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Background: New graduates in the UK presently spend one year in training as Vocational Dental Practitioners (VDPs) in preparation for primary dental care. There is a growing recognition that the emerging workforce has very different professional expectations to those of earlier generations, with implications for the profession, patients and the performance of health systems. The objectives of this study were to investigate why VDPs' in England and Wales perceive they chose dentistry as a professional career; how they perceive their vision has changed and the implications for their professional career plans, both short- and longterm. Methods: Purposive sampling of schemes was undertaken to include urban, rural and metropolitan schemes, schemes in areas with and without dental schools and geographic coverage across England and Wales. All VDPs in these schemes were initiated to participate in this qualitative study using focus groups. A topic guide was utilised to standardise data collection. Informants' views were recorded on tape and in field notes. Data were transcribed and analysed using Framework Methodology. Results: A total of 99 VDPs participated in the 10 focus groups. Their choice of dentistry as a professional career was motivated by multiple categories of influence: 'academic', 'healthcare', 'lifestyle', the influence of 'family', 'friends', 'careers advice' and 'work experience'. Consideration of the features of the 'professional job' appears to have been key to their choice of dentistry and the 'active rejection of medicine' as an alternative career. Entry into the profession was proving a challenging process for some but not all VDPs. Informants perceived that their vision had been moderated as a result of 'personal student debt', 'national workforce initiatives', 'limitations on clinical practice' and the 'cost of additional training'. Short term goals focused around 'recovery from the past' and 'preparation for the future'. Longterm goals covered the spectrum of opportunities within dentistry. Factors influencing VDPs longterm career plans fell into six main categories: professional, personal, financial, political, social and cultural. Conclusion: VDPs chose dentistry because they perceived that it provides a financially lucrative, contained career in healthcare, with professional status, job security and the opportunity to work flexibly. They perceive that their vision is challenged by changes affecting education and the healthcare system. Longterm professional expectations were closely linked with their personal lives and support a vision of a favourable work/life balance.

PurposePublic sector entities are clearly catalysts, generators and managers of intangibles. However, they appear to be unaware so far of the possibility to prepare and use intangibles statements, but they often include information on the intangibles they produce and are concerned with in other forms of reporting they publish (e.g. social, environmental, sustainability reports). Accordingly, the first aim of the paper is to analyse the degree of disclosure on intangible resources and activities in public sector bodies' supplementary reports that have indeed different objectives from intangibles statements. In particular, the paper focuses on Local Agenda 21 (LA21), which is a local government sustainability report that is quite well known internationally. The second aim of the work is to evaluate whether, in more general terms, intangibles reports that are currently developed by private sector organisations would also be desirable for local public sector entities, and, if so, whether they could be integrated with LA21. This way, a more comprehensive report, including both sustainability‐ and intangibles‐related information, could be designed and fruitfully implemented.Design/methodology/approachThe tentative exploration for intangibles‐related information within Local Agenda 21 is conducted through an empirical study referring to the specific case of Agenda 21 prepared by the Commune and the Province of Ferrara (Italy) in 2003. The evaluation of the usefulness of intangibles reports for local public sector entities is based on the analysis of the scope of their possible use.FindingsA table is provided, including indicators that are drawn from the above sustainability report, and that could be also part of a potential intangibles statement of the local government units concerned. In generalising the results, some relevant intersection areas appear in the indicators used, even though intangibles reports and Agenda 21 serve different informational needs for diverse stakeholders. In this sense, an integration between the two documents seems possible. Indeed, a further relevant result that has also important practical implications is that intangibles reports are quite desirable for local governments as they could provide basic information that could be used not only in the perspective of communication with stakeholders, but also for internal managerial purposes of local government, such as the identification of weaknesses and assessment of the results deriving from intangibles investments and management.Originality/valueThis issue seems to be scarcely analysed, especially in the perspective proposed, by the existing literature.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to deal with an issue of female labour inactivity in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, more specifically women in the 16‐65 age category who are long‐term inactive in the formal labour market due to family responsibilities. This group currently represents one‐third of the female population of working age in the country.Design/methodology/approachThe core of the analysis lies in examining the main socio‐demographic characteristics of family carers. First, the paper provides descriptive analysis of socio‐demographic background of women who are inactive in the labour market. Second it examines the influence of selected socio‐demographic characteristics on the woman's choice not to participate in the labour market due to family care. In the conclusions, based on the outcomes of the conducted analysis and information on the existing welfare setting in the country, the paper suggests policies which should facilitate greater participation of these women in the labour market.FindingsReferring to the presented theory and to the findings, it can be concluded that Luxembourg is a country with a conservative orientation where women, especially those with lower education, who are married, multiple‐mothers, older than 35 years, Luxembourg nationals, and who are living in households receiving higher social benefits, choose to withdraw from the labour market due to family responsibilities.Originality/valueGiven the lack of more detailed information concerning labour market inactivity of Luxembourgish women and their labour market potential, the fact that the female labour inactivity in the country has never been examined in light of the theory of welfare states' regimes, and the pressing Lisbon employment strategy targets, this paper represents the first in depth empirical attempt to describe and explain the phenomenon of female labour market inactivity in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and provides evidence based policy suggestions which could promote women's labour market participation. The outcomes of the cross‐sectional approach applied in this paper could serve as a base for further more sophisticated analyses of the issue of female inactivity due to family care in Luxembourg. It would be particularly interesting to focus on longitudinal analysis of transistions in and out labour market inactivity and analyze the main socio‐demographic determinants of these transitions.

AbstractOn both sides of the Atlantic, there is increased professional concern over roles in international public sector management—whether those of the policy makers, administrators or consultants. Growing numbers across many sectors feel an unprecedented crisis of identity and integrity. In international development, institutions often find themselves subordinated to the military in ever increasing conflict situations (the 'development‐security complex'). Locally, the global tendency is for public administration to be 're‐engineered' on the basis of so‐called 'market' values (the 'New Public Administration'). Private sector management models are, nevertheless, hardly exemplary. Corporate greed and scandals proliferate in a world featuring increasing poverty extremes, resurgence of old or advent in new diseases (e.g. HIV/Aids), environmental degradation and racism. This article takes, as its starting point, the fact that the workplace has become an insecure and alienating environment. In pursuing the relationship between spirituality and religion, the article next distinguishes between, the dogmatic, institutionalised and potentially dangerous characteristics of many religions and the more intuitively contemplative character of spirituality with its stress on awareness of self, impact on others and feeling of universal connectedness. Bearing in mind the often extremism as well as variety of religions (as distinct from spirituality), the second section examines the interrelationship between the two. A number of models are advanced concerning relationships between belief, belonging, salvation and ritual. It is argued that attention needs to be given to the inner side of religion, which requires individuals to embark on a spiritual journey through contemplation and reflection, rather than the more visible side of religion expressed in ritual. In sum, spiritual dialogue is offered as a way forward and as a mechanism for building spiritual community through engagement. The final part of the article focuses on a trans‐Atlantic spiritual engagement initiative. Faith‐based discussion groups have been formed amongst business executives and professionals in USA (the Woodstock Business Conference promoted out of Georgetown University) and more recently in the City of London at the St Paul's Cathedral Institute (the Paternoster Pilot Group). These aim to develop more meaningful work orientation: rediscovery of higher purpose and its relevance to restoration of ethical business and public service values, as well as better integration of personal and social domains. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Most methodological approaches to the teaching of culture and civilization for second language students tend to have two things in common. First, they put an emphasis in history and high culture: fine arts, literature and film. Second, when they cover current events, they tend to take what I will call horizontal views of the civilization, trying to cover a wide spectrum of aspects of society, and not getting into an in-depth study of any of them. This article wants to propose a different methodology on both counts. First, instead of focusing on high culture, I want to use an item of popular culture to illustrate a certain civilization. Second, this article proposes a radically vertical view, which will center around a very specific aspect of the country's culture. More specifically, in this work I will attempt to use sports as a way to understand the culture and civilization of Spain. Although for a long time sports were ostracized from most intellectual studies, recently we have seen more attention paid to them in fields such as business, sociology, anthropology and media studies. I believe that sports and the spectatorship that they generate are so widespread that they offer unlimited windows into society as a whole. In this article I will focus exclusively on Spain, but this point of view can undoubtedly be extended to many other Latin countries, in the case of the teaching of Spanish, and to most Western countries for many other languages. This article will look at several ways in which sports provide a significant representation of Spanish culture and civilization. I will cover issues such as the media, the ways that Spaniards see themselves, political symbols and conflicts, and the status of certain social groups. I do not believe that such a view stands in competition with the more accepted horizontal views that focus on history and high culture. Rather the intention is to provide an alternative and complementary approach, as well as a handful of useful examples for all views from an often over looked field. I hope that this journey through sports in Spain will offer at least some ideas that will help teachers of Spanish use this topic in a culture and civilization class.

The article deals with the problem of representation in the area of local public policy. Representation is a crucial element of any democratic society. The democratic society should be reflected as sharp as possible in the representative institutions. Otherwise, if the reflection of society's structure is distorted, there will be a great danger to fall into the asymmetry of democracy. Contemporary public administration extended the traditionally political notion of representation into the area of bureaucracy. The distinction between the passive and the active representation was developed. Despite that there is no consensuses of whether the passive representation always leads to the active one, the authors of the article keep a premise that most often the passive representation leads to the active one, but it may become a negative point if the passive representation is not the sharp one. While the local council is considered as a subject of public administration in Lithuania, the authors of the article choose to research how sharp the local council of Klaipëda represents the community of the city. The problem is relevant because the contemporary public policy is increasingly oriented towards the notion of public governance. Applying the casestudy method and analytical statistics, article analyzes the last four elections to the local council of Klaipëda. Due to the wide scope of the topic, the object of the research is divided into the four main structural components: representation of gender, nationality, age-group, and occupation. Additionally, the diversity effect is calculated applying the Blau index. The research proved that the passive representation in the local council is not the sharp one. Among all, the distinct domination of only two - business and education - occupational groups revealed that there are negative tendencies in the development of local democracy. Two of them are of the greatest menace: 1) prevailing of business leaders might lead to the market relationships in the processes of solving social problems, 2) governing may become available only for the privileged closed stratas what jeopardize the fading of democracy. Knowing that passive representation may lead to the active one, it is possible to envisage the predominance of the certain interests' implementation what leads to the so called asymmetry of democracy.

Abstract Background New Zealand introduced a smokefree bars and restaurants policy in December 2004. We reviewed the data available at December 2005 on the main public health, societal and political impacts and responses within New Zealand to the new law. Methods Data were collected from publicly available survey reports, and from government departments and interviews. This included data on smoking in bars, attitudes to smokefree bars, bar patronage, socially cued smoking, and perceived rights to smokefree workplaces. Results The proportion of surveyed bars with smoking occurring decreased from 95% to 3% during July 2004 – April 2005. Between 2004 and 2005, public support for smokefree bars rose from 56% to 69%. In the same period, support for the rights of bar workers to have smokefree workplaces rose from 81% to 91%. During the first ten months of the smokefree bars policy, there were only 196 complaints to officials about smoking in the over 9900 licensed premises. The proportion of smokers who reported that they smoked more than normal at bars, nightclubs, casinos and cafés halved between 2004 and 2005 (from 58% to 29%). Seasonally adjusted sales in bars and clubs changed little (0.6% increase) between the first three quarters of 2004 and of 2005, while café and restaurant sales increased by 9.3% in the same period. Both changes continued existing trends. Compared to the same period in 2004, average employment during the first three quarters of 2005 was up 24% for 'pubs, taverns and bars', up 9% for cafés/restaurants, and down 8% for clubs (though employment in 'pubs, taverns and bars' may have been affected by unusually high patronage around a major sports-series). The proportion of bar managers who approved of smokefree bars increased from 44% to 60% between November 2004 and May 2005. Bar managers also reported increased agreement with the rights of bar workers and patrons to smokefree environments. The main reported concerns of the national and regional Hospitality Associations, in 2005, were the perceived negative effects on rural and traditional pubs. Conclusion As in other jurisdictions, the introduction of smokefree bars in New Zealand has had positive overall health protection, economic and social effects; in contrast to the predictions of opponents.

Steppe ecosystems worldwide are affected by agricultural development and generally unprotected. Spanish shrub-steppes contain endangered avifauna, and this paper analyses their state of habitat conservation, the changes that have occurred in the last decade, primary productivity and its relationship with land exploitation and the richness of threatened birds, and avifauna responses to habitat loss. Fifty steppe remnants distributed throughout Spain and inhabited by Dupont's lark Chersophilus duponti, an endangered passerine representative of shrub steppe-like habitat, were studied. The study fragments were generally affected by agriculture exploitation, and steppe cover had significantly decreased in several isolated patches during the period 1991-1999. Steppe habitat recovered slightly in areas with low plant productivity indices, and decreased in extent in the most productive areas, in line with EU (European Union) agricultural policy recommendations to abandon marginal land of low productivity. The low overall primary productivity of Iberian steppes opened the way to industrial activities (mining, waste collection and wind-farming), which in the study areas occurred more frequently in steppe than in other habitat types that are more attractive to the public (woodland) or more productive (farmland). The emerging wind industry little affected the study plots, but the presence of anemometers suggests that the impact is likely to increase in the near future, especially in the largest steppelands. Dupont's lark was sensitive to the fragmentation of its habitat; crowding occurred in isolated and small fragments, possibly as a consequence of habitat constraints and species dispersal dynamics. Fragments inhabited by Dupont's lark also hosted other steppe birds with a high conservation value; the community of endangered birds, mostly adapted to arid conditions, was richest in the less productive sites. Only four shrub-steppe fragments are given some kind of protection throughout Spain, testifying to the limited public awareness about the value of this habitat. Urgent action is required to restore this habitat through abandonment of less productive farmland, and to create a network of protected and connected steppelands, in order to assure the long-term viability of steppe specialists and the preservation of a habitat that is unique in Western Europe. This should be coupled to an effort to increase social consciousness of the ecological value of steppes and arid landscapes in general. © 2006 Foundation for Environmental Conservation. ; Peer Reviewed

La peinture monumentale de Byzance, art par excellence religieux,n'exprime pas seulement la foi orthodoxe et les tendances artistiques, maiselle constitue à la fois une source historique de son époque; car lesévénements historiques, la conjocture politique, l'idéologie et les buts dessouverains, les conditions sociales et économiques et les courants intellectuelsont exercé une influence déterminante sur la formation du style etl'expression artistique et sur la thématique. Partant de ces constatations nousessayons d'examiner du point de vue historique l'influence que l'art byzantina exercée sur la peinture murale des pays balkaniques du Xlle au XVIesiècles, époque de grands bouleversements historiques et d'une remarquablerenaissance culturelle. Cet examen se termine avec la conquête ottomanedans chaque pays.Au préalable, nous soulignons le fait que la fondation des États médiévauxindépendants en Serbie (immédiatement après 1180), en Bulgarie (après1185), en Valachie (1330) et en Moldavie (1359) ont donné aux artistes lescadres stables et les moyens économiques qui ont facilité le développement del'art dans chaque pays, ainsi que la communication avec les courants descentres artistiques de Byzance (Constantinople, Thessalonique, le Mont Athosetc.). Parmi les nombreuses peintures murales de caractère historique, nousmettons en relief celles qui représentent des portraits des souverains et despersonnalités ecclésiastiques (voir p.ex. tabi, nos 2 et 3), celles qui exprimentla puissance et l'unité de la dynastie régnante (no 5), l'idée impériale de laprovenance divine du pouvoir, idée imprégnée de l'idéologie impériale deByzance (nos 7-9 et 11), les ambitions des souverains, l'influence des courantsculturels et religieux élaborés à Byzance (tels l'umanisme, l'hésychasme etc.)en liaison avec l'effort des souverains balkaniques de renforcer leurs liensavec la tradition chrétienne orthodoxe, ainsi que leurs luttes contre lesennemis, en l'occurrence les Ottomans (nos 10,12-14).La peinture monumentale dans ces pays a suivi le modèle byzantin en ce qui concerne le style, la forme et les programmes iconographiques. Dans biendes cas les artistes qui y ont travaillé étaient des Grecs, qui ont ainsi diffusé lesnouveaux courants artistiques élaborés à Byzance et ont formé ou inspiré lesartistes indigènes qui ont continué leur oeuvre, adaptée aux exigences dutemps et aux conditions locales. Dans la plupart des cas ces oeuvres furentexécutées avec le soutien, l'initiative et le financement des souverains et degrands fontionnaires ecclésiastiques ou civiles. On souligne également le faitque la peinture monumentale fut un moyen efficace de diffuser au grandpublic l'idéologie politique du pouvoir.

The questioning of the sustainability of conventional plough-based agriculture led to the emergence of alternative concepts and practices such as conservation agriculture (CA), which is currently spreading in many places. CA-based systems are said to rely on the simultaneous use of three main components: (1) reduced tillage or no-tillage and direct seeding for less disturbance of the soil and proper crop establishment; (2) soil cover to mitigate erosion, reduce weeds, and improve soil fertility and functions; and (3) crop rotation to control pests and diseases. These systems are thought to respond to production-protection requirements; interest in their applicability and results is growing. Knowledge Assessment and Sharing on Sustainable Agriculture (KASSA) is an EU-funded project that intended to extract lessons from past research on CA. It did it through a step-by-step and iterative process that took place within four regional platforms: Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Mediterranean. In the four platforms of KASSA, implementation of the concept of CA gave rise to many farming practices. The no-till¿based systems are the most common: in some places, they are about to replace completely the conventional plough-based systems. However, soil cover and sound crop rotation are still hardly practiced because of biophysical conditions; low biomass production; competition from livestock; lack of adapted varieties, of implements, and of knowledge; and general market conditions. The absence of these components makes the systems rely mainly on using chemicals to control weeds, pests, and diseases. The reduction in production costs CA systems provide often acts as a powerful argument for their introduction and adoption. But this argument alone is risky because (1) the development and fine-tuning of these systems is knowledge-consuming and (2) their suitability and efficiency are highly sensitive to local biophysical, social, cultural, technological, institutional, market, and policy environments. Furthermore, there are relatively few scientific data on CA systems; particularly, their long-term agronomic, environmental, and socioeconomic impacts are still not well understood. Substantial systemic and multidisciplinary research effort is needed to understand the functioning of CA systems and their socioeconomic and ecological sustainability conditions.

The article deals with the problem of representation in the area of local public policy. Representation is a crucial element of any democratic society. The democratic society should be reflected as sharp as possible in the representative institutions. Otherwise, if the reflection of society's structure is distorted, there will be a great danger to fall into the asymmetry of democracy. Contemporary public administration extended the traditionally political notion of representation into the area of bureaucracy. The distinction between the passive and the active representation was developed. Despite that there is no consensuses of whether the passive representation always leads to the active one, the authors of the article keep a premise that most often the passive representation leads to the active one, but it may become a negative point if the passive representation is not the sharp one. While the local council is considered as a subject of public administration in Lithuania, the authors of the article choose to research how sharp the local council of Klaipëda represents the community of the city. The problem is relevant because the contemporary public policy is increasingly oriented towards the notion of public governance. Applying the casestudy method and analytical statistics, article analyzes the last four elections to the local council of Klaipëda. Due to the wide scope of the topic, the object of the research is divided into the four main structural components: representation of gender, nationality, age-group, and occupation. Additionally, the diversity effect is calculated applying the Blau index. The research proved that the passive representation in the local council is not the sharp one. Among all, the distinct domination of only two - business and education - occupational groups revealed that there are negative tendencies in the development of local democracy. Two of them are of the greatest menace: 1) prevailing of business leaders might lead to the market relationships in the processes of solving social problems, 2) governing may become available only for the privileged closed stratas what jeopardize the fading of democracy. Knowing that passive representation may lead to the active one, it is possible to envisage the predominance of the certain interests' implementation what leads to the so called asymmetry of democracy.

The article deals with the problem of representation in the area of local public policy. Representation is a crucial element of any democratic society. The democratic society should be reflected as sharp as possible in the representative institutions. Otherwise, if the reflection of society's structure is distorted, there will be a great danger to fall into the asymmetry of democracy. Contemporary public administration extended the traditionally political notion of representation into the area of bureaucracy. The distinction between the passive and the active representation was developed. Despite that there is no consensuses of whether the passive representation always leads to the active one, the authors of the article keep a premise that most often the passive representation leads to the active one, but it may become a negative point if the passive representation is not the sharp one. While the local council is considered as a subject of public administration in Lithuania, the authors of the article choose to research how sharp the local council of Klaipëda represents the community of the city. The problem is relevant because the contemporary public policy is increasingly oriented towards the notion of public governance. Applying the casestudy method and analytical statistics, article analyzes the last four elections to the local council of Klaipëda. Due to the wide scope of the topic, the object of the research is divided into the four main structural components: representation of gender, nationality, age-group, and occupation. Additionally, the diversity effect is calculated applying the Blau index. The research proved that the passive representation in the local council is not the sharp one. Among all, the distinct domination of only two - business and education - occupational groups revealed that there are negative tendencies in the development of local democracy. Two of them are of the greatest menace: 1) prevailing of business leaders might lead to the market relationships in the processes of solving social problems, 2) governing may become available only for the privileged closed stratas what jeopardize the fading of democracy. Knowing that passive representation may lead to the active one, it is possible to envisage the predominance of the certain interests' implementation what leads to the so called asymmetry of democracy.

The article deals with the problem of representation in the area of local public policy. Representation is a crucial element of any democratic society. The democratic society should be reflected as sharp as possible in the representative institutions. Otherwise, if the reflection of society's structure is distorted, there will be a great danger to fall into the asymmetry of democracy. Contemporary public administration extended the traditionally political notion of representation into the area of bureaucracy. The distinction between the passive and the active representation was developed. Despite that there is no consensuses of whether the passive representation always leads to the active one, the authors of the article keep a premise that most often the passive representation leads to the active one, but it may become a negative point if the passive representation is not the sharp one. While the local council is considered as a subject of public administration in Lithuania, the authors of the article choose to research how sharp the local council of Klaipëda represents the community of the city. The problem is relevant because the contemporary public policy is increasingly oriented towards the notion of public governance. Applying the casestudy method and analytical statistics, article analyzes the last four elections to the local council of Klaipëda. Due to the wide scope of the topic, the object of the research is divided into the four main structural components: representation of gender, nationality, age-group, and occupation. Additionally, the diversity effect is calculated applying the Blau index. The research proved that the passive representation in the local council is not the sharp one. Among all, the distinct domination of only two - business and education - occupational groups revealed that there are negative tendencies in the development of local democracy. Two of them are of the greatest menace: 1) prevailing of business leaders might lead to the market relationships in the processes of solving social problems, 2) governing may become available only for the privileged closed stratas what jeopardize the fading of democracy. Knowing that passive representation may lead to the active one, it is possible to envisage the predominance of the certain interests' implementation what leads to the so called asymmetry of democracy.

Restorative justice is not a new concept as it was the dominant criminal justice model in ancient Greek, Roman and Arab civilisations as well as indigenous communities in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Western countries re-discovered restorative justice in the mid 1970s and by the end of the 1990s most Western countries had legalised restorative justice programmes. South African legislation also makes provision for restorative justice processes. Restorative justice is a victim-centered response to crime that provides opportunities for those most directly affected by crime — the victim, the offender, their families, and representatives of the community — to be directly involved in responding to the harm caused by the crime. It can be applied at the formal and informal level. At the formal level the criminal justice system can apply it during the pre-trial process, the pre-sentencing process, or in pre-release programmes. At the informal level it can be applied to solve a variety of community conflicts, neighbourhood conflicts, family conflicts and interstate conflicts. Most restorative justice cases are referred by magistrates, prosecutors and probation officers. Common referrals are vandalism, theft of property, car theft, burglary, shop theft, attempted homicide, assault and domestic violence and it is appropriate for males, females and young offenders. A large number of research findings across countries indicate that restorative justice is very effective and that most victims and offenders were satisfied with the outcomes of the process. Most participants indicated that they had been fairly treated and that they would again participate in a restorative justice process. The criminal justice system is criticised for being a European worldview of a retributive justice philosophy that is largely offender focussed and guided by codified laws and rules of procedure while ignoring the needs of the victim. Restorative justice is, however, also criticised for adopting the legal framework and definitions of crime and that it can put victims' rights at risk. It is also questioned whether restorative justice empowers victims as the process rather seems to entrench them as victims. It is furthermore argued that restorative justice can widen the net of social control if it is mostly used for minor offences.

In contemporary times of globalisation the manifestations of disparities of poverty and wealth and the design and implementation of policy responses become ever more complex and challenging. It is the conventional task of the (national) government to promote socio-economic security and equality by reaching out to the peripheral regions, marginalised people, and most problematic issues of disparities of poverty and wealth. This Ph.D. thesis argues that governmental policy outreach and effect(iveness) are increasingly determined by whether and how policy-making considers and integrates liberalised market forces, societal stakeholders, and national and decentralised local governments. In the Philippines disparities of poverty and wealth particularly disadvantage rural, agricultural peripheries that show a high concentration of Muslim and indigenous minorities, and at local scales, of tenants and landless workers. Governmental policy-making (re)produces these disparities through spatial and sectoral biases on market growth and global integration for the most profitable yet volatile urban coastal centres of industries and services. Moreover, endogenous institutions of "traditional Philippine political culture" render policy-making ineffective as a means for a sustainable, locally-embedded, and -empowered form of development. The political elite is more interested in (corruptive) self-enrichment practices than long-term objectives of redistribution. Socio-cultural patronage relations towards them constrain participation of and partnership with local populations and non-governmental organisations in policy-making. In lieu of cooperating, stakeholders operate mutually exclusive or compete with each other, causing an institutional overload and chaos in the most profitable policy sites, while others are entirely neglected. Altogether, the interactions between spatial, sectoral disparities, social inequalities, and policy-making biases have triggered of persistent armed conflicts over "redistributive and recognitive justice" in the developmental peripheries. The conflicts work to exacerbate the developmental gap between centres and peripheries, weaken Filipinos' national cohesion in favour of regional and local identities, and threaten the legitimacy of government. Hence, this thesis depicts how imbalanced negotiations between state and globalised market on the one hand and a persistent endogenous political culture in policy-making on the other can work to continually (re)produce manifestations of disparities of poverty and wealth to eventually undermine government and nation-state.