The transnational state and the BRICS: a global capitalism perspective

It is commonplace for observers to see the increasingly prominent role of the BRICS in international economic and political affairs as a Southern challenge to global capitalism and the power of the core Trilateral nation-states. Extant accounts remain mired in a tenacious realist debate over the extent to which the BRICS are challenging the prevailing international order. I suggest that we shift the paradigmatic focus in discussion of the BRICS phenomenon towards a global capitalism perspective that breaks with such a nation-state/inter-state framework. Global integration and transnational capitalist class formation has advanced significantly in the BRICS. BRICS protagonism is aimed less at challenging the prevailing international order than at opening up space in the global system for more extensive integration and a less asymmetric global capitalism. The article examines agricultural subsidies, US–China relations and international trade agreements as empirical reference points in arguing that the concept of the transnational state provides a more satisfying explanatory framework for understanding the BRICS phenomenon than the variety of realist approaches. By misreading the BRICS critical scholars and the global left run the risk of becoming cheerleaders for repressive states and transnational capitalists in the South. We would be better off by a denouement of the BRICS states and siding with ‘BRICS from below’ struggles of popular and working class forces.     

Romanian views on Bessarabia and Bukovina: A Ukrainian perspective

Nicholas Dima, Bessarabia and Bukovina: The Soviet‐Romanian Territorial Dispute. Boulder, CO: East European Monographs, 1982. v, 173 pp. Distributed by Columbia University Press. Maria Manoliu‐Manea, ed., The Tragic Plight of a Border Area: Bessarabia and Bucovina. American Romanian Academy of Arts and Sciences. Hum‐boldt State University Press, 1983. xii, 280 pp.     

Postcommunist divergence: A comparative analysis of the transition to capitalism in Poland and Russia

This article critiques the dominant neoliberal transition paradigm. The implementation of neoliberal reforms in the postcommunist world has fostered the creation of two different types of capitalism. Rather than enabling a transition to Western European-style capitalism, these reforms have produced divergence within the postcommunist world. This article uses comparative firm-level case studies from Russia and Poland to construct a “neoclassical” sociological alternative to neoliberal theory that can explain this divergence. In this account, intra-dominant class structure (the pattern of alliances between the Party bureaucracy, the technocracy, and humanistic intellectuals) at the time of the transition produces different “paths to capitalism,” or policy regimes, which, in turn, have different effects on the ability of firms to restructure. In Russia, this creates a system of “patrimonial capitalism” that will produce long-term economic stagnation. In Poland, a variety of modern rational capitalism emerges. This latter system is distinguished by its very high levels of dependence on capital imports in comparison to the advanced capitalist countries. As a result, this type of economy will be quite vulnerable to economic shocks. Lawrence King is an assistant professor of sociology at Yale University. His book includeThe Basic Features of Postcommunist Capitalism in Eastern Europe (2001) andAssessing New Class Theory (with Ivan Szelenyi, forthcoming). He is currently working on a book entitledPostcommunist Capitalisms. I am grateful for a Yale Junior Faculty Research Fellowship, and the support of the Yale Center for Comparative Research, the Social Science Research Fund at Yale, and the Yale Center for International and Area Studies. I would also like to thank Aleksandra Sznajder and Evgenia Gvozdeva for their invaluable research assistance, and Ivan Szelenyi, Andrew Schrank, Hannah Brueckner, Alison Pollet, and the editors and anonymous reviewers atStudies in Comparative International Development for their comments and suggestions.     

PERCEPTIONS OF BENEFIT FRAUD STAFF IN THE UK: GIVING P.E.A.C.E. A CHANCE?

This article reports a study concerning perceptions of benefit fraud staff and of management concerning their own interviewing techniques and standards, and their views pertaining to a preferred model of interviewing. Interviewing fraud suspects forms an important task performed by Fraud Investigators (FIs) within the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) in the UK. Given this significance, it is surprising that there has been little analysis of the skills used to do this task. Current training consists of a course centred on an interviewing framework called the PEACE model, which was originally developed for police use. The research outlined in this paper examined both FIs and their managers’ perceptions and attitudes of the model and of their own practices. It was found that, while there was general support for the model, reservations were voiced over how effective PEACE may actually be in practice. These reservations centred on insufficient time to prepare for investigations along with a perceived inflexibility over the model’s framework. In, addition, it was highlighted that the absence of any national supervisory framework for investigative interviews should give the organization cause for concern in ensuring standards.     

Reflections on helping II: A perspective on participatory action research

Participatory Action Research (PAR) is a common approach to development interventions, and this essay focuses on the approach as a major way of “helping.” The discussion circumscribes PAR, outlines a 6-phase cycle useful for structuring it, and ends with guiding questions for PAR researchers who wish to work with a community in a collaborative rather than condescending mode.     

Terrorist incident management and jurisdictional issues: A Canadian perspective

This article briefly outlines the organization and procedures that have evolved at the federal level of the government of Canada for the handling and management of crises relating to internal security. Organization of policy formation and organization for crisis management are discussed. Jurisdictional difficulties between the federal and provincial governments are analyzed. The basic policy framework is to deal with terrorist incidents by refusal to yield to the demands of hostage takers, without precluding the granting of minor concessions, limited in scope to the immediate place and time of the incident. Unresolved policy issues are listed.     

The devil's in the theory: A critical assessment of Robert Chambers' work on participatory development

The practice orientation of Robert Chambers' work on Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), which aims at enabling local people and communities to take control over their own development, has received much attention in development circles. This article attempts to shift the emphasis away from PRA's practice towards its theoretical underpinnings. The article argues that PRA's practice/empiricist orientation causes it to be insufficiently theorised and politicised. As a result, questions about inclusiveness, the role of PRA facilitators, and the personal behaviour of elites overshadow, or sometimes ignore, questions of legitimacy, justice, power and the politics of gender and difference. The article draws on arguments and debates involving Habermasian 'deliberative democracy' and post-structuralist notions of power.