Environmental Justice and American Indian Tribal Sovereignty: Case Study of a Land–Use Conflict in Skull Valley, Utah

This paper examines environmental justice in the context of questions of American–Indian tribal sovereignty through an analysis of a land–use dispute over the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians' decision to host a high–level radioactive waste facility on their reservation in Tooele County, Utah. The case study entails a far more intricate story than that presented in the majority of existing literature, which is dominated by analytical frameworks of environmental racism and distributive environmental justice. By elucidating the historical geography of Skull Valley and politics of tribal sovereignty, I argue that a prolonged process of historical colonialism has produced a landscape of injustice in which the tribe's choices have been structurally limited. The historical colonialism, intertwining with the capitalist political economy, has geopolitically isolated the tribe to suffer procedural environmental injustice. At the same time, the tribe has struggled to pursue self–determination through the retention of sovereignty and Goshute identity in the arenas of tribal environmental management and the environmental–justice movement. Conflict over the definition and practice of tribal sovereignty at different geographical scales reveals the social, historical, and political–economic complexity of environmental justice.     

Rentier Statebuilding in a Post‐Conflict Economy: The Case of Kosovo

Kosovo has been under various forms of international administration since 1999. Although the political dimension of this international experience has been widely studied by scholars — especially those associated with the critical theory of liberal peacebuilding — the economic dimension of international rule has received less attention. This article explores the economic dimension by linking insights from rentier theory with critical approaches to liberal peacebuilding and statebuilding. The postulate informing this article is that the sources of a state's income have an impact on its institutional development. The article discusses liberal peacebuilding through the lens of rentier theory, it analyses the economic management in the early years of the international administration of Kosovo, and describes and explores some of the unintended consequences of this massive international presence in Kosovo for the local economy.     

试析1968年美国天主教会内部的"生命权"问题之争

围绕罗马教皇在1968年发布的《人类生命》通谕是否具有合理性问题,美国天主教会内部存在严重分歧,教会上层保守派一方的意见最终占据了主导地位,从而在伦理道德领域确立了美国天主教会延续至今的宗教保守主义立场。教会从此成为反对人工控制生育的中坚力量。其保守立场成为天主教会同其他教派,尤其是新基督教右翼派别的合作基础。     

‘The Chiefs’ Country': a Malaitan View of the Conflict in Solomon Islands

ABSTRACT This account of the recent conflict in Solomon Islands, based on personal experience, offers a local Malaitan perspective on the historical causes and course of events which has not been well represented in other published accounts. It describes the Malaitan settlement of Guadalcanal and the failure of government to deal with the resulting grievances in terms of traditional values which also informed the author's own responses to the conflict and its resolution. The Malaitan community is shown as forced into politically‐manipulated militancy through neglect of the conciliatory role of clan leaders as chiefs. As a perspective from one side of the conflict, the paper invites responses and discussion of indigenous histories.     

The Kilosa Killings: Political Ecology of a Farmer–Herder Conflict in Tanzania

Farmer–herder conflicts in Africa are often presented as being driven by ‘environmental scarcity’. Political ecologists, however, argue that these conflicts should be analysed within a broader historical and policy context. This article presents a case study of a local conflict in the Kilosa District in Tanzania that tragically culminated in the killing of thirty‐eight farmers on 8 December 2000. To understand the conflict, the authors argue that it is necessary to study the history of villagization and land use in the District, as well as national land tenure and pastoral policies. Attempts at agricultural modernization have fostered an anti‐pastoral environment in Tanzania. The government aim is to confine livestock keeping to ‘pastoral villages’, but these villages lack sufficient pastures and water supplies, leading herders to search for such resources elsewhere. Pastoral access to wetlands is decreasing due to expansion of cultivated areas and the promotion of agriculture. The main tool that pastoralists still possess to counteract this trend is their ability to bribe officials. But corruption further undermines people's trust in authorities and in the willingness of these authorities to prevent conflicts. This leads actors to try to solve problems through other means, notably violence.