The Greying Periphery—Ageing and Community Development in Rural Romania and Bulgaria

The impact of ageing on community well-being has been part of the policy discourse in the West, but it is a relatively new problem for the post-socialist countries in Eastern Europe. This study focuses on the patterns of ageing in rural Romania and Bulgaria, offering a holistic view of vulnerabilities, including persistent rural disadvantages, ageing in the countryside and the post-socialist transformation. Aggregate statistics and community case studies reveal the links between demographic processes and community development. This paper contributes to the country-specific analysis of the ageing European periphery in the context of social cohesion as a fundamental European goal.     

Peru: Letters from Shepherds’ union bulletin

Peasants And Poverty, A Study of Haiti by Mats Lundahl. London: Croom Helm; New York: St Martin's Press; 1979. Pp. 699; £19.95

Rural Sociology in the Soviet Union. Its History and Basic Concepts by Terence M. Cox: London: C. Hurst &; Co., 1979. Pp. 106, £7.50.

Peasant Farming in Muscovy by R. E. F. Smith. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977. Pp. xii + 289, 11 plates. £10.50

Rural Rebels: A Study of Two Protest Movements in Kenya by A. Wipper, Nairobi, London, New York: Oxford University Press, 1978. Pp. xiv + 363. £7.25.

Food Aid and the Developing World by Christopher Stevens, London: Croom Helm, 1979. Pp. 224. £9.95

Research in Economic Anthropology: a research annual Volume 2, edited by George Dalton. Connecticut: Jai Press Inc., 1979, Pp. xi + 390.     

TAKING THE ‘HIGH ROAD’: DOES PUBLIC SERVICE MOTIVATION ALTER ETHICAL DECISION MAKING PROCESSES?

Although public administration scholars have long been interested in promoting administrative ethics, recent lapses in judgment by government employees make the study of ethics even more pressing. Yet, we know relatively little about how public values and publicly oriented motives influence the ethical obligations employees reference when confronting organizational problems. We employ Perry's (2000) process model of public service motivation to connect public values, public service motivation, and employees' understanding of their ethical obligations. Using data collected from over 1,400 managers in United States municipal governments, we present findings that suggest that public service motivation appears to be positively correlated with ethical obligations rooted in virtue and integrity, or high road ethics, for less professionalized employees. Further, broader constellations of public values encourage increased application of high road ethics for the same employees, but only to the extent that they foster public service motivation.     

Intellectual Property,Access to Medicines,and Health: New Research Horizons

In this introduction, we review the literature on intellectual property rights and access to medicines, identifying two distinct generations of research. The first generation analyzes the origins of new intellectual property rules, in particular the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), and the significance of TRIPS to developing countries. The second generation examines national-level experiences, as countries adjust their laws and practices to conform to TRIPS. Based on the insights provided by the articles in the special issue, we contribute to the second generation by considering a pair of overarching sets of issues. First, we highlight the domestic political challenges that affect how countries go about implementing their new obligations under TRIPS. We argue that alliances and coalitions are necessary to underpin the use of policy instruments designed to conform to TRIPS while taking into account local conditions and needs, and we present insights that allow us to understand why alliances and coalitions are difficult to construct and sustain in this area. Second, we explain why policies that many countries adopt in response to TRIPS often do not generate their desired or intended outcomes. In the last section of the introduction, we review the articles that appear in this special issue.     

Competing Interpretations of Buddhism's Revival in the Russian Republic of Kalmykia

This article uses a multiple methods framework to interrogate notions of religious revival among Buddhists in the Russian republic of Kalmykia. Survey results indicate high levels of self-identification among Kalmyks as Buddhists, as well as general support for the notion that the religion has re-established its place in the public sphere in the post-Soviet period. This straightforward interpretation of religious revival is contested, however, in interviews with religious elites and focus group conversations. Interlocutors in these forums were more critical and more nuanced in their understanding of Buddhism's role in contemporary Kalmykia.     

Quantifying and Qualifying Charisma: A Theoretical Framework for Measuring the Presence of Charismatic Authority in Terrorist Groups

In the past four decades, there has been increased multidisciplinary scholarly interest in the study of charismatic authority. However, there has yet to be any systematic examination of charismatic authority in the context of terrorism, despite widespread acknowledgment of the importance of charismatic leaders in the recruitment, radicalization, and operation of terrorist groups. This article seeks to contribute to future empirical research by presenting a theoretical framework for measuring the presence of charismatic authority in terrorist groups that is based on Max Weber's seminal work on legitimate domination (herrschaft) and on theoretical insights drawn from the study of charismatic authority in new religious movements. The framework is then applied to an illustrative case study of the relationship between charismatic authority and the radicalization process within the far-right terrorist group “the Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord.” The article concludes with a discussion of findings and suggestions for future research.