Meeting the Offender Re-integration Challenge

In this article the author – member of the European Offender Employment Forum – gives his view on the problems of re-integrating ex-offenders. He describes the pan-European growth of the prison population, the vocational training offered in prisons and the demands of the labour market. He also discusses promising programmes and initiatives to counter the problems faced by ex-offenders. The 'solution' should be multi-dimensional, provide for continuity between pre-release and after-care and counter problems like employment, housing and finances. Governments must make it their business to ensure that the programmes they support are meeting the range of offenders' needs, are linking properly with the labour market and are providing continuity from sentence to community.     

Land conflict and Mayangna territorial rights in Nicaragua's Bosawás reserve

Abstract— This paper examines conflicts over land and resources in Nicaragua's Bosawás rainforest reserve between Mestizos and Mayangna Indian people. Mestizos are people of mixed Indian and European descent who speak Spanish and do not consider themselves to be Indians. Bosawás is one of the last refuges of the Mayangna indigenous group and is also the largest area of protected tropical rainforest in Central America. The Mayangna village of Sikilta, in the North Atlantic Autonomous Region, is used to illustrate the nature of land conflicts in the region. Such conflicts–between economic development and conservation, between livelihoods and conservation, and between peasant livelihoods and indigenous territorial rights–are symptomatic of rainforest areas in other parts of the world. Land conflicts in Bosawás are examined within the broader economic, political and institutional context. Potential solutions to land conflict in Sikilta are explored. The paper illustrates the complexities surrounding the demarcation and upholding of indigenous land rights. It highlights the institutional complexities and weaknesses which have allowed Sikilta's land problem to go unresolved. It is argued that until national problems of unequal access to land and unsustainable forms of forest use are addressed, communities like Sikilta will continue to suffer invasion of their land.     

税收优惠政策对经济发展的影响

税收优惠政策对经济发展具有双刃剑效应。地方政府执行国家税收优惠政策的取向在一定程度上影响着地方经济发展,甚至成为地方经济发展的一个风向标。因此,地方政府应根据国家的税收优惠政策发展趋势用好税收优惠政策,促进地方经济更好更快发展。     

犯罪学本土发展的历史考察

从世界各国犯罪学以及中国犯罪学的本土发展情况进行历史考察，犯罪学本土发展的所呈现的总体规律性为：犯罪学与各国或地区的犯罪态势、犯罪治理的社会需要等方面有着密切的关系，从一定的意义上讲，现实的需求直接推动着各国或地区的犯罪学的本土发展；与其社会思潮、亲缘关系学科的发达程度甚至其学术传统有密切的关系；与犯罪学的专业化程度、学科的独立价值等方面有着很大的关联性。     

Horizontal mergers and efficiencies; theory and anti trust practice

Horizontal mergers can be challenged by anti trust authorities under both the US and EU Horizontal Merger Guidelines. More horizontal mergers are unconditionally approved in the US than in the EU. EU merger policy toughened after 1998 but became more in line with US practices after 2004. Differences in merger policies between the US and the EU can be explained by a greater scope of the efficiency argument in the US. The paper argues that firms only want to merge in oligopoly, if they expect to realize substantial merger specific efficiency gains, which counterbalances the price increasing effect of merger.      

新经济自由主义研究中应该注意区分的若干问题

在我们学习和借鉴西方市场经济的理论和政策过程中,越来越多的人对西方新自由主义思潮给予关注,并进行了针对性的研究,但其中存在着不同程度的误解和不适当的态度,妨碍着我们正确对待新自由主义思潮.我们要区分新自由主义经济学中的合理因素和谬误成分,区分新自由主义经济学所涉及的利益和立场在不同时间、不同范围、不同对象上的差异,区分理论界与政策决策当局认识的异同、学术界认识与"华盛顿共识"的异同,区分新经济自由主义的国内政策和国外政策的异同,注意新自由主义经济政策与国家干预主义和保护主义经济政策的交替、转换和灵活运用.发展中国家学习和借鉴新自由主义经济学必须注意:要将市场化与市场自由化、全面市场化区分开,将对外开放与对外全面自由开放区分开,将市场化、产权改革与全面私有化区分开,将市场化与快速市场化和快速自由化区分开.     

哈萨克斯坦民族政策的变迁与思考

哈萨克斯坦是一个典型的多民族国家。作为原苏联的加盟共和国,其独立前的民族政策属于原苏联民族政策的一部分。而原苏联民族政策的焦点主要是民族自决、国家结构形式与俄罗斯化问题。哈萨克斯坦独立后,吸取原苏联民族政策的一些经验教训,同时为了维护国家统一与社会稳定,积极推行强化哈萨克族主体性的政策,倡导文化多元化、努力淡化民族意识。哈萨克斯坦的民族政策总体来说取得了一定的成效,较好地维护了哈萨克斯坦稳定、和谐与发展。其民族政策中的强化哈萨克语政策、强化主体民族历史传统的政策、国家统一前提下的民族文化自治政策、强化公民意识的政策、塑造统一哈萨克斯坦文化的政策等值得深思。     

Between Interculturalism and Ethnocentrism: Local Government and the Indigenous Movement in Otavalo‐Ecuador

To what extent might an indigenous mayor govern beyond ethnically defined grievances, without being labelled traitor by the indigenous organisation? This article deals with the challenges faced by the Ecuadorian indigenous movement when it attains power in local government. The issue will be explored through the case of Mario Conejo, who in 2000 became the first indigenous mayor of Otavalo representing the indigenous political movement Pachakutik. Although ethnically based tensions in the local indigenous movement were evident throughout the period, 2006 saw Conejo leave Pachakutik and create a new political movement. This rupture can be traced, I argue, to an intercultural dilemma and the difficulties of ethnically defined political movements.     

Controlling immigration? How regulations affect migration flows

The aim of this article is to investigate whether or not and how immigration policies affect immigration flows. Such policy impacts have hardly been investigated so far as the necessary data is lacking. For the first time, two new datasets are combined to systematically measure immigration policies and bilateral migration flows for 33 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) destination countries from over 170 countries of origin over the period 1982–2010. The study finds that immigration policies have an important effect on immigration flows and thus that states are able to control their borders. To some extent the control capacities depend on other factors in attracting or deterring immigrants. The article shows that the deterrence effect of restrictive immigration policies increases when unemployment rates are high. It appears that, in these contexts, states start to care more about effectively protecting their national economy. Moreover, policies are more effective for migrant groups from former colonies or when the stock of this group is already high in a destination country. In these circumstances, information on border regulations are more easily disseminated, which in turn makes them more effective.     

2003-2008年马华公会的政策研究

2003—2008年是黄家定担任马华公会总会长时期。作为总会长，黄家定提出在维持族群和谐的基础上，进一步提升华裔在马来西亚地位的目标。为此，马华公会施行了教育、经济、党内改革、新村工作等领域的一系列新政，但施政效果不如人意，以致2008年大选失利。虽然远离政治，缺乏对华裔新社会运动的回应性是黄家定政纲的致命缺陷，但马华公会失政最本质的缘由还是在于马来西亚以巫统一党独大为核心的种族霸权制度。