The “Commons” Versus the “Commodity”: Alter‐globalization,Anti‐privatization and the Human Right to Water in the Global South

Abstract: In response to the growth of private sector involvement in water supply management globally, anti‐privatization campaigns for a human right to water have emerged in recent years. Simultaneously, alter‐globalization activists have promoted alternative water governance models through North‐South red‐green alliances between organized labour, environmental groups, women's groups, and indigenous groups. In this paper, I explore these distinct (albeit overlapping) responses to water privatization. I first present a generic conceptual model of market environmentalist reforms, and explore the contribution of this framework to debates over ‘neoliberalizing nature’. This conceptual framework is applied to the case of anti‐privatization activism to elucidate the limitations of the human right to water as a conceptual counterpoint to privatization, and as an activist strategy. In contrast, I argue that alter‐globalization strategies—centred on concepts of the commons—are more conceptually coherent, and also more successful as activist strategies. The paper concludes with a reiteration of the need for greater conceptual precision in our analyses of neoliberalization, for both academics and activists.     

行动者网络视角下江南水乡古镇空间演化路径——以周庄古镇为例

江南水乡古镇是江南地域社会经济活动的高度聚合体，而空间作为功能的载体，是古镇保护与发展中的关键一环。本文以周庄古镇为例，从行动者网络理论视角切入，解析不同旅游发展阶段古镇空间演化的行动者作用路径。研究发现，关键行动者意图、行动者网络结构的变化，推动了周庄古镇空间重构和演化。在观光旅游发展阶段，周庄镇政府为关键行动者，通过行政征召、专家带头征召等方式促成行动者网络的形成和发展，使古镇商业空间沿河街生长，文化体验空间呈团块状散布；在休闲度假转型阶段，市场力量开始发挥更大作用，行动者网络重新调整，进一步推动古镇商业空间网状渗透，文化体验空间条块衍生。本文认为古镇空间的实践建构应高度重视原住民这一行动者的作用。     

‘Too Wild to Succeed’: The Occasional Conformity Bills and the Attempts by the House of Lords to Outlaw the Tack in the Reign of Anne*

By the late 17th century it had been largely established as a part of the ‘constitution’ that the house of commons played the leading role in proposing financial legislation and that the house of lords by convention could not amend such bills, but only accept or reject them. From the late 1670s, the practice developed of the Commons ‘tacking’ money or supply bills to other, controversial legislation, to try to ensure that the Lords would pass the whole bill. This underhand proceeding sometimes worked, but at other times the Lords amended the non‐monetary parts in such a way as to render the bill unacceptable to the Commons, but such actions sometimes resulted in the loss of financial legislation necessary for the king's government. From the 1690s, the whig‐dominated Lords attempted to ‘outlaw’ tory‐backed tacking by protesting at its unparliamentary nature. This culminated in a formal declaration by the House in 1702 of the unconstitutionality of tacking. The last major attempt at tacking took place over the Occasional Conformity Bills of 1702–4. The final bill of 1704 essentially failed, however, because of the party strengths in the Lords when the tories were outvoted by the whigs. The Lords, however, continued to condemn tacking until at least 1709.     

Cost-effective deep water archaeology: preliminary investigations in Trondheim Harbour

In the past few years there has been an increased interest in deep water archaeology, and a growing number of archaeological institutions now use remote sensing equipment and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to locate and investigate deep water archaeological sites. The article presents some important projects that have been carried out around the world. These include Norwegian projects. In Trondheim Harbour several shipwrecks have been located in relatively deep water. One of these wrecks was selected as an experimental site for testing new methods, and the results of this work, including documentation and excavation with ROVs and other robotic solutions, are presented. © 2000 The Nautical Archaeology Society