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Under the "People's Campaign for Decentralised Planning," initiated by the government of the Indian state of Kerala in 1996, significant planning and budgetary functions that had previously been controlled by state-level ministries, were devolved to the lowest tier of government—municipalities in urban areas, and gram panchayats (village councils) in rural areas. A key element of the campaign was the requirement that every gram panchayat organize open village assemblies—called Gram Sabhas—twice a year through which citizens could participate in formulating planning priorities, goals and projects. Using data from the first two years of the campaign, on the levels and composition of participation in the Gram Sabhas in all of Kerala's 990 gram panchayats, the authors empirically assess the explanatory power of the dominant existing paradigms of participation—social capital, rational choice, and social-historical. The basic patterns they document, as well as our more detailed analyses of the impact that a range of spatial, socioeconomic and political factors had on the levels and social depth of participation, provide broad support for a dynamic and contingent view of participation, a perspective that recognizes the "plasticity of participation."

Three claims about trust are challenged: (1) Government honesty promotes generalized trust. (2) Democracy promotes trust. (3) Strong government performance promotes cooperation. Attention is given to the relationship between democracy & trust before considering why some countries are more trusting than others. While government structures are unable to produce trust, it is concluded that government policies can. 2 Tables, 1 Figure, 47 References. J. Zendejas

This paper indicates some implications of corporate financial distress for corporate governance. Formal measures, laid down in statute and commercial law, and informal steps established by financial practice, both respond to the threat of insolvency by limiting (and sometimes removing) corporate control of incumbent management. Both need to be considered together in order to appreciate their effects in practice. Shifts in control are associated with UK statutory insolvency procedures, and the paper reviews accounting–based rules intended to protect creditors. It is argued that cash forecasts are the only effective basis for such rules.

This article focuses on the interaction between the TRIPS agreement & Global Public-Private Partnerships (GPPPs) with regard to access to drugs for the poor. It is argued that TRIPS creates three types of problems for developing countries: a barrier for the development of their own technological capacities, a lack of incentive for the development of drugs for diseases of the poor, & a high price level for highly effective drugs. The possible exceptions from TRIPS like legally produced generica, parallel importing & compulsory licensing are not sufficient to cope with these problems. GPPPs in health -- which can mainly be found in the areas of R&D & Access -- can be regarded as an attempt to integrate public & private actors in global health governance & to reach a compromise between their respective interests. The neoliberal globalization process, per the main thesis of this article, led to the emergence of a global polity, in which dominant actors managed to establish their rules mainly through the WTO agreements, but in which the self-interest of these groups (legitimacy of this order, political stability, expansion of their basis of accumulation) also forces them to enter into compromises. In this context institutional forms like GPPPs have the chance to reach improvements for the poor. The respective policies & politics are not only contested but might also stimulate activities for wider reaching changes of the core structures of the "global polity.". 52 References. Adapted from the source document.