Revolution,power and the Third World: a review of Michael Mann’s The Sources of Social Power,Volume 4

The fourth volume of Michael Mann’s The Sources of Social Power is the last in his historical sociological series, which has centred on an analysis of ideological, economic, military and political power in human societies from the start of civilisation. Mann’s final volume provides an important overview of the period of American hegemony and its worldwide effects, the rise and crisis of neoliberalism, the contrasting fates of the USSR and Maoist China, the vagaries of American empire, and modern revolutions. The implications of his study, particularly regarding the history and theory of revolutions, are of the utmost value to anyone on the Revolutionary Left today, especially in the Third World. While Mann’s study is primarily focused on the West, it provides important lessons to be drawn for the Third World.     

Social Movements and the Construction of Crisis Actors: Collective Responsibility,Identity, and Governance

This article examines the Europeanization of social movements following the European sovereign debt crisis. It develops a theoretical framework to measure degrees of social movement Europeanization, incorporating targets, participants, and issue frame dimensions of mobilization. Europeanization of social movements occurs when they collaborate with similar movements in other countries, claim a European identity, invoke Europe-wide solidarity, contest authorities beyond the state and ascribe responsibility for solving the crisis to European Union (EU). By targeting EU authorities, social movements may contribute to the construction of the EU as a crisis actor and through deliberative processes define the roles and identities of such actors.     

Fair Trade and justice: a comment on Walton and Deneulin

In this article we first point out that the different conceptualisations of Fair Trade, which are sometimes analytically contradictory, actually form a coordinated set. Understanding the Fair Trade project is impossible without taking these interlinked conceptualisations into consideration. Second, this set basically forms a mechanism of structural, institutional and moral reforms that guide actions. In this way Fair Trade sets out to produce less injustice than is usually the case with the structures and institutions that govern conventional trade. Nevertheless, it does not try to define what a just society is or even to perfectly define ‘fair trade’. This implies the adoption of a comparative justice angle. It is precisely by linking comparative individual situations with the structures that produce these situations that relative justice can find its strength and purpose.     

Encounters With Irregular Migrants in Social Work—“Collateral Damage” and Reframing of Recognizability in Swedish Public Social Services

The aim is to explore experiences and considerations of social workers regarding irregular migrants, understood as being prone to be “collateral damage.” It is revealed that some social workers approve assistance exceeding that which can find support in the national legislation. They are hereby addressing the normative conditions for recognition and installing new frames for apprehending irregular migrants. This process is referred to as a reframing of recognizability. By exceeding the limits of “belonging,” social workers question their profession's national link as well as the inability of a nationally anchored understanding of social work to deal with irregular migrants.     

The Landless invading the landless: participation,coercion, and agrarian social movements in the cacao lands of southern Bahia,Brazil

This contribution draws on Nancy Fraser's concept of ‘participatory parity’ to analyze the reproduction and contestation of inequalities internal to land reform settlements affiliated with the Landless Rural Workers’ Movement (MST) located in the cacao lands of southern Bahia, Brazil. These inequalities are variously manifest in unequal control over land and legal documents, disparities in status and what Fraser calls ‘voice'. These circumstances help account for quantitative evidence that shows a strong preference among local landless populations for land reform organizations that are more decentralized and less hierarchically organized. These circumstances also motivate direct actions undertaken by grassroots MST settlers seeking to destabilize the conditions that ground these inequalities. This research highlights the importance of attending to local histories and interactions through which participatory disparities are christened and reproduced; indicates potential methodological consequences; and examines the interplay of transgressive action, dialogue and recognition as settlers struggle to bring about ‘participatory parity' – or what they might call genuine ‘friendships' – in their communities.     

Youth Work in Croatia: Collecting Pieces for a Mosaic

This article explores the historical development of youth work in Croatia. By drawing from available data and personal experience, we describe three key phases of youth work development in a post-conflict country: (a) the period of the early 1990s as a “direct peace building" youth work; (b) the rise of nonformal education during the mid and late 1990s; and (c) the growth of a networked youth sector and its focus on youth policy advocacy starting in 2000. In addition, we refer to today's context, particularly because of its project-management orientation. Such categorization highlights various practices that we consider to represent youth work in a specific and contested national framework. Work with young people with fewer opportunities is being presented as a case, building on our observation that contemporary youth work continues to be embedded in civil society development and nonformal education, facing challenges of funding-driven discourse and unsystematic support.     

对土地私有化之批判——兼论农村土地的社会保障功能

土地是我国农民赖以生存的物质基础,但工业化、城市化进程的加快和土地市场的国家垄断,必然蚕食大批的土地,使广大农民的生存与发展受到严重威胁,而农民的生存与发展关系到国家长治久安.如何解决土地锐减和农民生存的矛盾,如何发挥农村土地的社会保障功能,已成为迫在眉睫的严峻问题.有人提出了土地私有化的观点.认为坚持土地承包责任制,坚持最严格的土地管理制度,在此基础上实现土地流转的法律创新,是唯一符合现实需要的理性选择.     

法律如何在"社会情境"下存在——读昂格尔的《批判法学运动》

在对自由主义法学传统中的形式主义和客观主义批判的基础上,昂格尔提出"偏差原则"与重塑民主和市场制度形式的主张.这其中,以对法律与社会的适当关系的认知为理论支撑点,以权利体系的重新规定为主要内容之一.认为制度设计和"社会情境"的相互彰显是昂格尔思想中的核心之一,故以其为切入点,围绕法律如何在"社会情境"下存在这一问题,分析昂格尔意义下的"社会情境"的理论内涵和这一场景下昂格尔对法律中权利体系的方案设计,并对其理论构想的成立与否做出评价.     

集团诉讼制度的价值研究——兼评我国的代表人诉讼制度

价值是反映主体与客体之间需要和满足需要的效应关系的范畴,是深刻认识集团诉讼制度的良好视角和工具.集团诉讼价值是法律价值、民事诉讼价值下位的概念.集团诉讼制度的独特品性在于克服集体行动的障碍,共通性在于体现了在新的社会条件下民事诉讼目的论的发展.     

有限责任视野下公司内部人控制的合理性分析

内部人控制是现代公司制企业中普遍存在的现象,运用股东有限责任制度、公司独立人格制度和权利义务对等原理对内部人控制存在的原因进行分析发现,就公司权力配置的应然状态而言,内部人控制有其存在的制度空间、组织基础和法理依据,其作为经营管理层面上的控制权,存在于股东有限责任制度所构建的权利和利益平衡体系之中.