Corruption,NGOs, and Development in Nigeria

This article examines corruption in Nigeria's development sector, particularly in the vastly growing arena of local non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Grounded in ethnographic case studies, the analysis explores why local NGOs in Nigeria have proliferated so widely, what they do in practice, what effects they have beyond their stated aims, and how they are perceived and experienced by ordinary Nigerians. It shows that even faux NGOs and disingenuous political rhetoric about civil society, democracy, and development are contributing to changing ideals and rising expectations in these same domains.     

Money,exports, government spending,and income in Peru, 1951–66

Most studies of open developing economies, such as Peru, have found the foreign sector's impact on the domestic economy is very great. This is usually true whether the vehicle for changes in income is monetary or real.¹ This study, following the basic models developed by Polak, Prais and Schotta, will attempt to explain short run changes in income in Peru using two different approaches: a monetary approach and an income approach.     

Globalization, Culture, and Identities in Crisis

Culture in its various forms now serves as a primary carrier of globalization and modern values, and constitutes an important arena of contestation for national, religious, and ethnic identity. Although reactions in Europe, Japan, and other societies where modern values prevail, tend to be symbolic, in areas of the developing world, especially in Muslim countries where traditional values and radically different notions of identity and society predominate, reactions tend to be very intense and redirected at external targets through forms of transference and scapegoating. Ultimately, this is not so much a clash between civilizations as a clash within civilizations.     

Party,State, and Socialism in Guinea-Bissau

Suicide is generally regarded as an anti-social behavior. It is, perhaps, for this reason that sociologists and psychologists, among other experts, have been interested in studying the incidence of suicide in many societies. Most modern theories on suicide, however, do not emphasize the idea of “heroic suicide.” Epitomizing this “genre” of suicide are the high profile, politically motivated suicides in early colonial Ibadan examined here. This article suggests that the key to understanding these suicide cases is to be found not only in these people’s multilayered pasts — the general Yoruba past and Ibadan’s nineteenth-century military heritage — but also in their conception of honor and in their social norms. The ideals of honor thus carried over into the twentieth century were so strong that they survived the first three decades of colonial rule despite the intrigue-laced nature of Ibadan chieftaincy politics and the official interference of the colonial authorities. This article concludes that politically motivated suicide, though self destructive was actually meant to serve an honorable purpose such that those involved became heroes even in death. There is therefore the need for suicide theorists to highlight exceptions like these.     

Incompetence, Noise, and Fear in Central-Local Relations in China

In this article, I analyze how the structure of the Chinese state affects the probability that local cadres will comply with the directives of the center. Because the Chinese state consists of a five-level hierarchy of dyadic principal-agent relationships, the existence of even moderate levels of routine incompetence and noise ensures that compliance will be less than perfect due to simple error. Moreover, because the center cannot perfectly differentiate between simple incompetence and willful disobedience, the structure of the state enables cadres to engage in strategic disobedience. I thus conclude that the complexity of the linkages between center and locality are a major factor in the observed persistence of corruption and institutional malfeasance. Andrew Wedeman is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. His research focuses on the political economy of reform in China and specifically on the effects of corruption on development, both in China and elsewhere in the developing world. Recent publications include: “Budgets, Extra-Budgets, and Small Treasuries: The Utility of Illegal Monies”,Journal of Contemporary China; “Agency and Fiscal Dependence in Central-Provincial Relations in China”,Journal of Contemporay China; “Stealing from the Farmers: Institutional Corruption and the 1992 IOU Crisis”.China Quarterly and “Looters, Rent-Scrappers, and Dividend-Collectors: Corruption and Growth in Zaire, South Korea, and the Philippines”,The Journal of Developing Areas.     

Self-disclosure, depression, anxiety, and suicidal behavior in adolescent psychiatric inpatients

The objectives of this paper were to examine the personality variable of self-disclosure, or the tendency to share feelings with others, and its relationship to depression, anxiety, and suicidal behavior in adolescent psychiatric inpatients. Of the 87 adolescents who were assessed, 53 had made a suicide attempt and 34 had never shown any suicidal behavior during their lifetime. There was a significant relationship between suicidality and low levels of self-disclosure, which appears to be mediated by anxiety and depression. This sharing difficulty was most significantly marked between the adolescent and his/her family and seemed to be mediated by feelings of depression and anxiety.     

Stress, coping styles, and hopelessness in self-poisoners

This study examined the association between level of hopelessness with stress and coping style for a sample of 80 people who had recently attempted suicide. Higher levels of hopelessness were found to be associated with higher levels of stress. Level of hopelessness was also associated with the use of problem-focused but not with emotion-focused coping. Analyses of the interaction between stress and coping style suggested that these variables influence the level of hopelessness in an independent and linear fashion. The implications for clinical intervention are discussed.