bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Economic Transformation in Eastern Europe: Its Genesis, Adjustment Process, and Impact on Developing Countries
Authors: Linnemann Hans , Sarma Atul
Published: October 2008

ABSTRACT

Increasing strains on self‐sufficiency within the block of East European command economies resulted in the dramatic decision to change over to an economic system largely based on market forces. The painfulness of the ensuing transformation process will be mitigated somewhat by supportive economic policies of the West, including the European Community which is itself aiming at complete economic integration by the end of 1992. The consequences for the developing countries of these far‐reaching policy changes in East and West are likely to be negative, at least in the immediate future. This is true for the volume of development assistance given by East and West, as well as for the export prospects of developing countries. Favourable effects might at best be expected in the longer run.
Poverty Alleviation Programmes In Rural India: An Assessment
Authors: Gaiha Raghav
Published: October 2008

ABSTRACT

The Planning Commission estimated a sharp reduction of poverty during the early 1980s, which it attributed largely to the poverty alleviation strategy followed during the Sixth Plan. Specifically, it was claimed that the Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) was responsible for a substantial reduction in rural poverty. This claim is critically evaluated here. Drawing upon the results of an applied general equilibrium model, selected anti‐poverty interventions are compared from a macro perspective. Noting the incentive and information‐related problems, some key issues in designing anti‐poverty interventions are addressed.

Section I reviews changes in rural poverty at the all‐India level. Section II explores the relationship between rural poverty, agricultural production and (consumer) prices. Distinguishing between transitory and persistent poverty, alternative measures of persistent poverty are presented in Section III. A case is then made for an interventionist anti‐poverty strategy, followed by a brief review (Section IV) of salient features and selected performance indicators of poverty alleviation programmes launched/implemented during the Sixth Plan period. Section V investigates whether these programmes — especially the IRDP — played a significant role in alleviating poverty. Section VI discusses selected anti‐poverty interventions and possible design‐related reforms; concluding observations are offered in the final section.
The Dynamics of Work and Survival for the Urban Poor: A Gender Analysis of Panel Data from Madras
Authors: Noponen Helzi
Published: October 2008

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the functioning of the household economy and family labour supply over a five‐year period among a panel sample of poor households in Madras using an event history methodology. The research focused on the key role women play in sustaining poor households despite constrained labour market choices. Women's earnings from daily self‐employed work activities provided a substantial and steady component to total household income which tended to fluctuate with the earnings and family pool contribution of casually employed males. As economic stress events hit the family over time, women helped by increasing earnings, adding on secondary jobs, utilizing their earning status to obtain loans from a variety of sources, sacrificing their subsidized business loan for family debt repayment, and foregoing personal expenditures and leisure. At the same time women also managed the increasingly more difficult tasks of fulfilling basic needs of the household such as food, fuel and water collection, sanitation and childcare with less resources of time. Development policies must reflect the fact that women are central to individual family survival and as a whole they are key actors in the adjustment process to the crises in employment occurring in the local and national economy.
Gainers and Losers: A Note on Land and Occupational Mobility in a South Indian Village, 1977–85
Authors: Swantinathan Madhura
Published: October 2008

ABSTRACT

This paper examines evidence on changes in the pattern of land‐ownership and in household occupations based on a longitudinal study of a village in the relatively advanced agricultural region of Tamil Nadu, India. The question motivating the paper is whether the occurrence of mobility moderates the high levels of inequality observed in the region. The matrix approach is used to examine mobility. Matrices of occupations and land‐holdings are constructed for the eighty‐three panel households, spanning a period of eight years, to indicate the degree and direction of mobility. The investigation suggests that agricultural modernization within the existing structural framework has provided restricted opportunities for occupational change and has not mitigated the extreme polarization in the distribution of land.
The Rural Labour Market in Zimbabwe
Authors: Adams Jennifer
Published: October 2008

ABSTRACT

Wage labour in Zimbabwe is most often associated with large commercial farms. The use of wage labour within ‘peasant’ agriculture has been rarely investigated and remains largely undocumented. In 1986/7, the author conducted research in Zimbabwe which was explicitly concerned with issues of rural economic differentiation and the wage labour supplied and hired by ‘peasant’ households. The data suggest that a dynamic labour market exists in rural Zimbabwe. Further, it was found that in addition to the many part‐time rural wage workers, there is a group of people who depend upon wages for all or the bulk of their income. These people, who have been largely ignored by policymakers, cannot be defined as farmers at all.
The Transformation of the Production and Retail of Building Materials for Low‐income Housing in Mombasa, Kenya
Authors: Macoloo Gervase Chris
Published: October 2008

This paper examines the changes which have occurred in the low‐income settlements in Mombasa, Kenya's second largest city, in connection with the production and retail of building materials. The analysis is conducted via the articulation of modes of housing production concept. Prior to the implementation of settlement upgrading in Mombasa, funded by the World Bank and the United States Agency for International Development, there existed a distinct mode of low‐income housing production and consumption in the town. The typical low‐income housing in Mombasa is the swahili house which had its own market both for the supply of traditional building materials as well as tenancy arrangements. With the commencement of the provision of low‐income housing based on international aid agencies' planning orthodoxy, the swahili housing scene has undergone a tremendous transformation. The proscription of the use of traditional (indigenous) materials in housing construction has resulted in raising the cost of housing beyond the majority of the urban poor. In addition, it has adversely affected small‐scale retail outlets which specialized in the supply of these materials. This process has gone hand in hand with the prescription that only industrially manufactured materials are to be used in low‐income settlements. The popularization of the use of industrially manufactured materials has also resulted in the emergence of middlemen in the supply of these materials to the low‐income settlements. This development too has meant that the cost of building materials has to rise, in some cases by over five times, from the production points to the construction sites. The fundis (traditional artisans) have also found themselves in a precarious situation because they have either to get extra training in handling the ‘new’ materials and ‘modern’ housing plans or be marginalized to mere repair works.

The paper concludes that the articulation between the traditional and the modern modes of housing production in Mombasa has been to the benefit of the latter. It is, however, pointed out that the process of commercialization of low‐income settlements had commenced earlier than the involvement of international aid agencies, and therefore state intervention in this sector merely speeded up this process and increased its magnitude. It is argued that for state intervention to benefit the intended group, it must build upon the pre‐existing organizational structures as blind intervention would be costly, if not counterproductive, and may exacerbate the problem, as the Mombasa situation reveals.
Welfare Consequences of Green Revolution Technology: Changes in Bangladeshi Food Production and Diet
Authors: Alauddin Mohammad , Tisdell Clem
Published: October 2008

The Poirier kinked exponential method as used by Boyce (1986) is adopted to examine changes in the Bangladeshi crop sector in the 1947–84 period using aggregate time series data. This is claimed to be a superior approach to earlier ones and it is the first time that non‐cereal food crops have been given extensive consideration. Growth rates in output of major crops as well as commodity groups are estimated for various sub‐periods with special emphasis on the changes in the period following the Green Revolution. The paper identifies a comparative ‘crowding out’ of non‐cereal crop production as well as other food sources, e.g. fisheries, following the Green Revolution. On the whole, increased cereal production has been absorbed by rising population with per capita availability remaining roughly constant. The availability per capita of pulses, fruits and spices has fallen markedly in the post‐Green Revolution period and on average per capita availability of vegetables has fallen. Furthermore, per capita protein content (both vegetable and animal) of the Bangladeshi diet has declined. The average Bangladeshi diet now appears to be less varied and balanced and a priori less nutritious with adverse welfare implications. Expansion of rice and wheat production has been at the expense of other sources of food such as pulses, fruit, vegetables and fish.
Rural‐Urban Relations, Household Income Diversification and Agricultural Productivity
Authors: Evans Hugh Emrys , Ngau Peter
Published: October 2008

Does rising income from agriculture drive the growth of nonfarm activities, or does increased income from nonfarm activities spur the growth of agriculture? This paper looks at the role of nonfarm income in enabling smallholders to raise agricultural output and productivity. Based on data from a sample of farm households near Kutus town in the Kirinyaga district of Kenya, it examines these issues by looking at the use of resources for farm production, the risks attached to alternative ways of raising output and productivity, and the household's propensity to accept risk as a function of the extent to which it is able to draw on liquid assets or diversified sources of income. The authors argue that nonfarm income provides households with a form of insurance against the risks of farming, and thus enables them to adopt new production methods and raise output. They argue further that a key factor in creating opportunities for rural households to earn nonfarm income is the presence of vibrant small towns nearby.
Foreign Aid after the Cold War
Authors: Griffin Keith
Published: October 2008

This paper argues that foreign aid programmes originated as part of the ideological confrontation known as the Cold War and that the motives behind aid were always more political than economic. It is further argued that the economic justifications for foreign aid — filling ‘gaps’ in capital, technology and skills—are suspect and that the economic benefits in terms of long‐term development are at best negligible. Turning to the future, foreign aid programmes are bound to change to reflect the new realities of global international relations. Nine specific predictions are made about the future size and composition of aid programmes. The outlook for those who favour aid is not bright, but recent changes in thinking about development suggest that more sell‐reliant strategies could well be more beneficial to the poor than conventional aid‐supported strategies.
Growth of Rural Industries in Post‐reform China: Patterns, Determinants and Consequences
Authors: Islam Rizwanul
Published: October 2008

The first question addressed by this paper relates to the very high growth rates achieved by China's rural industries during the post‐reform period. While growth rates have undoubtedly been extremely high, they can only be put in a proper perspective when growth in different components of the sector (i.e. township‐ and village‐owned and privately owned industries) is examined separately and compared with performance before the reforms. In this regard, an important finding of the paper is that as far as township and village industries are concerned, growth rates in the post‐reform period do not represent a sudden break from the rates of the earlier period — particularly the 1970s. It is mainly in the emergence and growth of private enterprises that the growth experience of the 1980s differs substantially from that of the 1970s. The sharp decline in the growth of all rural industries in 1989 does not appear to mark a reversal in their growth environment, but the beginning of a period of consolidation and rationalization; and, contrary to popular notion, private enterprises are not the worst sufferers in this process. Finally, the paper looks at regional imbalance. Historically, rural industries in China have been concentrated more in the eastern provinces along the coast, and this regional concentration has increased during the post‐reform period of high growth.
The Promotion of Non‐traditional Agricultural Exports in Honduras: Issues of Equity, Environment and Natural Resource Management
Authors: Stonich Susan C.
Published: October 2008

A recent trend in development in Central America is the promotion of non‐traditional agricultural exports as a means of revitalizing economic growth and increasing income among the region's small producers. Using an approach which integrates environmental concerns into political‐economic analysis, this article examines the impact of this strategy on regional inequality and environmental degradation. The article begins with a synopsis of efforts to further non‐traditional exports in Central America since the Second World War. Then, in order to demonstrate the complex articulation among social, economic and environmental factors, the investigation focuses on the impact of non‐traditional exports on southern Honduras. Analysis concentrates on the most important of several non‐traditional exports being encouraged — shrimp mariculture in coastal areas along the Gulf of Fonseca. The study demonstrates the systemic interconnections among the dynamics of agricultural development, associated patterns of capitalist accumulation, rural impoverishment and serious problems of environmental degradation. The article illustrates how larger international and national forces affected people and the national environment and how local people, in turn, are attempting to affect those powers. Finally, the Honduran case is related to policy concerns regarding effective environmental management.

First we were evicted from our land … now they are throwing us out of the sea. Where will we go? (Honduran peasant and artisanal fisherman, La Tribuna, 26 May 1988)
National Factor Markets and the Macroeconomic Context for Environmental Destruction in the Brazilian Amazon
Authors: Kyle Steven C. , Cunha Aercio S.
Published: October 2008

This paper discusses Amazonian agricultural development with emphasis on the interrelations between regional conditions and the economic context represented by the national economy. The extreme abundance of land relative to complementary factors, together with the position of the region as a price taker in both factor and output markets, create the conditions for environmentally destructive expansion of cultivation at the extensive margin. It is argued that policies to promote a more ecologically sensitive pattern of development must take into account these links with the larger Brazilian economy and society as well as conditions within the region itself.
Absorbing External Shocks: The Gulf Crisis, International Migration Linkages and the Indian Economy, 1990 (with special reference to the impact on Kerala)
Authors: Saith Ashwani
Published: October 2008

The paper analyses the impact of the Gulf crisis on the Indian economy as a whole, on the state of Kerala which was the origin of the majority of the Indian migrants in Kuwait and Iraq, and on the returning migrants them‐ selves. The scale of the disturbances is estimated both with respect to the labour market, as well as the flow of remittances. Alternative policy responses are discussed, especially in the context of the Kerala economy, and the problem is viewed separately from the vantage point of the returning migrants, as well as that of the State Government. The effects of the crisis become more acute as the focus shifts from the level of the macroeconomy, to the state of Kerala, to the migrants themselves.
Peasant Women and Economic Transformation in The Gambia
Authors: Carney Judith A.
Published: October 2008

Contemporary agricultural development strategies in The Gambia are centred on irrigated rice and vegetables—crops traditionally cultivated by women. Irrigated agriculture, however, is opening up new avenues to capital accumulation at the national, regional and household levels. This article examines the contradictions for women of donor‐funded schemes that combine gender equity with productivity objectives. The gender conflicts rife in Gambian irrigation projects point to the significance of female labour for contemporary patterns of agrarian transformation as well as the linkage between women's access to land for independent farming and forms of project participation.
Evaluating Cost‐Benefit Analysis as a Tool for Gender Planning
Authors: Kabeer Naila
Published: October 2008

This article evaluates the usefulness of cost‐benefit analysis (CBA) in the field of gender and development planning. While the incorporation of distributional considerations into CBA would appear to have made it more sensitive to gender differentials, the article argues that it is limited by a number of factors. These include both its own methodological biases, such as the bias towards marketed activities and quantifiable indicators, as well as the political economy of gender at different stages of the project cycle. Empirical examples from both First and Third World contexts are drawn on to demonstrate how these biases work in practice. The article concludes that CBA is best suited to interventionist, rather than participatory projects; to efficiency, rather than equity goals; and, where equity is the goal, to women's practical needs rather than their strategic gender interests.
Malaysian Electronics: The Changing Prospects for Employment and Restructuring
Authors: Narayanan Suresh , Rasiah Rajah
Published: October 2008

The electronics industry in Malaysia was assigned a central role in creating urban jobs for the indigenous Malays and restructuring their employment from low‐ to high‐paying activities. The initial labour‐intensive phase generated jobs but failed to provide openings for Malays higher up in the occupational hierarchy. In the current phase, a buoyant economy makes job creation per se less important; but the growing technological sophistication in the industry threatens to undermine the restructuring of Malay employment because many Malays lack the critical skills necessary to take advantage of this development. This article reviews these issues and suggests policy initiatives.
Consumer Subsidies in India: Is Targeting Effective?
Authors: Jha Shikha
Published: October 2008

This article analyses the effectiveness of self‐targeting in the Indian public distribution system and shows that implicit targeting leaves considerable scope for improvement. There is a wastage of the associated consumer subsidy in the sense that a substantial amount goes to the non‐targeted population while a part of the deserving population is left out of the scheme for various reasons. Hence, it is worth diverting resources to goods which are better targeted from goods which are poorly targeted. That is, even if targeting cannot be improved, switching of subsidies both between goods and areas can lead to improved distribution of subsidies to the poor.
Restructuring the Post‐Cold War World Economy: Perspectives and a Prognosis
Authors: Sideri Sandra
Published: October 2008

In exploring the consequences of changes in Eastern Europe for Western Europe, the Third World and the global economic order, this article examines the need for economic management which is more solidly based on the new theory of international trade, and which extends beyond the national level. The rapidly deteriorating situation in Eastern Europe and the Gulf crisis both form valuable examples of the problems and opportunities ahead. There is a clear move towards the formation of regional blocs such as the European Community, the intention of which is to strengthen the industrial countries against the uncertainties and risks involved in the current reshaping of the world order by multipolarity, as well as in the growing nationalist tensions and movements for national independence. This article will argue that bloc formation is bound to either further marginalize the majority of developing countries, or increase their dependence on the few regional centres that are emerging.
Bursting the Bubble: The Pseudo‐Development Strategies of Microstates
Authors: Baldacchino Godfrey
Published: October 2008

Developing microstates are bountiful on the world political map today. Yet the concept of smallness, apart from being relativistic, conjures up a sense of deviation, indicative of a subtle discrimination which implicitly takes large to be normal and preferable. Based on an extensive yet selective literature review, this article suggests that the orthodox development paradigm, in both its liberal and radical traditions, has borne little relevance to small developing states, either in theory or in practice. On looking more closely at the survival strategies of developing micro‐economies, it is proposed that a different conceptualization of ‘development’ is warranted; one which, for all its negative connotations, is both plausible and consistent with the peculiar practices of microstates.
For Whom is the Rural Economy Resilient? Initial Effects of Drought in Western Sudan
Authors: Gray Leslie , Kevane Michael
Published: October 2008

This discussion piece addresses two recent debates: entitlement theory and the resilience of rural systems. The authors find that in western Sudan entitlement theory provides a specific and useful framework for understanding the nature of the crisis confronting the society. Arguments about the resilience of rural systems, however, need to be more closely examined and will depend on site‐specific factors. The rural economy and society of western Sudan were not found to be resilient.
Structural Reform of the Veterinary Profession in Africa and the New Institutional Economics
Authors: Leonard David K.
Published: October 2008

This article reviews a number of critical issues in the structural reform of animal health services in Africa. Using the New Institutional Economics, it highlights several problems that others concerned with the privatization of this service area have tended to neglect. Most notably it calls attention to: (1) the need to retain a central role for paraprofessionals in the new delivery system; (2) the desirability of competition between the veterinary and para‐veterinary professions; (3) the importance of developing state contracting procedures for assisting the private delivery of animal health that will avoid the problems of local monopoly; and (4) the central role that new and strengthened professional associations will have to play in this area if collective goods and the public interest are to be served. The article's larger purpose is to demonstrate that the New Institutional Economics has a great deal to contribute to the older precepts of neo‐classical economics in anticipating and thinking through the fundamental changes that privatization of professional services in Africa are posing. In this sense it is a first step in a larger programme of empirical and theoretical research.
Voluntary Agencies as Development Organizations: Theorizing the Problem of Efficiency and Accountability
Authors: Brett E. A.
Published: October 2008

Co‐operatives, NGOs and community groups are being increasingly used as development agencies by policy‐makers, because they are thought to provide more accountable, effective and equitable services in many areas than public or private agencies. This article attempts to consider some of the theoretical and practical implications of this growing role by treating them as ‘value‐driven’ organizations, and asking how this differentiates them, in terms of efficiency and accountability, from public or private agencies. It notes the lack of developed theoretical models capable of dealing with this question, and examines the relevance of existing theories (neo‐classical economics, public administration and especially varieties of organization theory including the New Institutional Economics) in dealing with agencies which claim to be dominated by motivations based on democracy and altruism rather than self‐interest. The author looks at problems associated with the measurement of efficiency and enforcement of accountability in organizational life and at the need for effective incentives and sanctions which provide a stable basis for maintaining commitment. He then considers the issues involved in the enforcement of accountability to ensure the efficient use of resources in producer co‐operatives on the one hand and service delivery NGOs on the other. In the former, the focus is on the strengths and weaknesses of market competition and the costs of collective management; in the latter on the varied relationships between ‘principals and agents' involved in the production and management of services.
Bureaucratic Domination of Hunter‐Gatherer Societies: A Study of the San in Botswana
Authors: Hitchcock Robert K. , Holm John D.
Published: October 2008

Social science analysis of hunter‐gatherer societies has highlighted their economic and cultural subordination to neighbouring peoples. This article shows that, at least in the case of the San in Botswana, state bureaucratic domination is becoming the determining factor in social change. The authors provide evidence of bureaucratic domination with respect to settlement of the San, the establishment of headmanship, extension of social services and environmental legislation. In this new environment, hunter‐gatherer self‐determination requires the creation of effective political organizations to counter the bureaucratic state. Some San groups in Botswana are already reacting to the expanding presence of the state by dramatically increasing their involvement in various aspects of Botswana's electoral politics. While the outcome of the San political challenge to the state is still in doubt, the authors conclude that San settlement is a precondition for political change in spite of the serious cultural sacrifice involved.
The Samoan Farmer: A Reluctant Object of Change?
Authors: Ronnås Per
Published: October 2008

Stagnation and a failure to break out of a subsistence‐oriented type of production continue to characterize the agricultural sector in Western Samoa. The lack of dynamism in agriculture has variously been ascribed to subsistence affluence and limited wants, the inhibiting impact of fa'asamoa – the Samoan way of life – and, more recently, to the effects of migration, remittances, aid and bureaucracy on economic development. This article suggests that the explanatory power of these factors by themselves is unsatisfactory. Instead, it argues that an absence of secure market outlets offering predictable and sufficiently attractive prices to farmers and the lack of rural‐urban links in general are at the heart of the problem. The economy seems to be caught in a vicious circle where farmers fail to commit themselves to production for the market because of a lack of secure outlets, while adequate downstream distribution and processing channels do not develop for lack of secure supplies. The interchangeable nature of commercial and subsistence production in agriculture, widespread access to overseas remittances, and the smallness of the domestic economy serve to perpetuate the deadlock.
Dimensions of Structural Adjustment: Gender and Age in the Costa Rican Labour Market
Authors: Tardanico Richard
Published: October 2008

In a restructuring world economy, Costa Rica has been substantially more successful than other Central American countries in changing the composition of its exports and regaining prosperity. Given debates about the socioeconomic impact of the country's structural adjustment policies, this article explores changes in the gender and age dimensions of Costa Rica's labour market in the period 1979‐91. On balance, what occurred in Costa Rica was a modest degree of increased and reorganized labour‐market inequality by gender and age, as well as by social class. Key comparative Central American questions concern national variation in the magnitude of labour‐market change during this period and its cyclical or secular components, as well as their interplay with the sectoral, spatial and social dimensions of such change.
Crop Diversification and Export Growth: Dynamics of Change in the Sri Lankan Peasant Sector
Authors: Dunham David
Published: October 2008

Self‐sufficiency in foodgrains has seen countries of South and East Asia diversifying their agricultural base and trying to move peasant producers from rice to higher‐value crops. This article examines policies applied in Sri Lanka in the wake of structural adjustment. Contract farming and corporate sector involvement are analysed as a mechanism of change, and crop characteristics, the macro policy environment, infrastructural facilities and other state supports are identified as important contributing factors. The government commitment to developing horticultural exports as a major industry is seen as a central issue, given constraints that have emerged in the implementation of this policy and pressures to curtail expenditure and reduce the budget deficit. A better focused and more coordinated package of supports is considered to be necessary. The welfare impact of recent growth is also analysed and is found to give some cause for concern.
Community‐based Fisheries Management, Tradition and the Challenges of Development in Marovo, Solomon Islands
Authors: Hviding Edvard , Baines Graham B. K.
Published: October 2008

This study examines traditional fisheries‐related resource management through a case in which local communities, from a basis of customary, ‘common property’ control over the sea and its resources, handle a multitude of development issues. Presenting first some important issues relating to people's role in fisheries management and to the ‘common property’ debate, the article then describes a traditional system for management of land and sea resources in a Pacific Islands society; that of Marovo Lagoon, Solomon Islands. Emphasis is given to fisheries resources, with a view to explaining in practical terms how a system of customary marine tenure operates under the wider social, political, economic and ecological circumstances of change arising from development pressures. Against this background, assessments are made of the viability of this traditional fisheries management system under present conditions of state control and of both external and internal pressures for large‐scale resource development enterprises.
Ecological Knowledge and the Regional Economy: Environmental Management in the Asesewa District of Ghana
Authors: Amanor Kojo Sebastian
Published: October 2008

This study examines perceptions of the environment in farming communities in the forest ecotone of Ghana. It places local knowledge within a socio‐economic and historical context and argues that knowledge is continually evolving, attempting to solve existing problems and discovering new ones. It maintains that favourable conditions exist in farming communities for environmental actions and development approaches based on sustainable development, since these areas have suffered from the negative effects of degradation. However, major constraints exist within the wider political economy and policy framework, which is still locked into environmentally‐hostile export‐oriented production, and political models which marginalize rural people.
Sustaining the Forests: The Community‐based Approach in South and South‐East Asia
Authors: Colchester Marcus
Published: October 2008

The concept of sustainability emphasizes four basic principles when applied to rural communities: that basic needs must be met; that resources should be subject to local control; that local communities must have a decisive voice in planning; and that they should represent themselves through their own institutions. These principles have been notionally accepted by development planners and conservationists at all levels. Yet, throughout the tropical forest belt, they are being systematically overridden by international and national policies and development programmes, leading to increasing poverty, social conflict and rapid deforestation. Traditional knowledge and systems of land use have proved far more environmentally appropriate, resilient and complex than initially supposed by outsiders. Forest peoples have successfully opposed many socially and environmentally destructive development schemes proposed for their lands. However, these societies are not resisting all change: population increase and the internal dynamic for development have also created social and environmental problems. A review of community‐based initiatives in South and South‐East Asia shows that in some countries, positive initiatives have been taken by local and national governments to promote a community‐based approach. Notable successes have been achieved but many other initiatives have failed. The examples show that, besides the four principles noted above, environmentally successful management also depends on innovative political organization at the community level.
NGOs and Sustainable Development in Zimbabwe: No Magic Bullets
Authors: Vivian Jessica
Published: October 2008

A number of case studies of NGO projects have suggested that NGOs may have an important role to play in addressing environmental problems in developing countries. Drawing on research conducted in Zimbabwe, this analysis seeks to broaden and contextualize the discussion of NGO involvement in sustainable development initiatives. It reviews the theoretical basis for the current emphasis on NGOs, assesses the environmental problems in Zimbabwe within their historical and social contexts, and summarizes the findings of recent research on the characteristics of the NGO sector in the country. The purpose is not to evaluate specific NGO environment projects, but rather to assess the mechanisms through which the NGO sector as a whole might make a significant contribution to sustainable development, and the problems in doing so. It is argued that one major obstacle faced by NGOs is the demand made upon them to find simple, neat and comprehensive solutions to complex development problems. The tendency on the part of donors and NGO supporters to expect success stories is called here the ‘magic bullet syndrome’, and it is argued that this emphasis on simplicity and on success is unrealistic and counterproductive.
The Structure of ‘Revealed‘ Preference: Race, Community and Female Labour Supply in the London Clothing Industry
Authors: Kabeer Naila
Published: October 2008

This article takes as its starting point the overwhelming concentration of Bangladeshi women in the homeworking sector of the clothing industry in London. This pattern forms a contrast to the large numbers of male Bangladeshi workers also concentrated in the garment industry but who are to be found mainly in the factories and sweatshops. The article uses the accounts given by the Bangladeshi homeworkers themselves for their concentration in this form of work to explore different theoretical explanations of female labour supply behaviour, focusing in particular on questions of choice and constraint, culture and economy.

The study suggests that the ‘preferences' revealed by the labour market behaviour of Bangladeshi women cannot be attributed solely to them, but must be seen in terms of bargaining and negotiation with other, more powerful members of the family. Furthermore, the intra‐household decision‐making process is itself embedded within a broader institutional environment which determines the access enjoyed by different groups to socially‐valued resources. For Bangladeshis, a key factor in this broader environment is the operation of racially‐based forms of exclusion from the mainstream opportunities. Consequently, community solidarity and networks represent important symbolic and material resources for members. However, these resources are distributed in highly gender‐specific ways, with very clear implications for women's place within the community. The article argues therefore that any attempt to explain Bangladeshi women's concentration in homework has to move beyond a focus on either individual circumstances or cultural norms to an exploration of the interaction of racism, community identity and gender relations in shaping women's labour market options.
Governance, the State and the Politics of Development
Authors: Leftwich Adrian
Published: October 2008

Current western aid and development policy aims to promote ‘good governance’ in the third world. Few would deny that competent, open and fair administration is both a worthy aim and a self‐evident requirement of development. However, the current orthodoxy clearly illustrates the technicist fallacy, which is implicit in the following quotation from Pope, that the effective administration or ‘management’ of development is essentially a technical or practical matter. This article argues that development is fundamentally a political matter and that it is illusory to conceive of good governance as independent of the forms of politics and type of state which alone can generate, sustain and protect it.

For Forms of Government, let fools contest; Whate'er is best administered, is best. (Pope, 1734: Bk 3, lines 303‐4).
The Quality of Aid: Measuring Trends in Donor Performance
Authors: White Howard , Woestman Lois
Published: October 2008

Donor performance can be quantified in four ways: (1) by the amount of aid given; (2) the terms and conditions under which it is given; (3) the extent to which it is tied; and (4) by its allocation to recipients. The way in which each of these criteria can be used to measure donor performance is discussed. The evolution of international guidelines by the Development Assistance Committee of the OECD for each performance criteria and actual donor performance in these areas are also addressed. Finally, these four aspects are brought together into a single performance indicator by means of ‘aid diamonds’.
Non‐Governmental Organizations and Poverty Alleviation in Bolivia
Authors: Arellano‐López Sonia , Petras James F.
Published: October 2008

Through the 1980s, non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) became increasingly involved in implementing development projects in Latin America. In Bolivia, NGOs have played central roles in efforts to alleviate the poverty associated with structural adjustment, the consolidation of neoliberal economic policies, and the resulting reorganization of the state. International donors have shown enthusiasm for working through NGOs, particularly in the area of poverty alleviation. However, it is not clear that NGOs are more successful in overcoming poverty than state agencies. More importantly, there is evidence that the combination of state reorganization and the emergence of NGOs as implementers of development assistance has contributed to undermining grassroots organizations representing the interests of poor people.
Agrarian Change and Gender Relations in South‐east Iran
Authors: Razavi Shahrashoub
Published: October 2008

This article looks at some of the recent cross‐disciplinary debates on the nature of the household, and in particular the need to juxtapose intrahousehold gender relations against the wider socio‐economic context within which households are embedded. It places particular emphasis on the development of market forces, seen as a neglected theme in research on gender relations in rural Iran. Drawing on village‐level fieldwork, the ‘conjugal contracts' in two neighbouring districts of the Iranian province of Kerman are located within the wider network of socio‐economic relations in which both men and women are involved, taking into account the varied development of commercial agriculture, as well as the impact of state policies and the changing balance of social forces. Although these developments account for some of the observed differences in conjugal relations between the two districts, shared notions of ‘household unity’ and ‘wifely duty’ are also highlighted as critical factors shaping the conduct of husband and wife in ways that are comparable across the two districts. The pressures that are brought upon men and women with the development of market forces in one of the districts, while making women relatively more vulnerable in certain respects, have enhanced their assertive‐ness within marriage — often in defiance of deeply‐embedded ideologies that subsume their interests to those of their households.
Thinking Politically about Sustainable Development in the Tropical Forests of Latin America
Authors: Silva Eduardo
Published: October 2008

This article examines a number of factors which facilitate the adoption and success of policies and projects to promote grassroots sustainable development – that is, the sustainable, multiple use of forests at the community level, including aspects of local self‐reliance and control of economic resources. I will argue that the extractive reserve legislation in Brazil and community forestry projects in Mexico and Peru depended on the formation of pro‐grassroots development coalitions. The exact make‐up of those coalitions depended on three factors: (1) the initial disposition of key governmental and dominant class actors to such policies; (2) the intensity of local conflicts and the extent of community organization; and (3) the involvement of international actors. The cases suggest that in the absence of serious government or upper class opposition, the adoption and durability of such policies and projects can be promoted by the formation of a coalition of organized communities, domestic non‐governmental organizations (NGOs), some allied government agencies, and support from international actors. However, when key government agencies and socio‐economic élites are fundamentally opposed to sustainable development initiatives at the grassroots level, much higher levels of community organization, conflict, and domestic and international support appear to be necessary.
Non‐economic Bases of Economic Behaviour: The Consumption, Investment and Exchange Patterns of Three Emigrant Communities in Kerala, India
Authors: Kurien Prema Ann
Published: October 2008

This article takes issue with the rational choice approach that views the economy as an autonomous realm where isolated individuals make maximizing choices in terms of their personal preferences. The argument made is that income generation, consumption and exchange form a holistic complex that must be studied in its unity and that the economy and individual economic behaviour are articulated with a social context. This is demonstrated by evidence (collected through fieldwork) on the differences in the use of remittances by three villages in Kerala, India, which have experienced large scale migration to the Middle Eastern countries.

In the three cases, it was the way in which income earned from international migration was perceived, together with the variation in ethnic structures, that explained the similarities and differences in their consumption, exchange and investment patterns. In each case, it was the larger ethnic structure that conditioned (1) the types of activities into which the money was channelled; (2) the range of people who were the beneficiaries of migrant remittances; (3) the patterns of reciprocity or charity practised by the migrants; (4) the selection of the trade‐off point between community status and economic accumulation; and; (5) the groups of individuals who gained or lost economic control.
China's Household Registration System under Reform
Authors: Mallee Hein
Published: October 2008

China's household registration system is the central element in a policy of rapid industrialization with low urbanization. Figures on the non‐agricultural population show that the system was initially successful, but less so during the 1980s. As a result, a number of reforms were introduced, which are described in some detail here. The registration system must be viewed as playing three interrelated roles: it is an instrument of development policy, aimed at keeping urban populations small while fostering industrial development; a social institution which rigidly divides Chinese society into a rural and an urban segment; and an instrument of state control, which the state employs to cultivate client groups. This article further argues that the contradiction between the need to adapt the system to changing realities, dictated by its developmental role, and the tenacity of the vested interests inherent in the social institutional role of the system, form a major obstacle to fundamental reform.
Population Density, Economic Growth and Societies in Transition: Boserup Reconsidered in a Kenyan Case‐study
Authors: Tiffen Mary
Published: October 2008

In examining the relationship between population growth and income growth, this article first looks at the Malthusian, transition and revisionist positions. The first is not borne out by historical experience, and the latter two do not explain why greater affluence generally leads to lower rates of population growth. It is argued here that the crucial population characteristic is density. Rising densities from a low base facilitate more productive agriculture and greater specialization and exchange within a society, as Boserup (1965) pointed out. This leads to increased wealth but also to higher costs for education and land. This provides a link to Caldwell's (1976) explanation of changing attitudes to family size: at low densities in simple societies benefits from children exceed costs, while at higher densities in complex societies costs exceed benefits. The changes in societies and economies are illustrated by a Kenyan case study. Kenya has experienced particularly rapid population growth this century, and high economic growth; it is now experiencing the transition to lower birth rates.