Embeddedness and Restructuring: Case Studies from Singapore

Free market ideology has continued its hegemonic reign notwithstanding considerable opposition. Under capitalism, the relationship between the political and economic realms is intricate. This inquiry on corporate restructuring in Singapore between the late 1990s and the early 2000s scrutinizes how a dominant state collaborated with the multinational corporations to reconstitute their accumulation regimes to outlast the business cycles. Based on six cases, the findings underscore the critical role of the state on the subject of restructuring. The peculiar configuration of the relations between the state and labour in Singapore shaped how they negotiated the restructuring process with the companies. While those involved reckoned that training, research and technology were pivotal, the foregoing were not the panacea that optimistic consultants had made them out to be. The interactions among capital, labour and the state remained the underpinnings of solutions.     

The International Criminal Court and the Darfur crimes: The dilemma of peace and supra-national criminal justice

ABSTRACT

The supra-national criminal prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of the alleged crimes committed in Darfur raises critical legal and conceptual issues. This article addresses the dilemma of peace, justice and reconciliation from a legal perspective, as well as the justice options that are available. The article also assesses the Sudan's criminal and military laws (both at the substantive and procedural levels) in terms of the country's ability to prosecute international crimes such as war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. In this respect, the article argues that these laws fall short of international criminal law standards and principles – particularly the amendments introduced after the United Nations Security Council referred the Darfur situation to the ICC. The article critically examines the Sudan government's policy of non-engagement, which ultimately led to supra-national criminal prosecution (represented by the ICC intervention under the complementarity principle of the Rome Statute). Finally, the article interrogates the report issued by the African Union High-Level Panel on Darfur (AUPD), and evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of its recommendations.     

The regional outcome of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement five years down the road: Are external forces playing a progressive role?

ABSTRACT

The Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of January 2005 is the outcome of regional and international mediation led by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD)1 and the IGAD Partners’ Forum broadened to include the United States of America, Norway, the Netherlands, Canada, Italy and the United Nations. Five years into its implementation the peace agreement appears to have transformed the war between North and South Sudan into a series of engagements of conflicting nature. Numerous contradictory actions by both the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the National Congress Party (NCP) (the main political forces behind the CPA) have been noted during the ongoing implementation process (Grawert forthcoming 2010; Grawert and El-Battahani 2005; Wassara 2008). Although internal Sudanese forces are the key actors in implementing the CPA, external forces are critical in providing the support and pressure needed for a complete realisation of the peace deal. The New Regionalism Approach (NRA), as advanced by Grant and Soderbäum (2003), is instrumental in understanding this dynamic. This article is based on the result of a study that seeks to examine why positive engagements of external forces are needed for a timely implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.     

谈道路交通事故处理中讯问的技巧

对构成犯罪、依法追究刑事责任的交通事故案件,对交通肇事犯罪嫌疑人要实施讯问。道路交通事故处理中的讯问,是一项严肃的执法活动,必须严格按照法律、法规的规定进行。在道路交通事故处理中,保障讯问及时、有效地进行,保障被讯问人客观、全面地提供有关事故的真实材料,对于道路交通事故的处理工作具有十分重要的意义。文章在明确道路交通事故处理中讯问的概念与要求的基础上,深刻阐述了道路交通事故处理中讯问的技巧,目的是为道路交通事故处理的业务部门和办案民警提供帮助。     

交通肇事犯罪原因探析

交通肇事犯罪一直是社会的热点。近年来,随着数起引起社会广泛影响的交通肇事大案以及《刑法修正案(八)》将危险驾驶行为纳入犯罪,新闻媒体与法律实务更加关注对交通肇事犯罪的评价。然而,目前学界研究此类犯罪多从刑法规制的角度探讨,而隐藏在犯罪背后的深层原因却鲜有研究。任何犯罪现象总有一定的犯罪原因的外在展现和结果状态,从交通的组成因素探讨其对交通肇事的联系和影响,有助于发现交通肇事的本质,为交通事故的预防提供重要参考。     

“无增长改善论”对加强公安基层执法监督的启示——以南平市公安局为例

南平市公安机关运用＂无增长改善论＂指导基层执法监督实践,在执法水平、执法公信力、执法制度等方面取得了较显著的成效。但还存在观念不正、责任不明、协调不力、追究不到等问题,必须立足实践大胆创新,因地制宜采取有效措施,把改革的推动力、教育的说服力、制度的约束力、监督的制衡力、惩治的威慑力结合起来,使公安基层执法监督更具系统性,体现时代性,富有创造性。     

The problem of Irish Unionism

The paper is a critique of a recent article by Luke Martell which attempted to set out a new, non-statist and non-coercive socialist agenda. The critique suggests that coercion and repression are probably inherent to the socialist project and that Martell's proposals fail to address this. It also takes issue with Martell's proposals for limiting the role of markets and for developing local forms of corporatist agencies. The assumption that market capitalism is in some way antithetical to communal morality is also challenged on the grounds that genuine communalism is likely to arise out of voluntary co-operation rather than state-sponsored initiatives and programmes.     

China in the context of globalization

Although this paper challenges the standard viewpoint that foreign direct investment actually occurred in colonial times it also finds parallels with today’s international finance. Evidence shows that the reverse flow of funds was infinitely much greater than possible foreign investment for at least one colony, the Netherlands East Indies (colonial Indonesia). We calculate for the late colonial period (1880–1939) out of its total colonial surplus at least US$430 billion in today’s terms (about three-quarters of the total) was available for investment. This was far in excess of actual investment. Less than one-third of the available for investment went to colonial Indonesia and a further one-third was invested in other countries. The remainder is attributed to investment in the Netherlands (mainly portfolio), investment by non-Dutch corporations and to some statistical errors and omissions. Furthermore, we indicate their actual vital function within the global economic and financial organisation of the Netherlands in late colonial times. The probability of similar occurrences today is raised.     

Paisaje antes de la batalla. Notas sobre el contexto de la guerra contra las drogas en México

Mexico’s security crisis and Felipe Calderón’s (2006-2012) security strategy had its roots in drug trafficking, the prohibition of drugs, contraband and the border shared with the United States. Standard accounts of the violence experienced in the country, which reduce it to confrontations between drug cartels, are of little use. This article presents part of the context in which the security crisis developed, putting it in a historical perspective, and attempting to take a step towards a more nuanced interpretation. It holds that drug trafficking between Mexico and the United States is a complex, many-sided reality which admits dense symbolic elaboration. Apart from the very concrete shipping of drugs, drug trafficking is part of Mexico’s relation with the United States, a register that imbues the asymmetry between both countries with meaning, a space of political negotiation and a resource of American global diplomacy which is crystallized in a clandestine foreign policy system. Furthermore, through the demystification of the imagery that envelopes organized crime, corruption and contraband are examined, conceiving these two as phenomena that are integrated organically into borderland society.