Uncertain India? Deepening globalization,unanticipated consequences and the challenge of sustainability

ABSTRACT

Taken together, these essays are an eye-opener for those who still see India as a homeostatic society, trapped into caste and custom. The articles on transparency in public transactions, financial credit market reform, effect of the new, reformed economy on the leaders of business and industry and the general framework for understanding India’s “reform consolidation,” present different facets of a society on the move. They showcase how endogenous transformation interlocks with external stimuli and opportunities. This introduction is a succinct analysis of the course of India’s development in specific arenas, contradictions, and resilience of the general process of which they are a part, and, most important of all, the convergence of endogenous developments and exogenous conditions that have emerged as critical determinants of the durability of India’s globalization. However, thanks to India’s noisy but resilient democracy, the direction and pace of India’s globalization, locked into the clash of two paradigms, one drawing its legitimacy from the rhetoric of secularism and social justice and, the other, leveraging on muscular nationalism, deep cultural roots, and rapid corporate-led growth, remains uncertain.     

Women's involvement in small-scale aquaculture in Northeast Thailand

In Northeast Thailand, women are heavily involved in small-scale aquaculture. However, as aquaculture becomes more intensive, women are in charge of less. Women's decision-making power in aquaculture and in the household is stronger when women have greater material resources and knowledge than their husbands; and the case studies on which the article draws show that what is important is not how much women have, but how much they have in relation to their husbands. The case studies also illustrate that women's gender roles and responsibilities, as well as the social expectations placed upon them, limit what they will gain through aquaculture. In intensive aquaculture in particular, women are expected to invest all their resources in this activity in order to sustain the family enterprise.     

Introduction: Globalization and change in India

ABSTRACT

This series of papers on Globalization, Institutional Change, and Politics of reforms in India highlights some of the key characteristics of institutional change and globalization in India. This special issue points in the direction of three important conjectures on globalization and change by bringing together a few key aspects of the process of institutional change and engagement with the global in India. First, India’s liberal democracy has embraced globalization and globally influenced institutional change in an embedded liberal way. Second, this is a saga of gradual and largely endogenous change. India is deeply affected by the demonstration effect of global best practices but builds rather more after its own internal consensus. Finally, even though India is not a classic developmental state, the state is an important factor in promoting change.     

Globalization,the State,and India's Halting March to Common Market: The Political Economy of Tax Reform Under Federalism

As a social phenomenon, globalization has been the target of much criticism. One particular line of attack holds that it will lead to the segmentation and disintegration of the national economy. However, an examination of the long process of reform of the indirect tax system in India underlines, paradoxically, the significant role of globalization precisely in fostering domestic economic integration in the form of a common market, which would overcome the economic segmentation existing prior to globalization. Interestingly, such tax reform has, in considerable part, been driven by the need to meet globalization's challenge that India's economy be efficient and internationally competitive. At the same time, one should not underestimate the critically important role of the state as an institutional variable—which critics tend often to ignore—in carrying through the goal of establishing a common market, presently a work still in progress.     

Gender,energy, and empowerment: a case study of the Rural Energy Development Program in Nepal

Rural women in general, and mountain women in particular, are greatly involved in managing household energy systems in Nepal. Alternative energy technologies have a high potential to reduce women's workloads and improve their health status, as well as increasing efficient energy supply. Interventions in rural energy are primarily aimed at reducing firewood use and increasing economic growth through rural electrification, rather than aiming to reduce human drudgery, especially that of women. Hence, such intervention takes place without considering the needs, roles, interests, and potential of rural women, even though women are the primary users and managers of rural energy resources. This article aims to analyse the gender implications of rural energy technologies in Kavre district, where the Rural Energy Development Program (REDP) has been implemented, especially in terms of saving women's labour and increasing socio-economic opportunities for women.     

Women's benefits from agricultural technologies: evidence from poultry production among Nigerian fisherfolk

In many rural households, women are much more involved than men in poultry production. This article examines the introduction of exotic chickens into communities along the shorelines of Kainji Lake in Nigeria and the consequent impact on women's participation and decision making within the household. Women's household decision-making power, particularly in terms of spending money from the sale of chickens and their own extra income, is stronger when the household keeps improved chicken species. The rearing of improved chicken species was positively correlated with social-status enhancement, especially for women.     

Some Thoughts on ＂Harmonious Globalization＂

This article argues that ＂Harmonious Globalization＂ offers a platform for harmonizing the positive and negative aspects of the current U.S.-led economic globalization that reflects the objective laws of human development. The article attempts to chart the path ahead for the world economy in the context of economic globalization, pervasive poverty/inequality, the resultant worldwide political awakening, the degradation of global ecosystems, and the current turmoil in financial institutions. The global challenge ahead will be three-fold： to bring the excluded 1/3 of the world＇s population into the open trade system; to encourage emerging markets like China and India to carry on with open policies and to persuade the developed Western nations to adhere to an open trade system and resist the temptations of trade protectionism. Free market access should be offered to those marginalized countries, the so-called ＂failed or failing states＂ that have been excluded from and angered by the globalization process. The growth in prosperity of these nations will open up a vast potential market for the world.     

A Rising India's Search for a Foreign Policy

As India seeks to become a major player on the international political stage, it will face two major internal constraints. First, India will have to recognize the need to exploit the extant structure of international system to its advantage more effectively. Structural constraints are the most formidable ones a state encounters in its drive towards the status of a major power. Yet, Indian foreign policy continues to be reactive to the strategic environment rather than attempting to shape the strategic realities. While such an ad hoc response to the structural imperatives carried little costs when India was on the periphery of global politics, it holds grave risks now that India seems poised to play a significant role in global politics. Second, India must come to grips with its discomfort with the very notion of power and in particular its wariness of the use of “hard power.” Throughout history, all major powers have been required to employ the military instrument skillfully. India's reluctance to accept a more sophisticated understanding of power, in general, and military power, in particular, will continue to undermine Indian foreign and security policy.     

The differential experience of Mozambican refugee women and men

This study examines differences in Mozambicans mens' and womens' experiences of living in refugee camps in Malawi late in 1990. The aim is to identify the differences in impact by gender in assistance policies and programs. In early 1991 there were an estimated 1 million Mozambican refugees in Malawi. This study is based on quantitative and qualitative data collection. The study sample included Chiumbangame and Mwawa in Mangochi District (refugee camps) and Ntcheu (settlements integrated with Malawi's population). Findings indicate that 17% of the 2006-person sample were female-headed households. Men in general had more years of schooling than women. 34% of the women and 47% of men completed at least 1 year of school and 10% of women and 24% of men completed 2 years. At all ages boys were more likely to be enrolled than girls. 4.1% of the 847 persons over 18 years old were receiving some training, but only 1 person had increased household income due to training. Refugee income was nil for women and about 20 cents/day for men. The mean daily income for individuals from female headed households was about half that of income from male headed households. Women were more likely to be working and spent more time in productive work than men. Women worked in household maintenance. Women in income programs gave housework chores to younger females in the household. The income programs were of low quality and products had low marketability. Girls helped with housework from an early age, while boys helped as teenagers. 44.2% of female headed households and 34.9% of members of male headed households reported health problems. This study identifies the ways in which refugee policy worsens gender inequalities in economic production and work burden.     

东盟区域经济一体化的新格局

在经济全球化和区域化推动下,东盟区域经济一体化发展迅速,并成为东亚地区经济一体化进程的核心力量。已经并正在形成的东盟与中、印、日、韩、澳、新自由贸易区,对东亚区域经济的整合将产生重要影响,中国应进一步调整参与战略,以应对区域经济一体化带来的机遇与挑战。     

太空安全秩序构建中的体系压力与战略指向

在当前“一超多强”的国际体系中,美国加大太空威慑不仅直接给对手带来清晰的威胁,还导致国际太空安全日益滑向军备竞赛和安全困境。这种由美国追求太空霸权所导致的国际体系层面的变化又反过来塑造着当前太空安全关系,促使其他各国在体系压力下作出包含反威慑在内的复杂应对。除了来自国际体系层面的安全压力,各国的太空安全战略选择还受到太空力量功效、太空法规意识、战略协调、国家互动情势、政治过程等中介变量的影响。这些中介变量不但影响国家对太空安全的认知,而且一段时间内会导致国家间太空安全决策的效率竞争型社会化。不过,随着国际社会过程不断延伸发展,太空力量功效和太空法规意识增强使相关国家安全决策更为谨慎和规范。全球化曲折推进中的战略沟通和政策协调使国家间太空安全互动情势由进化冲突向进化合作转变。在各国保持战略审慎的前提下,太空力量的多元化有助于构建包容、普惠、和谐的新太空安全秩序。太空全球性实质引领的共同利益观念又将助推人类命运共同体的构建。     

浅析中印经贸关系及双边自由贸易区的建立

随着经济全球化和区域经济一体化进程不断加快，建立双边或多边自由贸易区（FTA）成为许多国家参与国际竞争、提高竞争力的重要途径。作为世界上最大的两个发展中国家——中国和印度近年来在经济发展上都取得了显著进步，双边贸易额不断增加。在经济全球化的背景下，中印建立自由贸易区将给两国经济带来更好的发展前景。     

Towards an Asian security-community

The title of this paper indicates that the subject matter involves a process. It is a gradual process, step by step , since there are still many constraints: the complete normalization between China and Japan; the acceptance of the US, openly or tacit; and ASEAN's credibility, which will depend on the efforts to build the ASEAN Community. The process probably involves more than only East Asia in the geographical sense, because it would be sensible to include India, Australia and New Zealand as well. An Asian Security Community appears premature. But an extended East Asian community, which has a security component, could be a possibility. How this will unfold further will depend on how successful this regional process will be. East Asia cannot emulate the EU because it is a more diverse region than Europe, but East Asia can learn from the EU.     

Globalization,Systems Integration,and the Future of Great Power War

Contemporary economic globalization differs from past increases in global commerce, especially because modern foreign direct investment and systems integration techniques allow factories in different countries to specialize in the design and production of parts rather than complete products. Stephen Brooks has argued, based on both liberal and realist logics, that this new form of globalization might bring a “commercial peace,” at least among the great powers. But economic globalization did not simply appear by itself. Firms and governments made conscious decisions through a process of systems integration and strategic planning that led to a wide variety of international economic relationships. That diversity of economic connections combines with the variety of strategic situations in the international environment—variations in geography, national intentions, policy history, etc.—to suggest a range of possible constraints on countries' offensive capability and on the prospects for economic gains from conquest. As has always been the case, conquest in the future will sometimes prove valuable and other times will not. Globalization does not imply the dawn of an era of commercial peace.     

Microfinance,wage employment and housework: a gender analysis

This paper examines the loan-use pattern of women involved in wage employment and their benefits from such loans in Bangladesh. The effects of wage employment on gender relations and how these women balance loan use, wage employment, and housework were also explored. The study was conducted among women enrolled in the Ayesha Abed Foundation (AAF) of the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) in Jamalpur district, central Bangladesh. The AAF was established to generate employment and income for poor rural women. Data were gathered through survey, interviews, and focus-group discussions. Findings revealed that women wage earners avail themselves of the BRAC loans for consumption, asset accumulation, land purchase, and other productive purposes. About 53% of their loans were used by others and only 34 out of 341 women in the sample actually used the loans themselves. The loans were repaid by sewing or subsistence work, mainly in the subcenters (52%), through income from rickshaw pulling by their husbands (24%), and by selling vegetables, eggs, or milk. Furthermore, findings showed that the household work of women wage earners is generally taken up by other women in the family and has resulted in more men taking part in household responsibilities. In conclusion, wage employment plays an important factor in the promotion of the economic and social empowerment of women. Economic empowerment is observed in the greater degree of control women have over the money they earn. Social empowerment is manifested in the expanding mobility of women, whereby they are able to interact with other women and generate support systems.     

A water programme in Vietnam and its impact on women

Evaluation is now recognised as an essential component in planning and implementing projects, and is one important means by which recipients can participate in the design process. In Vietnam, the liberalisation of the economic and social life of the country in the last few years has allowed Oxfam the scope to consider long-term development plans. As a first stage, a review of the impact of an Oxfam project on the community was undertaken, paying particular attention to the situation of women. Parts of the findings are explored in this article, to show that one infrastructural input, in this case a pumping station, will have a broad range of consequences for the community concerned. Contrary to expectations, increased production is tending to encourage co-operation between men and women, out of shared interest in strengthening the stability of the household, now recognised (in place of the collective) as the prime economic unit in Vietnam.     

中国视角中的印度与东盟关系

20世纪80年代末90年代初,随着冷战的结束和全球区域经济一体化浪潮的兴起,印度重新意识到东盟对其在政治、经济和外交上的重要性,及时提出“东向政策”。印度调整东盟政策,提升与东南亚的战略关系,是印度实施全方位外交、推行大国战略的重要组成部分,无疑将给东亚区域合作及中国东盟关系的未来发展带来重大影响。中国应适时调整与东盟、印度的关系,增强中印两国在东南亚的共同利益与合作愿景,推动中、印、东盟三边关系向更高层次发展。     

20世纪70年代以来东南亚女性跨国流动的特点与影响

自20世纪70年代以来,在经济全球化的促进下,全球跨国人口迁移的速度越来越快。路径越来越多,影响越来越广。在此背景下,东南亚地区的女性跨国流动也表现出越来越引人注目的3个历史阶段性特征,即70—80年代的以女佣为主体的劳动力输出、1990—2000年的以跨国婚姻为主体的移民形态和2000年以来的以跨国色情业为主体的移民形态。东南亚地区女性的上述跨国流动特征对70年代以来的东南亚地区的发展也产生了多重影响。     

Coalition politics and the making of Indian foreign policy: a new research program

ABSTRACT

Do Indian regional parties influence foreign policy and under which conditions? Some foreign policy studies have shown that certain coalition-building configurations have facilitated the inclusion of the concerns of small parties in the foreign policy debate. Other works have looked at the role of decentralization and federal power-arrangement in providing more control to political sub-units over the external affairs of a state. Those separate scholarships provide interesting insights to account for the multi-level nature of coalition-building in a federal and pluralistic polity like India. Bridging these two literatures, I argue that the interdependence of regional and national coalition building processes (visible in federal settings) create locked-in alliances between national parties and regional parties which affect foreign policymaking. In these contexts, India’s national parties have to, under certain conditions, take into account the preferences of regional parties when designing foreign policies. This article looks at the hypothesized causal mechanisms and expectations through two illustrative case studies of India’s foreign policy.     

Does ethnofederalism explain the success of Indian federalism?

ABSTRACT

Ethnofederalism has been contested as a solution for diverse societies as seen recently in Nepal (where federalism has been accepted, but the design and number of units remains heavily contested) and Myanmar (where ethnic minority demands for increasing federalization have had to take a back seat to the demands for increasing democracy). It remains a heavily contested subject in Sri Lanka. Concerns are expressed that ethnofederalism will increase pressures for secession and/or lead to increased violence through increasing a sense of separateness of the people living within that territory, providing resources for political entrepreneurs to mobilize groups against the center and will lead to the persecution of minorities within the ethnofederal units. India is an example of a federation that appears to demonstrate that ethnofederalism decreases rather than increases conflict through its successful reorganization of states along linguistic lines. However, a group-level analysis reveals a more diverse picture. India has simultaneously been both a success and a failure at conflict management.