Carbon markets and the new ‘Carbon Violence’: A Ugandan study

Abstract

This article examines the expansion of the global carbon economy, including a critical evaluation of its local level impacts. The authors describe the growing international support for carbon markets amongst governments, international institutions and financial investors as a response to human-induced climate change. By putting a price on carbon, proponents argue that carbon markets represent a win-win-win scenario; delivering benefits to local landholders where ecosystem services occur, as well as conferring benefits to investors and the environment. Plantation forestry represents a rapidly expanding sector in the broader carbon economy, with plantations representing one of a number of ‘flex crops’ able to be variously sold on the basis of their value as fuel, timber and carbon storage. To examine the impacts of expanding plantation forestry carbon markets, we take the case of Green Resources, reportedly the largest plantation forestry operator on the African continent. Drawing from in-depth research in 2012-2013 with affected communities in Uganda, the article examines the diverse historical and contemporary structural violence on which expansion of plantation forestry allegedly relies. Building upon earlier literature on violence (for example, Galtung [1990] and Watts [2001]), the authors introduce a new term ‘carbon violence’ to frame the distinctive forms of reported violence occurring alongside the burgeoning plantation forestry industry.     

Resources,Sovereignty, and Governance: Can Mongolia Avoid the ‘Resource Curse’?

The revenue generated from Mongolia's natural resources has the potential to transform the Mongolian state and society. Indeed, investment in mining has already led to a spate of urban growth in Ulaanbaatar and rural development throughout the rest of the country. Yet Mongolia's natural resources could also contribute to a ‘natural resource curse’ if not properly managed. Effective governance in relation to the state's natural resource sector is, therefore, essential. This article examines Mongolia's sovereignty in order to determine whether or not the state is capable of ‘good governance’ in relation to the mining sector.     

Sweat or No Sweat: Foreign Workers in the Garment Industry in Malaysia

In the last decade factory owners, in response to brand-name Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) parameters, have joined associations that verify (through a monitoring and audit system) that management does not exploit labour. There have been no reports of violations of codes of conduct concerning Malaysian workers but for foreign workers on contract there are certain areas that have been reported. These areas, including trade union membership, the withholding of workers' passports and unsuitable accommodation, generally escape notice because auditors who monitor factory compliance do not question the terms of contracts as long as they comply with national labour standards. This paper is based on research with foreign workers in Malaysia and argues that despite the success of the anti-sweatshop movement in a global context, the neo-liberal state in Malaysia continues to place certain restrictions on transnational labour migrants which breach garment industry codes of conduct. Available evidence does not support the assumption that CSR practices provide sufficient protection for both citizen and foreign workers on contract in the garment industry.     

Reviews

The expansion of the global economy and the governance deficit it has generated raise questions about the possibilities for regulating the practices of participants in global production networks. This paper focuses on the regulation of industrial relations in Cambodia's textile and garment industry – a unique ensemble of state, trade union, private sector and international institutions that is promoted as a “fair model of globalisation.” We track the trajectory of Cambodia's industrialisation and insertion into the global economy over three interrelated phases: first, the beginnings of export-orientated garment production in the mid- to late 1990s; secondly, the promotion of Cambodia as an “ethical producer” from 1999; and, thirdly, privileging “competitiveness” in global production networks over labour compliance for its advantage. In doing so we centre our analysis on the complex intertwining of global production, the genesis of the unique ensemble of actors in Cambodia and the anomaly of Cambodia's labour movement.     

Gender,Work and Resistance: South Korean Textile Industry in the 1970s

This paper examines the forces behind South Korean women workers' labour activism in the 1970s, an era of rapid export-orientated industrialisation. Most of the labour strikes initiated by women occurred in the labour-intensive manufacturing sector, and they were in sharp contrast to the overall labour quiescence of male workers during the same period. The actions of South Korean women refute widely held assumptions about the docility of Asian women workers. This case study suggests that women rebel when their lives undergo drastic changes under a set of macro and micro circumstances. Women dialectically interact with the capitalist-patriarchal structure as conscious human agents, and the result of such interaction is their gender- and class-based collective resistance.     

扩大文化消费——宁夏文化产业发展的根本动力

2011年宁夏人均GDP已达到5062美元,正处在消费结构升级换代的关键时期。然而,由于多种原因,宁夏的文化消费还处在一个较低水平上,大大影响了宁夏文化产业的发展。因此,增加文化消费总量,提高文化消费水平,是推动宁夏文化产业发展的源泉和动力。     

台湾政府在高新技术产业发展中的作用及其对广东的启示

台湾高新技术产业近 2 0年来发展迅速 ,其中一个重要原因就是政府十分重视对高新技术产业的扶持 ,并力求政府政策的制定符合高新技术产业发展的要求 ,从而有效地促进了本岛科技产业的发展。台湾政府在发展高新技术产业方面的成功经验 ,对广东高新技术产业的发展具有有益的启示。     

外商直接投资对中国种业产业安全影响的实证研究

外国资本通过对中国种业氽业肝展并购、合作经营、建立合资公司,从资本、技术、市场、资源环境等方面影响到种业产业的发展。该文借助菲德模型（FederModel）和柯布一道格拉斯生产函数（Cobb—Douglasprodu—timfunction）,建立外商直接投资对种业产业安伞影响模型,从实证数据的角度分析外资对种业产、№安仝的影响,为种业如何应对外国资本、种业企业成长路径以及种业产业安全、产业政策问题提供方法和建议,有益于构建中国农业产业政策调控框架和和外商直接投资安全审查保障机制,为政府推进和完善外国涉农资本防范体系提供有益借鉴。     

Governing the Economic Transition: How Taiwan Transformed its Industrial System to Attain Virtuous Cycle Development

This study explores the transitional processes of Taiwan's innovation system over the past half century, evolving from being rooted in traditional industries to attaining development in a virtuous cycle of development. Our approach is inspired by the Arena of Development theory and acknowledges the system of transformation failures, in which we highlighted the types of failures that might impede economic progress and how they were overcome in the evolutionary targeting of Taiwan's industrial development. Our findings demonstrate that the success of Taiwan's economic transition is targeted on, and evolves with, a series of macrolevel policies in the early phase of development; mesolevel institutional mechanisms to attain the industrial emergence settings; and, in pursuit of the virtuous cycle of development, the microlevel collaboration platform. We attribute the success of Taiwan's industrial system to this series of systematic government interventions. This study provides novel and salient normative principles that guide transformational policymakers in governing transitional processes of innovation system.