bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Law, the Mafia, and the Production of Sovereignties in the Kyrgyz Penal System
Authors: Cowley Austin , Ryan Caitlin Micaela , Dunn Elizabeth Cullen
Published: September 2015

SUMMARY: In 2005 a several-week-long riot across multiple prison colonies in Kyrgyzstan culminated in a bloody standoff between a parliamentary delegation and the mafia syndicate known as the vory v zakone (thieves-in-law). With roots in the social upheaval of imperial Russia and gaining organizational strength and notoriety in the Soviet gulags, the vory control many aspects of prison life in Kyrgyzstan (and elsewhere in former Soviet countries), as well as the drug and weapons trades. Operating with their own legal code (the Understandings), their own justice system ( skhodki ) and their own taxation and redistribution system ( obshchak ), the vory operate very much like a parallel state in Kyrgyzstan. Drawing on legal geography and understandings of state power as performance, this article investigates the multiple sovereignties and forms of spatial power that are embodied in the blurred lines between law and criminality, state and mafia. We argue that the power of the vory rests not on their takeover of state structures – that is, not just on being thieves of the law – but on producing new spaces that make them thieves within the state’s law. The vory and the state are not opposed to one another, but rather co-constitute one another through the performance of governance and the establishment of multiple legal spaces. 2005 год ознаменовался длившимися несколько недель беспорядка-ми во многих исправительных колониях Кыргызстана. Они достигли своей кульминации в кровопролитном столкновении парламентской делегации и мафиозного синдиката – воров в законе. Институт воров в законе зародился в ходе социальных катаклизмов имперского пери-ода и организационно укрепился в советском ГУЛАГе. Воры в законе контролируют многие аспекты тюремной жизни в Кыргызстане (как и в других странах бывшего СССР), а также торговлю наркотиками и оружием. Они живут по своим законам – по понятиям, имеют соб-ственную систему “правосудия” – сходки, систему сбора налогов и перераспредения доходов – общак. Таким образом, в Кыргызстане они представляют параллельную государству структуру. Настоящее иссле-дование развивает подходы юридической географии и перфомативную трактовку государства. В нем рассматриваются множественные формы суверенитета и пространственной власти, возникающие благодаря нечеткости разделения между законом и криминальностью, государством и мафией. Авторы показывают, что власть воров в законе основывается не на захвате государственных структур, т.е. не на воровстве закона, а на производстве новых социальных пространств, превращающих их в воров внутри государственного закона. Воры и государство не противо-поставлены друг другу, но, скорее, взаимно конституируют друг друга посредством перформативного управления и создания множественных пространств легальности.
Исторический манифест: Глава 2. “Короткое прошлое”, или отступление longue durée
Authors: Гулди Джо , Армитедж Дэвид
Published: September 2015

This is the Russian translation of the second chapter of The History Manifesto by Jo Guldi and David Armitage. The book’s main focus is a critique of the shortage of long-term thinking that, according to the authors, characterizes the social imagination of our time and the dominant mode of history writing. They propose a return to longue durée history as a tool of social analysis directed toward the future. In a crisis of short-termism, Guldi and Armitage claim, our world needs somewhere to turn for information about the relationship between past and future. History – as a discipline and a subject matter – is an ideal candidate for the job, just the arbiter we need at this critical time. In chapter 2 the authors review the temporary retreat of the historical profession from writing long-term historical narratives during the last decades of the twentieth century. This temporary “retreat of the longue durée ” was caused both by the changed political climate and the rise of new types of history-writing, such as microhistory.
Impact of public transfer on rotating savings and credit associations (roscas): The Indonesia household case
Authors: Rasyid Mohtar , Satriawan Elan , Sugiyanto Catur
Published: September 2015

Public transfers in the form of financial assistance to poor households have a positive impact on recipient’s and neighboring households. However, the effect of public transfers on social participation so far has not been empirically supported. This study aimed evaluating the impact of public transfers (direct cash assistance, BLT) on household participation in community activities. The data used in this study is collected from the publication of Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS), which has complete information about the activities of household members in the Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (RoSCAs), cooperatives, and community service activities in village development. The availability of household-level micro data allows this study to be done with two important contributions. Firstly, this study can analyze the social impact of public transfers by using multiple more specific indicators of community participation. Secondly, this paper uses the appropriate methodology to control the characteristics of households that are not observed but were highly correlated with community participation and the government programs. As an illustration, egoistic households tend to be inactive in the social activities. These households will also innocently and ineligibly receive assistance and transfers from the government. Without controlling the unobserved heterogeneity, the estimated regression coefficient between program variables and various indicators of public participation will be potentially biased. The nature of the household may influence the decision to attend a social gathering as well as be correlated with the status of the household in obtaining public transfers. To isolate the influence of unobserved factors, this study uses the approach of First Difference (FD) with a combination of Fixed Effect (FE) at the community level. Test results consistently show that the BLT is positively related to social gathering activity. The results showed that households that received public transfers (BLT) were more active in RoSCAs activities. The positive correlation between BLT and RoSCAs activities (Arisan) can still be proven even though there are cases of mis-targeting of public transfers (leakages and under coverage cases). The results of this study have a significant policy implication. Social capital held by the public is undoubtedly an important element in the development of society. Social capital also plays very important role in the successful implementation of government programs. Strong social bonds can reduce the turbulence caused by targeting error. In contrast, government programs in the form of public transfers are also shown to have a positive impact on the strengthening of social capital.
Development and income inequality: A new specification of the Kuznets hypothesis
Authors: Theyson Katherine C. , Heller Lauren R.
Published: September 2015

Substantial research has assessed the Kuznets hypothesis, which is a traditional relationship between inequality and development. The Kuznets hypothesis suggests that as development proceeds a country will experience first rising then falling income inequality. However, the existing literature analyzes the relationship between income inequality and per capita income, which is, at best, an incomplete measure of the multi-dimensional process of economic development. This paper explores the relationship between income inequality and development utilizing the more expansive, multidimensional Human Development Index (HDI) as the measure of development. Based on the “capabilities” approach to development, the Human Development Index incorporates key dimensions of human development that are particularly suitable for examination in the context of the Kuznets hypothesis. These include health and education measures as a complement to more traditional measures of living standards, such as per capita gross domestic product (GDP). In the Human Development Index, population health is measured using life expectancy at birth, while a measure of education is formed from a weighted average of the primary, secondary, and tertiary enrolment ratio and the adult literacy rate. The standard of living is captured by per capita GDP, and all three are incorporated into the overall human development index. Using data from 147 countries for the years 1992 through 2007, we analyze the relationship between income inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient, and economic development, measured with the Human Development Index (HDI) and its constituent dimensional indices: the GDP index, the Life Expectancy Index and the Educational Index. Using both ordinary least squares with clustered standard errors and a fixed effects analysis, we find that the use of different measures of development significantly affects the shape of the Kuznets curve. Specifically, the results imply an S-curve in which, beginning at the earliest stages of a country’s development, growth in human development (as measured by the HDI) results in falling income inequality followed by a brief rise and then another fall in income inequality. To the best of our knowledge, this is a relationship not seen in the existing literature to date. In doing so, the results call into question the traditionally held view of the relationship between income inequality and human development. They also provide a basis on which the Kuznets hypothesis may be further examined in the future and suggest that rising inequality may not be a necessary part of the process of a country’s development.
Does interest rate shocks transmit from united states to Ghana?: Evidence from vector auto-regression
Authors: Oguanobi Chibuike R. , Akamobi Anthony A. , Ifebi Ogonna E. , Maduka Anne C.
Published: September 2015

In the heat of severe global macroeconomic volatility, monetary authorities in the developing world are faced with the challenge of identifying the sources of such volatilities in their countries. Previous studies on developed countries have attributed home country macroeconomic shocks to monetary policy shocks in foreign countries. Consequently, it was suspected that interest rate shocks in trading partner countries such as the United States might be contributing to macroeconomic shocks in Ghana. Hence, the need to replicate such studies on Ghana becomes imperative. Therefore, this paper aims at (i) ascertaining whether Ghana’s interest rate respond to the interest rate shocks in USA (ii) finding out if interest rate shocks in USA affect other basic macroeconomic variables of the Ghanaian economy. Data on four Ghanaian variables of real gross domestic product, consumer price index, exchange rate and interest rate were collected. Data on U.S variables (federal fund rate and the world consumer price index) were also collected. All data series were annual and span the period, 1983 to 2011. A VAR model of the Ghanaian economy was specified assuming the U.S variables to be exogenous, affecting the vector of endogenous Ghanaian variables contemporaneously. To automatically resolve the problem of unit root found in our series when the mean reversion status of the series were checked, a VECM of the VAR model was estimated. The study further generated the impulse responses (IR) of the Ghanaian variables to variables of the United States. The impulse response analysis of our VAR model shows that in general, interest rate shocks in the United States as well as shocks in the global consumer prices led to insignificant fluctuations in the Ghanaian macro economy. While the countries’ real gross domestic product, interest rates and consumer price indices responded insignificantly to shocks originating from the United States (the upper standard error band fluctuated between 0.00 and 0.50 and the lower standard error band fluctuated between -0.00 and -0.40), its exchange rate responded significantly to shocks from U.S exchange rates (the upper standard error band took off from 0.00, went down to -0.03 before going up to 0.02 while its lower standard error band fluctuated between -0.00 and -0.4). By implication, macroeconomic shocks in Ghana are mostly home-made. To avoid being misled into wrong policy decisions, policy makers in Ghana were therefore advised to always strike a balance between imported and home-made shocks when allocating their policy making resources.
The role of parent’s influence and self-efficacy on entrepreneurial intention
Authors: Rachmawan Ahmad , Lizar Ayu Aprilianti , Mangundjaya Wustari L.H
Published: September 2015

Entrepreneurship is becoming a very relevant instrument to promote economic growth and development of the country. In this regard, entrepreneurship has been a topic that is interesting to be discussed in developing country. The objective of this study is to identify the role of self efficacy as well as parent’s influence on entrepreneurial intention. Respondents consists of 215 new under graduate students in reputable university in Indonesia. The results showed that self-efficacy has positive and significant influence on entrepreneurial intention. However, parent’s influnce has no signifcant influence on entrepreneurial intention. The implications of the study can be used for government as well as university’s management to develop self-efficacy of their students in order to develop their entrepreneurial intention, by providing them with training, coaching, and mentoring. Furthermore, the results also revealed that entrepreneurial experience has positive and significant influence on entrepreneurial intention.
Is the boom in East Asian tourism happening at the expense of other destinations?: A cross-country analysis
Authors: Lew Byron , Choudhry Saud A.
Published: September 2015

Over the years, tourism has emerged as the world’s largest peacetime industry employing approximately 221 million people worldwide. According to the UNWTO, the tourist traffic rose to a record 1.087 billion arrivals in 2013 and this surge is expected to continue through 2030, in annual increments of 3.8 percent. Much of this unprecedented boom may be attributed to newly-affluent Asian nations such as Taiwan, South Korea and Malaysia as well as the huge populations of China, India and Indonesia - the first, second and fourth most populated countries in the world. Many analysts worry that the Asia Pacific region - a collection of dissimilar states squeezed between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific - could potentially be gaining market shares at the expense of their older rivals. We disagree with such a notion and will argue instead that the boom in East Asian tourist traffic is attributable to local factors primarily. Our examination of tourism data from the World Development Indicators database comprising a total of 92 countries covering a 16-year period (1995-2011), provides strong empirical support for our claim that the regional variation in tourism growth does not imply that some destinations are gaining at the expense of the rest. We examine changes in tourist arrivals among all relevant bilateral country pairs to test for a link between changes in tourist arrivals in Southeast Asian nations with Europe and North America. We do find that growth in tourist arrivals to countries of Southeast Asia has been particularly strong, but at the same time, tourism growth to Eastern Europe and to the Middle East has also been strong. This suggests that tourism is driven at least partly by economic growth of a destination, and it may also drive that growth. In examining changes in tourist arrivals by bilateral country pairs we find that for the vast majority of cases there is no support for the hypothesis that growth of tourism in one location comes at the expense of tourist arrivals to other countries. The tourism industry is dynamic and growing, and the success of new destinations does not come at the expense of traditional destinations. Rather countries seem to be establishing niches for themselves in terms of tourist offerings and as such may well be more complementary to each other than competitive. All countries—both developed and developing—may be able to stake a claim in the ever expanding global tourist trade.
External financial inflows and domestic investment in the economies of WAEMU: Crowding-out versus crowding-in effects
Authors: Fahinde Charles , Abodohoui Alexis , Mohiuddin Muhammad , Su Zhan
Published: September 2015

This paper analyzes the effects of capital inflows on domestic investment in the Economic and Monetary Union of West Africa (WAEMU). The WAEMU countries are Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. Several studies have examined the conditions of attracting foreign capitals and their contributions to economic growth in sub-Saharan economies of WAEMU. However, very few studies have examined the effects of capital on domestic investment in national economies. In this respect, there are three types of foreign capital to be taken into account namely Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Official development Assistance (ODA) and Migrants Remittances (MR). FDI, ODA and MR are major sources of external capital flows in developing countries. The current empirical study is based on the theoretical model of to test the hypothesis of crowding-out and crowding-in of domestic investments by different types of foreign capitals considered. The econometric estimates are based on the GMM method of Arellano and Bond (1991) applied to a panel of WAEMU countries over the period 1996-2011. The results of the study show that FDI crowds-out domestic firms in both the short and long term. Similarly, ODA have a lasting crowding-out effects on local investment. As for migrants’ remittances, the econometric results show that they do not have a significant effect on domestic investment in the countries of the union. These findings imply that the host countries of the WAEMU should invest more on developing their absorptive capability to attract technology transfer oriented FDI, channel the ODA to develop vital infrastructure for rapid economic development and create conducive environment for the MR to divert towards productive investments to create more crowding-in effects in lieu of the crowding-out effects. Practically, the results of this study show that multinationals have a lasting crowding-out businesses in the WAEMU region. This is mainly due to the low technological absorption capacity of local firms and the lack of complementarity between local enterprises and multinational companies. Several future research on capital flows will better appreciate the impact of foreign investment on the economies of developing countries especially those in Africa.
Open economy macroeconomics of credit, employment and growth: A structuralist approach
Authors: Basu (Banerjee) Rilina , Nag Ranjanendra Narayan
Published: September 2015

In the context of the increasing size and integration of capital markets consisting of bonds, equity, foreign exchange, and financial derivatives and financial intermediaries namely, banks, investment funds, insurance and pension companies; two alternative sources of finance, viz. bank credit and equity finance can be identified to study how the interaction between the real sector and the financial sector occurs and plays an important role in shaping macroeconomic developments. The financial structure of a typical developing country is one in which bank credit plays an important role in the transmission of structural shocks to the macro economy. In this paper we build up a dynamic structuralist macroeconomic model focusing on interaction between the real sector and the monetary sector in an open economy. In its orientation the paper is close to the Blinder-Bernanke (1988) model. In particular we examine both short run and long run effects of expansionary fiscal and monetary policies, capital account liberalization captured by autonomous increase in net capital flow and devaluation. The paper differs from the flexible price, full employment models of open economy macroeconomics. If empirics indicate that financial variables are important for the determination of the real variables such as employment, output and current account, the existence of nominal rigidities provides an explanation for such real effects. Accordingly, we introduce wage indexation which generates unemployment in the long run. The major findings of the paper are these. Capital inflow and monetary expansion may produce favorable macroeconomic outcome, devaluation and fiscal expansion may have deleterious effect on growth potential of a developing country. Moreover the paper establishes conflict between short run and long run effects of policy changes alongside ambiguous relationships between policy shocks and macroeconomic variables. For example a fiscal expansion entails a positive effect on output in the short run and it reduces capital stock and real monetary base over time which nullifies the favorable short run effects. The paper suggests that design of macroeconomic policies is a difficult exercise for a developing country embedded in a globalised world. Given the policy objectives to control inflation, to reduce unemployment and to boost the growth potential of an economy, easy money policy is a viable option since it reduces the bank rate of interest and hence cost of working capital. Though capital account liberalization is a chancy proposition for a developing country we show that it works perfectly well by increasing capital stock.
One more year of schooling or work: Grade-transition and child labor in rural Bangladesh
Authors: Kumar Alok
Published: September 2015

This paper aims to identify the main factors hindering the achievement of universal primary education (Millennium Development Goal 2) for children in Rural Bangladesh using a large household survey data. It empirically examine factors affecting the grade-transition and the labor force participation of children aged 7-14 years in rural Bangladesh using the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 3 2005-2006 data. It addresses following important questions: (i) effects of family background and resources and child-specific characteristics on the grade-transition and child labor and (ii) whether these effects vary across grade levels. It uses the bivariate probit model to jointly estimate the grade-transition and the labor force participation equations. Results show that parental education has a significant positive effect on the grade-transition and a significant negative effect on the labor force participation. Children of more educated parents are more likely to transit to the next grade and just study and are less likely to participate in the labor force, combine study and work, and just work. It also finds that the positive effect of mother’s education on the probability of grade-transition and just study is larger on children in higher grades. On the other hand, it has a greater negative effect on the probability of just work on children in higher grades. Overall results show that father’s education has greater effect on the grade-transition in lower grades, while mother’s education has greater effect on the grade-transition in higher grades. Results suggest that birth-order has larger effect on the grade-transition and the labor force participation of children in lower grades. First-born children in lower grades are less likely to transit to the next grade and just study. On the other hand, they are more likely to participate in the labor force, combine study and work, and just work. Similarly, results show that children who experienced interruptions in schooling in lower grades are more likely to participate in the labor force and combine study and work, and are less likely to just study compared to children who experienced interruptions in schooling in higher grades. Results suggest that low parental education level and significant resource constraints both in terms of wealth and time are main obstacles in achieving the goal of universal primary education for children. Many children lack adequate learning environment at home, in part due to low parental educational attainment. There is an urgent need to focus on increasing the capacity, financial and non-financial, of rural households. Conditional cash transfers, micro-finance programs, interest-free educational loans, and scholarships, particularly targeted towards poorer households and female students, will enhance educational investments and reduce child labor.
Brazil-US trade balance and exchange rate: Dynamic empirics
Authors: Mustafa Muhammad , Rahman Matiur , Guru-Gharana Kishor K.
Published: September 2015

Brazil and USA are important trading partners. Brazil as a resource-rich country in Latin America and a vibrant emerging economy draws enormous US trade and investment interests. Inclusion in BRICS lifts Brazil as an emerging global economic force and BRICS as a group poses economic challenges to the developed world. The Brazil-US growing trade and fluctuating Real-Dollar exchange rate are a fascinating issue of empirical exploration. The principal objective of this paper is to study the dynamics between Brazil-US nominal trade balance and nominal Real-Dollar exchange rate. Monthly data are utilized from January 1999 through December 2013 since Brazil allowed floatation of Real beginning in January 1999. They are obtained from the Direction of Trade and International Financial Statistics, published by the IMF. The standard cointegration methodology is implemented. This is appropriate since macroeconomic and financial variables are very likely to be time-variant. The application of OLS on nonstationary variables would produce misleading inferences in presence of spurious correlation. Consequently, the efficient DF-GLS and NG-Perron tests for nonstationarity and their counterpart KPSS test for stationarity are applied. All of them confirm nonstationarity of both time series variables. Stationarity in both variables is restored on first-differencing of the level data depicting I(1) behavior. Consequently, the Johansen-Juselius procedure is implemented for cointegrating relationship. Both λ max and λ trace test statistics unveil no cointegration between nominal bilateral trade balance and exchange rate. In this backdrop, VAR model is estimated, as appropriate. The evidences on short-run bidirectional causal flows are strong with significant interactive feedback effects. In the case of reverse causality, the evidences are highly insignificant. The impulse response analysis depicts the existence of short-run bilateral J-curve that shows initial deterioration in trade balance for a while following exchange rate depreciation before improvement into positive territory. In this paper, the J-curve shows that currency depreciation by Brazil against the US dollar to improve its trade balance with the USA may work only in the short run. Progressive improvement in trade balance in the long run would, in fact, depend on prudent monetary and fiscal actions to enhance Brazil’s global competitiveness through improvement in labor productivity and modern technology adoption.
Does corporate governance influence earnings management?: Evidence from Singapore
Authors: Ramachandran Jayalakshmy , Ngete Zipora Adoyo , Subramanian Ramaiyer , Sambasivan Murali
Published: September 2015

The industrial revolution followed by globalization and multi-nationalization of businesses has enhanced the need for best practices of corporate governance. This paper examines the influence of corporate governance practices on earnings management. Specifically, the core objective of this study is to test whether the roles of board of directors and other key committees influence Earnings Management (EM) through Discretionary Accruals (DAC). This study has analyzed the governance practices of 326 companies listed in the Singapore stock exchange by using the observations of two years. The structural model linking the corporate governance practices and EM through DAC has been tested using Lisrel 9.1 student version. The key findings of the study are: (1) the chances of recording discretionary accruals are high if the board size is big implying that higher control can lead to better management. These controls must come through appointment of more independent directors for Boards that are big; (2) board independence, segregation of duties between the CEO and chairman, sizes of the audit committee and nomination committee have significant positive influence on board size; (3) the nomination committee influences the remuneration committee directly implying that the motivation for recording discretionary accruals is higher leading to higher possibilities of earnings management; and (4) board size mediates the relationship between corporate governance practices (board independence, segregation of duties between CEO and chairman, audit committee size and nomination committee size) and EM through DAC implying that board size is crucial to effect better control. We accentuate that segregation of responsibilities between the remuneration committee and the nomination committee, when the Board size is big, will reduce earnings management through discretionary accruals. These governance practices will reduce the agony of stakeholders due to broken trust. The findings are pertinent to Asian countries where the institutional investors have a very small role to play. The onus of protecting the minority shareholders and foreign investors are in the hands of insiders. This requires effective corporate governance practices. The regulatory bodies must ensure that the practices of good governance are strictly adhered to.
International technology transfer and domestic patent policy: An empirical analysis of Indian industry
Authors: Sharma Ruchi , Ambrammal Sunil Kumar
Published: September 2015

Firms in the developing countries transfer technology predominantly produced in the developed economies through different modes namely market-mediated channels including trade in goods and services, foreign direct investment, licensing or non-market channels like employees turnover. Multitude of host country’s factors (locational and policy related) influences the mode-choice decision of multinational enterprises among exports, FDI and licensing to work in a host country. Among these factors, provision for the protection of patent rights reduces transactions costs that lead to externalization in form of arm’s-length licensing against FDI. India has made patent policy changes during the post globalization period to comply with Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights Agreement. Accordingly, this study attempts to find the influence of the patent policy changes on licensing strategy of the Indian manufacturing industry. This paper is based on panel data of 51 industries for period 1989-90 to 2009-10. We have checked each panel data regression for the presence of heteroscedasticity, contemporaneous correlation and serial correlation. In case of the presence of heteroscedasticity and contemporaneous correlation the results are based on heteroskedastic panels corrected standard errors and correlated panels corrected standard errors. As the modeling is based on macro-panel data having large number of industries (N) and time period (T) each data series is checked for unit-root using panel data unit-root tests. The study uses Fisher type test. We estimate the model after controlling for the general policy changes in India following the liberalization, privatization and globalization of the economy. We are able to establish a substitutable relationship between licensing from international market and in-house R&D. The removal of licensing regulations of different industries has a positive influence on the firm’s decision to license. We also find a complementary relationship between capital goods import and licensing. Thus, policy makers should allow for easy capital imports to facilitate technology transfers. The study indicates that patent policy influences technology transfer to India albeit negatively and limited to patent-sensitive industries confirming the monopoly power effect for such industries. Thus, policy makers have to use regulatory approach to facilitate transfers instead of merely relying on the market approach. Moreover, with respect to patent-sensitive industries there is need to closely watch the licensing behavior of the technology owners for anti-competitive practices.
Why resist? examining the impact of technological Advancement and perceived usefulness on Malaysians’ switching intentions: The moderators
Authors: Hashim Nik Mohd Hazrul Nik , Pandit Ameet , Alam Syed Shah , Manan Rosli Abdul
Published: September 2015

The adoption of new technology represents a critical issue that firms need to confront when an improved product version is introduced to customers. Although prior research has established the benefits of technological improvements, it is still unclear why customers are typically slow to accepting new technology despite extensive marketing efforts. The main purpose of this paper is to examine how specific components of switching barrier, namely, lack of service facilities, switching costs, and adoption difficulty, moderate the effects of technological advancement and perceived value on switching intentions. A survey was conducted among highway commuters with alternative technological improvements, particularly an upgraded mobile devise in electronic toll collection (ETC) services. Results indicate that both technological advancement and its perceived value have a positive impact on customers’ intention to switch products. Nevertheless, high levels of perceived switching barriers mitigate the technological advancement–and perceived value–switching intention relationships. Based on the study findings, practical implications are discussed.
A comparative study of problems encountered in the development of small businesses in the U.S. and Mexico
Authors: Hayes John P. , Chawla Sudhir K. , Kathawala Yunus
Published: September 2015

The U.S. economy depends on the health of small businesses, which represent 99.9 percent of total U.S. businesses. Similarly, the Mexican economy depends on the health of its small (and medium) businesses, which represent 99.8 percent of total Mexican businesses. Small business creation and success is important to developed and developing countries, but risky. Studies have examined problems and opportunities created by small businesses. This paper examines problems and challenges faced by small businesses in Mexico and the USA. While these problems and challenges are similar in both countries, some important distinctions need to be identified. This is an important topic because small businesses that do not recognize which problems to avoid may quickly fail. Researchers noted there is no simple pattern for success among small businesses; there’s no general theoretical framework for success. Certain issues impacting small businesses have been identified as critical success factors (CSFs). The literature review of CSFs was used to develop the instrument for this study. The methodology was identical for both the U.S. and Mexico studies and included focus groups with business owners in the United States and Mexico. The business owners represented different businesses and identified common problems faced by their businesses. Problems uncovered in the focus groups were included in a survey instrument, which ultimately identified 29 key business problems. The survey instrument examined small business owners’ perceptions of current key problem areas. The 29 items presented to the small business owners in Mexico were identical to the 29 items presented in the U.S. survey. Factor analysis was used in an exploratory manner to analyze the interrelations among the 29 key business problems. The study’s findings indicate that the small business owner is a key participant among a complex set of interrelated factors including the availability of capital, adequate human resources, governmental organization and relations, and strategic planning. The issues that impact small business development in the U.S. are very similar to the issues that impact small business development in Mexico, but there are some critical differences. The study revealed a significant difference between the factor structure of the problem areas as perceived by Mexican entrepreneurs and U.S. entrepreneurs. Small business owners, business advisors and government facilitators may benefit from this knowledge as they develop companies in these countries. The Mexican government may consider a special program to provide micro loans and also encourage formation of cooperatives according to business clusters.
Constructing Women’s Citizenship: The Local, National, and Global Civics Lessons of Rajkumari Amrit Kaur
Authors: Rook-Koepsel Emily
Published: September 2015

Rajkumari Amrit Kaur was an early leader of several important women’s organizations in India, including the All India Women’s Conference (AIWC) and the Young Women’s Christian Association-India (YWCA India), and she served as the liaison to Western-dominated international women’s organizations, including the International Council of Women (ICW). This article expands on Kaur’s discussion of social service and constructive citizenship while also exploring the concept in the context of national claims for women’s participation in the Indian state, the role of constructive citizenship in defining translocal social service, and the way that constructive citizenship helped Kaur to imagine the possibility of a global citizenship.
“I Wouldn’t Be No Woman If I Wouldn’t Hit Him”: Race, Patriarchy, and Spousal Homicide in New Orleans, 1921–1945
Authors: Adler Jeffrey S.
Published: September 2015

Early-twentieth-century New Orleans was extraordinarily violent, and the city’s domestic homicide rate was particularly high. Remarkably rich sources for the period from 1921 to 1945 reveal distinct race- and gender-based levels and etiologies of spousal murder. Although challenges to patriarchal authority and men’s proprietary control triggered most of the violence, the African American partner homicide rate was seven times the white rate, and the African American women’s spousal homicide rate five times that of white men and a dozen times that of white women. These disparities reflected the interaction among race relations, gender ideals, and a series of neighborhood and institutional forces, which combined to reinforce masculine privilege in white families and destabilize household authority in African American families, resulting in divergent patterns of spousal murder.
From Anne to Hannah: Religious Views of Infertility in Post-Reformation England
Authors: Oren-Magidor Daphna
Published: September 2015

In post-Reformation England, women who suffered from fertility problems could no longer apply to saints to intercede on their behalf. Instead, the new Protestant theology stressed the idea of divine providence and encouraged infertile women to pray to God directly while also accepting His will should He choose not to grant them a child. These views were promoted by authors of prescriptive literature for women, but also in sermons intended for a general audience that utilized stories of biblical infertility in order to teach lessons on faith and prayer. This article examines religious responses toward infertility in the period following the Reformation, and argues that the Protestant religion offered infertile women an avenue for comfort and aid in their difficulties when they could no longer appeal to saintly intercession.
Love, Life, Death, and Survival
Authors: Enns Diane
Published: September 2015

This essay explores the confluence of two poignant works by philosophers facing death in order to reflect on the death of love. In their protest against limits, Jacques Derrida and Gillian Rose affirm the intensity and agonism of survival over perfectibility, of revel over consolation—in life as in love.
Adapting Venice: Intermedial Relations in Visconti, Sebald, and Kafka
Authors: Kilbourn Russell J.A.
Published: September 2015

This essay compares Luchino Visconti’s Death in Venice and Vertigo , W.G. Sebald’s first prose narrative, which adapts various texts by Franz Kafka, in order to explore how in each work the protagonist must re-negotiate his identity in a confrontation with his death, whether literally or metaphorically. Venice is never simply setting or backdrop to the action, emerging as emblematic of a cultural moment in which representation and reality have become inextricably entangled, and in which the human subject is unavoidably transformed.
The Animal Mirrors: The Human/Animal Divide in Derrida and Deleuze
Authors: Martell James
Published: September 2015

Starting with an analysis of Jacques Derrida’s most intimate encounter with an animal by way of a similar scene in Balthus’s paintings, this essay examines Derrida’s criticism of Gilles Deleuze’s understanding of the human-animal relation and proposes a way of conceiving the animal-human encounter beyond the traps of narcissism.
Phantasmatics : Sovereignty and the Image of Death in Derrida’s First Death Penalty Seminar
Authors: Fulton Gwynne
Published: September 2015

By way of a double reading of the temporality of guillotine and photography in the anonymous 1939 film of the execution of Eugène Weidmann, this essay examines the putative instantaneity of death, which posits life as that which happens only before death.
Necro-Eco: The Ecology of Death in Jim Crace’s Being Dead
Authors: Bezan Sarah
Published: September 2015

This essay reads the decomposition of the human corpse in Jim Crace’s novel Being Dead as an expression of active, vital, agential, and transformative inter-species interaction. Affirming the creative possibilities of putrefaction, my analysis of Crace’s necro-ecological narrative emphasizes the vitality of death through the entangled interactions of organisms both human and non-human, living and dead.
Mourning as the Origin of Humanity
Authors: Dastur Françoise
Published: September 2015

In this essay, I suggest that the most original manner of defining humans might be simply to say that they are strange animals who bury their dead, since that which characterizes humanity as such is the refusal to submit to the natural order, this cycle of life and death that rules over all living beings. This explains the importance in all cultures of the practice of funeral rites. The death with which we are confronted is the death of others, and in particular of those who are close to us. Mourning can therefore be defined as the human capacity of having a relation to those who are no longer present in the world. Seen in this light, mourning can be considered as the fundamental mode of being human.
Dying Alive
Authors: Saghafi Kas
Published: September 2015

It is in his seminar The Beast & the Sovereign, Volume II that Derrida comes to argue that the phantasm, “dying alive,” and survival need to be thought in relation to, and with, each other. This essay explores the intriguing confluence of these three terms.
Faire parler les ombres: Les Victimes de la Traite négrière et des guerres contemporaines chez Léonora Miano
Authors: Trujic Irena
Published: September 2015

Cet article porte principalement sur Les Aubes écarlates de Miano, qui réfléchit aux conséquences de l’oubli dans la société africaine contemporaine: tandis que des luttes intestines ravagent un état imaginaire d’Afrique équatoriale, le roman s’intéresse au rôle joué désormais par les disparus qui n’ont pas laissé de trace, qu’il s’agisse de victimes de la Traite négrière ou d’enfants-soldats. Comme il est par définition impossible de raconter avec exactitude le sort des témoins intégraux (que les romans nomment “les ombres”), l’auteure comble les vides pour appréhender les faits dans leur globalité, en recourant notamment à des témoins in absentia ; forts de ce que les disparus leur ont transmis pendant leur sommeil, ou lors de phases divinatoires, ils sont chargés de les réintégrer au sein de la communauté, de témoigner qu’ils ont existé.
Assia Djebar, la voix des autres
Authors: Chatti Mounira
Published: September 2015

Trois langues (l’arabe, le berbère et le français) et un alphabet perdu (celui du berbère) coexistent dans l’écriture d’Assia Djebar. Sous l’apparente unicité de la langue, l’œuvre francophone traduit une grande diversité linguistique et culturelle. Quand une écriture place le paradigme féminin comme un élément déterminant (au plan de la forme et de la signification), ce rapport aux langues se trouve encore plus exacerbé. Écrire les voix de l’Algérie, transférer leurs sonorités et leur cadence en français, cette expérience peut être vécue comme une épreuve de l’étranger . De plus, l’entrecroisement entre la fiction et l’histoire donne une résonance tragique aux stratégies et aux postures de l’écrivain postcolonial. Confronté à la violence historique, l’écrivain francophone, singulièrement celui du Sud, semble voué à une écriture de l’hybridité, de la résistance, de l’expatriation.
Le Génocide rwandais: L’Écrivain-témoin indirect comme “donneur d’échos” dans Moisson de crânes de Waberi
Authors: Laurent Caroline D.
Published: September 2015

Dans son texte hybride Moisson de crânes sur le génocide rwandais, l’auteur djiboutien Abdourahman A. Waberi définit son rôle d’écrivain-témoin indirect comme celui d’un “donneur d’échos.” L’auteur demeure avant tout à l’écoute des autres: cette action d’“écouter” selon Jean-Luc Nancy ouvre le “sens” au mouvement, à la contamination et au partage. Un texte éclectique est ainsi produit, personnel mais néanmoins régi par une forte pluralité. La lecture novatrice des théories “d’être à l’écoute” en relation au témoin indirect lie l’oralité du témoignage et de la transmission à l’écriture. Moisson de crânes , écriture irriguée d’oralité, devient un texte “méthexique” (Nancy, À l’écoute 27)—forme adjectivale de méthexis (μέθεξις) se traduisant par participation—et un écho, une polyphonie qui résonne.
Témoigner en tiers: Le Journaliste Henry Barby face aux massacres des Arméniens durant la Grande Guerre
Authors: Chabot Joceline
Published: September 2015

En 1915–1916, les autorités turques mettent en œuvre le massacre et la déportation de plus d’un million d’Arméniens de l’Empire ottoman. À l’époque, cet événement retient l’attention de l’opinion internationale et fait l’objet d’une couverture médiatique relativement importante. Parmi la masse de témoignages qui sature l’espace discursif consacré aux massacres des Arméniens, nous avons choisi de retenir le récit d’un des rares journalistes français présents sur le front du Caucase, Henry Barby. Témoignant en tiers, ou pour ainsi dire de l’extérieur de la catastrophe, Barby admet sa difficulté à rendre compte du drame qui s’est déroulé en Asie Mineure et à en dresser le tableau le plus complet. Dans le cadre de cet article, nous souhaitons analyser la structure d’accréditation et d’attestation par laquelle le témoin, Henry Barby, cherche à représenter l’expérience dont il est porteur et à convaincre les lecteurs de la véracité des événements incriminés.
Au-delà du western et du documentaire dans Huit Piastres et demie! de Glen Pitre
Authors: Huet Justine
Published: September 2015

Avec Huit Piastres et demie! (1981) le réalisateur cadien Glen Pitre propose une œuvre inclassable. Mêlant une technique et un propos documentaires à une esthétique inattendue, celle du western, le film revisite l’histoire de la communauté cadienne en Louisiane. L’imaginaire western du film s’esquisse tant dans les scènes de reconstitution/fiction que dans les scènes d’entretiens avec les deux personnages principaux. À travers le western, Huit Piastres et demie! propose une mise en abyme du statut de la langue et de la culture cadiennes en Louisiane. En choisissant de conter un événement local, une grève de pêcheurs cadiens d’une petite commune louisianaise, Pitre prend le parti d’ériger le combat de la langue, de la culture et de l’histoire cadiennes pour leur survie au rang de mythe.