The governance of shale gas production in South Africa

The proper governance of shale gas mining in the Karoo region of South Africa is important. With an estimated 390 trillion cubic feet of recoverable shale gas, large economic gains are possible. This may dramatically change the South African energy sector; in the United States, similar explorations have led to what pundits term the ‘shale gas revolution’. The development and production of shale gas hold economic advantages, but also potential environmental costs, thus the regulation of fracking activities is an important consideration as the development of shale gas in the Karoo progresses. This study reviews the regulations imposed in other countries as well as the current regulatory framework of South Africa. This article analyses these regulations in terms of the content of fracking fluid, seismic activity and the pricing regime. Effective regulation will be key to maximise a positive impact, should shale gas development continue.     

Prosperity in crisis and the longue durée in Africa

ABSTRACT

Understanding the evolution and tenacity of particular ways of envisaging economic growth and development for Africa requires a form of analytical history that examines how conceptual structures function over the longue durée. Such an approach is more than simply empirical analysis through time or a set of abstractions based on the self-understandings of historical agents. It involves the development of a hypothetical analytic structure which through its own forms of transformation eventually comes to play a role in shaping the lived world of participants, including researchers, policymakers and ordinary citizens. This article uses research from Kenya and Zambia to demonstrate how a long-running – but temporally and spatially variable – focus on agricultural productivity has shaped the character of rural life in Africa, and why it has consistently failed to deliver enlarged forms of prosperity based on quality of life and ecological well-being.     

Dominion Cartoon Satire as Trench Culture Narratives: Complaints,Endurance and Stoicism

Abstract

Although Dominion soldiers’ Great War field publications are relatively well known, the way troops created cartoon multi-panel formats in some of them has been neglected as a record of satirical social observation. Visual narrative humour provides a ‘bottom-up’ perspective for journalistic observations that in many cases capture the spirit of the army in terms of stoicism, buoyed by a culture of internal complaints. Troop concerns expressed in the early comic strips of Australians, Canadians, New Zealanders and British were similar. They shared a collective editorial purpose of morale boosting among the ranks through the use of everyday narratives that elevated the anti-heroism of the citizen soldier, portrayed as a transnational everyman in the service of empire. The regenerative value of disparagement humour provided a redefinition of courage as the very act of endurance on the Western Front.     

Faith and Settlement Partnerships: Perspectives of Community Stakeholders

Abstract

This article explores partnerships between faith groups and government-funded immigrant settlement services. It does so by reporting on perspectives of community stakeholders through a survey across four communities in Ontario, Canada. Survey results demonstrate that the existence, benefits, and challenges of faith and settlement partnerships are recognized by settlement workers, faith leaders, and other stakeholders. Yet the results also indicate that more could be done to strengthen partnerships so that they lead to better settlement outcomes. The article discusses five key actions for strengthening partnerships: sharing stories, exploring differences, enabling a cultural shift, conducting advocacy, and formalizing partnerships.     

State and Local Fiscal Sustainability: The Challenges

At the state and local level, fiscal sustainability is the long‐run capability of a government to consistently meet its financial responsibilities. It reflects the adequacy of available revenues to ensure the continued provision of the service and capital levels that the public demands. After examining separate revenue and expenditure trends for state and local governments, this article identifies three specific sets of pressures that affect subnational fiscal sustainability—cyclical, structural, and intergovernmental. It then presents three specific examples of these pressures: Medicaid, pensions and retiree health benefits, and infrastructure. The author asserts that without changes in the fiscal system—in both revenues and expenditures—state and local fiscal sustainability will disappear. It concludes with some potential solutions but argues that the most difficult reform is to ensure that the public understands that there is no such thing as a free lunch.     

Holy Motherhood: gender,dynasty, and visual culture in the later Middle Ages ELIZABETH L'ESTRANGE

The following books are reviewed.

Florence Kelley and the Nation's Work: the rise of Women's political culture, 1830-1900 KATHRYN KISH SKLAR, 1995 New Haven: Yale University Press. xviii + 436 pp., ISBN 0 300 05912 4, $25

Charlotte Perkins Gilman: her progress toward utopia with selected writings CAROL FARLEY KESSLER, 1995 Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press. xi +316 pp., ISBN 0 8156 2644 4, hardback, £27.50, ISBN 0 8156 2644 5, paperback, £15

Always a Sister: the feminism of Lillian D. Wald DORIS GROSHEN DANIELS, 1995 New York: The Feminist Press. x +207 pp., ISBN 1 55861 113 4, paperback,$12.95

Good Enough Mothering? Feminist Perspectives on Lone Motherhood ELIZABETH BORTOLAIA SILVA (Ed.), 1996 London: Routledge. ix + 241 pp., ISBN 0 415 12889 7, hardback, £47.50, ISBN 0 415 12890 0, paperback, £14.99

The Case for Women in Medieval Culture ALCUIN BLAMIRES, 1997 Oxford: Clarendon Press. viii + 279 pp., ISBN 0 19 818256 2, £40.00

Midwives, Society and Childbirth: debates and controversies in the modern period HILARY MARLAND &; ANNE-MARIE RAFFERTY (Eds), 1997 London: Routledge. xiii + 278pp., ISBN 0 415 13328 9, hardback, £50.00

Black British Feminism: a reader HEIDI SAFIA MIRZA (Ed.), 1997 York: Routledge. xiv + 297pp., paperback, £14.99

Dear Laughing Motorbyke: letters from women welders of the Second World War MARGARETTA JOLLY (Ed.), 1997 London: Scarlet Press. x + 174pp., paperback, £9.99

Women, Guerrillas, and Love: understanding war in Central America ILEANA RODRÍGUEZ, 1996 Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. xxv + 183pp., $19.95

The New Woman: fiction and feminism at the fin-de-siécle SALLY LEDGER, 1997 Manchester: Manchester University Press. vii + 216pp., ISBN 0 7190 4092 2, hardback, £35, ISBN 0 7190 4093, paperback, £13.99

Single Mothers in an International Context: mothers or workers? SIMON DUNCAN &; ROSALIND EDWARDS (Eds), 1997 London: UCL Press. ix + 285 pp., ISBN 1 85728 791 6, paperback, £13.95

Moving the Goalposts: a history of sport and society since 1945 MARTIN POLLEY, 1998 London: Routledge. xii + 236 pp., ISBN 0 415 14217 2, paperback, £12.99

Imagining Home, Gender, ‘Race’ and National Identity, 1945-64 WENDY WEBSTER, 1998 London: UCL Press. 240 pp., ISBN 1 85728 350 3, hardback, £40.00, ISBN 1 8572 8 3511, paperback, £12.95

Faces of Feminism: an activist's reflections on the Women's Movement SHEILA TOBIAS, 1997 Oxford: Westview Press. xvi + 332 pp., ISBN 0 8133 2842 X, hardback, £17.95     

New Millennium,New Public Management and the New Zealand Model

Recently the much‐discussed ‘New Zealand model’ of new public management (NPM) has become significantly revised. It now lacks the theoretical coherence and the market‐led focus that it relied on between 1987 and 1996. Labour‐led governments since 1999 have undertaken gradual and pragmatic – yet significant – changes in public management structures and principles, refining and sometimes reversing the model implemented in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This article does a ‘stock‐take’ of public management developments in New Zealand from 1999 to 2008, and argues that New Zealand can no longer be viewed as a leading exponent of market‐led NPM. Some NPM principles have been refined, but others have been quietly abandoned. The new National‐led government appears unwilling to undertake radical reforms, and, while it may seek a greater role for the private sector, looks set to continue with the ‘gradual and pragmatic’ approach adopted since 1999.