“The (final) solution of the Gypsy-question:” continuities in discourses about Roma in Hungary, 1940s–1950s

Although the repression and elimination of Roma from Hungarian society in the 1940s did not reach the same extent as in the German and Austrian part of the Third Reich, their characterization as lazy and work-shy, used to justify their persecution, was similar. This paper establishes the presence of racial hygienic discourse related to Roma during the late 1930s and the first half of the 1940s in Hungary, and traces its survival and influence on regional policy-making in the postwar period. It furthermore explores the transformation and adaptation of racism and eugenics to the socialist ideology of equality based on citizens’ participation in productive work in the early state socialist period, including the first Party declaration on the situation of Roma in Hungary in 1961. Specific attention is paid to the role of medical experts who discussed the “radical solution of the Gypsy-question” in the early 1940s and the immediate years following World War II. Reflecting on wider transformations of racism in the postcolonial and post-World War II period in Europe and North America, the paper contributes to scholarship that complicates the evaluation of the state socialist past, including the connection between medicine and politics in Cold War Europe.     

Water Service Provision and Peacebuilding in East Timor: Exploring the Socioecological Determinants for Sustaining Peace

This article presents an examination of post-conflict water resource management in East Timor through the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) with the aim of contributing to our understanding of the opportunities and challenges inherent to the sustainable management of water resources in post-conflict countries and of gaining insight into its potential long-term benefits for sustaining peace. The article contributes one of the first theory-centred, empirical analyses of post-conflict water resource management, in which the challenges and failures of UNTAET in East Timor shed light on the opportunities and risks inherent to post-conflict water service provision for peacebuilding.     

From extractivism towards buen vivir: mining policy as an indicator of a new development paradigm prioritising the environment

This article analyses mining policy as an indicator of a larger question: are some Third World governments starting to steer away from plunder ‘extractivism’ towards a paradigm that prioritises the environment? We begin with the cases of El Salvador and Costa Rica, which have major mining bans in place. We then present the results of our research in which we find five other countries with noteworthy mining-policy shifts: Panama, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, and New Zealand. A sixth country, Honduras under President Zelaya, stands as a recent historical case of how sensitive such a policy change can be. A key take-away from our article is that critical development scholars and practitioners need to look more closely at the mining sector – not simply to analyse case studies of specific mining protests and resistances to extractivism, although these are of course important. Rather, there is a need to investigate policy changes that just might be indications that the era of unquestioning extractivism has ended and that at least some governments are initiating policies to incorporate environmental externalities, policies that suggest a changing development paradigm in the direction of environmental – and concomitant social and economic – ‘well-being’ as envisioned in buen vivir.     

Performance measurement in Australian water utilities. Current state and future directions

Ensuring universal and affordable water supply is a central objective of government. An efficient water supply sector plays a primary role in ensuring this objective is met. Scale economies and capital-intensive immobile assets means monopoly emerges as the dominant organizational form, and when combined with an essential character, a strong case exists for economic and technical regulation. Yet diversity in water service provider scale means economic regulation, which is costly, is not always viable. A comprehensive performance monitoring and reporting regime for water service providers is thus crucial. It is crucial for oversight of unregulated entities, and for regulated entities in generating competition by comparison. In this article, we undertake an expansive literature review and summarize approaches to performance measurement by the water industry. Academic literature reveals researchers have centered their approach using comprehensive methods such as data envelopment analysis and stochastic frontier analysis. With the exception of the Victorian Essential Services Commission, the Australian Industry persists with partial indicators. Given water and sewerage price increases of more than 100% in real terms from 2005 to 2014, we find a strong case for implementing advanced methods to address the task of providing a holistic picture of utility performance.     

Seeing land deals through the lens of the ‘land–water nexus’: the case of biofuel production in Piura,Peru

ABSTRACT

This contribution examines two large-scale land acquisitions on Peru’s northern coast, using a ‘land–water nexus’ approach. The establishment of large sugarcane monocultures resulted in a massive transfer of land and water rights from smallholders to biofuel companies. Using Ribot and Peluso’s theory of access, we demonstrate that this transfer of rights was enabled by the convergence of neoliberal land and water reforms and the presence of the two investors. This constellation (1) altered smallholders’ bundles of rights; and (2) created sharp imbalances that radically changed access to land and water, not only through changing bundles of rights, but also, and maybe more significantly, through widening the gaps between smallholders’ and biofuel companies’ bundles of powers. Using Hall et al.’s powers of exclusion approach, we identify the processes both underpinning and resulting out of the changing access relations analyzed in this study. Changes to Peru’s water governance may accentuate power asymmetries between investors and smallholders, constraining locals’ access to increasingly scarce water.     

Human-provided waters for desert wildlife: what is the problem?

Conflict persists in southwestern deserts of the United States over management of human-constructed devices to provide wildlife with water. We appraised decision processes in this case relative to the goal of human dignity and by the standards of civility and common interest outcomes. Our analysis suggested that conflict was scientized, rooted in worldviews, and aggravated by use of inflammatory symbols such as “wilderness” and “bighorn sheep.” Contested problem definitions, framed as matters of science, advanced factional interests largely by allocating the burden of proof and failing to disclose private concerns about well-being, affection, respect, skill and power. Decision processes were shaped by precepts of scientific management, and thus largely failed to foster civility, common ground, and a focus on common interests, and instead tended to exacerbate deprivations of dignity and respect. If the status quo continues, we foresee further erosion of human dignity because there are likely to be increases in system stressors, such as climate change and human population growth. The prognosis would be more hopeful if alternatives were adopted that entailed authoritative, equitable, and collaborative public decision-making processes that took into consideration national-level common interests such as the U.S. Endangered Species Act.     

西方国家水利的社会管理与公共服务职能变革分析

20世纪80年代以来,在英、美等西方国家兴起了以治道变革为特征的新公共管理运动,其目标是为了应付一系列政府管理中出现的问题。发达国家水利的社会管理与公共服务职能的变革是新公共管理运动的一项重要内容。水公共产品作为一种以政府为主导提供的特殊公共产品,在以新公共管理理论为指导的政府改车过程中,水利的社会管理与公共服务职能的作用日益重要起来。本文通过对西方国家水利的社会管理与公共服务职能变革的背景、理论和实践的考察,提出对中国水利的社会管理与公共服务的借鉴意义。     

水环境与水资源流域综合管理体制研究

水资源具有生态价值和经济价值双重属性.又具有系统性和整体性的特点,这决定了水资源开发、利用和保护必须以流域为基础,走水环境管理与水资源管理相结合的道路.为实现水资源可持续利用,缓解水资源短缺的压力.必须对我国现行的水环境管理与水资源管理并行的双重管理体制进行改革,建立水环境与水资源流域综合管理体制.     

构建南水北调中线工程水源区生态补偿机制

南水北调中线工程水源区担负着缓解我国北方水资源短缺和生态环境恶化、促进水资源整体优化配置的重大战略性任务,但目前面临着地方财政资金困难、当地经济发展受限、水源保护任务艰巨等急需解决的问题。建立生态补偿机制,提供法律和政策保证,适当运用公共财政手段和"水权有偿转让"等市场手段,内部补偿和外部补偿相结合构建双向"造血"机制,强化管理和监管,体现公平原则、维护水源区权益,以保证南水北调工程顺利实施。     

生产销售食品犯罪几个疑难问题的认定——不卫生食品与有毒、有害食品罪名认定

不符合卫生标准的食品是指不符合《食品安全法》规定的食品卫生及安全标准的食品,它包括两层含义：一是这些食品的原料是食品原料,而不能是掺入的非食品原料;二是该食品是不符合卫生标准的食品。有毒、有害食品是指掺入了有毒、有害的非食品原料的食品。区分两种生产销售食品犯罪的根本在于两个：一是毒源不同,二是掺入方式不同。