Politics and the Cultural Landscape: The Case of Aboriginal Land Rights

In this paper Aboriginal land rights are analysed from the perspective of a disadvantaged group seeking access to a scarce resource controlled by external agents. The Aboriginal participants in land rights politics are found to be actively seeking ways in which their interest in the land can most effectively be communicated to external groups which have constructed well-formed, but often distorted images of what constitutes a genuine Aboriginal interest in the land These externally constructed notions of Aboriginality and what constitutes a valid land claim are influencing the concepts used by Aboriginal groups in the public political arena to demonstrate their unique interest in the land In this paper three examples of this process are explored- the emphasis of a specific gender model, the emphasis on spatially discrete sacred sites and the emphasis on the bounded tribal territory.     

日本金融体系及企业治理机制的转型

高度经济增长时期日本形成了银行中心的金融体系及企业治理机制。本文依据金融体系设计和构筑的经济学理论,对日本金融体系及企业治理机制需要转型的理由加以分析。基本结论是日本的银行中心金融体系已经劣化,需要向市场中心的金融体系转型。本文还分析了金融体系及企业治理机制转型的动向及存在的问题。     

Urban Aboriginal health: Examining inequalities between Aboriginal and non‐Aboriginal populations in Canada

Cet article a pour but de contribuer à la littérature en émergence portant sur la santé des Autochtones en milieu urbain, en comparant l’état de santé et les déterminants de la santé de la population autochtone et non‐autochtone en milieu urbain au Canada. L’étude s’appuie sur des données tirées de l’Enquête auprès des peuples autochtones (EPA) de 2001 et de l’Enquête sur la santé dans les communautés canadiennes (ESCC), cycle 1.1. Préconisant une approche axée sur la santé de la population, nous explorons les différences de l’état de santé et des déterminants de la santé entre les populations autochtones et non‐autochtones en milieu urbain. Trois variables sont utilisées pour décrire l’état de santé : l’auto‐évaluation de l’état de santé, les maladies chroniques et la limitation d’activités. Si l’existence de disparités en matière de santé entre la population autochtone et non‐autochtone en milieu urbain est démontrée, celles‐ci ne sont pas aussi importantes que les disparités qui caractérisent la population non‐autochtone et autochtone vivant dans une réserve. Les déterminants sociaux de la santé sont comparables pour les deux populations, mais les résultats illustrent à quel point des facteurs culturels peuvent également intervenir en faveur ou au détriment de la santé parmi la population autochtone en milieu urbain. Cette étude exploratoire fait ressortir la nécessité de tenir compte des facteurs culturels propres aux déterminants de la santé dans les recherches ultérieures afin d’identifier des pistes d’explication des disparités en matière de santé entre les individus autochtones et non‐autochtones en milieu urbain.     

Aboriginal Histories,Aboriginal Myths: An Introduction

The article reopens the issue of the supposed absence of historical consciousness among traditionally oriented Aborigines, and reviews Hill's and Turner's attempts to define the difference between myth and history. It then discusses some narratives of colonisation from Western New South Wales, and re-analyses some Aboriginal stories about Captain Cook.     

Crafting Aboriginal Nations in Taiwan: The Presbyterian Church and the Imagination of the Aboriginal National Subject

Abstract

This study argues that since the end of World War II, the Taiwanese Presbyterian Church’s practical institutionalised arrangements for evangelisation have had the unintended consequence of creating an imagined multi-layered aboriginal national Subject. The argument is founded upon analysis of three main points. First, aboriginal members’ daily practices within the three-level federalist church polity formed in their minds an acquired “schema”, a ready-made cognitive structure that could be easily appropriated by them to imagine their own nations in a certain way. Second, when the Church promoted the translation of the Bible and hymns into aboriginal vernaculars for practical evangelising reasons, it unintentionally created tribe-based cultural-linguistic mediums as national languages upon which the contents of aboriginal nations could be elaborated and reproduced. This step further consolidated tribe-based ethnic categorisation and facilitated the reification of aboriginal nations. Third, since aboriginal ministers and elders were institutionally endowed with many strengths in comparison to other aboriginal elites, they came to serve as human activators in formulating and spreading the imagination of the multi-layered aboriginal national Subject.     

Beyond Elites: Reassessing Irish Iron Age Society

The past two decades have seen an expansion of archaeological activity on the island of Ireland that has transformed our knowledge and understanding of most periods in Irish prehistory and history. However, Iron Age sites and artefacts remain rare finds and are often ephemeral, particularly in the case of settlements. It is now clear that the peculiarly sparse record of the Irish Iron Age is genuinely representative of the surviving archaeology. It is also clear that this evidence does not fit the traditional ‘Celtic’ picture of warrior elites, druids and tribal hierarchies imported from other regions and later insular texts. This paper proposes an alternative model for the Irish Iron Age of the first millennium BC, one that centres on nomadism and heterarchy.     

Reassessing Fiscal Policy: Perspectives from Developing Countries

Over the last twenty‐five years an anti‐Keynesian orthodox approach has envisaged a prominent role for reductions in fiscal deficits in developing countries. Expansionary fiscal policies have been said to result in excessive expansion of aggregate demand leading to current account deficits and inflation, as well as displacing private investment, thereby inhibiting output stabilization and employment recovery. Moreover, chronic fiscal deficits are supposed to be associated with high and explosive debt/GDP ratios. The purpose of this article is to assess the theoretical adequacy of the orthodox approach in the context of developing countries. The author clarifies some common misunderstandings and finds that none of the conventional arguments against fiscal activism is wholly convincing. At the heart of the debate lies the question of assumptions, economic structure and causation mechanisms. The orthodox stories regarding the macroeconomic effects of fiscal policy very often do not go beyond the simple monetarist assumptions or seek to verify the implications against the existing experiences and empirical data from developing countries.     

Reassessing the Oppida: The Role of Power and Religion

For a long time, the origins and development of Late Iron Age oppida were viewed from predominantly economic perspectives and as dependent on contacts with the Mediterranean world. However, advances in research in recent decades make it necessary to qualify and reassess many of the traditional interpretations of the genesis and functions of these centres, one of the most striking phenomena of the last two centuries BC. This article emphasizes the political and religious role of continental European oppida, understanding them as a new ‘technology of power’, which enabled a more hierarchical and centralizing ideology to be articulated. Moreover, new evidence suggests that many oppida may have had their origin in spaces for ritual gatherings. The result is a new interpretation of the genesis and characteristics of Late Iron Age centralization processes.     

(Re)asserting Indigenous Rights and Jurisdictions within a Politics of Place: Transformative Nature of Native Title Negotiations in South Australia

Australia's dominant politics of place has largely failed to give meaningful recognition to Indigenous peoples. The Native Title Act 1993 required governments, industry and others to (re)consider the basis and extent of their authority, unsettling the non‐Indigenous systems’ assumed dominance. While Indigenous hopes about Native title have diminished as a result of subsequent judicial, legislative and administrative responses, Native title negotiations have been pivotal in redefining politics of place and Indigenous–settler relationships in Australia at several scales. Focusing on South Australia's Statewide Indigenous Land Use Agreement Negotiation Strategy, this paper considers such a redefinition. The paper identifies four strategies as critical to success in transformative spatial politics: getting process right; recognising and supporting Indigenous jurisdictions; engaging and transforming non‐Indigenous scales; and shifting Native title process away from legalities, towards people and relationships. Since 1999, these strategies have transformed the politics of place and built more equitable inter‐cultural relationships and networks based on mutual recognition and respect between Indigenous and non‐Indigenous rights and interests in land and waters.     

From May to October: Reassessing the 1968 Generation

Since the early 1980s, France has transformed its pattern of economic policy‐making from a state‐led or dirigiste approach to a more market‐oriented one and generated a new set of dynamics between French business and government at regional, national, and European levels. Business has become more independent of the central state as a result of deregulation, privatisation, regional integration, and Europeanisation, more interdependent as a result of cross‐shareholdings, and more international in consequence of cross‐border mergers and acquisitions. State interventionism, where it remains, has become more circumscribed and less directive, targeting firms only in strategic areas or in trouble.     

Regional Policy in Transition - A Multi-level Governance Perspective on the Case of Denmark

Denmark would appear to be a radical, but overlooked, example of the general Western European trend away from national top-down schemes towards a situation where regional policy is a multi-level activity in which European and regional actors are heavily involved. In order to analyse such transformations the article first proposes a conceptual framework capable of accounting for different forms of regional policy and their interaction, and then applies it to the Danish case. The analysis of inter-organizational relations, strategies and resource dependencies show that in Denmark the new paradigm in regional policy resembles a decentralized form of industrial policy in which regionally-based actors play a major role via their organizational and informational resources, but that central government still plays a major role as a regulator of the activities of other actors within a multi-level institutional setting.     

1978年以来我国农地产权制度变迁及启示

改革开放以来,我国农地产权制度改革大致上经历了四个阶段。从改革过程看,经过了从强制性变迁到诱致性变迁的过程,遵循了生产关系一定要适应生产力发展的规律,增强了农民对土地的稳定感和权属感,尊重了广大农民的自由选择,进一步协调了效率与公平的关系。展望未来,农地产权制度改革的方向应是完善农地承包权流转制度。