Participatory modelling and development practice: artisanal fishers in Nicaragua

Development plans with insufficient knowledge about local realities, and that do not share technical or planning details with the target communities, bedevil development practice. This study used a form of participatory modelling in three fishing communities in Nicaragua to enable fishers to explore their economy and the potential impacts of fishery-based development projects. Co-designing a model of the fishing economy in the form of a board game created a forum in which facilitators and participants could arrive at a shared understanding of local fishing practices and the costs and benefits of strategies for addressing the fishers’ priorities.     

The Functions of Class at the Present Time: Including Taste,or Sex and Class as Culture

Gagnier provides an analytic account of current uses of gender, sex and sexuality, and of class as objective condition, role, identity, subjectivity, performance, product of cultural formation, pain and pleasure. She concludes that we shall do better today to take from the history of political economy a focus on the division of labour, the kinds of work people do, including women's unpaid labour at home, and the ways that work structures identity and subjectivity, than on more abstract class identity (e.g. wage-labourers and capitalists), and to see that both local and global divisions of labour or work patterns are along race and gender lines as much as along class lines. The introduction of consumption models of taste and status draws together both class and gender, for consumption and leisure, the realm for most wage-labourers of pleasure, is as significant in the formation of identity and subjectivity as work, production or pain. We should account for people's pleasures and desires as well as their pain and place in narrowly conceived 'productive' relations. Class is no less significant than it always was, but future work should disaggregate the concept along these lines, mindful of gender salience in the division of labour and the reproduction of class. And it should include critical analysis of the realms of taste, pleasure, consumption, leisure and status.     

Analysing pig traders in Uganda: sampling issues,marketing activities,and constraint analysis

An integral part of the pig and pork value chain in Uganda is trader activity. This article reports on a study that quantifies the nature of these traders in Mukono district, a major pig and pork marketing site adjacent to Kampala, Uganda. Little guidance is available from the literature about the sampling of traders for this kind of research, and the second task addressed by this study is to test sampling mechanisms and report on their influence on the statistical results generated. Different sources of sampling frame provided different samples, with some limited overlap. The two samples exhibited distinctly different profiles of traders.     

Key challenges in Malawi’s paprika supply chain: new insights into contract farming

Contract farming is a vital tool for linking small-scale farmers with modern supply chains. This study explored challenges resulting from contracting in the paprika supply chain in Malawi. The study used focus groups, semi-structured interviews, and email correspondence with 100 supply chain participants. The identified challenges include: inadequate input provision via the contract, a lack of opportunities to bargain and participate in contract design, and side-selling. While the contract secured the outlet for paprika, it failed to provide a reliable paprika supply for the contracting company. Thus, Malawi’s case analyses the potential of contract farming to champion the development of vulnerable economies.     

“三个代表”重要思想是对马克思主义党建理论的丰富和发展

中国共产党把马克思主义党建理论运用于中国革命和建设的实践,形成了毛泽东党建思想、邓小平党建理论。以江泽民为核心的第三代领导集体提出“三个代表”的重要思想,用马克思主义的科学态度,创造性地运用、丰富和发展了马克思主义党建理论,又把马克思主义党建学说提高到了新境界。     

新形势下地方党校马克思主义理论教育：困境与出路

在全球化、网络化不断发展的新形势下,地方党校马克思主义理论教育正面临着“一源弱化”、“一课常讲”、“一式固定”、“一师多能”和“一体失位”等诸多困境。坚持以马克思主义理论特别是中国特色社会主义理论体系为主课;多层次,分类别对学员进行理论教育,切实达到真学、真懂、真信、真用的目的;拓展与创新马克思主义理论教育的教学方法,竭力打造立体式、开放型的教育模式;构建教师与学员“实践共同体”,真正体现马克思主义理论教育以人为本的理念是新形势下地方党校马克思主义理论教育的出路。     

民族地区当代中国马克思主义大众化路径选择

民族地区推动当代中国马克思主义大众化具有重要意义。宗教因素、民族意识、国际因素及经济因素的影响,阻碍了当代中国马克思主义在民族地区的接受和传播。民族地区推进马克思主义大众化,要正确处理宗教信仰与马克思主义信仰的关系;要促进经济发展,改善民生;要大力培养少数民族干部;加强中国特色社会主义道路成功经验的宣传。     

启蒙的合法性危机与思想政治教育的责任担当

当代中国启蒙面临后现代思潮、大众文化、复古主义等思潮的合法性质疑。思想政治教育应担负起新时期马克思主义启蒙的重任。思想政治教育从实践性、阶级性、教育性等方面都应承担起启蒙的责任。     

推进当代中国马克思主义大众化的路径选择

当代中国马克思主义大众化,就是马克思主义理论宣传者通过一定的媒介将马克思主义理论向人民大众进行传播,使人民大众了解、认同、信仰马克思主义的过程及其结果。在推进当代马克思主义大众化过程中,应以推进马克思主义理论创新为前提;以加强马克思主义理论宣传者队伍建设和提高人民大众素质为重心;以改进马克思主义大众化的形式、环境与机制为基本点。     

借俄罗斯经济复苏契机振兴东北老工业基地

近年来,俄罗斯经济持续增长,呈现出明显的经济复苏的新气象,过度依赖自然资源的经济增长模式正在改变,吸引外资力度在不断增大,这一切对东北老工业基地的振兴产生巨大的影响。尤其是俄东部大开发和大型基础设施的建设,更是直接给东北振兴带来了新的机遇。东北地区应借助这一有利时机,发挥自身优势,确定“桥头堡”战略,把东北建设成为对俄产业链条的核心、贸易基地、经贸活动的咨询中介中心,推动东北老工业基地的振兴。