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There are links between food security and political stability as was evident during the world food crisis of 2007-08. Food riots were witnessed in a number of countries contributing to political instability. There are a number of dimensions to the problem of food insecurity in Tajikistan. This book is an attempt to fill the academic void on Tajikistan, especially pertaining to its food security. This work traces the history of agriculture and food production in Tajikistan from the mid-19th century when it came under Russian rule. From its inception, Tajikistan has been facing the 'geographic handicap' as it is a mountainous country and only 7 percent of the total land is arable which limits its food production. This book is a detailed study of how Soviet economic geography introduced intensive cotton cultivation in Tajikistan at the expense of food crops. Soviet economic planners felt that a region with a hot climate and large water resources should not attempt to grow grains but cotton. In the contemporary context, this book focuses on how the state and international actors have responded to the food insecurity in Tajikistan. Most importantly, the book also analyses the relationship between food security and political stability in Tajikistan

A highly successful investment- and export-led growth strategy has positioned China as the second largest economy and as the largest exporter in the world. Households' consumption has played a minor role in its growth strategy, which is reflected in its unique and very high saving rates. In this paper we argue that the low weight of consumption in total expenditure is the result of the pervasiveness of the state in the economy, which aimed at impairing the growth of middle classes and,therefore, at preserving political stability. Nonetheless, an increase in purchasing power and the cultural individualisation of vast portions of the population is leading to an increase in popular mobilisation and social unrest. This indicates that, contrary to common pessimist analyses, prospects for democratization are perhaps stronger than usually presumed. ; COMPETE; QREN; UE; Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia ...

We study the association between resource rents and political stability, highlighting the importance of the distribution of political power as a mediating factor. We present a simple theoretical model showing that increased rents are likely to be positively associated with the stability of a powerful incumbent while destabilizing a less powerful incumbent. Our empirical analysis confirms this prediction: Using panel data for more than 120 countries from 1984-2009, our results show that rents can promote political stability, but only when the political power is sufficiently concentrated. Indeed, if the incumbent is sufficiently weak, rents fuel instability. Our main results hold when we control for time varying common shocks, country fixed effects and various additional covariates.

Die Tatsache, daß die russischen Präsidentschaftswahlen termingerecht im Juni 1996 und im Herbst Wahlen in 48 russischen Regionen stattfanden, könnte als Indiz dafür gewertet werden, daß demokratische Prozeduren in Rußland inzwischen normativ verankert sind. Durch die Wahlen wurde allerdings lediglich der Status quo bestätigt; eine Lösung der akuten sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Probleme des Landes steht nach wie vor aus. Die mit der schweren Erkrankung Präsident El'cins verbundene Führungsschwäche und die Machtkämpfe unter seinen potentiellen Nachfolgern führten zur Destabilisierung der politischen Lage in der zweiten Jahreshälfte 1996. (BIOst-Mrk)

Political stability has been a central theme of policy for all governments and political systems in the history of modern Afghanistan. This volume looks at Afghanistan's historic relations with Central and South Asia, ethno-nationalism and development, Soviet occupation and transformation of relations with Pakistan, stability of the Islamic state and regional cooperation.

The new African states, as a group, show greater political stability than older "new states" in parallel periods. In comparative perspective, this judgment seems sound if one avoids confusing political stability with stagnation, and if one recognizes the dependence of stability, in its widest sense, upon the development of politics. Among African leaders, this rec ognition is widespread. A closer comparative analysis, even of (1) establishment of one-party systems, (2) sporadic violence, including political assassination, (3) mutinies and coups, and (4) intertribal violence, can be interpreted as pointing in the direction of political stability. The development of continen tal politics in Africa also suggests that recognition of the pri macy of politics will lead to optimal political stability.

"Compared to neighboring Saudi Arabia, there is very little press coverage on Oman. And unlike the many stories about how bad things are in the kingdom, the little reporting done on the sultanate is generally positive. It would be a mistake, however, to conclude from Oman's glowing press coverage that all is well there. Oman, in fact, is experiencing some very difficult problems that are likely to get worse in coming years."(.)

Though not its main focus, Goldstone's Revolution and Rebellion in the Early Modern World (1991) threw considerable new light on 19th century Europe's revolutions and near-revolutions. While Goldstone stresses the role of an expanding and industrializing economy in absorbing 19th century England's demographic shocks, we accept this analysis but argue alongside it for similar attention to the vector of emigration, settler-colonialism, and imperial state expansion into which at least some of the exhaust fumes of the population explosion were vented. Furthermore, it is important to note the crucial role of a highly interventionist state and 'big' government in the background to these dynamics—a far cry from the light-touch, laissez-faire qualities with which the 19th century British state is often associated. To make our case, this article takes advantage of secondary literature and raw data not available prior to the publication of Goldstone's book. Of crucial importance here is our unique dataset of fatality-inducing political violence events in Britain and Ireland from 1785 to 1900. This is the first research paper to utilise this dataset. We draw upon this in the following section, which seeks to establish what the real level of political instability was in 19th century Britain—thus cross-referencing Goldstone's account with more recent data—before moving on in the following section to a more detailed overview of the socio-economic conditions underlying events at the political level. This is followed by our account of the emigration-settler-colonialism-imperial state expansion vector and the interventionist state policy behind it, which we argue was crucial to making 19th century Britain relatively 'revolution-proof'—alongside the expanding economic opportunities rightly highlighted by Goldstone. Lastly come our brief concluding remarks, which lay out the implications, as we see them, of this article's findings for research on revolutions, political violence and instability, demographic-structural theory, state-building, migration, and imperialism-colonialism.

We study the association between resource rents and political stability, highlighting the importance of the distribution of political power as a mediating factor. We present a simple theoretical model showing that increased rents are likely to be positively associated with the stability of a powerful incumbent while destabilizing a less powerful incumbent. Our empirical analysis confirms this prediction: Using panel data for more than 120 countries from 1984-2009, our results show that rents can promote political stability, but only when the political power is sufficiently concentrated. Indeed, if the incumbent is sufficiently weak, rents fuel instability. Our main results hold when we control for time varying common shocks, country fixed effects and various additional covariates.

Within the Indonesian political scheme, the juxtaposition of the issues of political stability and leadership succession is inevitable as the two are closely related. The political leadership in the country views political stability as a requirement for national development. The emergence of the New Order in 1966 marked a new type of policy in Indonesia. The government under Suharto launched a security approach to attain stability via the mechanism of politics. The article discusses presidential succession in this country. (DÜI-Sen)

This article investigates the interactions between democracy, political stability and economic growth. Two aspects of the study differentiate it from previous research. First, a simultaneous approach is adopted which combines the study of economic growth and political stability with that of economic growth and democracy. Secondly, a distinction is made between types of political instability, because different kinds of government change have different effects on economic growth and democracy. This analysis employs three-stage least-squares estimation, and utilizes aggregate data covering ninety-six countries from 1960 to 1980. The results indicate that democracy has a positive indirect effect upon growth through its impacts on the probabilities of both regime change and constitutional government change from one ruling party to another. In addition, the evidence indicates that the two kinds of political change mentioned above have significant and opposite effects on growth; that growth has a negative effect on regime change and a positive effect on the probability of the ruling party remaining in power; and that long-run economic growth tends to exert a positive effect upon democracy. (British Journal of Political Science / FUB)

Since independence from GB, Kenya has experienced a political stability often attributed to the charismatic leaderhip of President Kenyatta. Challenged are accepted interpretations of Kenyatta's political role, focusing on Kenya's internal political structure as the source of stability. Three aspects of Kenyan "regime-building" are examined: (1) the establishment of an African security force within already existing structures of the British colonial military system, (2) a concentration of power within the State, giving the president considerable discretionary authority to change & overturn acts of parliament, & (3) successful neutralization of opposition party politics & trade-union development. Although the majority of Kenya's population consists of the rural poor, the capitalist upper classes & middle classes enjoy considerable government encouragement & support, & hence, have a vested interest in maintaining the present system. This government & bourgeoisie alliance, coupled with a fairly sensitive responsiveness to rural needs, has successfully stalled large-scale organization by the masses. Principal threats to Kenyan stability rest with a sudden shift in economic power & distribution, or pressures of international relations, rather than with the succession of presidential leadership. P. Hoye

The new African states show greater pol'al stability than older 'new states' in parallel periods. In comparative perspective, this judgment seems sound if one avoids confusing pol'al stability with stagnation, & if one recognizes the dependence of stability, in its widest sense, on the development of pol. Among African leaders, this recognition is widespread. A closer comparative analysis, even of (1) establishment of one-party systems, (2) sporadic violence, including pol'al assassination, (3) mutinies & coups, & (4) intertribal violence, can be interpreted as pointing in the direction of pol'al stability. The development of continental pol in Africa also suggests that recognition of the primacy of pol will lead to optimal pol'al stability. AA.