The Entitlement Approach – A Case for Framework Development Rather than Demolition: A Reply to Rubin

Abstract

This is my response to Olivier Rubin's critique of my paper ‘Entitlement failure and deprivation: a critique of Sen's famine philosophy’. I have examined his criticisms in the light of Hume's philosophy of human knowledge and consider them weak in logical content.     

Is Democracy a Cure for Terrorism? A Review of Natan Sharansky's The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror 1

This article examines the claim by Natan Sharansky that the establishment of democracy in countries that are currently under an autocratic or tyrannical regime will result in an end terror. Sharansky sees a direct link between the promotion of human rights and democracy on the one hand and peace and security on the other. The review article argues that the establishment of democracy alone will not be sufficient to end terror. The pursuit of justice, including tackling poverty and solving the Israel–Palestine problem, and the promotion of religious tolerance are necessary additional components.     

The ‘Stubborn Stain’ on Development: Gendered Meanings of Housework (Non-)Participation in Cambodia

The persistence of intra-household inequality is widely regarded as a ‘stubborn stain’ on development achievements and aspirations. As a key hindrance, this article considers gendered meanings of housework undertaken in male-headed households of Siem Reap, Cambodia. Encompassing cooking, cleaning and child-care as forms of unpaid labour performed in the home, the article uses in-depth interviews to reveal the differential discourses that men and women draw upon to explain current variances in the (non)-sharing of this work. It brings to the fore the diversity, and divergence, of meanings surrounding this everyday practice, discursive domains of domestic inequality which must inform future development interventions and programmes. Until such time that these underlying discourses are taken seriously in the development arena, the article argues that women's housework will remain largely tied to appeals to cultures, traditions and customs that guard against the ‘cleaning up’ of housework injustice.     

Distributive Effects of Regional Trade Agreements on the ‘Small Trading Partners’: Mercosur and the Case of Uruguay and Paraguay

It is disputed whether trade liberalisation processes are sufficient for reducing poverty and inequality. We explore how ‘gains from trade’ have been distributed in the two minor trade partners of Mercosur, Uruguay and Paraguay, by analysing the impact of trade liberalisation on poverty and inequality through two main transmission channels: prices and income. In the case of Uruguay, trade liberalisation favoured a reduction in poverty indicators but had an almost zero effect on income inequality. In the case of Paraguay, trade liberalisation had a markedly negative impact in terms of poverty yet income distribution improved. We conclude that in the case of Mercosur, the effect of trade on poverty and income inequality varies per country and per region. In particular, we conclude that trade integration policies cannot be regarded as ‘poverty-alleviating’ per se.     

The Development of Pensioners’ Interest Organisations in Central and Eastern Europe: A Comparison of the Czech and Slovene Cases

Studies of organised interests in Central and Eastern Europe have overlooked constituencies shaped by the welfare state such as retired people. The article compares the development, structure and strategies of pensioners’ interest organisations in the Czech Republic and Slovenia. It finds that sizeable, if poorly resourced, membership-based pensioners’ interest organisations have emerged, largely independently of trade unions, and integrated into interest representation systems. Although lack of resources and organisational problems hamper lobbying capacity, these groups retain mobilisation potential. Comparison suggests that legacies and modes of transition still shape pensioners’ interest organisations more than institutional structures or new population ageing strategies.     

Education for Modernisation? The Impact of Higher Education Member Development Programmes on Councillors’ Perception and Performance of their Roles

The recent ‘modernisation’ process in local government has brought about the most significant, and certainly the most explicit, changes in councillor roles for decades. At the same time – partly as a result of this and partly for other reasons – there has been a significant growth in the provision of training for councillors, and in particular, training – or, rather, education – programmes provided by higher education institutions (HEIs). These accredited programmes, leading to standard, nationally recognised academic qualifications at a range of levels, first appeared in the early 2000s, and have been steadily growing since. The entry of supposedly disinterested institutions and academics and the introduction of accreditation into the field of member development raise a number of questions around potential conflicts of interest between councillors, officers and the academy, councillor motivation and selection processes. Of particular interest is the question of what HEIs and the courses they are providing are doing, deliberately or otherwise, to shape, reinforce or challenge the new (and old) roles explicitly and implicitly being introduced and promoted through the modernisation reforms. This article utilises interviews with councillors, local authority officers, academics and representatives of national bodies representing or with an interest in local government to examine how councillors’ roles and the way that they perform them are perceived by all involved, and whether these are altered by participation in a higher education programme of study.     

The Social Impact of Social Funds in Jamaica: A ‘Participatory Econometric’ Analysis of Targeting,Collective Action,and Participation in Community-Driven Development

Qualitative data from a case study of the Jamaica social investment fund reveal that the social fund process is elite-driven and decision-making tends to be dominated by a small group of motivated individuals. However, there is broad-based satisfaction with the outcome. Quantitative data from 500 households mirror these findings by showing that, ex-ante, the social fund does not address the expressed needs of the majority of individuals in the majority of communities. By the completion of the project, however, 80 per cent of the community expresses satisfaction with the outcome. An analysis of the determinants of participation reveals that better educated and better networked individuals dominate the process. Propensity-score analysis demonstrates that JSIF has had a causal impact on improvements in trust and the capacity for collective action, but these gains are greater for elites.     

Conflict,Development and Security at the Agro–Pastoral–Wildlife Nexus: A Case of Laikipia County,Kenya

Abstract

This article analyses the connections between conflict and development at the agriculture–pastoralism–wildlife interface from the perspective of human security. The article draws on empirical data (qualitative and quantitative) generated in Laikipia County, Kenya, and literature to illustrate that (1) the major issues which cut across each of these conflicts are related to natural resource management, cultural practices and governance, and (2) these cross-cutting issues impinge on people’s freedoms, extending these conflicts into cases of human insecurity. Specifically, each conflict type compounds the impacts of the others on farmer and pastoral economic, food, environmental, personal, community, health and political security.     

On the Colonial Origins of Agricultural Development in India: A Re-examination of Banerjee and Iyer, ‘History,Institutions and Economic Performance’

Banerjee and Iyer find that districts which the British assigned to landlord revenue systems systematically underperform districts with non-landlord based revenue systems in agricultural performance, after the onset of the Green Revolution in the mid-1960s. Based on colonial documents, archival research and the work of historians, we correct a mis-interpretation of the land revenue system in Central Provinces, which BI characterise as landlord based. The historical evidence suggests that this region should be attributed to a mixed landlord/non-landlord based revenue system. Using a more appropriate classification, we find no evidence that agricultural performance of Indian districts in the post-independence period was adversely affected by the landlord land revenue system.     

Note – Walking on Solid Ground: A Replication Study of ‘Housing Health and Happiness’

This note summarises our replication study ‘Housing, Health, and Happiness’, henceforth HHH2009, which constitutes an important paper in the literature of housing and slum upgrading. The original authors conduct a quasi-experimental impact evaluation of ‘Piso Firme’, an intervention that replaced in-house dirt floors with cement in Mexico. We conduct a Pure Replication (PR), a Measurement and Estimation Analysis (MEA), and a Theory of Change Analysis (TCA). In our PR, we did not find any major discrepancy with the original study. In the MEA, we generally find the results to be strongly robust to different types of alternative analysis. Finally, in TCA we explore a dimension that was not reported on the published version of the study and found that households with high initial levels of cement-floor coverage benefitted significantly less from Piso Firme’s intervention. These findings are discussed in greater detail on International Initiative for Impact Evaluation’s (3ie) working paper version.     

The Reinvention of ‘Traditional Values’: Nataliya Narochnitskaya and Russia’s Assault on Universal Human Rights

Russia’s emergence as a leading opponent of universal human rights is one of the defining features of the Putin era. Under the banner of ‘traditional values’, Russian diplomats and clerics have re-forged cultural relativism into a weapon that can be used by repressive regimes to deflect criticism of their human rights records. This article examines the contribution of Nataliya Narochnitskaya, a historian and nationalist politician, to this exercise in authoritarian soft power. By tracing the formation of Narochnitskaya’s ideas and their adoption by state institutions, it demonstrates that the ‘traditional values’ campaign was intricately bound up with the collapse of Russian democracy.     

Education for Modernity: The Impact of American Social Science on Alva and Gunnar Myrdal and the “Swedish Model” of School Reform

This paper directs itself to the impact of American social science on the writings of Alva and Gunnar Myrdal on the role of education and social science in modern industrial democracy. After a brief sketch of the Myrdals' role in the development of Swedish welfare reforms and of their intellectual contacts in the United States during the 1930's, the paper outlines four theoretical dilemmas of modernity to the solution of which education and social research was seen to contribute: the relationships between facts and values, the individual and the collective, child rearing and social change, and theory and practice. The paper concludes by tracing the articulation of these themes in the Social Democratic Party school reform proposals of 1948.     

Wages,Wage Inequality,and Education: The Case of a Microstate with a “Free Education for All” Policy

Like many developing states, Barbados has historically used education as a means of economic development. Specifically, for over three decades, the Barbados Government has provided free education from the primary to the tertiary level. This article investigates the benefits associated with higher education. Based on a sample of 400 Barbadians, the authors find that education has a positive impact on income and contributes to lower within-group wage inequality.     

T-Test for Terrorism: Did the Introduction of Proportional Representation Reduce the Terrorist Threat? A Time-Series Case Study of Algeria and Northern Ireland

Can electoral reform lead to a reduction in the number of terrorist incidents? Economists have shown that the introduction of constitutional institutions such as courts in the early eighteenth century had a direct effect on investment. Could there be a similar link between the introduction of proportional representation (PR) electoral systems and a reduction in the number of terrorist attacks? Previous studies using cross-sectional data have found a negative correlation between the presence of PR-electoral systems and the number of terrorist incidents. However, earlier studies were based on aggregate figures, not on time-series data. They did not provide a direction that could be used to measure the possible effect of the introduction of PR. This research note addresses this problem. Using a paired samples t-test it is possible to show that the introduction of proportional representation in Northern Ireland and Algeria led to a marked reduction in the number of terrorist attacks. The note thus adds strength to earlier studies.     

A ‘synchronised attack’ on life: the Saudi-led coalition’s ‘hidden and holistic’ genocide in Yemen and the shared responsibility of the US and UK

Abstract

Since the Saudi-led coalition (Coalition) began its military campaign in Yemen in March 2015, upwards of 13,000 Yemen civilians have been killed, including nearly 2000 women and 3000 children. Additionally, Coalition aerial attacks have intentionally targeted Yemen’s civilian infrastructure, economic infrastructure, medical facilities and cultural heritage. Combined with the ongoing air and naval blockade, which has impeded the ability of Yemenis to access clean water, food, fuel and health services, the violence visited upon Yemen has created near-famine conditions. Furthermore, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) predicts another imminent outbreak of cholera, with the potential to be as deadly as last year’s which infected more than one million children and killed a child every 10?minutes. Through engagement with genocide studies literature, this article applies a holistic conception of genocide to the Coalition military campaign. It finds that the Coalition is conducting an ongoing campaign of genocide by a ‘synchronised attack’ on all aspects of life in Yemen, one that is only possible with the complicity of the United States and United Kingdom.     

The Influence of Emotional Labor and Emotional Intelligence on Job Performance: Does Ownership Type Matter? A Comparison of Public and Private Organizations in China

ABSTRACT

Given the limited knowledge about the effect of contextual factors of organizational ownership types on emotional labor, this research addresses two main questions: (1) whether emotional labor varies among organizations with different ownership types; and (2) whether emotional labor and emotional intelligence relate to job performance in different ways in public and private organizations. This paper examines the research questions with 306 self-report questionnaires from the public sector, domestic privately-owned enterprises and foreign-invested firms in China. Significant differences were found in the emotional labor reported in public and private organizations. Overall, emotional labor was found to have a significant effect on in-role performance, and emotional intelligence moderated the link between emotional labor and job performance in public organizations, but not in private organizations.     

The return migration experiences of Ethiopian women trafficked to Bahrain: ‘ … for richer or poorer,let me be on the hands of my people … ’

ABSTRACT

This study draws upon the return experiences of Ethiopian women trafficked to the Middle East. Understanding these experiences is critical to informing the design of effective government policy to mitigate obstacles to return and reintegration. This study was conducted in Addis Ababa with five women who were trafficked to Bahrain and later returned to Ethiopia. Action research was used to establish an inquiry group of women in order to produce a viable vision for successful reintegration. Despite initial high hopes, the returnees did not see migration as producing positive returns. All five participants agreed that their experiences in the destination were devastating and thus they were relieved to have returned to their home country. Nonetheless, reintegration was a difficult process for them. In addition to not accumulating enough savings to enable them to reintegrate economically, they all faced misunderstandings and impractical expectations from their families and community. The women suggested that adequate protection from law enforcement, facilitation of income-generating activities, and improved access to rehabilitation and medical services are important elements of successful return and reintegration. Effective return and reintegration policy is needed to ensure that trafficked returnees can become productive citizens in their home country.     

Tenacious diasporic homelessness in Moroccan Dutch writing: A. Benali's ‘May the Sun Shine Tomorrow’ and H. Bouazza's ‘The Crossing’ as a case of study

The highly estimated reception of Abdelkader Benali's debut Wedding by the Sea and Hafid Bouazza's Abdullah's Feet in the mid-1990s is the hyped celebration of multiculturality by the Dutch establishment. Because of attributed to stories' apparent embedment in the native background (Moroccan exotic village), the writers were hailed as successful models for the Dutch multicultural society that was based on the policy of integration (while retaining one's own cultural identity). This paper argues that those exotic proses are imbedded in the culture of routes rather than the rhetoric of roots which is centered on otherness and ethnicisation. The narrative structure of the debuts is undergirded by a discursive disruption of the centripetal moves toward unified autochthonous belonging. It is suggestive of the precariousness of the migrants' homes and their sense of origins. More importantly, A. Benali's ‘May the Sun Shine Tomorrow’ and H. Bouazza's ‘The Crossing’ are produced in a different context dominated by the New Right nationalist demand for sameness and critique of the pluralist discourse of correctness. Nevertheless, it is contended here that in displaying a persistent accent on migratory experience and full incorporation of foreigners in society as equals rather than identical, the short stories maintain the obstinate immersion of the writers in the poetics of homelessness. As such, Bouazza and Benali are claimed to enunciate a diasporic transnational position which resists social exclusion and sees dialogic cosmopolitanism as an adequate home for identities that are constantly on the process of emerging.