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。     

Conflict reduction by mutual disengagement

This study attempts to discover what variables, if any, will induce opponents to cooperate. The author isolated 12 independent variables and grouped the first five together in his refined model as variable 6. The remaining variables are: worthlessness, supervision, conspicuousness, previous neutralization, absence of internal segmentation, military potential, and tradition as a neutral. Analysis was limited to bivariate relationships between the independent and dependent variables (i.e., possible outcomes). Cases tested included examples from the outbreak of World War I to the present. The author discovered that disengagement would most likely succeed in a geographically and ideologically distinct Country, one previously neutralized, that had little military value, a politically organized population, and some military capacity. The most unpromising candidate would lack clearcut ethnic borders, internal homogeneity, and political unity. Disengagement, while no panacea, offers the advantage of many opening moves in a conflict reduction situation.     

REFORMS TO THE FEDERALLY ADMINISTERED AREA OF PAKISTAN (FATA) – AN UNRESOLVED PROBLEM

In March 2017, Pakistan formally took the decision to begin a process of incorporating the Federally Administered Tribal Territories into the framework of regular Pakistani law. This article offers an overview of the historical system of governance of the Tribal territories, along with a discussion of the development of the recent reforms and their prospects for success.     

Of Distributive Politics and Pork Barrel System: Why Not Epistemic Governance Approach?

The paper attempts to situate distributive politics in the context of epistemic governance. The paper also seeks to analyze the various structures and systems, actors, agents and stakeholders, and norms and behaviors involved within the realm of theory and praxis in distributive politics. It borrows from the epistemic work targets espoused by Alasuutari and Qadir (2014), namely the environment, actors and virtues. Finally, the paper proposes an epistemic governance as policy approach in distributive politics as it tries to argue the shift of power from the hands of the political elites to the hands of the politically astute epistemes.     

德国国际私法关于识别的理论和司法实践研究

德国国际私法认为，识别源于对冲突规范所使用之“体系概念”的解释，发生识别冲突的原因在于内、外国实体法存在体系差异，内国实体法体系中存在漏洞，内国实体法和国际私法之间存在体系差异。在识别冲突的解决上，存在法院地说、准据法说和独立识别说等三种主要理论。在德国国际私法的司法实践中，法院地说占据主导地位，但法院在一定程度上也采纳独立识别说，作为法院地说的必要补充。采用独立识别说时，法院一方面要对冲突规范中的体系概念进行广义解释，突破其在内国法律体系中的内涵范围，兼容外国法的相关制度；另一方面要从法律体系、文化背景等方面对外国法制度进行比较法分析，以确定其功能和目的。如果能够确认该外国制度和内国某一体系概念在目的和功能上具有对应性，就可以将该外国制度纳入该概念，从而拓展冲突规范的适用范围，否则就必须发展新的冲突规范加以应对。     

中国地方治理中的政府与社会协商困境分析——基于民主化宏观策略的思考

一个国家民主化的宏观策略体现了该国民主化的根本方向与核心原则。中国民主化的宏观策略是一种可管理导向的积极民主化策略,这种策略给中国地方治理中的政府与社会协商实践造成了种种主客观困境,使得地方政府不能很好地举办协商活动,社会力量也不能有效地参与。为走出困境,就必须在坚持审慎而务实策略的同时,不断克服怀疑主义,建立和健全保证协商有效性的管理机制。     

论后现代主义法哲学观在国际私法中的表现

后现代主义是一种哲学视角的方法论意义上的表征，一种新颖独特的价值观。后现代主义法哲学观对国际私法的影响主要表现在排斥统一性，强调差异性；否定普遍性，强调多元性；反对确定性，强调多变性。     

Negotiating peace in Kosovo

We systematically analyze and forecast key developments before and during the Kosovo Crisis. Prior to the air campaign, we anticipated the breakdown of negotiations at Rambouillet and the subsequent initiation of hostilities. Without Russia as a mediator, we predicted that Milosevic would engage in military activity and strengthen his domestic control. As the war was being waged, we took a second look at settlement opportunities. Russia was identified as the key mediator needed to reach a settlement We show that a European‐led settlement offered promising prospects for peace. Finally, we demonstrate that the settlement achieved after the air war was not much different than the settlement that could have been achieved at Rambouillet The settlement on Kosovo offers only short‐term stability. To gain long‐term stability, the Serbians must either agree to the existing ethnic makeup in Kosovo or allow it to be partitioned. Otherwise, conflict in this region will likely revive.     

论国际投资仲裁中贿赂行为的证明标准

对于贿赂行为的证明标准,国际投资仲裁庭的倾向是从回避到明确借鉴传统商事仲裁中的＂更高证明标准＂。然而,国际投资仲裁与国际商事仲裁存在较大的区别。支持国际商事仲裁庭采用＂更高证明标准＂的传统理由及潜在动机在国际投资仲裁中并不存在。因此,在国际投资仲裁中采用＂更高证明标准＂的法律依据不足。建议中国在BIT中将贿赂作为不可仲裁的投资争端事项之一加以规定,或者明确规定应采纳的证明标准。如中国作为被申请方参加国际投资仲裁程序,应该主动与仲裁庭讨论关于贿赂的证明标准问题,以争取有利条件。