Living with Non-recognition: State- and Nation-building in South Caucasian Quasi-states

The dissolution of the Soviet Union led to the establishment of several non-recognised statelets, three of which—Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh—are located in the South Caucasus. This article sets aside the question of whether these quasi-states ought to be internationally recognised, and focuses on whether they exist as functioning state entities. To what extent are the authorities in these would-be states able to provide the populace with the services expected of contemporary states—like internal and external security, basic infrastructure and welfare? All three insist that they are not only functioning states, but also nation-states that command the allegiance of their population. We thus also discuss their claim to embody real nationhood.     

Health care and AIDS

The acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a harbinger for change in health care. There are many powerful forces poised to transform the industrialized health care structure of the twentieth century, and AIDS may act as either a catalyst or an amplifier for these forces. AIDS could, for example, swamp local resources and thereby help trigger national reform in a health care system that has already lost public confidence. AIDS can also hasten the paradigm shift that is occurring throughout health care. Many of the choices society will confront when dealing with AIDS carry implications beyond health care. Information about who has the disease, for example, already pits traditional individual rights against group interests. Future information systems could make discrimination based upon medical records a nightmare for a growing number of individuals. Yet these systems also offer the hope of accelerated progress against not only AIDS but other major health threats as well. The policy choices that will define society's response to AIDS can best be made in the context of a clearly articulated vision of a society that reflects our deepest values.     

Standard of Living and Disability in Cambodia

Little is known about the extra costs faced by households with disabled members in low resource settings and the impact of these costs on living standards. In this paper we estimate the direct cost associated with disability for households in Cambodia. Using the Standard of Living approach, the direct cost associated with having a member with disabilities is estimated to be 19 per cent of monthly household consumption expenditure. Accounting for the direct cost of disability doubles the poverty rate amongst households with disabled members from 18 per cent to 37 per cent, and increases the poverty gap from 3 to 8 per cent. A comparison of the direct cost associated with disability and income support received from government and family sources reveals that only 7 per cent of the costs of disability are met. Our findings suggest that, in the absence of increased coverage of public income support, households with disabled members will continue to experience a lower standard of living compared to households without disability in Cambodia.