Strengthening Citizenship in Brazil's Democracy: Local Participatory Governance in Porto Alegre

In Latin America, and particularly Brazil, inequality and social exclusion continue to plague the quality of democracy despite two decades of transition and consolidation. Still, in Brazil, the Workers' Party has been remarkably successful over the past decade, explicitly addressing the problem of social exclusion and 'incomplete citizenship'. This paper provides an analysis of the case of Porto Alegre covering the four Workers' Party municipal administrations from 1989 to the present in order to assess the significance of social incorporation and citizenship for the quality of democracy in Brazil. The paper discusses some conceptual notions that are relevant for the question of democracy in Brazil, particularly the role of citizenship and civil society in 'deepening' democracy. Then the paper goes into the evolution and dynamics of Porto Alegre's system of 'participatory budgeting'. The paper's assessment of this experience with respect to its performance, depth and robustness shows that 'participatory budgeting' has had positive effects with respect to the provision of public goods services, the quality of governance, and citizens' participation in what is seen as a new 'public space' shared by the local state and grass roots organisations. The paper concludes by relating the case experience to the question of citizenship, civil society and democracy and by reflecting upon its wider implications for the current and future quality of democracy in Brazil.     

我国跨境职务罪案协查机制的发展与完善

职务犯罪向境外发展是新时期廉政建设遇到的一个棘手问题。内地与港澳之间在控制此类犯罪的司法实践中已建立起个案协查机制,并根据情况变化不断进行自我完善。为适应港澳回归和“入世”的需要,法域间应当进一步扩大合作范围,提高合作档次,加大追逃追赃力度,制订协助法律规范,以健全有利于经济发展和社会稳定的法制环境。     

国际经济法教科书体系的反思与重构——一种“跨国经济公法”的思路

传统的基于大国际经济法而定位的主流国际经济法教科书体系存在着公私不分、条块分割和内容杂乱的弊端和问题。为此,有必要反思传统大国际经济法教育模式尤其是大国际经济法教科书体系,进而结合国际经济法的制度实践,融会国际经济法的学术理论,借鉴美国国际经济法教科书体系,确立国际经济的“公法”定位,适当分离国际商事交易法和国际经济规制法,打破传统国际经济法教科书模式,阐释跨国经济公法的“公法原理”,贯通国际经济法的“问题”流程,构建权威的“跨国经济公法”教科书“体系”。     

适用不方便法院原则与国民待遇原则的冲突与协调——以跨国知识产权诉讼为视角

跨国知识产权诉讼是当今各国对知识产权进行国际保护的主要途径.如何在知识产权保护的国际诉讼中遵循国民待遇原则,是知识产权国际保护的关键.由于跨国知识产权诉讼的复杂性、新颖性以及相关立法的滞后,造成了法院在审理相关案件时为片面追求司法任务的简单化,往往会拒绝外国原告的诉讼.不方便法院原则就成为拒绝当事人诉讼的最好理由,其中美国的做法最具有代表性.这与TRIPS协议等保护知识产权国际条约所确立的国民待遇原则相冲突.为给予国际知识产权流动以更多的保护与协调,各国应完善跨国知识产权管辖权体系,确立严格的适用不方便法院原则的标准.     

Constructions of migrant rights in Canada: is subnational citizenship possible?

Devolutionary trends in immigration and social welfare policy have enabled different levels of government to define membership and confer rights to people residing within the political boundary of a province or municipality in ways that may contradict federal legal status. Drawing upon theories of postnational and deterritorialized citizenship, we examined the legal construction of social rights within federal, provincial, and municipal law in Toronto, Ontario. The study of these different policy arenas focuses on rights related to education, access to safety and police protection, and income assistance. Our analysis suggests that the interplay of intra-governmental laws produces an uneven terrain of social rights for people with precarious status. We argue that while provincial and municipal governments may rhetorically seek to advance the social rights of all people living within their territorial boundaries, program and funding guidelines ensure that national practices of market citizenship and the policing of non-citizen subjects are reproduced at local levels.     

Citizenship and capability? Amartya Sen's capabilities approach from a citizenship perspective

This article deals with the potential contribution of Amartya Sen's capabilities approach (CA) for studying citizenship. Although the CA cannot be described as a genuine citizenship theory it has informed recent attempts to reformulate social citizenship. Moreover, it shares important aims and assumptions with radical citizenship approaches, which emphasise democracy, voice, and difference. Especially, Sen's ideas can help formulate positive notions of equality. However, a fruitful dialogue between those perspectives has to lead over some controversial issues. In this context, this article suggests more substantive notions of agency and interaction as well as integrating rights and rights language.     

Why education matters: school ‘choice’ and differing views on citizenship in Pakistan

This article discusses young Pakistanis' self-articulation of their relationship with the state, focusing in particular on the perceptions held by those aged between 15 and 25 and who are in education. The research used a mixed methods approach. Data were collected in 6 private, 11 philanthropic and 3 government schools as well as 2 madrassas and 5 universities in urban, semi-urban and rural areas in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan. A questionnaire with qualitative and quantitative sections was distributed to class 10 students and over 1000 questionnaires were returned. The research found, on aggregate response, that there is a high sense of belonging to the nation, yet paradoxically also a high sense of alienation with regard to the state. Whilst most of those surveyed professed awareness of their rights and duties, the youth was seen by the same respondents as mostly ignorant of these. The factor that caused the greatest variation was the type of school attended where responses and attitudes regarding the state, rights, responsibilities and citizenship differed markedly. This article discusses how this school ‘choice’ is linked with particular perceptions of citizenship by looking beyond class and problematising the relationship between education and the perceptions of the state.     

Within and beyond citizenship: alternative educational initiatives in the Arab society in Israel

In recent years, Arab-Palestinian citizens in Israel are in search of ‘a new vocabulary of citizenship’, among other ways, by resorting to ‘alternative educational initiatives’. We investigate and compare three alternative schools, each challenging the contested conception of Israeli citizenship. Our findings reveal different educational strategies to become ‘claimants of rights’, yet all initiatives demonstrate the constraints Arab citizens face while trying to become ‘activist citizens’ (E.F. Isin, 2009. Citizenship in flux: the figure of the activist citizen. Subjectivity, 29 (1), 367–388.).     

Introduction

This introductory paper seeks to provide an overview of the key themes that run through the papers in this special issue. Taking their cue from some ongoing current debates about the meanings of citizenship, multiculturalism and identity in the contemporary environment, Schuster and Solomos begin by exploring some of the most significant ideas in current political and academic controversies about these issues. In doing so they touch upon some of the main policy dilemmas faced both by nation-states and by migrant and minority communities. They then move on to engage with the question of what policies need to be developed to deal with citizenship and belonging in societies that are increasingly ethnically and culturally diverse. They conclude by analysing the direction of current research and policy priorities, and provide an overview of the key arguments to be found in each of the substantive papers that make up this issue.     

Assessing Kaliningrad's Geostrategic Role: The Russian Periphery and A Baltic Concern

Recent developments in post-communist Europe and Latvia in particular have raised questions about political stability in new democracies there. This article argues for taking a long-term perspective on this problem in place of short-term judgments. In doing so, it makes special reference to the EU's political conditionality and its impacts on Latvia and then applies comparative lessons on democratic consolidation based on the concept of ‘partial regimes’. It becomes clear in this analysis that the consolidation process in Latvia has advanced over the past decade and more and, in this respect, the EU did have an important, though limited and rather specific, impact. Yet this process is still incomplete, with historical legacies being a major factor. The ethnic divide has also remained largely unresolved, party development problems have persisted and the public is still unconvinced by the actual democracy they see before them and is alienated by political elite behavior in particular. Hence, Latvia does not have a defective democracy as such, but further change is necessary before democratic consolidation may be achieved there.