Do we need to categorize it? Reflections on constituencies and quotas as tools for negotiating difference in the global food sovereignty convergence space

ABSTRACT

Convergence – as an objective and as a process – designates the coming together of different social actors across strategic, political, ideological, sectoral and geographic divides. In this paper, we analyze the global food sovereignty movement (GFSM) as a convergence space, with a focus on constituencies and quotas as tools to maintain diversity while facilitating convergence. We show how the use of constituencies and quotas has supported two objectives of the GFSM: alliances building and effective direct representation in global policy-making spaces. We conclude by pointing to some convergence challenges the GFSM faces as it expands beyond its agrarian origins.     

The rise of an anti-politics machinery: peace,civil society and the focus on results in Myanmar

‘Results’, ‘value for money’, ‘effectiveness’ and similar buzzwords have become commonplace in development cooperation and peace building. The use of technical instruments such as project cycle management and evaluations is hardly questioned anymore: these are presented as a minor shift of focus to make current practice more effective. This paper argues that there is far more to this shift: a machinery of practices and institutions has been installed that removes political questions on development or peace from the political realm and places them under the rule of technical experts. Drawing on a Foucauldian understanding of discourse analysis, the paper analyses how this machinery prioritises gradual reform, subjugates other approaches to societal change and reproduces power/knowledge networks in both the global South and North. Based on ethnographic field research in Myanmar, it also explores discursive strategies of local actors and assesses how they are aiming to create spaces to challenge this machinery.     

A tale of three bridges: agency and agonism in peace building

This article explores agonistic processes of peace, which are situated within and constitutive of different spaces and places. Three contested cities, Sarajevo, Mostar and Vi?egrad in Bosnia-Herzegovina, provide us with local sites where peace and peace building in various forms ‘take place’ as people come together in collective action. Through a close reading of three symbolically and materially important bridges in the towns, we reveal meaning-making processes, as agentive subjects struggle around competing claims in the post-conflict everyday world. The collective, situated and fleeting agency that we explore through the Arendtian notion of ‘space of appearance’ invests space with meaning, belonging and identity. Thus, this article grapples with agonistic peace as it manifests itself in materiality and spatial practices. We use the social and material spaces of the city to locate agency and agonism in peace building as they relate to the conflict legacy in Mostar, Vi?egrad and Sarajevo in order to advance the critical peace research agenda.     

对加强刑侦基础工作的思考

刑侦基础业务建设是整个公安基层基础工作的重要组成部分,在当前日趋严峻复杂的刑事犯罪形势下,加强基础业务建设、深化刑侦工作改革是实现侦查破案方式转变、提高侦查破案率、牢牢掌握打击犯罪主动权的有效途径。加强刑侦基础业务建设,必须加强对犯罪情报资料的收集管理工作、构筑严密的阵地控制网络、采取有效的刑嫌调控措施,使三者有力地相互配合与协作。     

做好公安群众工作,积极推进和谐警民关系建设

当前基层公安群众工作比较薄弱,基层民警的群众工作能力不强,警民关系不够融洽。要开创新时期公安工作的新局面,必须找准做好群众工作、构建和谐警民关系的“切入点”,转变公安工作方式,提高公安干部队伍人员素质,建立健全科学、严谨、公正的绩效考核和评价机制。     

监狱标志性建筑的研究

监狱标志性建筑作为监狱的"标识"、"标记",是一所监狱的名片,与其他普通建筑的根本区别,它在整个监狱建筑群体中所处的位置显著,易为众人所睹;或其外型形象突出,识别性强;或其历史地位具有一定纪念意义,成为体现其独特监狱文化属性的重要载体和符号。全国第一轮监狱布局调整结束后,新建或改扩建的监狱都建有标志性建筑,有必要就监狱标志性建筑作用、要求、应用等加强研究。     

公安情报人员素质构成探析

公安情报队伍建设是当前＂DQB＂体系建设的重要课题,研究公安情报人员素质构成具有特殊意义。文章在参考国外情报人员素质构成的基础上认为：首先,根据不同的岗位,公安情报人员可以划分为不同类别;其次,公安情报人员素质主要涵盖复合知识、能力和态度三要素,三者紧密联系,形成一个有机的、互动发展的整体结构;最后,结合实际,对基层情报员、战术情报员和战略情报员应该具备的素质内容进行了探讨。     

双重赋权：中国行业协会的基本特征

行业协会在中国市场经济体制改革中获得了长足的发展。在其成长过程中,出现了企业自主推动、政府主导推动和政府与企业合力推动的三种生成路径。由于中国市场经济是在计划经济基础上逐渐转型的,与西方国家的行业协会赋权的方式不同,中国的行业协会是企业赋权与政府赋权的结合。因此,有必要以此为前提,充分发挥行业协会的作用,构建起政府、市场和社会三者有机和谐的统一体。     

社会管理中的信访工作法制化建设和制度化创新

基层社会管理离不开信访工作创新。信访解决纠纷机制有其合理性,将会在一定范围内继续存在,但这种解决模式不应当是一种常态,只能是社会转型时期的一种纠纷解决措施。因此,应当通过信访本身具有的权利表达功能将这些政策性纠纷导入常规性的纠纷解决渠道,不断推进信访工作制度化、规范化和法制化建设,不断推进信访工作制度化创新。     

振兴吉林老工业基地人才支撑策略研究

振兴吉林老工业基地是关系到吉林省根本利益、长远发展的战略决策,这一宏伟目标的实现,核心在于创新,关键是人才。本文从吉林省改革开放和社会主义现代化事业长远发展的角度以及统筹经济社会协调发展的全局入手,分析了人才支撑经济社会发展的意义和现实作用,结合吉林省经济社会发展的实际,找出了吉林省人才工作存在的主要问题,提出了振兴吉林老工业基地人才支撑的策略。