Suchergebnisse

This paper seeks to examine the perceptions and experiences of Nigerian Esan women who participated in Better Life for Women Program, a poverty alleviation program. Between January and June 1994, we conducted in-depth interviews with twenty members of two micro credit groups based in Ekpoma and Ubiaja. The data showed that the distance between their place of residence and the financial institutions, spouses' control over their income, the use of force and threat of prosecution by the government and financial institutions hindered regular loan repayments. The findings are indications that culture practices and expectations negatively impact on poverty alleviation programs.

This essay relates the Indian National Congress's struggle against British imperialism to the global politics of the mid-1930s. While contextualizing the Congress's anti-colonialism as a world view intending to combat imperial systems of exploitation, this article postulates that the foreign policy of the post-colonial Indian state originated in the Congress's anti-imperialism and anti-fascism of the 1930s. Drawing on published sources that chart policy decisions and illustrate the attitudes of leading actors in the formulation of official policy, this article hypothesizes that the principles generated by inter-war exigencies proved to be incompatible ideologies for the construction of India's post-colonial foreign policy.

Due to the rise and growth of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) with its sister organizations in Indian politics, the existence of the Muslim political elite's communal attitude, acceptance of liberalized economic policy by India and the rise in mutual suspicion and hostile attitude among both Muslims and Hindus, India may witness a violent civil war between Hindus and Muslims in the future. The clashing political and economic interests and confronting attitude from both sides may lead them to be two different nations again. The spectre of Two Nations Theory may emerge once again.

In this article the factors affecting the attitudes and preferences of households regarding natural resource management in the Abbottabad district of Pakistan are analysed. The findings suggest that non-government organizations were doing better than government agencies in motivating the user groups towards sustainable use and management of natural resources through local organizations. However, it depends on the households' socio-economic status and its linkage with their livelihoods to participate in natural resource management activities. The study can assist policymakers by identifying the key areas for the implementation of their programmes related with natural resource management activities through community participation.

The debate which arose between the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and the opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP) in early September 2005, concerning the history of Malaysia's independence movement, necessitates a re-appraisal of the organizations and personalities involved. This article re-assesses the period and actors involved in bringing to fruition Malaysian independence. By utilizing mainly authoritative secondary sources, the reconstructed history belies the argument of the ruling elites that they inherit the mantle of `real independence fighters' from their political ancestors. Although the sources are readily available in Malaysian libraries, the truth contained in them has eluded the general public. Thus, to lay people, political history in Malaysia has been what ruling politicians tell them and what they find in school textbooks that, in any case, have been approved by the powers that be. This article reveals that pre-independence Malaysian history is replete with contradictions and paradoxes which may transform perceptions of who were and were not independence heroes.

This article argues that a major aim of the Uruguay Round of GATT was to strengthen its dispute settlement procedures and such efforts resulted in bringing about significant improvements in the WTO dispute settlement system. It upholds the right of initiating a panel process by a complaining government and thus prevents blocking at that stage. It also establishes strict timetables for processing disputes and makes all decisions binding unless the DSB votes unanimously to overrule them. If the defendants fail to comply, the WTO can authorize the complainant to impose retaliatory trade sanctions. However, the system is not without weaknesses as the recommendations of the DSB are not implemented promptly and it is still reliant in important respects on the consent and initiative of the parties to the dispute. Although provisions on dispute settlement are generally seen as positive by the developing countries, including Pakistan, many face the challenge of finding the financial, as well as human, resources to participate in the WTO's dispute settlement proceedings. Securing compliance from a defaulting country, especially if it is a developed country, to the dispute settlement of the WTO also remains a major problem. The article concludes that in a general analysis, the dispute settlement system of WTO has been used by both developed and developing countries, despite having some procedural and functional weaknesses mainly due to the lack of a mechanism at the WTO to implement its decisions.

President Bush's bold National Security Strategy document of September 2002 would appear to have been written with North Korea as much as Iraq in mind. Yet the Bush administration has been uncharacteristically passive in responding to the challenge posed by Pyongyang's nuclear weapons ambitions, especially in comparison with the forceful manner with which the administration dealt with Iraq. In the latter case, Bush mobilized the full weight of military force; seemed disdainful of allies, international institutions and multilateral diplomacy; and moved forward with what his critics deemed reckless abandon. In the case of North Korea, on the other hand, the President has emphasized patience, close coordination with allies and an overall lack of urgency oddly at variance with his `axis of evil' characterization of the regime in Pyongyang, and with dangerous advances in North Korea's nuclear arsenal. This essay attempts to explain the rationale behind the Bush administration's surprisingly relaxed approach to the North Korea challenge.