Does local ownership enhance legitimacy and democratic governance in peacebuilding? The case of diasporas

ABSTRACT

In contemporary peacebuilding debates, it is argued that local ownership renders peacebuilding more sustainable, democratic and legitimate. However, these claims have not been seriously interrogated as to their empirical validity. Such evaluations must begin by answering the question, ‘Who is local?’ Different local actors have varying resources, capacities and levels of authority and autonomy. Taking the relatively unexplored case of diasporas, this paper illustrates the absence of a straightforward relationship between ownership and its normative benefits. By assessing the significance of resources like local/ethnic bonds, financial and social remittances, this paper argues that diasporas can undermine the legitimacy of peacebuilding. Furthermore, although diasporas can enhance the prospects for democratic governance, the causal mechanisms can be corrupted.     

Lawnscape: semiotics of space,spectacle, and ownership

While seemingly straightforward, the boundaries of ownership can be confusing. Take the front lawn, for instance. Some local ordinances prohibit such things as parking on one's front lawn or displaying celebratory storks, “For Sale” signs, or political displays out of concern for the neighbours. However, what happens when the front lawn is taken over by an unstoppable lava flow? On the Big Island of Hawai'i, countless front lawns are now vast expanses of hardened black lava. These lawns exist now under changed jurisdiction as legal spaces. No longer are these lava-ed lawns now simply purely private property as state authorities now control the area. On front lawns with or without lava, the notion of ownership is confused by two competing rights: the rights of those who inhabit the property versus the rights of those who view the property. Here, the context of rights expands traditional claims and lines of ownership according to the activity of spectaclizing. This paper will examine the tension of ownership and pursuant competing rights that challenge the construction of traditional boundaries and their enforcement within the framework of the semiotics of space. In this paper, the semiotics of space found in front lawns challenges the standard faculties of law to remedy conflicting rights.     

Comment on James H. Carr and Michelle Mulcahy's “Twenty years of housing policy: what's new,what's changed,what's ahead?”

Housing policy in the post Great Recession (GR) era faces tremendous uncertainties, but clearly there will be more sensitivity around risk, quality, and transparency in capital markets. The post-GR domestic policy environment and economy are likely to impose several overarching constraints, including less access to world capital markets for financing housing, more restrictive assessments of risk, and increasing restraints on federal domestic spending particularly for non-entitlement programs. Carr and Mulcahy provide a substantial agenda of liberal-progressive policies that focus on the predatory and risky practices of loan originators and promote expansion of home ownership for low-income households. If we are indeed on the brink of an era of austerity, the housing policy debate will need to focus on priorities for contraction rather than expansion in housing programs, and on tenure-neutral policies rather than promoting home ownership.     

所有权制度的历史分析

从历史的角度看,没有哪一项法律制度像所有权这样承载着极为厚重的人文价值。人类社会从蒙昧时期、文明时期发展到近现代社会时期,所有权制度经历了从原始的财产支配到个人人性乃至社会整体的精神解放、从等级身份制条件下的公然不平等到形式主义的人人平等、从近现代的绝对所有权到现代社会兼顾实质平等的所有权这些重大的法律价值嬗变。所有权制度的有效性,是法律体系的核心目标,而有效的所有权制度,只有从认真对待民众的自然权利的角度入手才能够真正予以理解。在我国,解放民众所有权上的制度和思想桎梏、建立科学的公共财产所有权制度,应当成为我国进一步发展所有权制度的社会共识。     

真正身份犯中无身份共同正犯的处罚依据--兼论贪污罪的司法适用问题

身份犯中,纯正的身份犯其身份具有构成要件要素的性质,如贪污罪中的国家工作人员身份。非具有身份者不能单独构成犯罪,但刑法规定可以与有身份者构成共同正犯,但其处罚依据在学理上存在疑问。处罚非身份共同正犯的依据并不在于形式的不法与有责身份分离说（结果无价值论）,也不能从基础单薄的法律拟制说中找寻正当依据。承认真正身份犯中非身份行为人责任与具有身份的行为人责任具有连带性质,是解决此类身份犯处罚依据的可行理论途径,此解释路径也可纠正相关身份犯罪非身份共同正犯的司法适用中的错误做法。     

AID EFFECTIVENESS AND THE PARIS DECLARATION: A MISMATCH BETWEEN OWNERSHIP AND RESULTS‐BASED MANAGEMENT?

Although recent years have witnessed substantial changes in the global aid architecture, less effort has been devoted to investigating the process of implementing those changes. By using the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) as an illustrative and critical case, this article shows how a donor development priority—gender—travels from Stockholm and headquarters to a Paris Declaration‐infused aid practice in three cases with different aid modalities: Tanzania, Zanzibar, and Cambodia. More specifically, the qualitative empirical investigation conducted here shows that the implementation of the new aid architecture puts severe and competing demands on development practitioners. At the core of this tension is the fact that although all donors are supposed to promote partner country ownership, harmonize their efforts with other donors, and align themselves with partner country priorities, results‐based management simultaneously implies not only a focus on continuously measuring and reporting results but also stricter prioritizations on behalf of donor governments. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

构建全息指挥与协同应急新模式

全息指挥是对传统应急指挥模式的突破,它基于应急效率对于应急信息的直接依赖性,利用成熟的网络技术和音频与视频技术,开发具有立体全面、实时直观、信息共享、准确高效等特点的全息指挥平台。借助这个技术平台,应对突发灾难事件的有关各方可以更容易建立联合指挥与协同应对的合理机制,克服应急过程中越级指挥、多头指挥和无序指挥等较为普遍的问题,促进资源整合,优化应急流程,提高应急水平。     

从一起争议案件看不作为犯罪的“保证人”与共同过失犯罪

先行行为是不作为犯罪的义务来源之一。在以先行行为为义务来源的不作为犯罪中,先行行为赋予行为人以保证人的地位,而正是此地位能够更好地解释以先行行为为义务来源的不作为犯罪何以构成犯罪。基于主客观相统一原则和罪刑均衡原则,共同过失犯罪应当得到立法和理论的认可。而对共同过失犯罪亦应如共同故意犯罪那样予以定罪量刑。     

Going green: Explaining issue competition on the environment

This study addresses the dynamics of the issue space in multiparty systems by examining to what extent, and under what conditions, parties respond to the issue ownership of other parties on the green issue. To understand why some issues become part and parcel of the political agenda in multiparty systems, it is crucial not only to examine the strategies of issue entrepreneurs, but also the responses of other parties. It is argued that the extent to which other parties respond to, rather than ignore, the issue mobilisation of green parties depends on two factors: how much of an electoral threat the green party poses to a specific party; and the extent to which the political and economic context makes the green issue a potential vote winner. To analyse the evolution of the green issue, a time‐series cross‐section analysis is conducted using data from the Comparative Manifestos Project for 19 West European countries from 1980–2010. The findings have important implications for understanding issue evolution in multiparty systems and how and why the dynamics of party competition on the green issue vary across time and space.     

中国南海疆域研究的问题与前瞻

本文对中国南海疆域研究中的“9条断续线”法律地位问题、海洋法公约执行问题作了初步的探讨,并对有关“行为准则”、“共同开发”等问题作了论述。