Facsimile edition of CCAS newsletter,no. 1 (May 1968)

Abstract

We have heard a great deal about the greening of the World Bank. The Bank now has an Environmental Department, its projects go through an environmental impact assessment, and it even finances “green” projects through the Global Environment Facility. However, the financing of nature's destruction and people's destitution and disempowerment continues unabated. It is not enough to look at projects directly funded by the World Bank to see the social and ecological disruption that it has caused over the past half a century and still continues to create. The impact of the World Bank is increasingly being felt through structural and sector adjustment loans that influence the macropolicies of entire countries. These loans have much wider influence because they make the World Bank's destructive policies more diffused and more invisible than its projects. The third and deeper level of the World Bank's responsibility in rupturing the social and environmental fabric of survival emerges from the paradigms it diffuses throughout the world through its research, publications, and advice. The social and ecological impact of the World Bank therefore needs to be assessed on the basis of its interventions at all three levels—projects, policies, and paradigms.     

Poverty Among Small Farmers Under Frei and Pinochet, 1968–1986

Abstract — This paper draws on the results of a nation-wide panel study of small farm households interviewed in 1968 and 1986 to complement accounts of Chile's economic performance under the governments of President Frei (1964–1970) and General Pinochet (1973–1989). It is shown that in contrast to macroeconomic trends of increased inequality and impoverishment after 1973, the incidence of poverty in the sample declined slightly but significantly over the period. The result is robust both to the choice of poverty index and poverty line. It is all the more striking because the sample represented the poorest group in Chile during the 1960s. Nevertheless, the incidence of poverty in the sample remained extremely high. In 1967–1968, more than three-quarters of households could not meet their basic needs, while in 1985–1986 this proportion reached nearly two thirds. The fall in poverty may be attributed to a combination of increased coverage of the rural areas by targeted welfare programmes and the effects of the life cycle in increasing the proportion of panel household members eligible for, and dependent on public transfers between 1968 and 1986.     

The Iraqi Coups of July 1968 and the American Connection

After the June 1967 war, Iraqi President ’Abd al-Rahman ’Arif and Prime Minister Tahir Yahya broke diplomatic relations with Washington and began signing strategic economic agreements for oil development with France and the Soviet Union. On 17 July 1968 their regime was toppled by a coup initiated by members of the Ba?th Party and a group of military officers. Just 13 days later in another coup initiated by the Ba?th, the officer leadership was deposed. This article examines Washington's reaction to the two coups and the indications of the western orientation of the short-lived regime that ended on 30 July. It also reveals findings that support the claim of American involvement in the overthrow of ’Arif.     

Winning Friends,Influencing People: Soviet Cultural Diplomacy in Australia, 1928–1968

This article draws on largely unpublished archive materials to examine the strategies employed by the USSR to manage its cultural relations with Australia as a means of extending its influence beyond its traditional supporters in trade union and socialist movements. The activities of key players like the All‐Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (VOKS), the Union of Soviet Friendship Societies (SSOD) and the International Commission of the Union of Soviet Writers and their interaction with Australian organizations and individuals identified and cultivated as contacts of influence are reviewed in the context of the changing international situation and an often problematic bilateral political relationship.     

The 1968 Movement Revisited: Education and the Distinction in Values,Political Interest and Political Participation in West Germany

The aim of this paper is to take a look at the 1968 generation in West Germany about 40 years after the 1968 events. Whether there was a 1968 generation in the narrow sense of the word will be explored. While comparing the 1968 generation with earlier and later cohorts, political interest, political activity and (postmaterialist) values will be analysed. Education will be theorised as a main mechanism that distinguishes the 1968 generation from earlier generations. Quantitative analyses will be performed employing a temporal perspective and including age, period and cohort effects – so that socialisation as well as individual change over the life cycle and macro influences can be taken into account. The results show a strong influence of education on political interest, political activity and postmaterialism. Therefore, what is called the ‘1968 generation’ only applies to the more highly educated people of this generation.