Political Competition and Pork-Barrel Politics in the Allocation of Public Investment in Mexico

This paper examines theeffect of political competition in localelections in regional allocation of publicinvestment. The study employs data onMexican elections covering the period 1990–95, characterisedby an increase in electoral competition and coupled withincreasing demands for decentralisationthroughout the states. Empirical evidencesupports the hypothesis that regionalallocation of public investment by centralgovernment was driven by `politicalopportunism' and `local pork-barrelpolitics'. A positive relationship wasfound between the regional allocation ofpublic investment and support for thecentral ruling party. This might indicatethat local spending inefficiencies werepartially explained by the specific supportfor the incumbent party.     

Conversion of Ajarians to Orthodox Christianity: Different Narratives and Perceptions

Abstract

Based on field research and interviews conducted in both Ajaria and Tbilisi, this article focuses on the different interpretations of the conversion of ethnically Georgian Muslim Ajarians to Orthodox Christianity. It is argued that Orthodox Christianity is an important aspect of self-identification and the national narrative of all Georgians. For many Muslim Ajarians, conversion appears to be a pragmatic act, with the ultimate goal of being recognised as ‘fully Georgian’ by both state and society.     

When Art Does not Represent Life: Nogami Yaeko and the Marriage Question

Nogami Yaeko's (1885–1985) early works “Meian” (1906) and Machiko (1930) critique marriage customs by portraying New Women who challenge the status quo. Yet Nogami is not directly connected with marriage debates or the New Women. To explain this paradox, this article examines these two works, comparing their New Woman heroines with Nogami herself. I argue that it was precisely because Nogami's art did not represent her life that she was able to express her opinions on marriage without attracting the notoriety and unfavorable publicity experienced by those who lived and wrote as New Women.     

The EROI of agriculture and its use by the Via Campesina

Via Campesina supports peasant and small farmer agriculture both in the South and in the North. Its basic doctrine is that of ‘food sovereignty’. It is a movement that defends an ‘ecological neo-Narodnism’. Among the analytical tools used by this international peasant movement is the comparison between the energy efficiency of traditional small farm agriculture and modern industrial agriculture. This article briefly recalls the history of agricultural energetics, and then looks at the use of the concept of EROI (energy return on energy input) by Via Campesina when it claims that ‘industrial agriculture is no longer a producer of energy but a consumer of energy’, and that ‘peasant agriculture cools down the Earth’. The absence in Marxism of a tradition of analysis of energy flows is also reviewed here, since it is of interest in order to bring together the classic economic concept of decreasing returns with the more recent notion of a declining EROI. The article also draws on work analysing how environmental activists use concepts from ecological economics, while at the same time ‘activist knowledge’ contributes to ecological economics in a two-way communication between activism and science.     

Social Networks of Homeless Youth in Emerging Adulthood

Little is known about the social networks of homeless youth in emerging adulthood despite the importance of this information for interventions to reduce health risks. This study examined the composition of social networks, and the risks and supports present within them, in a random sample of 349 homeless youth (33.4% female, 23.9% African American, 17.7% Hispanic) between the ages of 18 and 24. Social network members who were met on the street were among the most likely to be perceived as engaging in risky sex, as well as to engage in substance use with the youth. Youth were more likely to count on relatives and sex partners for support compared to other network members, but they also were more likely to use substances with sex partners and perceived them as engaging in risky sex. Interventions may need to recognize the importance of intimate relationships during the developmental stage of emerging adulthood by enhancing supportive bonds and reducing substance use and risky sex in these relationships.     

Militarism and Dual-Conflict Capacity

This research note examines how domestic institutions can moderate the relationship between domestic and interstate conflict involvement. Previous work has found that military dictatorships are more likely to become involved in either domestic or international conflicts, compared to party-based autocracies. We argue that the same institutional explanations for why military autocracies are more conflict-prone also make them less capable of successfully carrying out multiple conflicts at the same time. Analyzing interstate and domestic conflict involvement on a sample of dictatorships over the period 1947–2004, we show that military autocracies dealing with internal armed conflict are less likely than their nonmilitary counterparts to become involved in an international conflict.     

The European marriage pattern as solution and problem: households of the elderly in Verviers, Belgium, 1831.

"The essay considers the effects of marriage patterns on the support of the elderly with empirical evidence from Verviers, a small industrial city in nineteenth-century Belgium. The (Northwest) European Marriage Pattern offered a solution for those elderly who had children, especially those with large families, because coresidence with children was the main source of support. The larger community experienced a problem...in the form of large numbers of persons who never married or reached old age with no surviving children. Moreover, while those who had married were able to maintain their economic status, those who never married liquidated their property holdings and became boarders and lodgers in the households of nonkin."