Feminism in the Humanitarian Machine. Introduction to the Special Section on ‘The Politics of Intervention Against (Conflict-Related) Sexual and Gender-based Violence’

ABSTRACT

The prevention and mitigation of sexual and gender-based violence in (post-) conflict societies has become an important humanitarian activity. This introductory article examines the analytical discourses on these interventions, the institutionalization of SGBV expertise in international politics, and the emancipatory potential of anti-SGBV practices. It argues that the confluence of feminist professional activism and militarized humanitarian interventionism produced specific international activities against SGBV. As part of the institutionalization of gender themes in international politics, feminist emancipatory claims have been taken up by humanitarian organizations. The normal operating state of the humanitarian machine, however, undercuts its potential contribution to social transformation towards larger gender equality in (post-) conflict societies.     

Contesting land grabs,negotiating statehood: the politics of international accountability mechanisms and land disputes in rural Cambodia

Abstract

In Cambodia, rural citizens embroiled in protracted land grabbing cases with the state and private companies are turning increasingly to international accountability mechanisms for resolution. This article applies the interlinked concepts of hybrid governance and legal pluralism to understand the prospects and limitations of ‘forum-shopping’ through appeals to international mechanisms for rural communities affected by land grabs. Drawing on interviews and using process tracing, it examines the outcomes of a mediation case filed with the International Finance Corporation’s Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman (CAO) involving indigenous groups and a Vietnamese rubber company in north-east Cambodia. It argues that while international accountability mechanisms yield platforms for dispossessed groups to assert claims, they also reify choices between entitlements and attainability without circumventing the problems associated with justice delivery under Cambodia’s authoritarian regime. Overall, this study highlights the interaction, competition and collaboration between distinct forms of regulatory authority exercised by national and transnational actors involved in land grabbing cases in Cambodia, demonstrating their role in ‘negotiating statehood’ by governing local claims to land.     

从项目嵌入到组织社会:村级集体经济发展的新趋势及其类型学研究

发展和壮大村级集体经济是乡村振兴战略的重要内容。既有研究在探讨村级集体经济问题时较多地聚焦于其功能和目的、历史与现实、发展原则和要求,而较少关注到村级集体经济的发展趋势及其在不同村庄所呈现出的异质性特征。基于"项目嵌入-公众参与"的二维分析框架和浙北J市S镇的田野调查发现:新时期村级集体经济发展出现了由依赖纵向国家项目嵌入向组织和激活横向社会网络转变的新趋势,其发展形式呈现出政社耦合型、社会嵌入型、政治嵌入型和双重脱嵌型四种理论类型。村级集体经济发展类型上的差异也导致了其在村庄治理实践中发挥的分配、互惠、悬浮、兜底保障等不同功能,以及国家治理机制上的分殊。此外,村级集体经济的发展在不同类型的村庄面临着不尽相同的内外限制性条件。     

破产企业单位社区再造的治理路径研究——以成都市L社区为例

社会基层治理是国家治理的微观基础,城市社区是社会的基本单元.我国城市单位社区是城市社区的重要组成部分,因地制宜探索城市单位社区治理模式有利于完善城市社区建设、健全社会治理体制、提升国家治理能力.成都市L社区为破产企业单位社区,其治理以党建引领为核心,以共建共治共享为导向,以社区再造为路径,形成了"党委领导、政府负责、社...     

建构非对称竞争优势的尝试:俄罗斯人工智能治理体系的结构与逻辑解析

俄罗斯人工智能治理体系的外在形态是“一体两翼”式的政策网络,以《2030年前俄罗斯联邦国家人工智能发展战略》作为基本战略构想,以数字经济框架内的人工智能“路线图”和人工智能联邦项目建构发展议程,以《2024年前俄罗斯人工智能和机器人技术领域监管发展构想》为核心确立监管议程。而俄罗斯人工智能治理体系的实体结构则表现为在联邦政府统一领导下的二元平行系统运作模式,由国防部担任操盘手的军事人工智能板块已经建立了完整的闭环系统,而以俄罗斯联邦储蓄银行为主要操盘手的民用人工智能板块的运行机制仍有待进一步完善。特殊的治理体系源于俄罗斯人工智能战略的底层逻辑,是俄罗斯政府面对战略目标与现实困境巨大鸿沟所做出的现实抉择,这种剑走偏锋的设计虽然取得了部分短期成果,但并未实际解决制约俄罗斯人工智能发展的关键问题,能否走出一条人工智能发展的“俄罗斯道路”仍有待观察。     

全面建成小康社会的“制度密码”——庆祝中国共产党成立100周年

2020年是实现全面精准脱贫和全面建成小康社会的收官之年,是中国共产党实现第一个百年奋斗目标的关键之年,也是执政党兑现向人民做出的庄严承诺之年。脱贫攻坚是执政党治国理政的头等大事,民生发展彰显制度体系和治理体系的强劲优势,全面建成小康社会是实现中华民族伟大复兴的坚实基础。制度体系是全面建成小康社会的根本支撑,需要构建精...     

Political Candidates and the Energy Issue: Nuclear Power Position and Electoral Success

Members of parliament are key actors for the implementation of energy transitions, such as phasing out nuclear power. Before legislators can cast their maybe decisive vote in parliament, they need to run for office and actively strive for election. This paper assesses what political candidates oppose renewable energy transitions and questions whether the energy issue matters in national elections, and thus has consequences for the implementation of new sustainable energy sources. We analyze these questions by first describing the specific characteristics of political candidates. The paper then evaluates the relevance of the energy issue for electoral success in three national elections in Switzerland (2007, 2012, and 2015). Based on candidate data from the voting advice application smartvote.ch, we find that female candidates support ETs more than men do; that especially the French‐speaking part of the country is more in favor of a nuclear phase‐out, and that younger candidates are also more open toward restructuring the energy system than older candidates are. Our models further show that the energy issue does not matter in elections, independently from its salience in the respective election campaigns. Candidates are thus relatively free to choose their position on the issue and do not have to fear consequences at the ballot. However, candidates of center parties, in contrast to the pole parties, are sensitive to the energy issue and reflect public mood in their positions.     

Governing sustainable palm oil supply: Disconnects,complementarities, and antagonisms between state regulations and private standards

The global palm oil value chain has grown in complexity; stakeholder relationships and linkages are increasingly shaped by new public and private standards that aim to ameliorate social and environmental costs while harnessing economic gains. Regulatory initiatives in the emerging policy regime complex struggle to resolve sector‐wide structural performance issues: pervasive land conflicts, yield differences between companies and smallholders, and carbon emissions arising from deforestation and peatland conversion. Identifying opportunities for more effective governance of the palm oil value chain and supply landscapes, this paper explores disconnects, complementarities, and antagonisms between public regulations and private standards, looking at the global, national, and subnational policy domains shaping chain actors’ conduct. Greater complementarities have emerged among transnational instruments, but state regulation disconnects persist and antagonisms prevail between national state regulations and transnational private standards. Emerging experimental approaches, particularly at subnational level, aim to improve coordination to both enhance complementarities and resolve disconnects.     

Linking democratic anchorage and regulatory authority: The case of internet regulators

Scholars and practitioners have repeatedly questioned the democraticness and the authority of transnational multi‐stakeholder organizations, especially those that regulate the internet. To contribute to this discussion, we studied the “democratic anchorages” and the regulatory authority of 23 internet regulators. In particular, we conducted a fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis assessing whether and which anchorages correspond to necessary and/or sufficient conditions for exerting regulatory authority. Our results show that strong anchorage in democratic procedures is specifically relevant for this outcome. Further, we find that weak anchorage in democratically elected politicians leads to high regulatory authority, confirming the significance of non‐state actors in this policy field. More generally, our findings support but also qualify expectations about the compatibility and mutual reinforcement of democratic quality and regulatory authority at the transnational level.     

How to share and utilise expertise in a police forensic department through externalisation and mutualisation

The technique of fire investigation is a forensic domain in which expertise and analogies play a central role. To learn how fire investigators use these analogies to support their work, we conducted an ethnographic study in a Swiss forensic police department. To propose a suitable knowledge-management strategy, we also evaluated the knowledge conservation and sharing within the department. Our results highlighted that actionable knowledge is registered mainly in the investigators’ memories of a few, very experienced, individuals. Without experience with fire-incident investigations, an agent generally requires help from a more experienced colleague, who will then use his memory to find a similar case, which can contribute to the solution of the ongoing one. The research also established that knowledge is exchanged orally during on-site investigations and that knowledge receivers are generally those who are present on the scene. Using these findings, we suggest building a case library to support the externalisation and sharing of knowledge.