Theory to Practice: Policy Recommendations for Fostering Economic Development through Social Capital

Proponents of social capital theory have long argued not only that it is in the best interest of civic life to build social capital but also that social capital is vital for the economic health of communities. This has been confirmed by recent research showing that social capital, especially in its bridging form, is positively associated with job creation at the metropolitan statistical area level. At the same time, social capital is often viewed as something either inherent or absent within a community. This article takes on that assumption by presenting a policy‐based approach to developing social capital. It provides two theoretical explanations for how social capital affects economic development and identifies four lessons for economic development practitioners to use to enhance social capital. These research‐based recommendations for economic development practitioners and policy makers seek to improve the social capital and, consequently, the economic development of their community.     

Wanted! ‘Strong publics’ for uncertain times: the Active Citizenship in Central America project

This article places the experiences of the Active Citizenship in Central America project, led by Dublin City University, within wider discussions on the role of civil society in building democracy and furthering development. The article examines project development and content and assesses its effectiveness, using a framework derived from Nancy Fraser’s (1993) Fraser, Nancy (1993) ‘Rethinking the public sphere: a contribution to the critique of actually existing democracy’, in Calhoun (1993).  [Google Scholar] concept of ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ publics. It finds that the project oscillates between these positions, and it makes policy recommendations to help to move it closer to a ‘strong publics’ conception. It ends by asserting that in the current conjuncture a ‘strong publics’ conception is a useful guiding principle for the design of development projects to strengthen civil society.     

Analysis of 2,4-Dinitrophenol in Postmortem Blood and Urine by Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry: Method Development and Validation and Report of Three Fatalities in the United States

2,4-dinitrophenol (2,4-DNP) is a compound used in the early 1900s as a weight-loss drug but later prohibited due to its severe adverse effects, including death. It has however been attracting interest, due to its weight-loss properties, and appears to be re-emerging in forensic casework. As 2,4-DNP is available for use in industry and as a pesticide and easily accessible online, the dissemination of this drug can be fast. The compound exerts its effects through inhibition of ATP synthesis, and corresponding thermogenic energy loss which can be fatal. A method for qualitative and quantitative analysis of 2,4-DNP in blood and urine specimens using GC-MS with hydrogen as carrier gas is described. The method was validated and displayed acceptable performance parameters with linearity (R² higher than 0.998), inter-assay imprecision (lower than 10.6%), intra-assay imprecision (lower than 10.7%), and extraction efficiency (92.1%). Stability of 2,4-DNP in blood and urine was studied, and the drug was stable up to 30 days refrigeration or frozen. Six cases in United States suspected to be related to 2,4-DNP were analyzed. Three cases were found to be positive for 2,4-DNP. Concentrations of 2,4-DNP were in the range of 61.6–220 mg/L in urine and <3–114 mg/L in blood. Based on our findings, we suggest that medical examiners and forensic toxicologists be aware of the reappearance of 2,4-DNP, including this compound as a target in death investigations related to weight-loss drugs.     

Sore Loser Laws and Congressional Polarization

To enhance explanations for party polarization in the U.S. Congress, we focus on an unappreciated legal structure known as the sore loser law. By restricting candidates who lose partisan primaries from subsequently appearing on the general election ballot as independents or as nominees of other parties, these laws give greater control over ballot access to the party bases, thus producing more extreme major party nominees. Using several different measures of candidate and legislator ideology, we find that sore loser laws account for as much as a tenth of the ideological divide between the major parties.     

Control,Historic Pitfalls,and the UK Nuclear Renaissance

In September 2015, the UK government announced that future taxpayers will underwrite the construction of two European-designed nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset. Partly financed by Chinese utility companies, this announcement presents a fait accompli with little democratic input. Few, if any, historic lessons evident from previous attempts to manage its nuclear industry appear to have been learnt. This paper discusses the announcement with reference to the governance of the UK’s historic nuclear legacy—specifically dealing with control, stakeholder engagement, and transparency—and its implications for a nuclear renaissance.     

Liberalism,socialism and democracy: variations on a governmental theme

Liberalism is commonly understood as a political doctrine or ideology concerned with the maximization of individual liberty. However, following Foucault's work on governmentality, a different usage has been suggested, based on the idea of a liberal mode of government. I argue that the differences between these accounts of liberalism derive from a fundamental ambiguity in the liberal project, as a result of which the figure of a community of autonomous individuals appears on the one hand as given reality, serving to identify the character and the limits of legitimate government, while on the other it appears as yet to be realized positivity, serving to define the objective for a variety of governmental projects.

This paper examines the implications of that ambiguity for the understanding first of liberalism as doctrine and second of its relationship to other contemporary doctrines - democracy, socialism and the neo-liberalism in particular. Since the figure of the community of autonomous persons considered as given reality tends to dominate standard characterizations of liberalism as doctrine of government, it also plays an important part in the contrasting characterizations of democracy and socialism. We should expect the view of such a community as artefact to produce a rather different picture.     

Rational choice theory and the analysis of political action

The rational choice approach to the analysis of political action takes as its starting point the need to construct a model of the individual actor and its choices as the basis for its investigations of the interactions of a plurality of actors. This paper questions the theoretical foundations of that approach, concentrating on its postulates of rationality, homogeneity, and individualism. It argues that the conceptualisation of actors, their decisions, and the conditions in which they are made, rasies important questions that cannot be posed within the rational choice approach. A final section indicates some of the problems with recent attempts to integrate elements of the rational choice approach into marxism.     

Non‐fiction reviews

Behind the Wall: a journey through China by Colin Thubron, London: Penguin. 1988. 308pp. £4.99pb

Riding the Iron Rooster: by train through China by Paul Theroux, London: Penguin. 1989. 512pp. £4.99pb

Lords of Poverty: the free‐wheeling lifestyles, power, prestige and corruption of the multi‐billion dollar aid business by Graham Hancock, London: Macmillan. 1989. 234pp. £14.95hb

Does Aid Work in India? by Michael Lipton and John Toye, London: Routledge. 1989. 276pp. £35.00hb

The Fortunate Isles: a study in African transformation by Basil Davidson, London: Hutchinson. 1989. 221pp. £7.95pb

Modernising Super‐Exploitation: restructuring South African agriculture. Tessa Marcus, London: Zed. 1989. 207pp. £32.95hb/£12.95pb

Facing the Storm: portraits of black lives in rural South Africa by Tim Keegan, London: Zed. 1988. 170pp. £22.95hb/£6.95pb

Banking on Apartheid: the financial links report. Intergovernmental Group of Commonwealth Ministers, London: James Currey. 1989. 94pp. £4.95pb

South Africa: the sanctions mission by James Mutambirwa, London: Zed. 1989. 135pp. £6.95pb

Sanctions against Apartheid. Edited by Mark Orkin, London: Catholic Institute for International Relations. 1989. 328pp. £4.95pb

South Africa: the sanctions report. Intergovernmental Group of Commonwealth Ministers, London: Penguin. 1989. 273pp. £4.99pb

Contemporary West African States. Donal B Cruise O'Brien, John Dunn and Richard Rathbone, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. £30.00hb/£9.95pb

Power, Class and Foreign Capital in Egypt: the rise of the new bourgeoisie. Malak Zaalouk, London: Zed. 1989. 178pp. £29.95hb/£8.95pb

Pity the Nation: Lebanon at war by Robert Fisk, London: André Deutsch. 1990. 662pp. £17.95hb

Colombia: inside the labyrinth by Jenny Pearce, London: Latin American Bureau. 1990. 312pp. £18.99hb/£8.99pb

The Brazilian Economy: growth and development (third edition) by Werner Baer, New York: Praeger. 1989. 432pp. £47.30hb/£17.50pb

Samora Machel: a biography by Iain Christie, London: Zed Press. 1989. 181pp. £26.95hb/£7.95pb

A Future Preserved: international assistance to refugees by Zefime Zarjevski, Oxford: Pergamon. 1988. 326pp. £42.00hb

Third World Television Access to US Media: distributing television programs from developing countries in US television, new electronic and nontheatrical markets by Claus Mueller New York: Friedrich Naumann Foundation. 1989. 125pp

Power, the Press and the Technology of Freedom by Leonard R Sussman, New York: Freedom House. 1989. 496 pp. $24.95hb

Security and Economy in the Third World by Nicole Ball, London: Adamantine Press. 1988. 432pp. £32.50hb