Showing papers on "Underdevelopment published in 2011"

Challenge for Africa

Abstract: I am very happy to share my ideas of the challenges Africa faces especially with respect to the environment. As many of us in Africa know, we have two huge deserts on the continent; to the north, the Sahara; to the southwest, the Kalahari. Of great concern is that the two are racing towards each other at great speed due to the destruction of vegetation, loss of topsoil, and deforestation. Separating them is the Congo forest ecosystem, the second largest in the world after the Amazon. Together, these ecosystems— along with the tropical forests of Southeast Asia and the boreal forests of northern Canada and Russia—regulate the world’s climate and reduce global warming. Scientists tell us that 20% of greenhouse gases come from deforestation and degradation. It is in order to try to protect this huge forest ecosystem in the middle of Africa, not only for the people of that region but for the entire globe, that I am the Goodwill Ambassador of the Congo forest. I know that the United Nations (UN), in order to achieve Millennium Development Goal (MDG) number 7, environmental sustainability, is working closely with Japan, France and Norway on a process that will ensure we protect these forests that continue to provide environmental services, one of which—biodiversity—is especially important in light of the recent COP 10 to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Nagoya, and the fact that some of the most important flora and fauna yet to be studied reside in equatorial forests [United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Millennium Development Goals. Available at http://www.undp.org/mdg]. Now, we know that these forests are not being destroyed by many of the underdeveloped people who often reside in them. We know many of these forests are being exploited by the developed world, which has a great responsibility to assist governments in these regions to protect forests. And you cannot do this without addressing underdevelopment. So I do hope, in looking ahead to the challenges of Africa, many heads of states will tell you that the greatest challenge they face is poverty and underdevelopment, that is why supporting REDD is so important to ensure a more peaceful, sustainable world (Angelsen et al. 2009). We know Africa has many conflicts fueled by the competition for resources. We fight over land, water, the possibility of sustaining decent livelihoods. We want people to understand there is a very direct link between the way we manage our resources and peace. If we manage W. Maathai (&) The Green Belt Movement (GBM), GBM International, P.O. BOX 67545-00200, Nairobi, Kenya e-mail: gbm@wananchi.com

A critique of modernization and dependency theories in Africa: Critical assessment

Abstract: The way states and development specialists rationalize how to commit economic resources to development is influenced, to a greater extent by their level of persuasion towards specific development theories. The discourse assesses the influence of modernization and dependency theories on Africa’s development. The conclusion is that both theories have failed to help develop Africa. The discourse pins hope on the African Renaissance theory of development. Key words: Modernization, dependency, rural underdevelopment, African renaissance.

Criminal Violence and Democratization in Central America: The Survival of the Violent State

Abstract: Why does Nicaragua have less violent crime than Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras? All these countries underwent political transitions in the 1990s. Many explanations point to the legacies of war, socioeconomic underdevelopment, and neoliberal structural reforms. However, these arguments do not fully explain why, despite economic reforms conducted throughout the region, war-less Honduras and wealthier Guatemala and El Salvador have much more crime than Nicaragua. This article argues that public security reforms carried out during the political transitions shaped the ability of the new regimes to control the violence produced by their own institutions and collaborators. In the analysis of the crisis of public security, it is important to bring the state back. The survival of violent entrepreneurs in the new security apparatus and their relationship with new governing elites foster the conditions for the escalation of violence in northern Central America.

The Employee Engagement Landscape and HRD: How Do We Link Theory and Scholarship to Current Practice?

Abstract: The Problem.Employee engagement strategies are widely applied in practice, yet the construct remains underdeveloped in the human resource development (HRD) literature. This underdevelopment in the ...

Politics In The Developing World

Abstract: INTRODUCTION PART I APPROACHES AND GLOBAL CONTEXT 1. Analytical Approaches to the study of politics in the developing world 2. The Developing World in the Global Economy 3. The Developing World in International Politics PART II SOCIETY AND THE STATE 4. Inequality 5. Ethnopolitics and Nationalism 6. Religion 7. Women and Gender 8. Civil Society PART III STATE AND SOCIETY 9. Theorising the State 10. State-Building 11. State Collapse and Civil Conflict 12. Democratization PART IV POLICY ISSUES 13. Development 14. Environment 15. Human Rights PART V CASE STUDIES 16. Fragmentation or Nation-Building? Indonesia and South Africa 17. Civil Society: Active or Passive? India and Saudi Arabia 18. Strong State, Weak State: Chile and The Democratic Republic of Congo 19. From Regional Power to Microstates: Nigeria and The Island States of the Pacific 20. Military in Politics versus Democratic Advance: Pakistan and Mexico 21. Underdevelopment and Development: Guatemala and South Korea

The Impact of the Transatlantic Slave Trade on Ethnic Stratification in Africa

Abstract: In the last 15 years, economists and economic historians have argued that Africa has undergone a "reversal of fortune" and that ethnic fragmentation is a significant cause of Africa's underdevelopment. In this article, we join these narratives by arguing that the transatlantic slave trade increased the degree of ethnic heterogeneity in Africa today. Using both correlational and causal instrumental variables analysis, we find an economically and statistically significant positive relationship between slave exports and ethnic heterogeneity. This relationship is robust to changes in the scheme for drawing ethnic boundaries and the choice of observational unit.

Beyond Rosenstein-Rodan: The Modern Theory of Coordination Problems in Development

Abstract: The theme of this article is the importance – and the many causes – of coordination problems in development. Rosenstein-Rodan pointed out that spillovers may cause the return to an activity to increase with the number of others who undertake the same or complementary activities. If such spillovers are strong enough, multiple equilibrium outcomes may exist, some of which are better for every person than the alternatives, but with no tendency for market forces to lead from the worse to the better state of affairs. This article shows how modern economic theory broadened our view of the sources of spillovers that could lead to underdevelopment as an equilibrium. It argues for an “ecological” perspective on development, where the influences from others in one’s environment are a critical determinant of outcomes, and many interaction effects are not mediated by markets. This perspective provides the basis for the distinction between “deep” interventions, which change underlying forces, and “shallow” interventions, which do not and may actually make things worse. Karla Hoff is a research economist at the World Bank. This article draws on Hoff and Stiglitz (2000). The author would like to thank Irma Adelman for helpful comments, and Abhijit Banerjee, Arnold Harberger, Gustav Ranis, Debraj Ray, and Joseph Stiglitz for discussions of the issues raised in this article.

Exceptional Violence: Embodied Citizenship in Transnational Jamaica

Abstract: Exceptional Violence is a sophisticated examination of postcolonial state formation in the Caribbean, considered across time and space, from the period of imperial New World expansion to the contemporary neoliberal era, and from neighborhood dynamics in Kingston to transnational socioeconomic and political fields. Deborah A. Thomas takes as her immediate focus violence in Jamaica and representations of that violence as they circulate within the country and abroad. Through an analysis encompassing Kingston communities, Jamaica’s national media, works of popular culture, notions of respectability, practices of punishment and discipline during slavery, the effects of intensified migration, and Jamaica’s national cultural policy, Thomas develops several arguments. Violence in Jamaica is the complicated result of a structural history of colonialism and underdevelopment, not a cultural characteristic passed from one generation to the next. Citizenship is embodied; scholars must be attentive to how race, gender, and sexuality have been made to matter over time. Suggesting that anthropologists in the United States should engage more deeply with history and political economy, Thomas mobilizes a concept of reparations as a framework for thinking, a rubric useful in its emphasis on structural and historical lineages.

African Languages Today: The Challenge of and Prospects for Empowerment under Globalization

Abstract: It has fallen to my lot once again to look at the African linguistic scene on the occasion of another historic landmark. I recall that on the 25 Anniversary of the Annual Conference of African Linguistics (ACAL) in 1994, I had the privilege of addressing the Conference on the topic, “Three Decades of African Linguistic Research” (Bamgbose 1995). Today, on the occasion of the 40 Anniversary of ACAL, my first inclination was to focus on our responsibility as African linguists in light of the pervasive underdevelopment that characterizes most communities on the African continent. While we continue to produce elegant language descriptions published in scholarly monographs, the people among whom we work remain largely illiterate, their children poorly educated, and their languages marginalized. However, because I understand that this Lecture is a Campus-wide one, I have shifted the focus somewhat to the empowerment of our languages. Of course, the theme of social concern is still present even in this topic. In most African countries today, a constant concern expressed by several stakeholders, particularly language specialists and educationists, is the low status of African languages and their use in restricted domains. Efforts made to empower the languages by enhancing their status and extending their use to wider domains have yielded poor or unimpressive results. On the other hand, the imported official languages have maintained their dominance not only in terms of their high status but also in terms of the prestigious domains in which they are used. Why is the situation the way it is and why have efforts made to empower African languages not been generally successful? In finding an answer to both questions, the starting point is to consider a series of factors responsible for this situation which are in part historical, linguistic, economic and sociopolitical.

Cape Town after Apartheid: Crime and Governance in the Divided City

Abstract: Cape Town After Apartheid examines law and order after the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa. Nearly two decades after the end of the apartheid regime Tony Samara's book provides a critical exploration of the links between inequality and crime control in the post-apartheid era. The book tells the story of a South Africa inadvertently reproducing the repressive governance of the apartheid era and of hardening inequality made worse by neoliberal crime control policies. Cape Town After Apartheid paints a bleak picture of local segregation, crime and gang violence within a failing system of urban governance where security and crime control policies continue to fail. Samara identifies crime control as an integral part of neoliberal governance arguing that neoliberal policies are preoccupied with addressing the crisis of development by focusing on eliminating security threats perceived as being the main barriers to prosperity. Samara identifies that 'as long as underdevelopment remains a reality for the majority of South Africa's citizens, however, the state will be forced into an essentially, reactive security posture, be it in response to organized political resistance or "disorganized" and well organized criminal activity - seeking to contain crisis to which, some would argue, its own policies directly contribute' (Samara, 2012: 31). The author illustrates how Cape Town is a city divided both spatially and socially; highlighting the differences between the high crime area of the Cape Flats and the affluent, and predominantly white, areas of the suburbs. Samara observes that the majority of crime is located 'far from the tourists and wealthier residents clustered in and around the city's core' (2011: 3). Samara identifies that there is, in fact, disconnect between Cape Town the global tourist brand and the underdeveloped Cape Town which draws similarities with the expanding ghettos of the global south. Central to Samara's narrative is criticism of the failure of neoliberalism as a tool of urban governance. Market-driven neoliberal governance underpins development and urban renewal within post-apartheid Cape Town with the consequence that crime has assumed a priority within development discourse. As Samara explains 'free markets provide guiding principles and reference points for ordering urban life' (2012:5) with the consequence that the approach to crime is one which prioritises safety and security and the quality of life for a revitalized urban economy. Gordon (2001) identifies that

Jazz and the Disconnected: City Structural Disconnectedness and the Emergence of a Jazz Canon, 1897–19331

Abstract: The study of organizations and markets suffers from the underdevelopment of disconnected producers. This article emphasizes the imputed identities of sources to argue that difficult-to-categorize outputs were appealing when associated with a source high in disconnectedness. Worldwide data on recordings and mobility with detailed data on Midwest recordings provide evidence that jazz from cities high in disconnectedness was rerecorded more often by musicians over time. Moreover, recordings with difficult-to-categorize elements were more likely to be rerecorded when coming from cities high in disconnectedness, despite evidence that original music was paradoxically less likely to come from these cities.

Education in the Third World

Abstract: 1. Colonialism and Educational Development 2. Education in British Colonial Dependencies 1919-1939: A Reappraisal 3. Education and Underdevelopment in Africa: The Historical Perspective 4. The Contribution of Mission Schools to Educational Development in South East Asia 5. Education and Colonialism in Peninsular Malaysia 6. Colonialism and Education - Vietnam 7. The Legacy of Colonialism in West Indian Education 8. Neocolonialism and Education in Latin America 9. Co-operation or Colonialism? A Preliminary Consideration of the Scheme of Co-operation Between New Zealand and Fiji 1924-1975 10. Educational Neocolonialism - the Continuing Colonial Legacy.

Spiritual Well-Being

Abstract: 1. Values that regulate social behaviour"The United Nations Millennium Declaration" adopted by the General Assembly Summit which was held on September 6-8, 2000 (Session 55, paragraph 60b of the agenda) includes the list of basic objectives that the UN gives special importance. The Declaration starts with the statement of those values and principles that are followed by the heads of state and government at the dawn of the new millennium. Why are these values given so much significance?It is a well-known psychological fact that activity of a biological creature or a social institution is triggered by its needs. However, behaviour of both human individuals and social communities is regulated not only by a set of patterns, but also by human values and attitudes. These values and attitudes may be unconscious and hiding behind habits and rules, behavioural patterns and a way of thinking, but they can be realized by both individual and social community who have an opportunity to make them manageable. The choice of values is the manifestation of both freedom and responsibility. Making a conscious choice about values which regulate his/her social behaviour a human individual becomes a true citizen with all the personal, social (e.g. economic, legal, etc.) attributes (Ball, 1997).The system of values accepted in society gives rise to beliefs, principles, social attitudes and norms, personal and social behavioural goals, and also regulates the decision making process at all stages of social activity. Any change in the system of values leads to significant changes in social behaviour projects as a way of behaviour modification.Throughout human history, there have been dreams about building a society regulated by human values that could promote not only its economic, but also its intellectual and ethical development. Such dreams about the people, state, professional communities managed by true noble people, aristocrats of the spirit would remain an empty dream even today, but for scientific research data of the recent decades which indicate that cultural values do influence successful functioning of human communities and their economy.Why do some ethnic groups and nations live better off than other ones of the kind? The determining factors include the climate, the geographical location, the size of the country, natural resources, the choice of policies, and good management, etc.However, according to Daniel P. Moynihan ("The New Republic", June 7, 1986) it is culture but not politics that determines the success of society. The author believes that some cultural values may hinder economic development while the others may be really beneficial for it. In 1985, Lawrence E. Harrison published his book "Underdevelopment Is a State of Mind - The Latin American Case", in which the notion of culture is defined as a coherent system of values, attitudes and institutions that influence individual and social behaviour.2. Spirituality and spiritual developmentPsychologists and physicians have lately become closer to peer into the spiritual aspect of a human being.Nowadays basic approaches to studying spirituality are as follows: (1) spirituality as a principle of self-development and self-actualization; (2) the roots of spirituality, which do not go deeply into a human individual (especially in his/her personal traits or tendency to reflection), but also in his/her creative activity and in the products of life; (3) study of the factors of human spiritual states; (4) religious studies.Self-reflection ("What is my true essence? Who am I?") is accompanied by the search for the meaning of life, while specific life events are given a specific value. This "spiritual work" contributes to personal growth. Each person has to make an individual choice among a wide range of values and assign them to regulating personal behaviour, the daily exercise of this choice being a test of his/her personality. …

Economics of Development: Theory and Evidence

Abstract: Part I DEVELOPMENT AND UNDERDEVELOPMENT 1 The study of economic development 2 The development gap and the measurement of poverty 3 The characteristics of underdevelopment and structural change 4 The role of institutions in economic development 5 Theories of economic growth: why growth rates differ between countries Part II FACTORS IN THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS 6 The role of agriculture and surplus labour for industrialization 7 Capital accumulation, technical progress and techniques of production Part III THE PERPETUATION OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT 8 Dualism, centre-periphery models and the process of cumulative causation 9 Population and development Part IV THE ROLE OF THE STATE, THE ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES, AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 10 Resource allocation in developing countries, and sustainable development 11 Project appraisal, social cost-benefit analysis and shadow wages 12 Development and the environment Part V FINANCING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 13 Financing development from domestic resources 14 Foreign assistance, aid, debt and development Part VI INTERNATIONAL TRADE, THE BALANCE OF PAYMENTS AND DEVELOPMENT 15 Trade theory, trade policy and economic development 16 The balance of payments, international monetary assistance and development

Re‐branding Africa

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this conceptual paper is to explore how Africa has been branded, and to suggest ways the continent could be re‐branded to attract both international and domestic investments.Design/methodology/approach – An extensive review of literature that encapsulates branding, nation branding, place/destination branding, foreign direct investment and issues associated with investment opportunities in Africa was conducted towards exploring how Africa has been branded and could be re‐branded.Findings – This paper finds that the extant literature is replete with publications that essentially associate Africa, as a brand, to poverty, underdevelopment, corruption, doom, pestilence and several other inauspicious features. Nonetheless, the article also shows that there are several existing virtues especially in the form of business opportunities in several sectors that could be accorded extensive publicity to espouse the continents' brand equity. These range from agriculture, to tourism, to real est...

The Village as Cold War Site: Experts, Development, and the History of Rural Reconstruction

Abstract: This article examines ‘the village’ as a category of development knowledge used by policymakers and experts to remake the ‘Third World’ during the Cold War. The idea of the village as a universal category of underdevelopment, capable of being remade by expert-led social reform, structured efforts to win the ‘hearts and minds’ of people from Asia to Latin America and Africa. Rooted in a transnational interwar movement for rural reconstruction, village projects were transformed in the 1950s and 1960s by a scientization of development that narrowed the range of experts in the field and by Cold War politics that increasingly tied development to anti-communism and counterinsurgency. From India to Central America, strategic efforts to control rural populations won out over concerns for rural welfare.

Neoliberalism and global cinema : capital, culture, and Marxist critique

Abstract: Section 1: Hollywood and Global Dominance 1. 'For a better deal, Harass Your Governor!': Neoliberalism and Hollywood, Toby Miller and Richard Maxwell 2. A Legacy of Neoliberalism: Patterns in Media Conglomeration, Eileen R. Meehan 3. 21st Century Neoliberal Man, Deborah Tudor Section 2: Latin America 4. Cuban Cinema: A Case of Accelerated Underdevelopment, Michael Chanan 5. Politics and Privatization in Peruvian Cinema: Grupo Chaski's Aesthetics of Survival, Sophia A. McClennen 6. Form, Politics and Culture: a case study of The Take, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised and Listen To Venezuela, Mike Wayne & Deirdre O'Neill Section 3: Asia 7. Market Socialism and Its Discontent: Jia Zhangke's Cinematic Narrative of China's Transition in the Age of Global Capital, Xudong Zhang 8. "Leitmotif": State, Market, and Postsocialist Film Industry Under Neoliberal Globalization, Ying Xiao 9. From Exploitation to Playful Exploits: The Rise of Collectives and the Redefinition of Labor, Life, and Representation in Neoliberal Japan, Sharon Hayashi 10. The Underdevelopment of Development: Neoliberalism and the Crisis of Bourgeois Individualism, Jyotsna Kapur 11. Fragments of Labor: Neoliberal Attitudes and Architectures in Contemporary South Korean Cinema, Keith B. Wagner 12. Mainlandization and Neoliberalism with Post-colonial and Chinese Characteristics: Challenges for the Hong Kong Film Industry, Mirana M. Szeto and Yun-chung Chen 13. Neoliberalism and Authoritarianism in Singaporean Cinema: A Case Study of Perth, Jenna Ng 14. Gambling on Life and Death: Neoliberal Rationality and the Films of Jeffrey Jeturian, Bliss Cua Lim Section 4: Africa and Europe 15. Nollywood in Lagos, Lagos in Nollywood Films, Jonathan Haynes 16. French Cinema: Counter-model, Cultural exception, Resistances, Martin O'Shaughnessy

Migration, rural development, poverty and food security: a comparative perspective

Abstract: The Commonwealth Foundation, in collaboration with the Ramphal Commission on Migration and Development and in consultation with other international and research bodies, such as the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Oxford Department of International Development, and the International Migration Institute (IMI), is engaged in developing pragmatic strategies, aimed at maximizing the benefits of cross - border migration for the pro - poor development of Commonwealth states. In this context, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in collaboration with the Commonwealth Foundation and the Ramphal Commission on Migration and Development, is initiating country case studies. The present report is based on a comparison between seven country studies (India, Jamaica, Kenya, Sri Lanka, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Tonga and Jamaica). The central question of this work is: in what ways and to what extent can migration be an instrument to combat rural underdevelopment, poverty and food insecurity in rural areas? The case studies provide mixed evidence regarding the development potential of migration in rural areas. The various forms of remittances have a positive impact on the productivity of migrant households' farms. The introduction of new production techniques can also have beneficial spill - over effects on non - migrants' farming. However, there is no evidence of a substantial improvement of agriculture at the regional or national level in the countries investigated. Migration on its own cannot support an agricultural development strategy. Migration improves household food security. Remittances are largely used for daily consumption, especially in poor households. However, in the absence of a specific study, it is not possible to give a quantitative assessment of the improvement of food consumption induced by the reception of remittances. Nor is it possible to draw any conclusion regarding non - migrant households. Finally, there is ample evidence that migration alleviates poverty, even for non - migrant households. In the countries benefiting from temporary migration schemes recruiting low skilled farmers, migration directly benefits rural areas. However, in other countries, the migrants tend to come from wealthier urban areas. In consequence, migration has limited effects on rural poverty. The report proposes the establishment of an institutional framework and the design of pragmatic actions to be taken to tackle obstacles to rural development. These recommendations are broken down at the international, national and local levels with a view to delineating a coherent 'policy chain' in the Commonwealth: At the Commonwealth level, the creation of the Commonwealth Office for Migration and Development would provide a platform where issues of migration and development could be discussed. It will provide technical and evidence - based guidance to member states. At the member state level, migration should be mainstreamed in the development agenda of public authorities and civil society organizations by enhancing internal transfers, supporting migrant entrepreneurship abroad, easing integration in receiving countries, channelling investment in rural areas. At the local level, synergies between migrant organizations, local authorities and civil society will be created by promoting co-funding schemes for public infrastructure and the poverty of women.

Discourse analysis in international development studies: Mapping some contemporary contributions

Abstract: This paper critically examines work conducted by discourse analysts working in international development studies (IDS). During the 1990s, a number of authors introduced the study of speech, text and image as new paths toward understanding the causes of underdevelopment. This article highlights the authors who have worked on discourses on development and underdevelopment expressed by national and international governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations, scientific disciplines and specialized knowledge fields (including IDS). We focus in particular on the work of Chandra Mohanty, Arturo Escobar, James C. Scott, James Ferguson, Gilbert Rist and a selection of gender studies scholars. Beyond their differences, these discourse analysts in IDS share a rejection of mainstream analysis of underdevelopment. However, these authors remain marginalized in their own field of study and their work ought to be circulated in general discourse analysis circles.

Remittances, Gender and Development: Albania's Society and Economy in Transition

Abstract: Migration in the modern world, rather than being seen as a symptom or result of underdevelopment, is now understood more as a route towards development and a strategy for alleviating poverty. This study of Albania is particularly significant in this new debate on migration and development as, since the fall of communism, remittances have been a major supporter of the Albanian economy, sustaining many Albanian families, especially in rural areas. The authors thus focus on the socio-cultural context of remittances, and explore how gender emerges as a powerful facet in the processes of development. It will therefore be of interest to scholars and students in Migration Studies, Development Studies, Gender Studies, Geography and Anthropology, as well as offering vital analysis for policy-makers, donors and civil society activists engaged in development planning and migration management

Law and long-term economic change : a Eurasian perspective

Abstract: Recently, a growing body of work on "law and finance" and "legal origins" has highlighted the role of formal legal institutions in shaping financial institutions. However, these writings have focused largely on Europe, neglecting important non-Western traditions that prevail in a large part of the world. Law and Long-Term Economic Change brings together a group of leading scholars from economics, economic history, law, and area studies to develop a unique, global and, long-term perspective on the linkage between law and economic change. Covering the regions of Western Europe, East and South Asia, and the Middle East, the chapters explore major themes regarding the nature and evolution of different legal regimes; their relationship with the state or organized religion; the definition and interpretation of ownership and property rights; the functioning of courts, and other mechanisms for dispute resolution and contract enforcement; and the complex dynamics of legal transplantations through processes such as colonization. The text makes clear that the development of legal traditions and institutions-as embodiments of cultural values and norms-exerts a strong effect on long-term economic change. And it demonstrates that a good understanding of legal origins around the world enriches any debate about Great Divergence in the early modern era, as well as development and underdevelopment in 19th-20th century Eurasia.

The political economy of underdevelopment

Abstract: 1 Economic Underdevelopment: a Politico-Historical Perspective Part I: Investment Patterns in the Settler and Non-Settler Situations 2 Economic Underdevelopment and the Settler/ Nonsettle Dichotomy 3 Export Staples and their Contrasting Impact on Development - the Settler and the Nonsettler Regions 4 Economic Development in the Settler and the Nonsettler Colonies: Differences in Scope and Orientation 5 Settler Autonomy as a Basis of Growth Impulses 6 Settler Growth and the Repression of Indigenous Interests Part II: The Plantation System and Underdevelopment 7 Plantations and their Metropolitan Orientation 8 Problems of Labour Supply and the recourse to Migrant Labour: I Labour Shortages and Non-availability of Indigenous Labour 9 Problems of Labour Supply and the recourse to Migrant Labour: II The Response of the Indigenous Labour to the Plantation System 10 The Scale of Plantation Operations and Productive Efficiency - A Distorted Image 11 Plantations and Technological Stagnation 12 Labour Relations in Plantations Part III: Towards a Theory of Underdevelopment 13 The Framework and Mechanisms of Metropolitan Control 14 The Domination of Plantation Interests by Merchant Capital: Agency House-Plantation Relations 15 Merchant Capitalism and Underdevelopment 16 Plantations, Economic Dualism and the Colonial Mode of Production 17 The Political Economy of Underdevelopment

Forest Resources, Family Networks and the Municipal Disconnect: Examining Recurrent Underdevelopment in the Amazon Estuary

Abstract: There has been a widespread assumption that a strong market for locally managed, sustainable production systems provides the key for regional development and conservation in the Amazon. During the past decades, a variety of factors has allowed for the first part of this equation to happen throughout the Amazon estuary. The region has experienced significant growth, intensification of production, and wide participation in the market economy of forest fruits and products. The expected outcome, however, has yet to be realized and seems far from certain.

Explaining the Normality of Informal Employment in Ukraine: A Product of Exit or Exclusion?

Abstract: Introduction In recent decades, it has been widely recognized that informal employment is a sizeable and expanding sphere of the contemporary global economy (Charmes 2009; Feige and Urban 2008; ILO 2002a, 2002b; Jutting and Laiglesia 2009; Rodgers and Williams 2009; Schneider 2008). The result has been a refutation of the long-standing view that this realm is some minor residue or leftover from a previous era of production that is disappearing from view. Instead, there have emerged various competing perspectives that seek to explain the normality of informality. The aim of this article is to begin to evaluate critically the validity of these contrasting explanations. To do this, the first section introduces the major schools of thought that seek to explain the normality of informality. These are firstly the structuralist school, which reads participation as driven by laborers' "exclusion" from state benefits and the circuits of the modern economy (Davis 2006; Gallin 2001; Hudson 2005; Sassen 1997) and secondly, several schools that explain participation as driven by the voluntary decision to "exit" the formal economy (Cross 2000; Gerxhani 2004; Maloney 2004; Perry and Maloney 2007; Snyder 2004). These include, on the one hand, a neo-liberal perspective that portrays informal workers as voluntarily opting to work in this manner due to the costs of working legitimately and, on the other hand, a poststructuralist school that again depicts informal employment as a choice but more driven by social and redistributive rationales than pure cost-benefit calculations. To evaluate critically the validity of these competing explanations, the second section then introduces a survey conducted in Ukraine during 2005/6 based on 600 face-to-face interviews. The third section reports the findings. This will not only display the normality of informality in contemporary Ukraine but also how participation is not the result of either exit or exclusion but instead, how some is conducted due to exit, some due to exclusion, and some for both reasons. The article thus concludes by calling for a move beyond the current either/or explanations and for a greater appreciation of how various explanations are more relevant in relation to different types of informal employment and population groups. At the outset, however, informal employment needs to be defined. Reflecting the strong consensus, informal employment here refers to paid work that is not declared to the authorities for tax, social security, and/or labor law purposes when it should be declared (European Commission 1998, 2007; OECD 2002; Renooy et al. 2004; Schneider 2008; Sepulveda and Syrett 2007; Williams 2004; Williams and Windebank 1998). This is the only difference between formal and informal employment. If the goods and/or services are illegal (such as drug-trafficking), for example, then this is "criminal" activity. If the activity is not remunerated, similarly, it is part of the unpaid informal economy. Of course, in practice, the boundaries sometimes blur. Those in informal employment and those engaged in criminal activities sometimes overlap and informal employment can be rewarded with gifts or in-kind rather than purely with monetary payments. Explaining Informal Employment: A Product of Exit or Exclusion? Throughout much of the 20th century, informal employment was commonly depicted as a leftover or residue from a previous era. As such, its continuing presence was seen to be a sign of "underdevelopment," "traditionalism," and "backwardness" whilst the formal economy represented "progress," "development," and "advancement" (Geertz 1963; Lewis 1959). Formal and informal employment were therefore temporally sequenced by viewing formal employment as in the ascendancy and informal employment as "the mere vestige of a disappearing past [or as] transitory or provisional" (Latouche 1993: 49). In recent decades, however, numerous studies have revealed not only that informal employment is extensive and persistent but also that it is growing relative to formal employment in many populations (Charmes 2009; Feige and Urban 2008; ILO 2002a, 2002b; OECD 2002; Schneider 2008; Schneider and Enste 2000). …

Niger Delta Crisis: The Nexus between Militants' Insurgency and Security in West Africa

Abstract: Since the oil boom, violence in the Niger Delta has been a growing issue for the Nigerian state Persistent poverty, underdevelopment, and environmental degradation have given birth to a region where grievances are high Militancy in the region turned a more destructive corner in the early 2000s and in doing so brought considerable disruptions to oil production, which accounts for more than 80 percent of government revenue Against this background the study examines the crux of the Niger Delta crisis, evaluates the emergent and violent dispositions of the armed groups, and reviews the convergence between militancy and security in West Africa It does this by examining the spillover effects of militancy across Nigerian borders and into the Gulf of Guinea, the impact that the violence has had on regional energy infrastructure projects and supply and market dynamics, and the overarching impact on Nigeria's effort to contribute to peacekeeping operations and regional partnerships The paper reveals t

Imagining the Middle East: The Building of an American Foreign Policy, 1918-1967

Abstract: As its interests have become deeply tied to the Middle East, the United States has long sought to develop a usable understanding of the people, politics, and cultures of the region. In "Imagining the Middle East," Matthew Jacobs illuminates how Americans' ideas and perspectives about the region have shaped, justified, and sustained U.S. cultural, economic, military, and political involvement there.Jacobs examines the ways in which an informal network of academic, business, government, and media specialists interpreted and shared their perceptions of the Middle East from the end of World War I through the late 1960s. During that period, Jacobs argues, members of this network imagined the Middle East as a region defined by certain common characteristics--religion, mass politics, underdevelopment, and an escalating Arab-Israeli-Palestinian conflict--and as a place that might be transformed through U.S. involvement. Thus, the ways in which specialists and policymakers imagined the Middle East of the past or present came to justify policies designed to create an imagined Middle East of the future. Jacobs demonstrates that an analysis of the intellectual roots of current politics and foreign policy is critical to comprehending the styles of U.S. engagement with the Middle East in a post-9/11 world.

Andre Gunder Frank: ‘Unity in Diversity’ from the Development of Underdevelopment to the World System

Abstract: The purpose of this article is to critically review the work of Andre Gunder Frank. This is no easy task given the prolific and controversial nature of his life work. His main distinction is as a paradigm breaker and a paradigm maker. Frank is one of the founders of contemporary world system theory. He coined some memorable expressions such as the ‘development of underdevelopment’ and ‘Re-Orient’. Indeed, these two concepts highlight two distinct phases in his work. His first phase is characterised by his writings on dependency theory and his initial understanding of world system theory broadly in line with Amin, Arrighi and Wallerstein. His second phase is distinguished by what he considers to be the ‘Eurocentric’ interpretation of world system theory of Wallerstein and others as well as by his critique of his own earlier work. While some of Frank's analyses and assertions proved to be wrong, he provided much inspiration to a new generation of scholars and activists, some of whom provided the necessary e...

The media and values in reorientation in Nigeria.

Abstract: Presently, Nigeria is grouped among the poorest nations of the world despite billions of dollars earned from years of crude oil sales. The underdevelopment and poverty in Nigeria has been attributed to years of corruption and irresponsible leadership, which has led to the subversion of civic values. Historically however, the Nigerian media has shown the capacity to mobilize Nigerians; as exemplified by its efforts during the struggles against colonialism, military dictatorships and campaign for civil rule. The media has also been visible in challenging, criticizing and exposing some individuals involved in corrupt behaviors. This study was therefore conceived on the conviction that the Nigerian media has the capacity to successfully undertake the reorientation of values in Nigeria. The core question therefore is: What role can the Nigerian Mass Media play in the social and economic development of Nigeria through the re-orientation of civic values? This is addressed through five areas of enquiry: the capacities of the Nigerian Media; media ownership, press freedom, training and remuneration; media believability and accessibility; the capacity of the "public sphere" in Nigeria; and the ethnic, tribal and religious background of media practitioners.A critical realist paradigm underpins this study. Key theoretical approaches are the related ideas of agenda setting theory; gatekeeping; framing and priming. Interviews and survey methods were used to collect data from key media stakeholders. The analysis of empirical data indicates that the Nigerian media can play a key role in the reorientation of civic values in Nigeria where: 1. There is a consensus of opinion about the need for values re-orientation. 2. There is a high level of media believability 3. Topical media issues are freely discussed 4. Media access is unhinderedHowever, certain aspects of the Nigerian culture were found to validate corruption across ethnic, tribal and religious boundaries.