Changing arenas for agricultural climate change adaptation in Vietnam

Great changes are underway in how climate and agricultural risks are managed in Vietnam. Uncertainties are emerging regarding the role of the state in managing these risks and what this implies for assumptions regarding hoped-for climate change transformations. Local government control is waning in relation to the expanding roles of the private sector and the growing autonomy of farmers themselves. This article presents cases that illustrate the ways that farmers, private investors, and local authorities are responding to climate risk within roles relating to the other risks involving markets, food security, and pressures on common property resources.     

Developing urban space: the changing role of NGOs in Bangladesh

Rapid urbanisation has been an emerging issue in recent decades, particularly for developing countries such as Bangladesh. As one of world’s largest international NGOs, BRAC, based in Bangladesh, is transiting towards a more integrated approach for alleviating urban poverty. This article presents BRAC’s current journey for eradicating urban poverty and outlines the characteristics of urban poverty, key issues faced by the urban poor, and learning that BRAC has accumulated through its urban interventions. Introducing the concept of “coproduction”, the article identifies BRAC’s priorities to eradicate urban poverty within the context of an overall urban strategy.     

What encourages households to adopt rice as a new crop? Understanding gender roles and perceptions in households in northern Namibia

This article investigates how the introduction of new crops influences intra-household decision-making among the Ovambo in northern Namibia where women are responsible for crop farming, while men are engaged in livestock farming. It examines gender relations that underlie daily activities. The findings of the study show that women try new crops on their own or with the help of their children and do not negotiate with their husband, mothers, or brothers over household resources such as land, labour, and the cash of other family members. Women avoid conflicts with family members, but may have an increased perception of contribution to the household if they succeed in introducing new crops.     

Indicators for economic vulnerability to drought in South Africa

This article identifies and estimates economic drought vulnerability indicators among communal farmers in South Africa, using an economic vulnerability index based on a household survey of 121 communal farmers. The results show that lack of resources, unemployment, price sensitivity, market access, the level of farm debt, output, on- and off-farm diversification, management, and financial safety nets were the main economic vulnerability variables. Farm debt and financial safety provide the bulk of the vulnerability index. The study’s findings suggest that government should reconsider priorities in the implementation of appropriate policy measures in response to drought.     

Laughter and Liability: The Politics of British and Dutch Television Satire

Contemporary politicians face immense rhetorical and communicative challenges. Performing on the intertwined stages of politics, media (including Internet) and everyday life, they need to master diverse and contrasting repertoires of talk. Political communication research, at present, has ignored the question of how politicians face and experience these challenges, and how they reflect on the new communicative field. In this article, we begin to redress this situation by analysing and comparing the motives, experiences and reflections of politicians who appeared in the British satirical TV show, Have I Got News for You, and its Dutch adaptation, Dit was het Nieuws. Based on in-depth interviews with seven Dutch and 14 English MPs, we conclude that they draw from three repertoires to legitimise and reflect on their participation: a strategic, indulgent and anti-elitist repertoire. The first repertoire is predictable in the context of current political communication research, whereas the latter two add new dimensions of pleasure and bottom-up representation to it.     

国际海洋开发大势下东南亚国家的海洋活动

目前,激烈争夺海洋成为各国扩大其生存空间的必然趋势和基本发展战略。1982年4月,联合国第三次海洋法会议通过《联合国海洋法公约》以后,世界各国纷纷宣布建立200海里专属经济区,并加快海洋资源勘探开发的步伐。目前,东南亚国家对海洋权益的要求集中在海洋矿物资源的勘探开发上,并把其勘探开发行动从自己国家的近海向外延伸,程度不同地侵夺本应属于中国的南海主权。我国也应树立海洋国土危机意识,审时度势,掌握主动,有理、有利、有节地开展与别国进行海洋合作的研究与行动实施。     

Bush: The Sequel

This article examines the likely foreign policy initiatives of the U.S. under the leadership of George W. Bush. The new president has outlined a fairly thorough critique of America's international behavior in the 1990s. Because a leader's public statements arguably serve to persuade various audiences and to build support for policy change, the article takes Bush's words quite seriously—along with those spoken or written by his closest foreign affairs advisors. Bush intends to abandon the so-called Clinton Doctrine and deploy national missile defenses. He is critical of American policies toward China and Russia, but has not presented bold new initiatives toward those powers. Under the rubric of "compassionate conservatism," Bush may alter U.S. relations toward the Global South in some interesting ways. The president and his advisors often purport to be realists, but the article demonstrates that their own words belie this claim as they often justify policies based on ideals rather than the pursuit of power.     

Presidential roles and rhetoric

Traditional literature on the public dimensions of the American presidency suggests that the office has a significant impact upon the political lives of Americans and that contemporary presidents frequently appeal for public support to pressure other government elites. This study systematically analyzes rhetorical references to the presidency by examining a president's articulation of presidential roles in public speeches and press conferences. This study finds that Johnson, Nixon, and Carter did rhetorically refer to presidential roles, especially when confronted by crisis and controversy. The implication is that when confronted by serious controversy, presidents tell Americans about the responsibilities of the presidency in an effort to mobilize public support.     

东盟东增长区的发展与引资成效

自20世纪90年代初以来,东盟次区域经济合作非常活跃,先后出现了新加坡、马来西亚柔佛和印尼的廖内群岛等组成的"新柔廖增长三角",又被称为"东盟南增长三角";印尼、马来西亚、泰国相邻部分组成的"东盟北增长三角";文莱、印尼、马来西亚和菲律宾相邻部分组成的"东盟东部经济增长区(简称东盟东增长区)"等.这些由东盟各国自愿组成的各种增长三角已成为东盟进行合作的重要形式,促进了东盟各国间经济联系和相互合作,带动了贸易和投资的发展.本文选取东盟区域内最大的、最年轻的东盟东增长区,分析其带动资本流动的效果,探讨其发展成效.     

Recruitment and selection practices among non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Ghana

Taking into consideration the eugenic nature and perspective of high-performance human resource management functions on organizational effectiveness, the authors examined managerial and employee level of recruitment and selection on operational performance with emphasis on human capital and three indicators of organizational commitment (affective, normative, and continuous) as mediators. Questionnaires totaling 282, 122 for managerial level and 160 for employee level, were administered. A multilevel analysis of data were conducted on a selected number of Ghanaian NGOs using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The study revealed that recruitment and selection ideally leads to improved operational performance, however, this affiliation can be enhanced through the inescapable role of human capital and the three commitment indicators (affective, normative, and continuous). It was also exposed that effective recruitment and selection leads to a desirable employee’s level of affective, normative and continuous commitment, which also have greater influence on the operational performance. The study is thus considered very significant contextual support to existing literature and practitioners since not much of such work has been done in the Ghanaian context. Therefore, the current study implicates recruitment and selection, human capital, and the three commitment levels as a core value-creating ability that drives non-governmental organizations performance.