Linking past and future: cross-border development and quality of life in the Badakhshans

The 1895 Pamir Convention divided the mountainous region of Badakhshan into separate entities under Russian and British/Afghan influence, leading to a remarkable divergence in the development fortunes of a people once united by kinship. For those in today's Gorno-Badakhshan in Tajikistan, incorporation into the Soviet Union brought investments in education, health, physical infrastructure, and the economy. People living in Afghanistan's Badakhshan Province retained more political freedom but lived remotely within a feudal state where development investment was limited. In recent decades, both regions have experienced conflict that has affected their development. In this article, we use findings from quality of life assessments carried out by the Aga Khan Development Network to illustrate the stark differences between the Badakhshans. We discuss ongoing efforts to implement cross-border development programmes to improve quality of life in both Badakhshans, while noting that their success depends on a stable security environment in the region.     

The Use of Contracting in the Public Sector

Around the world and especially in English-speaking countries there has been a wave of contract-based public sector management following on the heels of a wave of corporatisation and privatisation.     

Networking in practice: The Arid Lands Information Network

As the development agenda becomes more and more led by the preoccupations of Southern non-government organisations (NGOs), it becomes increasingly crucial that good communication flows are encouraged and maintained between development practitioners. Project staff have frequently been the underclass of the development world, often isolated, left to execute decisions made by others, poorly serviced in terms of training and information, and none more so than the women among them. Yet they are the very people on whom the implementation of good development practice rests. The Arid Lands Information Network (ALIN) was established in 1988 specifically to address some of the needs of this group. Using a number of methods, it has sought to encourage and facilitate the sharing of information and ideas among development workers at village/project level and to build confidence and provide a platform for their concerns and views. The ultimate aim is not to increase membership of the ALIN 'club', but rather to foster the desire to communicate and share experience, and to take control of the process of networking.     

Is crime scene examination science, and does it matter anyway?

This short piece aims to assess the kind of data collected by Crime Scene Examiners (CSEs), and to discuss whether this collection constitutes a scientific process. It also seeks to examine the balance of roles performed by the CSE, between data gatherer and investigator. The piece also aims to conclude on whether a clearer understanding of the structure of data collected by CSEs might be of some practical use in developing a greater understanding of the architecture of knowledge that forensic science as a whole relies upon. As a piece of work it is unapologetically theoretical in its perspective, and seeks to prompt further discussion regarding the structure of scientific knowledge, and any relevance this might have to its application in a forensic context. Ultimately, it seeks the inclusion of the processes of data gathering performed largely by CSEs within the wider processes of forensic science.     

Investment mobilization and capacity completion in the Chinese and Soviet economies

This paper examines the relationship between the mobilization of resources into capital projects and the completion of new productive capacity in two ‘shortage’ economies—China and the USSR. Causes of delayed commissioning of new capacity, and the role of unfinished construction in the investment cycle, are analysed. Annual data over a long period are presented for both economies—for the USSR 1928–37 and 1950–83, and for China 1950–82. Changes over time in the relationship between investment mobilization and capacity completion are considered, along with differences and similarities between the records of the two economies under investigation.