South Asian NGO Delegation Visiting China

正At the invitation of the Chinese Association for International Understanding(CAFIU),a 10-member NGO delegation composed of representatives from media,think tanks and NGOs from Bangladesh,India and Sri Lanka visited China from April 9 to 18.On the second day of arrival,the delegation visited Xicheng District Administrative Service Center.The center provides such services as     

中印缅孟区域经济合作的构想与地区范围问题

中印缅孟区域经济合作的设想经历了一段酝酿过程,在中国实施西部大开发的背景下提出,但对这一构想所涵盖的地区范围的认识还存在分歧,有待形成共识。近年来中印缅孟区域经济合作的发展呈现不平衡的态势,与对这一构想所涵盖的地区范围的认识分歧有一定关联。     

Crime Prevention,Crime Repression,and Policing: Attitudes of Police Recruits Towards Their Role in Crime Control

This article presents the initial results of a 5‐year longitudinal study of police officers’ attitudes about themselves, their profession, crime, and their role in society. The study sample was comprised of graduating classes at l'École Nationale de Police du Québec in 2003. Graduates completed an anonymous multiple choice questionnaire designed for a similar study conducted in the 1990s in France (Monjardet & Gorgeon, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1999). The complete study will track attitude change in these recruits over the first 5 years of their police careers. Results from the first year point to a change in officers’ attitudes resulting from the shock of actually working as police officers and the recruits’ preconceived notions of what police work would be like. Training and education could be adapted to better prepare police recruits for this transitional shock, including changes in mechanisms used to integrate recruits, improvements in police organizations, and increased organizational support for new members. We also suggest ways of identifying areas where continued education would improve the overall quality of police work.     

Tax Innovation or Excise Duty in Disguise? Deviations and Distortions in Value-Added Tax in Bangladesh

The article examines and analyzes the nature of deviations and distortions in the VAT system in Bangladesh. The article argues that the Bangladesh VAT introduced in 1991—with a view to maximize tax revenue by broadening tax base and curbing tax evasion while simplifying the process—has deviated significantly from standard and international best practices. It further argues that most of the deviations have their roots in the excise system of taxation that VAT has replaced and, while some of them produce ad hoc benefits in terms of generating revenue and easing compliance, most of them, besides eroding the coherence of the tax system, defeat the core principle of VAT—self assessment. The article concludes that if the process of adulterating VAT with so many ingenious adaptations and deviations is allowed to continue, the objective of VAT to evolve as an efficient tool for maximizing revenue will remain elusive.     

Gender Equality in China’s Overseas Investment: Case Studies on Chinese Textile and Apparel Enterprises in Vietnam,Myanmar, and Bangladesh

With the progressive implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, the Chinese textile and apparel sector has extended investments in many Southeast Asian countries, of which Vietnam, Myanmar, and Bangladesh are the most prominent examples. Furthermore, the impacts of Chinese-invested textile and apparel companies on local female workers have become more important and pervasive. This paper uses data accumulated in a survey project conducted in 20 Chinese-invested textile and apparel enterprises to present the on-site situation of gender equality performance in Chinese textile and apparel investment in these three countries. It finds that, despite quick progress and sporadic good practice, Chinese textile and apparel enterprises face challenges in gender equality at both the policy and practice levels. It concludes that gender equality is critical for China’s responsible overseas investment and local social development, and Chinese enterprises must go beyond legal compliance in dealing with gender equality. In so doing, they must realize that awareness raising and gender-sensitive management mechanisms must be the core and long-term measures to address gender equality challenges.     

Victor’s justice or restorative justice: exploring the value of participation for Bangladesh’s future reconciliation process

Participation is a widely accepted process value in restorative justice, but its nature varies from context to context. This study explores the nature of participation in the context of Bangladesh’s future reconciliation process. Case study and qualitative interviews are employed to understand the phenomenon; the deductive and inductive data are analyzed with NVivo 10 software. On the basis of findings from three in-depth qualitative interviews, and examples from Rwanda’s gacaca courts and the Extraordinary Chamber in the Courts of Cambodia, this study argues that engaging and inclusive participation from all stakeholders is essential for a future reconciliation process in Bangladesh. It contends that the involvement of the United Nations would ensure rule of law, due process, and safety and security of the victims and perpetrators. Four inductive themes of participation – engagement, inclusiveness, stakeholders, and safety and security – are particularly highlighted.     

Violence and the breakdown of the political settlement: an uncertain future for Bangladesh?

Abstract

We explore the dynamics of the elite political settlement in Bangladesh after the democratic transition in 1991 and its impact on the elite interactions in the arena of competitive electoral democracy. We trace the history of how a political settlement around regime succession developed in the mid-1990s, and then experienced difficulties in multiple stages, and finally broke down in 2011. Violence was instrumentally used, by the ruling elites and the main opposition party, to influence the processes of negotiations around the succession of power. We argue that ‘partyarchy’—where political parties exert informal control of the party through formal processes and institutions—and dynastic rule prevent the political elites from reaching a stable settlement around regime succession. We also show how the changes to the rules of the game around regime succession have led to a qualitative shift in the extent and nature of violence in the political domain, and explore why democratic consolidation remains elusive.     

孟加拉国参与“一带一路”倡议:利益与问题

2007年全球金融危机爆发之后,中国和世界经济增长放缓。为此,中国提出了对外开放的宏大战略。这一战略的核心是丝绸之路经济带和21世纪海上丝绸之路,即后来的"一带一路"倡议。"一带一路"倡议是真正意义上的全球合作,其影响远远超出了中国的范围。孟加拉国是孟中印缅经济走廊的一部分,孟中印缅经济走廊被列入"一带一路"倡议下的六大经济走廊之一。从孟加拉国的角度分析参与"一带一路"倡议的利益所在,并讨论孟加拉国在孟中印缅经济走廊中的作用,对研究"一带一路"倡议如何影响孟加拉国具有重要意义。另外,也需要从孟加拉国的角度审视"一带一路"倡议中提出的"五通",重点分析"一带一路"倡议可能面临的挑战,从孟加拉国的角度提出中国回应挑战的建议,为推动未来的相关研究提出若干建议。     

The Nurturing Neighborhood: The Brownsville Boys Club and Jewish Community in Urban America, 1940–1990, by G. Sorin

Abstract

Corporal punishment (CP) refers to the deliberate infliction of physical pain on children in response to an apparent disobedience or disapproved behavior. It is still used in educational settings in numerous nations worldwide, including Bangladesh. Despite the government’s efforts to ban corporal punishment in Bangladesh, the practice is prevalent, with children routinely enduring various punishments in the school system. Questions remain related to how widespread this practice is and whether certain groups of children (e.g., low income or rural) are being affected more severely than others. This article explores the use of physical punishment in Bangladeshi elementary schools and the socioeconomic variables that may be predictors of its use. The primary research questions that guide this article are: (1) do socioeconomic characteristics (i.e., gender, age, education, school type, parental socio-economic status) predict physical punishment in the school system in Bangladesh? and (2) is there a statistically significant relation between poverty and physical punishment for elementary school children in Bangladesh? Findings indicate that of the 450 children included in the sample, more than 86.6% were subjected to at least one form of physical abuse (e.g., hit with a stick or slapped) and types of abuse varied by their demographics. Findings also show that poverty status is a strong predictor of physical punishment in the school within Bangladesh.     

Moral economy in a global era: the politics of provisions during contemporary food price spikes

The wave of food riots since 2007 revived interest in why people protest in periods of dearth, yet research has to date failed to make sense of the political cultures of food protests. The concept of the moral economy in European history is explored here to make sense of contemporary political perspectives on how food markets should work in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kenya and Zambia. The concrete expressions of these moral economies are localized and politically contingent, yet there are broad areas of common ground across settings. As with the moral economies of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe, there is strong popular feeling against speculation and collusion in food markets in times of dearth, and an emphasis on the responsibilities of public authorities to act. But whereas the moral economy in European histories focused on customary paternalistic obligations, the contemporary emphasis is on formal and electoral accountabilities as a means of triggering public action. The paper concludes with a discussion of a research agenda on the moral economy and the politics of provisions in globalised present-day food markets.