyzes what incidents (e.g. protests, disputes, commemorations, reenactments, etc.) related to these events take place in local communities. It highlights the many actors, “memory activists,” and associations involved in pushing specific, often ahistorical, interpretations of these events – motivated by political gain, careerism, or personal conviction. It uses the theoretical works of Maurice Halbwachs and Karl Mannheim to effectively distinguish between local and national phenomenon and to elucidate the various nuances of collective memory.     

“Serbs” in Bela krajina: a (deliberately) forgotten minority?

There are three constitutionally recognized national/ethnic minorities in Slovenia: the Italians, the Hungarians and the Roma. In addition, there are other ethnic groups that could perhaps be considered as “autochthonous” national minorities in line with Slovenia's understanding of this concept. Among them is a small community of “Serbs” – the successors of the Uskoks living in Bela krajina, a border region of Slovenia. In this article we present results of a field research that focused on the following question: Can the “Serb” community in Bela krajina be considered a national minority? On the basis of the objective facts, it could be said that the “Serbs” in four Bela krajina villages are a potential national minority, but with regard to their modest social vitality and the fact that they do not express their desire for minority status, the realization of special minority protection is questionable.     

The EU and Multidimensional Forms of Power: Critical Moments and Change in Actorness and Power

This article introduces a framework for studying the European Union (EU) as power by focusing on what EU does rather than what EU is. Conceptualizing EU as a regional international society, EU is constituted along multidimensional lines. While a code of conduct limits internal and external practices, critical moments are important junctures for practitioners to reinterpret norms and rules, leading to the reproduction of EU as power. The practice of minority rights illustrates how a lack of intersubjectivity limits the EU’s power. It is first through practitioners’ engagement with norms and rules that new practices are established.     

论上市公司收购中的中小股东保护——以目标公司为视角

上市公司的收购行为涉及到多方主体的利益,而在这些利益的主体中,目标公司的中小股东常处于不利地位,其合法权益最容易受到侵害。应当从立法保护、行政监管、司法救济的角度分别说明对中小股权益的保护的制度完善,从而达到目标公司的中小股东权利内部保护机制和外部保护机制的统一。