The transition to lower fertility in the West Bank and Gaza Strip: evidence from recent surveys

Using recent data from three national-level surveys conducted in 1995, 2000, and 2004, we provide evidence that Palestinian fertility rates in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, historically among the highest in the world, began to slow especially in the West Bank, but stalled in Gaza during the recent Intifada. The TFR in the early 2000s was 4.6 per woman, down from 6.2 a decade earlier. However, most of the decline in Gaza’s fertility appears to have taken place during the early 1990s, before the onset of the second Intifada. In Gaza, the TFR decreased from 7.4 to 5.7 during the 1990s, but changed only slightly to 5.6 during the second Intifada period. Surprisingly, contraceptive prevalence has not changed during these years, and the transition to lower fertility was mainly due to changes in nuptiality. Demand for children remains high, although there is evidence of unmet need for contraception. The continuing conflict and worsening economic situation provide clues to the persistence of high fertility among Palestinian women.

Resistance,Ritual Purification and Mediation: Tracing a Dayak Community's Sixteen-Year Search for Justice in East Kalimantan

In recent discussions on access to justice in Indonesia, little work has been done that illuminates the processes of conflict which inevitably arise in attempts to obtain justice based on informal actions and results, rather than on recourse to institutions. While many scholars and donor agencies tend to create the impression that non-institutional processes of justice-seeking are entirely unpredictable or ungoverned by regularities, in this article I seek to fill this gap by exploring patterns of conflict in East Kalimantan that are associated with Amartya Sen's realisation approach to justice-seeking. I will look into a conflict between a group of Dayak villagers and an oil palm company in East Kalimantan which started sixteen years ago with the establishment of three oil palm estates on customary land, causing complex changes to local people's lives as well as several injustices. The villagers pursued a variety of strategies to gain redress, which I describe as active resistance, ritual purification and mediation. In the analysis I draw upon Turner's concept of social dramas. I show that considering the long-lasting conflict in East Kalimantan as social drama helps to refine socio-legal approaches to conflict and access to justice as processual. The article will contribute to models of justice-seeking that can be associated with Amartya Sen's model of justice as realisational.     

文化调试 制度供给 社会支持——跨文化视野中的在华留学生

作为一种文化现象,外国学生来华学习是中国高等教育国际化的产物。由于文化之间尤其是东西方文化之间的巨大差异,以及留学生管理与服务的保障机制供给滞后,留学生在华学习生活存在跨文化适应障碍,主要表现在生活不适、价值观冲突、人际关系失谐等方面。优化留学生管理与服务体系,建立留学生心理干预机制,调整国际化办学理念,构建留学生社会支持体系,是破解留学生跨文化适应困境的规范路径。     

Embedding value-for-money in practice: A case study of a health pooled fund programme implemented in conflict-affected South Sudan

In recent times, there has been an increasing drive to demonstrate value for money (VfM) for investments made in public health globally. However, there is paucity of information on practical insights and best practices that have helped implementing organisations to successfully embed VfM in practice for programming and evaluation. In this article, we discuss strengths and weaknesses of approaches that been used and insights on best practices to manage for, demonstrate, and compare VfM, using a health pooled fund programme implemented in conflict-affected South Sudan as case study supported by evidence reported in the literature while critiquing adequacy of the available approaches in this setting. An expanded and iterative process framework to guide VfM embedding for health programming and evaluation is then proposed. In doing so, this article provides a very relevant one-stop source for critical insight into how to embed VfM in practice. Uptake and scale-up of the proposed framework can be essential in improving VfM and aid effectiveness which will ultimately contribute to progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.     

中希悲剧艺术品格的再认识

百年来,国人对中希悲剧艺术品格差异的研究,多数采取"一异一因"的方式,缺乏对各种成因作深层的、系统的、归一的观照。通过对两剧的悲剧人物、冲突范式、审美体验等核心艺术表征的比较、重释,发现两剧所处的时代背景("英雄时代"与"人的时代")以及所承载的"两大关系"("人与人"与"人与自然")主题的迥异,是中希悲剧各种艺术品格生成的两个母因。     

新中国外交之“一边倒”和“独立自主”之间纠结与冲突的历史启示

当前,由于美国战略重心东移亚太,以遏制中国的崛起,使我国面临巨大的地缘压力,因此,各种结盟说纷至沓来,似乎成了唯一的选项。然而,笔者通过对新中国对苏"一边倒"外交方针和"独立自主"外交之间的纠结与冲突的历史考察,让我们有理由相信,结盟并非灵丹妙药,而独立自主的外交仍是最佳的选择。     

知识产权涉外管辖权制度及其涉外领域法律冲突的研究

随着科技的发展和知识产权侵权行为的复杂化,如何有效地解决涉外知识产权案件,就成了国际社会关注的热点。由于知识产权涉外管辖权制度的局限性,并加之科技与网络技术的发展给其带来的新挑战,因此引进新的管辖权思路以及如何有效地解决涉外知识产权领域的法律冲突就具有现实的意义。     

海明威作品的女性意识轨迹

海明威历来被作为一个典型的男权主义作家看待。但海明威作品的确有着女性意识。本文着重从文本分析的角度,适度借助海明威的人生经历,分析了海明威作品的女性意识演变过程并进一步探讨海明威内心深处的矛盾因素。