bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Recruitment of Women Cabinet Ministers in the Canadian Provinces
Authors: Studlar Donley T. , Moncrief Gary F.
Published: March 2003

Although there have been several studies of women in legislatures in Canada, a cabinet position is a much stronger position from which to wield power in an executive‐centered and party‐disciplined parliamentary system. In the past decade, the increase of women's share of legislative seats, for majority parties as well as others, has led to more women being appointed to cabinet portfolios. This article utilizes data from the ten Canadian provinces over an 18‐year period, from 1976 to 1994, to assess patterns of such appointments by province, party, percentage of women in the governing party, and percentage of women in the legislature. The proportion of women in the governing party far outweighs other variables in its impact on the percentage of women in the cabinet, in contrast to a previous study of West European cabinets which found that more women in the legislature was of greater importance. Although a high level of multicollinearity indicates caution in attempting to distinguish between the impact of these two variables, the differences in these studies may be due to Canadian provinces having single‐party majority governments while West European cabinets are often coalitions.
Centralization, Access, and Influence: The Reagan Administration and the Semiconductor Industry's Trade Complaints
Authors: Cortell Andrew P.
Published: March 2003

This article explores how the relative centralization of decisionmaking authority can affect a societal group's ability to achieve its interests. It examines the US semiconductor industry's efforts to persuade the Reagan administration to press Japan on its import barriers and its firms' trade practices. I find that the industry's eventual success was facilitated by an institutional change that centralized the structure of decisionmaking authority. Centralization proved more favorable to the industry's influence in this case because it reduced the number of competing state interests involved in policymaking and concentrated authority in state units that shared the industry's preferences. To account for the change in this structure I focus on the interplay between government officials and policy windows. The analysis suggests that centralization may under some conditions be more conducive than decentralized structures to societal influence, and that modest institutional changes can have significant policy implications.
The Complexities of Political Agenda Determination: The Case of the British Coal Industry
Authors: Turner Royce
Published: March 2003

The coal industry has provided for huge controversy since the 1970s. Much of it has focused on contraction and attempts to stop that. This article examines the efforts of two pressure groups—the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Coalfield Communities Campaign (CCC)—seeking to manipulate the political agenda in their own favor. It examines why the two groups, though both trying to affect issues on the political agenda to meet aspirations in coalfields, met a different response. It also examines why and how the CCC was able to achieve more success at political agenda manipulation at the European, rather than the national, level.
Ideas, Inheritances, and the Dynamics of Budgetary Change
Authors: Patashnik Eric M.
Published: March 2003

Long the lifeblood of public administration, budgeting in the United States acquired a new importance during the 1980s and 1990s because of the fiscalization of the policy debate. But how much has American national budgeting really changed? This article examines the evolution of federal budgeting over the past half‐century, exploring such developments as the massive growth of entitlements, congressional budget reform, and the protracted battle over the budget deficit. It finds that year‐to‐year changes in budget results have been relatively small even while budgetary rules and procedures have experienced sweeping change. At the same time, the composition of federal spending has undergone a quiet revolution. The traditional concept of budgetary incrementalism offers an incomplete explanation for these dynamics. To make sense of them, the article focuses on two key factors: the impact of policy inheritances, and the role of actors' causal and normative beliefs. These factors shape the ideational and material context within which boundedly rational actors negotiate decisions. The tension between changes in ideas and entrenched budgetary commitments has often served to stimulate institutional reform.
Social Identity, Self‐categorization, and Work Motivation: Rethinking the Contribution of the Group to Positive and Sustainable Organisational Outcomes
Authors: Haslam S. Alexander , Powell Clare , Turner John
Published: March 2003

Traditional needs theories centre around hierarchies ranging from ‘lower‐level’ needs for security, existence, or hygiene through to ‘higher‐level’ needs for self‐actualisation, achievement, and growth. As applied to the organisational domain, such theories tend to assume that an employee’s personal need for challenge and development is the best source of work motivation. Based on social identity and self‐categorisation theories, this paper interprets needs hierarchies as reflections of the variable definition of self. It suggests that the motivational impact of different needs changes as a function of the salience of norms and goals associated with self‐categories defined at varying levels of abstraction (personal, social, human). As a result, no one level of need is inherently more relevant to employee motivation than any other. This analysis also suggests that group‐based needs will play an especially important motivational role in situations where an individual’s social identity is salient. Following work by Tyler, data that support this argument are provided by a study in which employees’ willingness to engage in citizenship behaviour increased following manipulations of group‐based pride and respect. Results point to the productive and sustainable potential of self‐actualisation at a collective rather than just a personal level.
Macro and Micro Goal Setting: In Search of Coherence
Authors: De Haas Marco , Algera Jen , Van Tuijl Harrie , Meulman Jacqueline
Published: March 2003

In this article we discuss macro and micro goal setting approaches, focusing on the relations between goals at different organisational levels. Translating strategic goals in a top‐down manner throughout the organisation is a rather complex process. In organisations, at least one intermediate level between macro (i.e. strategic) and micro (i.e. operational) goals can be distinguished: the level of meso (i.e. tactical) goal setting. The process of a strategic dialogue is introduced to arrive at organisational goal coherence, which is defined as consensus on goal priorities within single constituencies and between multiple constituencies at different organisational levels. This process is illustrated in a case study, in which the CATPCA method has been applied to empirically operationalise degrees of consensus. Effects of the strategic dialogue on organisational goal coherence are demonstrated.
Employee Empowerment: An Integrative Psychological Approach
Authors: Menon Sanjay
Published: March 2003

An integrative psychological approach to employee empowerment was developed based on the premise that the psychological experience of power underlies feelings of empowerment. This research extends existing perspectives on empowerment by incorporating the empowering effect of valued goals, such as those provided by transformational leadership. Goal internalisation was identified as a major component of the psychological experience of empowerment, in addition to the two traditional facets of perceptions of control over the work environment and perceptions of self‐efficacy or competence. Standard measure development procedures using a sample of employed individuals from Quebec, Canada and subsequent validation with an organisational sample from Ontario, Canada yielded a three‐factor scale of psychological empowerment corresponding to these three dimensions. The implications of defining empowerment as a psychological state and the need for multiple measures of empowerment are also discussed.
“It Could Be Us!”: Cognitive and Social Psychological Factors in UK National Lottery Play
Authors: Rogers Paul , Webley Paul
Published: March 2003

This study examines the cognitive and social psychological factors underlying UK National Lottery play. A total of 384 respondents were asked about their own lottery playing behaviours, their knowledge of lottery odds and their beliefs about the role of skill, chance, luck and optimism in lottery play. Using hypothetical scenarios, respondents were also asked to rate the likelihood of winning the lottery jackpot (matching all six numbers) with number combinations reflecting different levels of apparent randomness, previous matches, near misses and prize size manipulations. Frequency of lottery play was found to be positively correlated with age, income, Instants scratchcard play, gambling on horse/greyhound racing, the football pools, and bingo as well as with beliefs about skill, luck and optimism. Frequency of lottery play was negatively correlated with general education and estimate of relative win likelihoods based on the perceived randomness of number combinations. Planned contrasts revealed that compared to individual (non‐syndicate) players, syndicate lottery players played more regularly and gambled more on the football pools. Results are discussed in the light of current cognitive theories surrounding the misperception of probability and their relation to lottery play and in the need for future models to recognise the social factors inherent in syndicate‐based lottery participation.
Translation and Validation of the Chinese Form of the Strong Interest Inventory
Authors: Goh David , Yu Jiayuan
Published: March 2003

A Chinese form of the 1994 Strong Interest Inventory (SII) was developed through a three‐step translation process. The translated version was judged to show linguistic or inferential equivalence to the SII in English. Field‐testing data based on two Chinese samples (N1 = 124, N2 = 40) and one American sample (N3 = 52) provided additional support on metric equivalence between the SII and the SII‐Chinese. Correlational analysis, paired t‐test, and profile analysis consistently demonstrated that the SII and SII‐Chinese yielded highly comparable results at all three levels of measurement—General Occupational Themes (GOT), Basic Interest Scales (BIS), and Occupational Scales (OS). Statistically significant difference between the SII and SII‐Chinese was found only on one basic scale and two occupational scales in selected male and female subsamples. Factor analysis, using maximum likelihood extraction and oblique rotation, identified six broad occupational interest dimensions on the SII‐Chinese: Enterprising (E), Investigative (I), Artistic (A), Public (P), Realistic (R), and Social (S). Implications for further adapting the SII‐Chinese to better fit the Chinese culture and to be used as an assessment tool in China are discussed.
Favourable Employment Status Change and Psychological Depression: A Two‐year Follow‐up Analysis of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth
Authors: Prause JoAnn , Dooley David
Published: March 2003

This study examines the relationship between favourable employment change and well‐being. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, respondents who were inadequately employed (i.e. unemployed or underemployed, N= 1,160) in 1992 were followed up in 1994. Results suggest that among the unemployed in 1992 (time‐1), higher depression at time‐1 was significantly associated with decreased odds of both adequate employment and underemployment relative to unemployment at time‐2 (1994). Among the underemployed at time‐1, gender moderated the relationship between time‐1 depression and employment at time‐2. The odds of employment (both adequate and underemployment) were higher for males than females at lower levels of depression, but this gender advantage fell as depression increased. Additional analyses revealed that any employment at time‐2 relative to unemployment was significantly associated with lower depression in 1994 when controlling for time‐1 depression and other important background variables. Neither time‐1 status (unemployment versus underemployment) nor type of time‐2 employment (adequate versus underemployment) were significantly associated with later depression.
On the Relationship between Subordinates’ Compliance to Power Sources and Organisational Attitudes
Authors: Koslowsky Meni , Schwarzwald Joseph , Ashuri Sigal
Published: March 2003

Social power involves the potential to influence others and is important in explaining organisational outcomes. Based on the assumptions posited in Raven’s (1992, 1993) power interaction model, we examined a set of potential antecedents and correlates of power sources. Participating in the study were 232 nurses and 32 supervisors from two municipal hospitals. Nurses and supervisors were asked to complete a battery of questionnaires including demographic items, the Interpersonal Power Inventory, job satisfaction, and organisational commitment. Convergent and discriminate validity of the power inventory yielded satisfactory results. Principal component analyses of the power inventory revealed a two‐factor solution (harsh/soft sources) which was then used for comparison with predictors and outcome data. Among the major findings were the fact that compliance to power sources appears to be contingent on objective and subjective indices of professional distance between supervisors and subordinates, supervisor seniority in the department, and the type of promotion (from without or within department). Job satisfaction was found to be positively related to compliance with soft sources and negatively with harsh sources whereas commitment was positively associated with both.
The General and the Particular in Cross‐National Comparative Research
Authors: Blyton Paul
Published: March 2003

Ce dernier article intègre les résultats et implications des études présentées ici en terme de recherche future dans un contexte international. Il expose en premier lieu le débat sur la convergence/divergence et fait ressortir l’importance d’être sensible non seulement aux tendances et pressions universelles, mais aussi à l’exploration et à l’identification des différences sociétales dans nos recherches. En second lieu, cet article met l’emphase sur la question méthodologique de la recherche inter‐nations. Sur ce point, ce papier conclut que (i) l’application d’une approche méthodologique commune dans les études rapportées ici, et dans le projet GLOBE en général, et (ii) l’inclusion de techniques quantitatives et qualitatives, sont des avantages certains aux recherches dans ce volume. Ces études vont constituer un guide de ce qui peut être atteint par des recherches inter‐nations bien développées et bien conduites.
Psychology in Singapore Education
Authors: Cheong Agnes Chang Shook
Published: March 2003

Cet article essaie de décrire la reconnaissance croissante de l’importance de la psychologie dans l’éducation à Singapour. Le développement de la psychologie en tant qu’élément central dans le processus de formation des maîtres accompagne l’évolution de l’éducation des enseignants à Singapour. L’urbanisation, l’industrialisation et la globalisation ont aussi joué un rôle de catalyseur collectif dans l’accélération de l’ancrage de la psychologie en tant que soutien puissant du développement de la réactivité chez les jeunes de Singapour.

This paper attempts to trace the steady growth and recognition of the importance of psychology in Singapore education. The development of psychology as a key element in the teaching–learning process parallels the evolution of teacher education in Singapore. Urbanisation, industrialisation, and globalisation have also acted as a collective catalyst in accelerating the establishment of psychology as a powerful aid in developing resilience in young Singaporeans.
Cross‐Cultural Assessment: Value for Money?
Authors: Van De Vijver Fons J.R.
Published: March 2003

L’évaluation psychologique demande de plus en plus l’application de tests dans des contextes culturels différents, soit dans un pays unique (avec des immigrants) ou dans différents pays. Après une description des caractéristiques principales de ce genre d’évaluation, les coûts et bénéfices sont examinés. Il est argumenté que ceux‐ci varient selon les partis intéressés impliqués: les clients, les personnes ou institutions demandant une expertise psychologique, la profession de psychologue, et la société en général. Bien qu’une analyse détaillée des coûts et bénéfices demanderait une recherche empirique, il peut être conclu que sur une longue période, tous les partis intéressés gagnent à réaliser une évaluation multi‐culturelle. Dans un futur rapproché, la demande pour de telles évaluations va augmenter dûà l’internationalisation toujours plus grande des organisations et au besoin croissant de groupes d’immigrants pour des services psychologiques culturellement informés. Dans ce processus, les psychologues ont deux rôles: Premièrement, nous avons besoin de standards explicites pour les évaluations multi‐culturelles, et deuxièmement, nous devons communiquer ces standards à tous les intéressés afin de développer et de maintenir un service d’évaluation de qualité.

Psychological assessment increasingly involves the application of tests in different cultural contexts, either in a single country (involving migrants) or in different countries. After a description of the main characteristics of such cross‐cultural assessment, its costs and benefits are addressed. It is argued that these vary for the stakeholders involved: clients, persons or institutions hiring psychological expertise, psychology as a profession, and society at large. Although a comprehensive analysis of costs and benefits would require empirical study, it can be safely concluded that in the long run all stakeholders gain from cross‐cultural assessment. In the near future the demand for cross‐cultural assessment will increase, due to the growing internationalisation of business and the increasing need of migrant groups for culture‐informed psychological services. The role of psychologists in this process is twofold: we need explicit standards of appropriate cross‐cultural assessment and we should communicate these standards effectively to all stakeholders in order to develop and maintain a high quality of testing and service delivery.
Managerial Stress in Greater China: The Direct and Moderator Effects of Coping Strategies and Work Locus of Control
Authors: Siu Oi‐ling , Spector Paul E. , Cooper Cary L. , Lu Luo , Yu Shanfa
Published: March 2003

La présente étude examine les effets directs et modérateurs des stratégies de défense (contrôle et support) et de la perception de contrôle au travail (extérieure) sur des relations stresseur‐tension entre des gestionnaires de la grande Chine (la République populaire de Chine, Hong Kong, et Taiwan). Les données ont été recueillies, via un questionnaire autoadministré, auprès de 876 gestionnaires soit 249 (164 hommes, 85 femmes) en République populaire de Chine, 280 à Hong Kong (159 hommes, 120 femmes, 1 non classifié), et 347 (191 hommes, 151 femmes, 5 non classifiés) au Taiwan. Des effets directs et modérateurs pour les stratégies de défense et pour la perception de contrôle ont été démontrés pour quelques relations stresseur‐tension dans les divers échantillons étudiés.

The present study aims at examining the direct and moderator effects of coping strategies (control and support coping) and work locus of control (externality) on the stressor‐strain relationships among managers in Greater China (the People's Republic of China [PRC], Hong Kong, and Taiwan). A self‐administered survey method was employed to collect data from 249 (164 male, 85 female) managers in the PRC, 280 (159 male, 120 female, 1 unclassified) managers in Hong Kong, and 347 (191 male, 151 female, 5 unclassified) managers in Taiwan. The direct and moderator effects of control coping, support coping, and work locus of control on some stressor‐strain relationships were demonstrated in the studied samples.
The Nature of Job Insecurity: Understanding Employment Uncertainty on the Brink of a New Millennium
Authors: Sverke Magnus , Hellgren Johnny
Published: March 2003

Cet article porte sur la nature de l’insécurité au travail et traite de données aussi bien conceptuelles que méthodologiques en rapport avec notre compréhension de ses conséquences. Une revue de littérature débouche sur le constat qu’il est nécessaire de faire appel à nombre de travaux théoriques et empiriques pour cerner la nature de l’insécurité au travail, développer des mesures psychométriquement valides de ses différents aspects et parvenir à des conclusions pertinentes sur les effets de l’insécurité. L’insécurité au travail est d’abord définit comme une source de stress multidimensionnelle relevant de l’expérience subjective. Ensuite, les nombreux aspects de l’insécurité au travail peuvent avoir des conséquences divergentes ou du moins être différentiellement reliés à des variables dépendantes potentielles telles que les attitudes relatives au travail, la performance professionnelle, la santé physique, le bien‐être mental ou les symptômes de stress induits par le travaìl. Puis, étant donné que la plupart des recherches sur l’insécurité au travail ont été transversales, il reste à effectuer beaucoup d’investigations avant que nous sachions comment, ou si, l’insécurité contribue à modifier ces variables, Enfin, on peut imaginer nombre de facteurs susceptibles d’avoir un impact sur les relations entre l’insécurité au travail et ses retombées possibles. Pour améliorer la compréhenions de ce qu’est l’insécurité au travail et de ce qu’elle peut impliquer pour l’individu, il est indispensable de prendre en compte ces données dans des recherches aussi bien théoriques qu’empiriques.

This paper focuses on the nature of job insecurity and addresses conceptual as well as methodological issues affecting our understanding of its consequences. A review of the literature suggests that a great deal of theoretical and empirical work is needed to capture the nature of job insecurity, develop psychometrically sound measures of the different aspects, and arrive at valid conclusions regarding the effects of insecurity. First, job insecurity is defined as a subjectively experienced stressor which may be divided into different dimensions. Second, the multiple aspects of job insecurity may have divergent consequences or at least be differentially related to potential outcomes such as work‐related attitudes, job performance, physical health, mental well‐being, and job‐induced stress symptoms. Third, given that most studies on job insecurity have been cross‐sectional, a lot of work remains before we know how, or if, insecurity contributes to changes in such outcomes. Fourth, there are a number of plausible factors that may moderate the relationships between job insecurity and its potential outcomes. Addressing these issues in theoretical as well as empirical work is necessary, we argue, to improve the understanding of both what job insecurity is and what it may imply for the individual.
Chinese Business and Ethnic Equilibrium in Malaysia
Authors: Jesudason James V.
Published: March 2003

The economic success of the Chinese in Southeast Asia has often led to tense relations between them and the politically‐dominant ethnic groups. This article examines the changing nature of the Chinese business community in Malaysia over three decades, and suggests a way to understand conflict and co‐operation among the Chinese and Malays over the economy. The analysis bridges the gap between two contrasting views on the future of Chinese businesses: one which sees the state as using the Chinese for their present skills on the way to reducing their economic strength, and another that sees the rise of China and the consolidation of Chinese overseas networks as giving added leverage to Chinese capital over the state. This article argues that a simple Chinese versus Malay view of ethnic conflict is no longer useful, and suggests that approaches to ethnic conflict should take into account the interplay of two key variables—the internal organization of the Chinese business community and the class structure of indigenous society. Changes have occurred in both, resulting in reduced levels of ethnic scapegoating and broader political support for higher‐growth strategies over narrow ethnic redistributive issues.
Rural Development Patterns in Post‐Reform China: The Pearl River Delta Region in the 1990s
Authors: Johnson Graham , Woon Yuen‐fong
Published: March 2003

Since the reforms that began in 1979, economic development in China has been marked by four major policy initiatives: the re‐integration of the Chinese economy with the global economy, the decentralization of economic decision making away from the central state to lower levels, and, especially in the coastal regions, the shift away from subsistence agriculture towards rural industrialization and increasing commercialization. In this article, the effects of the reform policies are discussed in the context of the Pearl River delta region, the economic core of the southern Chinese province of Guangdong. Closely proximate to Hong Kong, with many Overseas Chinese connections, the province was given opportunities to innovate within the new policy option and has been marked by rapid economic growth. The article focuses on the impact of industrialization, commercialization, and globalization in four contrasting areas of the Pearl River delta in the 1980s and 1990s. At a general level, what McGee has called desakota zones have emerged and follow a development process which is similar to that observed in parts of East and Southeast Asia in the 1970s. When examined from the perspective of villages and localities, the blending of government policies, geographical location, and market forces with an array of local social values has resulted in separate and distinctive patterns of development.
Rethinking Gendered Poverty and Work
Authors: Jackson Cecile , Palmer‐Jones Richard
Published: March 2003

This article argues for an approach to labour in gender and poverty analyses which attends to the content and character of work as fundamental to the experience of well‐being by gendered persons, and to the formulation of development policies and research for poverty reduction and gender equity. A framework of ideas is proposed for consideration of working bodies in ways which recognize the integration of bodies and subjectivities, the significance of real bodies, the dynamic nature of embodiment as a process within a life course, and the importance of agency in the making and managing of bodily well‐being. We use an analysis of physical work to show that the embodiment of women and men, as a result of biological differences, socio‐cultural inscriptions, and personal projects, suggests gender differences in relation to the experience of heavy manual labour. We argue that arduousness of labour (which derives from physical work intensity and other characteristics of work) is connected to ill‐ and well‐being through nutrition–health–productivity linkages, through intrahousehold allocations of resources and consumption, and through local social relations, valuations, and discourses around work. Taken together, these may generate new forms of gendered energy traps. We explore policy and research implications of this aspect of gender and poverty analysis.
Politicians, Parties, and the Persistence of Weak States: Lessons from the Philippines
Authors: Montinola Gabriella R.
Published: March 2003

Under what conditions will politicians strengthen state capabilities through bureaucratic reform? This article presents a principal–agent model of state capacity that shows that unless competition to influence policy is largely confined to a single dimension, politicians have no incentive or ‘political will’ to adopt bureaucratic reform. The validity of this model is tested using the experience of the Philippines in the period 1946–72. It is found that politically relevant groups in the Philippines were competing to influence policy over issues of social welfare, economic nationalism and control over public spending, and that groups' demands over these issues failed to align along a single dominant dimension. Consistent with expectations derived from the principal–agent model, there were numerous calls for and attempts to improve bureaucratic performance, but the calls went unheeded and the attempts failed miserably. The study highlights a lesson of potential use to countries currently undergoing democratization. It argues that state capacity is not a function of insulating the state from societal forces, but rather of clarifying lines of authority and accountability in the hierarchy of principal–agent relationships between society, politicians and bureaucrats.
State Sciences and Development Histories: Encoding Local Forestry Knowledge in Bengal
Authors: Sivaramakrishnan K.
Published: March 2003

Informed by debates on development discourse, local knowledge, and the history of colonial conservation, this article argues for a careful historical investigation of the manner in which scientific managerial knowledge emerges in the field of forestry. It makes its case by focusing on the specific period in the history of Bengal (1893–1937) when scientific forestry was formalized and institutionalized. The processes and conflicts through which local knowledge gets encoded as scientific canon have to be understood to generate effective managerial devolution in participatory projects. This requires an engagement with public understandings of science as practice that arises from a dynamic critique of static, and undifferentiated, notions of development discourse or local knowledge.
Resettlement, Opium and Labour Dependence: Akha–Tai Relations in Northern Laos
Authors: Cohen Paul
Published: March 2003

Forestry is a major source of revenue for the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. The Government’s view is that shifting cultivation in the highlands is the primary cause of deforestation and erosion; this has led it to establish a policy of eliminating shifting cultivation by the resettlement of highland people in or near the lowlands. Here, it is assumed, the highlanders will be able to lead a more sedentary existence, cultivate wet rice, and benefit from various forms of development assistance. In the district of Muang Sing in northern Laos this policy has been partly responsible for the movement of large numbers of Akha people downhill to settle on the lower slopes of the highlands, at the periphery of the lowlands. This movement has been further encouraged by the low productivity of the Akha swidden economy. This article argues that Akha expectations of a more secure livelihood have not been fulfilled due to the ravages of disease, high rates of opium addiction, and the lack of government assistance. Instead, the Akha of the lower slopes have become an impoverished labour force, exploited for the benefit of the politically and economically dominant Tai lowlanders.
China’s Rangelands under Stress: A Comparative Study of Pasture Commons in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region
Authors: Ho Peter
Published: March 2003

China’s economic reforms have exacerbated the problems of over‐grazing and desertification in the country’s pastoral areas. In order to deal with rangeland degradation, the Chinese government has resorted to nationalization, or semi‐privatization. Since the implementation of rangeland policy has proved very difficult, however, experiments with alternative rangeland tenure systems merit our attention. In Ningxia, in northwest China, local attempts have been undertaken to establish communal range management systems with the village as the basic unit of use and control. Some of these management regimes are under severe stress, due to large‐scale digging for medicinal herbs in the grasslands. This digging has resulted in serious conflicts between Han and Hui Muslim Chinese, during which several farmers have been killed. It is against this backdrop that this article explores the institutional dynamics of range management in two different villages.
The Macro‐Economic Effects of Directed Credit Policies: A Real‐Financial CGE Evaluation for India
Authors: Naastepad C. W. M.
Published: March 2003

The effectiveness of directed credit programmes as an instrument for economic development is the subject of considerable debate. However, the focus of this debate is almost exclusively on the intra‐sectoral effects of directed credit and its adverse effects on financial sector performance, neglecting possible spillover effects on demand, production and investment in the rest of the economy. This article tries to fill this gap by examining the macro‐economic effects of directed credit in India with the help of a novel real‐financial computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. Focusing on credit rather than money, the model goes beyond earlier modelling approaches by (1) incorporating directed credit policy and credit rationing; (2) recognizing the dual role of credit for working capital and investment; and (3) allowing for switches between credit‐constrained, capacity‐constrained and demand‐constrained regimes. The results from short‐ and medium‐term simulation experiments with the model indicate that, when credit market failures result in rationing as in India’s agricultural and small‐scale industrial sectors, the macro‐economic effects of directed credit are likely to be significant and positive.
Empowering Pyromaniacs in Madagascar: Ideology and Legitimacy in Community‐Based Natural Resource Management
Authors: Kull Christian A.
Published: March 2003

Development practitioners frequently rely on community‐based natural resource management (CBNRM) as an approach to encourage equitable and sustainable environmental resource use. Based on an analysis of the case of grassland and woodland burning in highland Madagascar, this article argues that the success of CBNRM depends upon the real empowerment of local resource users and attention to legitimacy in local institutions. Two key factors — obstructive environmental ideologies (‘received wisdoms’) and the complex political and social arena of ‘community’ governance — challenge empowerment and legitimacy and can transform outcomes. In Madagascar, persistent hesitancy among leaders over the legitimate role of fire has sidetracked a new CBNRM policy called GELOSE away from one of its original purposes — community fire management — towards other applications, such as community management of forest exploitation. In addition, complications with local governance frustrate implementation efforts. As a result, a century‐long political stalemate over fire continues.
Gender and the Silences of Social Capital: Lessons from Latin America
Authors: Molyneux Maxine
Published: March 2003

Social capital has entered development policy thinking and practice in Latin America where it converges with the premises of a new development agenda that emerged in the 1990s. Women are often central to the forms of social capital that development agencies are keen to mobilize in poverty relief programmes, but the terms of women’s insertion into these programmes is rarely problematized. This article critically examines the gendered assumptions that govern efforts to build social capital, and explores some of the tensions that have arisen in post‐transition Latin America between women’s rights and social capital agendas.
Rebuilding State Institutions in Collapsed States
Authors: Ottaway Marina
Published: March 2003

The international community has embraced an unprecedented approach to collapsed states — those that have lost their capacity to perform even the most basic functions. While historically such states simply disappeared, divided up into smaller units or were conquered by a more powerful neighbour, collapsed states are now expected to be rebuilt within the same international borders thanks to the intervention of multilateral organizations and bilateral donors. Furthermore, there is now the expectation that these states will from the very beginning be rebuilt as democracies with strong institutions. This article examines the model of state reconstruction currently adopted by the international community and some examples of its implementation. It concludes that the approach cannot be applied to all countries, that institution–building is often undertaken prematurely, and that there is a discrepancy between the donors’ prescriptions and the resources they are willing to make available.
Mozambique
Authors: Falck Hans , Landfald Kåre , Rebelo Pamela
Published: March 2003

The setting for the PRSP initiative in Mozambique includes continuing political tensions, extreme capacity constraints and financial shortfalls, and a policy process that is very far from a rational planning model. Nevertheless, this article argues, the initiative has improved the prospects for clear prioritisation in poverty reduction efforts by the government, and provides a focus for better co–ordination of international co–operation. Mozambique's PRSP – PARPA 2001–5 – builds on previous sector strategies but, unlike its predecessor (PARPA 2000–4), integrates sector plans within a common fiscal framework. Broad political ownership, encompassing the opposition and Parliament, is lacking, and this is a notable weakness. Government ownership of the plan is comparatively good, but observers doubt the government's capacity to implement it.
Development of selective attention in young infants: Enhancement and attenuation of startle reflex by attention
Authors: Richards John E.
Published: March 2003

This study examined the effect of level of attention engagement on the modification of the blink reflex in young infants. Infants at 8, 14, 20, or 26 weeks of age were presented with interesting visual or auditory stimuli. At delays defined by changes in heart rate known to be associated with sustained attention or attention disengagement, blink reflexes were elicited by visual or auditory blink reflex stimuli. Blink amplitude varied according to the level of attention, and the match between the foreground and blink reflex stimulus. If the infant was attending to the foreground stimulus, a blink reflex stimulus in the same modality resulted in enhanced blink reflex magnitude. A blink reflex stimulus in the other modality resulted in an attenuated blink reflex magnitude. If attention was not engaged with the foreground stimulus, this modulation of the blink reflex did not occur. This ‘selective modality effect’ showed an increasing tendency to occur between 8 and 26 weeks of age. These results show that selective attention to modalities increases over this age range.
Emerging self‐exploration by 2‐month‐old infants
Authors: Rochat Philippe , Striano Tricia
Published: March 2003

Two‐month‐olds and newborns were tested in a situation where they had the opportunity to experience different auditory consequences of their own oral activity on a dummy pacifier. Modulation of oral activity was scored and analyzed relative to two types of contingent auditory feedback, either analog or non‐analog to the effort exerted by the infant on the pacifier. The dummy pacifier was connected to an air pressure transducer for recording of oral action. In two different experimental conditions, each time the infant sucked above a certain pressure threshold they heard a perfectly contingent sound of varying pitch. In one condition, the pitch variation was analog to the pressure applied by the infant on the pacifier (analog condition). In another, the pitch variation was random (non‐analog condition). As rationale, a differential modulation of oral activity in these two conditions was construed as indexing some voluntary control and the sense of a causal link between sucking and its auditory consequences, beyond mere temporal contingency detection and response–stimulus association. Results indicated that 2‐month‐olds showed clear signs of modulation of their oral activity on the pacifier as a function of analog versus non‐analog condition. In contrast, newborns did not show any signs of such modulation either between experimental conditions (analog versus non‐analog contingent sounds) or between baseline (no contingent sounds condition) and experimental conditions. These observations are interpreted as evidence of self‐exploration and the emergence of a sense of self‐agency by 2 months of age.
The role of relational similarity in young children’s use of a scale model
Authors: Marzolf Donald P. , DeLoache Judy S. , Kolstad Valerie
Published: March 2003

The role of relational similarity in 3‐year‐old children’s understanding of the relation between a scale model and the space it represents was investigated in two studies. Relational similarity was manipulated by arranging the objects within the two spaces in either the same or different configurations; thus, the internal relations among the objects were either identical or very different. The pattern of results across studies revealed that multiple factors interacted to determine the children’s appreciation of the higher‐level model–room relation. When other information about the model–room relation was provided via explicit instructions (Experiment 1), relational similarity did not affect performance. However, relational similarity did have a significant effect on performance when only minimal information regarding the model–room relation was given (Experiment 2). These results established that the children were sensitive to the relations among the objects within each space, as well as to whether those relations were similar across spaces. Furthermore, the results indicated that successful performance was supported by appreciation of the higher‐level model–room relation, not merely the detection of individual object correspondences.
Perception and understanding of effects of gravity and inertia on object motion
Authors: Kim In‐Kyeong , Spelke Elizabeth S.
Published: March 2003

Experiments using a preferential looking method, a perceptual judgment method, and a predictive judgment method investigated the development, from 7 months to 6 years of age, of sensitivity to the effects of gravity and inertia on inanimate object motion. The experiments focused on a situation in which a ball rolled off a flat surface and either continued in linear motion (contrary to gravity), turned abruptly and moved downward (contrary to inertia), or underwent natural, parabolic motion. When children viewed the three fully visible motions, both the preferential looking method and the perceptual judgment method provided evidence that sensitivity to inertia developed between 7 months and 2 years, and that sensitivity to gravity began to develop after 3 years. When children predicted the future location of the object without viewing the motions, the predictive judgment method provided evidence that sensitivity to gravity had developed by 2 years, whereas sensitivity to inertia began to develop only at 5–6 years. These findings suggest that knowledge of object motion develops slowly over childhood, in a piecemeal fashion. Moreover, the same system of knowledge appears to be tapped both in preferential looking tasks and in judgment tasks when children view fully visible events, but a different system may underlie children’s inferences about unseen object motions.
The emerging self: the convergence of mind, personality and thinking styles
Authors: Demetriou Andreas , Kazi Smaragda , Georgiou Stelios
Published: March 2003

This paper aims to integrate research and theorizing about problem solving, self and personality into a comprehensive theory. With this purpose, the paper attempts to answer three questions: how do humans become aware of themselves and how do the products of self‐awareness interrelate to produce an integrated self‐system, which includes the domains of cognition and personality? How do persons know and influence each other? How do these processes change with development? The answers given to these questions by self, personality and cognitive developmental psychology are critically examined. It is concluded that an overarching model would have to assume a multilevel and multidimensional architecture. This would involve three main levels: the first includes general‐purpose processes and functions, such as processing efficiency and working memory, which define current cognitive potentials; the second includes several domain‐specific systems directed to different aspects of the environment; the third includes self‐oriented processes that register, represent and regulate processes at the other two levels. Each person’s self‐concepts result from the application of the third level on the other two and they differentially reflect their condition. Personality reflects the interaction between these self‐concepts and dispositions to act in particular ways. Because humans share this architecture they can negotiate and affect each other’s self‐ and reflected representations. Thus, the formation of mind, self and personality results from a continuous flow of interactions between the levels and domains of mind within and across persons. The article summarizes a series of studies lending support to this general model.
Structural and experiential factors in newborns’ preference for speech sounds
Authors: Hernandez Teresita M. , Aldridge Michelle A. , Bower T.G.R.
Published: March 2003

It is well established that newborns prefer some sounds over others. It is widely believed that these preferences reflect past experience, either prenatally or in the immediate postnatal environment. However, it is also possible that structural factors are involved. The frequency of occurrence of different sounds in the languages of the world may provide evidence of such structural factors. If structural factors are important, and if frequency of occurrence of sounds in the world’s languages reflects structural factors, then we might expect newborn preference for sounds to reflect their frequency across languages. In this study, newborns were presented with two cv pairs consisting of a trilled /r/ and a bunched /r/ followed by the vowel //. The newborns were either of English‐speaking or Spanish‐speaking origin. The bunched /r/ occurs in American English and is not frequent in the languages of the world. It does not occur in Spanish. The trilled /r/ occurs in Spanish and is a frequent consonant in the languages of the world. It does not occur in American English. Results showed that newborns of both linguistic backgrounds preferred to listen to the trilled /r/. It is hypothesized that the frequency of occurrence of a sound in the languages of the world may reflect structurally based ease of production and ease of perception, the latter leading to the newborn preference.
Motor memory is a factor in infant perseverative errors
Authors: Diedrich Frederick J. , Thelen Esther , Smith Linda B. , Corbetta Daniela
Published: March 2003

Why do infants make perseverative errors when reaching for two identical targets? From a dynamic systems perspective, perseverative errors emerge from repetitive perceptual–motor activity in novel and/or difficult contexts. To evaluate this account, we studied 9‐month‐old infants performing two tasks in which they repetitively reached toward either a single target or two identical targets. Results showed that, in the context of the two identical targets, perseverative responses were preceded by the creation of strong memories of previous reach directions and trajectories. In contrast, we found little evidence for convergence on habitual reach trajectories when the infants performed the less taxing single‐target task, suggesting that the demands of reaching for two identical targets strongly constrained the reaching behavior. In total, results indicated that memories of prior movements make a critical contribution to performance in the A‐not‐B task and its variants.