The role of local actors in water and flood management in France:

2017 ◽  
pp. 167-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corinne Larrue ◽  
Marie Fournier
2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-125
Author(s):  
Petr Janda

This report presents current research on aboriginal activity centers in Taidong County, Taiwan, primarily in the townships of Chishang and Yanping with over 30% of the population being of aboriginal ancestry. Taidong County is the region with the most distinctive aboriginal communities in Taiwan. The research attempts to identify the actors behind the operation of such centers and their significance for aboriginal communities. The research investigates the process of selecting suitable location for the facilities, the specific features of such centers, the potential religious significance of the locations including the role of traditional beliefs in predominantly Christian aboriginal communities, the symbolic value of structures built in the traditional style for construction of ethnicity and financing that enables the construction of the facilities and the organization of the festivities held in them. The principle research method used was interviews with local actors including local representatives, organizers of festivities, as well as members of local communities. The research began in 2017.


Author(s):  
Moshe Hirsch

Abstract The recent moderate trend to increasingly apply human rights law in investment awards is accompanied by certain new investment treaties which include expressed human rights provisions. An analysis of recent investment awards indicates that though there are some ‘winds of change’ in this field, it is equally noticeable that human rights law is far from being mainstreamed in international investment law. Investment arbitration procedural law is also undergoing a process of change, and the new procedural rules tend to enhance public elements in the investment arbitral system. This study is aimed at explaining these recent legal changes, highlighting the role of social movements in reframing investment relations as well as increasing public pressure to apply human rights law. These framing changes concern broadening the frame of investment arbitration (beyond the foreign investor–host state dyad), reversing the perceived balance of power between investors and host states, and zooming-in on local individuals and communities residing in host states. The discussion on factors impeding legal change in this field emphasizes the role of the private legal culture prevalent in the investment arbitration system, which is reflected and reinforced by certain resilient socio-legal frames. Informed by this analysis, the study suggests some legal mechanisms which can mitigate the inter-partes frame, and increase the application of human rights law in investment arbitration; inter alia, rigorous transparency rules that are likely to facilitate increased public pressure on tribunals and increase the participation of social movements representing local actors in arbitral processes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-80
Author(s):  
Wolfgang S. Heinz

Abstract: This article approaches the matter of institutional reform of the United Nations Human Rights Council from an international relations perspective. A well-known tension exists between State representatives acting for their governments in international organisations, but whose decisions are presented as UN policies. The latter should be guided primarily by the UN Charter and public international law. However, in reality, different worldviews and foreign policy considerations play a more significant role. In a comprehensive stock-take, the article looks at four major dimensions of the Council, starting with structure and dynamics and major trends, followed by its country and thematic activities, and the role of key actors. Council reform proposals from both States and civil society are explored. Whilst the intergovernmental body remains the most important authority responsible for the protection of human rights in the international sphere, it has also been the subject of considerable criticism. Although it has made considerable progress towards enlarging its coverage and taking on more challenging human rights crises, among some of its major weaknesses are the election of human rights-unfriendly countries into its ranks, the failure to apply stronger sanctions on large, politically influential countries in the South and North, and lack of influence on human rights crises and chronic human rights problems in certain countries. Whilst various reform proposals have emerged from States and NGOs, other more far reaching propositions are under sometimes difficult negotiations. In the mid- to long-term, the UN human rights machinery can only have a stronger and more lasting impact if support from national/local actors and coalitions in politics and society can be strengthened.


Author(s):  
Norman Sempijja ◽  
Ekeminiabasi Eyita-Okon

With the advent of multidimensional peacekeeping, in considering the changing nature of conflicts in the post–Cold War period, the role of local actors has become crucial to the execution of the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mandate. Just as peacekeeping does not have space in the UN charter, local actors do not have a clearly defined space in the UN-led conflict resolution process. However, they have gained recognition, especially in policy work, and slowly in the academic discourse, as academics and practitioners have begun to find ways of making peacekeeping and peacebuilding more effective in the 21st century. Therefore the construction and perception of local actors by international arbitrators play an important and strategic role in creating and shaping space for the former to actively establish peace where violent conflict is imminent. Local actors have independently occupied spaces during and after the conflict, and although they bring a comparative advantage, especially as gatekeepers to local communities, they have largely been kept on the periphery.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 536-549
Author(s):  
Rahmat Alì Mohammed ◽  
Marcello De Rosa ◽  
Maria Angela Perito

Abstract This paper explores the role of entrepreneurial orientation in addressing upward mechanisms of Indian immigrant workers in rural areas. To achieve this purpose, an empirical analysis was carried out to investigate how entrepreneurial orientation may affect mechanisms of professional transition. Precisely, we managed direct interviews among Indian workers (through the support of cultural mediators), local actors (like public and private advisors) and Italian entrepreneurs. Our funding suggests the presence of three Indian workers in Italy (simple workers, intrapreneurs, entrepreneurs), characterised by different entrepreneurial profile acting as engine or barrier to what we have labelled as “upward transition”. Immigrant entrepreneurs play a relevant role in Italy and in our point of view, it is of paramount importance to allow them to access to rural development policies, knowledge, training and education upgrading.


Author(s):  
Seyedmohammad Seyedi Asl ◽  
Hazar Leylanoğlu ◽  
Ataollah Bahremani ◽  
Shalaleh Zabardastalamdari

In this study, using the descriptive-analytical method, we discuss the main factors in the formation of the Yemen crisis, as well as the attitudes of the two Arab states and of the two neighboring countries, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, in the Yemen crisis. It is concluded that this crisis stems not only from the role of local actors, but also from the role of regional and global actors, who played a decisive role in shaping and exacerbating the Yemen crisis. Regional players in the post-2015 crisis include the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, which showed contradictory behavior. Saudi Arabia's targets in its attack on Yemen have a greater military and security dimension. The political and economic objectives of the United Arab Emirates, which is Riyadh's most important ally in this war, have been at a different level from those of Saudi Arabia. This can be seen in Abu Dubai Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed's aspirations to expand his country's influence, to become a major player in the region.


Focaal ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 (52) ◽  
pp. 39-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Behrends

The area around the border of Sudan and Chad, where Darfur lies, has been an unimportant and unknown backwater throughout history. Today, however, Darfur is all over the international press. Everybody knows about the grim war there. There is no oil currently in production in Darfur. However, there is oil in the south of neighboring Chad and in Southern Sudan, and there might be oil in Darfur. This article considers a case of fighting for oil when there is no oil yet. It takes into account the role of local actors doing the fighting, that is, the army, rebels, and militias; national actors such as the Sudanese and Chadian governments; and international actors, such as multinational oil companies, the United States, China, and the United Nations. It explains how oil can have disintegrative consequences even when it is still only a rumor about a future possibility.


Author(s):  
Alexander Lawrie

Most states worldwide possess two or three levels of government, from national to provincial and localities. Subnational governing arrangements are emerging in response to widespread decentralization, globalization, and urbanization, with this level increasingly considered the ideal spatial scale for effectively harnessing governing capacity. Yet regional governing arrangements often lack the traditional statutory and administrative governing tools of the state. Instead, they tend to rely on voluntary co-ordination and co-operation. Emboldened with more traditional governing tools, provincial and local states can work against these networks to protect their own power. This case study of Sydney, Australia, examines the dimensions of hard and soft power in a regional governing network and the role of provincial and local actors in determining the prospects for regional governance. In the absence of state-like mechanisms of hard power, the soft power on which regional governing networks rely will likely remain inferior for the governing task.


2020 ◽  
pp. 81-89
Author(s):  
Judge Jean Kandé

This chapter discusses the start of the work of the Extraordinary African Chambers (EAC) on investigating the case against Hissène Habré and others. The role of the Investigative Chamber was to undertake pre-trial preparation by performing whatever acts are necessary to uncover the truth and by looking for both incriminating and exonerating evidence to determine whether the trial should occur. Initially planned to take fifteen months, the investigating phase ended up taking nearly two years, from July of 2013 through February of 2015. At the end of the investigation, the investigating judges drafted the indictment that the Prosecutor then proceeded to present to the court. Judge Jean Kandé was one of the Senegalese investigative judges for the EAC. Their investigation resulted in the indictment of Habré and five of his subordinates. The chapter then describes the investigation phase, the challenges of securing Chad's cooperation with in situ fact-finding, and the benefits of working across international borders with other local actors.


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