Liberalism and Religion: Amplifiers of War between Democratic and Non-Democratic States?

This study tests the association between liberalism and religion on militarized disputes in the politically and religiously similar and mixed state dyads. The analysis (1980–2001) integrates the Correlates of War and World Religion Datasets. The findings suggest that while religious makeup of state dyads does not vitiate the impact of democracy, religious similarity amplifies the impact of liberalism. The results also suggest that Christian–Muslim dyads, especially Christian–Sunni and Christian–Muslim other than Shia and Sunni dyads, are more likely to engage in militarized disputes, and regime differences increase the chances of conflict in the joint Muslim dyads.     

Still sucked into the body image thing: the impact of anti-aging and health discourses on women's gendered identities

Health norms have changed over the past three decades, imposing more responsibility for health onto the individual. There are gendered implications of these changes which, when combined with increasing anti-aging pressures, have the potential to intensify the disciplinary relationship women have with their bodies. This paper, based upon interviews with 14 women, examines the impact of dominant health and anti-aging discourses on women's body practices, including exercise, makeup, clothing and diet, and ongoing construction of gendered subjectivity. Findings suggest that the women in this study are motivated to do particular body practices because of their concern with having a healthy and youthful ‘looking’ body. The women's stories reveal that anti-aging and health discourses function to reinforce normative bodily demands of femininity and consequently to intensify disciplinary control of their bodies. While the pressure to fight the appearance of aging is not new, the increasing association of aging with ill health, even illness, in conjunction with the promotion of health has implications for women's relationship with their bodies and sense of self.     

Scaling-up natural resource management: insights from research in Latin America

Scaling-up local innovations in natural resource management (NRM) involves learning that is centred around three themes: promoting local-level innovation, understanding why local innovations work in specific contexts, and reflecting on their relevance in other geographical and social contexts. Successful scaling-up depends in part upon the relationships among multiple stakeholders at different levels around this learning. The experiences of researchers supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) provide insights into four questions: What is scaling-up? Why scale-up? What to scale-up? and How to scale-up? The authors propose that scaling-up is a multi-stakeholder process consisting of five components including: framing the context, promoting participation, fostering learning, strengthening institutions, and disseminating successful experiences. Key bottlenecks to scaling-up are the absence of open communication and the mutual recognition among stakeholders of each other's rights, responsibilities, and roles.     

Institutional and management building in Sub-Saharan Africa: a symposium

In the latter half of the 20th century many factors have contributed to the decline of Africa and especially of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Severe drought and the resultant famine, the international environment of deteriorating export markets, economic and bureaucratic mismanagement, environmental damage and rural decline, political instability and civil wars are some factors often highlighted as representative causes of the decline.