The paradox of illicit economies: survival,resilience, and the limits of development and drug policy orthodoxy

ABSTRACT

The illicit drug crops opium and coca are conventionally regarded as sources of instability, an ‘evil’ that breeds fragility and violence. Fragile states are supposed to be most vulnerable to their production and consequent harms. Yet by looking into the local contexts of the world’s leading opium and coca producers – Afghanistan, Myanmar, Colombia and Bolivia – these illicit crops are found to also be sources of stability, even drivers of economic growth. They enable marginalized communities and territories abandoned by the state to be reinserted into national and global markets. Within so-called ‘fragile’ and conflict-affected areas are displaced and dispossessed households adopting innovative and unorthodox strategies for coping and survival in changing and insecure environments. This paper maps out an approach, useful for examining the resilience that has emerged amidst violence and uncertainty in illicit-crop-producing territories, and which can hopefully tackle the continuing disconnect between drugs and development policy.     

Fiddling while the planet burns? COP25 in perspective

ABSTRACT

With fires, storms, social protests, and climate strikes sweeping the world, 2019 should have been a tipping point in how the world responds to global heating. This was the backdrop to the COP25 climate change summit which took place in Madrid in December 2019. This paper assesses the outcomes of the meeting and the path towards the critically important meeting in Glasgow at the end of 2020. It analyses and explains the key points of contention over levels of ambition, the rules which should govern global carbon markets and sensitive issues such as loss and damage associated with the impacts of climate change. The analysis is situated within a broader geopolitical and economic context of right-wing populism, deepening forms of marketization and financialization of responses to climate change and against a background of a world increasingly feeling the effects of the climate crisis.     

Queering Canadian Social Work Accreditation standards and procedures: a content analysis

ABSTRACT

This paper reviews and critically analyzes the Canadian Association for Social Work Education—Association Canadienne Pour La Formation En Travail Social’s (CASWE-ACFTS’) Accreditation Standards and Procedures from a Sexual Orientation Gender Identity and Expression (SOGIESC) lens to examine how such are addressed in relevant documents. The CASWE-ACFTS Queer Caucus undertook a lead role in examining ‘diversity’ in the documents as it serves as an umbrella term for SOGIESC and other intersecting positionalities. This paper iterates an initial response in the CASWE-ACFTS Queer Caucus’ ongoing consultation with the CASWE-ACFTS’s Education Policy Committee’s work on Education Policy and Accreditation Standards 2019 (EPAS2019). The content analysis of the documents reveals that SOGIESC issues are not adequately addressed and this has implications for undergraduate and graduate social work curricula in Canada. The authors provide recommendations that address the integration of SOGIESC in CASWE-ACFTS’s Accreditation Standards and Procedures documents.     

Unintended consequences in traffic-light food labeling: A call for mixed methods in public health research

Abstract

Nudge theory describes how indirect suggestions and positive reinforcement can influence decision-making. We used nudge theory to implement a traffic-light labeling and choice architecture (modifying product placement) intervention at Harvard University cafeterias, but found no significant change in sales. Survey and focus group data showed that some students thought the labeling may exacerbate eating disorders, however, there is extremely limited research on potential negative consequences of labeling. One way to describe these findings is through 20th century philosopher Michel Foucault’s concept of biopower. Biopower manipulates cultural norms and nudges individuals to engage in self-surveillance and self-discipline, de facto subjugating themselves to certain ways of being. Biopower may lead to the creation of an in-group and an out-group based on who can adopt the new behaviors, such as healthy eating. Those in the out-group may face additional unintended consequences, highlighting the need for mixed-methods research to better evaluate public health interventions.     

“A stitch in time”: group work during the covid-19 scare in the Nicobar Islands,India

ABSTRACT

When India suddenly went into its first coronavirus-induced nationwide lockdown in March 2020, several members of a historically isolated indigenous community in the eastern Indian ocean- the Nicobarese, began to panic. Their leaders came together and formed a group to boost community solidarity and helped the vulnerable indigenes to safely navigate through the crisis. In these uncertain times of Covid-19, when the “modern” world appears more fissured than ever, leaving its “others” to fend for themselves; the Nicobarese’s group has set an example for everyone to follow.     

当代中国公共经济体制的功能目标及其构建原则

公共经济体制作为处理公共经济中各方面当事人之间责任分工、权力配置和利益分配的规则体系,其科学性高低,不仅对于公共经济生产力能否有效发挥、公共经济资源能否合理配置和整个公共经济体能否健康持续发展至关重要,而且还会对整个混合经济体的动力、活力和国际竞争力产生关键性作用。从公共经济学角度考察,国家治理体系和治理能力现代化的实质乃是公共经济管理的现代化,而公共经济体制的科学化是公共经济管理现代化的核心和基础,因而推进国家治理体系和治理能力现代化需要完善的公共经济体制为根基。构建一整套系统完备的公共经济体制,更需要按照科学的功能目标和正确的指导原则加以统筹设计,才能取得良好的治理效果。     

儒家文化与可持续发展

可持续发展已成为全球人类所面临的最为紧迫的问题。儒家文化中的可持续发展思想,即强调道德理性和理想人格的修炼、加强对可持续发展的主体--人的改造,以及其中庸之道与“天人合一”、普遍和谐的思想,对于建立人类的普遍伦理,改善人类生存环境,提高人们的人文道德素质,解决社会群体之间的矛盾,实现经济、社会和环境的可持续发展具有深远意义。     

薛福成法律思想述略

薛福成基于对时势的认识,提出"宜变古以就今"的变法观,为了维护国家主权和利权,倡导振兴商务,发展民族资本主义工商业,改良国家政治体制,注重研究公法和培养外交人才,以掌握西人的"富强之术".薛福成的法律观具有重要思想价值和启迪意义.     

中国共产党第三代领导集体民族理论是马克思主义民族理论在中国发展的新阶段--中国共产党第三代领导集体民族理论研究之十四

中国共产党第三代领导集体的民族理论,继承和发展了马克思主义民族理论,是马克思主义民族理论在中国发展的新阶段.本文主要论述了关于少数民族地区经济发展和改革开放的理论、关于培养少数民族干部和民族工作理论、关于少数民族地区社会事业发展理论等方面的继承和发展.     

明清时期国家与社会关系转型境遇下的回族社区——以历史上西安回族社区文化变迁为视点

本文以历史上西安回族社区为视点,运用人类学的理论和方法,在明清时期国家与社会关系转型的境遇下,分析了回族社区文化的变迁.