Suchergebnisse

"This book examines the social and cultural history of the Bonin Islands and its inhabitants from the first settlements in the early nineteenth century to today. It provides a critical approach to understanding how communities create local narratives while located between powerful nations and national discourses"--Provided by publisher

Tobacco products face varying levels of taxation in different locations, creating opportunities and incentives for illicit trade. Cigarettes are taxed at the federal, state, and in some cases, local levels. According to industry representatives, taxes and other fees make up significant components of the final price of cigarettes, averaging 53 percent of the retail price. This book examines incentives that are important for understanding cross-border and illicit trade in tobacco products; and different schemes used to generate profits from cross-border and illicit trade in tobacco products

On 22 February 2003 a group of foreign residents of Japan gathered in Yokohama's Nishi Ward next to the Katabira River to protest the awarding of a residency certificate (juminhyō) to a seal called Tama-chan. Tama-chan had frequented the river and as such was awarded the certificate because he was "more or less like a fellow resident." The group of foreign residents criticized what they believed to be discrimination by the Japanese state because, whilst a seal is able to gain a residency certificate, foreign residents are legislatively excluded from obtaining one. The Tama-chan protest provides an opportunity for investigating not only the residency registration system, but also other population registries such as the Japanese family registration system and alien registration system. The author of this article argues that a deeper and more informed understanding of the processes of marginalization of foreign residents in Japan can be achieved through a comprehensive investigation of Japan's population registries and their respective histories. The author explains how these population registries are sites of tension in which contained notions of Japanese citizenship and national identity are being contested by foreign resident populations with vested interests in Japan as home, thus revealing the inadequacies, inconsistencies, and ambiguities of these registration systems. (Crit Asian Stud/GIGA)

The difficulty of establishing democracy in ethnically divided countries can be traced to the tendency of parties to divide on ethnic lines, and to become more or less mono-ethnic. To overcome this problem, a range of eleven new electoral systems is put forward, designed to provide each party with strong electoral incentives to become pan-ethnic, that is, to seek the votes of each ethnic group, and to respond to the concerns of each ethnic group. Each new system is a modified form of proportional representation, which allocates one-half of the seats in proportion to each party's first-preference votes, as a guaranteed minimum, and allocates the remaining half of the seats as a pan-ethnic incentive, to reward parties for obtaining votes from each ethnic group. Each new system uses, to provide this pan-ethnic incentive, one or both of the following two basic principles: Two-Party Competition and the Distributed Vote. Systems using the first principle set up any number of two-party competitions, in each of which the two parties compete for the votes of the whole electorate. A party gets more seats not only by getting more first-preference votes, but also by getting a higher non-first ranking from electors who give their first preferences to some other party. This gives the party the incentive to appeal more widely, to electors of ethnic groups and other groups to which it did not appeal before, in order to obtain a higher non-first ranking from them. Systems using the Distributed Vote operate by rewarding a party with more seats for getting an even distribution of its votes between the different ethnic groups. Should a system become acceptable, the dominant parties will share their influence with the previously excluded minority, resulting in a more stable and peaceful political system.

A major challenge to town planners in Britain is to help fulfil current and future housing need in a sustainable manner and avoid excessive development land take. This thesis therefore establishes what future development models are currently under debate and undertakes extensive research into Governments preferred option the 'Compact City'. Research focuses on empirical data for sustainable development and arguments for/against a policy of urban intensification. On conclusion that research alone fails to provide a sufficient basis for promoting a policy of 'Compact Cities', research emphasis was placed on the Dutch planning system, which has promoted such a policy for over a quarter of a century. Dutch experience was used to answer many unresolved arguments surrounding the 'Compact City' and an investigation was undertaken into how the Dutch have made this policy successful. In light of the fact that Dutch experience has shown that high quality urban housing is fundamental to attracting residents back to cities, an investigation of current UK generic housing models was undertaken and these were tested against sustainable density research and UK/Dutch design advice. On comparison it was established that many failed both tests and it was established that additional housing types could be required under a policy of 'Compact Cities'. An alternative development brief for additional housing models was therefore developed and this brief was investigated through the design of three alternative housing types. In final conclusion it was proposed that the Dutch treatment of density could provide a model for future planning in England and their design principles could aid the creation of alternative urban housing types.