Sacred groves,sacrifice zones and soy production: globalization,intensification and neo-nature in South America

Soy has become one of the world's most important agroindustrial commodities – serving as the nexus for the production of food, animal feed, fuel and hundreds of industrial products – and South America has become its leading production region. The soy boom on this continent entangles transnational capital and commodity flows with social relations deeply embedded in contested ecologies. In this introduction to the collection, we first describe the ‘neo-nature’ of the soy complex and the political economy of the sector in South America, including the new corporate actors and financial mechanisms that produced some of the world's largest agricultural production companies. We then discuss key environmental debates surrounding soy agribusiness in South America, challenging especially the common arguments that agroindustrial intensification ‘spares land’ for conservation while increasing production to ‘feed the world’. We demonstrate that these arguments hinge on limited data from a peculiar portion of the southern Amazon fringe, and obfuscate through neo-Malthusian concerns multiple other political and ecological problems associated with the sector. Thus, discussions of soy production become intertwined with broader debates about agrarian development, industrialization and modernization. Finally, we briefly outline the contributions in this volume, and identify limitations and fruitful directions for further research.     

Is there a Common Path that could have Conditioned the Degree of Welfare State Development in Latin America and the Caribbean?

The purpose of this paper is to re‐examine from a multidimensional perspective the possible existence of a single path that could have conditioned the degree of welfare state development (WSD) in Latin America. Economic/industrial development, trade‐openness, democracy and the strength of leftist parties‐labour movement are used as explanatory variables in the qualitative comparative analysis. In contrast to previous findings, this paper shows that there is no evidence of a common path followed by countries with a relatively high/medium WSD. Nevertheless, countries that experienced a low economic/industrial development combined with a low democratic experience were conditioned to have low WSD.     

论美国的市场经济模式与宏观调控法

美国是西方发达国家中混合经济体制的代表。美国市场经济模式的主要特性在于不采用计划等直接手段调控经济 ,而主要依靠财政政策和货币政策对国民经济进行间接调控。这种模式的形成有其历史根源 ,并深刻地影响着美国宏观调控法的体系和内容。美国的市场经济模式与宏观调控法之间存在的密切关系并体现出一种规律性 ,对完善我国的宏观调控立法不无启迪和借鉴意义     

辩诉交易制度移植之障碍分析

发端并盛行于美国的辩诉交易，作为刑事案件速决程序，因其能提高诉讼效率的功效而在国际上得以广泛传播。然而，中国尚未引入辩诉交易制度，其根源在于中国与实行辩诉交易的国家，特别是与美国，在诉讼模式、检察、证据、司法审判等相关制度以及思想理念上还存在诸多差异，要消除这些障碍，建立适于中国的辩诉交易制度，尚需较长时期，以完善法律制度和更新思想理念。     

Fear of Crime or Fear of Life? Public Insecurities in Chile

Chile is regarded as one of the safest countries in Latin America. Crime rates are extremely low when compared to the rest of the region, and the police are widely considered to be efficient and trustworthy. Despite these objective trends, fear of crime is widespread throughout Chile. Why are Chileans so fearful when their country is so safe? We argue that fear of crime in Chile does not reflect fear of criminal acts per se, but is rather a manifestation of a wide range of daily insecurities. That is, fear of crime is rooted in other economic, social, and political insecurities featuring prominently in Chilean life today. To substantiate this argument, we test the ability of these “other” insecurities to predict fear of crime using a recent survey conducted by the International Labor Organization in 2001. We test our hypothesis alongside counterhypotheses prominent in the literature: social identity characteristics, victimization, trust in the media, urbanization, and community participation. We find that political, social, and economic insecurities best predict fear of crime; however, victimization, urbanization, and trust in the media are also significant. Our results suggest that scholars should study fear of crime not only as it relates to victimization and criminalization, but also in a context of insecurities generated by increasing rates of unemployment and poverty.     

Violence in development: the logic of forced displacement on Colombia's Pacific coast

A progressive piece of legislation in 1993 granted collective land rights to Colombia's black communities living in the rural areas of the Pacific coast region. This measure aimed partly to support sustainable development strategies in the region through territorial empowering of local communities. Yet 14 years later, the escalation of the country's internal conflict into the Pacific region has created unprecedented levels of forced displacement among rural black communities. Once referred to as a ‘peace haven’, the Colombian Pacific coast is now characterised by new spaces of violence and terror, imposed by warring guerrilla and paramilitary groups, as well as the armed forces. This article examines the nature of the externally induced violence in the region and shows how specific economic interests, in particular in the African Palm sector, are colluding with illegal groups that are used to spread fear and terror among local residents, to make them comply with the requirements of these economic actors.     

The Croatian Diaspora in North America: Identity, Ethnic Solidarity, and the Formation of a “Transnational National Community”

As I attempt to reveal in this article, Croatian Diaspora's press in North America plays a crucial role in ethnic mobilization and formation of attitudes among members of Croatian Diaspora community toward their home society—Croatia and construction of transnational national community. Discourse analysis employed when examining writings published between 1980–1995 in the most influential Croatian Diaspora's journal—the Fraternalist—builds on the idea that not only news from both the host and home countries are provided, but they are also used to constantly reproduce elements of group identity among Diaspora's community. This study explores the main trends in different stages of ethnic homogenization and mobilization of Croatian Diaspora in North America, which progressed in response to political changes in the home country, reaching its peak with the commencement of the war in Croatia in 1991.     

略论美国现实主义法律思想的兴起

美国现实主义法律思想是在特定的时代背景下,以实用主义哲学为理论基础而兴起的。它的主要主张是:依据不断变化的社会需要来变革法律制度。现实主义法律思想既认可立法机关的立法权威,又赞成适度的“法官造法”。现实主义法律思想的兴起在美国法制史上具有广泛而深远的历史影响,对其他国家的法制建设也有重要的借鉴作用。     

式析美国新保守主义的生存土壤

新保守主义是当代美国政治思潮中的一个重要流派,它的影响力在冷战后受到削弱。但从美国政治文化、意识形态以及新保守主义的社会基础、组织结构、思想传承等因素看,美国新保守主义依然具有很强的生命力。     

美国反垄断刑事政策及其对我国反垄断立法的启示

美国反垄断刑事政策由成文法、反垄断判决指南与宽免政策三部分组成。近年来,美国司法部加大了反垄断刑事政策的实施力度,收效显著。美国的反垄断刑事政策对许多国家的反垄断立法产生了重要影响,其中以英国最为显著。中国应当借鉴美国的成功经验,对固定价格、划分市场、串通投标等卡特尔进行严厉制裁,包括追究卡特尔的刑事责任;建立透明、可预测的宽免政策,加强反垄断执法的国际合作等等。