Escaping the resource curse: The case of Indonesia

Abstract

Numerous studies have suggested that natural resource abundance is bad for development. In this context, Indonesia's rapid growth during the 1970s and 1980s seems remarkable. Why was Indonesia able to grow strongly and what are the implications of its experience for other resource abundant countries? I argue that its rapid growth was not simply a matter of policy elites making rational economic policy choices, but rather reflected two more fundamental factors: (i) the political victory of counter-revolutionary social forces over radical nationalist and communist social forces in Indonesia during the 1960s; and (ii) the country's strategic Cold War location and proximity to Japan. Accordingly, the main implication of its experience is that improved economic performance in resource abundant countries requires shifts in structures of power and interest and the emergence of external political and economic conditions that provide opportunities for growth.     

Why did Thailand's middle class turn against a democratically elected government? The information-gap hypothesis

In 2006, Bangkok's middle-class residents overwhelmingly supported the military coup that displaced the elected government of Thaksin Shinawatra. Survey research shows that opponents of Thaksin had a stronger commitment to liberal democracy and possibly to royalist values while rural voters supported Thaksin because he fulfilled their social demands. Opposition to Thaksin was not motivated by economic interests, but rather, there is some evidence that urban middle- and upper-class voters disliked Thaksin because they heard negative reporting about him, which were less available in the countryside. These findings are compatible with a new theory of democratic consolidation, in which the upper classes have the means that would enable and encourage them to pay sufficient attention to politics to discover that what they viewed as ‘good government’ was violated by the ruling party, which could have led to demands for more democracy historically. More recently, however, in Thailand and perhaps other instances in Southeast Asia and Latin America, those with the money and leisure to follow politics closely have heard reports about the ‘bad government’ of populist, democratically elected leaders, and thus have turned against them.     

Poverty reduction and democratization – new cross-country evidence

The rapid decrease in absolute poverty across the developing world has received much attention. However, there have been few systematic attempts to analyse the political consequences of these developments. This article builds on the improved availability of household income data from developing countries to document a small but statistically significant impact of lagged poverty rates on a range of democracy indicators. The results hold across a battery of sensitivity and robustness tests. I also show that poverty reduction has a stronger effect on democracy than alternative predictors that are more widely used in the democratic regime transition and consolidation literature, such as average income and relative inequality (the Gini index). However, I find weaker effects of poverty on indicators of government quality and a declining influence of poverty reduction on democracy over time. These results point to more structural obstacles to democratic consolidation in lower-income regions, such as a tendency by populist leaders to exploit the economic grievances of vulnerable lower-middle classes.     

Critical terrorism studies: an activist scholar perspective

This thematic analysis examines the applicability of Gustavo Correa's constructs of horizontal and vertical honour with regard to prestige as reflected in 21 statements by Osama Bin Laden (OBL) between 2002 and 2008. The relevance of Correa's theory pivots upon whether the individual is considered as the primary locus of honour, as Correa seemed to imply. There was limited support and substantial disconfirming evidence under this condition. Correa's theory appears more applicable to honour when the Ummah rather than OBL's person is considered as the primary locus of honour, with the individual's prestige a derivative of group membership. Under this condition, supported hypotheses derived from the theory include honour being rooted in divinity; vertical and horizontal aspects of honour being mutually constitutive; vertical honour being established with the creation of the Ummah through rank (insofar as the Ummah is presumed precedent above all non-Muslims), competition (including warfare) and functioning as an ideology hierarchically differentiating Muslims from non-Muslims; horizontal honour being gendered (with domination by non-Muslims situating the Ummah in a feminised position). A notable limitation of the theory is that it does not predict or account for the geospatial reification of group honour, whereby the establishment, defence, violation and exoneration of Islamic honour is discussed in terms of establishment, defence, invasion and forceful expulsion of non-Muslims from Islamic territory. Implications of honour are discussed with regard to the Islamist geospatial dichotomy of Islamic versus non-Islamic territories, efforts to encourage disengagement from terrorism and de-radicalisation within non-Islamic settings, legitimisation of complex phenomena such as jihad or suicide bombing according to frameworks of martyrdom and realistic efforts to win hearts and minds within the Islamic world.     

导入ISO9001:2000背景下地方政府绩效考核指标体系述评

地方政府在导入ISO质量管理体系的背景下,其绩效如何考核?国际标准化组织设计了一套完整的指标体系,包括"好政府的制度发展、经济的可持续发展、全面的社会发展和环境的可持续发展"等四个维度。本文对这套指标进行了介绍,并结合中国的具体情况进行了分析,目的在于为地方政府导入ISO质量管理体系进行理论上的指导。文章认为,导入这套指标体系符合我国建设和谐社会和落实科学发展观的要求,有利于促进政府职能转变,有利于解决当前我国的社会问题。因此,它在我国具有相当强的可适用性。     

Screening for Substance Use Disorders as a Supplement to Caseworker Assessment Among Foster Care–Involved Families

Parental substance abuse is a major factor in families experiencing foster care placement, yet little is known about the potential of screening in determining risk or identifying subpopulations for which elevated risk occurs. One Midwestern state recently implemented screening. This research uses information gathered as part of the screen's implementation to conduct a latent class analysis. The research was extended to provide a detailed examination of differences in child and family characteristics across classes, and to compare the screen results with caseworker impressions. Three distinct typologies emerged, with the high-risk and moderate-risk designations comprising only one quarter of the cases.     

(Re-)Assessing Career Patterns in Multi-Level Systems: Insights from Wallonia in Belgium

This article proposes a new analytical framework for the study of political careers in multi-level systems. It is argued that the study of vertical movements between political arenas, which constitutes the prevalent methodological approach in the literature on political careers, should be complemented by the study of horizontal movements within political arenas. Based on a longitudinal analysis of individual political careers, the micro-approach developed in this article allows the comprehension of all territorial dynamics of political careers in multi-level systems. Based on an in-depth case study of all 419 Walloon careers in Belgium, four career patterns are identified: national careers, regional careers, multi-level careers and discrete careers. Although Belgium presents an integrated structure of opportunity, it is demonstrated that key evidences underline the prevalence of a regional and a national political class along a highly integrated political elites.     

GC/MS衍生化法检测血中4-溴-2,5-二甲氧基苯乙胺

目的建立人体全血中4-溴-2,5-二甲氧基苯乙胺的衍生化GC/MS分析方法。方法血液样品经去离子水稀释4倍,8000r/min高速离心20min后,加入Na H2PO4缓冲溶液(p H值为6.0)2m L,混匀。将上述混合液加入用甲醇、Na H2PO4缓冲溶液(p H值为6.0)活化的Bond Elut Centify?固相萃取柱后,依次采用1.0M乙酸溶液、去离子水、甲醇、二氯甲烷/异丙醇/氨水(78/20/2,V/V/V)混合洗脱液进行提取、分离、净化处理,40℃空气流下挥干,三氟乙酸酐衍生化,GC/MS检测4-溴-2,5-二甲氧基苯乙胺和4-苯基丁胺衍生物。采用标准品衍生化产物的标准质谱图定性分析,选择m/z 242(4-溴-2,5-二甲氧基苯乙胺)、m/z 91(4-苯基丁胺)作为定量离子进行定量分析。结果血液中4-溴-2,5-二甲氧基苯乙胺的最低检出限为6ng/m L,在0.02~10μg/m L浓度范围内,线性关系良好(=0.9993),日内精密度和日间精密度均小于10%,平均提取回收率约为69%。结论该方法操作简便、灵敏度高,适用于全血中4-溴-2,5-二甲氧基苯乙胺检测。     

An Investigation into Whether or Not the Class and Individual Characteristics of Five Turkish Manufactured Pistols Change During Extensive Firing

Abstract:  In order to assess whether or not the class and individual characteristics of a firearm change over time, five different makes of Turkish self-loading pistol were tested and were each fired a large number of times. The class and individual characteristics were identified for each pistol and the first fired cartridge case was compared with the subsequent consecutive 250th fired cases for each pistol. It was found that there were slight changes in some of the individual and class characteristics; however, this was not statistically significant and did not affect the ability of the firearms examiner to match the first fired case to the last fired case for each firearm tested.     

Unzulässigkeit des Rechtswegs für Klage einer Gemeinde gegen Postamtsauflösung

Informationen und Stellungnahmen der Gemeinden zu einer beabsichtigten Schlie?ung von Post?mtern sind in § 4 Abs 5 PostG 1997 idF nach der Novelle 2006 in die Beurteilung des nach dieser Bestimmung zu erstellenden Universaldienstkonzeptes eingebettet. Diese Beurteilung kommt nunmehr dem BMVIT zu. In diesem Rahmen hat das BMVIT auch die M?glichkeit, die Schlie?ung einzelner Gesch?ftsstellen mit Bescheid zu untersagen. Dabei sind die gesetzlich festgelegten Kriterien anzuwenden. Damit ist klargestellt, dass die geltend gemachten Rechtspositionen im Rahmen eines Verwaltungsverfahrens einer überprüfung zugeführt werden k?nnen. Die im Rahmen des Prüfungsverfahrens nach § 4 Abs 5 PostG 1997 den Gemeinden einger?umten Rechte k?nnen nun aber nicht mehr als auf Gleichbehandlung beruhende privatrechtliche Rechtsbeziehungen zwischen beliebigen Rechtssubjekten angesehen werden, über die im Zweifel von den ordentlichen Gerichten zu entscheiden w?re. Für eine auf die genannten Bestimmungen gestützte Klage ist daher der Rechtsweg unzul?ssig.