The Impact of Prenatal Exposure to Power Plant Emissions on Birth Weight: Evidence from a Pennsylvania Power Plant Located Upwind of New Jersey

To examine the infant health impact of prenatal exposure to power plant emissions, we draw scientific evidence on the impacted region downwind of a large polluter, a coal‐fired power plant located on the border of two states and proven to be the sole contributor to the violation of air quality standards of the impacted region. Our results show that among all live singleton births that occurred during 1990 through 2006, those born to mothers living as far as 20 to 30 miles away downwind from the power plant (which is also an affluent region) during pregnancy are at greater risks of low birth weight (LBW) and very low birth weight (VLBW): the likelihoods of LBW and VLBW could increase approximately by 6.50 and 17.12 percent, respectively. In light of the continual efforts of The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in reducing cross‐state air pollution caused by transboundary power plant emissions, our study is aimed at broadening the scope of cross‐border pollution impact analysis by taking into account adverse infant health effects of upwind polluters, which can impose disproportionate burdens of health risks on downwind states due to air pollutants transported by wind.     

Emerging powers,soft power,and future of regional cooperation in South Asia

This article looks into the future of regional cooperation in South Asia in the light of two emerging powers: China and India focussing on how their rise would change the relationship in the region. The paper argues that China and India both are trying to enhance their spheres of influence forcing the states in the region to align with either of them in a binary framework of unstable equilibrium and uneasy coexistence rather than reinforcing the regional solidarity of SAARC. Such a competition between China and India and the putative interventionary efforts of Western powers and their agencies in the region are bound to bring implications of profound value for not just regional cooperation but for the individual destinies of the various states involved in the days ahead.     

External Influence and Challenges of State-building in Nepal

This article deals with the role of external actors in the post-2006 state-building process in Nepal. Two issues have dominated the state-building narrative after 2006: the peace-process and the constitutional process. There has been a strong presence of international agencies. Both issues were later usurped by the external agencies and Nepal loses its upper hand in determining politics, policies, and the law and reverted beyond the 1923 situation. Foreign policy, which should have been used to rescue the country from such a dilemma, could not act in the context of a weak centre. Against this background, this article endeavours to explain the degree of external pressure vis-à-vis the state-building process in Nepal. The central argument of this article is that among many other factors, state-building in Nepal suffers both ‘because of and despite’ its geo-strategic locations and it proposes a proactive foreign policy as the balancing force.     

Evidence–based Analysis and the Work of Policy Shops

The New Public Management (NPM) reforms brought about in the 1990s have substantially altered the environment in which agencies mandated to provide policy advice to ministers do their work. Yet, cross–jurisdictional evidence tends to show that systems in place in these policy shops generally do not reflect the rigour that is needed to analyse and render quality policy advice. As one possible remedy, this paper suggests that use of rigorous evidence–based analysis (EBA) to inform the policy advice function be made an integral part of the policy shops' learning and information protocol. EBA is a useful tool in assisting the agencies to demonstrate their adherence to a quality assurance system.     

Book reviews

Clay G. Westcott (ed.), Key Governance Issues in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Viet Nam (Manila: Asian Development Bank, 2001), 71 pages.

Michael Jacobsen and Ole Bruun (eds.), Human Rights and Asian Values: Contesting National Identities and Cultural Representations in Asia (Surrey, Great Britain: Curzon Press, 2000), 330 pages.

Robert H. Taylor (ed.), Burma: Political Economy Under Military Rules (London: Hurst & Company, 2001).

Satu Kahkonen and Anthony Lanyi (eds.), Institutions, Incentives and Economic Reforms in India (New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2000).

Kyung‐Ae Park and Dalchoong Kim (eds.), Korean Security Dynamics and Transition (New York: Palgrave, 2001), 209 pages.