Foreign Terrorist Fighters: managing a twenty-first century threat

In the aftermath of the Arab uprisings Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTFs) have emerged as a significant security challenge. Since the 1980s and the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan the notion of a ‘foreign fighter’ has been closely linked, if not synonymous, with those ideologically or religiously motivated individuals who have travelled to join conflicts in Islamic lands. This article will explore the contemporary FTF movement, offering a comparison of Afghanistan in the 1980s and Syria in the contemporary period. It will explore the international community’s expansive responses to the challenge of FTFs, with special focus on the role of the United Nations.     

Under construction and highly contested: Islam in the post-Soviet Caucasus

While scholarship on Islam in the Caucasus has focused on the late Soviet religious revival – the rise of Salafi jihadism and religious radicalisation in the northern part of these strategic crossroads – no study to date has addressed the discursive struggle over the social functions of regional Islam. This article deconstructs these discourses in order to examine the very varying, and often conflicting, representations of Islam advocated by various actors across the region and within particular republics. The article highlights the contested functions of regional Islam against the background of a religious revival that is still a work in progress.     

Conceptualising corporate community development

Globally there is an increasing focus on the private sector as a significant development actor. One element of the private sector’s role emphasised within this new focus has been corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, whereby the private sector claims to contribute directly to local development. There is now a substantial body of work on CSR but it is a literature that is mostly polarised, dominated by concerns from the corporate perspective, and not adequately theorised. Corporations typically do development differently from NGOs and donors, yet the nature and effects of these initiatives are both under-researched and under-conceptualised. In this paper we argue that viewing CSR initiatives through a community development lens provides new insights into their rationale and effects. Specifically we develop a conceptual framework that draws together agency and practice-centred approaches in order to illuminate the processes and relationships that underpin corporate community development initiatives.     

Unfulfilled promises of the consultation approach: the limits to effective indigenous participation in Bolivia’s and Peru’s extractive industries

Indigenous peoples’ right to prior consultation and to informed consent represents the basis of the new global model shaping state–indigenous relations. Consultation processes promise to enable indigenous people to determine their own development and are especially promoted when extraction projects with significant socio-environmental impacts are planned on indigenous lands. In this article we draw on debates on participatory development in order to analyse the first state-led consultations in Bolivia’s and Peru’s hydrocarbon sectors (2007–14). The analysis shows that effective participation has been limited by (1) an absence of indigenous ownership of the processes; (2) indigenous groups’ difficulties defending or even articulating their own visions and demands; and (3) limited or very general outcomes. The study identifies real-life challenges, such as power asymmetries, a ‘communication hurdle’ and appropriate timing – as well as simplistic assumptions underlying the consultation approach – that account for the unfulfilled promises of this new model.     

Balance Between Local Economic Development and Environmental Sustainability: A Multi-level Governance Perspective

This study seeks to explain why U.S. local governments utilize environmental sustainability to promote economic development. Economic development and environmental protection need not be competing objectives, but rather, environmental protection can enhance local economic competitiveness. Using data from the ICMA Economic Development Survey, this study tests an empirical model that includes state sustainability initiatives, participation in climate protection networks, and political attitudes toward economic development as predictors of local policy decisions. The findings reinforce a multi-level governance perspective on explaining the balance cities seek to achieve between environmental protection and economic growth.     

The Contribution of Donor Support Programs to Decentralized Development: Learning from the District Level in Ghana

Donor aid has over the years turned out to be a very decisive development component for most developing nations, but aid is often criticized for ineffectiveness. This article seeks to share perspectives on the relevance of direct project or program support and the need to refrain from homogeneity in aid research by assessing the contribution of the Government of Ghana/European Union (GoG/EU) Micro-Projects Programme in the Nadowli District of Ghana from 1997–2009. The findings acknowledge positive impacts of the program in the district. There are sector consistencies between the donor interest and local development priorities in health, education and the water and sanitation sectors. However, selectivity of project within and among sectors brings potential conflicts of interest and tradeoffs between the program and local community needs. The results imply a reexamination of decentralized development through a lens of new partnership between donors’ interest and local needs. Stepping up community awareness to ensure full participation in project design, execution, operation, and maintenance could serve as a start-up platform for new partnerships. It is imperative to align donor interest with local realities, which prompts a rethinking of adoption of new project approaches such as co-development, design, and implementation.     

Urban Regeneration Policy from the Integrated Urban Development Model in the European Union: an Analytical Approach Based on the Study of Spanish Cities

For several years, local governments have been tackling new challenges related to the regeneration of their cities within the physical sphere, as well as in their economic and social aspects. This task is developed in accordance with what has been called the Integrated Urban Development Model, understanding the integrated nature of this approach not only in terms of the spheres of public policy involved, but also in relation to their management. In this paper, this management is analysed in terms of the development of mechanisms for New Local Governance and New Public Management (NPM). Using Spanish municipalities as a case study, this paper develops an analytical tool for the analysis of this model of urban intervention within the European context, paying close attention to the development of mechanisms for New Local Governance from a multilevel perspective, as well as the development of mechanisms for NPM.     

浅谈落实党的工人政策——学习党的十八大工作报告的体会

党的十八大报告,是夺取中国特色社会主义新胜利和全面建成小康社会的纲领性文件,是代表人民、为人民谋利益的政策指南。报告就实现好、维护好、发展好工人劳动者的积极性和创造性方面重申和提出了许多方针和政策性要求。改革开放30多年的实践中,我们在依靠工人阶级方面也出现了一些杂音和问题。贯彻落实党的十八大报告精神,必须坚定不移地贯彻宪法,切实落实工人劳动者的主人翁地位;必须进一步贯彻党的"依靠"方针,更好地形成"劳动光荣"、"尊重劳动"、落实工人劳动者合法权益的良好社会环境,积极推进工人劳动者逐步实现自身的现代化;同时还要重视和发挥工会组织代表维护工人劳动者合法权益的职能作用,使党的工人政策真正落在实处。     

结构性变动对劳动生产率的影响：模型与实证

结构性改革的重点是通过经济结构变动、调整和优化,在市场配置的基础上充分促进劳动力流动,让低效率部门劳动力充分向高效率部门流动,从而激发劳动者的生产积极性,促进劳动生产率增长。因此,理论上两部门结构性效率差异模型分析了高效率部门和低效率部门之间劳动力流动对于激发劳动者积极性、提升劳动生产率的影响。在此基础上,使用1978-2017年城乡结构、产业结构、所有制结构、区域结构等年度时间序列数据,分析各自对于劳动生产率变动的影响。计量结果表明,在各种结构性变动因素影响劳动生产率的作用中,按照大小顺序依次是城市化、区域经济适度均衡并允许有条件区域加快发展、市场化和产业结构优化。因此,要通过有效促进城镇化、发达区域经济适度领先发展、市场化和产业结构高度化,来提高劳动生产率。     

基层法院庭长权责匹配冲突及耦合

司法责任制改革取消了庭长审批权,实现了权力下沉至一线法官的目的,但同时庭长却面临着不愿管、不善管的困境。其直接原因在于庭长权责匹配冲突,即权力小、责任大。具体表现为多重角色赋予其所承担的政治责任、基于法院目标管理带来的行政责任以及法官身份回归而需承担的法律责任,但并未赋予相应的权力。造成权责匹配冲突的根源在于在去行政化过程中对权力关系的简单化处理,导致法院外部压力型任务注入与内部平权式治理之间的矛盾;法院功能的超载化,扩充了法院管理的范围。权责冲突带来了负面效应,包括权力的非正式运作,不善管;逆向激励,痕迹化监督与策略性监督,不愿管。要改变这种状态需要从制度保障、动力机制、信息基础、关键因素四个方面入手。