‘One step at a time’: An interview with Jean-Bertrand Aristide (former President of Haiti)

ABSTRACT

I am an African. I speak an African language.

Ngingum-Afrika. Ngikhuluma izilimi zase-Afrika. (isiZulu)

Ndingum-Afrika. Ndithetha ulwimi lwase-Afrika. (isiXhosa)

Mimi ni mAfrika. Nazungumza lugha ya waAfrika. (Swahili)

The sense of pride inherent in this statement belies the challenge that African languages face today. Multilingualism in African languages is not seen as a rich resource when confronted by the economic clout of English. A compromise is needed – one where the value of indigenous languages and that of English is recognised. A trained translator and interpreter is one such compromise, becoming the key link between African development and African achievement. For the non-English speaker, this link would enable understanding and, through it, knowledge and empowerment. With translation and interpretation, knowledge can come to every person at their level of understanding. This article argues that the training of the skilled translator and interpreter in an African language is the critical link in the development and achievement of the disadvantaged African person. Language now becomes a resource, affirming further that it is also language that provides pride in one's identity, hence … I am an African. I speak an African language.     

《世界人权宣言》之意义与局限

在 1 8世纪人权理论的基础上 ,1 948年《世界人权宣言》将人权的广度与深度推进到新的阶段 ,但也存在时代局限性 ,如将人权的来源归诸“上天”而非社会、不承认集体人权等。人权的实质是个人、群体与整个社会的关系。正确认识和处理权利与权力的关系 ,是促进和保护人权的必要条件     

再评《甲申文化宣言》的学理基础

《甲申文化宣言》的学理基础中存在的问题很多。除了笔者在《评甲申文化宣言》中已经评论的文化中的不同因素分离论和文化多元论外,还有两个需要评论的问题是文化恒久论和文化无优劣论。《宣言》认为的文化恒久性实际上也就是文化永恒性。文化既是历史范畴又具永恒性是一个具有内在矛盾的命题,且文化永恒性的观点是错误的。文化无优劣论是缺乏文化形态学观念的文化相对主义;其用意在于抵制工业文化价值对于农业文化的影响;其后果是阻碍中国文化的转型。     

世贸组织新一轮多边贸易谈判面临的分歧及应对措施

自2001年11月14日多哈会议以来世贸组织各贸易成员方发起的新一轮多边贸易谈判,分歧主要集中在农产品出口补贴、环境贸易壁垒、反倾销和政府采购透明度、世贸组织体制和机制等方面。面对日益严峻和复杂的国外反补贴、反倾销、技术性保障措施发展态势,我们可采取积极的对策与措施有:第一,尽快确定解决贸易争端的工作重点。第二,进一步建立健全技术法规、技术标准和合格评定程序体系。第三,继续扩大内需,调整出口结构,缓解对外贸易争端。第四,审时度势,正确处理贸易争端。     

The role of the Asia Pacific Partnership in discursive contestation of the international climate regime

After withdrawing from the Kyoto Protocol, the US Bush Administration and the Australian Howard Government pursued an international climate change policy focussed on voluntary international agreements outside the UN climate negotiations. This strategy included the formation of several climate agreements directed at technology development, including the 2005 Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APP). The APP provides a model for international climate change policy directed at voluntary national greenhouse gas intensity targets, technology development through sectoral public–private partnerships and technology diffusion through trade. This article situates the APP within these US and Australian inspired climate agreements formed outside the UN negotiations. Bäckstrand and Lövbrand’s (in M. Pettenger (ed.) The social construction of climate change: power knowledge norms discourses, 2007) discourse analysis in relation to the international climate negotiations is used to explore differences between the APP and UN climate treaties. We find the APP embodies a discourse of what we call ‘deregulatory ecological modernisation’ that promotes limited public funding to ease informational failures in markets for cleaner technologies and management practices. The deregulatory ecological modernisation discourse is a deeply intensive market liberal approach to international climate change policy, which contests binding emission reduction targets and the development of a global carbon market. The USA, Australia, Japan and Canada represented a core group of countries that used the APP to promote the deregulatory ecological modernisation discourse and thereby contest any deepening of developed nations' emission reduction targets for the post-2012 period. However, with changes of leadership and new parties in power in the USA and Australia, it appears that the deregulatory ecological modernisation discourse has lost ground compared to a reengagement with discourses supportive of developed country emission reduction targets and equity-based adaptation and technology transfer assistance for developing nations.     

中菲南海争端仲裁庭的法律问题

菲律宾无视它与中国之间《南海各方行为宣言》的存在与有效性,以变相的岛礁主权争端和海洋划界争端的方式,单方面提起南海争端强制仲裁。虽然此举不符合《联合国海洋法公约》（以下简称《公约》）规定的条件,但并不意味着菲律宾启动该程序具有非法性。即使中国不接受该仲裁和不参与仲裁程序,也不影响中菲仲裁庭的合法成立及其程序的合法性与对中国不利裁决的有效性。因此,对待仲裁庭的后续书面程序和口诉程序,中国是维持现行政策还是重新参与,是值得重新评估的一个问题。重新参与后续程序应该是中国的一个适当政策选择。因为参与所面临的最大挑战——南海“断续线”的法律地位——可以通过反驳《公约》对之不适用从而避免澄清其地位的棘手问题。更重要的是,依据“南方蓝鳍金枪鱼案”仲裁庭的推理与裁决和中国2006年声明以及国际海洋划界与外大陆架划界案例,《南海各方行为宣言》属于《公约》第281条第1款中排除附件7强制仲裁的“协议”,菲律宾的大部分实体请求属于不可裁决事项,因而仲裁庭应该裁定对本争端无管辖权或不可受理。即使中国继续奉行不参与政策,也不应该无所作为。中国可以采取“间接参与”的方式,在仲裁庭开始书面程序后,公开发表一份正式书面文件,以全面反对菲律宾提起仲裁和反对仲裁庭对争端的管辖权和可受理性。     

Negotiating North–South dynamics and the Philippine experience in the WTO

This paper elucidates how domestic and external factors have shaped the negotiating policy of the Philippines in bringing about incremental gains not only for its benefit but also for other developing countries during the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture Doha Development Round (DDR). The internal factors include the following: (1) executive monopoly of the WTO negotiations; (2) issue-based fragmentation and dispersal of authority; (3) the autonomy and flexibility of the Philippine WTO negotiator; (4) the involvement of civil society in the WTO negotiations, and (4) the central role of the Department of Agriculture as the lead agency in the WTO negotiations. A major reason for this is attributed to an external factor which is the centrality of agriculture as a major WTO issue among developing countries. Other external factors, on the other hand, include the following: (1) the strong solidarity among developing countries and (2) the confinement to particular issues with regards to coalition-building. These factors helped to strengthen the bargaining leverage of the Philippines, a seemingly ‘weak’ country, vis-à-vis the developed countries in the WTO.     

Of Butchery and Bicycles: The WTO and the ‘Death’ of the Doha Development Agenda

The World Trade Organization's (WTO) Doha round is in trouble; but so is the way we talk about the institution and the negotiations. Economists, international lawyers, political scientists, practitioners and pundits alike have locked themselves into a deeply constraining and quite unhelpful way of talking and thinking about the WTO that has little to offer either the round or the Organization. Indeed, the way commentators have chosen to talk about the problems of the round, as well as the options for moving forward, may actually be compounding matters, reinforcing the likelihood that Doha will produce little, that future negotiations will continue to be dramatic and hard to conclude, and that inequitable outcomes will persist. My aim here is to shine a light on the bounded nature of the current debate with a view to agitating for a less constrained and more fruitful conversation about Doha, the WTO and beyond.     

The impact of plurilateral trade agreements on developing countries – to participate or not to participate?

In the wake of the impasse in the Doha Development Round of multilateral trade talks, sector-specific plurilateral trade agreements (PTAs) have been gaining traction. However, PTAs mostly appeal to developed countries, with the uptake among developing countries (including least-developed countries) being very limited. This article investigates the factors contributing to such a phenomenon, whether there is indeed merit in developing countries playing a more active role in PTAs and how they might be encouraged to do so. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses were conducted with specific attention being given to the effects, on a selection of developing countries, of participation in four PTAs: the Trade in Services Agreement, the Government Procurement Agreement, the Environmental Goods Agreement and the Information Technology Agreement II. Among the findings was that although, according to the qualitative analysis, policymakers are generally disinterested in the four PTAs because they are not aligned to the countries’ economic interests or they threaten policy space, the quantitative analysis revealed that gains could often be made from more active participation in these agreements. This clearly points to a research gap and highlights the need for more in-depth analysis of the potential of PTAs in the developing world.     

论我国公务员财产申报制度:价值、进展与完善

无论是从工具性的角度,还是从实质性价值的角度,公务员财产申报制度的重要性都不言而喻。自上世纪80年代以来,中央和地方在该制度建设上均有所实践,但是到目前并没有出台一个关于公务员财产申报制度的规范性法律文件。因此,我们需要反思财产申报制度建设进展缓慢的原因,探索完善该制度的基本进路。