Misrecognitions and missed opportunities: post‐structuralism and the practice of development

Over the past 20 years post‐structuralist scholars have produced critiques of the field of development. In some circles it is now quite broadly accepted that this approach is futile and that we ought to move into a ‘post‐discourse’ era. By way of counterpoint, this paper argues that such exchanges are based on misrecognitions whose acceptance forecloses possibilities that both critics and their detractors would welcome. The paper is broken into two sections. The first engages problems ascribed to post‐structuralist critiques that seem to have been particularly successful in discouraging further engagement. The second explores three aspects of a single moment of post‐structuralist thought that have been obscured by current debate. Engaging these aspects, while bringing difficulties of its own, may secure conditions necessary for the emergence of the sorts of partnerships often claimed as necessary both by developers and by their post‐structuralist critics.     

Provocation at the center: A study in the history of counter‐terror

Abstract

This paper deals with the early beginnings and subsequent history of the secret, or political, police in nineteenth‐century Europe, whose task was to tame and terrify the masses, appeal to fear, and to root out revolutionary groups and secret societies, including even revolutionary attitudes. As pointed out here, the origins of such police forces, specializing in counter‐terror, go back to the French Revolution and the Ministry of Police headed by Fouche. Autocratic governments not being unusual, the history of counter‐terrorism displays many practitioners and techniques during the nineteenth century. A true heir of Fouche was Louis Andrieux, a Chief of Police of the Third Republic in France, who gave advice to Tsar Alexander III that has since been followed by many agents provocateurs and counter‐revolutionaries. The Russian Okhrana and the role played by Plehve in containing the revolutionary movement are discussed as are also the alliance between Degayev and Sudeykin, in addition to the Zubatov system and the Azef affair. Throughout, the struggle between revolution and counter‐revolution illustrates the fact that the physical blows that were the results of provocation were not always decisive; the exposure of provocation was often more harmful than anything that provocation itself could achieve. Moreover, the author concludes, the role played by the Russian secret police served to perpetuate terrorism and made all other state authorities a domain for the machinations and intrigues of the leaders of the secret police.     

Oil price shocks and policy responses in the post‐reform Chinese economy

This study analyses the impact of the 1986 oil price shock on China and the policy options for accommodating the shock. A computable general equilibrium model is used to capture the complex interactions in the Chinese economy in response to the shock. Interpreted in the theoretical framework of the ‘Booming Sector’ model, the results of the model provide insights on both the real and monetary effects of the shock, and suggest that a combination of policy instruments such as a cut in real absorption, depreciation of the official exchange rate and tight monetary control are required to facilitate adjustment.     

Exchange rate policy and price level changes: Casualty tests for Turkey in the post‐liberalisation period

The purpose of the present study is to examine the relationship between exchange rate changes and price level changes in Turkey during the 1980s using some modified Granger causality tests. During this period, Turkish exchange rate policy was characterised by considerable flexibility, in contrast to the long‐standing policy of fixing the exchange rate until a foreign exchange crisis necessitated devaluation. The weight of the evidence presented suggests that Granger causality runs from price level changes to exchange rate changes but that there is not feedback causality from exchange rate changes to price level changes. This conclusion is not altered by the inclusion of a money supply variable. Thus, for Turkey, exchange rate adjustment does not seem to have created a vicious cycle of currency depreciation leading to inflation as is often feared. Whether this result will hold for other developing countries which adopt flexible exchange rate regimes will require further testing.     

Japan's post‐war protection policy: Some implications for less developed countries

This article examines some of the implications of Japan's postwar development for contemporary developing countries. Whilst acknowledging the qualitative differences in economic structure between Japan in 1945 and today's developing countries it argues that many of Japan's decisions on economic strategy throw light on current debates regarding the merits of free trade or protectionism as strategies for developing countries. It stresses however the key role played in Japan by the highly competitive nature of the internal market and stresses the need to consider policies to stimulate a more competitive internal structure within developing country markets.     

Pardon,punishment, and amnesia: three African post‐conflict methods

This article examines the thesis that A´lvaro Uribe, the new president of Colombia (2002–06) is a neopopulist. Such a thesis holds that Uribe can be classified as a neopopulist given his election to the presidency after breaking ranks with the Liberal Party, his massive support from largely unorganised citizens, his government under a state-of-siege decree, his promotion of a national referendum, and his frequent public meetings with citizens throughout Colombia. I reject this thesis, arguing that Uribe's method of winning the presidency did not constitute a significant departure from previous practice in Colombia's system of fragmented political parties. His personality lacks a strong charismatic aura. More significantly, Uribe made no concerted effort to cultivate political support among the masses. In office Uribe's state-of-siege powers have been curtailed by decisions of the Constitutional Court, which he has, significantly, been careful to respect. His proposed referendum had to be negotiated with—and was significantly transformed by—the Colombian Congress. And Uribe's public meetings consist largely in his listening to citizen complaints, rather than giving electrifying public orations. A close examination of Uribe's history and governing style shows him to be a talented politician but not a populist.     

The “Pugachev rebellion” in the context of post‐Soviet Kazakh nationalization*

Football (soccer) provides a useful prism for analysis of the long transition of the Serbian state and society since 1991. To a striking extent, the world of professional football and the attendant phenomena of financial corruption and football hooliganism have informed both the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia and the current concerted attempt to create a “European Serbia.” During the 1990s, football in Serbia to a significant extent became synonymous with organized crime and the criminalization of the Serbian state. Since 2000, the persistent phenomena of crime, violent hooliganism and lethargic reforms have mirrored the difficult and halting transition of the post-Milo?evi? state. Although recent events highlight the reluctance of the Serbian authorities to confront these problems, both government and sports officials are coming to see reform of Serbian football as a key element of the establishment of the rule of law.