Private-sector development in a transition economy: The case of Vietnam

Since Vietnam introduced its Doi Moi reform policy in 1986, the development of the private sector has been a main policy concern for the government and the ruling Communist Party. The main development challenge for Vietnam is how to sustain economic growth and reduce poverty as the labour force continues to expand. It is envisaged that the private sector will play a major role in that respect. This article looks into the issue of whether the private sector can live up to widespread expectations. High and stable economic growth indicates that reforms have been consistent but also that private-sector initiatives have moved ahead of formal institutional changes. Private-sector development is new in Vietnam and starts from a low level. The public and foreign investment sectors are major players compared to the domestic private sector, which comprises many small firms. Poverty reduction has been impressive but it is only now that private-sector development is becoming an important contributor. Stemming the growth in inequality remains a challenge where the private sector's contribution to increasing public revenue has yet to materialise.     

New forms of environmental governance? A case study of Costa Rican environmental NGOs

Increasingly development theorists and practitioners view NGOs as catalysts of sustainable development. NGOs have been regarded as champions of democratisation and promoters of new ways of engaging in politics, with considerable influence on the development of civil society and new partnerships in environmental and social advocacy. This article analyses the ways in which Costa Rican environmental NGOs (ENGOs) engage in politics, by focusing on their perceptions of their roles in environmental governance and in representation of civil society. The results of this study suggest that the ENGOs' ways of engaging in politics differ little from traditional forms of governance, while their conceptions of engaging in politics without being political are novel. While most ENGOs had no clear conception of the stakeholders whom they were supposed to be representing, the notion of representativeness is complex and should be revisited.     

越南：新兴的东盟中坚力量

1995年7月,越南正式加入东盟,成为东盟的第七个成员国和东盟自冷战结束后吸收的第一个新成员国。至今,越南加入东盟已有12年,在这短短的12年中,越南迅速地融入到东盟组织当中,积极发挥作用,成为东盟新兴的     

Negotiated transitions to democracy: Israel and the Palestinians as a case study

This article applies the Huntingtonian framework used by Jung and Shapiro to study South Africa's democratic transition to the Israeli‐Palestinian case. While leaders’ incentives pushed negotiators towards a highly inclusive constitutional order in South Africa, in the Israeli‐Palestinian case they pushed negotiators towards a highly exclusive order, crafted by means of a unique and bizarre but as yet unstudied electoral system. While the Palestinian entity may develop into a full‐fledged democracy in the long run, in the medium term it will not be truly democratic because political life affords no room for legitimate opposition. The findings suggest that transplacements in which the outgoing power does not plan to participate in the new political system may generally lead to highly exclusive political orders.     

Aids and political cartoons: a case study

ABSTRACT

Broadly, this article looks at the role played by political cartoons in the Aids struggle. A sample drawn from the period 1988 to 2001 was used for this study, the purpose of which is to discover how Aids has been represented in political cartoons published in major South African newspapers. Two sub-problems are identified. The first sub-problem looks at the frequency of Aids-related cartoons over the study period and follows a quantitative approach using content analysis. The second sub-problem considers the representation of Aids in cartoons and uses a qualitative approach through the application of semiotic analysis. This analysis is based on the interpretation of the sign system drawing on the iconic, indexical and symbolic elements in the cartoon. In conclusion, the value of political cartoons is debated. Political cartoons serve as an important adjunct to editorials, providing a summary of a certain situation or event. As a visual image, cartoons can instantly make a point that would be difficult to articulate in written text and often leave a lasting impressions on the reader. A problem in analysing political cartoons is the lack of definitive supportive theories. A model devised by Medhurst and Desousa, based on the assumption that the political cartoon is a rhetorical device, is used as the starting point.     

Regional integration and conflict management. The case of Vietnam

This paper is examines the process of regional integration of Vietnam into the framework for regional co-operation under the umbrella of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). The main focus is on the process leading to Vietnams admission into ASEAN in 1995. The relative importance of key factors – economic, political and security – in the process leading to Vietnams admission into ASEAN is assessed. Particular attention is devoted to the conflict management dimension of the regional integration of Vietnam both in process leading to membership in ASEAN and in the management of border disputes between Vietnam and other ASEAN members.This study is based the authors on-going research on Vietnams foreign policy and on regional collaboration is Southeast Asia including ASEANs expansion with a focus on conflict management.This article is an edited version of a paper with the same title presented at Paper prepared for Session 1: Lessons to be learnt, success stories of peaceful reconciliation, At the 3rd Asia-Europe Roundtable: Peace and Reconciliation Success Stories and Lessons. Organised by Asia-Europe Foundation, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, The Institute for International Relations, and Singapore Institute of International Affairs, Hanoi, 20-21 October 2003.     

越南革新巾帼不让须眉

在广西东兴市妇女代表团访越期间,听到越南妇女同志在谈论中使用频率最高的词汇有两个,一个是"革新",一个是"越南特点"或"越南传统".或许,这正是观察今日越南的两个切入点.     

Women's empowerment revisited: a case study from Bangladesh

This article explores the changing dimensions of women's empowerment over time in three Bangladesh villages where one of the authors has been conducting research since 1991. The article discusses theoretical issues related to the measurement of women's empowerment, and describes findings from a recent study in the villages exploring the current salience of indicators developed for a 1992 survey. In the article we discuss the types of social, economic, and political change that affect the measurement of women's empowerment; propose and explain a new set of indicators for the rural Bangladesh setting; and discuss implications for measuring women's empowerment in other settings.     

Women and NGO professionalisation: a case study of Jordan

This article examines the impact of NGO professionalisation on the recruitment of NGO staff. Based on an in-depth survey of employees in 20 advocacy NGOs in Jordan, it demonstrates the gendered impact of professionalisation. The majority of NGO employees are highly educated women, often Western-educated, who work in NGOs primarily for career opportunities and because they are attracted by the NGO's goals. In contrast to existing literature, this article argues that gender considerations, such as job flexibility to accommodate household duties, play less of a role in determining the reasons why women seek work in NGOs and their degree of job satisfaction.     

韩国出兵越南对其国家发展的影响

参加越南战争对于韩国来说是一次经济发展的有利时机.在与美国关于越南战争问题的讨价还价之中,韩国不仅获得了大量的美国战争补贴,还获得了企业开拓市场的机会,同时在政治上增强了自身的国际地位和与美国讨价还价的砝码.因此,韩国出兵越南参加越南战争成为推动国家发展的一把利剑.     

Mired in a Quagmire: Popular Interpretations of the Vietnam War

For the war in Vietnam, real perspective can only come when we extricate ourselves from the historical quagmire and start evaluating the conflict as more than just a mistake that deserves our condemnation.     

Agricultural cooperatives and social empowerment of women: a Ugandan case study

This article presents a case study of Manyakabi Area Cooperative Enterprise in south-western Uganda, which shows that benefits from agricultural cooperatives can extend beyond monetary tangibles. We discuss several social factors that women members claimed have improved since they became members of the cooperative, including their confidence, their negotiating skills, the ability to be of service to their communities through transferring skills to non-members, and the ability to take control of certain household decisions when dealing with men. We conclude that these social benefits could be enhanced if they were fully acknowledged as important by agents of change.     

Women's empowerment in challenging environments: a case study from Balochistan

This article offers strategies for women's empowerment in conservative, tribal, and religious environments, based on an innovative programme in Pakistan. Mainstreaming Gender and Development (MGD) encouraged participants to build on their communities' strengths, minimised resistance among families and communities by including them in the development process, and succeeded in building a cadre of women activists. Drawing on its experience, the author questions the importance of collective action, suggests that the selection of participants should be based on aptitude rather than socio-economic status, and highlights the potential for women's empowerment in challenging environments.     

Partnerships,learning, and development: a case study from Ghana

Decades of development practice suggest the fundamental importance of improving aid-delivery systems and stakeholder competence in order to improve the well-being of poor people. However, it is questionable whether the aid system is able to change its attitudes and values through such partnerships in a way that will do this. This paper suggests that for this change to be possible, processes of individual, organisational, and inter-organisational learning have to be encouraged, in ways that do not sacrifice the knowledge obtained by aid workers in the processes of global management. The paper explores procedures of bilaterally funded community education projects in Ghana, in order to give insights into the working of partnership arrangements as a means to contribute to the alleviation of global poverty. Critical instances from the case study projects reveal the ways in which learning is facilitated, used, ignored, and hindered as the organisational relations develop.     

Social capital,NGOs, and development: a Guatemalan case study

Social researchers continue to grasp for critical factors that foster or impede the development of social capital. This article highlights some of these factors based on an investigation of a low‐income urban settlement in Guatemala. Community activists and leaders, elected representatives, regional government service providers, local residents, NGO directors and staff, and other key informants living and working within the designated locality indicated a complex and diverse range of social, cultural, political, and economic issues that contributed to low levels of ‘broad‐based’ social capital. Long‐standing fears related to violence and corruption within a historically top‐down authoritarian state were the most significant factors impeding social capital, social organising, and civic participation. Northern‐led service‐providing NGOs in the area also curbed ‘broad‐based’ social capital by fostering dependency through intervention strategies that were external, top down, non‐participatory, and not community based.     

Participatory action research into donor–recipient relations: a case study

This article describes the exploratory and preparatory phase of a research project designed to use co-operative enquiry as a method for transformative and participatory action research into relations between donors and recipients in two developing countries, Bolivia and Bangladesh. It describes the origins of the idea, the conceptual challenges that the authors faced in seeking funding, and what they learned from this first phase. The authors analyse why the researchers, as well as the potential subjects of the research, were uncomfortable with the proposed methodology, including the challenges arising from their own positions and the highly sensitive nature of the topic. They explain why they decided to abandon the project, and they reach some tentative conclusions concerning the options for participatory action learning and research in development practice.     

试述外来文化对越南文化的影响

一个国家的文化要发展 ,国与国之间的文化交流是必不可少的。外来文化 ,尤其是中国、印度、法国等国家的文化对越南文化有着深远的影响 ,但越南仍然保留自己的民族文化     

Limits of tolerance under pressure: a case study of Dutch terrorist detention policy

Policy-makers who are confronted with the potential spread of violent extremist ideologies among prison inmates are challenged to design sustainable prison regimes which are suitable to counter prison radicalisation whilst rehabilitating and reintegrating inmates into society. This article outlines a theoretical framework that explains how uncertainty and pressure in the policy-making context heightens the need for structure that induces a shift towards intolerance and stereotypic black-and-white thinking, which leads to the introduction of unbalanced, one-sided prison regimes. We argue that in the long run, these prison regimes are likely to be self-undermining and unsustainable because they undermine long-term security objectives and cause undesired side effects. These propositions are illustrated by an in-depth case study of the Dutch terrorist detention policy.     

国际社会对越南提供ODA援助情况综述

一、基本情况自1993年越南政府开始争取国际社会对越南提供ODA政府发展援助 ,截止2003年底 ,共获得各国和国际组织承诺的ODA发展援助达253.89亿美元。越南就ODA援款与各援助国及组织签订协定、计划等价值达196.3亿美元 ,占ODA援款总额的77.19% ,其中贷款159亿美元 ,商签协定352个 ;无偿援助37.3亿美元 ;到位资金达131.81亿美元。上述援款为越南基础设施建设、消饥减贫、行政改革发挥了重要作用 ;为越南经济增长、人民生活水平提高作出了重要贡献。二、基本特点11年来国际社会对越南提供了巨额ODA政府发展援助 ,主要呈现以下特点 :1.条…     

我国旅游者出游越南的问卷调查分析

越南和我国山水相连。由于距离近、花费少,越南成为我国很多出境旅游者的首选目的地。为了更好地掌握我国出游越南市场的情况,作者和越南同学就我国旅游者出游越南旅游的市场情况进行了问卷调查和分析,并对如何发展和规范赴越旅游市场提出了建议。