Left out but not backing down: exploring women’s voices against large-scale agro-plantations in Cameroon

This article examines the situation of women around agro-plantations which have taken over their farmlands in the South-West Region of Cameroon through large-scale land acquisitions, and how they have sought popular redress. Based on a survey and focus group discussion among affected women, the findings revealed that women are generally left out of large-scale land acquisition processes. They complained of displacement from their farms and traditional forest resources, which has negative effects on their livelihoods and lifestyles. Despite women’s constrained situation, they have risen collectively against marginalisation, failed promises, and injustices through protests and defiance, achieving some successes in their demands for recognition and compensation.     

Jiangsu Province Procuratorates：Safeguard Justice and Serve the People

正IN 2013 we filed and investigated1,393 cases of bribery and corruption involving 1,646 people,107 of whom were officials at Division Chief level or above.We approved the arrest of 114 suspects on charges of producing and selling poisonous and harmful foods and bogus medicines,and prosecuted 891 people embroiled in 464 cases of economic crimes involving mass participation,     

Participatory gender-responsive monitoring of women land rights: empowering and smart

This viewpoint argues that a genuine participatory approach to defining a theory of change and outcome indicators of enhanced women land and property rights is essential to include the standpoint of women and men who are directly involved, and to acknowledge their power to frame the change and solutions they envision. Moreover, outcomes and outcome indicators defined by women and men who are targeted by women rights interventions typically better distinguish outcomes to be reached among women, among men, and in terms of gender relations, are more concrete and easier to measure.     

Empowering and shaping gender relations? Contesting the microfinance–gender empowerment discourse

This article critically examines the role of microfinance in shaping gender relations and empowerment outcomes for women. One aim of advancing credit to women is to empower them, thereby increasing their bargaining power and challenging existing gender subordination. We caution against this view and instead show that the mainstream argument is much more complex than what the popular rhetoric preaches. We argue that lack of a systematic strategy to incorporate men and the wider socio-cultural dynamics within which women are domiciled radically constrain the empowerment potential of microcredit programmes, and in some contexts may lead to unintended consequences for women.     

Can an incompatibilist outfox a compatibilist hedgehog?

This article raises some incompatibilist challenges for, and queries some of the implications of, Ronald Dworkin’s arguments in his Justice for Hedgehogs (2011), that responsibility is compatible with both determinism and epiphenomenalism.     

公民不服从的当代论争与中国语境

"公民不服从"是政治和法律哲学中的重要概念。罗尔斯继承了契约论的传统,认为在近乎正义的社会中,满足了某些基本条件的公民不服从能够规避多数裁决规则潜在的危险。德沃金、哈贝马斯等人分别尝试从不同维度论证公民不服从,他们的论证理路不一,实则殊途同归,即公民不服从是对现代民主制度的有益补充。对我国来说,讨论公民不服从有利于培育现代公民意识,形成尊重法治、信仰法治和捍卫法治的公共精神,而且,作为社会稳定安全阀的公民不服从也将有利于社会的长期稳定和良序发展。     

腐败存量特赦之证伪

我国腐败高发,特别是腐败犯罪黑数巨大,腐败存量惊人的现实情况,已严重影响我国反腐斗争的信心和进程,基于此,腐败存量特赦论浮出水面。腐败存量特赦论作为一种政治话语,以交换形式谋求政治体制改革的支持,这种观点在逻辑上有重大缺陷,在实践上对刑事法治有质的破坏力,违背国际反腐条约的基本精神,损害社会正义和国民的法情感,不具有合理性和合法性。治理腐败必须坚持宽严相济的刑事政策,坚持零容忍的司法态度。     

中国特色社会主义公正理论的价值分析

中国特色社会主义公正理论是马克思主义公正理论中国化的最新成果,是中国特色社会主义理论体系的重要组成部分,是实现中国社会公正的指导思想,无论是在理论上还是在实践上,都具有极其重要的理论价值和实践价值。     

Ethnonational identity,security and the implosion of Yugoslavia: the case of Montenegro and the relationship with Serbia

For 60 years, the international community has limited the right of territories to gain independence without the permission of the “parent state.” Such limits were, however, challenged when Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia, in February 2008. As a result, Belgrade referred the matter to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). On 22 July 2010, it came back with its long-awaited decision. Taking a narrow view of the question, the majority argued that, in general, declarations of independence, as mere statements, do not violate international law unless stated otherwise by the Security Council. Thus, Kosovo's declaration of independence cannot be considered as being wholly “unique” – as those states that supported its statehood have claimed. On the key questions of whether Kosovo's secession is legal, or if it is even a state, they chose to avoid controversy. On these points, the international community is no clearer now than it was before the case.     

Safety-Valve Elections and the Arab Spring: The Weakening (and Resurgence) of Morocco's Islamist Opposition Party

ABSTRACT

By strange coincidence, Greece's Revolutionary Organization 17 November (17 N) met its end almost exactly a year after Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorists felled New York's twin towers, when the group's leader of operations, Dimitris Koufodinas, turned himself in to the police after months on the run, on September 5, 2002. The capture of Koufodinas and his group marked the demise of the last and most stubborn of a generation of ideological terrorists whose campaigns caused serious political and security problems in Western Europe for more than a quarter of a century. Drawing on the judicial investigation findings and the courtroom testimonies of the terrorists, this article attempts to tell the stories of the four most senior group members in order to understand what led them to act in the way they did and, more crucially, what kept them inside a terrorist organization with no prospects and community support for so long.