Navigating Small-Scale Trade Across Thai-Lao Border Checkpoints: Legitimacy,Social Relations and Money

ABSTRACT

Marked in part by a narrow river, the border between the neighbouring provinces of Loei in Thailand and Sayaboury in the Lao PDR appears to be porous and unregulated. While a Friendship Bridge regulates large-scale international trade, an extensive amount of informal, small-scale trade continues to flow across smaller checkpoints and other parts of the river. Trade along these sites is not only highly organised, most of it also happens under the gaze of border officials. This article examines the material and power exchanges that occur at local checkpoints between the different actors involved in the facilitation and restriction of trade. Between Loei and Sayaboury, trade is regulated according to a spectrum of licitness that is constantly negotiated and renegotiated between traders and officials. Negotiations rely on the social relations between these actors and involve practices of gift-giving and bribery, which blur the boundaries between reciprocity and corruption. By focusing on the interactions between state and non-state actors, this article sheds light on the way the informal economy is configured by checkpoint politics.     

Trade Measures and Climate Compliance: Institutional Interplay Between WTO and the Marrakesh Accords

This article examines the potential of trade measures to induce more climate-friendly policies, focusing on the relationship between global trade rules and the Kyoto climate regime. At the core of this interplay is the normative consistency of trade-related rules in the two regimes and any hierarchical relationship between them. The stronger clout of the WTO and its compulsory dispute settlement system suggest that issues involving competing claims would be referred to WTO bodies. Such bodies have so far been restrictive regarding the exceptions in WTO agreements to the general ban on embargoes and discrimination. The normative compatibility of the two regimes will also depend on their participatory interplay, specifically how they differentiate groups of actors as to rights and obligations. Non-members of WTO receive the least protection, and their vulnerability to climate-related trade measures is largely determined by their interdependence with states that consider employment of such measures. Among WTO members, the findings of a dispute settlement body would presumably differ depending on the status of the target under the Kyoto Protocol. A non-complier with Kyoto commitments would be more shielded than a non-party, because by joining the Kyoto regime a non-complier has exposed itself to regime-internal and less trade intrusive measures that should be exhausted first. A third dimension of interplay is linkage, or efforts to influence the regime interplay. To date there has only been moderate cross-agency coordination, but considerable attention is paid within each regime, including in the Millennium Round of trade negotiations, to the desirability of avoiding conflict between them.     

行帮对早期工人运动的影响

行帮是中国历史上曾普遍存在的一种社会团体组织。在早期工人运动中行帮是工人运动的主要组织者,是早期工人组织的主要参照模式;同时,由于行帮狭隘的利益,又影响了工人阶级的内部团结,为早期工人运动带来了诸多负面影响。行帮抵御了近代中国资本主义发展的冲击,表现出较强生命力。行帮既是中国社会进入危机阶段的伴生物,也是中国独特的近代工业发展进程和近代工人阶级队伍形成样式的社会后果,旧式行帮的延续也同时反映了中国特有的"同乡文化"的影响。     

改革发展中的劳动就业与工会的维权工作

就业是民生之本。改革以来,中国在劳动就业方面取得了突出的成就,初步形成了市场导向的就业机制。受人口增长的历史影响,中国当前和今后长时期将面临严峻的就业挑战。当前中国就业环境的变化特征是:劳动力供求矛盾突出,"强资本弱劳工"格局日趋明显;就业结构性矛盾严重,弱势劳工群体问题凸显;劳动力流动性增强,劳动关系的安全性下降;城镇失业率迅猛上升,社会保障亟待完善。劳动就业方面的这些变化特征要求今后工会工作应以中华全国总工会提出的"积极促进就业,稳定就业岗位,减少失业"为中心,在新的起点上,以新的思路、新的标准、新的要求实现新的突破,更好地维护职工的劳动权益。     

依托工会组织优势夺取抗击"非典"斗争的全面胜利

在抗击"非典"的艰巨斗争中,工会组织必须发挥自身优势,加强对职工的思想政治工作,维护职工的合法权益,力争取得抗"非典"斗争的胜利和经济社会全面稳定的发展.     

实践"三个代表"发挥工会的"三个作用"

学习党的十六大精神,深入实践"三个代表"重要思想,是各级工会组织当前和今后一个时期的重要任务.实践"三个代表"重要思想必须结合工会工作实际,必须突出自身优势和特点,发挥好"三个作用".     

关于中俄两国关系面向21世纪发展的战略对策

20世纪90年代以来,中俄两国关系一直处于战略升级态势,但目前却出现了一些问题,主要表现为政治协作与经贸合作之间发展的不平衡,致使两国关系进入了一个转折关头。中俄两国领导人为加强合作、促进发展,签署了《睦邻友好合作条约》,力图把双方战略协作伙伴关系推进到面向21世纪的务实性阶段,其未来发展前景十分看好,并能成为当今世界大国关系的成功范例和操作楷模。     

世贸组织法律框架下贸易自由理想与贸易保护现实的冲突

贸易磨擦事件数量的上升是当今世界经济全球化发展的一种“不和谐音” ,是各国基于自身利益的考虑而推行贸易保护主义所引发的贸易冲突的集中表现 ,而这绝大部分冲突又恰恰是在以推行和实现世界贸易自由化为宗旨的世贸组织法律框架内所发生的。我国已经加入世贸组织 ,对这一问题作一反思 ,积极迎接挑战 ,具有特别的现实意义     

印章业的治安管理

当前印章行业存在着各类违法犯罪行为,特别是利用伪造公章进行的违法犯罪活动异常猖獗,且呈现出上升趋势,从某种程度上说小小的“印章”已经成为了许多犯罪的“源头”,给社会公共秩序的稳定带来极大的不利因素。而对印章业的管理存在着一些缺陷,要从立法和落实印章业经营者、公安机关、用章单位的责任和义务及提高印章管理科技含量的角度,采取有针对性的管理对策。     

准确把握 避免误区 --"加入WTO对我国工会影响"研究中若干重要观点之辨析

研究"入世"对我国工会的影响,要认真分析,准确把握,不能简单套用"接轨"、"融合"、"跨国公司执行国际工会运行的规则"等提法,要坚持依照我国法律,维护我国工会的权利.