“Value Grabbing”: A Political Ecology of Rent

This paper aims to redress the under-appreciated significance of rent for political ecological analysis. We introduce the notion of value grabbing, defined as the appropriation of (surplus) value through rent. A concept that is analytically distinct from accumulation, rent is both a social relation and a distributional process that is increasingly central to the reproduction of contemporary capitalism. Emphasis is placed on the “grabbing” of value in order to shed light on the processes at work by which surplus value is distributed unevenly between different classes and fractions of classes. A focus on rent within political ecology, we argue, can help us distinguish between two organically related but analytically distinct “moments”: (a) the creation of property rights that establish rent relations and (b) the struggle over the appropriation and distribution of surplus value generated by the rent relation itself. We explore some of the implications of this perspective for understanding new forms of socio-ecological struggles and their varied relations to the state. We maintain that a value-grabbing perspective has far-reaching consequences for political ecology, as it provides a sharp conceptual tool for situating a wide range of socio-ecological conflicts and movements as class struggles over value appropriation and distribution.     

春秋战国时期粮食安全思想的传承与当代战略选择

粮食是人类生存和发展的基本物质条件,是关系国家安全、政治稳定与社会和谐的重要战略性资源。粮食安全化与政治化是国际政治研究的热点问题之一。鉴于此,重新发现中国春秋战国时期已形成的粮食安全思想,从粮食对国家安全、国家权力以及国家道义层次考察彼时粮食安全思想,具有重要的现实意义。“不生粟之国亡”,粮食安全是国家安全的基础;“富国以粟”,粮食是国家富强的保证;粮食关乎人心向背和国家道义。齐桓公为建立霸业实施了粮食外交与粮食战略,开创了现代粮食战争的先河。“不生粟之国亡”是中国春秋战国时期粮食安全思想的核心和根本,也是对中国古代粮食安全思想再发现的落脚点。基于此,当代中国粮食安全战略应立足于坚持独立自主原则,保障国内粮食生产,积极开展粮食外交,实行粮食“走出去”战略,在全球化背景下确保实现国家粮食安全。这不仅是保障国家安全的重中之重,也是中华民族实现“中国梦”最重要的物质基石。     

中国古代工匠精神特点及其价值追求

中国古代工匠尽管在不同的历史时期,其群体含义不同,但他们所具有的精神特点却是共同的。这种精神特点包含三个方面,其一是理性实用下的开拓创新精神,其二是艺术审美下的精益求精精神,其三是经验主义下的科学探索精神。这些精神特点的背后其实蕴涵着古代工匠们对和谐、平等、敬业、法治等价值的追求。这种价值追求与当今弘扬的社会主义核心价值观以及工匠精神的内质是相通的。     

The chain of exploitation: intersectional inequalities,capital accumulation,and resistance in Burkina Faso's cotton sector

ABSTRACT

This paper examines how intersectional inequalities can facilitate the extraction of surplus value from agriculture. Through an ethnographic case study of the Burkina Faso cotton sector, I describe a ‘chain of exploitation’ wherein actors pass economic pressures on to less-powerful actors. People resist their own exploitation, yet justify exploiting others through discourses about intersectional inequalities – overlapping axes of social difference including class, gender, rural/urban status, and education level. I thus argue that intersectional social inequalities – exacerbated by economic pressures – can: (1) justify and thus facilitate the transfer of exploitation, and (2) fragment resistance efforts.     

Transparency and Public Value—Analyzing the Transparency Practices and Value Creation of Public Utilities

This article examines to what extent transparency is a condition for the creation of public value. Transparency is usually narrowly defined as a tool for external stakeholders to monitor the internal workings of an organization, but public value management positions transparency as a broader instrument for actively engaging stakeholders. We investigate empirically whether transparency is indeed necessary to create public value, distinguishing between transparency about operational capacity, authorizing environment, and value proposition. We find that more transparent public organizations achieved higher public value scores, especially if they disclosed information about the design and dynamics of their authorizing environment.     

Carnal teachings: raunch aesthetics as queer feminist pedagogies in Yo! Majesty's hip hop practice

This essay puts forward a notion of “raunch aesthetics,” theorizing raunch as an aesthetic, performative, and vernacular practice: an explicit mode of sexual expression that transgresses norms of privacy and respectability. Raunch aesthetics describe creative practices that often blend humor and sexual explicitness to launch cultural critiques, generate pleasure for minority audiences, and affirm queer lives. The author activates her formulation of raunch in analyzing Yo! Majesty, a hip hop group comprised of black female emcees who openly describe their sexual desire for women, and explores how the queer youth of color she works with have responded to their music. Working beyond the unexamined moralisms that give critiques of raunch culture their legitimacy, the author argues that Yo! Majesty's raunch aesthetics transmit queer and feminist teachings. While celebrating carnal pleasures, these artists critique heterosexism, subvert narratives about the incompatibility of belief in Christ and queer sexualities, and trouble notions concerning the emancipation of coming out of the closet and declaring a stable homosexual identity. In demonstrating how raunch aesthetics generate consciousness raising, the author discusses how her youth participants critically read and consume hip hop while negotiating unwieldy meanings of sexuality and gender presentation.     

论中国梦价值维度的四个契合点

中国梦是中国共产党人在新的历史条件下提出的民众之梦、民族之梦、国家兴盛之梦。中国梦彰显了中国共产党人在新的历史时期要完成的历史使命与价值追求。中国梦的价值维度有四个基本契合点:中国梦与社会主义本质相契、与以民为本相契、与民众之幸福相契、与人的全面发展相契。     

“对赌协议”的裁判路径及政策选择——基于PE/VC与公司对赌场景的分析

PE/VC与目标公司对赌的司法裁判要点从合同效力转入合同可履行性后,需要面对两个层次的追问:一是以什么样的实体标准来判断履行障碍,二是由谁来判断是否存在履行障碍。华工案和“九民纪要”仅处理了第一个层次的问题,且主要以资本维持原则作为实体判断标准。然而,我国现行公司法资本维持原则过于粗疏,且缺乏“大分配”概念和底线规制的思路,导致“对赌协议”下的回购只能通过减资的途径,徒增成本。域外以清偿能力标准替代资本维持原则,体现了另一种以债权人利益为导向限制公司资产单向流出至股东的规制思路,但其商业逻辑上的合理性却无法掩盖更大的操作成本。就第二层次的判断主体而言,以美国特拉华州为代表,法官的商业判断逐渐让位于公司董事会的商业判断,却进一步凸显了公司、不同类别股东、债权人之间利益冲突的复杂状态。立法层面的价值判断与政策选择将最终决定司法裁判的走向,未来我国公司法的修订需要回应商业实践的诉求,同时PE/VC投资者也需要直面投资失败的风险承担。     

百色起义精神的历史作用和当代价值

百色起义是我党在大革命失败后较早在我国西南少数民族地区实行的“工农武装割据”的光辉实践,由百色起义所孕育的百色起义精神具有深远的历史作用和巨大的现实价值。它对中国革命道路的摸索,对建设有中国特色社会主义道路的选择具有重要的启示作用;它所体现的对理想信念的执著追求和不怕牺牲的大无畏精神是引领当代人价值取向的一面旗帜;它所体现的辛勤劳动、艰苦奋斗的作风是当代人应发扬的优良作风,也成为社会主义荣辱观的主要内容之一;它所蕴涵的依靠群众,全心全意为人民服务的思想与当今共产党人“以人为本”的执政理念息息相通。     

行政决策法治化是推进服务型政府建设的关键——以二者根本动力和价值追求上的一致性为视角

现代服务型政府是一个代表公众利益、提供公共服务、接受公众监督、承担公共责任的政府.行政决策法治化是行政决策体现多数人意志、实现和保障多数人利益并使之规范化的过程.行政决策法治化与服务型政府建设在根本动力和价值追求上具有一致性,即二者根本动力在于公众有效的参与、二者价值追求在于公众权利的实现,行政决策法治化是进一步推进服务型政府建设的关键.