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Abstract

How does the Brazilian sugarcane sector act towards transnational private governance initiatives on biofuels? Brazil is one of the world's largest biofuel producers, and since the 1970s sugarcane ethanol production has expanded with the help of the federal government. The developed nations' rising demands for higher social and environmental standards have fostered the emergence of new governance mechanisms that affect biofuel-producing countries, which in turn have started to engage in private initiatives to regulate their economic activities through transnational certificates. This article aims to analyse the strategic interaction amongst Brazilian actors involved in biofuel production. Our goal is to explain: a) what are the conditions that have based the agents' ability to act in the international arena, and b) how they have influenced the international standards for biofuels. Building upon Büthe e Mattli's (2011) Institutional Complementarity Theory, as well as Caffagi e Pistor's (2013) normative concept of regulatory capability, we argue that a trend of geographical and economic concentration and homogeneity in Brazilian sugarcane production helped to create the conditions for Brazilian producers to adhere and influence the standards of Bonsucro (the most important private international regulation for sugarcane ethanol). Then, we suggest paths for further research on that issue, so that we can confirm these claims.

The Jihad Feminist Dynamics of Terrorism and Subordination of Women in the ISIS

“…Khan, Watson, Ali & Chen (2018) argue that the call by jihad feminist for Muslim women to join the ISIS and be good brides, wives and mothers, makes them turn a blind eye to the absurd construct of women agency and male oppression within the ISIS's operations. Kneip (2016) says that the call by jihad feminists for Muslim women to be good jihad brides, wives, and mothers when they join the ISIS, masks women not to see any form of oppression and abuse that they face within the operations of the ISIS. In end, far from standing against any forms of Western feminists' interpretation of women subjugation in the Islamic world, jihad feminists promote an array of patriarchal practices and beliefs in the ISIS operations.…”

“…Based on the above, it would appear that firstly, jihad feminism uses the Quranic interpretation in addressing the oppressive modes of the ISIS's governance structure that is dominated by men and prejudice that subordinates the role of women. What is clear is that jihad feminism thrives on the misconception of jihad and terrorism from religious scriptures such as the Qur'an, Hadith and Sunnah (Kneip, 2016). Although jihad feminism draws its strength on the Quran, Sunnah, and Hadith to romanticise women's acts of terrorism as heroic (Winter, 2015a), it masks jihad feminists with Islamic religious sentiments that legitimises their sedentary roles within the ISIS's operations (Kneip, 2016).…”

“…What is clear is that jihad feminism thrives on the misconception of jihad and terrorism from religious scriptures such as the Qur'an, Hadith and Sunnah (Kneip, 2016). Although jihad feminism draws its strength on the Quran, Sunnah, and Hadith to romanticise women's acts of terrorism as heroic (Winter, 2015a), it masks jihad feminists with Islamic religious sentiments that legitimises their sedentary roles within the ISIS's operations (Kneip, 2016). In fact, the whole logic of jihad feminism is to radicalise women (and young girls) for the sole purpose of promulgating and reinforcing the ISIS's male domination.…”