Suchergebnisse

Väitöskirjatyössä tutkitaan Venäjän ja Euroopan välisen ympäristöyhteistyöregiimin rakentumisen dynamiikkaa. Tutkimus kohdistuu yhteistyöprosesseihin, yhteistyön käytäntöihin sekä erilaisiin tapoihin määritellä yhteistyön kohteena oleva ongelma ja ratkaisuvaihtoehdot. Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan myös, millaisia reunaehtoja erilaiset ongelmanmäärittelyt ja yhteistyön käytännöt asettavat jaettujen merkitysten ja identiteettien synnylle sekä sosiaaliselle oppimiselle. Aineistosta nousee esiin viisi kehystä, joiden rajoissa Venäjän ja Euroopan välinen ympäristöyhteistyöregiimi on rakentunut. Näitä ovat yhteisten ongelmien kehys, joka korostaa korkean tason toimintaa ja valtioiden välistä diplomatiaa ympäristöyhteistyön perusmuotona; kriisin kehys, jonka mukaan yhteistyön tavoitteena on kaikin mahdollisin keinoin saada aikaan perustavanlaatuinen muutos Venäjän ympäristö-yhteiskuntasuhteessa sekä modernisaation kehys, joka kohtelee ympäristökysymyksiä ennen muuta teollisuuden prosesseja modernisoimalla ratkaistavina teknisinä ongelmina. Ympäristösuurvallan kehyksen mukaan Venäjä on luonnonrikkauksiensa ja 1990-luvulla vähentyneen saastekuormituksen ansiosta ympäristöyhteistyön osapuolena pikemminkin antava kuin vastaanottava osapuoli, ja kumppanuus kehyksen mukaan ympäristöyhteistyön tulisi perustua tasapuoliseen ja tasa-arvoiseen kumppanuuteen, jossa kaikki osapuolet panostavat yhteistyöhön niin materiaalisin kuin älyllisin resurssein. Yhteistyön kehysten tarkastelu osoittaa, että yhteistyötä muovanneet määrittelyt ja toimintakäytännöt ovat usein tuottaneet ja vahvistaneet erilaisia uhkakuvia ja vastakkainasetteluja kuten syntipukki ja hyväntekijä , antajaosapuoli ja saajaosapuoli sekä opettaja ja oppilas . Vastakkainasettelut ja uhkakuvat eivät ole hedelmällisiä, sillä ne eivät edistä tuloksekkaita ja oppimista tuottavia yhteistyön muotoja ja käytäntöjä. Kehysten tarkastelu osoittaa myös, että ongelman- ja ratkaisunmäärittelyt ovat olleet ylhäältä alaspäin suuntautuvia ja erittäin laajoja. Ylhäältä alaspäin suuntautuvan yhteistyömallin lähtökohtana on yleensä ollut järjestelmä kokonaisuudessaan, ja tehtävänä on ollut tunnistaa pahimmat uhkat ja kohdistaa toiminta niihin. Pyrkimyksenä on ollut ohjelmallisten yhteistyökäytäntöjen soveltaminen, suuren mittakaavan hankkeiden toteuttaminen ja viimekädessä Venäjän ja Euroopan ympäristöpolitiikan yhtenäistäminen. Tällainen ajattelu ei kuitenkaan huomio alueellista kontekstia eikä poliittista ja yhteiskunnallista tilannekohtaisuutta. Tutkimuksen keskeinen päätelmä on, että ennen kaikkea se, että kysymykseen yhteistyön oikeasta ja kulloinkin tilanteeseen sopivasta mittakaavasta ei ole kiinnitetty riittävää huomiota yhteistyön kohteen ja toimintatapojen määrittelyssä, on rajoittanut Venäjän ja Euroopan välisen ympäristöyhteistyön tuloksellisuutta ja oppimista.Tutkimuksen tulokset suosittavat, että yhteistyössä tulisi noudattaa käytännönläheistä, alhaalta ylöspäin suuntautuvaa lähestymistapaa, joka korostaa konkreettisten toimijoiden, kokemusta omaavien asianosaisten, roolia ja toimintatapoja. Tämä merkitsee sitä, ettei kaikkiin tapauksiin sovelleta vain yhtä yhteistyön mallia tai instituutiota, vaan niitä on tilanteesta ja ongelmasta riippuen useita toiminnan eri tasoilla. ; In this PhD thesis, I study the dynamics of environmental regime-building between Russia and Europe. I examine the processes through which the regime is constructed. I focus on the definitions of problems and their possible solutions in these processes and the reflections of the definitions on the practices of environmental cooperation. Moreover, I examine how different definitions and practices of cooperation condition social learning. My methodological approach derives from a problem and process-oriented approach to policy analysis that focuses on the examination of political processes and definitional struggles as the basis of these processes. In accordance with this methodology, I chose an idea-based perspective on cooperation that underlines the importance of shared meanings and identities as conditions for learning. While all separate studies follow the basic logic of this methodology with slightly differing methods of analysis, in the overall thesis I synthesise them by applying a method that builds on framing as a way to distinguish between different problem definitions and to analyse the interplay of these definitions with practice. I examine the process of regime-building with the use of six separate studies. These focus on environmental aspects of the energy cooperation problematic; environmental non-governmental organisations in St Petersburg; multilateral cooperation aimed at the institutional development of the St Petersburg water sector; policy networks in environmental cooperation in the St Petersburg water sector and Kola Peninsula mining industry; the implications of a nuclear submarine accident, the Kursk case, for environmental cooperation; and on framing climate change as an international policy problem in Russian public discussion. As a context to these cases, I map the evolution of the Russian­European environmental regime from the early 1970s to the present. As a result, I distinguish between five frames that have shaped Russian­European environmental regime-building from its early days to the present. This has involved the evolution of the environmental regime between Russia and Europe from one shaped mainly by a common problems frame, emphasising high-level diplomacy as the basic form of cooperation, to one of environmental partnership that, in turn, emphasises practical cooperation based on principles of reciprocity and shared responsibility. Currently, interdependencies based on the use of raw materials, trade and markets heavily affect the economic and political context of environmental cooperation between Russia and Europe. Russia has increased its power in the definition of issues, as the popularity of a frame I name great ecological power indicates. The examination of the framings of cooperation reveals that definitions of problems and their possible solutions have often drawn on dichotomies such as fall guys and do-gooders , donors and recipients , or teachers and learners . These dichotomies have not shaped actors identities in a way that would have produced shared meanings and identities. They have not encouraged cooperational practices that would have promoted social learning. Moreover, the results of the thesis indicate that the definitions of problems and the required solutions that the cooperation has been based on have been extensive. Russian­European environmental regime-building has been driven towards ever-wider practices that ultimately aim at the unification of environmental policy throughout Europe and Russia. As a conclusion of the study, I argue that the broadness of definitions on which large-scale projects are built adds to the complicated character of issues and politicises them, possibly creating and enhancing diverse dichotomies. The broadness of definitions and practices thus makes the achievement of problem closure, needed for the effective solution of problems, more difficult and hampers social learning. As a result of too-large scales of projects, the enforcement of participatory methods does not work, even though heavily stressed. Consequently, the results of the thesis indicate that Russian­European environmental regime-building has largely been based on top-down thinking, which takes as its frame an analysis of the whole system. In this kind of thinking, the task has been to identify the worst threats and tackle them. I argue that this kind of thinking misses sensitivity to the spatial context and to the social and political situation. Neglecting the question of scale in defining the foci and forms of the cooperation can be said to have been the most significant constraint for social learning in Russian­European environmental cooperation. As an alternative, I propose a pragmatic bottom-up approach to cooperation that cuts up problems into more manageable pieces, focuses on specific situations, differentiates management practices and involves the relevant stakeholders by taking their practical experience into consideration, to be applied as a basis for environmental regime-building. In institutional terms, a pragmatic bottom-up approach implies stressing institutional pluralism: many different sorts of structures with different scale preoccupations.

The subject of quality has been a pervasive issue on the agenda in higher education around the world for more than a decade. A greater focus on quality in higher education resulted from a range of competing factors, among the most prominent were: political control over higher education (exerted particularly by national governments), the growth in the number of students in higher education (including general changes in the student population and their expectations) and financial control on the part of national governments (frequently related to the previous two factors). Quality monitoring has become a mechanism for governments worldwide to tackle these competing factors. However, at the same time, it can be argued that it was frequently employed to disguise the dominant focus on accountability in higher education rather than on enhancement. Many of the quality assurance models and systems applied to higher education originated in the business and manufacturing sectors. They have often been found unsuitable or only partially suitable for the higher education sector, because they largely disregarded the nature of higher education and its employees, in particular the academics. It may be argued that the quality movement has driven higher education more towards greater uniformity, which may be detrimental to what was understood as the "real" quality in higher education. For instance, innovation was regarded as an important aspect of academic work. Nevertheless, the present quality development drive seems to be working against the nature of academic work. Given this background, it is alarming that the academic voice seems to have had little impact to date on the development of quality systems in higher education. Therefore, the present thesis attempted to investigate the academic voice concerning higher education quality. Overall, this thesis had two main objectives. First, based on the analysis of stories of academics and higher education leaders, the thesis endeavoured to construct a framework of significant quality issues for the potential use in future policy development in higher education in the two countries investigated in this research (the Czech Republic and England), and prospectively in other higher education systems around the world. In particular, it aimed to introduce more human-centred measures into the area of higher education quality. Second, in terms of developing a methodology, the thesis attempted to illustrate the way in which a critical event narrative inquiry study of heterogeneous and complex environments, such as higher education, could be undertaken. Employing such a critical event narrative inquiry approach, the researcher endeavoured to highlight important aspects of higher education quality, which have been largely overlooked in the area, and thus assist the improvement of the practice of quality development in higher education. The study utilised face-to-face interviews with academics and higher education leaders concerning their perceptions of the issue of higher education quality. The researcher anticipated that eliciting of "critical events" through interviews with individuals involved in the area of quality in higher education (academics and higher education leaders) would uncover some important aspects in higher education quality which would not be revealed using other more traditional empirical methods of inquiry, particularly quantitative research methods. To investigate the area of higher education quality, the researcher elected to look into the English and Czech higher education systems. The choice of the English higher education system was influenced by the knowledge that England, and more generally the UK, was among the first countries in the world, and certainly the first in Europe, to introduce a formal quality assurance system into higher education. Australia followed this trend soon after it was introduced in the UK. The researcher elected the Czech higher education system, as a culturally different educational system, distinctive from the Anglo-Saxon educational tradition, and which is uniquely placed on the divide between Western and Eastern Europe. In this respect, the critical event narrative inquiry method was proposed as a suitable method for the investigation of significant aspects of cultural difference. Employing the critical event narrative inquiry method, the researcher uncovered a number of significant issues. Some of these issues were identified by English and Czech academics and higher education leaders as not featuring strongly in their countries' current higher education quality enhancement practices, and yet they were regarded as important by the academics. Some of the issues uncovered in this research, on the other hand, were highlighted as impacting negatively on the quality enhancement processes in their respective higher education systems. There were a number of issues which were identified as common to both the English and Czech higher education systems. These issues might have been an indication of potential wider relevance of such trends among a broader range of higher education systems worldwide. This thesis proposed a framework for a human-centred approach to quality enhancement in higher education based on issues which were common to both English and Czech higher education systems. This framework featured: • Regard for the academic voice in higher education quality policy development; • Attention to human-centred aspects of higher education quality; • Need for a collegial approach and reflection on the purposes of quality evaluation processes; • Equal value afforded to teaching and research; and • Focus on innovation and change. There were also some culture-specific issues uncovered, particularly in relation to the Czech higher education system. These culture-specific issues may be relevant to certain common trends and features in other higher education systems in Central and Eastern European regions. In this respect, the thesis proposed a framework for a human-centred approach to quality enhancement with regard to culture-specific issues. The framework focused specifically on Czech higher education and may be of potential relevance to other Central and Eastern European higher education systems. This framework included: • The significance of transparency in educational processes; • The need for a fundamental change in the style of pedagogy in higher education institutions; to focus more on thinking processes and reasoning; • The need for a more systematic move towards a student-centred approach across the whole higher education system; • The need to address the factor of pressure on Czech academics to publish mainly in English in order to receive international recognition; and • The need for education of Czech academic staff to enable a broader and better understanding of the concept of higher education quality in the context of the Czech higher education system. Investigation of the academic voice in English higher education did not reveal any culture-specific issues. In other words, the English academics and higher education leaders did not identify any issues in higher education quality that were distinctively different from the general issues highlighted also by Czech academics and higher education leaders. Some of the issues pointed out in the English context occurred on a more advanced level due to the different historical, political and socio-economic context of the UK higher education. It appears that quality in higher education is here to stay. As such, it is essential for the future of higher education that quality enhancement be based on education-focused approaches. Overall, this thesis proposed a human-centred approach to quality enhancement as one way of attaining educational focus.

Considerable challenges remain in functional assignment in Indonesia - some introduced by the recent revisions, during the second round of reform in the period 2004-2007. The Government of Indonesia (GoI) has accepted the offer from donors to undertake a study to delve more deeply into the progress made to date, the challenges that remain, and the opportunities to fashion a more robust, effective and stable assignment of functions. The study aims to help the GoI and donors in exploring new avenues for reform in this field. The term functional assignment in the study denotes a broad concept that captures the overall architecture of roles between levels of government and the specific construction of functions. The robustness of functional assignment is seen to derive from the judicious choice of elements suited to the local context, particularly how these elements come together to form a sound and consistent architecture. In assessing functional assignment, the study made use of academic and other stakeholder views on both substantive issues and the capacity development approach needed to develop a policy network in this field in the future. The possible supporting role of donors is also indicated, within the discussion of each issue in the main part of the report, and in condensed form at the end of this summary.

The Indonesian government has devolved significant expenditure authority to sub-national units since 2001. New sub-national government expenditure assignments have been paid for by a substantial increase in intergovernmental transfers to lower levels of government. The center has decided against devolving any significant new tax authority to the regions, at least for the time being. This note examines some fundamental issues related to these unspent funds. The paper has two particular objectives. First, the paper describes the basic features of sub-national government surplus and reserves since decentralization, including their size and spatial distribution. Second, it seeks to explain the observed variation in surplus across sub-national governments, according to some standard hypotheses. The paper proceeds as follows. First, some basic information regarding the buildup and geographic distribution of sub-national reserves is offered. Second, the methodological approach to the study of sub-national government surpluses is detailed. Third, the results of the econometric examination are presented and discussed. Finally, the note closes with a summary of the main findings and a proposal for some additional research that might be useful in the continuing development of central policy in this area.

Pine wilt disease (PWD) is perhaps the most serious threat to pine forests worldwide. Since it´s discovery in the early XXth century by Japanese forest researchers, and the relationship with its causative agent, the pinewood nematode (PWN) Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, in the 1970s, PWD has wreaked havoc wherever it appears. Firstly in the Far East (Japan, China and Korea) and now, more recently in 1999, in the EU (Portugal). The forest sector in Portugal plays a major role in the Portuguese economy with a 12% contribution to the industrial gross domestic product, 3.2% of the gross domestic product, 10% of foreign trade and 5% of national employment. Maritime pine (Pinus pinaster) is one of the most important pine productions, and industrial activity, such as the production of wood and resin, as well as coastal protection associated with sand dunes. Also, stone pine (Pinus pinea) plays an important role in the economy with a share derived from the exports of high-quality pineon seed. Thus, the tremendous economical and ecological impact of the introduction of a pest and pathogen such as the PWN, although as far as is known, the only species susceptible to the nematode is maritime pine. Immediately following detection, the research team involved (Univ. Évora, INIAP) informed the national plant quarantine and forest authorities, which relayed the information to Brussels and the appropriate EU authorities. A task force (GANP), followed by a national program (PROLUNP) was established. Since then, national surveys have been taking place, involving MADRP (Ministry of Agriculture), the University of Évora and several private corporations (e.g. UNAC). Forest growers in the area are particularly interested and involved since the area owned by the growers organizations totals 700 000 ha, largely affected by PWD. Detection of the disease has led to serious consequences and restrictions regarding exploration and commercialization of wood. A precautionary phytosanitary strip, 3 km-wide, has been recently (2007) established surrounding the affected area. The Portuguese government, through its national program PROLUNP, has been deeply involved since 1999, and in conjunction with the EU (Permanent Phytosanitary Committee, and FVO) and committed to controlling this nematode and the potential spread to the rest of the country and to the rest of the EU. The global impact of the presence of Bursaphelenchus xylophilus or the threat of its introduction and the resulting pine wilt disease in forested areas in different parts of the world is of increasing concern economically. The concern is exacerbated by the prevailing debate on climate change and the putative impact this could have on the vulnerability of the world's pine forests to this disease. The scientific and regulatory approach taken in different jurisdictions to the threat of pine wilt disease varies from country to country depending on the perceived vulnerability of their pine forests to the disease and/or to the economic cost due to lost trade in wood products. Much of the research surrounding pine wilt disease has been located in the northern hemisphere, especially in southern Europe and in the warmer, coastal, Asian countries. However, there is an increased focus on this problem also in those countries in the southern hemisphere where plantations of susceptible pine have been established over the years. The forestry sector in Australia and New Zealand are on "high alert" for this disease and are practicing strict quarantine procedures at all ports of entry for wood products. As well, there is heightened awareness, as there is worldwide, for the need to monitor wood packaging materials for all imported goods. In carrying out the necessary monitoring and assessment of products for B. xylophilus and its vectors substantial costs are incurred especially when decisions have to be made rapidly and regardless of whether the outcome is positive or negative. Australia's response recently to the appearance of some dying pines in a plantation illustrated the high sensitivity of some countries to this disease. Some $200,000 was spent on the assessment in order to save a potential loss of millions of dollars to the disease. This rapid, co-ordinated response to the report was for naught, because once identified it was found not to be B. xylophilus. This illustrates the particular importance of taking the responsibility at all levels of management to secure the site and the need of a rapid, reliable diagnostic method for small nematode samples for use in the field. Australia is particularly concerned about the vulnerability of its 1million hectares of planted forests, 80% of which are Pinus species, to attack from incursions of one or more species of the insect vector. Monochamus alternatus incursions in wood pallets have been reported from Brisbane, Queensland. The climate of this part of Australia is such that the Pinus plantations are particularly vulnerable to the potential outcome of such incursions, and the state of Queensland is developing a risk management strategy and a proactive breeding programme in response to this putative threat. New Zealand has 1.6 million hectares of planted forests and 89% of the commercial forest is Pinus radiata. Although the climate where these forests are located tends to be somewhat cooler than that in Australia the potential for establishment and development of the disease in that country is believed to be high. The passage alone of 200,000 m³/year of wood packaging through New Zealand ports is itself sufficient to require response. The potential incursion of insect vectors of pinewood nematode through the port system is regarded as high and is monitored carefully. The enormous expansion of global trade and the continued use of unprocessed/inadequately-processed wood for packaging purposes is a challenge for all trading nations as such wood packaging material often harbours disease or pest species. The extent of this problem is readily illustrated by the expanding economies and exports of countries in south-east Asia. China. Japan and Korea have significant areas of forestland infested with B. xylophilus. These countries too are among the largest exporting countries of manufactured goods. Despite the attempts of authorities to ensure that only properly treated wood is used in the crating and packaging of goods B. xylophilus and/or its insect vector infested materials is being recorded at ports worldwide. This reminds us, therefore, of the ease with which this nematode pest can gain access to forest lands in new geographic locations through inappropriate use, treatment or monitoring of wood products. It especially highlights the necessity to find an alternative to using low-grade lumber for packaging purposes. Lest we should believe that all wood products are always carriers of B. xylophilus and its vectors, it should be remembered that international trade of all kinds has occurred for thousands of years and that lumber-born pests and diseases do not have worldwide distribution. Other physico-biological factors have a significant role in the occurrence, establishment and sustainability of a disease. The question is often raised as to why the whole of southern Europe doesn't already have B. xylophilus and pine wilt disease. European countries have traded with countries that are infested with B. xylophilus for hundreds of years. Turkey is an example of a country that appears to be highly vulnerable to pine wilt disease due to its extensive forests in the warm, southern region where the vector, Monochamus galloprovincialis, occurs. However, there is no record of the presence of B. xylophilus occurring there despite the importation of substantial quantities of wood from several countries In many respects, Portugal illustrates both the challenge and the dilemma. In recent times B. xylophilus was discovered there in the warm coastal region. The research, administrative and quarantine authorities responded rapidly and B. xylophilus appears to have been confined to the region in which it was found. The rapid response would seem to have "saved the day" for Portugal. Nevertheless, it raises again the long-standing questions, how long had B. xylophilus been in Portugal before it was found? If Lisbon was the port of entry, which seems very likely, why had B. xylophilus not entered Lisbon many years earlier and established populations and the pine wilt disease? Will the infestation in Portugal be sustainable and will it spread or will it die out within a few years? We still do not have sufficient understanding of the biology of this pest to know the answers to these questions.

This paper uses a case study of Costa Rica to identify the reasons why democracy is conducive for development. By the mid-twentieth century, Costa Rica had begun to depart from the all-too-common mixture of political instability and economic stagnation characteristic of much of the developing world. This paper claims that this country has benefited from better-than-average public policies, a conclusion based upon an original assessment of policy effectiveness and a major comparative ranking of state policies. It largely rejects the interpretation that uncommon development performance stems from institutions created during the colonial period and instead emphasizes how unending political stalemates gradually made the struggle for power more democratic. A central conclusion of this paper is that political competition-as well as steady economic growth rates and development, more generally-interact with and reinforce each other so that the exercise of power foments rather than retards economic growth.

The theoretical case for industrial policy is a strong one. The market failures that industrial policies target in markets for credit, labor, products, and knowledge have long been at the core of what development economists study. The conventional case against industrial policy rests on practical difficulties with its implementation. Even though the issues could in principle be settled by empirical evidence, the evidence to date remains uninformative. Moreover, the conceptual difficulties involved in statistical inference in this area are so great that it is hard to see how statistical evidence could ever yield a convincing verdict. A review of industrial policy in three non-Asian settings El Salvador, Uruguay, and South Africa highlights the extensive amount of industrial policy that is already being carried out and frames the need for industrial policy in the specific circumstances of individual countries. The traditional informational and bureaucratic constraints on the exercise of industrial policy are not givens; they can be molded and rendered less binding through appropriate institutional design. Three key design attributes that industrial policy must possess are embeddedness, carrots-and-sticks, and accountability.

Bangladesh has in recent decades achieved reasonably rapid economic growth and significant progress in social development indicators despite many impediments: the desperate initial conditions after gaining independence, lack of resources, natural disasters, widespread corruption, and a record of systemic governance failure. By identifying the sources of growth stimulus and the drivers of social transformation, the paper addresses what it calls Bangladesh's development surprise. The policy-making process is analyzed as the outcome of incentives created by patronage politics as opposed to the compulsion for the government to play an effective developmental role. The paper examines the governance-growth nexus as affecting the pace and quality of growth and its inclusiveness. If the governance environment has been barely adequate to cope with an economy breaking out of stagnation and extreme poverty, it increasingly may prove a barrier to putting the economy firmly on a path of modernization and global integration. Bangladesh's experience also shows that it is possible to make rapid initial progress in many social development indicators by creating awareness through successful social mobilization campaigns and by reaping the gains from affordable low-cost solutions. Further progress, however, will require increased public social spending and improved quality of public service delivery.

The operations policy on Development Policy Lending (DPL), approved by the Board in August 2004, requires that the Bank systematically analyze whether specific country policies supported by an operation are likely to have "significant effects" on the country's environment, forests, and other natural resources. The implicit objective behind this requirement is to ensure that there is adequate capacity in the country to deal with adverse effects on the environment, forests, and other natural resources that the policies could trigger, even at the program design stage. DPL operations are associated with a whole array of policies such as macro policy reforms, fiscal policies, and specific sectoral policies, particularly in key sectors such as agriculture, health and education, energy, etc. In some cases, the operation may deal directly with reforms in certain environmentally sensitive sectors such as energy, transport, water and sanitation, agriculture, and forestry. In these cases, there is an obvious need for careful analysis of environmental, natural resource, and forestry impacts. In other cases, such as public sector reform and governance, there is less potential for likely significant impacts on the natural environment and natural resources. The toolkit is designed to be concise and user-friendly. It consists of three specific modules. The first module identifies relevant transmission channels through which the proposed reform would have a likely effect on the identified environmental, forest, and other natural resource priorities. The second module provides assistance in identifying key environmental issues in the country, regions, or sectors likely to be influenced by the DPL program. The third module presents different tools and methodologies for rapid assessment of the likely significant effects of each reform.

In this paper authors argue that the main determinants of differences in prosperity across countries are differences in economic institutions. To solve the problem of development will entail reforming these institutions. Unfortunately, this is difficult because economic institutions are collective choices that are the outcome of a political process. The economic institutions of a society depend on the nature of political institutions and the distribution of political power in society. As yet, authors only have a highly preliminary understanding of the factors that lead a society into a political equilibrium which supports good economic institutions. However, it is clear that it is the political nature of an institutional equilibrium that makes it very difficult to reform economic institutions. The authors illustrate this with a series of pitfalls of institutional reforms. The author's analysis reveals challenges for those who would wish to solve the problem of development and poverty. That such challenges exist is hardly surprising and believe that the main reason for such challenges is the forces authors have outlined in this paper. Better development policy will only come when authors recognize this and understand these forces better. Nevertheless, some countries do undergo political transitions, reform their institutions, and move onto more successful paths of economic development.

Bangladesh stands out as the shining new example in South Asia of a poor country achieving impressive gains in gender equality. Between 1971 and 2004, Bangladesh halved its fertility rates. In much of the country today, girls' secondary school attendance exceeds that of boys. The gender gap in infant mortality has been closed. The scholarly work that came out of the micro credit revolution is based on large and unique data sets and high quality ethnographic work and has set a high bar for evidence-based policy proposals. Beyond a doubt, Bangladesh has made great progress in achieving gender equality and enhancing the status of women. Its success in girls' education, reducing fertility and mortality and the famed microcredit revolution are some of the gains that set it apart from its neighbors and other countries of its income level. When young women and their families were asked what this meant for them and how their lives were different from their mothers', the unexpectedly common theme was "finding a voice" or "being able to speak" or "being listened to".

In the last two decades, across a range of countries high growth rates have reduced poverty but have been accompanied by rising inequality. This paper is motivated by this stylized fact, and by the strong distributional concerns that persist among populations and policy makers alike, despite the poverty reduction observed in official statistics where growth has been sufficiently high. This seeming disconnects frames the questions posed in this paper. Why the disconnect, and what to do about it? It is argued that official poverty statistics may be missing key elements of the ground level reality of distributional evolution, of which rising inequality may be an indirect indicator. Heterogeneity of population means that there may be significant numbers of poor losers from technical change, economic reform and global integration, even when overall measured poverty falls. In terms of actions, attention is drawn to the role of safety nets as generalized compensation mechanisms, to address the ethical and political economy dimensions of such a pattern of distributional evolution. Addressing structural inequalities is also a long term answer with payoffs in terms of equitable growth. In terms of future analysis, diminishing returns have set in to the inequality-growth cross-country regressions literature. Further work to help policy makers should focus on: (i) new information to illuminate the disconnect; (ii) analysis and assessment of safety nets as generalized compensation mechanisms; and (iii) addressing specific forms of structural inequality related to assets, gender, and social groupings like caste or ethnicity.

Agriculture in Western Europe enjoys a degree of diversity that reflects a wide variety of soils and climatic conditions ranging from the arid Mediterranean regions to the Arctic Circle. Superimposed on this natural diversity is the complexity of different social, economic and political conditions in the eighteen countries that are the subject of this chapter. History has played a major part in creating this patchwork, particularly the different paths that countries took from feudalism to independent farming units and the inheritance laws that influenced the extent to which land ownership was transmitted from generation to generation. Average farm size varies considerably in the countries of Western Europe, in turn reflecting the relative political and social importance of landowners and small farmers. By the late nineteenth century, these various factors had determined a structure of farming in the Western European region that is still visible today. Productivity growth in Western Europe's agricultural sector compared favorably with that in the manufacturing sector in the immediate post-war period. Over the period 1949 to 1959, by which time the economy had largely recovered from the war-time disruptions, output per person in agriculture had increased by more than that in manufacturing in most of the countries in Western Europe. The productivity growth was a combination of output increases as a result of mechanization and modernization, and the outflow of labor as other sectors absorbed rural workers.

Chile could well have space to increase its growth potential by 2 percentage points of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per year. To do this, it would need to pay more attention to new sources of growth in natural resources, manufacturing, and services. In an increasingly globalized world, first-mover advantages have become more numerous and larger. Chile risks losing out, as a few recent high-profile cases suggest. Chile's total factor productivity growth can be raised by driving within-firm technological change closer to the global best-practice frontier more rapidly, especially in manufacturing. This would encourage the diversification of exports and boost Chile's supply response to global demand changes. Chile confronts obstacles in its processes of innovation, human capital accumulation, and investment. To overcome them, deep institutional changes are needed to develop a national innovation system, stronger and more equitable educational achievement, more flexible labor markets, and focused public investments that crowd in private business. Such an inclusive growth strategy is likely to yield better social outcomes than a strategy that attempts to confront social inequities head-on through more equitable access to public services without paying adequate attention to the demand for labor and generation of income. Chile could also try a new policy towards innovation, but it would need to be bolder in terms of the institutional design to maximize the chances of success.

This paper provides an extensive case study of the Turkish automotive and the consumer electronics industries. Despite a macroeconomic environment that inhibits investment and growth, both industries have achieved remarkable output and productivity growth since the early 1990s. Although there are similarities between the performances of the two industries, there are significant differences between their structures, links with domestic suppliers, technological orientation, and modes of integration with the global economy. The automobile industry is dominated by multinational companies, has a strong domestic supplier base, and has seized the opportunities opened up by the Customs Union by investing in new product and process technology and learning. The consumer electronics industry is dominated by a few, large, domestic firms, and has become competitive in the European market thanks to its geographical proximity, productive domestic labor, and focus on a protected and technologically mature segment of the market, which also helps explain the recent decline in industry's fortunes. These industries could have performed even better had more responsive macroeconomic policies been adopted. It is certain that governments could be more responsive only if far-reaching political/institutional reforms are undertaken by changing the constitution and current political party and election laws in order to establish public control over the political elites.