The agroecological revolution in Latin America: rescuing nature,ensuring food sovereignty and empowering peasants

This paper provides an overview of what we call ‘agroecological revolution’ in Latin America. As the expansion of agroexports and biofuels continues unfolding in Latin America and warming the planet, the concepts of food sovereignty and agroecology-based agricultural production gain increasing attention. New approaches and technologies involving the application of blended agroecological science and indigenous knowledge systems are being spearheaded by a significant number of peasants, NGOs and some government and academic institutions, and they are proving to enhance food security while conserving natural resources, and empowering local, regional and national peasant organizations and movements. An assessment of various grassroots initiatives in Latin America reveals that the application of the agroecological paradigm can bring significant environmental, economic and political benefits to small farmers and rural communities as well as urban populations in the region. The trajectory of the agroecological movements in Brazil, the Andean region, Mexico, Central America and Cuba and their potential to promote broad-based and sustainable agrarian and social change is briefly presented and examined. We argue that an emerging threefold ‘agroecological revolution’, namely, epistemological, technical and social, is creating new and unexpected changes directed at restoring local self-reliance, conserving and regenerating natural resource agrobiodiversity, producing healthy foods with low inputs, and empowering peasant organizations. These changes directly challenge neoliberal modernization policies based on agribusiness and agroexports while opening new political roads for Latin American agrarian societies.     

No hay ganancia en la milpa: the agrarian question,food sovereignty,and the on-farm conservation of agrobiodiversity in the Guatemalan highlands

Although they receive little recognition for their contribution, peasant farmers in the global South play a fundamental role in securing the long-term global food supply. Via their self-sufficient agricultural practices, they cultivate the crop genetic diversity that enables food crops to adapt to changing environmental conditions. In this paper I draw upon empirical data from the Guatemalan center of agricultural biodiversity to investigate the concern that market expansion will displace peasant agriculture and undermine a cornerstone of the global food supply. I find that even though peasants' livelihoods involve multiple forms of market provisioning, they also engage in a Polanyian ‘double movement’ to protect their subsistence-oriented agricultural practices from the potentially deleterious effects of markets. I also investigate the so-called ‘agrarian question’ about the effects of market expansion on the viability of peasant agriculture, finding that although new forms of market provisioning are likely exacerbating rural inequality, the income from market activities actually enables rural Guatemalans to reproduce the conditions for peasant agriculture. Ultimately, I observe that the conservation of agricultural biodiversity and, consequently, global food security are contingent upon the ‘food sovereignty’ of peasant farmers.     

Residential tourism and depeasantisation in the Ecuadorian Andes

International residential tourism is a recent phenomenon in the Andean area. However, in places where it has been established, rapid changes in social and economic structures have occurred. The Municipality of Cotacachi (Northern Ecuador) is paradigmatic. Having become a destination for American retirees, residential tourism has generated a sharp increase in the price of rural land and has decelerated a land market that once allowed young farmers to continue agricultural activities. Residential tourism has promoted land exchange value while sacrificing use value, threatening peasant reproduction mechanisms.     

企业民主管理：议题与进展——对国内研究文献的简要评述

企业民主管理制度作为我国企业领导体制中的重要组成部分,一直是个研究热点问题。特别是 改革开放以来,相关研究也越来越丰富复杂,其中最主要的研究议题可归结为四大类,即企业民主管理的理论 依据、企业民主管理的法律与政策研究、企业民主管理的制度逻辑与变迁、企业民主管理与企业治理的关系。 而每一议题内部都存在着较大的分歧和争论,但正是这种分歧和争论,使得企业民主管理的研究得以不断地细 化和深入。     

浅论农民工劳动就业权的实现

就业权是劳动者赖以生存的基本权利,是实现劳动权的基础。农民工应该与城市居民一样享有平等的就业权,但事实上农民工没有资格成为城镇国有企事业和行政单位的正式职工,许多城市在劳动就业方面对农民工设置了许多制度性门槛,城市农民工有限的劳动就业权亦受到诸多侵害。应从实现平等机会权、同工同酬权、工资支付保障权等几个方面着手实现农民工劳动就业权。     

新生代农民工精神文化需求问题探析

新生代农民工作为一个新兴的群体,是实现构建和谐社会伟大战略的重要推动者。随着社会的不断发展,新生代农民工对精神文化的需求将呈现一个不断上升的趋势,但是,在多元文化、经济收入、社会制度、自身条件等因素的影响下,新生代农民工在思想文化、娱乐文化、科技服务、社会交往等方面的精神文化需求却难以得到满足。解决这些问题需要政府、社会、企业以及新生代农民工主体等多方面共同努力。     

企业知识员工激励机制研究

企业知识员工激励是一个伴随知识经济时代而产生的新课题,对知识型员工进行激励,既要结合知识员工自身的个体特点,也需要综合考虑知识员工群体的总体特点,还要考虑知识员工的工作性质。企业必须构建灵活的福利和薪酬激励体系,满足不同类型知识员工的需求;必须营造宽松的文化氛围,提供知识员工自主的工作环境;必须对知识员工进行系统培训,为知识员工职业生涯提供发展空间。     

工会视角下群体性劳资冲突的预防与处理

现阶段中国的群体性劳资冲突呈现出多发态势，不仅数量多、范围广、影响大，而且出现了一些新的特点。预防群体性劳资冲突，应把工作重点放在规范企业用工行为、实现职工合理诉求上，立足于把群体性劳资冲突引入理性轨道，通过劳资协商的方式来解决冲突问题。     

新生代农民工需求变化与广东民营企业人本管理模式构建

近年来,到广东打工的新生代农民工与上一代农民工在文化素质、观念、维权意识、社会需要方面都有很大差异。由于广东不少的民营企业人力资源管理观念陈旧,不能适应新生代农民工需求的变化,损害了农民工权益,引起劳资矛盾,使大量的农民工流失。广东民营企业应改变其传统的人力资源管理理念,用人性化的管理手段,应对新生代农民工的需要层次变化,构建以人为本的人力资源管理模式。     

人口集中与新型农村人居方式创建——宁夏新农村建设的一个视角

现阶段进行的新农村建设是中国工业化、城市化和现代化的有机组成部分,应坚持以人为本,树立“经济发展的目的是人的幸福而非地理空间普遍繁荣”的理念,遵循“按照可持续扩大盈利空间的要求提供生产要素”的规律,来调整现有的农村格局,即实行农村人口和部分经济活动的相对集中。宁夏农村特别是川区农村有实行这一措施的可行性条件。