Suchergebnisse

Do the economic development choices made by political elites impact political participation? Shepsle and North argue that to facilitate development political leaders must formalize those institutions protecting property and contract rights. The relationship between "institutional formality" and economic diversification has been empirically substantiated by Wood and Snider, who also find that political outcomes (growth in government size, transitions toward democracy) are sensitive to structural changes. Specifically, does the structural shift toward market driven development mitigate violent political participation? Does civil war or political terrorism give way to more peaceful politics as economies liberalize? Using data for eleven Latin American countries and OLS, the results are auspicious. They show that, consistent with Snider and Wood, when elites choose to institutionally protect property and contract rights and follow a market driven model, they dampen violent political participation and encourage peaceful political participation.

This paper argues that at a time when policy guidance urged closer collaboration and joint working between health and social services, the long‐established cultural and professional gaps were widening and deteriorating. Drawing on data from four research sites, the paper argues that the deterioration was rooted principally in practitioners' preoccupations with changes within their own organizations and daily work, resulting from a major period of change in both health and social services, which, ironically, was at the expense of the joint working which the "Caring for People" reforms required. As the policy environment changes again, under the Labour government, it is likely that health and social care practitioners will be working within further organizational turbulence and change. It will be crucial that those changes are managed in such a way that they avoid the very real danger of compounding the problems which our respondents identified.

Debates about United States border control policies have generally ignored the human costs of undocumented migration. We focus attention on these costs by estimating the number, causes and location of migrant deaths at the southwest border of the United States between 1993 and 1997. We document more than 1,600 possible migrant fatalities along the border in this period. More than 1,000 of these deaths were reported by United States data sources, and the remainder were Rio Grande drowning deaths reported by Mexican sources. Additional deaths may go unrecorded because the bodies of the decedents do not come to the attention of government officials. Deaths from hyperthermia, hypothermia and dehydration increased sharply from 1993 to 1997 as intensified border enforcement redirected undocumented migration flows from urban crossing points to more remote crossing areas where the migrants are exposed to a greater risk of death.

Abstract The intense, uneven, and often contradictory processes of agricultural restructuring impact upon the family farm in ways that are gendered. Those impacts may create, reproduce, or exacerbate contradictions within the farm family. We interviewed farm women about the decision making structure of families on Australian cereal properties and about land use and resource management strategies. Key informants working in government, agriculture, and management were asked about effects of restructuring on farm women and their role in resource management on the family farm. Different patterns were found: most decision making structures remain sex segregated, with women making more decisions about "inside" and men about "outside" resource management issues; shared decision responsibility was greater than expected. Farm women have views about farming, soil conservation, and the environment that have an influence on strategic planning in the sector whether they maintain their traditional family position or increase their agency and visibility.

This article asks why some attempts at democratization trigger a military intervention while others end peacefully. The author argues that the cause of violence lies in a miscommunication within the government rather than in an intransigence of the opposition. A formal model is analyzed in which opposition, reformers, and military bargain over the extent of democratization. The reformers are better informed than the opposition about the military's attitude toward reforms. Consequently, the opposition treats the behavior of the reformers as a signal about the military. In this model, violence occurs only when the reformers are misinformed about the military. The author tests this result against historical evidence from Hungary and Poland. In 1956, both countries attempted to liberalize their dictatorships. Yet, Soviet military intervention occurred only in Hungary. The author traces the difference in the outcomes to different inferences drawn in the two countries about the Soviet attitude toward reform.

This article is an examination of courageous behavior as manifested in the activities of American whistleblowers and environmental activists in the United States, Israel, and the former Czechoslovakia. It examines how these dissenters against illegal or unethical behavior were able to sustain their demand for accountable behavior by government and industry. The article, which draws upon interviews with sixty‐four whistle‐blowers and one hundred and forty activists, union officials, business executives and journalists, focuses on the significance of social capital in generating protest; the whistleblowers' and activists' strong cultural commitment to the efficacy of action; their determination to accumulate the evidence and expertise; their ability to secure strategically placed allies; and their mechanisms for overcoming fear and intimidation. The authors conclude by indicating the significance of sociology in analyzing, legitimizing, and publicizing the contributions of courageous individuals to the creation and maintenance of a democratic society.

Despite the persistent efforts of federal tax policymakers to place binding constraints on the economic development bond market in the United States, it has grown since the Tax Reform Act of 1986 and is a well established segment of the municipal securities market. This article provides an analysis of the development bond market by describing tax increment debt finance (TIF) in the United States and conducting an empirical analysis of California TIF debt. Our analysis indicates that tax increment debt finance (TIF) is no longer an obscure infrequently used financing tool, but for local governments in many states is a commonly used means of raising capital for multiple purposes. Our empirical analysis highlights the unique project‐specific features of tax increment finance that bond issuers must understand and manage to enhance the credit quality and minimize the financing costs of tax increment debt.

AbstractNongovernmental organizations (NGOs), governments, church groups, and individuals are increasingly conducting or funding conflict resolution training and related projects in war‐torn countries. These projects aim to promote peace, reconciliation, and dialogue, and to impart practical skills and methods for resolving conflict nonviolently. The authors argue that for these goals to be met, considerable time and care must be invested in assessing cultural differences, political realities, bureaucratic hurdles, and logistical challenges prior to plunging for ward with a training workshop or other activity. In addition, thoughtful and thorough follow‐up after a training is as important as attentive preparation before the training. Furthermore, modified elicitive models of training seem best designed to identify and incorporate cultural differences during training. This article draws on the experience of Search for Common Ground, a Washington, D.C.‐based NGO, in developing such a project in Angola.

This article examines the clientelistic relations which underpinned the activities of the Greek state in the field of sports policy between 1981 and 1993. It focuses on aspects of the patronage that existed between the governments of the two major political parties and some of the national governing bodies (NGBs) that control specific sports. More specifically, the study analyses the forms of political patronage employed in support of sports organizations, the processes through which such patronage is exercised, and the impacts of such support on the budgets of particular NGBs. The study employed structured interviews with key national sporting and political figures and documentary analysis of budgets of NGBs. The article demonstrates how particular parties have systematically favoured certain NGBs when they have been in office. The article concludes with a review of reasons for the continued existence of clientelistic relationships in the contemporary context.

In New Zealand, after the Second World War, the share of manufacturing in GDP rose relative to the share of agriculture. Although the government lacked a clearly articulated industrial policy, it was increasingly drawn into the promotion and support of firms in manufacturing. The Murupara pulp and paper scheme was the most spectacular instance of state intervention in the first two postwar decades. Tasman, the company set up to operate the pulp and paper mill, was a joint venture between the state, a New Zealand construction firm called Fletchers, and British multinationals. Tasman soon became New Zealand's leading exporter of manufactured products. The need to secure the market for Tasman's newsprint exports was one of the main reasons for the negotiation of a partial free trade agreement between New Zealand and Australia in 1965. This article explains the early history of Murupara, and discusses its contribution to industrial development and diversification in New Zealand.

To what extent can a university be a resource in the revitalization of a low-income community? This article explores an effort by Colgate University to enhance economic development in two low-income hamlets in Central New York through community visioning programs. Community visioning is a process that helps communities identify indigenous assets and use them to develop action plans for community development. The author argues that Colgate has been instrumental in three respects: (a) by making the process knowable and doable; (b) by playing the needed role of outsider, which helped the community to progress beyond internal political divides; and (c) by involving students, which changed the social interactions, increasing both the depth and breath of public participation. The author presents ethnographic and interview data and finishes by arguing that universities are better suited to playing these roles than are government agencies, nonprofits, and private consultants.

The Government appointed a Low Pay Commission to advise on the level of the initial rate, and subsequently accepted all the Commission's recommendations in principle, while taking a more cautious line on young workers. The National Minimum Wage will make a real difference to around two million low‐paid workers, but without significant extra cost to businesses – an addition of around 0.6 per cent to the UK wage bill. Some critics have argued for a higher initial rate, based on a mechanistic formula. But a rate which takes no account of prevailing economic circumstances or the dynamic nature of the labour market will not help low‐paid workers. It is also important to listen to employees and employers, the low paid and the low paying and reflect their views. The Low Pay Commission, which embodies the principles of social partnership, played a key role in this process.

Education-business partnership in the United Kingdom has a long history. The promotion of links between the partners at all levels and in all sectors of the economy has become a service industry in its own right. In 1991, the UK government established a regional network of Education-Business Partnerships (EBPs) in an attempt to coordinate these activities. Education-business links embrace curriculum enrichment for students at all levels of education; professional development for teachers, lecturers, and business employees; and institutional development and mutual benefits arising from collaboration between educational institutions, business, and the wider community. The authors review the development of education-business links in the United Kingdom and raise a number of issues about definition and purpose. They discuss the difficulties of establishing an educational framework for industrial, commercial, and business enterprises and the economic and technological processes which operate within them.

Digital Property and the Digital Marketplace Expenditures in the information technology arena indicate that digital property - defined as digitized information and the tools to use it - is generating astonishing wealth. Globally, expenditures in the information and communication technology markets exceed $1.8 trillion annually and comprise six percent (6%) of aggregate global Gross Domestic Product ("GDP"). By 1997, such expenditures had escalated forty percent (40%) over 1992 levels. Current spending on information and communication technologies is growing twenty-seven percent (27%) faster than the overall worldwide GDP, averaging roughly 5.5 percent annually. Technological innovations have become the primary engine of economic growth. For example, according to a 1997 government report, the technology market accounted for seventy-six percent (76%) of economic growth in France, seventy-eight percent (78%) in Germany, seventy-three percent (73%) in the United Kingdom, and fifty-five percent (55%) in Japan.

R&D is crucial in a country's development process. Yet some economic agents are hesitant in pursing it not only because of the risks and costs associated with it but also because of high incidence of spillover, which are usually difficult to appropriate. Hence, to mobilize the R&D activities, government interventions are critically needed. This paper reviews issues related to R&D such as the low level of R&D in the Philippines and the opportunity costs associated with it. This also puts into perspective the historical development in S&T and the current policy measures and objectives, the level of S&T, the intensity of R&D activities, the incomplete market structure in research and the government's role through subsidies and incentive provision. This review draws heavily s on the available domestic and international literature on R&D and S&T.