"Conceptualización del modelo económico y social Cubano de desarrollo socialista": The Cuban Comunist Party Seeks to Develop Principles of Socialist Development Beyond Markets

The recently concluded 7th Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) produced little by way of surprises.  The tone was set by the First Secretary when he suggested that a slow and steady course, with little deviation, should be the guiding principle of the Congress.  And indeed, there was some dissatisfaction and a sense of anticlimax that marked a congress most notable for its lack of either transparency or popular engagement (see e.g. here form a usually sympathetic observer).

One of the principal documents that was produced by the 7th PCC Congress, and adopted in principle, was the 'Conceptualisation of the Cuban socio-economic socialist development model' ("Conceptualización del modelo económico y social Cubano de desarrollo socialista"), which is intended to complement the Guidelines (Lineamientos) of the 6th PCC Congress, and provide the theoretical foundation for further reform. The Conceptualización is of particular interest for its potential divergence from the construction of Chinese post-Soviet Socialist Market theory within the context of socialist modernization (see, e.g., here).

These two distinct views of socialist modernization deserve some attention, if only because of their potential influence within developing states whose relationship to the dominant normative framework of markets based globalization may not be entirely embedded within their social, economic and political systems.

To that end Flora Sapio and I offer some comments and analysis of the Conceptualización. 

1. Introduction and text of Conceptualización.

2. Background Brief.

3. Flora Sapio Comment to the Conceptualización

4. Larry Catá Backer Comment to the Conceptualización.  

 This post includes below the introductory statements of the Conceptualización (in Spanish) and a Background Brief that may be accessed here.   The entire Conceptualización document (in Spanish) may be accessed HERE. 

Just Posted: Discussion Paper- "Normalization With Cuban Characteristics: How Might Cuba Navigate Normalization to Avoid Political Instability and Enhance Economic Development?" to be presented at the 2016 Latin American Studies Association Conference

(Pix © Larry Catá Backer 2016)

I will be participating in a panel entitled Normalizing Relations Between the United States and Cuba: A Door has Opened at the 34th International Conference of the Latin American Studies Association , LASA at 50.

My presentation is entitled Normalization With Cuban Characteristics: How Might Cuba Navigate Normalization to Avoid Political Instability and Enhance Economic Development?. 

Full Powerpoints (with links embedded) may be accessed here.

The Discussion Draft may be accessed here.

The Abstract and Powerpoints (jpeg) follows.

Latin American Studies Association 34th International Conference: LASA at 50

The upcoming international conference of the Latin American Studies Association will be held later this week in New York.  This 34th International Conference will mark the 50th anniversary of the association's meetings.  This is an important milestone in an academic discipline that is undergoing some transition.

This post includes information about the conference, including the conference theme, which follows.

Just Published: "Regulating Financial Markets: What We Might Learn From Sovereign Wealth Funds."

I am happy to report the publication of "Regulating Financial Markets: What We Might Learn From Sovereign Wealth Funds." It appears as part of Reshaping Markets: Economic Governance, the Global Financial Crisis, and Liberal Utopia 229-254 (Bertram Lomfeld, Alessandro Somma and Peer Zumbansen, editors, Cambridge University Press, 2016). In his introduction, Peer Zumbansen notes of these contributions:

Our counter-narratives focus on ‘the market’ as the primary site of critical investigation. The tradition of such a research angle is as long as its results appear frustratingly open-ended and inconclusive. But, similarly, perhaps, to the way in which we are obviously asked to overcome any remnant irritation with the lack of a clear definition of ‘globalization', we continue to be prompted to take ‘markets’ seriously. The trajectories of such serious engagement are prominent and promising–but only if, in fact, we allow them to be and if we join in the investigations already underway in an active and critical manner . . . . Our book can be seen against this background, as its authors intervene in important, sensitive regulatory areas and policy discourses, ranging from debt and credit regulation (Michos, Somma, Renner & Leidinger), corporate liability and banking regulation (Engert, Tröger, Conley & Williams, Catá Backer), contractualization of corporate regulation and banking (Zumbansen, Varellas), contract governance itself (Lomfeld, Haberl, Caruso) to national and transnational economic governance policy making and strategic choices (Campbell, Ferrarese). (Peer Zumbansen, "Introduction: reshaping markets and the question of agency" in Reshaping Markets: Economic Governance, the Global Financial Crisis, and Liberal Utopia 1-6, 3 (Bertram Lomfeld, Alessandro Somma and Peer Zumbansen, editors, Cambridge University Press, 2016))

The Introduction of my contribution follows, along with links to the collection and its table of content.

New Paper Posted: "Theorizing Regulatory Governance Within its Ecology: The Structure of Management in an Age of Globalization"

(Pix © Larry Catá Backer 2016)

Regulatory governance is a protean idea that revolves around the structures and character of the exercise of governmental authority beyond the ancient command oriented forms of law.

The implementation of regulatory reform is critically dependent on the existence of appropriate government commitment and institutions. These institutions need to be transparent and accountable, with mandates and sufficient power to ensure that reform translates into action on the ground. They will need to ensure that regulation is part of the policy environment, not simply the tail end of the process. To meet policy objectives, regulation needs to be integrated into the policy cycle, so it can deliver those objectives. (Regulatory Governance: The New Frontier , Governance in Regulatory Oversighthttp://www.oecd.org/regreform/policyconference/46805205.pdf)

In effect, one might start thinking about issues of regulatory governance--within states--as the management of activity through the regulation of markets, activity that may no longer be adequately controlled through conventional law making

I have just posted a draft to the Social Science Research Network. The paper is entitled "Theorizing Regulatory Governance Within its Ecology: The Structure of Management in an Age of Globalization." It considers an aspect of regulatory governance--the management of activity through the regulation of markets, activity that may no longer be adequately controlled through conventional law making--within the broader context of globalized regulatory orders. It makes an initial attempt at thinking through structures of regulatory governance when multiple governance systems interact in globalization. The abstract follows with links to the paper. Comments and reactions always welcome.

Ruminations 62: Sexual Assault at the American Law Institute (ALI)--Consensus and Control in the Legalization of Cultural Norms

(Pix © Larry Catá Backer 2015)

 I have been following the extraordinary controversy about the proposed changes rt the criminal law of Sexual Assault in the American Law Institute's (ALI's) Model Penal Code (e.g. here, and here). The proposals are important, not only for what they tell us about the use use of law to effect politico-cultural ends, but also have significant implications for the aggressive efforts by the Federal Government to us its influence and regulatory authority to change the cultures of noncriminal sexual assault governance frameworks within American universities. 

And, indeed, the debate over the legalization of the cultural taboos about sex--that is of access to the bodies (especially of women)--is telling for what it reveals about the limits of tolerated behaviors among people and the extent to which deployment of the state is effective either in policing those borders or in effecting changes to the borders themselves. Certainly, that is the entente of the federal government is using its Title IX authority to change the behavior norms of rising demographic cohorts at a time of peaking sexual activity.

But there is a greater object then (merely) the mediation of cultural rules disciplined through criminal and administrative regimes (though that is a great object indeed). That object is cultural assimilation. That object is meant to bend the multi cultural variation in sexual mores, as part of the cultural variation that is otherwise celebrated as the cultural patchwork that somehow works as American sociopolitics into an orthodoxy that is mediated by the state and its legal-administrative apparatus. This is not a criticism, though it is an insight not without a certain amount of irony. And it is necessary at the borderlands of cultural variation that can incite substantial violence (see, e.g., here) when they come into conflict in the actions of its otherwise tolerated (indeed celebrated) variation (see, e.g., here, here. here, and here).

The cultural politics of the legal architecture of sex (not a new project by any means but as old as the organization of society in some respects) is made more difficult under the three conditions at the center of the ALI's project. The first touches on memorializing cultural norms in law in the absence of cultural consensus. The second touches on the feasibility of reducing cultural norms in the context of sexual conduct to law or administrative regulation in ways that was coherent, much less just (except in theory). Third, the legalization of power relationships. Let us consider each briefly.

May 2016 Newsletter from John Knox, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment

John H. Knox, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment (former Independent Expert on Human Rights and the Environment) and Henry C. Lauerman Professor of International Law has been advancing his mandate. (See HERE, HERE, and HERE, HERE, and HERE) and HERE.

(John Knox)

Professor Knox has just released his May 2016 progress report on the work of his office.  It makes for interesting reading.  Two points are worth noting.  The first focuses on a laudable effort at capacity building. The good news is that this represents an effort to expand the knowledge base for an important project of environmental and human rights globally.  The bad news is that the focus remains substantially elitist. It is meant to train leaders rather than empower people.

"This course is designed for government officials from ministries of the environment, energy, development, water, foreign affairs and other related areas. It also targets international civil servants, NGO representatives, academics, private sector professionals and graduates working in the fields of environmental law/management, international relations/politics and sustainable development." (Human Rights and Environmental Protection for Sustainable Development Online Course).

The second goes to the establishment of appropriate mechanisms for ensuring states' commitment to respect human rights in the climate change regime.  Professor Knox has urged adoption of what has become the signature markers of institutional mechanisms: "including prior assessment, requirements of public participation, and the establishment of effective grievance mechanisms." This is also to be lauded.  Yet it has a downside--the addition of yet another mechanism attached to another body suggests both a proliferation of enforcement me3chanisms that will eventually trip all over themselves as they seek to apply in related and overlapping areas. The second is that such proliferating mechanisms tend to suck up an increasing amount of resources.  It may be time to start thinking about the consolidation and coordination (coherence would be better) or enforcement and capacity building mechanisms among all of these related efforts. 

Professor Knox's May 13, 2016 Newsletter (with links) follows.

Sexual Assault at the American Law Institute (ALI)--The Saga Continues With Three Motions to Redirect the Course of Change

(Pix © Larry Catá Backer 2015)

 I have been following the extraordinary controversy about the proposed changes rt the criminal law of Sexual Assault in the American Law Institute's (ALI's) Model Penal Code (e.g. here). The proposals are important, not only for what they tell us about the use use of law to effect politico-cultural ends, but also have significant implications for the aggressive efforts by the Federal Government to us its influence and regulatory authority to change the cultures of noncriminal sexual assault governance frameworks within American universities. 

At its current meeting, the Reporters for the ALI's Sexual Assault project, Stephen J. Schulhofer and its associate reporter, Erin E. Murphy, both of NYU Law School, intend to offer the first of several changes for approval by the body.  The ALI is asked to consider for approval two key provisions: ¶ 213.0(3) (definition of consent) and ¶ 213.2 (sexual penetration without consent). This has generated some opposition (discussed here). 

This post includes some of the proposals that opponents have planned to introduce at the debates about adoption of the proposed revisions at the ALI meeting in May. The proposed revisions reveal much about the state of disagreement over both sexual assault and its criminalization in the United States. They include: (1) Motion to Restore Grading for Sexual Penetration Without Consent; (2) Motion Concerning § 213.0(3) and § 213.2, Tent. Draft #2, Model Penal Code; Sexual Assault; and (3)  Motion to Change "Willingness" to "Assent" in the Definition of Consent.

Just Published: "The Military, Ideological Frameworks and Familial Marxism: A Comment on Jung-Chul Lee, “A Lesson From Cuba’s Party-Military Relations and a Tale of “Two Front Lines” in North Korea,"

(Pix © Larry Catá Backer 2016)

I am happy to report the publication of my review essay, "The Military, Ideological Frameworks, and Familial Marxism: A Comment on Jung-Chul Lee, “A Lesson From Cuba’s Party-Military Relations and a Tale of “Two Front Lines” in North Korea," which appears in the Papers and Proceedings of the Twenty-fifth Annual Meeting of the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy (ASCE) 25:165-171 (2015) (ISBN 978-0-9831360-5-7).

The Introduction follows:

 

THE MILITARY, IDEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORKS, AND FAMILIAL
MARXISM: A COMMENT ON JUNG-CHUL LEE, “A LESSON
FROM CUBA’S PARTY-MILITARY RELATIONS AND A TALE OF
‘TWO FRONTS LINE’ IN NORTH KOREA”
Larry Catá Backer

For the last 25 years, the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy (ASCE) has sought to embed analysis of the special case of Cuba within the main-stream of discussion of law, economics, politics, and culture. That process has sometimes found resistance in the long cultivated notion that the Cuban situation was sui generis, a porridge composed of equal parts colonialism, cultural hegemony, geography, race and religion, cooked in a pot created by the Cold War of the last century and stirred by the fairly large ladle that is the product of an ideology of developing states. Yet that sui generis is more a product of the romanticism of Europe and North America than any reality, combining large dollops of Caribbean exoticism, Gnosticism in political conflicts, and the exportation of ideological battles between the European and North American left and right.

 and continues

Part 9 (The Social Self and God)--Dialogues on a Philosophy for the Individual: The Social Self

 

(Pix © Larry Catá Backer 2016)

Flora Sapio (FS), Beitita Horm Pepulim (BHP), and I (LCB) continue our experiment in collaborative dialogue. We move from the individual to the social self as we work toward a philosophy of the individual. While at first blush this appears to be well worn ground--who hasn't, over the course of the last 5,000 years, in every civilization with a recorded history NOT spent vast amounts of time thinking about the social self? But much of this thinking starts at the social and works through the issues of control, management and socialization of the individual. That is, they start from the core premise that the individual is the object of a project for which the social serves as an instrument and as an ends. In the spirit of the emerging philosophy of the individual, we propose to invert the conversation--to start with the individual and work through the issues of control, management, and individuation of the social.

But we move from the individual in herself, to the individual as subject and as symbol, as something which, when observed and transformed from itself to the idea or symbol of itself, assumes a quite distinct, and useful, position for the organization of selves--and for the structure and operation of the law of the social. To that end our conversation will likely flow around and through the following:

1--the social self as the reflection of the mother
2--the social self as a reflection of the family
3--social self as a reflection/result of one's ancestors
4--the social self as a reflection of God
5-the social self as a refection of the state
6--the social self as terrorist
7--the social self as orthodox
This conversation, like many of its kind, will develop naturally, in fits and starts. Your participation is encouraged.

In this post Flora Sapio (FS) responds to earlier comments (Part 4) and speaks to the social self as a reflection of the family and Larry Catá Backer responds.

Contents HERE.

Sexual Assault at the American Law Institute (ALI)--Intensified Controversy Over the Criminalization of Sexual Contact in the Proposed Revision of the Model Penal Code

(Pix © Larry Catá Backer 2015)

In 2012, the American Law Institute (in which I am a member), agreed to launch a revision of its famous and quite influential Model Penal Code to focus specifically on rising issues of "sexual assault and related offenses." The project It was acknowledged at the time that the issue of the decriminalization of certain conduct around sexual activity "deals with some of the most controversial matters on the current public agenda." (Richard L. Revesz, Director ALI in Forward ALI Model Penal Code: Sexual Assault and Related Offenses (Tent. Draft No. 2 (April 15, 20916). The project has been overseen by its reporter, Stephen J. Schulhofer and its associate reporter, Erin E. Murphy, both of NYU Law School. But it has been highly controversial as I reported last year (see, Sexual Assualt at the American Law Institute--Controversy Over the Criminalization of Sexual Contact in the Proposed Revision of the Model Penal Code).

The controversy is well evidenced by the history of this project before the ALI. In 2013, a draft on procedural and evidentiary principles applicable to the sexual assault provisions (¶ 213 of the Model Penal Code) and on collateral consequences of conviction was presented to ALI for discussion but no vote. For the 2014 ALI meeting, a tentative draft containing substantive material for discussion and an evidentiary section (proposed revision ¶ 213.7) for approval was submitted but no vote was taken. Again, for the 2015 meeting a draft on substantive and evidentiary material was presented for discussion but no vote. For its 2016 meeting, the ALI is asked to consider for approval two key provisions: ¶ 213.0(3) (definition of consent) and ¶ 213.2 (sexual penetration without consent).

Both proposals have produced some significant opposition--both to the specifics, and generally to the approach taken on the spirit of the revisions of Section 213 in its entirety. This post briefly discusses the context in which this highly controversial project is going forward and includes (1) National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Memo Comments on Preliminary Draft No. 6, and (2) a two Memos (dated April 4, 2016 and May 12, 2016), signed by a number of ALI Members summarizing concerns about Draft No. 6 Revisions to the Sexual Assault Provisions of the Model penal Code.

Thoughts on "Provisions Of The Supreme People's Court On Certain Issues Concerning The Application Of The Company Law Of The People's Republic Of China (IV)" (Draft For Comments) 《最高人民法院关于适用〈中华人民共和国公司法〉 若干问题的规定(四)》(征求意见稿) 向社会公开征求意见的公告

(Pix © Larry Catá Backer 2016)

On April 12, 2016, the Supreme People's Court has circulated its Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Certain Issues Concerning the Application of the "Company Law of the People's Republic of China" (IV) (Draft for Comments). The object of these provisions is to provide guidance to courts and litigants about the application of provisions of the Company law. They represent an effort to augment and interpret the provisions of the Company la win important ways and are thus an important step forward in moving China towards a more mature and coherent system of rule.

The Supreme People's Court is accepting feedback on specific revisions, together with reasons therefor, which may be sent to Yang Ting of the Civil Adjudication Tribunal No. 2 of the Supreme People's Court at No. 2, Dong Jiao Min Xiang, Dongcheng District, Beijing, Postal code: 100745 or emailed to gsfjss_yang@163.com. The deadline for providing feedback is before May 25, 2016.

This post includes some of my thoughts on Part I of the Draft Provisions--Cases involving the effectiveness of the resolutions of the meetings or general meetings of shareholders and board of directors (一、关于公司股东会或者股东大会、董事会决议效力案件), including the provisions on which I comment. They will be included as part of a larger and more specific set of comments that may be submitted by the American Bar Association. Additional commentary is provided by GAO Shan, an SJD student at Penn State and licensed Chinese lawyer.

Flora Sapio: Response to Larry Catá Backer on China's New Foreign NGO Management Law: A Start at Commentary and Analysis

(Pix provided by Flora Sapio 2016)

"Over more than three decades, foreign nonprofits, foundations, and universities have played an important role, usually welcomed by China, in the extraordinary transformation of the country’s society and economy. The drafting of this new law, and the centralization of control in the MPS [Ministry of Public Security], threatens balanced and effective partnerships built up over decades and has raised fears that a sharply tightened environment in China means a closing to the world — or at least the most significant retrenchment since reforms began in the late 1970s." 

So writes Mark Sidel in, "It Just Got Harder to Make a Difference in China," an article for Foreign Policy 29 April 2016. This nicely summarizes much of the reaction outside of China to the 28 April 2016 enactment of the Foreign NGO Management Law (FNGOML) [中华人民共和国境外非政府组织管理法（草案)]. (See also Shawn Shieh,  Overseas NGO Law FAQs, NGOs in China 1 May 2016; 中国立法授权公安部门管理境外NGO).

Earlier drafts of the FNGOML distributed for comment in 2015 had generated a storm of negative criticism, especially in the West.  But not just in the West, and not just to further the interest of Western states in the work of their public and private NGOs (For my commentary on the draft see Here and Here ; Here for the Commentary of Flora Sapio; and Here for Background Briefs; Here for discussion of regulatory architecture of NGOs in China). Chinese internal commentary was not uniformly positive (see, e.g., Jia Xijin, "Legislation for Foreign NGOs; how will the second boot land?" originally in Chinese in Caijing; English version here).

In this short series we post  the following

1. Introduction to China's Foreign NGO Management Law

2. Flora Sapoio on the FNGOML

3. Larry Catá Backer on the FNGOML. 

4. Flora Sapio Response to Larry Catá Backer on FNGOML.

This post includes Flora Sapio's Response to Larry Cata Backer's comment, "Walls and the Symbolic Barrier in the Era of Reform and Opening Up."

International Decade for People of African Descent: Questionnaire for the UN Secretary General's Report on Implementation

The UN General Assembly proclaimed 2015-2024 as the International Decade for People of African Descent (resolution 68/237) citing the need to strengthen national, regional and international cooperation in relation to the full enjoyment of economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights by people of African descent, and their full and equal participation in all aspects of society. As proclaimed by the General Assembly, the theme for the International Decade is “People of African descent: recognition, justice and development.”

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has been designated to act as coordinator of the Decade, the establishment of a forum to serve as a consultation mechanism, convening of a final assessment of the Decade, and ensuring the completion of the construction and the inauguration, before the mid-term review in 2020, of a permanent memorial at UN Headquarters to honour the memory of the victims of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade.

The OHCHR has recently circulated a questionnaire seeking input on civil society implementation of the "International Decade." The Questionnaire follows along with some information about the project.

Larry Catá Backer on China's New Foreign NGO Management Law: A Start at Commentary and Analysis

(Pix provided by Flora Sapio 2016)

"Over more than three decades, foreign nonprofits, foundations, and universities have played an important role, usually welcomed by China, in the extraordinary transformation of the country’s society and economy. The drafting of this new law, and the centralization of control in the MPS [Ministry of Public Security], threatens balanced and effective partnerships built up over decades and has raised fears that a sharply tightened environment in China means a closing to the world — or at least the most significant retrenchment since reforms began in the late 1970s." 

So writes Mark Sidel in, "It Just Got Harder to Make a Difference in China," an article for Foreign Policy 29 April 2016. This nicely summarizes much of the reaction outside of China to the 28 April 2016 enactment of the Foreign NGO Management Law (FNGOML) [中华人民共和国境外非政府组织管理法（草案)]. (See also Shawn Shieh,  Overseas NGO Law FAQs, NGOs in China 1 May 2016; 中国立法授权公安部门管理境外NGO).

Earlier drafts of the FNGOML distributed for comment in 2015 had generated a storm of negative criticism, especially in the West.  But not just in the West, and not just to further the interest of Western states in the work of their public and private NGOs (For my commentary on the draft see Here and Here ; Here for the Commentary of Flora Sapio; and Here for Background Briefs; Here for discussion of regulatory architecture of NGOs in China). Chinese internal commentary was not uniformly positive (see, e.g., Jia Xijin, "Legislation for Foreign NGOs; how will the second boot land?" originally in Chinese in Caijing; English version here).

In this short series we post  the following

1. Introduction to China's Foreign NGO Management Law

2. Flora Sapoio on the FNGOML

3. Larry Catá Backer on the FNGOML.

4. Flora Sapio Response to Larry Catá Backer on FNGOML.

This post includes Larry Cata Backer's comment, "Walls and the Symbolic Barrier in the Era of Reform and Opening Up."

UN Forum on Business and Human Rights 2016: Call for parallel session proposals (due 31 July)

Invitation to stakeholders to submit proposals for parallel sessions

The UN Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises (“UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights”) invites all relevant stakeholders to submit proposals for parallel sessions to be included in the programme of the fifth annual UN Forum on Business and Human Rights, which takes place from 14 to 16 November 2016 in Geneva.

The Working Group is pleased that the Forum continues to grow in size and attract more participants every year. Parallel sessions, led by external organizations, are an important part of the event’s success. At the same time, the Working Group also received feedback that the 2016 Forum should seek even greater coherence and focus with less crowded panels and more time for group discussion. To facilitate this, the Working Group will prioritize session proposals that reflect the criteria and information listed below.

Flora Sapio on China's New Foreign NGO Management Law: A Start at Commentary and Analysis

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(Pix provided by Flora Sapio 2016)

"Over more than three decades, foreign nonprofits, foundations, and universities have played an important role, usually welcomed by China, in the extraordinary transformation of the country’s society and economy. The drafting of this new law, and the centralization of control in the MPS [Ministry of Public Security], threatens balanced and effective partnerships built up over decades and has raised fears that a sharply tightened environment in China means a closing to the world — or at least the most significant retrenchment since reforms began in the late 1970s." 

So writes Mark Sidel in, "It Just Got Harder to Make a Difference in China," an article for Foreign Policy 29 April 2016. This nicely summarizes much of the reaction outside of China to the 28 April 2016 enactment of the Foreign NGO Management Law (FNGOML) [中华人民共和国境外非政府组织管理法（草案)]. (See also Shawn Shieh,  Overseas NGO Law FAQs, NGOs in China 1 May 2016; 中国立法授权公安部门管理境外NGO).

Earlier drafts of the FNGOML distributed for comment in 2015 had generated a storm of negative criticism, especially in the West.  But not just in the West, and not just to further the interest of Western states in the work of their public and private NGOs (For my commentary on the draft see Here and Here ; Here for the Commentary of Flora Sapio; and Here for Background Briefs; Here for discussion of regulatory architecture of NGOs in China). Chinese internal commentary was not uniformly positive (see, e.g., Jia Xijin, "Legislations for Foreign NGOs; how will the second boot land?" originally in Chinese in Caijing; English version here).

In this short series we post  the following

1. Introduction to China's Foreign NGO Management Law

2. Flora Sapoio on the FNGOML

3. Larry Catá Backer on the FNGOML.

4. Flora Sapio Response to Larry Catá Backer on FNGOML.

This post includes Flora Sapio's comment, ""On China's Foreign NGOs Management Law."

Flora Sapio and Larry Catá Backer on China's New Foreign NGO Management Law: A Start at Commentary and Analysis; Introduction

(Pix provided by Flora Sapio 2016)

"Over more than three decades, foreign nonprofits, foundations, and universities have played an important role, usually welcomed by China, in the extraordinary transformation of the country’s society and economy. The drafting of this new law, and the centralization of control in the MPS [Ministry of Public Security], threatens balanced and effective partnerships built up over decades and has raised fears that a sharply tightened environment in China means a closing to the world — or at least the most significant retrenchment since reforms began in the late 1970s." 

So writes Mark Sidel in, "It Just Got Harder to Make a Difference in China," an article for Foreign Policy 29 April 2016. This nicely summarizes much of the reaction outside of China to the 28 April 2016 enactment of the Foreign NGO Management Law (FNGOML) [中华人民共和国境外非政府组织管理法（草案)]. (See also Shawn Shieh,  Overseas NGO Law FAQs, NGOs in China 1 May 2016; 中国立法授权公安部门管理境外NGO).

Earlier drafts of the FNGOML distributed for comment in 2015 had generated a storm of negative criticism, especially in the West.  But not just in the West, and not just to further the interest of Western states in the work of their public and private NGOs (For my commentary on the draft see Here and Here ; Here for the Commentary of Flora Sapio; and Here for Background Briefs; Here for discussion of regulatory architecture of NGOs in China). Chinese internal commentary was not uniformly positive (see, e.g., Jia Xijin, "Legislations for Foreign NGOs; how will the second boot land?" originally in Chinese in Caijing; English version here).
 

In this short series we post  the following

1. Introduction to China's Foreign NGO Management Law

2. Flora Sapoio on the FNGOML

3. Larry Catá Backer on the FNGOML.

4. Flora Sapio Response to Larry Catá Backer on FNGOML.

This post introduces the final version of the FNGOML and some of the more interesting commentary. With this foundation, Flora Sapio and I offer additional commentary and thoughts on the ramifications and consequences of the decision to go forward with this version of a structure for the management of foreign NGOs and to place it within the wider context of the great challenge to states that globalization has produced in the for of an internationalizing civil society that exists increasingly beyond the control of territoriality confined states, and that which can operate within and beyond them (Managing Civil Society--Next Generation NGO Laws and Resistance to the Internationalization of Civil Society and its Normative Elements). 

Academic Freedom and Civil Rights in Rafael Correa’s Ecuador (Apuntes sobre libertad académica y de expresión en el Ecuador): Summary of Reports Solicited by the Executive Council of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA)

(Pix © Larry Catá Backer 2016)

The spring 2016 issue of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) Forum is now available for viewing online. Of particular interest to academics within and beyond the field of Latin American studies are a dossier: "Academic Freedom and Civil Rights in Rafael Correa’s Ecuador”—this dossier includes five reports requested by LASA’s Executive Council to investigate threats to academic freedom in Ecuador. "The reports indicate that there are serious threats to freedom of speech, academic freedom, and other civil rights in Ecuador." (Carmen Martínez Novo, "Summary of Reports", below, pp. 25)). 

DOSSIER: ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND CIVIL RIGHTS IN RAFAEL CORREA’S ECUADOR

Academic Freedom and Civil Rights in Rafael Correa’s Ecuador: Summary of Reports Solicited by the Executive Council of LASA by Carmen Martínez Novo

Apuntes sobre libertad académica y de expresión en el Ecuador por Felipe Burbano de Lara

Legal Norms and Civil Society Organizations by Catherine M. Conaghan

Gender, Sexuality, Human Mobility, and Academic Freedom in Ecuador by María Amelia Viteri

Provincial Indigenous Leaders’ Concern about Correa Administration Policy and Possible Tactics of Repression by Rudi Colloredo-Mansfeld

Academic Freedom and Indigenous Peoples in Ecuador by Carmen Martínez Novo

The summary of the reports, "Academic Freedom and Civil Rights in Rafael Correa’s Ecuador: Summary of Reports Solicited by the Executive Council of LASA" follows. It is also published online in the current issue of the Latin American Studies Association Forum (Volume XLVII, Issue 2, pp. 25-26 Spring 2016; and available here). 

The dossier is well worth reading, not just for the materials they provide about the erosion of academic freedom in Ecuador, but also  for its important reminder that the techniques of academic repression do not necessarily have a political ideology and that academic freedom are a set of principles that are actually quite easy to erode. Both the political left and right have compelling reasons to use academia instrumentally, and it is clear that people in power find that freedom of critique is useful while they are in opposition but that such opposition ought to be restricted once they are in power.  On the other hand, the issue of interventions by foreign academics is more complicated. And it is less clear that exercise of speech rights by academics within political fields ought to be accorded greater protection--under academic freedom rules--that the speech rights accorded to other individuals. These issues require greater thought, but the thrust of the reports raises issues that also suggest government intolerance of disagreement within political systems in which the power to disagree is built into the basic constitutional fabric of their constitutional systems.

Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy: Call for Papers, 26th Annual Conference; "Cuba Assessing the Reforms" (English and Castellano)

 ASCE CALL FOR ABSTRACTS / PAPERS / PANELS
ASCE’s Twenty Sixth Annual Meeting: “Cuba: Assessing the Reforms”
July 28-July 30, 2016