Evaluating impacts for competing land use alternatives

Public sector decisions concerning land use can benefit from a consistent accounting of economic values represented in alternative uses. While conventional economic valuation may not represent all interests bearing on optimal land use, ignorance or misuse of economic principles in the decision process may lead to socially undesirable outcomes. We make use of an impact assessment technique based on the U.S. Forest Service Micro IMPLAN model to compile and measure the economic consequences of alternative agricultural land use. This approach provides consistent measurement of economic impacts based on quantified linkages among the different sectors represented in Hood River County, Oregon. An orchard and a golf course are compared in terms of the magnitude and distribution of direct, indirect, and induced economic impacts arising from alternative uses of a designated land parcel. While the results are not generalizable to specific applications, the approach highlights the key economic variables that generate economic benefits in alternative uses.     

Multilateral cooperation for development in the caribbean basin: An agenda‐dynamics framework

Since the U.S. Congress approved some of the provisions of the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) in July 1983, U.S., Canadian, Asian and European businesses have demonstrated increasing investment interests in Latin America and the Caribbean. The CBI offers, among other incentives, free trade for Caribbean Basin products exported to the United States, and financial and technical assistance to the region's private sector.

This article applies the agenda‐dynamics framework of persuasive‐manipulative communication to the implementation of programs such as the CBI and to the formulation of development strategies for the Caribbean Basin. According to the framework, development in a nation is a function of the perceptions, preferences and actions of people associated with each of three agendas (media, public and policy), as well as the interplay of the agendas. The article emphasizes the need for agencies to develop and broaden development policies in response to Caribbean realities. Finally, it also considers the broad implications of multilateral cooperation for accomplishing wide‐ranging development programs in the Basin nations.     

The Retreat from Autonomy: Post-modernism as Generalised Conformism

This article, after periodising history on the basis of the imaginary significations created by and dominating each period, argues that the period after the Second World War is characterised mainly by the waning of social, political and ideological conflict and the eclipse, after the movements of the 1960s, of the project of autonomy. The decadence in the field of spiritual creation, which marks this period, is reflected in the development of post-modernism that simply mirrors and - worse - rationalises the prevailing trends through a high brow apologetics of conformity and banality.     

Polish Labour Migrants and Undeclared Work in Norway

This article identifies how labour migrants’ participation in undeclared work is triggered by a combination of voluntary exit from the formal labour market in the host country as well as structures that makes it more likely for this type of worker to be forced to accept unregistered work. The argument is built by examining how East‐West European Union migration can foster or reinforce reasons for participating in undeclared work. At the EU level, the issue of undeclared work is seen as a mounting challenge, and public discussion now associates a supposed increase in undeclared work with the EU's open borders. For this study, 74 semi‐structured interviews were conducted with Polish labour migrants in Norway – both temporary migrants and more settled ones. A substantial part of these interviews focused on undeclared work. The results indicate that immigration enhances as well as creates new reasons for participating in undeclared work. In particular, they highlight how decisions to participate in undeclared work are not just an effect of labour market dynamics, but also a question of social integration.     

Firm supporter and severe critic – Germany’s two-pronged approach to EU enlargement in the Western Balkans

Abstract

Germany has demonstrated an active commitment towards the accession perspective of the Western Balkans, which found its most vocal expression in the initiation of a Western Balkans summit in August 2014 and the ensuing “Berlin process”. However, German support reflexively goes hand in hand with a reference to rigid accession conditionality. This not only fosters stabilization and transformation in the Western Balkan states, but also – at the domestic level – counters widespread enlargement scepticism among decision makers and the German public. The far-reaching participation rights of the Federal Parliament, acquired by the 2009 amendments to the Act on EU Cooperation, involves the Bundestag inter alia in the opening of accession negotiations, thus also increasing domestic constraints for Germany’s position in the Council. Federal elections due in late 2017 and a political environment shaped by a discussion about migration, including from and through the Western Balkans, make enlargement policy a particularly hard-to-sell issue.     

Knocking on the Door: Juvenile and Family Courts as a Forum for Facilitating School Attendance and Decreasing Truancy

While there is debate about whether courts should be involved in truancy reduction efforts, less recognized is how courts can impact school attendance without lengthening their reach or further penalizing children and families. Courts are already involved with school‐related decision making in child welfare and delinquency cases. This article reports on data from a qualitative study of stakeholder perspectives (N = 64) on school attendance in Maryland. Respondents suggested that courts adopt engagement‐focused approaches to guide their work such as family assessments, school attendance plans, monitoring coordination and delivery of services, and ensuring that agencies meet their obligations to children.