Investment penetration,agrarian change,and political conflict in developing countries

This research employs a cross-national design to explore the association between direct foreign investment in agriculture, changes in the agricultural labor force, and political conflict and violence in developing countries. The results reveal different patterns of relationships for Latin American, African, and Asian societies. In Africa, foreign agricultural investments are related to higher employment in the agricultural sector, which in turn is associated with lower levels of political protest. In Latin America, Foreign agricultural investments were directly related to more protest, suggesting a xenophobic nationalist reaction to foreign penetration in this sector. There were no apparent relationships between these variables among Asian states. These results challenge the often-found contention that economic disturbances in the agricultural sector are a fundamental cause of violent uprisings and rebellions. John M. Rothgeb, Jr. is a professor in the Department of Political Science at Miami Univeristy in Oxford, Ohio 45056. He is the author ofDefining Power: Influence and Force in the Contemporary International System (St. Martin’s Press, 1993),Myths and Realities of Foreign Investiment in Poor Countries (Praeger Publishers, 1989) and numerous articles in professional journals. His current research interests include the study of the international and domestic implications of interdependence and the analysis of how economic resources may be used to exercise power in international relations.     

Modernising Local Government: Micro-Organisational Reform and Changing Local Structural Configurations

This article takes an indicative group of county, metropolitan and unitary authorities located in the English West Midlands to examine how effectively local government is grappling with modernising’ reforms in a context where the appropriate unit of analysis has become problematic because of broader changes to local governance. Sub-national territorial structural variability is becoming more pronounced while, paradoxically, what stands out in the micro-organisational dimension is the extent to which local authorities are increasingly working to a common reform agenda, notwithstanding the need to resolve incoherences in New Labour's modernisation project. The explanation for these observed (contrary) changes lies not only in the vagaries of top-down pressures emanating from central political and regulatory infiuences, but also in local institutional dynamics, as well as in lateral or peer dissemination of ‘good’ practice within local government.     

Rural migration and agrarian reform in Russia: a research note

This study focuses primarily on trends in rural-urban migration in Russia and the former Soviet Union. "New data suggest that a historic shift in migration patterns is underway in Russia, a change that may have profound long-term effects on agrarian reform and the nature of the Russian countryside. We begin with a short review of past rural migration trends and the rural demographic situation, in part using archival data for an oblast in central Russia. We will then present new data on rural migration. Finally, we assess the implications of rural migratory trends for agrarian reform in Russia."     

Modules for modernisation: Colonial irrigation in India and the technological dimension of agrarian change

‘Water control’ is central to the political economy of water distribution in large‐scale irrigation in India. The changes in water distribution, irrigation technology, and agrarian development ‐through the introduction of the ‘block system’, technical devices called ‘modules’ and volumetric water pricing ‐ in the Nira Left Bank Canal (Bombay Presidency) in the period 1900–40, are discussed to show the relationship of the three dimensions of water control: technical, managerial and socio‐political. This analysis points to the crucial, but contradictory role of the state in triggering processes of agricultural modernisation through intervention in water management. The debate on the ‘success’ of the block system continues to the present day, but little progress has been made in designing solutions for inequality in water distribution. The article suggests that liberalisation policies create political and institutional space for changing accountability relations, and agricultural price regimes relevant to water management problems. It also argues that social scientists criticising present irrigation practices should position themselves within the engineering domain and try to ‘socialise’ the technical bias of the engineering establishment.     

Manufacturing corporate landscapes: the case of agrarian displacement and food (in)security in Haiti

This paper explores the historical and contemporary sources of food insecurity in Haiti. It begins by detailing the impact of colonial legacies on the Caribbean region as a whole and on Haiti in particular. The adverse consequences associated with this period include deforestation, soil infertility and food-import dependence. The paper then turns to more contemporary trends, namely the influence of 30 years of neoliberal ideology. It argues that the belief that Haiti can best achieve food security through the pursuit of comparative advantage, a notion advanced and supported by powerful international and domestic actors, has served to reinforce harmful historic trends. We support this argument with recent fieldwork findings that highlight how the construction of a new export processing zone (EPZ), following the 2010 earthquake, has generated troubling environmental and food security concerns.     

Price control in underdeveloped countries

In addition to the classical criteria of logic and relevance, development studies can also be judged in terms of their interdisciplinary consistency. Slavish adherence to behavioural findings in the other social sciences which tend to corroborate the conventional assumptions of micro‐economic theory, however, should be discounted where their own logic and relevance remain controversial.

Micro‐economic studies of ‘industrial organization’ in Thailand have widely adopted the social anthropological thesis that Thai society is ‘loosely structured’, implying that the Thai behave as typical economic entrepreneurs. Analyses of Thai economic history subscribe to this view for the peasantry but not for the elite. An alternative model of Thai ‘industrial organization’ which dispenses with the purported market orientation of Thai peasants provides greater explanatory value than the conventional interpretation.

The entourage model of ‘industrial organization’ views the Thai economy as a hierarchy of relationships within which each participant is patron to associates of lower rank, and client to one of higher rank. Each entourage, composed of a patron and a coterie of clients, is integrated by a web of functionally and temporally diffuse economic‐social‐political reciprocities. Furthermore, mobility within the system follows rank enhancement opportunities rather than pecuniary incentives.

Thai economic development over the past century can be satisfactorily explained in terms of the entourage model, which deals directly with problems (such as the role of the Chinese and the decline of human bondage) not readily explained in the conventional context. Application of the entourage model, in conclusion, suggests that Thailand's development prospects under guidelines geared to the market model may be seriously misleading.     

一些国家应急管理的做法

近年来，全球突发事件频发，中国近期5月12日发生的汶川8级地震、“2008雪灾”、2003年的烈性传染病SARS，美国的“9·11”和“卡特里娜飓风”，印度洋的海啸……这些灾害对人类的生命财产造成了巨大损失，使社会稳定和经济发展受到了严重阻碍和影响，也使得突发事件的应急管理（Emergency Management，简写为EM）日益引起各国政府的高度重视。     

Teenage fertility in developing countries

Perhaps one of the most pervasive phenomena among teenaged females today is “teenage fertility”. The purpose of this article is to describe teenage fertility as it relates to developing countries. The study attempts to pose the problem by considering a large number of developing nations for which data are available and by describing the levels and trends in teen fertility rates.     

External debt of post-communist countries

On the background of continuous global economic instability and debt problems in the Eurozone, the significance of post-communist external debt goes without saying. The article will explore the scope and dynamics of external indebtedness in the post-communist world in a comparative and historical framework. Particular attention will be paid to a likelihood of a debt crisis in the region similar to the one in the developing world in the early 1980s. The debt crisis will be an ultimate price for reform mistakes and may have serious political economy implications by hampering or even reversing the process of the post-communist transformation.     

Financial liberalization in developing countries

This article shows that higher interest rates increase the extent of financial intermediation while increased financial intermediation raises the rate of economic growth. Further, increases in interest rates have favorable effects on investment efficiency and on economic growth. It is noted, however, that excessively high interest rates will have unfavorable economic effects. Such a situation can be avoided if the liberalization of the banking system takes place under conditions of monetary stability accompanied by the government supervision of banks. Bela Balassa has been professor of political economy at the Johns Hopkins University and consultant at the World Bank since 1966. His recent books includeNew Directions in the World Economy (Macmillan, 1989) andComparative Advantage, Trade Policy and Economic Development (Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1989).     

世界一些国家的医疗保险制度

人的一生可以躲过失业风险,躲过意外伤害风险,但谁也躲不过生老和病死.由政府组织实施覆盖全体人民的基本医疗保险,是各现代国家的通行制度.     

Measuring tax effort in developing countries

The traditional methodology, as established by the International Monetary Fund, for measuring tax effort over time and in relation to estimated taxable capacity, is based on the tax ratio. The objects of the article are: (a) to demonstrate that government policy can not be deduced from the buoyancy of tax revenue as reflected in the observed rates of growth or relative magnitudes of the tax ratio; and (b) to propose an alternative measure based directly on policy determined discretionary changes in tax structures, with which the IMF taxable capacity measure, correctly interpreted, could be complementary.     

各国公务员怎么招?

近年来,公务员成为很多大学毕业生的就业选择,他们通过参加国家以及地方的公务员考试加入到公务员队伍中来.多年以来,我国就已经实行了正规的公务员考录制度;近年随着《公务员法》的颁布实施,我国的公务员制度进一步规范化、法制化.那么,其他国家的公务员招考制度和相关情况又是怎样的呢?