城市贫困家庭青少年发展的现状及对策

贫困是复杂的社会现象,伴随着我国的社会转型,城市贫困家庭的问题日益凸显,对家庭中青少年的发展具有潜在深远的影响。以＂城市贫困课题组＂的社会调查数据为基础,探讨城市家庭贫困与青少年发展之间的关系,针对构建城市贫困家庭中青少年的社会支持系统提出相对应的政策及建议。     

反贫困的若干法律思考

政府同时具有保护性政府和再分配政府这两种特性 ,它们在反贫困中有着不同的作用。政府是反贫困的主导力量 ,社会组织是必要的补充 ,二者应该在法律的保障下进行分工与合作。贫困的形成和腐败有着必然的联系 ,因此 ,我们必须制约政府官员的权力 ,反对腐败。法律制度是反贫困工作得以顺利进行的保障 ,它是行政措施无法替代的。     

改进农村信贷扶贫工作的思考

信贷扶贫是扶贫开发的重要方武,但由于政策、体制等多种原因,信贷扶贫工作出现了一些不容忽视的问题,迫切需 要从管理体制、管理办法、贷款贴患、资金循环机制、基础管理等方面采取综合有力的措施加以解决。     

吉林省西部生态脆弱地区贫困问题研究

吉林省西部地区是中国北方生态环境脆弱带的重要组成部分,也是吉林省生态环境破坏最严重和贫困人口集中分布的地区。该文分析了吉林省西部地区经济与生态＂双贫困＂的基本特征,从生态环境脆弱、文化教育落后、在激烈的市场竞争中日趋边缘化以及生态补偿制度缺失等方面探讨吉林西部贫困问题形成的内在机制,最后提出解决贫困问题的对策建议。     

Immigration in the Life Histories of Women Living in the United States-Mexico Border Region

Abstract

This paper focuses on the role that immigration plays in the lives of very low-income women living along the United States-Mexico border. Life here is distinct from that in any other part of the United States, due to the international, social, political, and economic interdependence that characterizes this region. Thus, from the perspective of migration as a social process, this “contact zone” can provide insight on migration issues that occur within a transborder context. Based on life history interviews and focus groups with women living in two adjoining border cities, Brownsville, Texas and Matamoros, Tamaulipas, we observed the trajectories of women at two points of the migration course: (a) migration from the interior of Mexico to the northern border and (b) emigration across the international boundary to the United States. The study shows that although these women held expectations that migration would improve their lives and the lives of their families, their social and economic integration in the border region met with limited success.     

Political Thuggery and Democratic Dividends in Nigeria

This study focuses on political thuggery and democratic dividends in Nigeria. Utilizing secondary and personal observation data the authors sought to address the following concerns: meaning of political thuggery and democratic dividend, manifestation and spate of political thuggery, and causes and effect of political thuggery and democratic performance since 1999 to date. The study reveals that poverty, unemployment, financial attractiveness of elective positions, the value system of wealth accumulation, and an ineffective security agency account for the incidence of political thuggery in Nigeria. Political thuggery hinders public accountability of elective officers and thus is a bane to good governance in Nigeria. Itg also increases the crime rate and the emergence of credible candidates in elections and thus is a threat to the achievement of democratic dividends and exercise of citizenship rights in Nigeria. On the basis of these findings, the study recommends that government should make elective offices less attractive financially and conceited government programs and policies should be aimed at alleviating unemployment and poverty and strengthening the capacity of security agencies. Government must consistently educate citizens and youth on the evil of political thuggery and violence.     

Vietnam Giai Phong!

This article critically assesses the relationship between the claimed fall in global poverty and the rise of China in recent years. It questions the mainstream “pro-globalisation” argument, which suggests that there is a causal link between neo-liberal, “pro-globalisation” policies, and falling poverty and rising China. It is argued instead that the evidence concerning poverty reduction is ambiguous, and it is not the case that the most successful developers have adopted pro-globalisation policies. This latter contention is examined through consideration of the relationship between Chinese development and globalisation, with particular emphasis on the “transnationalisation” of capital and the rise of global commodity chains, and how this has produced new forms of uneven development in the global economy.     

Book Reviews

This article traces a possible link between radicalisation and poverty in Pakistan by surveying 1147 respondents, consisting of a poor sample universe compared with more affluent control groups. All the provinces of Pakistan were included in the sample universe, with the findings centred on an analytical discourse of poverty in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Balochistan province, which have given rise to escalating militancy. The analysis engages with relevant literature to argue for the development of sub-nationally researched, fresh perspectives on linkages between poverty and radicalisation in Pakistan.     

Preventing Homelessness: An Examination of the Transition Resource Action Center

Each year in the United States, as adolescents age out or are emancipated from the foster care system, they are at risk of experiencing homelessness. It is essential that services and programs focus on encouraging and supporting youth in transition from foster care to a life of independence, and The Transition Resource Action Center (TRAC) strives to provide these services. The researchers sought to determine if TRAC's residential program provides their clients with a chance of a stable life (e.g., housing, employment, health care). Findings suggest that fewer clients of TRAC became homeless and more acquired transitional or temporary housing from screening 1 to screening 2, demonstrating promise that these services have fostered change in the lives of their clients.     

Is long-term food insecurity inevitable in Asia?

Abstract

This article questions two widely accepted claims on long-term food insecurity in Asia, the world's (heterogeneous) region with the largest number of undernourished individuals. The first claim is that food production may not grow as fast as the pace of population growth in Asia, which will reach 5 billion by 2050. The second claim is that an unstoppable emergence of a middle class in Asia will dramatically change the composition of food demand. On the first claim, the region's contribution to high and volatile international food prices is well known, but Asia's potentially positive contributions toward future price uncertainty and productivity growth are much less cited. On the second claim, the changing composition of future food demand in the region will depend on the extent that poverty reduction effectively leads to middle class expansion, which it is not an automatic process, and its extent still remains to be seen. Past evidence teaches us that poverty reduction on its own will not do the job of eradicating hunger, nor will only increasing food production. The jury is still out, but doomsday predictions are not necessarily justified.