Security culture,transnational challenges and the Economic Community of West African States

This special issue explores how one particular regional organisation, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), has defined certain transnational issues as security threats and how it has addressed them. In this introductory article, we begin by providing an overview and analysis of some of the most important transnational security challenges facing West Africa. Specifically, we discuss some of the problems raised by cross-border insurgencies, health challenges, organised criminal activities, terrorism and environmental degradation. We then examine the different levels at which actors have responded to these challenges. The section ‘Security culture: shaping the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) response?’ sets out our approach to thinking about the concept of security culture and asks whether it might be relevant to understanding how and why ECOWAS has focused on responding to certain transnational security challenges and not to others. The final section provides an overview of the other articles in this issue.     

Deconstructing the myth of the Tatar Yoke

Analysing and comparing the various conventional and revisionist narratives on what is known as the ‘Tatar Yoke’, this article aims to show that Western historiography has long been critical of the dominant negative view on the Tatar–Mongol rule over Russian principalities and that in Russia we find similar revisions in history – with some exceptions – only in post-Soviet times. This article aims to demonstrate how the revisionist views on the Tatar–Mongol rule contributed to the political and cultural transformation of contemporary Russia. In the part which analyses the revisionist discourse in Russia the emphasis lies on the new Tatar narrative. For Tatars the new interpretation of the Tatar–Mongol rule is of outstanding importance because it functions as a means to enhance Tatar national pride, and it contributes to Tatarstan's sovereignty project.     

西电东送的区域能源效应分析

西电东送有利于国家范围的资源优化配置,有利于开发西部。西电东送工程的成效,一方面取决于输入地内在的长期能源消费变动趋向,另一方面取决于其他能源,尤其是石油价格的未来变动走向,以及电力部门相应的定价策略。     

韩国FTA政策与东亚区域主义的未来

本文首先阐述了韩国过去与现在的贸易政策,以及韩国FTA政策从区域内向区域外的转变,并分别从国际、地区和国内三个层面详细分析了这一转变的原因。在此基础上,探讨了韩国跨区域自由贸易协定对东亚区域主义的影响。随着更多的亚洲国家签订自由贸易协定,将对东亚区域经济一体化产生积极影响。东亚跨区域自由贸易协定面临的最大挑战是,东亚各国是否有能力来共同协调相互间的利益。     

试论中东伊斯兰国家“乌里玛”的政治参与及其现实作用

人们看待中东，往往看到的是伊斯兰行动主义的军事组织所从事的政治或破坏性的负面社会行为。但事实上，宗教在政治中的影响远远超过了这些组织的影响，特别是国内外一些学者忽视了“乌里玛”（Ulama）阶层。然而，从乌里玛参与现实政治作用的历史依据、“乌里玛”现实政治参与的社会基础、乌里玛政治参与的体现及其作用三个层面的体现，可以看到乌里玛在中东伊斯兰国家所扮演的重要角色。     

Green grabs and biochar: Revaluing African soils and farming in the new carbon economy

Biochar currently attracts technological and market optimism, promising multiple wins – for climate change, food security, bioenergy and health – not least for African farmers. This paper examines the political-economic and discursive processes constructing biochar as a novel green commodity, creating new alliances amongst scientists, businesses, venture capital firms and non-governmental organisations. Carbon market logics are not only threatening large-scale land grabs for biochar feedstocks but also other forms of resource, labour and ecological appropriation through driving research and development and shaping small-scale pilot projects. In these, soil carbon is ‘chopped out’ of its ecosystem and social contexts and revalued as exchangeable pieces of carbon nature. Farmers are hailed as green actors and market winners, provided they discipline their practices according to these new technical and market logics. These discourses contrast strongly with the farmers' existing conceptual and practical repertoires; a case study from Liberia illustrates how farmers already manipulate soil carbon in creating locally valued anthropogenic dark earths, but within diverse farming repertoires, ontologies of human–nature interrelationship and historical and political ecologies.     

新中华法系的诞生?--从三大法系到东亚共同体法

中华法系曾以其独特性屹立于世界法系之林,虽然它在清末就基本解体了,但它数千年积淀下来的法律传统和观念,对东亚诸国的影响仍是深刻的.近年来,在新的时代背景下,既反映西方法律传统,又符合东亚诸国利益及其历史文化传统的东亚共同体法开始形成.新世纪的东亚共同体法是一种全新的法律体系,不能将其简单地看作中华法系的复兴,它是中华法系死亡之后,在更高层面上的一种再生,在某种意义上,我们可以将其称为新中华法系.     

东亚、东南亚土壤污染防治法评析

与中国相邻的东亚、东南亚地区,土壤污染防治立法十分活跃,特别是其中的日本、韩国和中国台湾地区,还制定了专门性的土壤污染防治法及其配套法规。本文从立法背景、立法模式等方面,对这些立法及其施行经验予以评析,并对我国正在进行的土壤污染防治立法提供借鉴。     

构建天津物流服务平台促进东亚区域经济合作

在当今世界经济全球化的趋势下,积极推动东亚(环黄海)区域经济合作,构建服务于东亚(环黄海)区域经济合作的物流平台具有特别重要的意义.天津作为东亚(环黄海)城市市长会议的成员,具备了支撑区域经济合作发展的现代物流基础.为了实现对东亚(环黄海)和中国西部地区的双向辐射作用,天津确定了加快发展现代物流的战略,并相应确立了发展现代物流的步骤和采取的主要措施,以积极服务于东亚(环黄海)区域经济合作和中国西部大开发的战略.     

Y- STRs and forensic parameters in African populations

Short Tandem Repeat polymorphisms have been widely studied in the world, since specific databases are required to produce correct estimates of forensic statistical parameters. In this regard, Y-chromosome STRs have been studied mainly in Europe but are relatively scarce for sub-Saharan populations, despite these populations are represented in most of the Western countries. The aim of this work is to detect groups of populations with the lowest genetic variability within the African context. This allows to establish the relative homogeneity of Y-STRs databases for forensic casework and eventually to provide a wider insight into the African genetic history.