High bridewealth,migrant labour and the position of women in Lesotho

An attempt is made to explain the persistence of high bridewealth in Lesotho. It is argued that the structural conditions of its persistence have changed over time, and a macroeconomic perspective is developed in which to comprehend its contemporary significance. Bridewealth (Bohali) transfers in Lesotho at this time, at least in the Lowlands, are derived largely from the cash earnings of migrants and are no longer provided in livestock by a variety of agnatic and matrilateral kin on the side of the husband and distributed among a similar variety of kin on the wife's side. They are drawn from and contribute to a general subsistence fund concentrated largely within the household. To the extent that bohali transfers constitute items of expenditures for migrants and items of income for the heads of women's natal households, they effect a redistribution of income in favor of the senior generation, which thus has a clear interest incontinuing to demand high bohali. In addition migrants have an interest in substantially fulfilling their bohali obligations. Their own longterm security is best assured by establishing access to legitimate dependents within a rural household. Given a high rate of conjugal dissociation, a consequence of oscillating migration, the migrant must balance 2 considerations: the rationality of investment in the next generation, of the sort that bohali transfers represent, is qualified by an initially tenuous attachment to the rural household where his dependents reside; and so long as bohali remains the idiom in which interhousehold competition for the earning capacity of the next generation is rationalized and resolved, such investments continues to be the only way in which he can legitimately assert his own interests against those of his affines. The household viability in Lesotho depends on control over the earning capacity of migrants and over the productive and reproductive capacities of relict women. These are the structural conditions for the persistence of high bridewealth. Bohali is sustained by the realities of housekeeping, not merely by the ideology of keeping house. 3 detailed household profiles presented in an appendix give ethnographic sustenance to propositions concerning high bridewealth, migrant labor, and the position of women.     

Rereading the Public: Isolationism and Internationalism Revisited

This is the first installment in what we hope will be a recurring series of Forums in ISP. In each segment we intend to provide an outlet for peer-reviewed dialogue and debate on important topics in the field and to allow our readers to discuss material previously printed in the pages of ISP. Below are two comments on "Challenging U.S. Policymakers' Image of an Isolationist Public" by Steven Kull and Clay Ramsay published in ISP 1:1. Both comments raise a number of important issues pertaining to the relationship of public opinion and foreign policy, and also address more general questions of domestic impact on foreign policy outputs and several significant methodological questions about approaches to polling. The Forum begins first with comments by Richard Clark and Kenneth Dautrich, is followed by comments from Shoon Murray, and concludes with a response from Kull and Ramsay.     

A 21st Century Low‐Carbon Transition in U.S. Electric Power: Extent,Contributing Factors,and Implications

The U.S. electric power sector has experienced a substantial shift of the generation mix since the turn of the century, moving from heavy reliance on coal‐powered generation to one drawing more from natural gas and, more recently, renewables. This transition has been forged by a mix of macroeconomic factors (recession and recovery); technological breakthroughs (horizontal drilling coupled with hydraulic fracturing; improvements in natural gas plant efficiency); clean energy policies at federal, state, and local levels of government; and private sector demands for carbon‐free energy sources. These factors have combined to reduce carbon emissions from electric power generation substantially this century. In this article we examine the extent of this transition, its causes, as well as the distinct American institutional factors steering it, including energy and environmental federalism, electoral politics, and the political economy of clean energy policy enactment and resistance.     

International democracy promotion and democratization in the Middle East and North Africa

This article offers an overview of the literature on international democracy promotion in relation to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). It draws on the criteria of process tracing to evaluate the mechanisms, processes and episodes of democratization associated with international democracy promotion in the region. It finds that the literature lacks a clear account of how international democracy promotion relates to conditions for democratization and could pay greater attention to the role of media in either supporting or counteracting democracy promotion activities which impact democratization processes in the region.     

Jimmy Carter and the Sale of the AWACS to Iran in 1977

It appeared that as 1977 dawned, the political climate in the United States might render multi-billion dollar arms sales into unstable regions a thing of the past. Jimmy Carter triumphed in the presidential election of November 1976 on a popular platform of arms control and the introduction of human rights considerations into American foreign policy. His transition from that idealistic candidate to the president who agreed to sell Iran a fleet of highly advanced AWACS aircraft, as part of a record breaking $5.7 billion arms package, is therefore outwardly confusing. Yet, when examining the entrenched policy path that Carter inherited regarding arming Iran, and the larger needs of Cold War containment, the logic of Carter’s decisions essentially to betray his own policies in this case becomes clear.