Development from below: Neighborhood improvement associations in the Latin American squatter settlements

Juntas, a type of neighborhood association found in many Latin American countries, are described in terms of their common characteristics, functions, and strategies. Factors which strengthen juntas are isolated, and the potential for juntas to become ongoing institutionalized structures is discussed. Information from a large number of written sources was compared in order to identify the common cross cultural characteristics of juntas. Juntas generally originate as squatter invasion forces organized to take over and settle, either gradually or overnight, unocupied lands in or near urban centers. After invasion the huntas continue to function as neighborhood associations which make collective demands on the government for public services and which promote various self-help projects within the squatter community. Juntas are widespread in Latin American countries. Of the 91 squatter settlements which have been studied in 11 different countries, 61 has juntas. Participation of household heads in the juntas ranges from 10-70%. Most squatter invasions are planned or spontaneous radical political action. The collective invasion itself often serves to open negotiations with the government. After the invasion leaders are elected, and they help organize the new community by assigning land, setting boundries, screening new settlers, collecting dues, and directing a variety of self-help construction projects. Collective demands are then made on the government to provide urban services such as water and electricity. The collective nature of the demand helps reduce the risk of official retaliation. Demand strategies include petitioning high level government officials, utilizing personalistic contacts, affiliating with either the rulingpower or opposing parties, appealing to outside agencies, linking up with other juntas, conducting public demonstrations, and publicizing their grievances in order to engender public support. After basic services are provided the juntas promote self-help projects such as organizing taxi services, medical clinics, vocational and lteracy programs, and building playgrounds. The juntas sometimes perform quasi governmental functions, such as, settling disputes between community members and policing the community. Participation in juntas declines as the need for making outside demands lessens; however, the high level of self-help activity keeps the juntas viable. They also retain the latent capacity for political demand behavior if the need for action arises. Factors which strengthen juntas included 1) high population density and large size of the squatter community, 2) defined boundaries, 3) close proximity to urban agencies, 4) climatic factors which make it necessary to act quickly and collectively, and 5) a moderate level of heterogeneity in the squatter population.     

Book reviews

The Partition of the Steppe. The Struggle of the Russians, Manchus, and the Zunghar Mongols for Empire in Central Asia, 1619–1758: A Study in Power Politics Fred W. Bergholz New York: Peter Lang, 1993, vi + 522 pp, hardcover

On Secret Service East of Constantinople: the plot to bring down the British Empire Peter Hopkirk London: John Murray, 1994. xvi, 431 pp. illus., £19.99

The Soviet Union and its Southern Neighbours: Iran and Afghanistan Mikhail Volodarsky London: Frank Cass Publishers, 1994, 196 pp, $37.50

Moscow's Lost Empire Michael Rywkin Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, 1994, 214 pp, biblio, index

Russia and the Third World in the Post‐Soviet Era Mohiaddin Mesbahi (editor) Gainesville, USA: University Press of Florida, 1994, 414 pp, $49.95 cloth, $19.95/£18 paper

Central Asia and the World: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan Michael Mandelbaum (editor) New York: Council on Foreign Relations Press, 1994, viii, 251 pp, $16.95 paperback     

Gender Equity: Illusion or Reality for Women in the Federal Executive Service?

With the passage of the Civil Service Reform Act in 1978, the federal government created the Senior Executive Service (SES) and formally committed the federal government to equal employment opportunity, advocating a “federal service reflective of the nation's diversity.” Since then, women have made dramatic progress in the ranks of the SES. This research probes the following questions: Has women's advancement into the ranks of the SES been illusory or real? Are women simply being appointed to token positions to fulfill affirmative action goals? Or do they contribute to governance from real positions of power and influence? Using data from a recent survey of Senior Executive Service members, this research indicates that male and female members of the SES have almost identical responsibilities and, most interestingly, women executives rate themselves as relatively more influential than do their male colleagues.     

Determination of the time of death in a homicide-suicide case using flow cytometry.

The study of the biologic processes involved in determining the postmortem interval also can be useful for determining the time of death. In this instance, we investigated the time of death in a case of homicide-suicide using circumstantial findings and thanatochronological and flow cytometric data. The flow cytometric data confirmed the time of death as calculated from the police investigations. This method has proven more reliable than thanatochronological techniques and can be used to supplement these observations. This case indicates that the use of flow cytometry "on the spot" is useful and reliable; however, more evidence is needed to support this new, although to date very sound, method of investigation.     

浅谈民族自治地方财政自治

本文力求从民族自治地方财政自治的基本内涵、客观基础、法律依据、现存问题及对策入手论述自己学习的体会,同时阐述了国外不同国家对财政自治的具体作法及其在中国的实践及表现形式,论述了财政自治对民族自治地方经济和社会发展的重要意义。     

制造业是国家经济竞争力的核心──西方七个经济大国工业制造业发展规律及其影响点评

西方经济大国制造业在国家工业城市化过程中起了核心作用,它对我国实现产业结构调整中的时点把握与政策选择有非常重要的借鉴意义,包括：（１）城市或国家应保证相当一部分优秀人才到工业制造领域工作;（２）确定国家和城市的制造业主导政策;（３）资金保证体系的建立,如建立工业风险基金;（４）确立国家或城市的制造业主题及科研方向;（５）城市化、市场化与产业化联动和协调发展政策。     

The pious or the doctrinaire? who supports suicide terrorism in Indonesia?

ABSTRACT

Indonesia is generally viewed as a moderate Muslim nation that episodically struggles with terrorism. Between 1981 and the end of 2016, Indonesia experienced 156 attacks from some 15 Islamist militant groups. However, the lineaments of popular support for Islamist militancy in Indonesia remain understudied. In this paper, we expand upon the existing literature on popular support for Islamist violence in Indonesia by replicating and extending the empirical framework for modeling the relationship between support for various conceptualizations of Shari’a and support for Islamist violence offered by Fair, Littman and Nugent (2018) for Pakistan and extended to Bangladesh by Fair, Hamza and Heller (2017). To do so, we conduct ordered logistical regression analysis of Pew survey data which includes information about respondents’ religious beliefs and practice as well as support for Islamist violence. We find considerable evidence that their framework is useful for understanding support for violence in Indonesia.