The lessons of the ‘Nookat events’: central government,local officials and religious protests in Kyrgyzstan

As Muslim communities reassert themselves in public life across the world, including Central Asia, their actions are causing tension in relations with ‘secular’ governments. Various global theories have been offered to explain these dynamics. According to one theory, tension between religious communities and secular states is caused by the exclusion or marginalization of Muslims, a process exacerbated by the perceived anti-Muslim bias in the foreign- and domestic-security policies of Central Asian states. A second view is that tension results from the work of global extremist groups espousing the restoration of an Islamic Caliphate. The third approach presents the rising tension as part of a broader trend: a putative clash of Western and Muslim civilizations. This article challenges these theories by using a case study of a Muslim grassroots protest in Kyrgyzstan to highlight the importance of local politics, namely informal arrangements among local officials, power brokers and community members. In so doing, it seeks to make a contribution to theorizing Muslim–state relations in Central Asia.     

Between transitional justice and politics: Reparations in South Africa

ABSTRACT

Reparations are a major component of transitional justice in the aftermath of widespread abuse. However, the implementation of reparations programmes often follows the logic of transitional politics, where short-term political interests trump victims’ rights. Using the South African case as a cautionary tale, this article shows that reparations are susceptible to political instrumentalisation and evaluates the role of international redress norms in safeguarding victims’ rights. Civil society groups have used the right to reparations as a basis for political contestation of inadequate reparations programmes and focused primarily on the broadening of redress norms. However, the existing international legislation fails to protect victims’ rights to reparations from political manoeuvring. In conclusion, the article highlights the need for international redress norms to be consolidated and made more concrete in order to more effectively circumscribe the scope states have to avoid meeting their reparations obligations.     

THE ELUSIVE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS AND CRIME: AN ASSESSMENT ACROSS DISADVANTAGED AREAS OF THE SOUTH BRONX

Several theoretical perspectives posit a negative association between the extent of a neighborhood's organizational infrastructure and crime; yet, empirical support for this proposition has been limited in that researchers generally examine only a few types of organizations or combine them into one aggregate measure. Studies with few measures may omit organizations that are effective at reducing crime, whereas those using aggregate measures obscure differences across organizations in their ability to control crime. Using data from 74 block groups in the South Bronx, NY, this research seeks to specify more clearly the relationship between organizations and crime in a disadvantaged urban environment. We examine the relationship among nine different types of organizations and violent and property crime controlling for prior crime, land use, and area sociodemographic characteristics. Consistent with theories that highlight the importance of organizations for establishing ties outside the neighborhood, we find that block groups with more organizations that bridge to the larger community experience a decrease in crime. Property crime also is reduced in block groups with more organizations that promote the well‐being of families and children. We find that schools are associated with an increase in property crime, whereas the effects of other organizations are context specific and vary based on neighborhood racial composition, commercial land use, and disadvantage.     

地方政府应对网络公共事件能力问题研究

随着五联网成为社会舆论场的重心,网络公共事件不断发生,其不仅成为政府和社会各界关注的焦点。而且也是影响当前社会和谐稳定的关键因素,。因此,探讨网络公共事件的特征,把握网络公共事件的性质,厘清公共事件发生和发展过程中的演化要素,妥善地应对各类网络公共事件,提高地方政府应对、处置、引导和管理网络公共事件的能力,对于维护社会稳定具有重要意义。     

Stolen Art Restitution Claims and the Exhaustion of Local Remedies: How Foreign-Based Plaintiffs are Able to Succeed Under the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act

Stolen art restitution claims under the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act (“FSIA”) present unique procedural issues that implicate the history, purpose, and objectives of the FSIA. At the forefront of these issues are how foreign-based plaintiffs are able to bring suits against foreign governments or foreign citizens in US Federal Courts. Whether these foreign-based plaintiffs must exhaust local remedies in their country of origin is another issue that these kinds of suits typically have courts resolve. This article provides answers to these issues through a historical discussion of the implementation of the FSIA and an analysis of recent case law.     

Multiple perpetrator rape: Naming an offence and initial research findings

Abstract

Multiple perpetrator rape presents a significant problem nationally and internationally. However, previous research is limited and findings are often contradictory. The details of 101 rape allegations recorded in a six-month period in a large police force in England were analysed. Findings are presented about case classification, victim and perpetrator characteristics, approach and assault location, perpetrator group composition and victim targeting. The discussion of the findings is used as a basis to explore the pitfalls and benefits of the established naming and definition of this offence. Local and colloquial terms (e.g. “gang bang” and “streamlining”) as well as academic terminology (e.g. “group” and “gang” rape) are considered. The paper concludes by proposing an overarching term “multiple perpetrator” rape that allows a series of subtypes to be developed both locally and transnationally.     

Legislating community‐based management: Lessons from the venezuelan freshwater fishery

Abstract

The linkage between legitimate local participation and institutional/legal openness was demonstrated by an evaluation of the current freshwater fishery regulatory system in Venezuela as explicated in the 1944 Ley de Pesca (Law of the Fishery). By examining the current efficacy of Venezuela's freshwater fishery laws and government openness to local input, this case‐study illustrates barriers to community‐based management (CBM) created by top‐down management paradigms and hierarchical legal frameworks. Analysis of a proposed CBM project in Venezuela indicates that enabling institutions and legislation are necessary for effective long‐term, decentralized freshwater fishery management. Social learning is considered as an approach for making the political and legal climate more amenable to local input. The intent is to further clarify how the union of what is legal and what is civil in a society can enhance the capacity and potential of management devolution and therefore bring us closer to achieving sustainable natural resource use.     

论转型期地方政府社会管理职能转变路径——基于组织人事结构的考察

转型期地方政府社会管理职能转变是地方行政体制变革的重要内容,它本质上也是对地方政府政治职能回归式的重新界定。地方政府的组织人事结构体系的主体性功能的有效配置与合理调适正是社会管理职能转变的路径。因此,地方政府社会管理职能转变可以通过地方政府结构体系的公共治理行动网络化形态来实现。     

Rapid Assessment Procedures

SUMMARY

Given the racialization of subjective, material and historical realities in South Africa, psychological training and practice in community raise crucial and often thorny ethical, epistemological and methodological questions. This article appraises the strengths and limitations of using Rapid Assessment Procedures (RAP) (Afonja, 1992) in the field training of postgraduate students in community-counseling psychology. Rooted in an activist participatory action research framework (Lykes, 1997), RAP provide a framework for the collective exploration of locally constructed representations of a community's needs and resources; joining the ‘community’ (negotiating a dialogical form of communication and a respect for the insider-outsider dialectic); working through one's ‘situated otherness’; and deracializing psychological training and practice.     

我国地方政府创新的实践与评价

我国地方政府创新活动在学术界、媒体和公众的共同推动下,呈现出日益蓬勃的发展态势。地方政府创新的实质是公共治理创新,目的是提高公共服务质量和政府自身的管理能力。目前,地方政府创新存在的主要问题是创新动力不足、创新环境不佳和创新成本较高。文章从国家制度建设、地方政府的层级节制和社会评价机制建设方面对促进与规范地方政府的创新行为进行了思考。