Cultural encounters: learning from cross-disciplinary science and development practice in ecosystem health

Overcoming challenges to ecosystem health calls for breaking down disciplinary and professional barriers. Through reflection on a research and development project to address pesticide-related concerns in northern Ecuador, this article presents challenges encountered and accommodations made, ranging from staff recruitment, through baseline assessments and community education activities, to mobilising for policy change. In so doing, it exposes underlying problems of paradigm and process inherent in bringing researchers and development practitioners together, in addition to the problematic role of advocacy that is associated with joint research and development initiatives in the fields of agriculture and health.     

NGOs,corporate social responsibility,and social accountability: Inditex vs. Clean Clothes

Markets and businesses are undergoing major changes as globalisation deepens. Pressure from diverse social groups, both environmental and economic, is changing the operating environment. Many corporations are interested in devising social-responsibility strategies, both as a response to outside pressures and in their own interests. Against this background, this article considers the case of Inditex, a company based in Galicia, and the ‘harassment’ to which it was subjected by Setem, the Spanish chapter of the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC). Reviewing Setem's claims leads to a better understanding of the repercussions for social systems that are now increasingly informed by external actors. The authors argue that both corporations and non-government organisations must account for the social impact of their activities.     

Public advocacy and people-centred advocacy: mobilising for social change

Public and people-centred advocacy are shaped by the political culture, social systems, and constitutional framework of the country in which they are practised. It is the practice of advocacy that determines the theory, and not vice versa. If advocacy is not rooted in grassroots realities and is practised only at the macro level, the voice of the marginalised is increasingly likely to be appropriated by professional elites. However, the very credibility of advocacy practitioners depends on their relationship with mass-based movements and grassroots perceptions of what constitutes desirable social change.     

略论政府和谐

和谐社会是一个多层面的大系统,政治和谐是和谐社会的一个子系统。政府和谐是政治和谐进而是和谐社会的重要组成部分。和谐社会决定政府和谐,政府和谐又能动地反作用于和谐社会建设。构建和谐社会的成败取决于政府和谐及其程度。政府和谐包括政府外部和谐和政府内部和谐及其互动,通过内外政府和谐的互动,实现政府美的形象和可持续发展。能否构建政府和谐,取决于政府建设、政府自觉、政府自主、政府自律及其程度。     

Capacity building through secondment of staff: a possible model in emergencies?

This article offers a case study of a secondment of staff from a Northern NGO (Trócaire) to a Southern partner, the Catholic Development Commission (CADECOM) of Malawi, as a possible model for capacity building. The approach described was tried in the context of an emergency programme, but it could also be used in a development context. The author analyses the appropriateness of the model in terms of its administrative structure, focus, and impact, and draws lessons for practitioners for its successful application.     

中国中长期经济增长动力与政府职能战略转变

中国中长期经济增长的动力是国际化、新型工业化、城市化、社会现代化和市场化。全面建设小康社会要求政府职能作出具有方向性、根本性、长期性和全局性的战略转变,为全面建设小康社会提供充足优质的公共服务。     

关注弱势群体是构建和谐社会的关键

中国在社会转型过程中,社会层级结构迅速嬗变,新的利益群体和阶层逐步形成。特别是弱势群体,政治地位低,生活困难,是构建和谐社会急需关注的一个特殊群体。所以,关注弱势群体对构建社会主义和谐社会不仅意义重大,而且十分迫切。     

民主意识的现状和培养

作者从民主意识的现状和原因分析入手,论述了当前为什么要加强民主意识的培养和怎样加强民主意识的培养;加强民主意识的培养是构建和谐社会的需要。     

中国传统社会权力主导资源分配现象剖析

中国传统社会特殊的体制结构决定了政治权力的中心和主导地位 ,形成了政治权力主导和支配经济资源分配及配置的局面。这首先表现为王朝建立之初的后革命时期的资源再分配过程中 ,其次也反映在各个王朝常态演进的各个时期里 ,其本质正是马克思所说的“权力捉弄财产”。这一情况的普遍存在 ,在中国古代不仅造成了市场的扭曲 ,还带来了根深蒂固的权力崇拜 ,给近代以来的中国现代化进程带来了严重的负面影响     

论建构性后现代主义的和谐思想

建构性后现代主义者积极寻求重建一个美好和谐的新世界。他们所倡导的人与自然的和谐,人与社会的和谐,人与人的和谐等思想对于我们今天落实科学发展观,构建社会主义和谐社会有着重要的启示作用。