bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Private Provision after Public Neglect: Bending Irrigation Markets in North Bihar
Authors: Wood Geof
Published: March 2003

Research in North‐East Bihar shows public sector irrigation management to be embodied within the prevailing cultural structures of the region, involving the intrusion of local exchange behaviour into the practices of public allocation of water. With irrigation officials in strong rent‐seeking positions over farmers, and without resort to a moral sense of community through which farmers might exert voice over official providers, opting out into private provision via tube‐well borings and pumpsets has become the exit solution. However, the propensity to make even relatively small investments in bamboo borings is dependent upon access to pumpsets. While élite families own the pumpsets in a village, some farmers may have borings on just some of their land, and others may have no borings of their own at all. Farmers therefore have to enter into multi‐layered transactions in order to secure access to timely water. Secure access to other inputs is also necessary. This study encapsulates the themes of: state versus common property resources management; the ‘incentives’ induced by costs of loyalty and the availability of exits to adopt private solutions; and the social embeddedness of behaviour when operating in interlocked, community level markets.
The Cultural Economy of Soil and Water Conservation: Market Principles and Social Networks in Eastern Burkina Faso
Authors: Mazzucato Valentina , Niemeijer David
Published: March 2003

Soil and water conservation interventions in Africa have had a chequered history, calling into question the way in which soil and water conservation technologies have been studied in the past. This article draws on a case study from eastern Burkina Faso to explore an area usually ignored by soil and water conservation studies — the role of social institutions in guiding decisions regarding the use of technologies. It looks at soil and water conservation through the historical development of what the authors call the ‘cultural economy’, that is, a system of exchange in which a market economy has mixed with pre‐existing forms of exchange. The approach adopted by the authors identifies concepts on which the cultural economy is based and uses these ideas to analyse institutions that affect the choice of soil and water conservation technologies. The article shows how this approach leads to a reconceptualization of the ways in which soil and water conservation technologies are to be considered.
The House that Poison Built: Customary Marine Property Rights and the Live Food Fish Trade in the Kei Islands, Southeast Maluku
Authors: Thorburn Craig
Published: March 2003

The use of cyanide to stun and capture live food fish for export first appeared in the Philippines during the mid‐1970s. Today, this technology has spread throughout Southeast Asia and the Indo‐Pacific region, causing widespread damage to coral reef ecosystems. This study examines the local political and economic changes that have resulted since this destructive trade arrived in the Kei Archipelago of the Southeast Maluku District in Indonesia. District and provincial fisheries and law enforcement officials turn a blind eye, and evidence suggests complicity by some members of the military. Many local fishermen attempt to resist, motivated more by vestigial concepts of communal village rights and rules governing access to coral reef territories and resources, than by some intrinsic sense of environmental conservation. The article challenges the romantic predisposition of indigenous knowledge systems scholarship that characterizes local knowledge and practices as inherently eco‐friendly and socially just, and argues for closer examination of the dynamics involved when local practices and institutions are integrated into larger circuits of production and trade.
Development and Discourse among the Maya of Southern Belize
Authors: Van Ausdal Shawn
Published: March 2003

This article explores the discourse of development in southern Belize, and the appropriateness of post‐development ideas to understand its effects. It investigates a prevailing notion in development texts from the region that population pressure represents an environmental threat, an odd image for a country with so few inhabitants and so many trees. It also examines the consequences of apparent attempts by the government to employ development projects to defuse local contention over plans to privatize Maya land tenure. While post‐developmentalists have opened up fruitful avenues of analysis this study suggests that some of their conclusions are overstated. In particular, it questions the de‐politicizing effect of development discourse, and the notion of grassroots movements searching for alternatives to development, amounting to a ‘rejection of the entire paradigm’.
State Collapse and its Implications for Peace–Building and Reconstruction
Authors: Yannis Alexandros
Published: March 2003

At the beginning of the twenty–first century, terms such as state collapse and failed states are becoming familiar, regularly used in international politics to describe a new and frightening challenge to international security. The dramatic events of September 11 have pushed the issue of collapsed states further into the limelight. This article has two aims. Firstly, it explains the contextual factors that gave rise to the phenomenon of state collapse. In the early post–Cold War period, state collapse was usually viewed as a regional phenomenon, and concerns were mainly limited to humanitarian consequences for the local population and destabilizing effects on neighbouring countries. Now, state collapse is seen in a more global context, and concerns are directed at the emergence of groups of non–state actors who are hostile to the fundamental values and interests of the international society such as peace, stability, rule of law, freedom and democracy. Secondly, the article offers some observations about the normative implications of the phenomenon of state collapse for peace–building and reconstruction.
Try Again, Fail Again, Fail Better? War, the State, and the ‘Post–Conflict’ Challenge in Afghanistan
Authors: Cramer Christopher , Goodhand Jonathan
Published: March 2003

This article investigates the challenges currently facing Afghanistan. It argues that ‘post–conflict’ peace and reconstruction in Afghanistan may depend on a dramatic expansion of institutionalized economic interdependence: this will not necessarily require obeisance to standard international policy paradigms and it will have to draw on existing patterns of interdependence, even though many of these are rooted in brutally exploitative war economy conditions. The authors argue further that neither peace nor economic development will hold without a centralized, credible and effective state, that the emergence of such a state is a political problem more than a technical problem, and that it will depend on a monopolization of force by the state. Such developments cannot be envisaged without policy being based on a close reading of the long and decidedly non–linear, conflictual experiences in state formation and failure in Afghanistan, a history whose patterns and implications are summarized in this article.
Unequal Exchange? Recent Transfers of Agricultural Resources and their Implications for Developing Countries
Authors: Fowler Cary , Smale Melinda , Gaiji Samy
Published: March 2003

Plant genetic resources constitute the biological basis for plant breeding and future agricultural development. Their transfer from developing to developed countries over centuries has sometimes been viewed as an example of exploitation, if not ‘biopiracy’. Modern gene flows are different in character and magnitude from historic exchanges, however. This article examines current patterns and finds that developing countries are major net recipients of germplasm samples from CGIAR centres, particularly if ‘improved materials’ are considered. Potentially problematic, intellectual property rights do not currently present major barriers to the availability and use of genetic resources by developing countries. Proposals to restrict flows and redress perceived injustices may reduce the benefits accruing at present to developing countries from germplasm exchanges.
Reaching the Rural Poor
Authors: Csaki Csaba
Published: March 2003

World Bank funding for agricultural development has fallen sharply, despite the evident need and a good track record. The reasons are both internal to the Bank and also external, within client countries. A new strategy has been developed to reverse the trend, by focusing more sharply on the contribution of rural development to poverty reduction. The strategy rests on three legs: (i) fostering broad‐based rural growth; (ii) improving social well‐being, managing risk, and reducing vulnerability; and (iii) enhancing the sustainable management of natural resources. Innovations include a new emphasis on the rural non‐farm economy, and on risk management in rural areas.
Blazing the Trail: Eight Years of Change in Handling International Development
Authors: Vereker John
Published: March 2003

Rarely do serving senior civil servants speak in public or write for the record: that has tended to be the prerogative of the ministers whom they support. Until February 2002, Sir John Vereker was Permanent Secretary of the UK Department for International Development (DFID). He was invited to address an audience of politicians and development experts, at the All‐Party Parliamentary Group on Overseas Development, on his unique experience of serving for equal periods as head of the former Overseas Development Administration and DFID, at a time of intense policy change. He secured the assent of his Secretary of State and the Editors of Development Policy Review judged that his contribution deserved to be read by a wider audience.
Forty Years of Multilateral Food Aid: Responding to Changing Realities
Authors: Clay Edward
Published: March 2003

Book reviewed in this article:

D. John Shaw, The UN World Food Programme and the Development of Food Aid.
Does Export Promotion Increase Economic Growth? Some Cross‐Section Evidence
Authors: Subasat Turan
Published: March 2003

This article is concerned with the empirical link between exports and economic growth. Its core objectives are to attempt control for structural features that determine ‘export orientation’ in order to derive an index of export promotion that captures policy effects only, and then to test whether or not this index is a determinant of growth. The empirical work presented casts doubt on the overall validity of the export‐led development hypothesis. The analysis suggests that middle‐income countries that are more export‐oriented grow faster than relatively less export‐oriented economies. For low‐ and high‐income countries, however, export promotion does not have any significant impact on economic growth.
Impact of Supermarkets and Fast–Food Chains on Horticulture Supply Chains in Argentina
Authors: Ghezán Graciela , Mateos Mónica , Viteri Laura
Published: March 2003

In the 1990s, the supermarket and fast–food sectors grew rapidly in Argentina. Both were dominated by multinational firms, and their growth drove profound change in food market systems and farming. This article analyses the impact of this development on fruit and vegetables supply chains, in particular the way the advent of McDonald’s affected the supply chain for frozen French fried potatoes. It shows that there is a tendency for such changes to favour medium and large producers, with evidence of the exclusion of small farmers.
Strengthening Public Safety Nets from the Bottom Up
Authors: Morduch Jonathan , Sharma Manohar
Published: March 2003

Helping to reduce vulnerability poses a new set of challenges for public policy. A starting point is understanding the ways in which communities and extended families try to cope with difficulties in the absence of public interventions. Coping mechanisms range from the informal exchange of transfers and loans to more structured institutions that enable an entire community to provide protection to its neediest members. This article describes ways of building public safety nets to complement and extend informal and private institutions. The most effective policies will combine transfer systems that are sensitive to existing mechanisms with new institutions for providing insurance and credit and for generating savings.
Heaven or Hubris: Reflections on the New ‘New Poverty Agenda’
Authors: Maxwell Simon
Published: March 2003

A new construction on poverty reduction links the Millennium Development Goals, an international consensus on how to reduce poverty, Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers, a new set of instruments for delivering aid, and, underpinning the others, results–based management. This new construction has undoubted strengths. There are also cross–cutting risks, that targets will oversimplify, citizenship will be neglected, trade–offs and conflicts of interest will be obscured, macro–economic policy will be neglected, social sectors will be emphasised at the expense of growth policies, and commitment to partnership will degrade into a form of covert conditionality. These risks are not immutable. A way forward is proposed, with a list of six principles and a set of Dos and Don’ts.
Benefit–Cost Appraisals of Export Processing Zones: A Survey of the Literature
Authors: Jayanthakumaran Kankesu
Published: March 2003

This article surveys research on the performance of Export Processing Zones (EPZs) using a benefit–cost analytical framework. Results suggest that zones in South Korea, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, China and Indonesia are economically efficient and generate returns well above estimated opportunity costs. On the other hand, the heavy infrastructure costs involved in setting up the zone in the Philippines resulted in a negative net present value. The zones have been an important source of employment in all cases and have promoted local entrepreneurs in some. However, as industrial development proceeds, the gap between the market and opportunity costs of labour narrows and the interest in EPZs tends to disappear. It may hold only if the zones generate private profit to domestic shareholders.
A computational and neuropsychological account of object‐oriented behaviours in infancy
Authors: Mareschal Denis , Plunkett Kim , Harris Paul
Published: March 2003

Infants under 7 months of age fail to reach behind an occluding screen to retrieve a desired toy even though they possess sufficient motor skills to do so. However, even by 3.5 months of age they show surprise if the solidity of the hidden toy is violated, suggesting that they know that the hidden toy still exists. We describe a connectionist model that learns to predict the position of objects and to initiate a response towards these objects. The model embodies the dual‐route principle of object information processing characteristic of the cortex. One route develops a spatially invariant surface feature representation of the object whereas the other route develops a feature blind spatial–temporal representation of the object. The model provides an account of the developmental lag between infants’ knowledge of hidden objects and their ability to demonstrate that knowledge in an active retrieval task, in terms of the need to integrate information across multiple object representations using (associative) connectionist learning algorithms. Finally, the model predicts the presence of an early dissociation between infants’ ability to use surface features (e.g. colour) and spatial–temporal features (e.g. position) when reasoning about hidden objects. Evidence supporting this prediction has now been reported.
Children’s coding of human action: cognitive factors influencing imitaation in 3‐year‐old
Authors: Gleissner Brigitte , Bekkering Harold , Meltzoff Andrew N.
Published: March 2003

We used imitation as a tool for investigating how young children code action. The study was designed to examine the errors children make in re‐enacting manual gestures they see. Thirty‐two 3‐year‐old children served as subjects. Each child was shown 24 gestures, generated by systematically crossing four factors: visual monitoring, spatial endpoint, movement path, and number of hands. The results showed no difference as a function of whether the children could visually monitor their own responses. Interestingly, children made significantly more errors when the adult's action terminated on a body part than they did when the same movement terminated near the body part. There were also significantly more errors when the demonstrated act involved crossing midline than when it did not, and more errors when it involved one hand rather than two hands. Our hypothesis is that human acts are coded in terms of goals. The goals are hierarchically organized, and because young children have difficulty simultaneously integrating multiple goals into one act they often re‐enact the goals that are ranked higher, which leads to the errors observed. We argue that imitation is an active reconstruction of perceived events and taps cognitive processing. We suggest that the goal‐based imitation in 3‐year‐olds is a natural developmental outgrowth of the perceptual–motor mapping and goal‐directed coding of human acts found in infancy.
Doesn’t see, doesn’t know: is anticipatory looking really related to understanding or belief?
Authors: Garnham Wendy A. , Ruffman Ted
Published: March 2003

Clements and Perner (Cognitive Development, 9 (1994), 377–397) reported that children show understanding of a story character’s belief in their anticipatory looking responses before they show this in their answers to test questions. According to Clements and Perner the anticipatory looking responses provide evidence of implicit understanding of belief. This paper examines the possibility that the anticipatory looking measure is indicative of (a) children using a seeing = knowing rule, i.e. children linking not seeing with ignorance rather than a sensitivity to belief, or (b) a tendency to associate the protagonist with the left‐hand container. Thirty‐two children aged between 2 years 11 months and 4 years were told a false belief story similar to that used in Clements and Perner (1994) except that three containers were used instead of two. The protagonist first looks inside the middle box but then puts the object in the left‐hand box. In his absence, a second character moves the object unexpectedly to the right‐hand box. If children’s anticipatory looking was based on sensitivity to belief then they should have looked clearly to the left‐hand box. If it was based on an association bias or sensitivity to the character not knowing then they should have looked equally to the left‐hand and middle boxes. The results were consistent with the former prediction suggesting that children’s anticipatory looking responses may indeed be governed by an implicit sensitivity to belief.
The effect of spatial cues on infants’ responses in the AB task, with and without a hidden object
Authors: Bremner Andrew , Bryant Peter
Published: March 2003

The errors made by infants in the AB task were taken by Piaget as an indication of an inability to update their representations of the spatial location of a hidden object. This paper presents an experiment designed to further investigate the role of spatial representations in the production of the error. The introduction of strong visual cues to spatial location was found to reduce the traditional A‐not‐B search error. However, it also increased perseveration when a ‘lids‐only’ analogue of the AB task was used, in which infants are simply cued to pick up lids rather than encouraged to search for a hidden object. These results present a challenge to the dynamic systems account of the error given by Smith, Thelen, Titzer and McLin (Psychological Review, 106 (1999), 235–260), and indicate that the traditional A‐not‐B search error arises from a difficulty in updating representations of the spatial location of hidden objects. The relation of these results to Munakata’s PDP model (Developmental Science, 1 (1998), 161–211) and Thelen, Schöner, Scheier and Smith’s (Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 24 (2001), 1‐‐86) most recent dynamic systems model of the A‐not‐B error is also discussed.
Mapping the development of white matter tracts with diffusion tensor imaging
Authors: Li Tie‐Qiang , Noseworthy Michael D.
Published: March 2003

In this study, the development of white matter was studied using an optimized diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) protocol in 20 normal subjects (10–40 years old). The normal development of white matter tracts was addressed by comparing the diffusion anisotropy results between two sub‐groups: eight adults (26–38 years old) and eight adolescents (13–15 years old). The difference in myelination extent between these two groups as indexed by the fractional anisotropy was identified by conducting a studentt‐test of the measured diffusion anisotropy maps. Significant differences (p< 0.01) were detected in the gyrus frontalis medialis (GFM), gyrus temporalis medialis (GTM) and gyrus cinguli (GC), in addition to the developmental changes in corpus callosum. A brief overview of previous published DTI studies in developmental science and current progress in DTI techniques is also given at the end of this paper. It may be useful for readers interested in using DTI to study developmental problems but who are not familiar with the various technical aspects.
Institutional Arrangements for Flood Hazards in Malaysia: An Evaluation Using the Criteria Approach
Authors: Chan Ngai Weng
Published: March 2003

Institutional aspects of flood hazards significantly affect their outcomes in Malaysia. Institutional arrangements to deal with floods include: legislative activity, organisational structures, attitudes and sub‐culture, and policies and instruments. When assessed in terms of four specific criteria, institutional aspects of flood hazards are found to be largely inadequate. Disaster reduction programmes are over‐dependent on a reactive approach based largely on technology and not even aimed at floods specifically. Structual flood reduction measures are the predominant management tool and, although the importance of non‐structural measures is recognised, thus far they have been under‐employed. Current laws and regulations with regard to flood management are also insufficient and both the financial and human resources of flood hazard organisations are generally found to be wanting. Finally, economic efficiency, equity and public accountability issues are not adequately addressed by institutional arrangements for flood hazards.
Household Behaviour in Response to Earthquake Risk: An Assessment of Alternative Theories
Authors: Asgary Ali , Willis K.G.
Published: March 2003

Households respond to earthquake risk in different ways. The main theories explaining human behaviour under threat of earthquakes are reviewed. A survey of households’ responses in Tehran and Rasht in Iran to earthquake risks is used to assess the validity of psychological, ‘need’, socio‐cultural and economic theories in explaining behaviour. More support of cognitive and cultural theories is found rather than economic and ‘need’ theories of earthquake safety measures; this suggests that positive adoption of mitigation measures can be encouraged in terms of cognitive processes through information and education.
The Changing Nature of Conflict and Famine Vulnerability: The Case of Livestock Raiding in Turkana District, Kenya
Authors: Hendrickson Dylan , Armon Jeremy , Mearns Robin
Published: March 2003

The context of famine in Turkana has changed in recent years as the role played by livestock raiding in contributing to famine has increased. External responses to famine in Turkana have largely been drought driven, for example, food assistance and livestock restocking programmes, which have failed to meet the real needs of herders. The role of armed conflict in the form of raiding has been overlooked as a common feature of societies facing famine and food insecurity.The traditional livelihood‐enhancing functions of livestock raiding are contrasted with the more predatory forms common today. The direct impact of raiding on livelihood security can be devastating, while the threat of raids and measures taken to cope with this uncertainty undermine herders’ livelihood strategies. Self‐imposed restrictions on mobility negatively affect the vegetation of both grazed and ungrazed pastures and restrict the available survival strategies. Predatory raiding leads to a collapse in the moral economy. Some implications of this for relief and development policy are considered, including approaches to conflict resolution.
Injuries as a Result of California Earthquakes in the Past Decade
Authors: Shoaf Kimberley I. , Sareen Harvinder R. , Nguyen Loc H. , Bourque Linda B.
Published: March 2003

The devastating effects of earthquakes have been demonstrated repeatedly in the past decade, through moderate and major earthquakes such as the October 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake (5.9 on the Richter scale), the October 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake (7.1) and the January 1994 Northridge earthquake (6.7). While ‘official’ tallies of injuries and deaths are reported for each event, the numbers vary from report to report. For Northridge, the number of injuries vary between 8,000 and 12,000; the number of deaths from 33 to 73 (Peek‐Asa et al., 1997; Durkin, 1996).While official estimates are commonly reported following disasters, the study of actual numbers, types and causes of casualties has not developed. In this paper, we identify the numbers and risk factors for injuries within community‐based samples across three earthquakes in urban California. We first report the numbers and types of injuries in each earthquake and then identify risk factors specifically associated with the Northridge earthquake
Cyclone Mitigation, Resource Allocation and Post‐disaster Reconstruction in South India: Lessons from Two Decades of Research
Authors: Winchester Peter
Published: March 2003

This paper opens with a history of development and disaster‐prevention strategies in a cyclone‐prone area of the east coast of India and traces the evolution in the area of British and Indian governments' programmes and policy over a century. Research over the last 20 years has shown however that the programmes and policies have failed to balance economic growth with safety. Resources intended for the benefit of all have been diverted by alliances of powerful people to a small minority, and recent developments have reduced the physical protection of the area. The result is that increasing numbers of people are vulnerable to the effects of cyclones and floods. The findings suggest that the best way to reduce vulnerability is to improve the socio‐economic standing of the most vulnerable and for this to happen these people must have an assured income based on assets that will enable them to acquire social and economic credit‐worthiness within the local economy. This paper presents evidence that suggests that non‐governmental organisation (NGO)‐supported co‐operatives are the best way to achieve this through self‐help and self‐employment schemes. It also suggests that NGOs should be encouraged to take up environmentally and ecologically beneficial activities involving the poorest groups in the communities, in this way combining sustained self‐employment with environmental protection.
Earthquake Drills and Simulations in Community‐based Training and Preparedness Programmes
Authors: Simpson David M.
Published: March 2003

The San Francisco, California, bay area is subject to continuous seismic risk. One particular response has been the development of community‐based training programmes designed to teach residents basic emergency response skills. Citizens are taught emergency medical techniques, search and rescue, fire suppression and other fundamental response skills. Current estimates in the Bay Area place the number of programmes at more than 100. Many programmes now include an annual community drill to reinforce the training and to evaluate the programme.

The study described here is based on an evaluation of an effort initiated by BayNET (Bay Area Neighborhood Emergency Training), a voluntary association of communities with community‐based disaster preparedness programmes. In April 1996, BayNET asked all of its members to hold a community earthquake drill. After the drill, a mail survey was conducted of all programme managers. The survey examined the structure and administration of the programmes, training efforts and other related components. This paper describes the typology of drill formats that communities used, the role of the simulation in the city’s preparedness efforts, the qualitative costs and benefits, as well as an assessment of the drill based on survey respondents.
A Survey of International Urban Search‐and‐rescue Teams following the Ji Ji Earthquake
Authors: Chiu Wen‐Ta , Arnold Jeffrey , Shih Yaw‐Tang , Hsiung Kuang‐Hua , Chi Hsueh‐Yun , Chiu Chia‐Huei , Tsai Wan‐Chen , Huang William C.
Published: March 2003

On 21 September 1999, the Ji Ji earthquake killed 2,347 people. In the immediate aftermath the international community mobilised rapidly and sent urban search‐and‐rescue (US&R) teams to the scene. This paper will present an annotated survey of the expertise and standard of equipment of international US&R teams following that earthquake which could serve as a blueprint for the establishment of US&R teams elsewhere at risk from earthquakes.
An Input–Output Analysis of the Nonprofit Sector in the USA and Germany
Authors: Anheier Helmut K. , Rudney Gabriel
Published: March 2003

This paper presents an exploratory input–output analysis of the nonprofit sectors in former West Germany and the USA based on the conceptual and data structure provided by the System of National Accounts. When compared with the USA, the West German nonprofit sector catered more to government demands. A higher proportion of West German nonprofit services went to government and a smaller proportion went to households. In terms of the multiplier effect of nonprofit output, we find that an additional dollar of nonprofit services delivered to households and/or government induced indirectly an additional 83 cents of business output in the USA. By comparison, West Germany’s nonprofit sector had a lower multiplier effect, with 43 Pfennig per DM1. We also find that businesses have a much larger stake in nonprofit production as intermediate suppliers when compared to their role as intermediate consumers. The economic position the nonprofit sector occupies in both countries is that of a producing sector, taking inputs from businesses and providing outputs for households and governments. This general structural characteristic suggests that the nonprofit sector is particularly sensitive to changes in government policies as well as to shifts in private household incomes, yet relatively insensitive to demand changes in other industries.
The Effects of Regulation and Regulatory Risk in the UK Electricity Distribution Industry
Authors: Robinson T. A. , Taylor M. P.
Published: March 2003

This paper examines the impact of regulation of the UK electricity industry on expectations of investors in the shares of regional electricity companies (RECs). This is done using event‐study methodology where the movements of RECs’ returns are compared to movements in the stock market as a whole. We then test for the presence of regulatory risk by modelling the conditional volatility of equity returns before and after 30 significant regulatory events using an ARCH process. Our results show no evidence of regulatory capture in this sector but suggest that regulatory risk does exist.
La Caisse d’Épargne Caixa
Authors: Malo M.‐C.
Published: March 2003

Within the updating of commercial and business procedures of the savings and credit bank, the Desjardins Movement has studied foreign models including the Caixa. In spite of notable differences, among others concerning the legal status, both institutions share several common characteristics. After comparing the strategy, structure and culture of both organisations, the author analyses the Caixa's experience (emergence and introduction of the business reengineering; technological, organizational and institutional changes) in order to draw conclusions for the renewal process of the Desjardins Movement.
Competition and Public Service Obligations: Regulatory Rules and Industries Games
Authors: Defeuilley Christophe
Published: March 2003

The introduction of competition in regulated industries may have positive or negative side‐effects on the provision of collective goods or services. The paper shows that these effects are closely related to two associated elements: the industrial strategies developed by utilities and the regulatory environment within which they operate. Regulatory rules and corporate strategies influence the treatment of public service obligations. This raises a major issue regarding the regulation of public utilities. To reduce the drawbacks of the introduction of competition, it is necessary to set regulatory rules that allow the implementation of market configurations enabling public utilities to follow a public service orientation rather than a pure market‐based approach.
The Relationship Between Agricultural Cooperatives and the State in Sweden: The Legislative Process
Authors: Fregidou‐Malama M.
Published: March 2003

On the basis of interviews made with twenty seven leading personalities from cooperatives and government institutions, it is identified, that two main dimensions, the economic and the social, are emphasized by different interest groups involved in the cooperative process. It is also indicated that the relationship between state and cooperatives, in varying degrees, combines these two basic dimensions over time in the actual cooperative law and thus focuses on one dimension, neglecting the other.

Relationship is meant to anchor the economic and the social values of cooperatives in the political process, and enable them to be accepted. In conclusion, it can be argued that the state can influence the character of cooperatives by selecting specific actors in specific processes. For this reason, in order to secure a sustainable autonomous development of cooperatives, it is important to synthesize and take into consideration different interests in future relations between cooperatives and the state.
Proximity Services in Belgium: An Analysis of Public and Nonprofit Relations
Authors: Petrella Francesca
Published: March 2003

In this paper, we analyze the interaction between nonprofit organizations (NPOs) and government with regard to the provision of proximity services. Given the characteristics of these services and the organizational features specific to each sector, we argue that the relationship between the public and the nonprofit sectors is necessary but rather complex. We illustrate our analysis with some empirical evidence collected by the CERISIS‐UCL in 1996 for the city of Charleroi (Belgium). This survey shows that NPOs are the major producers of proximity services but are, on average, largely subsidized by government. Public intervention is also significant in the production of these services but is the most striking in their financing. These results evoke the existence of a multifaceted interaction between the public and nonprofit sectors, that we try to understand in this paper. Our analysis highlights that the tension between the current focus of public policies on job creation for the low‐skilled unemployed and the service‐based mission of most NPOs might generate inappropriate responses to the needs of the community. It also suggests that this conflict of objectives, given the current organization of proximity services, is likely to threaten the autonomy and originality of the nonprofit sector.
A household model of charitable contributions and tax incentives
Authors: García Inmaculada , Marcuello Carmen
Published: March 2003

The aim of this paper is to present a theoretical model of the monetary contributions made by households to nonprofit organizations, and to analyse the effect of tax incentives according to the different tax systems currently in force in the European Union Member States. This model is estimated by means of data drawn from the Family Expenditure Survey and the Regional Accounts in Spain covering the period 1990–91. We analyse the effects that different variables and tax incentives have on household decisions. The results indicate that the decisions to donate, and how much to be donated, are taken sequentially and are significantly influenced by household characteristics, the provision of public funds and donation price. The analysis of the Spanish tax system indicates that the model generates donation incentives.
Consumer Ownership in Liberalized Electricity Markets. The Case of Denmark
Authors: Olsen Ole Jess , Skytte Klaus
Published: March 2003

The continuation of consumer ownership has been an important part of the Danish electricity reform from 1999. Consumer ownership refers to either a consumer co‐operative or a municipal utility. Contrary to conventional wisdom, consumer ownership can be supported by solid arguments from modern economic theory of organization. These arguments are presented and confronted with both present and future situation in Denmark. The development of the electricity supply industry after the Second World War has emptied consumer ownership of much of its original content. Nowadays, most consumers consider their electric utility as the (monopoly) supplier of a good they demand and not as something they own. Therefore, obligatory consumer ownership as specified in the new Danish Electricity Act of 1999 cannot be relied on to guarantee security of supply and reasonable prices for small consumers
Mutual, non‐profit or public interest company? An evaluation of options for the ownership and control of water utilities
Authors: Birchall Johnston
Published: March 2003

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate various organizational models for the ownership and control of natural monopolies – specifically the infrastructure of water and sewage provision in England and Wales. First, it summarizes recent discussion of who should own water assets in Britain. The paper notes the opportunity that has arisen for increased consumer involvement, and examines the relative merits of three models that have been suggested as alternatives: a non‐profit trust or company, a public interest company, and a consumer mutual. Five criteria are suggested for evaluating the merits of each type: its ability to safeguard the interests of the most important stakeholder, the consumer; avoid the necessity for a heavy regulatory regime; incentivize management to manage efficiently but without ‘producer capture’; raise capital relatively cheaply; and resist pressures to demutualize. The paper agrees with the recent paper in this Journal by Morse (2000) that, in theory, the consumer mutual has advantages. It draws on Hansmann’s work that suggests consumer ownership of water would be less costly than investor‐ownership, providing there are no large conflicts of interest between different types of consumer. Hansmann’s thesis is expanded to consider the likely benefits from wider member participation, and the hidden costs of not taking members into account. It then tests out whether customers would be motivated in practice to be active members, introducing a theoretical model of what motivates members of co‐operatives and mutuals to participate. The conclusions are that provided managers and board members are committed to encouraging member participation, the consumer mutual model would work well. It would need only light regulation, would avoid producer capture, and would be able to raise capital fairly easily, both from money markets and from members. It would need legislation to prevent it from being demutualized at some time in the future. However, if a participatory corporate culture cannot be guaranteed, or if there is a risk of decline of participation over time, other options such as a non‐profit trust or a public interest company would be less risky.
Post–Privatization Effects of Management and Employee Buy–outs
Authors: Wright Mike , Buck Trevor , Filatotchev Igor
Published: March 2003

Management and employee buy–outs have played a significant role in the privatization of state–owned enterprises. Key research and policy issues are raised concerning whether insider ownership promotes or impedes restructuring and adaptation. This paper reviews and synthesizes studies of the effects of privatization management and employee buy–outs in both developed and transition economies. Trends in privatization buy–outs and conceptual issues concerning the expected effects of privatization buy–outs both in terms of performance and survival are discussed. A review of empirical evidence is presented in terms of the impact of buy–outs on employee attitudes, human resource management, strategy and restructuring, financial and economic performance, together with fresh evidence on survival. Privatization buy–outs can lead to significant restructuring but their impact depends on institutional context and policy. Restructuring may be greater where insiders purchase shares rather than acquiring them virtually free through voucher programmes.
The Economics of Non Profit Accounting and Auditing: Suggestions for a Research Agenda
Authors: Jegers Marc
Published: March 2003

An agency based economic theory of non profit accounting and auditing is presented, resulting in thirteen empirically testable hypotheses on their presence, nature and quality. The central agency relation analysed is the board–management relation.
Privatization and Indigenous Ownership: Evidence from Africa
Authors: Craig J.
Published: March 2003

In recent years, privatization has become common across Africa, reversing the long–term growth in state ownership of business enterprises. Many have interpreted this as entailing the abandonment of the developmental objectives that state enterprises were established to pursue. Others, however, have suggested that the privatization process can itself provide a new means through which the same objectives may be achieved. This article examines the potential for privatization to be used to promote indigenous ownership. This objective was pursued in newly independent states across Africa and today remains an aim of many of the governments undertaking privatization. The article provides a typology of the range of measures that can be employed to promote indigenous ownership in the context of privatization. It examines those used in the Zambian privatization programme, assessing the degree to which they have been successful and the obstacles they have faced. Finally, it concludes with a comparison of the Zambian case with other African experiences.
The Geopolitics of Eugenics and the Incarceration of Japanese Americans
Authors: Tyner James A.
Published: March 2003

Both geopolitics and eugenics as political/scientific theories emerged during the late‐nineteenth and early‐twentieth centuries. Although in the literature these remain largely disparate areas of inquiry, many parallels exist. Both reflected a concern over the security of the state and both emphasized the identification of foreign threats and likewise intimated viable solutions to counter these threats. This paper seeks to uncover a geopolitics of eugenics. Specifically, I contend that a eugenically informed geopolitical discourse—and not solely a racist ideology—greatly informed the decision during the Second World War to incarcerate in the United States 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry. The liberties and human rights of those incarcerated were violated because, according to this discourse, their sacrifices were necessary for the preservation of a (white) race and nation.
Cartographies of the Colonial/Capitalist State: A Geopolitics of Indigenous Self‐Determination in Australia
Authors: Gibson Chris
Published: March 2003

‘Indigenous self‐determination’ is a multivalent term that has come to represent various meanings in different political and cultural contexts. Indigenous peoples' strategies for self‐determination have become increasingly prominent in the domestic polities of many ‘first‐world’ nations, and in the sphere of international law and human rights. These strategies have challenged the cartography of the nation‐state with competing claims to land ownership, sovereignty, and self‐governance. In Australia, indigenous strategies for self‐determination are diverse and holistic and revolve around issues including land rights, law, environmental management, and control over service provision. These are evident in a variety of both ‘elite’ and ‘popular’ geopolitical texts. Meanwhile, Australian governments have created new structures that have attempted to encapsulate meanings of ‘self‐determination,’ allowing some indigenous decision‐making control, whilst entrenching the nation‐state's ultimate hegemony over land. The geopolitics of indigenous strategies for self‐determination, and tensions concerning the meaning of the term, are examined, revealing some ways in which discursive trends and material structures interact in locally produced relations of power.
Authors, Editors and Authority in the Postmodern Academy
Authors: Johnston Ron
Published: March 2003

Textbooks are presented, by their authors and publishers, as authoritative statements regarding the nature of a scientific discipline or sub‐discipline: in Kuhn's words, they are the “vehicles for the perpetuation of normal science.” One of the main contributions of postmodern and poststructuralist thought, however, has been to challenge the nature of power and authority in the academy, a challenge that has been widely taken up in contemporary geographical research. There has been much less impact on textbook production and other teaching resources, however, where the “authority of the disembodied scholar” still holds sway. This is illustrated with respect to readers, collections of both original and reprinted pieces (the latter often in abridged form) where editorial authority (“this is what I think you should read”) is frequently as firm as its predecessor, authorial authority. The reasons for this are sought in contemporary developments in higher education.
Research, Pedagogy, and Instrumental Geography
Authors: Heyman Rich
Published: March 2003

Taking an historical approach to the “corporatization of the university,” this paper argues that the classroom as a site of political praxis has been neglected in mainstream geography and is a crucial place where such “corporatization” can be challenged. Geographers have expended much energy working out new methods of research and analysis, but have not adequately addressed the link between knowledge production and pedagogy. This paper attempts to bring questions of radical pedagogic practices into mainstream discussions in geography by showing how knowledge came to be viewed primarily in instrumentalist terms during the nineteenth century, and by showing how recent challenges to positivism can open the door to more sophisticated discussions of the topic. The paper argues that by so doing, we will be better equipped to defend our classrooms and more able to promote teaching that matters to radicalgeographers—social justice, critical citizenship, and participatory democracy.