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Australia is currently in free trade negotiations with China and Malaysia and has a FTA with Thailand. Australia is becoming more integrated into the Asia-Pacific economic region through bilateral trade agreements. It is within this context that a report of this nature is relevant. It outlines industrial relations (IR) practices in these countries, and highlights some implications for multinational companies (MNCs) and governments, specifically in regards to labour rights and standards. Why China, Malaysia and Thailand? These three countries have been described as the new 'Asian Tigers'. They have experienced massive industrialisation in the last two decades, and have opened their economies up to increasing amounts of foreign investment. China, for example, is Australia's second largest trading partner behind Japan. In 2003-2004, merchandise export trade to China was worth A$9.9 billion. Similarly, Malaysia has also opened up its economy to foreign direct investment. It is the fourth most open economy in the world and Australia's FTA negotiations further strengthen the ties between the two countries. Australia and Thailand have a current FT A (T AFTA) which also strengthens regional ties. All three countries have an IR infrastructure heavily controlled by the government through policy and legislation. Each government has played a substantial role in the industrialisation process. China has, in the last two decades, initiated economic reforms aimed at establishing a socialist market economy. These reforms have had a massive impact on state-owned enterprises (SOEs ). The Malaysian Government is highly motivated and committed to being declared an industrialised nation. A number of conditions have been established by the Government to make the IR enviromnent more attractive for MNCs, including skills training for employees and the repression of the union movement. Thailand has experienced turbulent industrialisation due to the nation's previous political instability. However it has in recent years played a significant role in IR through SOEs, although they are now beginning to privatise some of them. Legislation allows the Thai Government to control the relatively new union movement. Trade unions in China, Malaysia and Thailand are fairly weak. This is largely due to government intervention into the formation, registration, management and membership of unions. China has only one trade union federation which acts as an umbrella for unions at national, local and primary level. It performs a dualistic function, acting as a vehicle for party policy and as a representative of workers. Malaysia has a number of trade unions under four main federations. Trade unions are separated by public and private sector, trade, occupation and industry and furthermore by region. The Thai labour movement is fairly new, given they were banned for over a decade. The Government aided the re-establishment of a weakened trade labour movement and continues to heavily qualify their dealings. Unions in all three countries have very little bargaining power. The issue of government and coiJ>orate responsibility is an issue not reserved for IR studies. It is an idea that has in recent years emerged and taken hold as economic globalisation continues. Specifically government and coiJ>orate responsibility refers to_ the safeguarding and promoting of core labour rights and standards by MNCs. Some MNCs have accepted this responsibility as the formation of the Free Labour Associations illustrates. The idea also has ramifications for the Australian government in their trade negotiations with other countries. Despite the fact the WTO does not consider labour a trade issue, do governments have a responsibility to abide by the same rules as MNCs and uphold and promote core labour rights and standards? The ACTU believes so and has developed a draft language to be included into FTAs regarding trading governments andMNCs. X

This paper examines how cooperatives affected and were affected by the profound political, economic and social transitions that have occurred in Nicaragua in recent decades. It pays particular attention to the shift from the post-revolutionary Sandinista regime of the 1980s to the "neoliberal" regime of the 1990s and early 2000s. In the early 1990s, a peace accord ended years of civil war and the Sandinista government was voted out of office by a coalition of Centrist and Right-wing parties. This meant that policies supporting state and cooperative forms of production were replaced by those favouring privatization, the rolling back of the state and the freeing up of market forces. Cooperatives and the agrarian reform process initiated by the Sandinista government were heavily impacted by this process, often in contradictory ways. Land redistribution to landless peasant farmers and cooperative organizations continued as part of the process of peace-building prior to the elections. Demobilized military and other security personnel were given land after the elections. Workers in state-owned farms and agro-industrial enterprises also acquired assets when part of the state sector was converted to worker-owned and managed enterprises. But the neoliberal era ushered in a process of decollectivization and dispossession and heavily constrained access to credit and support services for cooperatives and small-scale farmers. Agricultural workers and producers were not passive bystanders in this process. Their responses conformed to a Polanyian-type "double movement" where societal forces mobilize in myriad ways to protect against the negative social effects of economic liberalization and the dominance of market forces. The pro-market strand of the double movement centred not only on economic liberalization but also an agrarian counter-reform centred on decollectivization and returning lands to former owners. The societal reaction or "protective" strand of the double movement consisted of diverse forms of contestation, collective action and social innovation. Divided in three parts, this paper first outlines the rapid rise of the cooperative sector and its strengths and weaknesses during the post-revolutionary period from 1979 to the electoral defeat of the Sandinistas in 1990. Part 2 examines the uneven trajectory of agrarian reform and cooperative development during the neoliberal 1990s, consisting of counter reform and ongoing redistribution to the landless. Part 3 examines four manifestations of the "double movement" by agricultural workers and producers. They include (i) the proliferation of civil and armed resistance in the early 1990s; (ii) the structuring of a cooperative movement; (iii) efforts to empower small coffee producers via the fair trade movement and the "quality revolution" and (iv) the drive to reactivate the smallholdings of poor rural women and organize them in pre-cooperative groups. A concluding section distils the main findings for the addressing the challenge of post-conflict reconciliation and development, and refers briefly to the implications for the cooperative movement of the return to power of the Sandinista National Liberation Front in 2007. The main policy lesson for governments engaged in processes of peace-building and "post-conflict" reconstruction would seem to be: ignore the issue of inclusive agrarian development at your peril! If a disabling policy environment exists, and if demands for land and employment on the part of subaltern groups are not met, various forms of resistance will ensue, with the possibility of renewed violent conflict and the inability to govern effectively. And when a political party seemingly supportive of the cooperative sector regains the reins of power, renewed support may come at the cost of dependency and loss of autonomy of the cooperative movement.

The aim of this article is the comprehensive analysis of possible benefits and disadvantages of Turkey's European Union membership from the point of view of both of the sides of the accession process, and the attempt to predict the probable consequences of two political scenarios: accession of Turkey to the EU which is equivalent to being a full member with the same rights as remaining 27 countries, or the fiasco of Turkey's accession process to the UE. The first part of this article contains the analysis of economic, political and sociocultural benefits that both of the sides will gain and the balance of the costs that each side will have to bear. The analysis that is being carried out in the second part of this article is concerned with possible consequences of 'worst and best scenario' fulfillment. However, as it is being shown in this part of article, between two mentioned above extremes there is one more possible way of progress of events: heavily supported by the chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Angela Merkel 'privileged partnership' for Turkey instead of full EU membership. How it has been repeatedly said by Turkish political leaders, none form of partnership should be even considered because offers of cooperation different from full EU membership are insult to Turkey. However, taking into consideration the fact that EU is still being affected by economic and political crisis, it may have not possibility to offer Turkey anything more than remaining the 'status quo'. Possible results of this progress of events like Turkey's turn to the Islamic neighbouring countries and European Union's loss of a chance of attaching great importance to global geopolitics, are also taken into consideration. ; The aim of this article is the comprehensive analysis of possible benefits and disadvantages of Turkey's European Union membership from the point of view of both of the sides of the accession process, and the attempt to predict the probable consequences of two political scenarios: accession of Turkey to the EU which is equivalent to being a full member with the same rights as remaining 27 countries, or the fiasco of Turkey's accession process to the UE. The first part of this article contains the analysis of economic, political and sociocultural benefits that both of the sides will gain and the balance of the costs that each side will have to bear. The analysis that is being carried out in the second part of this article is concerned with possible consequences of 'worst and best scenario' fulfillment. However, as it is being shown in this part of article, between two mentioned above extremes there is one more possible way of progress of events: heavily supported by the chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Angela Merkel 'privileged partnership' for Turkey instead of full EU membership. How it has been repeatedly said by Turkish political leaders, none form of partnership should be even considered because offers of cooperation different from full EU membership are insult to Turkey. However, taking into consideration the fact that EU is still being affected by economic and political crisis, it may have not possibility to offer Turkey anything more than remaining the 'status quo'. Possible results of this progress of events like Turkey's turn to the Islamic neighbouring countries and European Union's loss of a chance of attaching great importance to global geopolitics, are also taken into consideration.

As a result of intense ground battles and extensive bombing during the Indo-China War, especially during the years 1964 – 1973, Lao PDR has the distinction of being, per capita, the most heavily bombed nation in the world. The war left widespread unexploded ordnance (UXO) contamination, which thirty years on continues to act as a barrier to socio economic development causing death and injury to adults and children. UXO injury, especially in a country such as Lao PDR where access to adequate health services is limited, can result in long-term medical and psychological sequelae (Handicap International, 2004) as well as a huge financial burden to affected individuals, families, their communities and health services.Often, those who suffer a landmine/UXO injury are aware of the risk (International Campaign to Ban Landmines, 2000; Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, 2003). In the Lao PDR as a response to the continuing UXO threat, the Government, with assistance from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UNICEF established the Lao PDR Trust Fund for UXO in 1995 to finance a national programme of clearance and education. In common with most other mine action programmes, the Lao national UXO programme (1996-ongoing), aims to reduce risk through survey, marking, surface and sub-surface landmine/UXO clearance and mine risk education (MRE). MRE aims to promote safety in UXO contaminated communities and in the Lao PDR has been primarily underpinned by psychological theories of behaviour change, such as the Health Belief Model (Rosenstock1974). More specifically, UNICEF has supported MRE for children in several at risk communities in 12 of the most heavily contaminated provinces. Since 2002, this support was concentrated on implementation of two projects: the introduction of UXO awareness as an extra curricular activity within the primary school system, implemented by World Education Consortium with the Ministry of Education and 'Sport in the Box' safe play activities implemented by the Lao Youth Union (LYU). Since the outset, UNICEF has supported continuous monitoring and evaluation, including UNICEF funded evaluations in 2000 (Delneuville, A.) and 2005 (GICHD). In 2001 UXO LAO also undertook a Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) study in 3 provinces followed by a more in depth qualitative study in one province to try and understand the contributing factors to UXO risk behaviour and injury (UXO LAO, Sisawath, B and Durham, J. 2001 and Sisawath,B. and Durham, J. 2002). In 2005 UNICEF also commissioned a study into the Scrap Metal Trade in the Lao PDR (GICHD, 2005). An evaluation of UNICEF MRE activities was also commissioned by UNICEF in 2005 and recommended that in preparation for the next 5 year strategy, a MRE assessment be undertaken to ascertain who is currently at risk, why and what can be done to mitigate the risk. As a result of the evaluation recommendations, this assessment aims to answer these questions. More specifically the main objectives of the assessment were:1. To collect and analyse quantitative and qualitative data to identify who is at risk of UXO accidents, why and what can be done about it2. To involve a range of stakeholders in the assessment3. To provide a report based on the above which can be used to underpin the MRE strategy for the Lao PDR and for UNICEF specifically and can be used to develop measurable impact and outcome objectives and indicators4. To provide recommendations on appropriate UXO messages and risk reduction strategies

"12 photolithographs (heavily retouched), 3 chromolithographs. The photographs are by T.H. O'Sullivan and William Bell. These views, typical of the toned photolithographs published in Government reports, are striking scenes of the Western landscape, translated to this medium with a great deal of graphic richness. This title is also of prime importance because it lists every photographer for every one of the Government's surveys"--Hanson Collection catalog, p. 100. ; "Published by authority of . the Secretary of War in accordance with acts of Congress of June 23, 1874, and February 15, 1875." ; Volume V, Chapter III also issued separately as: Report upon the ornithological collections made in portions of Nevada, Utah, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona, during the years 1871, 1872, 1873, and 1874 / by H.W Henshaw. ; Vol. 7 includes 40 vocabularies of Western Indian languages. ; In addition to the 2 atlases named, maps based on the maps of the Topographical atlas were issued as Land classification series, and special maps (not accompanying reports) showing the results of some preliminary reconnaissance or of some survey of an area of peculiar interest were issued irregularly. ; A.A. Humphreys, Chief of Engineers until June 1879; succeeded by H.G. Wright. ; vol. 1. Geographical report (1889): Areas occupied ; Passes, western rim of great interior basin ; Altitudes and distances, Yosemite valley ; Itinerary of Colorado grand cañon and river trip of 1871 ; Population, industries, communications, irrigation, and artesian wells ; Indians ; Land classification ; Appendices: A, List of latitudes, longitudes, altitudes, etc. of certain military posts ; B, Description of atlas sheet maps ; C, Methods of survey ; D, Notes on survey and disposal of public domain, with map ; E, Considerations upon national government land and marine surveys, with map ; F, Geographical discovery and exploration, west coast and interior, 1500 to 1800, with chronological list of expeditions, and notes on certain old maps ; Epitome of Warren's Memoir, 1800-1857, with added notes ; Explorations and surveys, 1857-1880 ; G, Synoptical tables of contents [vol. V-VII] with summary list of reports and separately published maps ; H, Origin . progress, and cost of geographical surveys west of the 100th meridian -- vol. 2. Astronomy and barometric hypsometry (1877): Reports upon the astronomical determinations at main stations in Nevada, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, and New Mexico, occupied in the years 1872, 1873, and 1874 / by F. Kampf, John H. Clark, Wm. W. Maryatt, and T.H. Stafford ; Appendix: Report of operations at Salt Lake observatory in 1873 / by J.H. Clark ; Description of Ogden observatory and site / by G.M. Wheeler ; Description of personal-equation apparatus . / by F. Kampf ; List of positions of astronomical stations / by G.M. Wheeler ; Results in barometric hypsometry, obtained during the years 1871, 1872, 1873, 1874, and 1875 / reported by Wm. L. Marshall -- v. 3. Geology (1875) -- v. 3, Suppl. Geology / under the direction of H.G. Wright -- v. 4. Paleontology (1877) -- v. 5. Zoology (1875) -- v. 6. Botany (1878) -- v. 7. Archæology (1879) -- Topographical atlas -- Geographical atlas. ; Some vols. published out of numerical order. ; "12 photolithographs (heavily retouched), 3 chromolithographs. The photographs are by T.H. O'Sullivan and William Bell. These views, typical of the toned photolithographs published in Government reports, are striking scenes of the Western landscape, translated to this medium with a great deal of graphic richness. This title is also of prime importance because it lists every photographer for every one of the Government's surveys"--Hanson Collection catalog, p. 100. ; Mode of access: Internet.

A capacious history of decolonization, from the decline of empires to the era of globalizationEmpires, until recently, were everywhere. They shaped borders, stirred conflicts, and set the terms of international politics. With the collapse of empire came a fundamental reorganization of our world. Decolonization unfolded across territories as well as within them. Its struggles became internationalized and transnational, as much global campaigns of moral disarmament against colonial injustice as local contests of arms. In this expansive history, Martin Thomas tells the story of decolonization and its intrinsic link to globalization. He traces the connections between these two transformative processes: the end of formal empire and the acceleration of global integration, market reorganization, cultural exchange, and migration.The End of Empires and a World Remade shows how profoundly decolonization shaped the process of globalization in the wake of empire collapse. In the second half of the twentieth century, decolonization catalyzed new international coalitions; it triggered partitions and wars; and it reshaped North-South dynamics. Globalization promised the decolonized greater access to essential resources, to wider networks of influence, and to worldwide audiences, but its neoliberal variant has reinforced economic inequalities and imperial forms of political and cultural influences. In surveying these two codependent histories across the world, from Latin America to Asia, Thomas explains why the deck was so heavily stacked against newly independent nations.Decolonization stands alongside the great world wars as the most transformative event of twentieth-century history. In The End of Empires and a World Remade, Thomas offers a masterful analysis of the greatest process of state-making (and empire-unmaking) in modern history

German military history is typically viewed as an inexorable march to the rise of Prussia and the two world wars, the road paved by militarism and the result a specifically German way of war. Peter Wilson challenges this narrative. Looking beyond Prussia to German-speaking Europe across the last five centuries, Wilson finds little unique or preordained in German militarism or warfighting. Iron and Blood takes as its starting point the consolidation of the Holy Roman Empire, which created new mechanisms for raising troops but also for resolving disputes diplomatically. Both the empire and the Swiss Confederation were largely defensive in orientation, while German participation in foreign wars was most often in partnership with allies. The primary aggressor in Central Europe was not Prussia but the Austrian Habsburg monarchy, yet Austria's strength owed much to its ability to secure allies. Prussia, meanwhile, invested in militarization but maintained a part-time army well into the nineteenth century. Alongside Switzerland, which relied on traditional militia, both states exemplify the longstanding civilian element within German military power. Only after Prussia's unexpected victory over France in 1871 did Germans and outsiders come to believe in a German gift for warfare - a special capacity for high-speed, high-intensity combat that could overcome numerical disadvantage. It took two world wars to expose the fallacy of German military genius. Yet even today, Wilson argues, Germany's strategic position is misunderstood. The country now seen as a bastion of peace spends heavily on defense in comparison to its peers and is deeply invested in less kinetic contemporary forms of coercive power.

"An untold story that reshapes our understanding of Chinese and Tibetan history. From 1956 to 1962, devastating military conflicts took place in China's southwestern and northwestern regions. Official record at the time scarcely made mention of the campaign, and in the years since only lukewarm acknowledgment of the violence has surfaced. When the Iron Bird Flies, by Jianglin Li, breaks this decades-long silence to reveal for the first time a comprehensive and explosive picture of the six years that would prove definitive in modern Tibetan and Chinese history. The CCP referred to the campaign as "suppressing the Tibetan rebellion." It would lead to the 14th Dalai Lama's exile in India, as well as the Tibetan diaspora in 1959, though the battles lasted three additional years after these events. Featuring key figures in modern Chinese history, the battles waged in this period covered a vast geographical region. This book offers a portrait of chaos, deception, heroism, and massive loss. Beyond the significant death toll across the Tibetan regions, the war also destroyed most Tibetan monasteries in a concerted effort to eradicate local religion and scholarship. Despite being considered a military success, to this day, the operations in the agricultural regions remain unknown. As large numbers of Tibetans have self-immolated in recent years to protest Chinese occupation, Li shows that the largest number of cases occurred in the sites most heavily affected by this hidden war. She argues persuasively that the events described in this book will shed more light on our current moment, and will help us understand the unrelenting struggle of the Tibetan people for their freedom"--

"This book is about the convergence of trends in two American institutions - the economy and the criminal justice system. The American economy has radically transformed in the past half-century, led by advances in automation technology that have permanently altered labor market dynamics. Over the same period, the U.S. criminal justice system experienced an unprecedented expansion at great cost. hese costs include not only the $80 billion annually in direct expenditures on criminal justice, but also the devastating impacts experienced by justice-involved individuals, families, and communities. Recently, a widespread consensus has emerged that the era of "mass incarceration" is at an end, reflected in a declining prison population. Criminal justice reforms such as diversion and problem-solving courts, a renewed focus on reentry, and drug policy reform have as their goal keeping more individuals with justice system involvement out of prisons, in the community and subsequently in the labor force, which lacks the capacity to accommodate these additional would-be workers. This poses significant problems for criminal justice practice, which relies heavily on employment as a signal of offenders' intentions to live a law-abiding lifestyle. The diminished capacity of the economy to utilize the labor of all who have historically been expected to work presents significant challenges for American society. Work, in the American ethos is the marker of success, masculinity and how one "contributes to society." What are the consequences of ignoring these converging structural trends? This book examines these potential consequences, the meaning of work in American society, and suggests alternative redistributive and policy solutions to avert the collision course of these economic and criminal justice policy trends."

Originally published in 1968, this book set out to give a brief but complete account of the French Parliament as it had worked in practice since the advent of President de Gaulle. A number of different aspects are discussed, from the social background of the members to the debates on five sample bills, and from the strategy of pressure groups to the organisation and character of the Gaullist party (about which very little had been written). While the legal framework within which the new parliament works is comprehensively described, attention is mainly focused on a political situation transformed by the end of the Algerian war and by the speed of social change in France itself at the time. Earlier books on the Fifth Republic naturally concentrated heavily on the spectacular crises of its early years and on the exceptional personality of its president. Remarkably little, therefore, had been written on the recent development of its institutions and politics in the peacetime conditions which France had enjoyed since 1962 for the first time for over twenty years. There was a Gaullist myth that the new regime had reformed the system and, against the obstructive opposition of an Opposition which had learned nothing and forgotten nothing, had won the support of the French people for a strong democratic government on British lines. There was a corresponding Opposition myth that a ruler and party of authoritarian temper had consolidated their power by reducing parliamentary criticism to an impotent farce. Neither interpretation was wholly unfounded; neither does justice to the complex reality which this work tries to explain as fairly as possible.

Merging together the fields of urban ecology, environmental justice, and urban environmental education, Urban Ecosystem Justice promotes building fair, accessible, and mutually beneficial relationships between citizens and the soils, water, atmospheres, and biodiversity in their cities. This book provides a framework for re-centering issues of justice and fairness in sustainability discourse while challenging the profound ecological alienation experienced by urban residents. While the urban sustainability movement has had many successes in the past few decades, there remain areas for it to grow. For one, the benefits of sustainability have disproportionately benefited wealthier city residents, with concerns over equity, justice, and social sustainability frequently taking a back seat to economic and environmental considerations. Additionally, many city dwellers remain estranged from and unfamiliar with ecological processes, with urban environments often thought of as existing outside of nature or as hopelessly degraded. Through a citizen-centered lens, the book offers a guide to reconciling these issues by demonstrating how questions of equity, access, and justice apply to the biophysical dimensions of the urban ecosystem: soil, water, air, waste, and biodiversity. Drawing heavily from the fields of urban ecology, environmental justice, and ecological design, this book lays out a science of cities for people: a pedagogical platform that can be used to promote ecological literacy in underrepresented urban communities through affordable and decentralized means. This book provides both a theoretical and practical field guide to students and researchers of urban sustainability, city planners, architects, policymakers, and activists wishing to develop reciprocal relationships with urban ecologies.

"This book showcases the diversity of ways in which urban residents from varying cultural contexts view, interact, engage and give meaning to urban nature, aiming to counterbalance the dominance of western depictions and values of urban nature and design. Urban nature has up to now largely been defined, planned and managed in a way heavily dominated by western understandings, values and appreciations, which has spread through globalisation. As cities increasingly represent a diversity of cultures, and urban nature is being increasingly recognized as contributing to resident's wellbeing, belonging and overall quality of life, it is important to consider the numerous ways in which urban nature is understood and appreciated. This collection of case studies includes examples from Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America, and reflects on the multi-dimensional aspects of engagements with urban nature through a biocultural diversity lens. The chapters cover several themes such as how engagements with nature contribute to a sense of wellbeing and belonging; the implications that diversity has on the provision, design and management of urban environments; and the threats inhibiting residents' abilities to engage meaningfully with nature. The book challenges the dominant discourse, western ideological understandings and meta-narratives of modernisation and unilineal urban transitions. A timely addition to the literature, Urban Nature: Enriching Belonging, Wellbeing and Bioculture offers an alternative to western ideological understandings of nature and values and will be of great interest to those working in human and environmental urban ecology. It will also be key readings for students in the relevant fields of anthropology, development studies, geography, social ecology and urban studies"--