The ‘rule of experts’ in making a dynamic micro-insurance industry in India

India is reported to have the most dynamic micro-insurance market in the world and the largest weather-index insurance market among developing countries. This is interesting because, paradoxically, reports readily suggest that the primary hindrance for the industry is the widespread lack of effective demand for insurance. This paper seeks to identify, understand and problematize the paradox of resolutely promoting micro-insurance and its apparent rapid growth despite a manifest absence of demand for insurance. Neo-classical theories about risk-averse behaviour do not explain the current lack of appeal of insurance among the poor. Rather, I draw on a postcolonial political economy framework to argue that expert investment in getting prices and culture right while safeguarding micro-insurance supply currently explains the celebrated dynamism of Indian micro-insurance. I argue that promoting comprehensive institutional reform for an ideal investment and entrepreneurial climate involves securing mutually beneficial linkages, collaborations and knowledge within a broad assemblage of profit motives, insurance expertise, policy-makers and professionals. Insurance experts rule by promoting the micro-insurance sector while simultaneously investing in and gaining from discursive, material and pedagogical construction of this industry. Future research should address whether such processes and products are effective in managing financial risks of the poor.     

East Is East and South Is South: The Cases of Sarojini Naidu and Arundhati Roy

Boehmer begins by outlining suggestive parallels between the doubly orientalizing reception of an Indian woman poet, Sarojini Naidu, in 1890s London, and the publicity and critical enthusiasm surrounding the appearance of Arundhati Roy's first novel, The God of Small Things , in the 1990s. Building on these century-broad connections, she goes on to observe how, despite its liberatory agendas, certain constructions within postcolonial criticism appear to emerge virtually intact out of the colonial discourses of the past: in particular, the conflation of biology and biography in representations of the writing of the South, and constructions of a singular oriental femaleness, and an extravagant oriental style. The second part of the essay examines more closely these seemingly 'neo-orientalist' underpinnings of postcolonial literary criticism located in the West, and then considers resistances to these, both in terms of cultural contextualization and verbal recalcitrance.     

How Public Officials Gain Policy Influence—Lessons from Local Government in Sweden

That public officials influence public policy is generally agreed upon, but the issue of how individual officials gain this influence is less developed in the literature. Here, the stories and experiences of 10 officials, active in local environmental governing in Sweden, are used to identify, describe, and discuss key strategies for gaining policy influence. The result shows the importance of accessing key politicians; avoiding isolation within the administration; developing long-term strategies; and being skilled in communication, networking, and generating external resources. The way these officials act and think challenges some well-established theoretical notions and adds empirical insights to the democratic dilemma of bureaucratic power.     

Calling Local/Talking Global: the cosmo-politics of the call-center industry

In 2015, pioneering Saudi vlogger Juju Sajer revealed her face on YouTube after three years of performing in relative invisibility. She used her beauty vlog for small family dramas as well as beauty advice, translating the global genre to stage Saudi womanhood in modest and modern ways. This article analyses Juju’s use of digital frames as material for building a representational apparatus for young Saudi women. It takes a posthumanist approach to media roles as materially entangled with apparatuses of production, attending to the performer’s construction of networks and her onscreen performances. Juju’s evolving role from beauty vlogger to proto-talk show host, accompanied her increasing control over means of digital production after she gained corporate sponsorship and put her face on her brand. In contrast to theorists of communicative capitalism, I examine Juju’s self-branding as a networked performance of self, which enlivened and extended representational repertoires for young Saudi women. As a niche YouTube channel, it shows the potential of digital performance repertoires to develop within a framework of gendered modesty.     

角色扮演型网络游戏对青少年参与者的负面影响及规范建议

当前,网络交往风行。在众多的网络交往媒体中,网络游戏这种新生的网络交往方式正吸引着越来越多的人参与其中。网络游戏根据其运作方式及其内容的设定可以划分为不同类型,这其中规模最大、影响也最广泛的当属角色扮演型游戏。角色扮演型网络游戏的互动性特点具有强粘合力,对网络游戏的玩家具有非常强的吸引力。角色扮演型网络游戏的主要对象是青少年群体,因此探讨当前角色扮演型网络游戏对青少年参与者社会化的负面影响,具有十分重要的意义。     

The political economy of global firms from India and China

This article attempts to build a bridge between contemporary studies of global firms from emerging economies and existing theories in comparative political economy. It argues that given the primacy of the state as an economic actor in developing countries, the variety of capitalism literature could provide a theoretical foundation for firm-level analyses of emerging market multinationals. For example, the authors suggest that China and India may be moving towards a ‘hybrid market economy’. They also offer a typology of Indian and Chinese corporates to demonstrate an empirical approach to analysing domestic business–government relationships and the ways in which these firms are shaped by the peculiarities of their respective institutional setting. Finally, they identify some of the likely pitfalls of doing cross-national comparisons of emerging market multinationals, particularly with respect to the reliability of corporate data.     

技术性贸易壁垒中贸易和环保的平衡

技术性贸易壁垒的合法、合理、适度使用已经成为当今WTO框架内涉及贸易自由化和环保平衡的重要问题之一。GATT第XX条为部分涉及环保的技术性贸易壁垒实施设立了条件和要求。《TBT协定》为涉及环保的技术性贸易壁垒的实施设立了指导原则和判断标准,但这些原则和标准的适用则是一个复杂的技术和法律的冲突和协调过程,贸易保护之目的和效果都会影响技术性贸易壁垒实施过程中贸易自由和环保措施之间的平衡。     

"仰融案"中的豁免与诉讼

一个主权国家在另一国家成为某一诉讼的被告,若该被告国出庭的目的仅仅是为了主张豁免权,则不该被视为同意该法院地国的管辖.即使辽宁省在美国未能成功主张豁免,美国为了避免对外国财产采取强制措施而导致中美外交方面受损,也不会对辽宁省的绝大部分财产采取强制措施.     

坚持实事求是 推进理论创新

党的十八大政治报告指出：“实践发展永无止境，认识真理永无止境，理论创新永无止境。”这给广大党员干部加强实践、抓好理论武装指明了方向。党员干部要不断强化理论武装，坚持实事求是，勇于实践，积极推进党的理论创新。     

中国共产党推进马克思主义中国化的基本经验

中国共产党在中国革命、建设、改革的历史进程中始终坚持马克思主义中国化,积累了宝贵的历史经验。认真总结这些宝贵经验,对于更好地开创科学发展的新局面具有非常重要的意义。