Core Poverty,Vagueness and Adaptation: A New Methodology and Some Results for South Africa

Amartya Sen has argued that poverty is a vague concept. This paper develops a methodology for applying a framework which uses a ‘supervaluationist’ account of vagueness in the context of poverty. Within this framework people or households are termed ‘core poor’ if there is no ambiguity about whether or not they are poor. The framework is applied using data from a survey on the ‘Essentials of Life’ conducted in three locations in South Africa in 2001. The methodology relates the data to the framework using an insight of Max Black's. While the application of the methodology is, in its very nature, somewhat arbitrary, we illustrate how it can lead to an estimate of core poverty which differs from standard measures of the ‘ultra-poor’ and ‘most deprived’. Finally, the possibility that respondents may have adapted to their living conditions is investigated. A first look at the data does not provide conclusive evidence of such adaptation.     

Financial Discrepancies in Political Party Funding by Indonesian Local Government Authorities

Through different forms of decentralization variables, this study investigates Indonesian local government authorities' 2006 financial accountability reports in terms of local government authorities' contributing funds to political parties. Audit results by the Supreme Audit Body reveal that many articles were violated by these authorities in regard to the distributing, administrating, and reporting of assistance funds from them to political parties. Each rupiah committed by the 221 local government authorities involved in this study violated, on average, 1.8 articles, indicating a low level of compliance.

Critically, the study finds that administrative, fiscal, and political decentralization decreases discrepancies. The less administratively decentralized provincial authorities, where decision making is a level of government farther from the people, are more likely than non-provincial local government authorities to make discrepancies with political party legislation and regulations. Fiscally decentralized local government authorities, who earn a higher fraction of their revenue from local sources, also tend to have fewer discrepanciesFinally, politically decentralized authorities with a higher percentage of elected officials from the decentralized supporting ruling coalition, also have fewer discrepancies.     

Orthodoxy and nation-building: Nichifor Crainic and religious nationalism in 1920s Romania

This article uses the early career of Nichifor Crainic (1889–1972) to show why Orthodox Christianity became a central element of Romanian ultra-nationalism during the 1920s. Most Romanian nationalists were atheists prior to the First World War, but state-sponsored nation-building efforts catalyzed by territorial expansion and the incorporation of ethnic and religious minorities allowed individuals such as Crainic to introduce religious nationalism into the public sphere. Examining Crainic's work during the 1920s shows how his nationalism was shaped by mainstream political and ideological currents, including state institutions such as the Royal Foundations of Prince Carol and the Ministry of Cults and of Art. Despite championing “tradition,” Crainic was committed to changing Romanian society so long as that change followed autochthonous Romanian models. State sponsorship allowed Crainic to promote religious nationalism through his periodical Gândirea. Crainic's literary achievements earned him a chair in theology, from which he pioneered new ways of thinking about mysticism as an expression of Romanian culture and as crucial to understanding the Romanian nation.     

Democracy,bureaucracy, and state capacity in Taiwan

Taiwan has long had a reputation for effective policy-making based on a highly skilled and educated bureaucracy. In addition, this capacity for technocratic leadership has not resulted in a huge, inefficient bureaucracy since the size of government remains comparatively small. This paper explores the implications of Taiwan's recent democratization for the effectiveness of the country's public administration. On the one hand, democratization reduced the power of regime conservatives, thereby expanding the role of technocrats in the government; on the other burgeoning corruption and policy gridlock have clearly undercut effective policy-making. Thus, the most fundamental challenge for public administration in Taiwan appears to be re-establishing the bureaucratic integrity of technocratic government.     

Coproduction of Government Services and the New Information Technology: Investigating the Distributional Biases

This article investigates how communications advances affect citizens’ ability to participate in coproduction of government services. The authors analyze service requests made to the City of Boston during a one‐year period from 2010 to 2011 and, using geospatial analysis and negative binomial regression, investigate possible disparities by race, education, and income in making service requests. The findings reveal little concern that 311 systems (nonemergency call centers) may benefit one racial group over another; however, there is some indication that Hispanics may use these systems less as requests move from call centers to the Internet and smartphones. Consistent with prior research, the findings show that poorer neighborhoods are less likely to take advantage of 311 service, with the notable exception of smartphone utilization. The implications for citizen participation in coproduction and bridging the digital divide are discussed.     

Giving Peace a Chance: Croatia's Branitelji and the Imperative of Reintegration

This article focuses on ex-combatants (branitelji) in the town of Vukovar. It argues that while veterans currently present an obstacle to inter-ethnic reconciliation, this need not be the case; they can potentially play an important role as peace builders. As a first step, however, they need to be reintegrated into society, and to a large extent this has not yet happened. The purpose of this article is thus to reflect on possible ways of advancing the reintegration process, focusing on the core themes of identity and trauma.     

Not the only game in towns: explaining changes in municipal councils in post-revolutionary Tunisia

This study sheds light on the relationship between local and national elites during political transitions. Examining local councils in post-revolutionary Tunisia (2011–2013), it examines why and when the composition of councils changed in the absence of local elections. The study yields two important lessons. First, changes in councils resulted from a power struggle between national and local elites. Councils were more likely to remain in place when local parties and unions helped council members resist pressures from above. The interplay of local and national actors, and not the council’s competencies, explains when changes took place. Second, all councils became politicized in the process. Far from being caretaker councils impartially addressing local needs, the councils were institutions playing important roles in the struggles between local and national political elites. Councils were arenas in which political power, and notions of legitimate representation, were contested in the absence of elections. The argument is supported by quantitative analyses of original data and four comparative case studies based on qualitative fieldwork. The findings highlight the importance of local councils in transition processes and provide a basis for further work exploring local-national engagement in democratization.     

Recent developments

THE COMPANY EXECUTIVE AND THE LAW, by David Springfield, published by Heinemann. (1970) at £1. 15s. (£3. 3s., hardback). 296 pp.

CONTRACT, by F. R. Davies, published by Sweet and Maxwell (Concise College Texts series) (1970) at £1. 1s. (paperback), 233 pp.

LABOUR ORGANISATIONS: A MACRO AND MICRO SOCIOLOGICAL COMPARISON, by Mark Van de Vall, published by Cambridge University Press (1970) at £2. 15s. 257 pp.

THE LAW OF TORT IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT, by Mary Bell Cairns, published by Shaw &; Sons (2nd. ed., 1970) at £4. 4s. 272 pp.

INDUSTRIAL LAW NOTEBOOK, by Norman M. Selwyn, published by Butterworths (1970) at 12s. 81 pp.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON THE LAW OF MEETINGS by R.S. Sim, published by Butterworths at 10s. 80 pp.

DECISION ON EUROPE, by Derek H. Hene, published by Jordan &; Sons (1970) at £2. 15s. 224 pp.     

Human dignity in concept and practice

Policy Sciences - Dignity seems to be something that virtually all people want. It is a seminal expression of the human experience that gains authority through the convergent demands of people...