Human rights and the distribution of U.S. foreign aid

In contrast to the findings of other studies, we conclude that human rights play a significant and substantive role in determining the distribution of U.S. foreign aid. We find that the foreign aid program relates aid to the need of recipient nations, rewards nations for furthering human rights, does not discriminate on the basis of race or religion, and responds to national security interests of the U.S. The finding that the program does what most people assert it should do provides a new explanation for the rigidity of distributions over time.     

Books in review

He is the co-author, with William G. Scott, of Organizational Values in America.     

Reviews

Culture in Africa: An Appeal for Pluralism edited by Raoul Granqvist. Seminar Proceedings No.29. The Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, Uppsala. 1993. 204 pp. illustrated.

Social Change And Economic Reform in Africa edited by Peter Gibbon. Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Uppsala. 1993. 379 pp. including references and notes on contributors.

The Idea of Africa by V.Y.Mudimbe. Indiana University Press, Bloomington & Indianapolis, and James Currey, London. 1994. xvii plus 234 pp. including illustrations, bibliography and index.

Can National Dialogue Break the Power of Terror in Burundi? Report on the Impact of the International Conference National Dialogue Held in Bujumbura, May 15–18, on Burundian Efforts to Restore Domestic Process in the Country by Zdenek Cervenka and Colin Legum. Current African Issues 17. Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Uppsala, Sweden. 1994. 29 pp.

Ethnicity in Focus: The South African Case by Simon Bekker. Indicator SA Issue Focus, Centre for Social and Development Studies, University of Natal. 1993. iii plus 117pp. including notes, bibliography and index.

Liquor and Labour in Southern Africa edited by Jonathan Crush and Charles Ambler. Athens and Pietermaritzburg: Ohio University Press and University of Natal Press. 1992. 412 pp. including figures, tables and index.

Chelewa, Chelewa, The Dilemma of Teenage Girls edited by Zubeida Tumbo‐Masabo and Rita Liljestrom. Nordiska Afrikainstitutet. 1994. 218 pp.

Towards More Appropriate Technologies? Experiences from the Water and Sanitation Sector by Mariken Vaa. Report No. 94, Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Uppsala. 1993. 91 pp. including references.

From the Mountains to the Plains. The Integration of the Lafofa Nuba into Sudanese Society by L.O. Manger. Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, Uppsala. 1994. 175 pp.

The New Local Level Politics in East Africa. Studies on Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya edited by Peter Gibbon. Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Uppsala. 1994. Research Report No. 95. 118 pp. including figures, notes and references. Paperback. US$9.95.

Tanzania: The Limits to Development from Above by Kjell J. Havnevik. The Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, Uppsala, Sweden. 1993. 343 pp. including tables, bibliography and appendices.

A Blighted Harvest: The World Bank and African Agriculture in the 1980s by Peter Gibbon, Kjell J. Havnevik and Kenneth Hermele. James Currey, London and Africa World Press, Trenton, New Jersey. 1993.     

Radio-Québec: Une institution publique à la recherche d'une mission

Abstract. Radio-Québec is the Quebec educational television service, the Quebec equivalent of the Ontario Educational Communications Authority or of the Public Broadcasting System in the United States. However, Radio-Québec has also had to carry the burden of a ‘second mandate’: a symbolic one. Its foundation was part of Daniel Johnson's strategy to recapture jurisdiction over broadcasting from the federal government. Eventually-so many people thought-Radio-Québec would replace Radio-Canada within the frontiers of Quebec. However, the course of its development led it into a number of severe administrative problems. There was an institutional conflict with the Ministry of Education. There was public criticism of the quality of its productions, to the effect that it resembled a sort of ‘televised radio’ Finally, there was an increasing gap between its costs and its revenues, which led the organization to seek increased funds, ‘to improve the quality of its programming’ It is argued that many of these problems have arisen because of an initial emphasis on local production at the expense of broadcasting as such. Because of Radio-Québec's ‘patriotic’ mandate perhaps, the setting up of production facilities enjoyed the highest priority. Only in this way could ‘made-in-Quebec’ programs be produced. Broadcasting, on the other hand, did not begin until four years after the organization's foundation. Sommaire. Radio-Québec est un réseau d'Etat de télévision éducative, l'équiva-lent québécois de l'Office de la télécommunication éducative de l'Ontario, (Ontario Educational Communications Authority) ou de la Public Broadcasting System aux Etats-Unis. Mais Radio-Québec se voit aussi attribuer un deuxième mandat: de type « symbolique ». En effet, sa fondation faisait partie de la stratégic générale de Daniel Johnson, qui réclamait la juridiction entière du Québec dans le domaine des communications. A long terme-dans l'esprit de nombreuses personnes-Radio-Québec remplacerait Radio-Canada à l'intérieur des fron-tières québécoises. Mais, au cours de son évolution, Radio-Québec fit face à une série de défis assez graves. Il y eut un conflit institutionnel avec le ministère de l'Education, son client principal. Il y eut des critiques faites à l'égard de sa pragrammation, selon laquelle on faisait « de la radio télévisée ». Enfin, il y eut un problème financier; l'écart croissant entre ses coûts et ses revenus, qui l'amena à réclamer un surcroît d'argent « pour améliorer la qualité de la programmation ». L'hypothèse de ce travail est que bon nombre de ces problèmes résultaient d'une décision de développer d'abord le secteur de la production aux dépens du secteur diffusion. Peut-être à cause de son mandat « patriotique », la production eut la premiere priorité. C'était là le seul moyen de réaliser des documents « faits au Québec ». La diffusion, par contre, ne commença que quatre ans après sa fondation.