Following in China's footsteps? The political economy of North Korean reform

Since the coming to power of Kim Jong Un in 2012, the North Korean government has recently announced, and to some degree has implemented, a new set of economic management policies known as the June 28th measures in 2012 and the May 30th measures in 2014. Both of these sets of measures seek to build upon the abandoned reforms of the early 2000s through restructuring North Korea's highly inefficient collective farm and state-owned enterprise management system. In addition, the government has intensified ongoing efforts at building special economic zones for the purpose of attracting foreign investment. As such, the country is attempting to emulate the reforms adopted by China in the late 1970s. Although the success of these efforts is by no means guaranteed, they do serve to question mainstream analyses that suggest that Juche Self-Reliance or S?n'gun Military First Politics ideologies will inhibit any genuine attempt at economic reform in North Korea. We argue, in contrast, that ongoing changes to North Korean state and society mean that, a cyclical stop and start rhythm to the reforms notwithstanding, such attempts at economic reform are likely to continue. However, we also argue that while the contemporary reform drive resembles and may indeed reproduce some of the successes of the Chinese experience, North Korea faces significantly greater challenges, including the greater decline of North Korean industry, local resistance to reform, and the dangers of inflation. Furthermore, North Korea faces a highly challenging external security environment that undermines the ability of the regime to attract investment and by extension the political standing of reformist elements within the country. Given this contrast with the international environment surrounding China's own reform experience, our analysis emphasises the importance of geopolitical context in shaping experiences of economic reform and of development more broadly.     

Food safety and the political economy of food governance: the case of shrimp farming in Nam Dinh Province,Vietnam

This contribution is a critique of the public and private governance models in response to the food safety crisis in Vietnam. Using shrimp farming in Nam Dinh province as a case study, the paper argues that public food governance has addressed some of the safety issues in the input sector but remains largely ineffective at the production level due to limited financial and human resources. In turn, private governance has had more successes but its impact is limited to the value-chain while food safety can be influenced by both sectoral and cross-sectoral production practices. In addition, it reinforces the subordination of direct producers by keeping them within industrial production, passing down the cost of safety compliance, and forcing them to assume production risks while reducing their profit margins. More importantly, safety governance under industrial farming is likely to open new opportunities for land expropriation and concentration, affecting the livelihood of small farmers and potentially leading to political unrest. The essay thus asserts that food safety needs to be addressed under the integrated framework of Food Sovereignty, which seeks to obtain food quality, including safety together with agroecological production, farmers' control of productive resources and the enabling of local trading systems.     

Capital–labour separation and unequal value-added distribution: repositioning land grabbing in the general movement of contemporary agricultural transformations

ABSTRACT

While family agriculture is above all characterised by the non-separation of capital and labour, the recent developments in various forms of production – the land grabbing process in particular – can be analysed from the viewpoint of capital/labour separation. In-depth research conducted in several regions of the world shows that this process is accompanied by a distribution of value added which is particularly favourable to capital holders but to the detriment of workers, an imbalance which is partly due to the disconnection between salaries and productivity, which is behind the profitability of these projects (the capacity to remunerate invested capitals).     

Inquiring into the political economy of oil palm as a global flex crop

Oil palm production and consumption, and the trade of its multiple commodities, have expanded exponentially in recent decades. This paper argues that this expansion will continue due to, and along with, the rise of ‘flexing’ among its increasing multiple uses, especially for more industrial and energy purposes. Oil palm has been extensively analysed in the context of land grabs and agrarian change, land conversion and deforestation. However, its nature as a flex crop remains unexplored, especially with respects to the convergence of global food, fuel and environmental crises. This paper provides a preliminary discussion of how oil palm fits in the flex-crop framework to analyse its enabling material and ideational bases, as well as who informs, decides and controls the nature of flexing. This is done through an analysis of the different roles played by state, corporate (private) and social actors in the flexing of oil palm across the globe. We conclude by drawing some implications for further research.     

规范性文件的程序规范——以《广西壮族自治区规范性文件制定程序规定》为例

加强规范性文件的规范具有十分重要的意义,但从《广西壮族自治区规范性文件制定程序规定》来看,目前规范性文件的制定程序中存在着缺乏立项规划、社会公众参与的程度不够、立法听证程序不完善、责任条款过于简化等问题。可通过确立规范性文件规划与立项制度、拓宽社会公众提出法案动议的渠道、建立草案公告评议制度、完善听证程序和强化责任条款等形式来强化规范性文件的制定程序。     

推进毕节地区现代特色高效农业建设与反贫困

毕节是中国集中连片的贫困地区,大力推进毕节现代特色高效农业建设,对毕节反贫困有着十分重要的意义。该文指出,毕节现代特色高效农业建设必须以科学发展观为指导思想,以科学技术为支撑,大力加强现代特色高效农业基地建设、稳步推进农业生产结构调整、调整优化农业生产布局、深入开展农业综合开发、不断提高现代农业生产组织化程度、建立健全现代特色高效农业发展支撑体系,推动全区反贫困发展。     

Black lives and climate justice: courage and power in defending communities and Mother Earth

Abstract

This article shares examples of the leadership of Black communities and social movements in the struggle for climate justice, in four different parts of the world: resisting extraction and promoting community health in Nigeria; addressing extreme climate impacts and building people’s sovereignty in Haiti; confronting repression, defending territory and Mother Earth in Honduras; and cultivating community control and building a land-based movement in the US. Together, these examples have rich lessons to share around the importance of linking climate justice with racial justice; of combining strategies of resistance with those of creating alternative models; of maintaining focus on Black communities’ connections with land, territory and Mother Earth; of recognising and creating space for women’s leadership; and of intersectionality across geography and sector.     

Philanthrocapitalism: rendering the public domain obsolete?

Engaging the lively debates about the next expression of neoliberalism, this study suggests that it is evolving into philanthrocapitalism. After a brief discussion of the trajectories from neoliberalism, the article addresses the core ideology of philanthrocapitalism. The central thesis explores how philanthrocapitalism is moving beyond the requirement of ‘business practices’ for recipients of donor funds, into enforcing ‘business rule’ on to the public domain. Although philanthrocapitalism is most debated in the fields of health care and education, this article uses empirical analysis of international agricultural policies trying to enlist Southern Africa policies. It explores how philanthrocapitalist rule is reducing transparency, participation and deliberation within the public domain, well beyond requesting efficient business practices for greater food security. It concludes with how smallholder farmers are actively organising to resist business rule over their genetic resources and farming practices.     

“十二五”期间广西教育面临的机遇和挑战探析

广西教育在＂十一五＂规划期间取得了较好的成绩。进入＂十二五＂期间,国家的各项政策、社会经济的发展为广西的教育迎来了大好机遇,同时也面临着挑战。本文从区内外的经济社会等教育发展的环境入手,对广西教育面临的机遇和挑战进行分析并提出相应的对策。     

广西实施“建设海洋经济大省区”战略研究

进入21世纪,世界各国在海洋经济、科技、资源、海权力量等方面的竞争日益激烈。中国也提出要在21世纪成为海洋大国,广西作为一个重要的沿海省区,对国家实施＂海洋大国战略＂要负起应有的责任,应该实施建设海洋经济大省区战略。