Measuring the role of liquid assets in consumption: A cross country view of the world economic periphery

A new non‐traditional identity for the role of liquid assets in consumption in terms of income distribution effect is developed and analyzed. It is contended that in the case of developing countries with increasing monetization of the economy, the rapidly accumulating liquid assets relative to income indicate a highly skewed distribution of income which in turn is conducive to their saving behaviour. The argument is theoretically presented and statistically tested for two major developing regions of the world, Asia and Latin America. By using cross country data, their regional consumption functions are constructed, the long term elasticities are estimated and the aggregate consumption expenditures for three years are generated.     

Views from the periphery: Futures of neoliberalism in Latin America

The political economy of Latin American countries seems increasingly characterised by neoliberal approaches. Economic factors at the global and continental scale seem to reinforce this trend. This article explores the social bases of neoliberalism not only in terms of the technocratic but also of the wider social and political base. The connections between neoliberal reform, people and places are explored through examining the nature of exportorientated growth, the transformations of labour markets, the social impacts of reform, poverty and the changing social provision of the state. The contradictions within the neoliberal model are examined before the future of neoliberalism and the prospects for alternative development strategies and sociopolitical scenarios are considered. In particular, the arguments from neostructuralist contributions are assessed and some of the contrasts between neoliberal and neostructural theories identified.     

Choosing to inhabit the real world

The Shadow Lines. Amitav Ghosh, London: Bloomsbury. 1988. 246pp. £12.95hb

Saré Maré. S K Walker, London: Pandora Press. 1987. 173pp. £3.95pb

The Tiger's Daughter. Bharati Mukherjee, London/New York: Penguin. 1987. 210pp. £3.95/$6.95pb

Amritvela. Leena Dhingra, London: The Women's Press. 1988. 176pp. £3.95pb

That Long Silence. Shashi Deshpande, London: Virago Press. 1988. 196pp. £4.50pb

The Middleman and other stories. Bharati Mukherjee, New York: Grove Press. 1988. 197pp. $15.95hb

Yatra (The Journey). Nina Sibal, London: The Women's Press. 1987. 324pp. £10.95hb/£5.95pb     

Nieo: How to put third world surpluses to effective use

This article deals with the issue of honour killings, a particular type of intrafamily femicide in defence of honour in Jordan. The legal, social, religious, nationalist and tribal dimensions and arguments on such killings are presented. Drawing on Arabic and English source material the role of rumour, social values and other dynamics in normalising this practice in Jordan today is analysed. Honour killings, which contradict many international and national laws and covenants, are clearly connected to the subordination of women in Jordan and to the 'criming down' of domestic violence. The prevailing discriminatory culture cannot change without implementing a comprehensive programme for socio-legal and political reform.     

The flip side of fashion: Used clothing exports to the third world

Since the early 1970s, western countries have increasingly recycled their second‐hand clothes by exporting to the Third World. In response, some LDC governments have banned used clothing imports to protect their domestic textile industries. This article, after reviewing the structure and evolution of world used clothing trade, examines the consequences for Africa's largest importer, Rwanda. In this low‐income country, with its small domestic textile industry, displacement is minimal and imported used clothing offers a modest but rare policy lever for directly increasing national income as well as incomes of the rural poor.     

Bringing politics back in: Towards a model of the developmental state

The few cases of rapid economic growth in the Third World in the last 30 years have occurred in democratic, quasi‐democratic and non‐democratic polities. They are thus clearly not a function of common regime type. I suggest that they are best explained by the special character of their states, understood ‘as developmental states’. This article outlines some common characteristics of these states. However the forms and features of these states are not simply a function of their administrative structures or principles of governance, but of their politics. The article thus also underlines the importance of political analysis in both development theory and policy, from where it has been extruded for too long.     

From state socialism to capitalism: The role of class and the world system

While theories of global capitalism have added a new dimension to our understanding of the dynamics of the modern world, a ‘globalisation’ approach to the transformation of the state socialist societies is relatively underdeveloped. This paper studies the role of international and global factors under state socialism and the world system in the pre-1989 period. The paper considers traditional Marxist approaches to the transition to capitalism and criticises the model of state capitalism as well as the world system approach. In contrast, social actors (the ‘acquisition’ and ‘administrative’ social strata and the global political elite)are identified as playing a major role in the fall of state socialism, and were a nascent capitalist class. The transformation of state socialism, it is contended, had the character of a revolution rather than a shift between different types of capitalism.     

奇异的世界六大火山口

世界上大约有62条活火山是分布在太平洋西部,有45条分布在太平洋东部弧形陆链或岛弧中,有17条分布在南北美洲西部的主要山带,另外有14条分布在印度尼西亚一带,有7条分别分布在太平洋中心岛屿、印度洋岛屿和大西洋岛屿,其余的7条分布在地中海、小亚细亚北部和东非大裂谷.     

Climate change: the risks of stranded fossil fuel assets and resources to the developing world

Under the Paris Agreement, 80% of all proven fossil fuel reserves become stranded resources and investments already made in such resources turn into stranded assets. Much of the existing literature focuses on equitable burden sharing; only a few articles examine the risks for developing countries that invest in new fossil fuels. Hence, this paper addresses the question: What are the risks of investing in fossil fuels for developing countries? In doing so, it examines Kenya, a prospective fossil fuel producer, and China, an investor in fossil fuels. In terms of short- to long-term risks, ignoring new fossil fuels and investing in renewables is favourable and politically, socially, ecologically and economically more rewarding, not least because latecomers to development run the risk of having to compensate investors when new fossil fuel assets strand prematurely and become unrecoverable.     

State transformation and cross-border regionalism in Indonesia’s periphery: contesting the centre

Abstract

This article examines how the decentralisation and fragmentation of the Indonesian state and resultant central–local dynamics affect cross-border regionalism in Indonesia’s periphery. It argues that cross-border regionalism projects are best understood as sites for scalar contestation over regulatory control between central and local government. Moreover, scalar contestation around cross-border regional projects is characterised by the struggles to control relationships with transnational capital between elites operating at different tiers of the state. When elites at different scales have conflicting interests and strategies, this can cause policy incoherence, inhibiting the development of cross-border regionalism. Conversely, when they align, and intersect with the interests of transnational business, cross-border regionalism can succeed. To illustrate the argument, this article utilises the comparative case studies of the Batam free trade zone and West Kalimantan–Sarawak cross-border cooperation.     

Bringing the Civic Landscape into Being: How Varied Patterns of Civic Action Respond to and Create Dilemmas in Empowerment Projects

International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society - This paper proposes a process for locating civic action, in its varied forms, wherever it may appear. First, develop a clear, a priori...