Accountability mechanisms in community-driven reconstruction in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

A lack of accountability is often considered a root cause of conflict. Many post-conflict reconstruction efforts therefore aim to enhance accountability between authorities and the population through community-driven reconstruction programmes. This article examines the accountability mechanisms in the Tushiriki community-driven reconstruction programme in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The ethnographic research found little impact of formal programme accountability. Rather, accountability was shaped differently and had its own context-specific meaning. To make accountability more sustainable, stronger embeddedness in local institutions and more appropriate translations of abstract concepts into the local context are needed.     

Investing in multi-stakeholder dialogue to address natural resource competition and conflict

How can multi-stakeholder dialogue help assess and address the roots of environmental resource competition and conflict? This article summarises the outcomes and lessons from action research in large lake systems in Uganda, Zambia, and Cambodia. Dialogues linking community groups, NGOs and government agencies have reduced local conflict, produced agreements with private investors, and influenced government priorities in ways that respond to the needs of marginalised fishing communities. The article details policy guidance in four areas: building stakeholder commitment, understanding the institutional and governance context, involving local groups in the policy reform process, and embracing adaptability in programme implementation.     

Agriculture in and beyond the Haitian catastrophe

Although the devastation from Haiti’s 2010 earthquake was concentrated in Port-au-Prince, it had deep agrarian roots. This paper situates Haiti’s urban poverty in the chronic exploitation of the country’s peasant classes as a basis for assessing the competing contemporary visions for agricultural development. We argue that the post-earthquake reconstruction has fortified a neoliberal development that is incompatible with the aspirations of the Haitian peasantry. Given the interrelated power of domestic elites and international donors, and the proliferation of disconnected development projects, we conclude that any prospect for pro-poor development hinges on the growth and collaboration of peasant movements.     

Negotiating justice: legal pluralism and gender-based violence in Liberia

The plural legal system in post-conflict Liberia expresses tensions between modern and customary institutions. This article seeks to understand how Liberians navigate choices in the plural legal system to address gender-based violence cases. By asking how and why people make the choices they do, we highlight how Liberians solve tensions between institutions, by creating flexible categories that allow them to pursue a course of action that does not compromise their ability to access social networks and resources.     

‘Whichever way you turn,there is the face of God’ diaspora,memory, and historiography from the margin in The Moor’s Account by Laila Lalami

In The Moor’s Account, Laila Lalami dares to dust off the archive of official history that passed over the testimonies of a Moroccan slave during the Discovery Age. This paper explores the way the slave capitalizes on historiography to reconstruct the Western monolithic history. In so doing, the re-constructor’s memory performs a number of roles. It registers the history of the European conquest of La Florida using micro narrative frameworks that highlight salient differences from the official record. Besides, the diasporic memory that the present novel advocates has the intention to mark a difference of the silenced subjectivity from the supremacist histories through a transnational matching of homeland with diaspora. This transnationalism is coupled with a look forward to circumvent the essentialism implied in the monologic narratives. In shuttling between the past, present, and future, memory espouses cosmopolitanism as an alternative to the fundamentalism which threatens people’s cultural diversity.     

Feminism,nationalism, and labour in post-civil war Northern Province of Sri Lanka

This viewpoint highlights the paradox of low labour force participation and high unemployment among women at a time of growing educational levels of women in the former conflict-affected Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It highlights the rise of ethno-feminism and sub-nationalism that undermine what few opportunities open up for women in terms of employment and livelihood opportunities, thereby weakening the peacebuilding efforts of various stakeholders.     

调解的重构(下)——以法院调解的改革为重点

调解作为中国自古就存在的一种纠纷解决方式 ,甚至是社会治理的一种制度性或体制性存在 ,在现代仍然有着极为重要的意义。本文采取一种综合各种功能的多元价值论 ,主张客观地认识调解的各种功能和价值。同时 ,力图通过对于以法院调解改革为重点获取的实证资料的分析 ,提出一种有关我国调解的功能和价值的建设性的意见或理论框架 ,实现一种对于调解的重构 ,以使其获得现代转型和重生。     

反思与重构：我国国有资产出资人制度之检视

自我国国有资产出资人制度设立以来,在实践中,出资人缺位、错位、越位的现象层出不穷,当前,有必要对出资人制度进行全面的反思。笔者认为：我国国有资产的真正出资人（终极所有者）应是全体国民;国有资产监督管理机构应是出资人的代表人而非出资人;出资人的职责仅指按照有关的法律法规行使股东权利;国有资产的三层次运营模式并不能解决国有资产监督管理机构兼具的＂老板加婆婆＂的双重角色;未来我国可以遵循两条路径对国有资产出资人进行制度的重构。     

转变观念 构建“实战型”手枪射击训练模式

传统的手枪射击训练模式只注重训练技术和技术练习的结果,不重视练习的过程是否符合公安执法特点,导致手枪射击练习模式是＂为打靶而训练＂,这是严重脱离实战的,必然严重影响警察战斗力的提升。要扭转这一现实就必须转变观念,要建立＂为实战而训练＂的观念,使训练紧紧围绕＂实战＂这个核心思想,注重训练警察执法实战所需的技能、意识、程序以及规范性。     

包容性发展理念下的领导伦理的构建:基于政府发展理念的反思

改革开放以来,以经济建设为中心的发展理念在一些领导干部思想中变成了单一的经济增长的发展理念,发展偏离了"人本"的本质,逐渐演变为排他的发展,冷酷的发展,缺乏伦理的畸形发展。因此,重建领导发展伦理,使发展回归"正统"已迫在眉睫。"包容性发展"理念为领导伦理的重建指明了方向。