Shaking off the neoliberal shackles: “democratic emergence” and the negotiation of democratic knowledge in the Middle East North Africa context

ABSTRACT

There is a general assumption in democracy promotion that liberal democracy is the panacea that will solve all political and economic problems faced by developing countries. Using the concept of “good society” as analytical prism, the analysis shows that while there is a rhetorical agreement as to what the “good society” entails, democracy promotion practices fail to allow for recipients’ inclusion in the negotiation and delivery of the “good society”. Contrasting US and Tunisian discourses on the “good society”, the article argues that democracy promotion practices are underpinned by neoliberal parameters borne out from a reliance on the transition paradigm, which in turn leave little room to democracy promotion recipients to formulate knowledge claims supporting the emergence of alternative conceptions of the “good society”. In contrast, the article opens up a reflective pathway to a negotiated democratic knowledge, which would reside in a paradigmatic change that consists in the abandonment of the transition paradigm in favour of a “democratic emergence” paradigm.     

朝鲜国外科技引进现状及其发展趋势

进入20世纪90年代末期,朝鲜对作为经济发展的助推器和起关键作用的科学技术政策的调整格外重视,先后出台了一系列促进科技发展的新政策,其中突出强调扩大同国外科技合作和引进先进技术对经济发展的重要性,使朝鲜在同国外科技合作方面发展较快。今后,朝鲜对外科技合作政策应是趋向较开放型的,重点是引进符合经济发展和利于提高整体科技水平的先进技术。     

第三方因素与中美关系的逆社会化——以中国周边安全态势为例

2008年金融危机以来,中美关系下行趋势渐显。对此,国内外学者从体系结构压力、对外战略、国内政治以及意识形态等角度提出了诸多解释。然而,现实中中美关系日趋下行的原因却更为复杂。近年来频频发酵的钓鱼岛危机、南海争端以及朝核危机等第三方因素逐渐凸显,对中美关系的破坏作用不容忽视。为弥补既有解释的不足,作者将尝试从第三方视角构建一个替代性的逆社会化理论框架。这一理论认为,中美关系中的第三方可以通过冲突化、污名化与互信退化三个微观机制诱发中美关系的紧张局势。案例研究表明:日本挑起的钓鱼岛争端不仅诱发了中美关于东海防空识别区的冲突,而且加剧了中美两国在西太平洋地区的军事竞争。菲律宾则借黄岩岛危机,在国际上大肆丑化中国形象,其发起的南海仲裁案使得中美两国相互认知日趋负面。朝鲜近年来频繁进行核试验,更是加剧了中美两国在制裁朝鲜、部署萨德系统等问题上的战略互疑。对于第三方的逆社会化效应,中美双方均应高度警惕、精心管控。     

Cheap talk,costly talk,crazy talk: patterns in North Korea’s English language propaganda*

This article examines the patterns in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (North Korea’s) use of hostile rhetoric in its internationally-directed messaging. The article first places North Korea’s belligerent rhetoric in the context of that country’s capacity to threaten the US and its Northeast Asian allies; indeed many analysts worry that Pyongyang’s rhetoric represents a conflict escalation risk or even a casus belli. Following this, the article discusses the common explanations – irrationality/incompetence, lack of audience costs, inter alia – for why the North Korean regime employs such hostile rhetoric, and finds these explanations wrong or misleading. The main analysis section describes the results of a study of 10 years of English-language propaganda published by the KCNA (North Korea’s state news agency). A multiple regression model is used to test the relationship between North Korea’s hostile rhetoric and a set of independent variables. The statistical tests indicate a mixed correlation of North Korean rhetoric to the independent variables. One major finding is that there is no correlation between hostile North Korean rhetoric and the country’s kinetic provocations. The conclusion discusses the role that North Korea’s rhetoric plays within the country’s larger adversarial relationship to the US, South Korea, and Japan.     

从NAFTA到USMCA:投资争端解决机制的变化、成因及启示

2020年7月生效的《美国—墨西哥—加拿大协定》在投资争端解决机制上一改《北美自由贸易协定》下偏重对投资者权利保护的“新自由主义”精神,回归对国家规制权能的重视。在适用对象、适用争议、适用程序上作出变化与革新。全球价值链收缩及“慢球化”、投资争端解决机制的内在合法性危机以及对东道国规制权力的削弱,是国际投资争端解决机制发生变化的深层次经济、法律与政治动因。《美国—墨西哥—加拿大协定》投资争端解决机制的变化与革新将进一步推动“卡尔沃主义”的回归以及加剧国际投资法体制内部的碎片化趋势。中国应积极支持及推进投资争端解决机制改革,使其发挥正面作用,同时辩证吸收“卡尔沃主义”的合理因素,积极探索诸如前置协商、投诉与帮助以及调解等解决投资者与东道国之间投资争议的多元渠道。     

中国在朝鲜半岛的地缘安全战略分析

朝鲜半岛地处东北亚核心地带,是我国重要的战略侧翼。作为与中国山水相连、唇齿相依的邻邦,朝鲜半岛在中国的地缘安全战略中一直具有极其重要的意义。冷战结束以来,朝鲜半岛的地缘政治环境发生了重大变化,原来由美苏主导的两极格局趋向多极化,在某种程度上形成了大国相互竞争的局面,处于较弱地位的朝韩两国也不由自主地被纳入了周边大国的战略轨道,半岛形势空前复杂化。而两次朝核危机的爆发更使朝鲜半岛局势的发展跌宕起伏,波折不断。面对错综复杂的半岛形势,中国从"维护朝鲜半岛的和平与稳定"这一战略目标出发,确立了以"对话和合作"为基本特征的安全战略,并积极推动朝核问题的和平解决,为缓和半岛紧张局势,维护东北亚地区和平与稳定发挥了不可替代的作用。     

Bounding the Commons: Land Demarcation in Northeastern Nicaragua

In north-eastern Nicaragua, territorial titling of communal lands conflates particular notions of ethnicity with proprietary conceptions of space to generate new forms of conflict within and between indigenous and black communities, and with mestizo migrants. Notions of rights between competing groups, or within conflicting normative frameworks, become increasingly polemic during demarcation. While analysis of three land titling case studies demonstrates that results are socially contingent and place based, trends include: (a) power disparities; (b) tension between 'traditional' and 'modern' patterns of land tenure and resource rights; and (c) contradictions fed by international conservation agendas and neoliberal economic reforms. Combining critical actor-based analysis with practical policy critique our work illuminates how contestations over the bounding of communal territories contribute to social injustice.     

White Supremacist Activity and Crossburnings in North Carolina

This study examines whether the incidence of crossburnings rises in areas where white supremacist organizations, such as the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, have held rallies or demonstrations. Using data from two public interest groups, Klanwatch and North Carolinians Against Racial and Religious Violence, we track crossburnings and white supremacist activities in 100 North Carolina counties annually for the period 1987–1993. Various statistical models, including an event count analysis that allows each county to have its own level or reporting bias, indicate that the base rate at which crossburnings occur rises sharply in counties where a demonstration has taken place. Since none of the suspected crossburners has apparent ties to white supremacist groups, it may be that white supremacist rallies encourage fellow travelers to engage in this form of racial intimidation.     

The European Union in Sudan: A Missed Opportunity?

Abstract

International organisations active in Africa are often criticised for their ineffectiveness. So too is the European Union (EU), which is also accused of failing to assume a more prominent conflict management role in war-torn countries. This article examines the EU’s capacity and readiness to take on such a role in one such country, the former Republic of Sudan, home to Africa’s longest-running civil wars and the first ‘genocide’ of the 21st century. It begins by outlining the EU’s record in Darfur and the North–South Peace Process. Drawing upon 25 interviews and Hill’s ‘capabilities–expectations model’, it then questions whether the EU’s ‘capabilities’ (resources, instruments, unity) were ‘fit for purpose’ in Sudan’s hostile target setting. It concludes by identifying settings that have been more propitious for a conflict-related management function and by suggesting that the EU should better manage expectations about future security roles.     

1492: The discovery of Japan

Columbus and the Discovery of Japan, by Richard Nelson. Royal Shakespeare Company, the Barbican Theatre, London, July 1992.