Fair enough? Fair Trade and the quality of life amongst Bolivia's indigenous women artisans

This paper examines whether Fair Trade improved the quality of life for Fair Trade women artisans and their communities in Bolivia's high Andes. Grounded in the work of Amartya Sen and ethnographic study, Fair Trade is explored as a form of justice rooted in women's individual freedoms and capabilities. The intellectual merit of this paper is to examine how Fair Trade bridges women's participation in globalisation and development. The broader scope is to create a dialogue around the ethnic feminist experience and private enterprise to expand the understanding of Fair Trade as economic development.

Assez équitable ? Le Commerce Equitable et la qualité de la vie parmi les femmes-artisans indigènes en Bolivie

Dans cet article il s'agit d'une évaluation de l'amélioration dans la qualité de vie des femmes-artisans engagées dans le Commerce Equitable et de leurs villages aux Hautes Andes de Bolivie. Le Commerce Equitable, basé sur l'?uvre d'Amartya Sen et sur des études ethnographiques, est examiné comme une forme de justice enracinée dans les libertés et les aptitudes personnelles des femmes. Le mérite intellectuel de cet article est d'examiner la façon dont le Commerce Equitable englobe la participation des femmes dans la mondialisation et dans le développement. Son déploiement est de créer un dialogue autour de l'expérience féminine et de l'entreprise privée pour mieux comprendre le développement économique du Commerce Equitable.

¿Bastante justo? El comercio justo y la calidad de vida entre las artesanas indígenas de Bolivia

El presente artículo analiza si el comercio justo mejoró la calidad de vida de las artesanas y de sus comunidades en los Andes de Bolivia. Fundamentado en el trabajo de Amartya Sen y en distintos estudios etnográficos, el comercio justo se considera como una forma de justicia surgida de las libertades individuales y de las capacidades de las mujeres. El mérito intelectual de este artículo radica en analizar cómo el comercio justo vincula la participación de las mujeres con la globalización y con el desarrollo. Su objetivo más amplio consiste en generar un diálogo en torno a las vivencias étnicas feministas y a la iniciativa privada, cuyo fin es profundizar la comprensión que se tiene del comercio justo como una vía para el desarrollo económico.

Justo o suficiente? O Comércio Justo e a qualidade de vida entre as mulheres indígenas artesãs da Bolívia

Este artigo examina se o Comércio Justo (Fair Trade) melhorou a qualidade de vida de mulheres artesãs do Comércio Justo e de suas comunidades nos altos Andes da Bolívia. Tendo como referência o trabalho de Amartya Sen e estudo etnográfico, o Comércio Justo é explorado como forma de justiça baseada na liberdade e capacidade individual das mulheres. O mérito intelectual deste artigo é examinar como o Comércio Justo estende a participação das mulheres na globalização e desenvolvimento. O escopo mais amplo visa proporcionar um diálogo sobre a experiência feminista étnica e empresa privada para aumentar a compreensão do Comércio Justo como desenvolvimento econômico.     

Local Public-Services Provision under Public–Private Partnerships: Contractual Design and Contracting Parties Incentives

When deciding to resort to a PPP contract for the provision of a local public service, local governments have to consider the demand risk allocation between the contracting parties. In this article, I investigate the effects of demand risk allocation on the accountability of procuring authorities regarding consumers changing demand, as well as on the cost-reducing effort incentives of the private public-service provider. I show that contracts in which the private provider bears demand risk motivate more the public authority from responding to customer needs. This is due to the fact that consumers are empowered when the private provider bears demand risk, that is, they have the possibility to oust the private provider in case of non-satisfaction with the service provision, which provides procuring authorities with more credibility in side-trading and then more incentives to be responsive. As a consequence, I show that there is a lower matching with consumers’ preferences over time when demand risk is on the public authority rather than on the private provider, and this is corroborated in the light of two famous case studies. However, contracts in which the private provider does not bear demand risk motivate more the private provider from investing in cost-reducing efforts. I highlight then a tradeoff in the allocation of demand risk between productive and allocative efficiency. The striking policy implication of this article for local governments would be that the current trend towards a greater resort to contracts where private providers bear little or no demand risk may not be optimal. Local governments should impose demand risk on private providers within PPP contracts when they expect that consumers’ preferences over the service provision will change over time.     

反思与探究:“孙大午案”的剖析及司法理念的重塑

"孙大午案"折射出司法者对非法吸收公众存款罪持宽泛理解的态度,通过本案可看出法体系整体性思考的重要性,以及前置法——刑法阶层性思维的必要性。非法吸收公众存款罪中的"存款"应仅限于"银行信用"范畴,通过引入"既存的实质性联系"标准对"不特定"的内涵进行限定,从而实现前置法与刑法之间的衔接。进一步,刑法具有二次性违法的特征,司法过程切忌价值先行。     

公共信托原则与土地环境损害赔偿的甄别标准

作为英美法系的一项古老原则,公共信托原则指的是政府应当保障社会公众能实现对环境资源所应当享有的权益,有时出于公共利益不得不使个人的财产权利作出一定的让步。但公共信托原则的适用经常与美国宪法的公用征收条款发生混淆或冲突,特别是如果事前政府并未获得财产所有权,却实际上由于对私人财产造成环境损害而侵犯了私人财产所有者对其财产享有的权利,政府是否应当向财产所有者赔偿损失,这就涉及公共信托原则与反向征收的甄别。二者甄别标准的确定需要对一系列相互冲突的范畴进行权衡,如社会的经济发展目标与环境资源保护目标、私人所有权与公众对环境资源的正当权益、公民的生存权利与环境权利等,不同的案例凸现不同的社会需求,因而需要彰显的价值目标亦各有区别。     

日本国际私法现代化的最新进展——从《法例》到《法律适用通则法》

《法律适用通则法》是日本为实现其国际私法立法现代化的目标而对《法例》进行修订的结果。《通则法》对《法例》的修订,不仅体现在立法名称和法律语言的现代化上,更体现在法律适用规则的现代化上。在法律适用方面,《通则法》主要对行为能力、后见开始的审判、失踪宣告、合同、侵权、无因管理、不当得利益以及债权转让等领域的法律适用规则进行了完善。《通则法》的制定对我国国际私法立法的完善有一定借鉴作用。     

我国私募基金的法律规制

私募基金立法要以效率为首要价值目标,以发挥私募基金的优势。私募基金投资者具有自我保护能力,因此规范私募基金要尊重当事人的自治。我国缺乏私募基金发展的信用环境,对私募基金的立法要以不损害其发展为前提的适度监管。     

航空国际私法领域中弱者利益保护问题初探

21世纪国际航空运输已成为各国人员和货物流动的主要方式,一旦发生航空事故常常伴随着机毁人亡的灾难性后果。作为消费者的旅客和托运人这一弱势群体利益的保护和救济便成为人们关注的焦点和司法实践的主要问题之一。本文主要对航空私法领域中弱者利益保护的必要性、保护的方法和公约的立法方面作初步探讨。     

产业集聚理论对中西部地区发展民营经济的应用分析

产业集聚是区域竞争优势的源泉 ,已成为发达国家、发达地区产业成长的一个显著特征。产业集聚的本质是外部经济 ,这一外部经济的主要来源有劳动市场的共享、专业性附属行业的创造和技术外溢。产业集聚可以减少环境的不确定性 ,有利于知识和技术的传播与扩散 ,形成创业空间集聚的正反馈效应 ,已经成为区域参与全球竞争的重要力量。我国中西部地区民营经济发展基础差、总量小、比重低 ,空间上的分散配置存在着私人供给的公共产品溢出效应损失 ,服务产品需求的市场外效应损失 ,信息的、知识和技术溢出效应损失。改变这一状况的一个有效途径就是在重点地区实现产业集聚 ,为民营经济的发展创造条件 ,促进工业化 ,推进城镇化 ,提升区域经济的竞争力水平     

Private authority and public policy interactions in global context: Governance spheres for problem solving

Private organizations play a growing role in governing global issues alongside traditional public actors such as states, international organizations, and subnational governments. What do we know about how private authority and public policy interact? What are the implications of answering this question for understanding support for, and effects of, policy development generally? The purpose of this article is to reflect on these questions by introducing, and reviewing, a special issue that challenges explicit claims, and implicit methodologies, that treat private and public governance realms as distinct and/or static. We do so by advancing a theoretical and conceptual framework with which to explore how the contributions to this special issue enhance an understanding about governance interactions across a range of empirical, sectoral, and regional domains. We specifically introduce the concept of governance spheres to capture the proliferation of issue domains denoted by highly fluid interactions across public and private governance boundaries.     

Magnetic law: Designing environmental enforcement laws to encourage us to go further

The European Union has some of the world's most ambitious and highly developed environmental laws on its books, but their effectiveness is severely compromised by non-compliance. With the UNECE Aarhus Convention (1998), Europe launched an innovative legal experiment, democratizing environmental enforcement by conferring third party citizens and environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) with legal rights of access to environmental information, public participation, and access to justice in environmental matters. Based on some 2000 surveys and over 150 interviews with stakeholders from three Member States – France, Ireland, and the Netherlands – we adopt a holistic, 360° perspective, capturing the views of regulated parties, NGOs, and the general public on this private governance experiment. Our data provide important new insights into the practical effectiveness of Europe's laws enabling private environmental enforcement, its (intended and unintended) effects on farmers' compliance decisions in the vital area of nature conservation, and how law might be used to stimulate pro-environmental predispositions.