Showing papers in "Progress in Development Studies in 2001"

Postcolonialism, feminism and development: intersections and dilemmas:

Abstract: In recent years, postcolonial and feminist theories have had enormous consequences for how development is conceptualized. In light of this, the present paper explores the intersections between postcolonialism, feminism and development. It does so by, first, reviewing the primary issues underpinning postcolonial approaches to development. Secondly, the paper reviews the emergence of postcolonial feminisms and explores the key areas of debate generated by these approaches within development studies. Thirdly, the paper examines some of the dilemmas and criticisms provoked by these approaches, and concludes by exploring the ways in which postcolonial feminist approaches might continue to make significant advancement in rethinking development.

Does aid increase growth

Abstract: Is aid effective in increasing growth rates of recipient countries? This is the burning question in any economic evaluation of aid effectiveness, yet there is no consensus on the answer. Recent advances in growth theory help us to identify the various mechanisms by which aid can increase growth, notably through increasing investment in physical and human capital. The empirical evidence has tended to focus on aid effectiveness by examining its impact as (physical) investment and, more recently, by considering the relationship between aid and government economic policy. There is an increasing body of evidence that aid does work, conditional on other variables in the growth regression.

Urban health in developing countries: a review

Abstract: The last major review of urban health in developing countries was published in 1992. At that time, knowledge was largely limited to crude rural-urban comparisons and some ad hoc studies of low-income urban communities. Most research was done on communicable (infectious) diseases and little was known about the relationship between urban life in developing countries and chronic illness such as mental ill-health, heart disease and cancer. This paper updates knowledge by reviewing recent research on intra-urban health inequalities, urban health-seeking behaviour and the importance of urban-rural links for health. It also presents a new model of urban health that incorporates changes in urban health research and practice.

The social and economic impact of HIV/AIDS in poor countries: a review of studies and lessons

Abstract: This review accompanies the Guidelines for Preparation and Execution of Studies of the Social and Economic Impact of HIV/AIDS. Its purpose is to supplement and complement those practical guidelines by presenting some of the literature which informed their development. The first section of the review provides some background to the epidemic and an indication of where on the World Wide Web up to date information may be found. This complements the broader range of sources of data which is presented in the Guidelines. The idea of impact is defined making clear that the impact of an epidemic cannot be thought of only as a shock but must also be understood as a series of slow cumulative events over a long time period. The Guidelines make very clear that data are vital for effective impact studies. To underline this point the first section of the Review: Data and Methods for studying Impact provides an account of the different theoretical approaches to studying impact not from a disciplinary perspective - the Review argues that most impact studies have been done by economists and demographers - but rather from a consideration of the quality and type of data used. It recognises that diverse types of data will be used in impact studies and those undertaking such studies must be aware of the uses and limitations of such material and furthermore or the ways that data are related to the theories and methods which informed their collection. (excerpt)

Commodity futures markets in LDCs: a review and prospects

Abstract: Recent moves by the World Bank to devise market-based approaches for dealing with commodity price risk provide a fresh impetus for research in the area of commodity futures markets as a policy option. Since the collapse of the International Commodity Agreements there has been little progress in finding a solution to the perennial problem of price risk arising from price volatility. This paper aims to provide a background to the more general issue of development and growth in less developed countries (LDCs) by examining past and current policy attempts to reduce the effects of price volatility in primary commodity markets.

Complexity: an appropriate framework for development?:

Abstract: Kuhn (1970: 6–17) argued that a scientific discipline progresses through ‘paradigm shifts’ separated by periods of relative calm during which a particular set of rules and assumptions (the paradigm) defines the boundaries for ‘legitimate’ practices in that field. Capra (1983), amongst others, demonstrated that the natural sciences adhered until recently to the dictates of a linear paradigm that originated from ideas advanced by scholars such as Hobbes, Descartes, Locke and Newton. Linearity, as typified by the laws of motion, is correlated with order, predictability, linked causes and effects, and knowable universal laws that allow desirable results to be obtained by application of the requisite inputs to a system. The constituent parts of a system give useful indications of the mode of behaviour of the whole. Fundamentally, linear processes are deterministic, mechanistic and finite, as opposed to being evolutionary and open-ended. Consequently, they respond well to hierarchical management structures and to reductionist, rather than integrative, methods of analysis. In time, linear thinking spread beyond the original scientific discoveries to embrace practically all facets of life. The success of the industrial revolution, in particular, engendered a belief that most problems could be resolved by the positivist application of reason to empirical observations. Following that logic, Smith and Ricardo claimed to have captured the laws of economics, and Marx enunciated his ‘immutable’ and deterministic laws of capitalist development. More recently, using a similar logic, Bell (1965) predicted an end to ideology while Fukuyama

The North-South terms of trade debate: a re-examination

Abstract: Contrary to the classical proposition, the works of Prebisch and Singer launched the controversial hypothesis of long-term decline in the terms of trade of primary products vis-a-vis manufactures a...

Children’s and young people’s participation in development in the South and in urban regeneration in the North

Abstract: This paper summarizes the varying reasons why children’s participation has emerged on development/regeneration agendas in both Northern and Southern contexts. Nongovernmental organizations and campaigning groups have played significant roles, championing the case for children’s involvement and transferring learning from experiences in the South to the North as well as vice versa. Despite these developing initiatives to enable children’s voices to be heard, there are still too many examples of tokenism, however, with major gaps between rhetoric and reality. The paper concludes by raising questions about possible ways forward, including questions about the need for wider institutional change.

Parks or people? National parks and the case of Del Este, Dominican Republic

Abstract: Beginning with a brief overview of the USA national park model, this paper outlines significant changes in attitudes towards resident peoples worldwide. It reviews relevant literature dealing with parks in various countries, and argues that the traditional division between people and parks, part of the intellectual context, should be challenged. It also reports that the involvement of resident peoples in management decisions is increasing. Nevertheless, at grass-roots level, as anthropological research and a case study of Del Este in the Dominican Republic show, the struggle for resources continues, with international economic power and local culture remaining dominant factors in environmental conservation.

Peasants, the agrarian question and lenses of development

Abstract: This paper reviews the interactions between conceptualizations of rural development and development theory more broadly. It identifies two key issues: the representation of peasant farmers and the agrarian question, that is, how do peasant societies interact with broader politi- cal economies? The paper develops two responses to these issues: first, that theory should not be imposed upon peasant societies to the neglect of 'bottom up' research; and secondly, that researchers should consciously try to integrate both structure and struggle into their analytical frameworks:

Social capital formation and development in marginal communities, with reference to post-Soviet societies

Abstract: This paper re-assesses the relevant literature on social capital formation and its development role in marginal communities, using the case example of the Crimean Tatars. In order to review the current literature, a modified systematic review procedure has been adopted, leading to the formulation of a more thoroughly grounded conceptual framework. The concept of social capital was originally developed as a tool for explaining different developmental outcomes in societies with otherwise similar resources. By integrating various theoretical strands, a complex understanding of the various forms and levels of social capital emerges. The value of the concept of social capital is examined, and attention is paid to both its positive and negative meanings. Of particular interest for development studies is the analysis of the impact of external intervention on social capital formation. This is then tested in terms of its relevance for marginal communities, and specifically when thinking through alternative policy ...

The global politics of development: towards a new research agenda

Abstract: New ways are needed of framing the international politics of development in the context of global restructuring. The old thinking that employed such terms as ‘Third World’, ‘developing countries’, ‘core and periphery’, even ‘North’ and ‘South’ needs to be abandoned. It does not travel well into a globalizing world. New interpretations of international inequality emerged in the 1990s - the so-called ‘Bretton Woods’ and ‘United Nations’ paradigms - and are linked to attendant economic liberal and sociological strands of political economy analysis. But both approaches underplay politics. However, the new global politics of development can be satisfactorily framed, provided that we adopt an approach that takes globalization seriously, recognizes the continuing, albeit changing, realities of states and interstate politics and reinterprets development as a universal problem. Attempts to classify states and societies in advance of research must also be avoided.

Discourses on peace and development

Abstract: Assuming a close relationship between peace and development, this paper analyses a succession of schools of thought in development forming part of three distinct, historically contextualized development and security discourses: the industrialization imperative in the emerging state-system in nineteenth-century Europe, the international concern with global poverty in the bipolar post second world war world and the current meaning of development in a globalized and increasingly chaotic world. The third of these discourses contains major challenges for development theory. The discourses are related to great transformations in political economy, understood in Polanyian terms as tensions between market expansion and societal response.

Convergence: myths and realities:

Abstract: Although economists have become increasingly agnostic about convergence, neo-liberal policies tend to presume it. Such policies assume that economic liberalization, open markets and minimalist states will encourage the globalization of capital, thereby spreading economic growth from the First World to the Third World. In this, they resemble orthodox Marxist theories of the internationalization of capital. However, divergence rather than convergence continues to prevail in the global economy, and neo-liberal policies may be intensifying these trends. It appears the flaw common to both neo-liberal and Marxist thinking on convergence is a supply-sided approach that neglects the important role demand plays in attracting investment.

Backlash: Or how to snatch failure from the jaws of success in gender and development

Abstract: Speeches to the Plenary sessions of the nongovernmental organization (NGO) forum at the Beijing Conference on women in 1995 warned of the dangers of the rise of conservatism, identity politics and religious fundamentalism that are seen as undermining the advances made by women in developing countries and encouraging violence against them. Only once was the word ‘backlash’ mentioned: ‘many of the fundamentalist forces see the family, women and culture as areas that they can control even when they can’t control global economic forces. This has fueled the conservative backlash against women’s autonomy’ (Bunch, 1996: 26). Such an approach makes it appear that women are simply innocent bystanders caught in a worldwide reactionary political movement. However, I will argue that backlash against women is occurring today as a direct result of the economic gains women have achieved over almost three decades of Women in Development (WID) projects. Not surprisingly, backlash is worst where development projects for women have been most successful. Such reactions have not been widely noted, largely because they occur at the family and community level and take place after the outside experts have left the project, having recorded its success. Today the spread of electronic communications is enabling longer-term follow-up of such projects and is revealing the widespread incidence of backlash against women’s economic success. In 1970 Ester Boserup, in her seminal book Women’s role in economic development, first brought to people’s attention the negative effects of development on women. Previously the convenient assumption had been that the benefits of economic development ‘trickled down’ to all members of the family. However, Boserup showed that development affected men and women differently and that families were not always headed by benevolent male dictators who ensured a fair distribution of labour and benefits (Dey, 1981; Folbre, 1991). In 1973 the Percy Amendment was adopted in the USA requiring the United States Agency for International Development (US-AID), at that time one of the major Progress in Development Studies 1, 1 (2001) pp. 51–56

Progress, development and change:

Abstract: Even the most cursory evaluation of the media reveals a recent enhanced coverage of development-related issues, ranging from debt reduction and public protest against the World Trade Organization, to the effects of structural adjustment programmes imposed by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, issues of gender and development (see Momsen, 2001, in this issue of Progress in Development Studies), child labour and child soldiers, and the UK’s Department of International Development’s (DFID’s) preoccupation with what it optimistically refers to as ‘poverty elimination’. Meanwhile, other pressing issues relating to natural disasters, such as flooding and earthquakes, plus genocide and warfare continue to grab attention. In addition, in the past few months there has been a spate of articles on HIV/AIDS in Africa, and that continents’ ability to cope with the attendant social and economic impacts. Britain’s proposed cancellation of debt for the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC), and the IMF/World Bank’s programme for HIPCs have also been the subject of discussion and speculation in the new millennium. In the run up to the G8 meeting in Okinawa in July 2000, attention focused on the announcement that the British government would consider linking debt relief to conflict reduction and resolution in HIPCs. All of these recent events can be added to other development-related issues that have become an increasingly discussed part of our everyday lives, since Band Aid and Live Aid in the 1980s focused attention on the ongoing global realities of famine, malnutrition and poverty. Following this, the Earth Summit held in Rio in 1992 did much to bring issues of environment and development, and their congruence in the concept of sustainability, to the attention of the general public. In short, there is much contemporary debate concerning development. In the UK, as an example, it is tempting to suggest that this has increased since the appointment in 1997 of the first Secretary of State for International Development for 18 years, and the associated transformation of the Overseas Development Agency as a subdepartment of the Foreign Office into a full Ministerial Department, in the guise of the Department for International Development (DFID). Wheat (2000: 47) has Progress in Development Studies 1, 1 (2001) pp. 1–4

New Labour and international development: a research report:

Abstract: Though development aid remains a secondary sector within the broad domain of British policy making, New Labour has brought to this area a reform commitment making the Blair administration the most innovative since the first Wilson government in l964. It has restored independent ministry status to Britain’s aid agency for the first time in nearly 22 years, and returned the ministry to Cabinet rank for the first time in 30 years. In appointing Clare Short as Minister for International Development, Tony Blair chose an experienced Labour politician but one with a reputation as an outspoken reformer on the left of the party who would clearly play an activist role in exercising her responsibilities. While the initial policy commitments taken on by the Blair government were generally modest in scale, the Department for International Development (DFID) had within six months produced the first white paper on Britain’s overseas aid strategy since l975. Boldly entitled Eliminating world poverty: a challenge for the 21st century, this document committed the government to reversing the decline in Britain’s aid spending and taking on a highly ambitious set of development objectives (DFID, l997). Yet, despite so positive a beginning, it remained uncertain that the development of British aid policy would follow a course distinctively different from that marking the evolution of Britain’s aid programme under previous governments. The new institutional framework for overseas aid might well not prove sustainable, and might actually weaken Britain’s performance in this area. When the Ministry of Overseas Development was first established in October l964, it enjoyed no little advantage from its timeliness and the fact that its minister, Barbara Castle, was a determined and skilful reform politician. Relatively quickly, however, the problems that were to mark British aid policy had all become evident: the difficulties of protecting even a limited aid budget from cuts as government

Thinking and doing things about poverty: new initiatives from the centre:

Abstract: There is a sense of intellectual ferment in the development community these days. Major donor organizations are starting to agree on a range of synthesizing strategies that aim to bring more coherence and international integration. In such a complex environment there will inevitably be competing interests and paradigms, to say nothing of ingrained perceptions and practices. As one might therefore expect, the initial indications are mixed, with not all players, particularly in developing countries themselves, being on board. The best known of the synthesizing approaches are the International Development Targets or Goals (IDTs) agreed by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in effect the donor’s club, in 1996. The main one is the commitment to reduce by half the number of people living on US$1 a day by 2015, though there are also others that relate to reducing maternal and infant mortality and increasing school enrolment. The UK’s Minister for International Development, Clare Short, has demonstrated a great deal of support for these, not only committing her whole department to pursuing them but also convincing other agencies to take them seriously (OECD, 2000). This support has now grown, with the development ministers of UK, Germany, Holland and Norway, who are all women, forming the Utstein Group to pursue common objectives. However, at country level many problems remain. By no means all developing country governments see their priorities in this way and some face far more problems than others in meeting the IDTs. The impact of AIDS in Africa means that the health goals will be impossible to meet in most cases and the strengthening of statistical services to monitor progress demands an investment priority that is not universally accepted.

The role of technical change and productivity growth in East Asian economic growth

Abstract: Economists have long recognized the central role played by technological innovation in economic progress. Joseph Schumpeter (1942), for example, argued that the main source of economic growth derives from innovation in the forms of new product, new process, new markets and new management methods. The experience of industrialized countries in the last century has demonstrated the importance of this insight. It has been pointed out that successive waves of technical change fueled the growth of industrialized countries in the West since the Industrial Revolution and that: ‘. . . the successive industrial revolutions were based on the qualitative transformation of the economy by new technologies, rather than the simple quantitative growth of individual industries’ (Freeman and Soete, 1997: 20). In US, in particular, empirical findings show technical advance as the main contributor of US growth over the period 1929–1969 (Denison, 1974). An explosion of interest has focused on the developments of East Asian economies, which have been enjoying rapid growth for the past three decades (see Table 1). Hong Kong, for example, averaged 7.5% annual growth over the period 1970–1996, an impressive growth figure that is at par with other East Asian economies such as Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. At such growth rates, these economies are able to double their real production every ten years. However, the crisis of 1997–1998 has added to previously expressed doubts about the sustainability of this growth. Progress in Development Studies 1, 4 (2001) pp. 329–336

Decentralized development in the Scottish Highlands

Abstract: The Scottish Highlands and Islands (henceforward, ‘the Highlands’) are of considerable interest for development studies. The region’s experience of a brutal internal colonialism (Hechter, 1978) has few parallels anywhere. Moreover, this took place relatively recently, with feudal private property, enclosures and bureaucratic planning all being imposed in quick succession on an indigenous people who traditionally refused the state (clan society). An unrelieved history of depopulation, poverty and exclusion from the general trend of economic development in Britain eventually led to ‘the highland problem’ (Highlands and Islands Development Board (HIDB), 1967; Munro and Hart, 2000) being recognized as an affront to the modern state’s claim of democratic legitimacy. Accordingly, for over a century but especially since the 1960s, special laws and administrative bodies have been devised to intervene in the region’s economic and social development, making of the Highlands an extended experiment in regional planning from which others might learn. Scotland’s history as a nation is closely tied to the fate of the Highlands, which contain half the country’s land area and only 7% of its population (Devine, 1999). The Highlanders became a pan-European symbol of romantic rejection of commercial industrialism in the eighteenth century, a remote people in a wild landscape, near to nature and speaking an unintelligible language. And, despite the efforts of the British state to eradicate local cultural forms, these paradoxically furnished the content of a militant Scottish identity. Today the UK’s creeping constitutional crisis shows signs of speeding up. To Scotland’s recently granted claims (along with Wales) for a national parliament of its own may be added the approaching reunification of Ireland, continuing uncertainty over British membership of the European Union and the need for reform of a parliament that retains the features of absolutist monarchy.

Book Review: International development and the social sciences. Essays on the history and politics of knowledge:

Abstract: necessarily summary generalization of a short overview of this kind actually adds to the complacency and supports those, particularly some African political leaders, who are in denial. The linking of environmental issues with population is clearly important and the publication anticipates the focus of the UN Commission on Population and Development in March 2001 on precisely this topic. However, the selection of relevant topics to consider under this heading could be argued about. In particular the choice of the 19 topics considered here, while covering a wide ground does so very unevenly and in particular fails to argue for the priority of some issues over others. The topics included in the order they appear are: grain production, fresh water, biodiversity, energy, oceanic fish catch, jobs, infectious disease, cropland, forests, housing, climate change, materials, urbanization, protected natural areas, education, waste, conflict, meat production and, income. With only a few pages available for each in this short book the reader is likely to be frustrated by the brevity of each presentation and the lack of an adequate argument about the salience of each issue to the general case being made in the book. However, this is probably to miss the purpose of this publication by an important lobby institute whose aim is to produce authoritative statements that can be widely disseminated through a variety of media. In its role as lobbyist one welcomes the strong call by the authors in their conclusion for the industrial countries and the US in particular to honour the commitments made at the 1994 Cairo Conference and at Cairo+5 in 1999 to adequately finance the UN Population Fund for the provision of reproductive health services and international assistance in the population field.

Book Review: Post-communist party systems: competition, representation, and inter-party cooperation

Abstract: He sees the Bank, as well as other NGOs, as mainly benefitting and empowering the organizers rather than poor women. Their lack of accountability to the people and government of Bngladesh, and their exploitation of the cheap labour of women and children, together with the transfer of surplus from rural to urban areas, he feels are reminiscent of the colonial mode of exploitation. In terms of the Grameen Bank he argues that credit alone cannot eliminate poverty and that by attempting to empower only poor women by ignoring poor men, the Bank encourages ‘gender-war and the fragmentation of society.’ So that supposed economic development leads to social disruption. Overall, the book is very up to date. The author devotes a chapter to the militant feminism of Taslima Nasreen and suggests that although she brought a new dimension to the feminist movement she brought down conservative wrath on more moderate feminists. There is no mention, however, of the recent use of acid to destroy the looks of women desired but unattainable by men. The book could have been improved by editing as it is repetitive and ungrammatical in places. However, it provides a very useful and innovative view of the role of micro-credit and womanoriented development projects and the argument is strongly supported by case study evidence. Hashmi’s work is one of the first expositions of the growing backlash against women and development and as such should be widely read.

Book Review: The globalization of business firms from emerging economies, volumes I and II:

Abstract: theoretically informed one supported by firmlevel case studies. Such methodology is entirely appropriate, considering that a rich literature on SOE policy documentation exists. The book, after an introduction of China’s ailing state enterprises, is divided into three parts. The first part discusses at length the core concept – property rights. The second part investigates three state enterprises – Anshan Iron and Steel Ma’anshan Steel, and Shougang. The third part reassesses Chinese patterns of economic development and offers a conclusion. In the discussion of conceptual approaches the author explores why the right-based approach, i.e., to transfer property rights from the hands of the state to the hands of private holders, fails to work. It is a rather strong argument that the failure is due to an inappropriate assumption about the institutionalization in transitional economies. After the complete antithesis of free markets, the institution under which the market operates is simply absent. Instead, the author proposes an alternative approach, namely the ‘nested’ problems dynamic, to portray the complex constraints that are vital to the successful recreation of market-oriented firms. The diagnosis of the SOE problem is fascinating and, to an extent, original. Economic reform is defined not so much as an opening up but rather as a tightening up or even a ‘clamping down’. This is a rather surprising statement at first glance. However, readers can appreciate this argument through a vivid illustration of reform as the skimming of an ‘iron rice bowl’ of a lifetime employment. As such the engine of growth lies in the successful introduction of ‘autonomy’ which, in effect, constrains the unproductive and rentseeking behaviour. The increasing autonomy associated with rights without accountability, and freedom without responsibility can open up to ‘behaviour that is anything but growth-promoting’ (p. 231). At the core of SOE stagnation is soft budget constraint and access to soft lending. To contrast the problem of the state industry, the study extends into rural industry using the constraint-based approach. However, how the rapid growth of town and village enterprises (TVEs) is attributed to the right constraints is slightly puzzling, as the TVE sector presents the most dynamic yet rampant and chaotic behaviour despite the fact that it is subject to a stronger budget constraints. In summary, this is a brilliant research book – satisfying our curiosity with a beautifully told story that links to theoretical debates on neoclassical and institutional perspectives, and is evidenced by sound case studies. It is understandable that the policy recommendation is not the aim of this book. Instead, the issue of the image of China raised at the end of this book is a rather natural sort of implication, highlighting the context of policy making, not inside but outside China. Moreover, a microscopic view of the firm is necessary but not sufficient for finding a solution. Indeed, any further policy implication would require some logical extension of the thesis, that is, ‘Transitional systems are not developing market economies; they are economies trying to develop markets’ (p. 253, italics in original), which would likely drive into an unfamiliar territory – for example, the social and political arena, planning and development control, and urban governance. The right sort of constraints for market behaviour that exist in the West are not born but evolved out of wild adventures. The sequencing of ‘clarifying property rights’ and making suitable conditions for the market to operate is therefore an issue of chicken and egg. If applying the same reasoning in this book, it would be interesting to enquire why the two fail to co-evolve in China. The potential readership of this book is wide, including not only those who are interested in things related to China but also those who would like to read institutional vs. economic analysis. Those who are interested in China’s industrial change in general and its state-owned enterprises in particular should read the book. Perhaps those who are involved in the decision making for China’s economic reform and policy advisers in international organizations may find it hard to appreciate the theoretical delicateness and get lost in the process of defining exact policy parameters.

Book Review: Myth and reality in the rain forest: how conservation strategies are failing in West Africa

Abstract: This book explores a crucial question: how can the needs of wildlands and wildlife be reconciled with the needs of people? The author draws conclusions that some will dismiss as anthropocentric, even ecofascist. However, failed conservation cannot usually be remedied; right or wrong, Oates must be given a hearing and not dismissed because his views fail to fit current fashions. This book takes a line that diverges from that held by many conservation workers and development agencies: linking conservation to economic development has disastrous consequences for wildlife. The author argues that economic development can be incompatible with conservation goals and suggests there is a need for a return to the principle that nature is worthy of protection for its intrinsic value alone. Myth and reality in the rain forest tilts at the concept of utilitarian conservation and, in so doing, will offend some supporters of community development, community-level action (e.g., see pp. 53–54 and Chapter 4), as well as major conservation bodies and promoters of sustainable development in its ‘mainstream form’. Oates draws on over 30 years experience of conservation field research and presents a series of cases where it seems the assumption that local people will live in co-operation with conservation is flawed. The author claims that people in times of economic and political stress move to areas where conservation efforts are underway or needed, and once they arrive their activities are unlikely to be the same as indigenous people and will probably damage wildlife. The important message put forward in this book is that there are serious flaws in the theory that wildlife can best be conserved through promoting human economic development. Oates makes it clear that there are many situations where he feels empowering locals has not led to better conservation, indeed he suggests things may be better under control by central government. There have been a number of recent works that suggest population increase and resettlement may not degrade the environment and that villagers may, in the long term, actually improve treecover and with it habitats for conservation of wildlife (see: Fairhead and Leach, 1996, who focus on drier environments than Oates). Myth and reality in the rain forest suggests the opposite may often be the case. Most of the coverage focuses on West Africa, with some discussion of India Belize and Brazil. While Oates clearly has considerable first-hand knowledge, he has chosen to write in a distinctly nonacademic style, which may lead some readers to dismiss him without a thorough reading. Right or wrong, Oates deserves to be read by anyone seriously interested in conservation (especially primate conservation), and should be considered by those promoting community-based conservation and participatory development approaches. There is also an assessment of the value of ex-situ conservation (zoos and captive breeding) in Chapter 8, 31 monochrome plates and reasonably comprehensive chapter notes and references.

Book Review: Stolen harvest: the hijacking of the global food supply

Abstract: performers and why they have performed so well. In practice, of course, such a consensus does not exist. Even in the very well-researched Korean case, analysts disagree over the relative role of, for example, a developmental state, the legacy of Japanese colonialism and US aid. In this context, the usefulness of benchmarking industrial development policies becomes questionable. Finally, in Part III of the book, the authors address a number of country-specific case studies – Korea, Brazil, Hungary and Tanzania. These chapters go a long way in achieving the three aims that the authors set out with. In Chapter 8, the authors show how a carefully orchestrated government policy helped Korea to grow, industrialize and become a member of the OECD in 1997. While they do not explicitly consider the reasons for the 1997 crisis in Korea, they touch on it while describing Korea’s policy from the 1950s. What becomes clear from this chapter is the coherent and comprehensive planning that lay behind Korea’s success and the extent of control that the ‘super-ministry’ (the Economic Planning Board) created with ‘elite bureaucrats playing the pivotal role in development planning, budgeting and policy co-ordination’ (p. 198) could wield. In Brazil, on the other hand, the direction of policy oscillated depending on which ministry was in control (p. 231). The book is relatively successful in what it sets out to do – increase awareness of industrial policy changes worldwide. It is, however, less successful in its advocacy of benchmarking as a policy tool. This is not so much because activist policy is unnecessary or doomed to failure. In fact, the case of Korea and, to some extent, Brazil, shows that it can work. However, the kind of benchmarking being advocated clearly requires too much information and is nontransferable between countries. While the authors advocate ‘adapting’ rather than ‘duplicating’ experience, this in itself requires the government to have considerable resources to collect and collate information as well as to act on it. If most developing country governments have not managed to successfully implement the old, relatively limited policies, how can we assume that they will perform the more detailed tasks required of them in this scenario?

Book Review: The ownership of enterprise

Abstract: an antidote to current neo-liberal thinking, Hahnel brings along a strong set of progressive values. Hahnel has a clearly stated emancipatory, populist policy agenda whose values may not be agreed with by everyone. What, then, is Hahnel’s agenda? In the past two decades, the Bretton Woods institutions have been dominated by freemarket zealots; Hahnel dubs them ‘Team A’ . This promotes world capitalism gone mad. Team B, the Keynesians, are always called in after the crisis. Bring back the Keynesians this minute, says Hahnel – any Keynesian. Then he presses ahead with a more daring Plan C: invest in health and education not tax breaks. Levelling the playing field through uniform wage and environmental standards is not enough. To counter the race to the bottom, we need a bottom-up approach. Small constituencies will keep fighting their Lilliputian battles ‘by any means necessary’ (p. 106) until they can tie their strings together to form a global coalition. However, if you’re happy to put up with a certain measure of value bias and simplification, this remains a thoroughly enjoyable read. Hahnel proves a riveting tutor. Relying heavily on extensive quotes from accessible media sources such as the New York Times, he maintains a lively, informal style throughout, and doesn’t mind sprinkling his discourse with up to four exclamation marks per page. His arguments are so clearly spelled out that you feel you really understand the sinister workings of global capitalism – for the moment. Hahnel knows full well he is preaching to the converted. If you liked Danaber’s book on the failure of the Bretton Woods institutions (1995), this is a must-read update. Newcomers may find themselves swayed by the sheer enthusiasm with which Hahnel advances his argument. Just don’t expect the book to really teach you ‘everything you need to know about economics’. That claim is about as true as Woody Allan’s claim in his ‘Everything . . . about sex’ film. However, like that movie, Hahnel’s book is entertaining and surprisingly persuasive at the same time.

Book Review: Critical development theory: contributions to a new paradigm

Abstract: ularly for women in the South who comprise the majority of workers in export-processing zones (EPZs) where they work long hours for meager wages. Women’s unpaid labor and the ‘housewifization’ of women’s paid labor underlie women’s participation in the global economy. Mies and Bennholdt-Thomsen believe that the independence and autonomy that a subsistence perspective provides is the answer to the current paradox of globalization. Rather than relying on the nation state for additional support, or developing mass political movements, the subsistence approach is comprised of individual or collective acts of self-determination and enterprise. Other chapters discuss the subsistence perspective in agriculture, in the city, in the markets and subsistence and waged labor. The authors address feminism and subsistence, excoriating many Northern feminists for settling for issues of equal pay and equal opportunity within the current system rather than advocating for a different economic system that is more equitable and sustainable. The book attempts to provide a sweeping commentary on some critical issues that confront society today, but ultimately it falls short in several respects. The authors address many issues briefly but their comments presume that readers are well acquainted with these theories and institutions. For readers who are unfamiliar with global trade organizations and international financial institutions, many of the critiques in the book will be difficult to follow. Similarly, the authors make some generalized statements on which they never elaborate that can leave the reader confused or in need of more explanation. For example, in the chapter on globalization, the authors write that women are ‘in practice expendable, both as producers and consumers. That is the reason why poor women are the main target of population control’. Regardless of one’s belief about international family planning, this statement does not do justice to this very complex subject nor is the statement ever clearly linked to globalization. Aside from issues of clarification, the ‘subsistence perspective’ that the authors are promulgating leaves one with as many questions as it answers. The paradigm is, essentially, a series of individual or collective actions that challenge economic globalization, monoculture and patriarchy. It is possible that the authors subscribe to the notion of a tipping point; that is that the cumulative effect of autonomous actions will change the balance between globalization and resistance. Yet, individual resistance, if not linked to larger systemic movements for change, may remain as anomalies. Mies and Bennholdt-Thomsen reject massive social movements as subscribing to the dominant paradigm and reject waged-labor because it contributes to a dependence upon an employer. Yet, global economic institutions such as the World Trade Organization, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund must be challenged at a global level, through concerted international campaigns. The defeat of the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) that the authors discuss, was due, in part, to technology that linked diverse organizations to grassroots activists in a campaign to abolish this invasive agreement. Certainly, grassroots resistance is a vital component of challenging these institutions. Yet the question arises: do individual and collective actions, such as a food cooperative in the USA, a commune in Germany, the community tree plantings in India that are not linked to systemic calls for change represent a challenge these global institutions? In addition, how viable a solution is the call to return to subsistence production when trade negotiators are drafting rules that will increase the growth of the service sector and further entrench agroindustrial corporations’ monopoly on food production? While The subsistence perspective offers a thought-provoking challenge to the current economic system, its solutions may be appropriate on a small scale, but less effective as a systemic challenge to globalization.

Book Review: Peacekeepers, politicians and warlords: the Liberian peace process:

Abstract: Hopes that the end of the cold war might produce a ‘peace dividend’ and chance to focus new international effort on development of the poorest nations of the world have hardly been fulfilled over the last decade. Rather, regional conflicts appear to have proliferated across many parts of the world, bringing loss of life, massive population displacement, and destruction of development infrastructure and communities. As a result, through much of the 1990s, international actors became preoccupied with humanitarianism and conflict resolution rather that reversing poverty or building economic growth. For those working in development studies, an understanding of refugee and security studies has become increasingly relevant to the task in hand. It is in this context that this book will be of interest to many in the development field. For long one of the favoured countries of US development interventions in Africa, Liberia descended into a war in the 1990s that left many observers exasperated for the future of the region. The wholesale collapse of the Liberian state, proliferation of armed factions and apparent inability of global and regional humanitarian and peacebuilding initiatives to effect any positive change hardly looked like a role model for other countries impacted by conflict. Yet, the turnaround of events in Liberia that led to what has been widely accepted as a free and fair election in 1997, and the installation of a new civilian government, suggest the value of a closer look at events as they have unfolded. This book is an engaging and readable attempt at this task. Peacekeepers, politicians and warlords provides a detailed account of peace negotiations in Liberia, from the failed attempts of early years, to the successful implementation of the so-called Abuja II accord in 1996–97. As well as setting out with considerable clarity the myriad of factions and other actors involved in the process, and the role of individuals and structures specific to Liberia, the book also seeks generalizable lessons of relevance to other conflict-affected countries. Its conclusions are quite striking. A regional peacekeeping force (ECOMOG) that has received widespread condemnation from many quarters for its partisan and often predatory role, emerges as one of the key elements of a successful peace process in which ‘African solutions were found for African problems’. Moreover, the traditional peacekeeping formula of disarmament, leading to resettlement, leading to elections – developed with some success at the time of Zimbabwean independence and applied to most African conflicts since then – is subjected to considerable criticism. The authors make the bold suggestion that an emphasis on disarmament at an early stage of a peace process may be counter-productive. Rather, they argue that in situations where the state and other centralised power structures have collapsed, it may be preferable to build up such centralised structures within armed factions in order to maintain their ability to deliver their fighters to the peace process. Many of the specific points put over in this account are insightful and challenging. The authors stress the need in any peace process for external actors to recognise where power is located, and ensure that they have adequate upto-date information as the locus of power shifts. Book reviews Progress in Development Studies 1, 1 (2001) pp. 63–91

Book Review: The globalization reader:

Abstract: kleptocratic regimes is interpreted as having relatively effective aid, for example in the cases of Britain and Japan (Britain, at least, does seem to have confined its major aid disasters to Asia). These reservations notwithstanding, the broad argument of the book is persuasive, and well documented. The apparent failure of aid in Africa can be attributed to three factors. First, overstretched and rather incompetent if well-meaning aid agencies. Secondly, donors who often viewed themselves as competitors and whose guiding interests were less than altruistic. Thirdly, weak African states, economically and politically, with a limited resource base. Three policy conclusions follow (though not directly). Aid agencies should be autonomous, with experienced staff and allowed to pursue development objectives, unconstrained by political or commercial donor interests. There is a need for greater donor coordination. Donors should exercise selectivity, and at least terminate aid to nefarious regimes. These conclusions are not new in themselves, but it does no harm to see them reiterated. This book will be of use to anybody interested in donor aid policies in Africa, especially those interested in aid agencies as organizations. It will be of less interest to economists concerned more with issues of aid effectiveness. Oliver Morrissey University of Nottingham

Book Review: Commodities and capabilities, Reason before identity

Abstract: sustainable development. Furthermore, Overton is keen to stress from the beginning that sustainable development is a combination of ecological, economic and social issues; all of which are equally important. Through the presentation of contextual issues the reader explores the physical geography of the PIDCs, and there is an interesting discussion by Overton and Thaman of the environmental constraints on sustainable development. The overview of the region’s links to the rest of the globe, given the remote nature of the eclectic nations, is of particular relevance to those new to the subject and the discussion of the colonial legacy contextualizes the PIDCs effectively. The discussion of culture and society brings the somewhat neglected subject of the social environment into focus, once more the diversity and similarities between the PIDCs are pointed out. Livelihoods are crucial to an effective strategy for sustainable development and this is explored by Purdie in some detail, the ‘insider’ viewpoint is emphasized, which reflects the introduction’s argument for ‘bottom-up’ development once more. The three case study nations of this first section; Kiribati, the Cook Islands and Fiji, further contextualize the region. The effects of ‘development’ are much discussed, but usually this geographical region is not the centre of the debate. What Part II of the text does is to show that sustainable development in the PIDCs is new and as yet untested. Mining in Papua New Guinea is famous for its nonsustainability and this is one of the case studies presented. Logging, which has also been a main method of ‘development’ in the whole of Melanesia, is discussed with statistics to clarify the issue for that region. The value of subsistence logging versus the logging royalties is highlighted, showing the repercussions of the two broad options open to the populations of these eclectic nations. A discussion of strategies for sustainable development in the PIDCs could not exclude their most valuable asset; marine resources. Samou covers their traditional use and their recent exploitation, its repercussions and the urgency for a more Sustainable strategy in the region. Urbanization and the emphasis on commodity production and the unsustainability of agriculture is also explored. Amongst the strategies put forward for sustainable development of the PIDCs in the final section the theme of diversity and similarity appears once more. Five case studies exemplify the possible strategies and it is somewhat surprising and disappointing that more are not offered, as there are so many nations in the region, and so much background has been given in the preceding two sections. However, those that do appear cover diverse strategies; nature conservation and aid, forestry, tourism, agriculture and urban growth, thus giving the impression of the region as a whole. The main weakness is the lack of detailed coverage of the gender dimension; women are certainly not ignored in the text (e.g., pp. 55–56), but there is little specificity or detail. The importance of gender in truly sustainable development has been proven and it is surprising that this is not covered thoroughly. The situation of women in PIDCs is beginning to be more comprehensively researched and it is a pity it is not more integral to the text. I highly recommend the book, especially for those who want to find out precisely the possible strategies available for the PIDCs. It shows where the PIDCs are at the moment in terms of sustainable development, where so called ‘development’ has led some of the nations hitherto, and a variety of sustainable strategies open to them for the future. This region of the world is underpopulated, overexploited and under-researched, for the most part, so it is excellent to see a dynamic text of this type being published.