Indigeneity in the Air: The Case of Chinchero Airport in Cusco,Peru

This article problematises ‘indigeneity’ by looking at the various disruptions, conflicts and fractures that the recent sale of the land for the construction of the new Cusco international airport in Chinchero, Peru, has triggered locally. In addition to examining the erosion of the peasant community model that emerged from the 1969 agrarian reform, it explores the formation of new social groupings in a context of tourism and neoliberal development. The discussion highlights the role of tourism-related, large-scale infrastructure in the production of new identity politics that challenges fixed and preconceived ideas about ‘the indigenous’ in the Andes.     

Conciliatory whiteness: white farmers’ accommodations and responses to land reform in Matabeleland South,Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT

This article seeks to contribute to growing academic literature on land reform and whiteness in Zimbabwe, where there have been calls for nuance in the analysis of agrarian change. The research which underpins it explores differentiated responses to land reform on the part of a sample of white farmers (as well as A1 and A2 beneficiaries), in the environs of Matobo district, Matabeleland South, Zimbabwe. It characterises a range of responses on the part of white farmers – dropping out, pushing back, accommodating and adapting – and charts the various outcomes of these strategies. I further utilise the concept of subjectivity to reflect on these diverse responses and to disaggregate essentialised or homogenised understandings of whiteness. The article focuses on the small number of white farmers who retain a connection to the land and agrarian production in the study area and argues they embody aspects of a particular subjectivity. This conciliatory subjectivity is characterised by openness to reconciliation, rapprochement and partnership-making. Specifically, it is located along the following lines: (1) in contrast to the perceived ‘islands of privilege’ of some of their peers; (2) within a challenging context where they no longer occupy a hegemonic position; (3) wherein they are inclined or required to (re)form collaborations and alliances in the new dispensation; and (4) the subjectivity of these farmers could be said to be pre-occupied less with issues of identity and belonging, than with surviving and ‘becoming’ amidst the multi-faceted challenges of contemporary Zimbabwean rural agricultural endeavours and socio-political life.     

Metropolitan Governance in Deutschland: Normative,utilitaristische, kommunikative und dramaturgische Steuerungsansätze

Der Aufsatz beschreibt die historische Entwicklung und die jüngsten Formen politischer Steuerungsansätze in sechs westdeutschen Großstadtregionen. Es sind dies die Regionen Hamburg, Bremen, Hannover, Frankfurt, Stuttgart und München. Zu diesem Zweck wird im theoretischen Teil eine zweidimensionale Typologie von Formen der Metropolitan Governance entwickelt. In der ersten Dimension werden Governance‐Formen nach dem Strukturmuster der Interaktion unterschieden, in der zweiten Dimension werden die Governance‐Formen aufgrund der zugrundeliegenden Handlungstheorie (normatives, utilitaristisches, kommunikatives und dramaturgisches Handeln) differenziert. Mit Hilfe der dadurch gewonnenen acht Idealtypen wird im darauf folgenden empirischen Teil gezeigt, dass bis in die 1970er Jahre normative Steuerungsformen die Diskussion beherrschten und diese in den 1980er Jahren durch ein utilitaristisches Paradigma in Frage gestellt wurden. Seit Beginn der 1990er Jahre wurde verstärkt auf kommunikative und dramaturgische Governance‐Formen gesetzt, auf deren Grundlage können sich aber ganz unterschiedliche Governance‐Schwerpunkte und z.T. auch ausdifferenzierte “Governance‐Landschaften” in den verschiedenen Stadtregionen etablieren.     

A Case Study of a Sport‐for‐Development Programme in Brazil

This article examines the ‘Sport Works’ narrative of sport‐for‐development practitioners of an inter‐organisational sport‐for‐development (SfD) programme utilising rugby to foster positive social transformation in Brazil. In doing so, we address an under‐representation of practitioners who are often seen as subjugated voices in SfD programmes. The paper also addresses an under‐representation of Brazil as a research site in SfD literature. Following several site visits and interviews with practitioners, our data concludes that despite a novel context of Brazil and the alternative values to football offered through the sport of rugby, practitioners and programme managers maintain dominant narratives of social transformation through sport without clear monitoring and evaluation.     

The institutionalization of relative advantage: formal institutions,subconstitutional presidential powers,and the rise of authoritarian politics in Russia, 1994–2012

What role do formal institutions play in the consolidation of authoritarian regimes such as the Russian Federation? Oftentimes, it is assumed that autocrats, usually potent presidents, wield informal powers and control far-flung patron–client networks that undermine formal institutions and bolster their rule. After the institutional turn in authoritarianism studies, elections, parties, legislatures, or courts have taken center stage, yet presidencies and public law are still on the margins of this research paradigm. This paper proposes a method for measuring subconstitutional presidential power and its change by federal law, decrees, and Constitutional Court rulings as well as a theoretical framework for explaining when and under which conditions subconstitutional presidential power expands. It is argued that as a result of a gradual, small-scale, and slow-moving process of layering, presidential powers have been accumulated over time. This furthers the institutionalization of presidential advantage toward other federal and regional institutions, which in turn contributes to the consolidation of authoritarianism.     

Export Growth and Development to Poor Rural Regions: a Meso-Scale Analysis of the Upper Limari

Abstract — The aim of this article is to explore the recent social and economic evolution of a rural region that was formerly one of the poorest in Chile but has been transformed by a productive specialisation in table grapes for export markets. The region is that of the Upper Limari in Chile's semi-arid Norte Chico. The analysis focuses on changes in four interrelated variables: productive investments; land markets; labour markets; and population distribution. Rapid growth in investment, the emergence of dynamic land markets, dramatic increases in labour productivity have transformed the agricultural sector. Small-scale farming has survived poorly due to lack of capital, technical problems and lack of bargaining power with the international fruit companies. The large-scale farmers have enjoyed better conditions and a reconcentration of land has occurred. However, the emergence of new productive activities in an area where labour alternatives have been historically scarce has provided new sources of income. Population is increasing in rural settlements linked to irrigated agroexportation and quality of life indicators have improved. Rural depopulation is not a feature of the region as a whole.     

泰国政治发展的社会学分析--结构变化、精英选择与政治发展

1932年以来,泰国社会结构的变化为人们理解其政治发展提供了一个很好的线索.长时间的以小农主导地位、以保护人-被保护人关系为主要特征的社会结构为泰国军人统治提供了基础.而工商集团的逐渐崛起及其对权利和政治参与的要求,消解了军人专制统治的基础,加大了军人统治的成本,推动着军人统治逐渐放松对社会的控制,成为泰国民主政治发展的一个重要动力.而泰国精英对民主价值的选择和坚定追求则成为泰国社会结构变化推动民主政治发展的转换枢纽,直接推动了泰国民主政治的发展.     

In Search of a Non-Eurocentric Understanding of Modernization: Turkey as a Case of ‘Multiple Modernities’

This article uses the Turkish case of modernity to critically examine different understandings of modernization put forward by competing schools of thought, namely the ‘classical modernization theory’, the ‘neo-modernization theory’ and the ‘multiple modernities paradigm’. In the context of modernization studies, Turkey has long held a special place as numerous scholars have studied this country in an attempt to validate the ‘convergence thesis’ – namely the idea that once a non-western society launches a secularization and/or an industrialization programme, its political regime and socio-economic life would eventually resemble its western counterparts. Firstly, the three theories are comparatively analysed by discussing how they perceive the concept of modernity and its interaction with religion, economic development and democratization. Then, the theories are reviewed in light of the Turkish experience. It is argued that the Turkish modernity can be best comprehended through the lens of the multiple modernities paradigm that challenges the Eurocentric assumption of classical modernization and neo-modernization theories based on the convergence thesis.     

Climate change: Double-edged sword for African trade and development

Abstract

African governments face increasing pressure from major export destinations, primarily former colonial and slave-owning countries, to be climate change compliant. This will certainly be on display at the upcoming December 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, which will seek to strengthen climate change rules agreed on in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, and adopt new protocols on global climate change regulation. Climate change is a double-edged sword: on one side it is hitting Africa's agricultural sector with increased droughts, floods, extreme frost and wildfires; and on the other, African governments are being forced to respond to stringent regulatory regimes imposed by international export destinations. Currently, the per capita greenhouse gas emissions from the highly industrialised nations – the North – is estimated to be four times that of Africa and the rest of the developing world. Twin research questions were investigated in this article: (1) to what extent does climate change impact on African trade and development, and (2) how can African governments stay on a path of sustained trade and development in this era of climate change? The article argues that Africa's survival in these times of climate change compliance rests on a shift to greater intra-African trade, as individual nations move towards cleaner and more organic technologies to become full-fledged partners in the international climate change regulatory regime.