The dual nature of local content in Angola's oil and gas industry: development vs. elite accumulation

After decades of underdevelopment and conflict in the face of massive resource wealth, Angola is putting in place new strategies to dramatically increase its participation in its oil & gas and related services sectors. Although ‘local content’, or ‘Angolanização’, has been in place for decades, it has largely failed to increase the developmental benefits accruing from the country's resource wealth. The new local content push is likely to succeed at promoting economic growth. However, the policies have also become important mechanisms for unequal growth and new forms of elite accumulation. This paper reviews the historical context, legal framework, and current impact of local content in order to emphasise their dual role in creating development while concentrating elite power in Angola.     

Nomadic by nature? Contradictions and precarious work in Mongolian tourism

ABSTRACT

Mongolia's transition to a democratic, market economy has created widespread change, especially among pastoral herders. Pastoralists have been depicted as archaic and independent ‘nomads’ who exist outside the modern economy. Still, pastoral culture is a key asset in tourism products and advertising. Tourism could provide fair economic benefits, but inclusive growth depends on how shareholders participate. Using interviews with tour company employees, I investigate how tour companies incorporate pastoralists into their products. The results demonstrate several barriers to inclusive growth. Companies feel individually responsible for managing tourism assets, and to maintain the guise of pastoral authenticity, they limit pastoralists’ participation in business through informal and contingent work contracts. These contracts reveal problematic asymmetry and give pastoralists little job security, control, or access to employee benefits. These circumstances oppose inclusive growth paradigms and demonstrate elements of precarious work. The shared interest in maintaining pastoral culture may unify this fragmented industry.     

Schiavo's lessons for health attorneys when good law is all you have: reflections of the special guardian ad litem to Theresa Marie Schiavo

Rarely have all the branches of federal and state government converged upon a single issue, a single person as they did in the tragic and acrimonious case of Theresa Maria Schiavo. In late 2003, the Florida Legislature passed what become known as "Terri's Law" and in Spring of 2005, Congress and the President of the United States sought to directly intervene in the care of the severely brain damaged woman. During that period, the state and federal court systems, through the highest courts in both venues, ruled on Ms. Schiavo's life, resulting in the removal of an artificial feeding tube and her death during Easter week. The legal and medical issues in this complex, politically and emotionally charged case continue to raise important questions for health attorneys. In this Article, Professor Wolfson, who served as the legislatively mandated, court appointed special guardian ad litem for Theresa Schiavo in late 2003, provides a distinctive first-person overview of the Schiavo case.     

Competitive Advantage in Nonprofit Grant Markets: Implications of Network Embeddedness and Status

This article empirically addresses the effects of network embeddedness on nonprofit organizations’ ability to access financial resources within competitive markets, with a focus in this analysis on the acquisition of foundation grants. We test theory on the role of organizational status in competitive markets using data from a network of nonprofits linked by foundation grants in metropolitan Atlanta during 2000 and 2005. We find that observable characteristics of nonprofits, including size, fundraising expenses, and financial health, explain success in grant markets. However, market status in previous time periods, operationalized as prior relationships with influential foundations in grant markets, additionally explains future grant awards. Our findings suggest that the status conferred through connections to important actors in a network can raise the profile of a nonprofit and increase the probability of grant success.     

When Do Low Roll Rates Indicate Party Influence? Evidence from Counterfactual Roll Rates

A simulation-based counterfactual is one way to solve the observational equivalence challenge that seemingly “partisan” majority-party roll rates can be observed in the absence of any actual party influence. We simulate no-partisan-agenda-control counterfactual roll rates and apply them across sessions of the US House of Representatives and 86 state legislative chambers to evaluate the extent to which observed roll rates provide evidence for party influence on the legislative agenda. After assessing and controlling for the baseline risk of majority-party rolls, there is significant evidence of party influence on roll rates in some state legislatures, particularly those with rules that grant parties more agenda power, and in the post-Reed’s-rules House of Representatives. Institutional rules interact with the (simulated) risk of a majority roll to shape observed roll rates across chambers and across time.     

Local television news and voter support for law enforcement

Television has become “the” medium of the masses in contemporary America. However, there has been very little systematic investigation about television’s impact upon agents of political authority, such as municipal police agencies. This research analyzes potential linkages between voter support for local police and voter viewing habits of local television news. The impact of television news upon voter support for police is assessed in the context of a multivariate model, which includes media and non-media predictor variables. Voter “support” for a municipal police agency is deemed a multidimensional concept and is measured in absolute and relative terms. The findings of this exploratory study suggest that local television news has minimal or no impact (positively or negatively) upon voter attitudes toward local police agencies. The inability of mediaand non-media variables to explain voter support for municipal law enforcement indicates the need for a completely new paradigm to guide research in this niche of criminal justice.