Inside a Cultural Agency: Team Ethnography and Knowledge Exchange

This article undertakes an auto-critical analysis of the research team's ethnographic study of Cultural Enterprise Office (CEO), a Scottish creative business support agency. We discuss the team's composition and how this relates to other analyses of ethnographic teamwork. Our research is situated in the wider policy context of the “creative-economic” turn in the UK's research funding. This has been accompanied by increased emphasis on “knowledge exchange” and “impact” in the drive for greater accountability in higher education. The team's evolution in the course of undertaking research is illustrated by reference to four “pivotal moments,” which illustrate how we “performed” knowledge exchange.     

Unpacking Autocracy: Political Regimes and IMF Program Participation

Why do some countries participate in IMF programs while others refuse to do so? We suggest an answer to the question by unpacking one side of the typical democracy–autocracy dichotomy. Specifically, we utilize the growing literature on the varieties of authoritarianism to develop an argument linking the different incentives and constraints that leaders in party-based, personalist, and military regimes face when considering whether to sign agreements with the IMF. Empirically, we demonstrate that distinguishing among autocracies uncovers important variations in the sensitivity of such regimes to the political costs incurred by IMF participation. Party-based autocracies, for instance, respond to both sovereignty costs and the benefits of program participation during severe economic crises. Personalist regimes, however, are not sensitive to the sovereignty costs incurred with IMF participation and thus only participate when doing so provides needed revenue during economic crises. The unique features of military juntas, by contrast, suggests that such regimes are not sensitive to either of these political costs and thus do not respond to economic crises in the same way as their autocratic counterparts.     

Data hubris? Humanitarian information systems and the mirage of technology

This article looks at the promise of technology to revolutionise humanitarian action, especially in terms of the gathering and use of data. With many heralding a ‘data revolution’, the opportunities and enthusiasm for using social media and SMS data in crisis response are on the rise. The article constructs an analytical framework in order to scrutinise the three main claims made on behalf of technologically advanced humanitarian information systems: that they can access data more accurately, more quickly, and alter power relations in emancipatory ways. It does so in relation to two aspects of digital humanitarianism: visual technology and crisis mapping, and big data. The article is partly informed by a historical perspective, but also by interview and other material that suggests some of the claims made on behalf of technology are exaggerated. In particular, we argue that the enthusiasm for the data is vastly outstripped by the capacity to meaningfully analyse it. We conclude by scoping the implications of the future technological evolution of humanitarianism, in particular by examining how technology contributes to what Duffield terms ‘post-modern humanitarianism’.     

Globalisation masculinities,empire building and forced prostitution: a critical analysis of the gendered impact of the neoliberal economic agenda in post-invasion/occupation Iraq

Adopting a transnational feminist lens and using a political economy approach, this article addresses both the direct and indirect consequences of the 2003 war in Iraq, specifically the impact on civilian women. Pre-war security and gender relations in Iraq will be compared with the situation post-invasion/occupation. The article examines the globalised processes of capitalism, neoliberalism and neo-colonialism and their impact on the political, social and economic infrastructure in Iraq. Particular attention will be paid to illicit and informal economies: coping, combat and criminal. The 2003 Iraq war was fought using masculinities of empire, post-colonialism and neoliberalism. Using the example of forced prostitution, the article will argue that these globalisation masculinities – specifically the privatisation agenda of the West and its illegal economic occupation – have resulted in women either being forced into the illicit (coping) economy as a means of survival, or trafficked for sexual slavery by profit-seeking criminal networks who exploit the informal economy in a post-invasion/occupation Iraq.     

加强和改进新时期非公有制经济代表人士的思想政治工作

在新形势下 ,非公有制经济人士的政治思想呈现了多样化的复杂情况 ,切实加强对非公有制经济人士的政治思想工作已是一项迫切的任务。全党同志应从全局的战略的高度充分认识做好非公有制经济人士政治思想工作的重要性。开展对非公有制经济人士的政治思想工作应认真贯彻执行党中央关于“团结、帮助、引导、教育”的方针。     

中国民族史研究散论

中国各民族的发展史与中国作为统一的多民族国家的发展史紧密相关 ,作为中华民族主体的汉族一经形成 ,在其漫长的历史中一直发挥着主体民族的凝聚作用 ,具有三个特点 :融合性、扩展性和南北差异性。中国民族文化的研究不应忽略对汉族历史文化的研究。中华民族居住的地理环境的差异所导致的中国北方游牧经济类型和南方农耕类型的差异和相互影响 ,决定了中国民族发展中的融合特点、关系特点等。     

市场经济条件下少数民族地区女性就业权利的保护对策

在我国经济发展相对落后的民族地区 ,女性就业难是一个较为突出的社会问题。少数民族地区女性就业问题的解决 ,在于大力发展地区经济的同时 ,加强保护女性发展的法律制度建设 ,以法律制度来保障少数民族地区女性享有平等的就业权利     

煤气公司如何适应市场经济实现可持续发展之路

结合煤气公司的实际从如何发挥自身优势 ,稳步推进管理体制改革 ,切实转换经营机制 3方面进行了阐述 ,以期实现煤气公司的可持续发展     

浅谈延边民营经济发展现状及发展方向

大力发展民营经济,是延边推进跨越式发展、实现富民强州目标确立的重要战略之一,要重点抓好抓实。     

建立与环境和谐（一体）的新经济体系——对循环型经济的思考

本文分析了工业社会的经济体系与环境的对立冲突,指出实现可持续发展的途径在于变革传统的线性型的经济体系,建立与环境和谐的循环型经济体系.文章在分析线性型经济与循环型经济差异的基础上,论述了循环型经济的基本特征和基本内容,并进一步分析了建立新经济体系的现实可能性.