Showing papers in "Progress in Development Studies in 2010"

Multi‐layered social resilience a new approach in mitigation research

Abstract: Research on sustainable development tends to focus on risk and vulnerability. This article argues for a shift of emphasis from vulnerability to resilience. It develops a Multi‐layered social resili...

The continuing debate about urban bias the thesis, its critics, its influence and its implications for poverty-reduction strategies

Abstract: This article reviews the current state of the debate around the concept of ‘urban bias’. It first reviews Michael Lipton’s original formulation of an Urban Bias Thesis (UBT), and the initial debates that took shape in regard to his work and the work of Elliott Berg and Robert Bates. The main body of the article, however, considers a recent reworking of the UBT by Robert Eastwood and Michael Lipton, and four sets of objections that can be raised against it. Central to these objections are new accounts of the importance of mobility in constructing rural-urban livelihoods and claims emanating from the ‘new economic geography’ about the economic advantages of towns and cities. The article concludes with a short review of the implication of the continuing debate on ‘urban bias’ for public policy and Poverty Reduction Strategies.

‘The unbearable heaviness of being’: reflections on female altruism in Cambodia, Philippines, The Gambia and Costa Rica

Abstract: Reviewing existing scholarship and drawing on our own experience of microlevel qualitative research on gender in countries in three regions of the Global South (Cambodia, the Philippines, Costa Rica and The Gambia), this article examines patterns of women’s altruistic behaviour within poor family-based households. As a quality and practice labeled as ‘feminine’, the article illuminates the motives, dimensions and dynamics that characterise this apparently enduring female trait. It also makes some tentative suggestions as to how the links between women and altruism might be more systematically examined, problematized and addressed in development, and gender and development (GAD) analysis and policy.

Resilience enhancing psychosocial programmes for youth in different cultural contexts Evaluation and research

Abstract: This article takes a first step towards developing a resilience assessment scale for use by development organisations offering services to youth and young adults in different cultural contexts. The purpose of a resilience assessment scale would be to assess effectiveness of services in enhancing competencies of youth in managing and adapting to adversities they experience. An in‐depth conceptualisation of individual resilience and how this interacts with multi‐layered social resilience is explored: Organisations provide psychosocial services to help strengthen competencies of vulnerable young people, who in turn can help enhance resilience in the family, neighbourhood and community.

Tourism as a Small-State Development Strategy Pier Pressure In The Eastern Caribbean?

Abstract: There has been a shift in many developing countries, particularly Small Island Developing States (SIDS), towards tourism as the centrepiece of their development strategy. This occurs in the context of narrowing developmental options occasioned by the end of preferential access to metropolitan markets for agriculture and the attendant decline of the primary sector. This article draws on evidence from two case studies from the microstates of the Eastern Caribbean – St Lucia and St Vincent – and discusses the implications of their respective approaches and the ambiguous nature of tourism as a development strategy.

Approaching development: an opionated review

Abstract: Development studies navigate between policy and social science; between directed progress and change. However, the relative propinquity of social science and policy languages sometimes masks the di...

The concept of poverty: A synchronic perspective

Abstract: Poverty is often presented as an evolving concept linked to dominant development paradigms. However, changes in the meaning of specific topics comprising definitions of poverty have been largely overlooked. Therefore, the authors adopted a synchronic approach to evaluate changes contained within 159 definitions of poverty offered over a 30-year period from 1970s to 2000s. Component terms were investigated for their stability in meaning, through the application of De Saussure’s concepts of signifier and signified. The results illustrate that terms often did not share the same signifier and, therefore, were accorded different meanings. In this manner, the authors argue that poverty is a highly contested concept

Time savings from easy access to clean water Implications for rural men’s and women’s well-being

Abstract: Individuals may have different perceptions of how development interventions meet their well-being. Using the Volta Rural Water Supply project in Ghana as a case study, it was found that women and m...

Development challenges for a resurgent African diaspora

Abstract: This article seeks to explore the politics of an increasingly prominent African diaspora. It does so by locating the growing debate on diasporas and development in a broader political economy context to provide a historical understanding of how the African diaspora, and its contribution to development outcomes, is shaped by Africa’s distinctive politics. In particular, the article considers the significance of neo-patrimonial systems of governance and the crisis of stateness in order to evaluate whether diaspora networks and income represent a significant opportunity to address long-standing problems on the continent.

Strengthening whom? the role of international migration for women and men in Northwest Pakistan

Abstract: : This article investigates the role of international labour migration from Pakistan’s Northwest for the sending communities’ social resilience. It focuses on the implications of male out-migration for the women who stay behind. This article refers to Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice to shed light on the gendered nature of vulnerability and resilience. Contradictions identified between heightened vulnerability at the level of individual women and strengthened resilience of the household underline the social construction of scale in the analysis of resilience. With his emphasis on material as well as symbolic resources determining opportunities and well-being, Bourdieu provides an analytical key for the identification of such ‘uncomfortable layers of resilience’.

Technological spillovers from multinational presence: towards a conceptual framework

Abstract: This article undertakes a critical review of existing spillover analyses and proposes a unique analytical framework for examining technological spillovers in a manufacturing industry setting. The proposed framework overlaps three different literature strands: cluster and network dynamics, technological innovations and spillover literature. It enables to determine the extent to which multinational presence in a host country stimulates spillover occurrence to local firms as well as their nature. Using this framework, the kinds of spillovers and the channels through which they occur most can be equally determined – this is particularly relevant for policy intervention in a technically backward country. Finally, it allows determination of factors and conditions under which spillovers from multinationals occur.

Livelihood, malaria and resilience a case study in the Kilombero Valley, Tanzania

Abstract: In various parts of Sub‐Saharan Africa, malaria is endemic in areas where rain‐fed agriculture implies seasonal mobility from villages to paddy fields. Contributing to the small but growing literat...

Building multi‐layered resilience in a malaria control programme in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Abstract: This study applied the multi-layered social resilience framework in the context of an urban malaria control programme by using a qualitative approach. It was found that exchange between and within administrative levels supported resilience-building processes in terms of mosquito breeding site elimination. ‘Reactive’ and ‘proactive’ capacities were successfully built among programme staff. However, more potential could be tapped among local leaders and household members, by increasing their competence in eliminating breeding sites of malaria vectors. Improving the communication skills of the programme’s field workers might support such processes. Together with local leaders, they could act as multipliers of sensitisation messages.

Do shocks have a persistent impact on consumption? The case of rural Malawi

Abstract: This article uses rural Malawian data to study the long-run impact of two household shocks (sickness and death) and two community shocks (floods and drought) on household per capita consumption. Little work has been done in this area, but understanding these shocks and the extent to which households can insulate themselves against these shocks is important in understanding how households in developing countries remain in a poverty trap. Results indicate that drought and sickness have negative short-term effects on consumption level, but do not have significant long-run effects. This suggests that rural Malawian households are able to shield themselves from the persistent negative impacts of these shocks on consumption levels but are unable to self-insure against the short-run impact.

Transition or Development? Reassessing Priorities for Law Reform

Abstract: The modern literature on international development in conjunction with the rise of institutional economics has focused attention on the role of institutions in the operation of the economy and crucially on the function of law as setting a framework to market operations. An emerging consensus that views development as a legal in as much as an economic challenge is forcing us to revaluate the relationship between law, regulation, state power and the market. Indeed, the greater the need for law, the larger the role of the state in the economy. The purpose of this article is to enquire into the implications the modern literature on economic development emanating from international institutions (primarily the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund) has for law reform and the role of the state in the economy. The main question asked is whether regulation has a uniform role in all reform contexts or whether there is a difference between the role of law in the transition to a market economy as opposed to the promotion of general development. This article suggests that there is indeed a difference between the role of law in transition as opposed to development that centres on the primacy of the state in the design for reform. While transition, it is suggested, requires a more limited role for law (Washington Consensus), development necessitates a more thorough involvement of the state in the reform process (Post-Washington Consensus). This article offers some preliminary evidence to suggest that a minimal role for regulation focused on market promotion required by ‘transition type’ reforms is adopted across the board and applied indiscriminately to all development scenarios. This means that reform packages remain rather minimal in the involvement of the state and in the scope for law despite the input of institutional economics and the apparent enthusiasm for the promotion of the rule of law. The article concludes that once a distinction is drawn between the different designs needed for transition and development, it becomes evident that a larger role for law and state regulation is needed that goes beyond mere market promotion. The promotion of development which encompasses political, social and economic aspects therefore asks for a wider role for the state.

Financial efficiency or relational harmony? Microfinance through community groups in Northeast Thailand

Abstract: Groups and microfinance facilities are intended to produce a variety of economic, social and political outcomes. However, the debate in the development literature about their effectiveness heightens the importance of exploring whether multidimensional outcomes are actually achieved. Drawing on findings from empirical research in Northeast Thailand, where promotion of groups and microfinance schemes is strong, this article highlights the need to understand the context and existing relationships within which community groups and microfinance services are situated, in order to identify important characteristics and processes that limit the outcomes of the groups. In particular, the research illustrates how the groups’ operation has resulted in a trade-off in material and relational wellbeing outcomes, as financial efficiency is valued only to the extent that relational harmony can be assured.

Putting good governance into practice II Critiquing and extending the Ibrahim Index of African governance

Abstract: My first progress report introduced the recently established Ibrahim Index of African governance in the context of efforts to im-prove good governance in the global South (Farrington, 2009). I suggested that the Ibrahim Index represents a considerable advance on previous assessments of governance both in the geographical context of sub-Saharan Africa and, more generally, in the conceptual context of governance evaluation. However, the Index is not immune to cri-ticism of various kinds. This report will instigate a process of critical evaluation by focusing, fi rst, on the conceptual universalism underpinning the Ibrahim Index and, second, on the issue of citizen participation, considered in terms of certain indicators used in the construction of the Index. This latter discussion will form the basis of several proposed extensions to the Index, on the grounds that the Ibrahim Index’s obvious merits justify a policy of constructive criticism and continued engagement rather than wholesale rejection. This process of critical evaluation and extension will be con-tinued in the third progress report.

Poverty alleviation and economic reforms in India

Abstract: The article first surveys the debate about poverty measurement and recent poverty alleviation in India by focusing on the main contributions The question of whether the economic reforms of the 199

Chronicle of a debt foretold Mexico’s FOBAPROA debacle and lessons for the US financial crisis

Abstract: In recent months, policymakers and the mainstream media have rediscovered Mexico’s tequila crisis (1994–95) and heralded purported similarities with the ongoing financial debacle in the United States. In principle, the rediscovery of the tequila crisis provides an opportunity to critically assess the causes, consequences and potential responses to the current predicament. In practice, however, vested political and economic interests have availed themselves of the tequila crisis to redefine its causes, elide responsibility for the collapse of the country’s financial system and portray Mexico’s FOBAPROA (Fondo Bancario de Proteccion al Ahorro – Banking Fund to protect Savings) bailout as a model for the present circumstances. Mexico’s tequila crisis does, indeed, have much to teach us about the US financial crisis. However, the most valuable lessons are not found in revisionist histories. Rather, popular response in Mexico reveals the possibility of organising collectively to contest the government bailout ...

Poku, N.K., Whiteside, A. and Sandkjaer, B., editors, 2007: AIDS and governance. Hampshire: Ashgate. 286 pp. £60 Hardback, £20 Paperback. ISBN: 978-0-7546-4581-5 Hardback, 978-0-7546-4581-8 Paperback:

Abstract: Progress in Development Studies 10, 4 (2010) pp. 363–86 issue of the biases that dog human rights discourse and research. Considering the overall success of maintaining a balanced perspective throughout the book, it seems regrettable that the concluding chapter falls back on the ‘human-rights-as-modernization’ thesis, which carries with it the unfortunate baggage that has beleaguered the modernisation theory itself. There is inherent tension in the acknowledgement that the human rights idea was born within the context of particular political struggles in the modern history of the West and the claim that it nevertheless represents a universal mark of advanced civilisation. Human rights norms should instead be understood as having been ‘universalized’ at particular world historical moments, consistent with the idea that they continue to be socialised both in the West and beyond under the complex contingencies of time and place, as the case studies suggest. Although a work by legal scholars primarily for legal scholars, the book might have done well to include a chapter dealing explicitly with the reasons for which human rights norms had remained frozen in international conventions under Cold War conditions, only to be animated from the mid-1970s onward with the Helsinki Accords. The treatment of such important changes in the international normative environment would further contextualise rights performance and help readers reach a richer understanding of exactly what the state in each case was responding to as human rights norms were being institutionalised. Such a chapter could also help clarify what could be contradictory claims in the book that while an ‘aggressive’ US human rights policy was a factor in rights performance (p. 6), the US State Department’s assessments of rights performance were ‘less critical of allies than non-allies’ on the other (p. 57). Su-Mei Ooi Department of Political Science University of Miami Poku, N.K., Whiteside, A. and Sandkjaer, B., editors, 2007: AIDS and governance. Hampshire: Ashgate. 286 pp. £60 Hardback, £20 Paperback. ISBN: 978-0-7546-4581-5 Hardback, 978-0-7546-4581-8 Paperback. 10.1177/146499340901000416

Shirley, M.M. 2008: Institutions and development: advances in new institutional analysis. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. pp. 226. £59.95. ISBN: 1 845 42968 0

Abstract: Progress in Development Studies 10, 4 (2010) pp. 363–86 and contracting (implementation) agencies. It is this reform which allows the massive increase in state funding of the NGO sector in the post–Cold War period, since it ensures a continued control of the inner state over those civil society organisations to which an ever greater range of functions are delegated. Of course, in addition to devolving activities to civil society, the state is able, through cofi nancing, consultation and managerialism, to extend and deepen its infl uence over this outer layer of the new state. While, as already mentioned, this collection points the fi nger, rather than identifi es the solutions, one or two contributions do offer pointers for alternative praxis. In a stimulating study of Indian handloom weavers, Nidhi Srinivas suggests that subaltern groups can appropriate and make their own use of managerial technique. This implies that managerialist discourses and modes of being and acting are self-imposed as well as representing technology of external disciplining. Equally importantly, it shows that, if we are suffi ciently critical of the dangers and risks of managerialism, and the ways in which it is used to discipline the charity sector, we can develop our own strategies of professionalization and management – which is doubtless what the authors of this unequal but stimulating collection would wish.

Bracking, S., editor, 2007: Corruption and development: the anti-corruption campaigns. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. xxi + 310 pp. £64 hardback. ISBN: 978-0-230-52550-4:

Abstract: Progress in Development Studies 10, 4 (2010) pp. 363–86 all design institutions econometric works. In spite of these methodological problems, this volume is an excellent research for those interested in the analysis of institutions design and economic development, and can be certainly understood as well as an important step in the right direction of this fairly multifaceted and intricate scientifi c subject.

Elliot, C.M., editor, 2008: Global empowerment of women: Responses to globalization and politicized religions. New York: Routledge, 399 pp. £60cloth. ISBN: 978 0 415 95545 4 cloth:

Abstract: Progress in Development Studies 10, 4 (2010) pp. 363–86 Chia-Chu Hou and Jack W. Hou promote the experiences of farmers’ association in Taiwan and suggest that it may be helpful for developing markets and promoting technical changes in western China. There are fi ve papers in Part 2 ‘The Performance and Potentials of China’s Agriculture’, with focus on productivity studies in both agricultural and grain sectors. Productivity growth in Chinese agriculture is always the concern for many economists. Shenggen Fan and Xiaobo Zhang employ a new rollingweight approach to estimate the total factor productivity and conclude that regional inequality could be greater than the official estimates. Zhuo Chen and Wallace Huffman use the stochastic frontier model to examine the technical effi ciency in agricultural production with survey data. Shuhao Tan and his associates also adopt the household survey data to assess the effects of land fragmentation on technical effi ciency of rice producers in the southeast China and suggest that productivity gains is still possible through land consolidation. Wencong Lu and his colleagues develop the China’s Agricultural Regional Market Equilibrium Model (CARMEM) to project grain production from decline to recovery and argue that a more competitive domestic grain market is needed for continuous recovery. James Wen works on the self-sufficiency of grain production and points out that peasants’ income is more important than grain security. There are four articles in part 3 with focus on ‘Agricultural Risk Management’. Qingsen Mao looks at the supply response of soybean and corn production from 1986 to 2002 and fi nds that price fl uctuation has led considerable risks of outputs. Weiyong Yang uses provincial data to study farm diversifi cation and indicates that several variables of risk are important to the issue, including openness of the market, market mechanism, climatic hazards and price variability. Holly Wang and Guangwen He examine the demand for insurance in rural China and find that it is primarily determined by the decision maker’s education, number of children and the location of household. Wen Du and Holly Wang use three time-series models to study the future price of wheat contract in the China Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange and the results reveal that prices follow the international future commodity much. Overall, this volume provides overview of agriculture in China, with particular attention on the issues related to the san nong wen ti. Basically, rather than rejecting globalisation, authors in this volume recommend a more active government policy to increase agricultural and labour productivity in response to the challenges of a much more marketoriented world agricultural economy. Instead of questioning the validity of globalisation to Chinese agricultural development, authors in this volume discuss more on the mechanism to cope with this preconditioned framework. It is certainly a useful and up-to-date reference for those who are interested in the agricultural development in China. For those who have studies the subject for long, it is undoubtedly an additional helpful reference.

Johnson, Craig. 2009: Arresting development: The power of knowledge for social change. London: Routledge. pp. xiii + 194. £85 Hardback, £17.25 Paperback. ISBN: 978-0-415-38154-3 hardback, 978-0-415-38153-6 paperback

Abstract: Progress in Development Studies 10, 4 (2010) pp. 363–86 it demonstrates that despite its shift towards a liberal FDI policy, the Chinese state has been able to shift towards a ‘developmentalist ideology that is inherently nationalistic’ (p. 188). In general, I believe Contagious capitalism provides readers a detailed, well-constructed perspective of outcomes afforded by processes of globalisation in China; I believe my knowledge of globalisation in China was enhanced through the reading of this text. However, I do fi nd three shortcomings in her analysis, and I will next briefl y refl ect upon these in order of importance. First, I fi nd it refreshing that a political scientist is inherently engaging the concepts of geographic space and scale. However, I can fi nd no reference to any geographic literature in her bibliography (p. 215–32). I believe an attention to geographical literature, especially how the concept of geographic scale has been used in the context of globalisation (cf., Dicken 2004), would greatly strengthen her analysis. Second, I feel readers would benefi t from the inclusion of additional fi gures and maps. The inclusion of additional visualisations may allow them to understand better the location of particular places (e.g. Special Economic Zones) and processes occurring at and between various scales. Finally, I feel readers without a basic understanding of economics and globalisation may fi nd the text inaccessible. Since the text is adapted from Gallagher’s dissertation, its vocabulary and attention to detail refl ect its original purpose. As such, I would only recommend it (without reservations) to individuals with some post-secondary education.

Veronique Benei, 2008: Schooling Passions: Nation, History, and Language in Contemporary Western India. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 346 pp. ISBN 0-8047-5906-9 (paperback) $24.95.

Abstract: Progress in Development Studies 10, 3 (2010) pp. 267–77 known areas which are excellent examples of the ongoing struggle in the global south against what has (at least until the recent economic collapse) been an overwhelmingly neo-liberal development ideology. But at the same time, the book does not give enough space to each chapter to allow the countries and issues to be represented in enough depth. The brevity of some chapters and the assumptions that have to be made about the readers prior knowledge of a given country’s situation mean that the book can, at times, be a little inaccessible for a non-expert audience, and is too brief for more than use as an occasional reference tool for the more specialist reader. While I found the various chapters to be interesting and relevant pieces that helped to understand the nature of contemporary political struggle, with every chapter there was more that could be said, and despite the stated aim on the cover of each chapter being a ‘snapshot’, I was still left feeling that by adding a few more pages to each chapter, then the overall picture of popular struggle and its role in democratization and development would have benefi tted greatly.

Gallagher, M.E. 2005: Contagious capitalism: Globalization and the politics of labor in China. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 256 pp. £35 cloth, £13.95 paper. ISBN: 978 0 691 11761 4 cloth, 978 0 691 13036 1 paper

Abstract: Progress in Development Studies 10, 4 (2010) pp. 363–86 Instead, both SOEs and private enterprises experience an improvement relative to their previous performance because of greater competition. Vladimir Popov’s chapter, ‘Shock therapy versus gradualism reconsidered’, brings together many of these themes. The reason for the dramatic decline in the standard of living in Eastern Europe post-1989 was that ‘reason’ itself was not an integral component of the reform package. Instead, reformers overlooked the importance of strong institutions and macro-eonomic stability in favour of fast reforms that would radically change the economic playing fi eld. Further, Popov draws the important connection with Sen’s emphasis of democratic decision-making by arguing that one of the main reasons for the absence of a strong institutional foundation for economic change was the reliance of reformers themselves on illiberal democratic structures to implement reforms. The consistent theme running through all the chapters is the need for thorough analysis that questions basic economic assumptions in determining which kinds of reforms will work. Economic reform in developing countries raises signifi cant questions about economic orthodoxies of development. It is an important contribution to development studies in that it provides an example both in its range of subject matter and the rigor of its analysis of the way in which the all-important ‘reason’ can be brought back to policy making. For this reviewer, the book has two areas that are not greatly explored. The book does not explore suffi ciently the question of political economy – how is it that the approach to economic reforms it suggests can be implemented in developing countries, many of which also suffer from varying degrees of political instability or institutional weakness. Secondly, the book does not examine economic reform in the context of environmental sustainability – something that would be a logical extension of the idea of ‘reach’, since environmental change disproportionately affects the poorest in developing countries and increasingly undercuts economic performance.