bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Processible video codec on camera operations
Authors: Miyamori Hisanishi , Taima Tohru , Tominaga Hideyoshi , Hanamura Tsuyoshi
Published: July 2007

This paper proposes processible video codec on camera operations (PVCC) which uses two video data (camera parameters and image contents) to improve the efficiency of video editing. Image data are separated in the coding; they are selected and synthesized in the decoding. Conditions are set for the relationship between the positions of a camera and its object so that data separation is simplified in the decoding. The system using test patterns shows that the system has an average SNR of about 50 [dB] with accurate camera parameters, the value being sharply deteriorated with an increase of errors in the parameters. Simulations of camera operation and data editing successfully confirm the expected effect of the proposed method. A simple language describing the camera improves the speed of video editing and increases content readability.
An evaluation of the subframe parallel approach for image clustering
Authors: Wakatani Akiyoshi , Mino Yoshiteru , Kadota Hiroshi
Published: July 2007

This paper describes a high‐speed parallel clustering method that is suitable for use as a preprocessor for motion picture compression and coding. In the parallel clustering process, plural pixels are sampled in one frame of an image. Clusters are gathered according to their characteristics, among them, colors, motion vectors, etc., as a way to organize clusters or modify cluster‐parameters in parallel. This operation is repeated until the frame is segmented optimally by a set of clusters. We propose the subframe parallel approach in order to enhance the parallelism of the clustering method and avoid load‐imbalance in parallel tasks. The effectiveness of this approach is also presented and it is shown that a real‐time clustering of motion picture images is available in most cases.
Muscular fatigue in the pelvic floor muscles after strenuous physical activity
Authors: REE MARIT LINDLAND , NYGAARD INGRID , BØ KARI
Published: July 2007

Background. It is not clear why young nulliparous women may leak urine during exercise. The aim of this study was to investigate whether strenuous physical activity can produce pelvic floor muscle fatigue. Methods. Participants in this crossover study included 12 nulliparous women with mild symptoms of stress urinary incontinence during strenuous physical activity. Participants were randomized to start with either the intervention (a 90‐min interval training program) or the control period (rest in sitting position for 90 min). Maximal voluntary contraction pressure (cm H2O), vaginal resting pressure (cm H2O), and holding time (s) were measured before and after intervention and rest by a fiberoptic microtip transducer connected to a balloon catheter inserted into the vagina. Results. Mean age of the group was 24 years (±1.7). The mean maximal voluntary contraction pressure decreased 20% (±24.4) after physical activity. The mean difference in maximal voluntary contraction pressure was significantly larger after physical activity than after rest (−4.4 versus 0.6 cm H2O difference, respectively, p<0.01). There were no statistically significant differences in resting pressure or holding time. Conclusions. In young nulliparous women with symptoms of mild stress urinary incontinence, strenuous physical exercise results in lower maximal voluntary vaginal contraction pressure, indicating pelvic floor muscle fatigue. Further research is needed to understand the long‐term impact of this finding.
Estimating Determinants of Passenger Air Service to Small Markets
Authors: Goff Brian L.
Published: July 2007

The determinants of passenger air service to smaller US metropolitan areas and cities are examined with a data-set across almost 250 markets without federal Essential Air Service. Using a variety of regression techniques applicable to limited dependent variables, both the existence and the likelihood of air service as well as the intensity of service are investigated. The results indicate that market size, the proximity of a hub airport (of any size), the proximity of any airport offering passenger service and the close proximity of a resort or major military installation are influential in determining the existence and intensity of service. Estimates of marginal effects are derived and anomalous cases are examined.
The Introduction of Price Signals into Land Use Planning Decision-making: A Proposal
Authors: Cheshire Paul , Sheppard Stephen
Published: July 2007

Although directed to the British system of town and country planning this paper has relevance for many OECD countries, including some with systems of land use regulation which evolved entirely independently of the British. The paper starts by characterising the basic features of the British land use planning system, viewed from the resource allocation point of view of an economist. A conclusion is that the system explicitly excludes any use of price signals from its decisions. The paper then summarises the problems to which the exclusion of price information has given rise. Because the UK planning system has deliberately constrained the supply of space, and space is an attribute of housing which is income elastic in demand, rising incomes not only drive rising real house prices but also mean that land prices have risen considerably faster than house prices. Several housing attributes other than garden space are to a degree substitutes for land but the underlying cause of the inelastic supply of housing in the UK is the constraint on land supply. The final section proposes a mechanism which would make use of the information embodied in the price premiums of neighbouring parcels of land zoned for different uses. Such premiums signal the relative scarcity of land for different uses at each location and should become a 'material consideration' in planning decision-making. If they were above some threshold, this should provide a presumption of development unless maintaining the land in its current use could be shown to be in the public interest. If combined with impact fees, such a change would not only make housing supply more elastic and the system more transparent, but would help to distance land availability decisions from the political process.
Major-nerve schwannomas versus intramuscular schwannomas
Authors: Shimose S. , Sugita T. , Kubo T. , Matsuo T. , Nobuto H. , Tanaka K. , Arihiro K. , Ochi M.
Published: July 2007

Background: A schwannoma is a benign peripheral nerve tumor. Predicting the involvement of a nerve on symptoms or magnetic resonance (MR) findings is crucial to the diagnostic process.

Purpose: To compare symptoms, MR findings, and histological findings between major-nerve schwannomas and intramuscular schwannomas.

Material and Methods: Thirty-four patients with 36 palpable schwannomas (29 major-nerve schwannomas and seven intramuscular schwannomas) surgically excised and proven histologically were retrospectively reviewed.

Results: Frequencies of the Tinel-like sign, split-fat sign, entering and exiting nerve, and low-signal margin indicate the presence of a nerve, and were significantly higher in major-nerve schwannomas than in intramuscular schwannomas. In tumor morphological patterns (target sign, inhomogeneous and homogeneous pattern), there were no significant differences between major-nerve schwannomas and intramuscular schwannomas. Schwannomas showing the target sign histologically tended to be less degenerative. All major-nerve schwannomas and five of the intramuscular schwannomas produced some characteristic symptoms and/or MR findings, but two intramuscular schwannomas did not have any characteristic symptoms and findings.

Conclusion: In major-nerve schwannomas, the Tinel-like sign, split-fat sign, entering and exiting nerve, and low-signal margin are commonly observed and useful for diagnosis. In intramuscular schwannomas, these characteristic findings are less common, which makes diagnosis difficult.
Land reform & changing social relations for farm workers in Zimbabwe
Authors: Moyo Sam , Rutherford Blair , Amanor‐Wilks Dede
Published: July 2007

This article assesses the problem of extending social, political and land rights to farm workers in Zimbabwe's commercial farming sector in the context of current debates and protests about land redistribution there. It contrasts traditional indifference to such workers with more recent attempts to address their needs and explores the difficulties which land redistribution could present for farm workers if their interests were not made part of the agenda of change. It argues for a holistic, transformative approach to redistribution and reform, an approach which contrasts markedly with ‐and goes well beyond ‐ nationalist, workerist and welfare strategies that have been put forward.
Book notes
Authors: Love Roy , Bush Ray , Szeftel Morris
Published: July 2007

Policing Africa: Internal Security and the Limits of Liberalization
(2000), by Alice Hills, Lynne Reinner.

Conflict and Growth in Africa,
Volume 1:
The Sahel,
Volume 2:
Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda,
Volume 3:
Southern Africa
(1999), by Jean Paul Azam et al., Development Centre Studies, OECD, Paris.

An Introduction to African Politics
(2000), by Alex Thomson, Routledge.

Identity Transformation and Identity Politics under Structural Adjustment in Nigeria
(2000), by Attahiru Jega (ed.), Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Uppsala and Centre for Research and Documentation, Kano.

Africa in the Global Economy
(2000), Richard E Mshomba, Lynne Reinner.

Adjustment, Employment and Missing Institutions in Africa: The Experience in Eastern and Southern Africa
(1999), W Van der Geest and R Van der Hoeven, International Labour Office, Geneva; James Currey, Oxford.
The bitter harvest of war: continuing social & humanitarian dislocation in Angola
Authors: Simon David
Published: July 2007

Angola's seemingly endless civil war has generated untold human suffering through death, injury, displacement and destruction. The social cost of the return to war after the elections in 1992, and again after the abandonment by UNITA of the Lusaka Accords in late 1998 has arguably been greater than previously. This paper examines the human cost of this latest period of fighting, focusing on the scale and nature of displacement, the collapse of infrastructure and services, and the very costly international humanitarian operation. Paradoxically, the crisis has worsened since the Angolan army's dramatic territorial gains against UNITA, as more displaced people become accessible and resources are stretched yet further. Economic dislocation is profound, health and educational indicators are alarming, while poverty is pervasive in both urban and rural areas. Resettlement and rehabilitation efforts are slow and limited; even if a durable and effective peace is eventually secured, the long‐term challenges of human recovery, social reconstruction and participatory development will be immense. Critical questions are raised about the likely nature of this process.
The Clinton administration's policy toward Angola: an assessment
Authors: Wright George
Published: July 2007

This article assesses President Bill Clinton's foreign policy towards Angola within the context of United States’ post‐World War II foreign policy, Clinton's overall foreign policy, and his approach towards sub‐Saharan Africa. In September, 1992, multi‐party elections based on national reconciliation were held in Angola. After losing those elections to President Jose Eduardo dos Santos and the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) Jonas Savimbi and his National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) returned to warfare, quickly gaining control of over 70 per cent of the country. The Bush administration responded to Savimbi's actions by proposing a new round of negotiations based on ‘power sharing’, designed to give Savimbi and UNITA another chance to gain state power. President Clinton extended diplomatic relations to the Government of Angola, but also promoted the power sharing solution. In 1984 an agreement was made between the Government and UNITA, which led to a government of national unity in 1997. Savimbi, however, continued to terrorise the Angolan society. Two central questions raised in this assessment are: 1) Why was Savimbi able to sustain his military option? and 2) Was the Clinton administration actually committed to ‘national reconciliation’ in Angola? The current analysis shows that: 1) Savimbi sustained his military option because UNITA earned over $3 billion smuggling diamonds, enabling him to purchase ample supplies of weapons; and 2) as long as Western business interests made profits there, the instability wrought by Savimbi was acceptable to the hegemonic interests of the United States.
Diasporan West African communities: the Kru in freetown & liverpool
Authors: Frost Diane
Published: July 2007

This article will examine the experience of two transplanted communities of West African kru migrants. Originally from Liberia, these labour migrants became involved in both internal African migration as well as external migration to Europe. It will distinguish the cause and mechanism of migration within the broader development of British colonial activity in West Africa. Freetown and Liverpool will be examined in the context of these broader developments since they became two important centres in Kru diasporic settlement. Economic opportunities became the raison d'etre for Kru migration and this manifest itself in terms of short‐term transient migration to the permanent establishment of thriving diasporic communities. Socio‐political and historical conditions provided the broader parameters within which these peoples became ‘scattered’ across the globe over the last two hundred years or more. The historical and economic connections between the two ports of Liverpool and Freetown, and the role of the Kru in British maritime trade here influenced patterns of settlement and the nature of community organisation and development. The article will examine current theories to the study of diasporan communities and will draw on ethnographic research undertaken in Freetown and Liverpool.
Complex political emergencies, the international community & the Congo conflict
Authors: Smis Stefaan , Oyatambwe Wamu
Published: July 2007

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is presently confronted with the most severe crisis since its independence. It has been transformed into a battlefield where several African states and national armed movements are simultaneously fighting various wars. Confronted with this acute political emergency, the international community, which has a responsibility in promoting peace and security has given an ambiguous message. In the absence of a clear response, the Southern Africa Development Community played a leading role in the mediation process that ultimately led to the Lusaka Agreement of 10 July 1999. The agreement was, however, signed in a totally different context from the present one. Moreover, the primary objective of the Lusaka Agreement, to topple Laurent Désiré Kabila, has lost its relevance since his assassination and replacement by a (more Western friendly) government led by Joseph Kabila. With the Lusaka Agreement signed by most of the belligerents, the international community had a framework through which to channel its growing involvement. However, confronted by the signatories to the Lusaka Agreement who were not ready for peace and therefore continuously violated established rules of international law and found pretexts to not observe the agreement, the international community remained divided and unwilling to become more involved ‐ particularly in light of the Somalia and Rwanda debacles. In the absence of this commitment, however, the whole idea of African renaissance could be put in jeopardy.
Democracy & the money machine in Zaire
Authors: De Herdt Tom
Published: July 2007

Whether or not Mitterand's famous thesis that ‘there can be no democracy without development and no development without democracy‘1is correct, Zaire during the 1990s was a clear case demonstrating the absence of a close relationship between development and democratisation. On the contrary, the announcement that political leaders might be facing electoral defeat could be considered as one of the most important background elements determining the climate of sauve qui peutduring the early 1990s. The dynamics of such an end‐game situation are well‐known in the literature on experimental game theory: only the most stubborn or naive actors will still abstain from using all the means at their disposal to maximise their short‐term interests. We document this situation by studying Zaire's monetary politics during the early 1990s. First, we describe the most impressive phenomena creating the monetary landscape: hyperinflation, monetary games, a fake monetary reform and counterfeit money. We then analyse these phenomena in connection with the dynamics of the political arena of the period and, in particular, the prospect of democratisation.
‘Mobutu's disease’: a social history of AIDS in Kinshasa
Authors: Schoepf Brooke
                      Grundfest
Published: July 2007

The social history of AIDS in the Mobutu era provides a window through which to view the consequences of gender and class inequality. Official and popular responses to this epidemic of fatal sexually transmitted disease reveal the interplay of structure and agency, political economy and culture. While the present crisis of the state and civil war in eastern DRC have pushed gender issues off the political agenda, the prevalence of sexual violence, and consequently, increased levels of HIV and AIDS, makes gender relations central to peace and development.
Class struggles in Uganda
Authors: Mamdani Mahmood
Published: July 2007

The analysis of a class formation is only possible if situated in a concrete understanding of the historically determined process of social production. in order to understand the relations between classes— that is, between the many who labour and the few who appropriate the fruits of that labour, the specific forms of appropriation and the political and ideological means used to secure and support it, and the class antagonisms and struggles arising therefrom—we need to grasp the social formation as a single whole. moreover, in dealing with colonial or “underdeveloped” countries, we must also have some understanding of how their whole system of production has, right. from the start of the colonial era, been constituted (or restructured) to serve the ends of imperialist exploistation. it is from this standpoint that this study of class formation and class struggle in “modern” uganda is presented, though it deals mainly with the period after 1962 when the country became formally independent. the two major high‐tides of class struggle upon which the analysis is concentrated are, first, the rising antagonism and conflict between the asian commercial bourgeoisie and the african petit‐bourgeoisie seen as the focal point of the crisis of the colonial system, and, secondly, the growing fragmentation and factionalism within the african petit‐bourgeoisie itself as the focal point of the crisis of the neo‐colonial system in the period since independence. there is also a brief discussion of the way in which, both before and since independence, the politics of the working class have been absorbed, suppressed, and otherwise “neutralized”, for the time being, by the politics of the rampant petit‐bourgeoisie.
Class and revolution in Ethiopia
Authors: Markakis John , Ayele Nega
Published: July 2007

The following are extracts from a book‐length manuscript of the same title to be published later this year by RAPE.The book is dedicated to the ‘brave youth of Ethiopia’ many of whom, including Nega Ayele himself, have been butchered by the Mengistu regime. These extracts trace the rise of Mengistu and the development of the opposition to the military dictatorship which he now leads, spearheaded by the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Party (EPRP). Of further relevance to the current confrontation in the Horn is the author's analysis of power relations in this area, a brief extract from which is included here. With the adoption of a ‘Marxist‐Leninist’ label by the regime and its increasing support from the USSR and Cuba causing some disquiet and confusion among genuine Marxists and progressives, the publication of this book and these extracts here will, we hope, serve to clarify the picture and emphasise the falseness of the progressive label attached to what is a violently repressive dictatorship.
An outline of the armed struggle in Zimbabwe
Authors: Maxey Kees
Published: July 2007

The 1977 British/American proposals for a settlement in Rhodesia are a last ditch attempt by the South African government, and the Western powers, to reach an accommodation which will stop the future Zimbabwe from falling into the hands of revolutionaries fighting for a radical transformation of its society. The success of the armed liberation struggle is the impetus behind the Proposals and the recent efforts for an ‘internal solution’. But the war has gone largely unreported in the Western press. This has partly been due to the difficulties put in the way of reporting by the regime: the movement and copy of journalists (who are carefully vetted) are rigidly controlled, they are not allowed to visit the rural areas, and they are swamped by a vast mass of pre‐digested material. The regime's propaganda war is essential to the morale of the whites, the recruitment of foreign mercenaries, and to its negotiating position vis‐à‐vis the West.
Foreign capital and the reconstruction of Zimbabwe
Authors: Stoneman Colin
Published: July 2007

The study picks out the dominant characteristics of the development of Rhodesia as a peripheral economy by foreign capital over the last eighty years. The significance of settler capital and the impact of UDI are assessed. The conclusions explain the importance attached by international capitalists to achieving a settlement in Rhodesia, in order to stabilise the whole region and to secure control of its valuable resources. The discussion also poses some of the options for the Zimbabwean struggle in terms of achieving genuine liberation.
Indigenisation and foreign capital: industrialisation in Nigeria
Authors: Hoogvelt Ankie
Published: July 2007

A survey of Kano‐based industries affected by the indigenisation programme reveals a very high concentration of indigenous equity ownership, and partly because of this, sheds doubts on the success of the programme to achieve its stated objective: independent capitalist development. Such an objective is furthermore thought to be an unlikely outcome because of the emerging patterns of collaboration between the new industrial (though still largely mercantile oriented) elite and the foreign owners of capital who compensate for their loss of direct economic control through increased technological control. Such increased technological control encourages also a pattern of production unlikely to expand the labour absorption rate of industry.
Dependent food policy in Nigeria 1975–1979
Authors: Oculi Okello
Published: July 2007

Oil rich Nigeria is increasingly an importer of basic foods. This is a direct consequence of colonial and immediate post‐colonial agricultural policy which concentrated on the production of cash crops for export. In an apparent attempt to become self‐sufficient in food, Nigerian governments have in the last few years gone in for large schemes often involving irrigation, benefiting the rich farmers. These schemes have required the importing of the products of multinational agribusiness, including livestock. Oculi argues for a genuinely self‐sufficient strategy involving the mobilisation of the mass of the farmers and based on indigenous agricultural inputs.
Revolutionary crisis and revolutionary vanguard: the emergence of the Eritrean people's liberation front
Authors: Pool David
Published: July 2007

While many commentators on the splits in the Eritrean liberation movements fall back on factors of tribalism, sectarianism or regionalism, Pool argues that a more accurate explanation must look to material factors. Regions and classes in Eritrea suffered differing experiences under colonization and were incorporated in varying degrees into a wage‐labour economy. The ELF was grounded upon one specific experience, having as its base the pastoralists of the western region. Pool contends that this social base influenced the development of a military strategy which functioned well within a pastoral society with peasant societies at its periphery but was unable to promote an effective national struggle. The structure of the ELF, moreover, proved incapable of incorporating other groups and organizations incapable of developing a political reaction to the limitations of the ELF and was based on the urban centres of the highlands and the east, the more advanced peasantry, the urban working class and the intelligentsia. This social base has been a factor in its evolving a very different form of organization, political orientation and military strategy from those of the ELF.
Notes on the political and organisational offensive in Mozambique and its relationship to agricultural policy
Authors: Marleyn Oscar , Wield David , Williams Richard
Published: July 2007

In the article ‘Mozambique's’ Presidential Offensive — We are declaring war on the enemy within (Peoples’ Power,No. 16, 1980) Richard Williams made an interpretation of the organisational and political offensive launched at the beginning of 1980 in Mozambique. The main aim of the article was to argue against the simplistic views prevalent in the British press at that time that Mozambique was lurching to the right. Marcelino dos Santos and Jorge Rebello had been moved from their ministerial positions to full‐time party work. This has been described as demotion following the defeat of an imagined left‐wing faction. The country's attempts to attract foreign investments and the encouragement of local private traders was said to indicate a return to ‘the capitalist road’.
Gender and class in a Nigerian industrial setting
Authors: Pittin Renee
Published: July 2007

This paper examines the relationship between female and male workers in a factory in Zaria. We argue that one of the factors inhibiting the organisation of women as members of the working class is the gender discrimination women face from male co‐workers. Although gender subordination is used and transformed by systems of class exploitation, it is often perceived by women as being of greater immediacy than class oppression. This is partly because men utilise gender discrimination to gain or maintain for themselves positions of relative privilege and power. Thus women workers often find themselves alienated from their male co‐workers, while the men fail altogether to understand women's reluctance to become involved with or participate actively in what women see as organisations catering to male interests, such as the union.

Through an examination of a series of events, opinions and impressions, we shall try to establish why a woman worker would say, and many of her fellow workers agree, that ‘discrimination is not direct from management, but rather from ... male co‐workers’ (Women in Nigeria Newsletter).
Mozambique health holding the line
Authors: Cliff Julie , Kanji Najmi , Muller Mike
Published: July 2007

The current state of the health sector in Mozambique, is here located in the context of the state of ongoing struggles for independence and development there. Not only does the state of war directly challenge Moazambique's sovereignty; it is further threatened by the activities of these external agencies supposedly providing aid, yet in practice disrupting significantly government central planning. The implications of this study extend far beyond Mozambique.
Social differentiation in the communal lands of Zimbabwe
Authors: Cousins Ben , Weiner Dan , Amin Nick
Published: July 2007

While Zimbabwe's smallholder production expansion is well documented, very little is known about social differentiation in the communal lands where most black smallholders live. This article draws on a growing body of post‐independence survey data, as well as the authors’ research and field experiences, to analyse the structure and dynamics of communal land social differentiation. Utilising a framework which focuses on reproduction and accumulation, four primary social classes are identified: petty‐commodity producers; worker‐peasants; lumpen semi‐peasants; and the rural petty‐bourgeoisie. We then propose specific processes which may promote and/or constrain rural class formation and speculate about possible impacts on communal land agrarian politics in the 1990s. Class categories and associated processes are presented as hypotheses for further investigation and discussion, rather than as firm research conclusions.
Gender and contract farming: tea outgrower schemes in Kenya
Authors: von Bülow Dorthe , Sørensen Anne
Published: July 2007

This article demonstrates the necessity of looking at gender as a major analytical category in the analysis of agricultural development. Contrary to other production systems like plantations and state farms, it is characteristic of smallholder outgrower schemes that their operation is based on the farmers’ control over land and labour. However, this study of smallholder tea production in Kericho District, Kenya shows that men do not automatically control their wives’ labour. In the survey area, one‐third of all tea plots were partly or completely neglected largely because of conflicts between spouses. The problem of low productivity in smallholder tea production is thus intimately linked to the prevailing gender relations in a local community, a factor characteristically ignored by studies of smallholder contract farming which tend to focus narrowly on technical, institutional and economic factors.
Eritrea: a country in transition
Authors: Yohannes Okbazghi
Published: July 2007

This article raises questions about the future prospects for the economic and political transition in Eritrea today, for peace and cooperation in the Horn and for the ‘nation‐state’ in Africa. It does this against the historical background of an illegally federated state and 30 years of armed struggle leading to an EPLF victory and the 1993 referendum.
Trading centres and development in a remote district in Tanzania
Authors: Mbonile Milline J
Published: July 2007

As a contribution to the ongoing debate about how to counteract the centralising tendencies of large urban centres, this article looks at the impact and role of small rural trading centres in Tanzania. It is shown that significant intra‐district trade and labour migration takes place but that this remains limited in the more peripheral areas. The lack of wholesale outlets is a particular handicap in all areas. Tension between administrative or political decisions regarding location of various agencies and local business rivalries combine with regional ethnic differences to define the arena in which various contenders for class power are clashing, with the occasional arbitration, when necessary, of the more centralised agencies such as the Regional Development Associations, thus exemplifying the ultimate dominance of the centre, despite policies attempting the contrary.
State, peasantry and resettlement in Zimbabwe
Authors: Alexander Jocelyn
Published: July 2007

The end of minority rule in Zimbabwe seemed to herald dramatic changes in agrarian and local government policies, as well as in official attitudes towards the rural areas more generally: the newly elected ZANU(PF) government promised a dramatic decentralisation and democratisation of government structures and a large scale redistribution of land. This article assesses the extent to which the promises of independence were met. It stresses the importance of the political context of debates over agrarian change — the constraints of a negotiated independence, the political clout of commercial farmers, the ruling party's own political agenda and economic interests — and focuses on change in the institutional forums in which debate took place, particularly the extent to which the inherited ideologies and practices of the state bureaucracies charged with formulating and implementing agrarian policies were transformed by decentralisation and majority rule.
People, development and international financial institutions: an interpretation of the Bretton Woods system
Authors: Elson Diane
Published: July 2007

It Is now fifty years since an inter‐governmental conference at the small American town of Bretton Woods set up two new institutions and agreed new ‘rules of the game’ for the governance of the international economic system. For many people, ‘fifty years is enough’ and there is an international debate about ways to reshape the governance of the international economic system so that it becomes more ‘people‐friendly’.

This article offers an interpretation of the Bretton Woods system and the mode of operation and of thinking characteristic of the two institutions whose job is to safeguard that system — the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The aim is not to offer a comprehensive and detailed discussion of the activities of the Fund and the Bank over the last fifty years, but rather to reflect on the ways in which concerns about human well‐being informed the setting up of the system and continue to inform its functioning fifty years later. In order to provide a framework in which to assess this dimension of the Bretton Woods system, we first consider ideas of people‐centred development and money‐centred development. We then consider the interplay of human well‐being and financial well‐being in the original process of setting up the Bretton Woods system, and in its functioning in the last fifteen years. Finally we raise the issue of redressing the balance between money and people.
Historical dispossession and the crisis of the nation‐state in Africa
Authors: Ishemo Shubi
Published: July 2007

Two recent books by Basil Davidson constitute ‘a summary and perspective’ on his work on Africa, the whole being arguably unrivalled as a contribution to the cause of liberation and the reclamation of an African voice in history. This review assesses Davidson's liberation history and his evaluation of the central problems of nationalism and the nation‐state in contemporary development.

The Black Man's Burden: Africa and the Curse of the Nation-State by Basil Davidson, London: James Currey; New York: Times Books, 1992, pp. 355, £9.95 pb (ISBN 0-85255-700-0).

The Search for Africa: A History in the Making by Basil Davidson, London: James Currey, 1994, pp. 373, £11.95 pb (ISBN 0-85255-714-0).
Commentary: negotiating a new millennium? prospects for African conflict resolution
Authors: Woodhouse Tom
Published: July 2007

The disastrous US and UN interventions in Somalia provoked an equally unhappy failure to intervene in Rwanda. This, in turn, has now produced a reassessment of the role of the United Nations and the international community in the resolution of internal crises. A number of writers have turned to the insights of writing on conflict resolution to seek remedies for the inadequacies of development theory and international relations. Although this new interest has its own problems, not least because states tend to make little use of conflict analysis once crises ensue, it has sought strategies that do not depend on ‘quick fix’ military strikes. In the process, it has advanced an important debate about the need for local and national initiatives and institutions in resolving conflicts and about the issue of collective intervention for humanitarian purposes.
Agricultural issues in the former homelands of South Africa: the Transkei
Authors: Porter Gina , Phillips‐Howard Kevin
Published: July 2007

This article examines the prospects for agricultural development and rural transformation in Transkei, one of the largest of the former homelands of South Africa. In view of Transkei's size, its substantial population and largely rural character, an understanding of its current problems and potential are extremely important in any assessment of agricultural prospects in the former homelands. The discussion draws on published research and on the authors’ own fieldwork after the April 1994 elections. Some of the most intractable problems facing the Government of National Unity currently lie in the former homelands, which were starved of investment under apartheid. The article reviews patterns of peasant production and commercial agriculture (including contract farming) in Transkei and attempts to set current issues concerning land, labour (including the role of women and children), inputs and infrastructural provision within a national and international context. The article begins by briefly setting the national context, before moving on to examine the specific conditions of agricultural activity in Transkei.
Governance & local environmental management in Africa
Authors: Woodhouse Philip
Published: July 2007

Current policy prescriptions for environmental management in Africa emphasise devolution of resource management to local non‐government and community organisations. They challenge the long‐standing orthodoxy of environmental conservation based on land privatisation, and instead favour local institutions managing resources as common property. This challenge has been reinforced by arguements from a reappraisal of dryland ecology in Africa, and by empirical and economic theoretical research on common property management. Implicit within much of current policy is the assumption that devolution of natural resource management will be socially redistributive as well as environmentally benign. Evidence from Maasai group ranches in southern Kenya suggests this assumption may be misplaced, and that, to address equality goals, policy must take more explicit account of the social dynamics underlying local power relations, and the way these are conditioned by the non‐local political environment.
Ghana's drug economy: some preliminary data
Authors: Bernstein Henry
Published: July 2007

Ghana's drug economy is relatively recent. Cannabis cultivation and trade, for domestic consumption and export, appears to have expanded significantly only since the 1960s. The transit/re‐export of cocaine and heroin is a phenomenon of the 1980s, with the usual ‘spillover’ effect, and extension of their consumption to a wider social range of users than is commonly believed. The cannabis economy no doubt provides important sources of income for significant numbers of farmers and intermediaries in the chain of distribution. Large rewards for smuggling cocaine and heroin facilitate the recruitment of couriers, despite the high risks. While it is fatuous to suggest any simple or necessary connection between socioeconomic conditions and the nature, extent and patterns of drug production, trafficking and consumption, it can be hypothesised that the growth of the drug economy in Ghana has some relation to the enduring crisis of development and livelihoods, and its effects for social change. The drug economy in Africa today is probably one of the most dynamic and valuable spheres of ‘non‐traditional’ exports and re‐exports.
Book notes
Authors: Love Roy , Bush Ray , Szeftel Morris
Published: July 2007

Corruption and the Crisis of Industrial Reforms in Africa
(1998), by John Mbaku, Edwin Mellen Press, Lampeter, ISBN 0–7734–8351–9.

Developing Uganda
(1998), edited by H B Hansen, M Twaddle, Fountain (Kampala), James Currey (London), Ohio UP (USA), E.A.E.P (Nairobi), ISBN 0–85255–395–1.

Changing Gender Relations in Southern Africa: Issues of Urban Life
(1998), edited by A Larsson, M Mapetla, A Schyler, Institute of Southern African Studies, National University of Lesotho, Roma, Lesotho, ISBN 99911–31–21–3.

African Guerrillas
(1998), edited by C Clapham, James Currey, ISBN 0–85255–815–5.

The Politics of Opposition in Contemporary Africa
(1998), edited by Adebayo Olukoshi, Nordiska Afrikain‐stitutet, ISBN 91–7106–419–2.

Perspectives on Africa: A Reader in Culture, History and Representation
(1997), edited by R R Grinker, C B Steiner, Blackwell, ISBN 1–55786–686–4.

Ethnic Diversity and Public Policy: A Comparative Enquiry
(1998), edited by Crawford Young, UNRISD, Macmillan, ISBN 0–333–65389–0.

Famine Crimes: Politics and the Disaster Relief Industry in Africa
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Trade and cultural diversity: An Australian perspective1
Authors: PAPANDREA FRANCO
Published: July 2007

The article reviews implications for Australian cultural policy likely to arise from proposals for the development of a binding UNESCO convention on cultural diversity that would allow countries to pursue domestic cultural assistance policies that might otherwise be in conflict with trade liberalisation of cultural goods and services. The proposal, which is supported by a sizeable number of countries, is seen as an alternative to a GATS cultural exception. Recent Australian undertakings in bilateral trade agreements suggest that Australian Cultural Policy favours a GATS cultural exception approach.
Constructing Advantage: Distributed Innovation and the Management of Local Economic Growth
Authors: Mothe John De La , Mallory Geoff
Published: July 2007

This paper discusses, in a preliminary way, the new dialogues that successful knowledge‐intensive communities have adopted in order to achieve global business growth. Using empirical data on innovation from cities in Canada and the United States; innovation governance models from small and medium sized countries including Scotland, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden; and using differences in technology sectors—particularly telecom and photonics—this paper will present some modest insights into the path dependencies of small firms, small nations and globally competitive innovations.
Pharmaceutical Patent Term Restoration in New Zealand
Authors: Parker John
Published: July 2007

This paper draws attention to the 1998 legislation in Australia which introduced a drug - specific patent term restoration procedure called a supplementary protection certificate. After investigating effective patent life data the results suggest that there is a case for such a measure in New Zealand.
The Decline of Manufacturing Employment in Greater London: 1966-74
Authors: Dennis Robert
Published: July 2007

Using data on closures and transfers, the decline of manufacturing employment in Greater London is resolved into its components. The largest component is the net decline due to the difference between closures and openings with 44 per cent of the total job loss, followed by movement with 27 per cent and in situ shrinkage with 22 per cent. The rate of decline differs little between inner and outer London but inner London suffers more from closures and outer London suffers more from movement, particularly to the Assisted Areas. South East London and the East End have been especially hard hit, and smaller plants appear most prone to closure. The major cause of movement from London was restrictions upon expansion caused by site congestion, obsolescent premises and labour shortages.
The Components of Industrial Change for Merseyside Inner Area: 1966-1975
Authors: Lloyd P.E.
Published: July 2007

A substantial body of research is now to hand to show that there has been a significant 'drift' of manufacturing industry away from the older conurbations in general and the inner areas of the great cities in particular. Most of the work that has come to light more recently on metropolitan industrial change seems to point to the dominance of some form of 'net shift' process. In this, the outer areas benefit both from their own growth momentum and from their propensity to attract more mobile industry. While, for the inner areas by contrast, the absence of growth momentum produces a differential shift in relative and often absolute growth rates. In the paper, Merseyside, in many ways a special and extreme case, is subjected to components of change analysis for the period 1966-75. This indicates that although the physical closure of factories was the dominant force for employment loss there was also a significant shrinkage in the workforce of surviving plants. Such was the scale of employment losses for the inner area that clear tendencies toward growth in outer suburban areas were neutralised. The paper reviews the implications of the analysis for current government policy for inner areas. While much of this is directed toward incentives for small indigenous firms it shows that the real key to the future prospects for the economic base of inner Merseyside and for its manufacturing job creation potential lies with the fortunes of a small number of companies and with their decisions on the future deployment of corporate resources.
Housing and Poverty in Australia
Authors: Bradbury Bruce , Rossiter Chris , Vipond Joan
Published: July 2007

In Australia, poverty is usually measured in two different ways; first according to the number of people who have incomes below a poverty line and, second, by the number who are in poverty after they have paid for their housing. This note calculates both measures for 1981/82 and analyses the changes that have occurred since the early 1970s. Poverty measured after housing has increased while poverty measured according to incomes alone is approximately the same as in the early 1970s. This note explores reasons, additional to trends in housing costs, for the change.
Effect of Local Variations in Public Services on Housing Production at the Fringe of a Growth-Controlled Multi-County Metropolitan Area
Authors: Kamara Sheku G.
Published: July 2007

The influence of public services on suburban residential development has been taken for granted until recently when a few scholars have considered their importance in more detail in assessing housing production functions in such small areas as counties. This study examines this issue in more detail at the fringe of a four-county (two-state) SMSA facing the dilemma of centrifugal population movement versus rigid growth-containment policies. It is demonstrated by the results of this investigation that, contrary to some earlier notions, because of the non-restrictive influence of land relative to low density residential development, production functions for housing become largely explained by public services.
Statistical Properties of UK House Prices: An Analysis of Disaggregated Vintages
Authors: Cook Steven , Holly Sean
Published: July 2007

The statistical properties of UK house prices are considered at a disaggregated level, where disaggregation occurs according to the age, or 'vintage', of the housing. Given the frequency of transactions in the housing market and the sophistication of the estate agent system, it might be expected that the series would share long-run relationships and be subject to common short-run shocks. It is found via conventional techniques that both the long-run and short-run relationships are less pronounced than might be expected. However, by extending recent research concerning the testing of common features, commonality in the (short-run) cycles of the house price series is uncovered, albeit with a partial lag. Despite this, the cycles are shown to differ in terms of their asymmetric behaviour.
Crafting Medical History: Revisiting the "Definitive" Account of Franklin D. Roosevelt's Terminal Illness
Authors: Lerner Barron H
Published: July 2007

While revisionist historians have challenged many standard interpretations of events in the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, one account has remained virtually unscathed: an article about Roosevelt's terminal illness and death written by one of his physicians, Howard G. Bruenn. Yet this article, like all historical documents, was not "objective" but rather a reflection of social and political forces—both from the 1940s, when Roosevelt became ill, and from 1970, when Bruenn's piece was published. This essay argues that Bruenn, the Roosevelt family, and the historian James MacGregor Burns worked together to craft a document that told the story of Roosevelt's decline with a predictable trajectory.