The Politics of Land Acquisition in Haryana: Managing Dominant Caste Interests in the Name of Development

ABSTRACT

Anti-Special Economic Zone (SEZ) mobilisation in Haryana failed to generate a mass movement. This is despite the political strength of farmers and their deep resentment of the government’s policy to build up land reserves for industrial purposes. This article argues that there are two main reasons for this outcome. First, the state government put in place a series of significant policies to compensate landowners and give them a stake in the industrial project, primarily through payment of an “annuity.” Second, the main anti-SEZ movements were led by dominant landowning castes who did not incorporate the concerns of landless labourers and tenant farmers who faced equally or even more dire consequences from the government’s land acquisition policy. Moreover, mobilisation relied on traditional caste institutions such as khap panchayats and farmer unions strongly associated with Jats, rather than adopting a more broad-based approach. Entrenched caste animosity and pre-existing conflicts of interest between landed Jats and Dalits, who have traditionally worked as agricultural labourers, further explain the limited scope of the mobilisation among rural groups. The analysis underscores how hierarchical relations shape social movements, define the claims they make and ultimately impact their effectiveness.     

Northern theories,Southern movements? Contentious politics in Africa through the lens of social movement theory

ABSTRACT

The article examines the extent to, and the conditions under which theoretical approaches from Social Movement Studies, mainly developed based on empirical experiences from the Global North, are appropriate for analysing contentious politics in the South, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. In order to answer this question, the article discusses whether social movements in Africa differ fundamentally from those in other world regions. Four main approaches from social movement theory are examined: resource mobilisation, political opportunity structures, framing, and collective identity, to find out how suitable they are for explaining empirical phenomena in Africa. It is argued that social movements in Africa are not principally different from those in other world regions. Approaches from social movement theory prove helpful in explaining phenomena in the South, although they suffer from the same weaknesses and limitations to their scope as they do regarding movements in the North.     

Emotions and Attributions of Legal Responsibility and Blame: A Research Review

Research on the effects of emotions and moods on judgments of legal responsibility and blame is reviewed. Emotions and moods may influence decision makers in 3 ways: by affecting their information processing strategies, by inclining their judgments in the direction of the valence of the emotion or mood, and/or by providing informational cues to the proper decision. A model is proposed that incorporates these effects and further distinguishes among various affective influences in terms of whether the affect is provoked by a source integral or incidental to the judgment task, and whether it affects judgment directly (e.g., by providing an informational cue to judgment) or indirectly (e.g., by affecting construal of judgment target features, which in turn affects the judgment). Legal decision makers' abilities to correct for any affective influences they perceive to be undesirable and normative implications for legal theory and practice are briefly discussed.     

论社会治安系统防控的基本模式

社会治安系统防控是由主体的元素、措施的元素和客体的元素构成的。在具备相应的社会治安防控元素的基础上,可以建立“一二三四式”、“三三三式”的有机社会治安防控系统。     

浅析欧洲社会民主党的伦理化倾向

社会民主主义思想是欧洲近100多年来的重要思潮。它的发展,经历了从修正主义到社会民主主义的过程,现在又呈现抽象化、伦理化的特点。与此同时,欧洲社会民主党始终坚持和劳工阶层站在一起。这使得社会民主党在欧洲得到了大多数人的支持。社会民主党的发展经验,对市场经济过程中党保证群众支持有深刻的借鉴意义。     

积极稳妥地推进农村社会保障体系的建立和健全

农村社会保障是国家社会保障的重要组成部分。没有农村社会保障制度的建立和完善,就没有全国的社会保障制度。加快建立农村社会保障体系,不仅是改革和完善我国社会保障体系的重大举措,也是我国农村经济发展和社会进步的必然要求,是全面建设小康社会的重要保证。     

我国公共部门人力资源管理的四大问题

公共部门的人力资源管理状况与其行政效率密切相关,加强公共部门人力资源管理,促进公共部门人力资源能力的提升,既是公共部门行政效率提高的内在要求,也是社会政治经济发展的外在要求.综合文献法、访谈法和问卷法三种研究方法,本文提出我国公共部门人力资源管理的四大问题,以期对我国公共部门人力资源管理进行较为准确的把握和判断.     

政治价值整合:欧洲社会民主党执政实践的重要内容

政治价值整合是政党树立执政权威、扩大社会基础、增强执政能力的重要手段。20世纪末,面对欧洲社会的深刻变化,欧洲一些社会民主党通过其传统价值理念的批判式反思,整合建构新的政治纲领,并通过创新党内民主和社会参与的方式,实现了政治价值的整合,取得并执掌了政权。其执政实践为我们研究执政能力建设提供了很好的借鉴。     

发展非政府组织与构建和谐社会

非政府组织具有实现社会稳定、促进社会和谐的作用,是构建社会主义和谐社会的重要支柱。目前,我国非政府组织的发展还不能适应经济社会发展的需要,还不能充分发挥非政府组织在社会稳定与和谐中的支柱作用。在构建和谐社会的过程中,政府要自觉运用非政府组织维护社会和谐与稳定,将非政府组织真正整合到社会治理结构之中。发展和规范非政府组织,要着眼于建立政府与非政府组织之间的合作关系,在促进非政府组织自主自治的同时,加大政府服务于非政府组织发展的力度,真正形成与市场经济相适应的公民社会。     

我国“严打”政策的刑法学思考

“严打”是现阶段我国针对社会治安日趋严峻的形势而对严重刑事犯罪分子所采取的从重打击的一项具体刑事政策。它的实施取得了一定的效果 ,但却与刑法的原则、刑罚的目的发生了一定的冲突。“严打”是一种无奈之举。减少和预防犯罪的根本出路应当在于对犯罪的社会预防。