Why Japan's Development Aid Matters Most for Dealing with Global Environmental Problems

It is evident that Japan has made global environmental issues a top priority in its foreign policy agenda since the early 1990s. Although Japan's “environmental ODA” decision-making copes with numerous hurdles arising on both external and internal fronts, this world's largest donor nation has already shouldered a great financial responsibility to help resolve such problems on a global scale. Moreover, Tokyo has played a prominent role in efforts to establish major legally binding international agreements on environmental issues. This study argues why Japan with its economic prowess, extensive experience, and modern technologies is one of the most important actors contributing to the environment, despite the recent withering trend of Tokyo's ODA volume. Although the environment is just the kind of global dilemma the UN is perfectly positioned to address, there is actually a startling array of environmental concerns in which enhanced participation and cooperation by Japan could really make a difference. Therefore, as Japan has the goal of attaining a niche in world environmental leadership, the country needs to elevate the strategy, efficiency, and effectiveness of its aid diplomacy in the days to come.     

Engaging elite support for the poorest? BRAC's Targeted Ultra Poor programme for rural women in Bangladesh

This article draws preliminary lessons from the experience of engaging village elites in support of a BRAC programme for ultra-poor women in rural Bangladesh. It describes the origins, aims, and operation of this programme, which provides comprehensive livelihood support and productive assets to the extreme poor. Based on field research in the rural north-west, the article examines the conditions under which elites can support interventions for the ultra-poor, and the risks and benefits of such engagement. It describes the impact of committees mandated to support ultra-poor programme participants, and attempts to understand the somewhat paradoxical success of this intervention. Conclusions and lessons from the experience involve revisiting assumptions that dominate scholarship and programmes relating to the politics of poverty in rural Bangladesh.     

Repression,co-optation and insurgency: Pakistan’s FATA,Southern Thailand and Papua,Indonesia

Scholars have long identified state repression as playing a key role in the onset of insurgency. Violence by security forces increases anger against the state and assists with rebel recruitment. Yet scholars have also recognised that repression does not always lead to rebellion: in some cases it successfully quashes movements before they have begun. This study advances an argument for when and why repression leads to insurgency and sometimes does not. We contend that violence by state security forces can fail to trigger rebellion if local elites within the repressed community are simultaneously co-opted with political and economic opportunities. When elites are satisfied with local autonomy and patronage they deprive the dissident movement of local leadership and coordination. When the state uses repression against a community and at the same time abandons this mutually beneficial relationship, the insurgency has both the leadership and grassroots support it requires. We illustrate our argument by examining three cases of state violence in Asia. In two of our cases, Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Southern Thailand, repression led directly to insurgency. In the third, Papua in Indonesia, ongoing co-optation of local elites has left the movement factionalised and weak.     

关于孟加拉国卡西族社会经济特点的研究

本文提供了关于孟加拉国卡西族的原始资料。此项研究目的在于揭示孟加拉国卡西族的社会经济特点和其家庭的生活水平。锡尔赫特地区中两块区域被选作此次研究的试验地。每个区域中共有 4 0个家庭被调查取样。结果显示 38%的家庭没有自已的土地 ,其中只有7%的家庭是大家庭。绝大多数的小农场主和他的家庭成员都没受过正式的教育。卡西族人家庭主要从事的都是农业 ,并且生活水平都不高。有一些卡西族人家庭是从商的。他们面临着不少问题 ,不断增加的政府发展计划正逐渐改善他的生活水平。