CSR and social conflict in the Brazilian extractive sector

ABSTRACT

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an important means to address conflicts, support local development and build trust between businesses and civil society. Yet CSR often fails to live up to its ambitions and can even exacerbate conflicts between companies and communities. In this article we consider how changing CSR strategies over the past four decades between Brazilian company Vale to Norwegian company Hydro have fomented or mitigated company–community conflicts in Northern Brazil. We find that paternalistic and philanthropic approaches of Vale over time led to deep resentment and mistrust due to underdevelopment and environmental damages. Moreover, while Hydro’s more modern CSR strategies sought to deepen community engagement and build legitimacy, the company has struggled in addressing the legacies inherited from Vale and past and current civil society grievances. The case suggests that even forward-thinking CSR approaches are vulnerable to failure where they prioritise business risk over community engagement, neglect to account for past legacies in areas of operation, and fail to create a shared vision of future development. It suggests that EI companies should both understand and engage with their social and environmental impacts in the past, present, and future and create shared economic benefits in the short and long term in order to address social conflicts.     

Articulating the threatened suffragette body: suffragette embroidered cloths worked in Holloway Prison, 1911–1912

ABSTRACT

In public archives there are a number of hand-embroidered cloths worked by suffragettes incarcerated in Holloway Prison between 1911 and 1912. Denied political status, some of the embroiderers used the hunger strike as a political tool and were forcibly fed. In this paper the embroideries are reframed as material and discursive evidence of suffragette prison experiences. The material narratives of the embroidered cloths are traced, drawing on a dialogue between critical theory, material object enquiry, practice as research and the work of contemporary textile practitioners. Embroidering by suffragettes is explored as an embodied and situated ‘thread act’ that materialised the making of networks, the need for protection of the body and mind, the powers and dangers of boundary crossing, and proto-political thinking.     

论新课程观下的数学教师素质

教师素质是直接影响课程实施的重要因素。因而对新课程观下数学教师应具备的政治素质、专业素质、创新意识、信息技术等方面进行较深入地探讨十分必要。     

法学专业实习之反思与借鉴

法学专业实习作为实践教育的重要环节,在法学本科教育中有着重要的作用。面对当前法学本科教育专业实习日益严重的形式化倾向,有必要反思法学专业实习的必要性,并在此基础上实现法学专业实习模式的创新。本文以全新的教育观念为指导思想,在比较借鉴世界各国法学实践教育经验的基础上,结合我国的法学教育实际及在实践中积累的经验,提出可行的建议。     

以中美制度分析为基础论中国公司资本制度模式选择

美国为授权资本制的典型国家,中国实行法定资本制有其特殊的背景。以中美制度分析为基础看公司资本制度模式选择,中国应采取折衷授权资本制。     

行贿罪案件证据实务剖析

行贿罪案因其固有的“无现场”、“单线联系”和涉案主体的“共利共害”等特征 ,一直是司法实务的难点。行贿犯罪对转型期中国危害的严重性 ,使其成为司法工作的重点。从实证分析的角度 ,对该类案件的证据实务进行剖析 ,将为司法实务提供指导。     

侦查教学贴近公安实践的思考

侦查教学贴近实践,是培养实战型人才的重要环节。侦查工作的实践性特点和现实斗争的需要,培养实战型人才的重任落在教育部门肩上。如何在教学中贴近公安实践,与采取的教学手段相互关联。对侦查教学进行改革,协调整合理论和实践课内容的成分,提高教师业务水平,汲取基层实践经验,发掘教师资源,是当前侦查教学中的关键问题。     

西方女性主义学术思想的传播及其本土实践--对当前中国妇女研究的思考

10多年来,西方女性主义学术思想在中国的传播,对于我国学界新的学术理念的确立、研究方法和思维方式的转变以及学科建设等方面产生了促进作用.但作为舶来品的西方女性主义,在引进和传播的过程中,如何与中国本土的妇女理论研究和妇女解放实践密切结合,仍将是今后一段时期内妇女研究不可回避的一个重要理论问题.因此,当前应着重处理好学术与政治之间、提高与普及之间、全球化与本土化之间的关系.     

USING EXTERNSHIPS TO INTRODUCE FAMILY LAW STUDENTS TO NEW PROFESSIONAL ROLES

Law schools are seeking ways to familiarize family law students with exciting new professional roles arising in connection with family court reform. This article describes the family law externship program at William Mitchell College of Law which includes a classroom component allowing students placed in different practice settings to compare and contrast their experiences. The program assists students in making career choices and enhances their ability to counsel future clients.