Analysis of off-farm work decisions among smallholder farm households in Burkina Faso

This article investigates off-farm work decisions by smallholder farm households. Using data on 1,101 households from Burkina Faso, it demonstrates that in addition to the usual household socio-demographic characteristics, remittances, access to information and beneficiary of specific training affect off-farm work decisions, as well as rainfall factors and idiosyncratic health shocks. Community characteristics such as accessibility and number of inhabitants are also key factors. While suggesting that off-farm work is less likely to be undertaken for accumulation purposes, these results have important policy implications. In particular, policy measures should consider each segment as a separate entity.     

Shaking off the neoliberal shackles: “democratic emergence” and the negotiation of democratic knowledge in the Middle East North Africa context

ABSTRACT

There is a general assumption in democracy promotion that liberal democracy is the panacea that will solve all political and economic problems faced by developing countries. Using the concept of “good society” as analytical prism, the analysis shows that while there is a rhetorical agreement as to what the “good society” entails, democracy promotion practices fail to allow for recipients’ inclusion in the negotiation and delivery of the “good society”. Contrasting US and Tunisian discourses on the “good society”, the article argues that democracy promotion practices are underpinned by neoliberal parameters borne out from a reliance on the transition paradigm, which in turn leave little room to democracy promotion recipients to formulate knowledge claims supporting the emergence of alternative conceptions of the “good society”. In contrast, the article opens up a reflective pathway to a negotiated democratic knowledge, which would reside in a paradigmatic change that consists in the abandonment of the transition paradigm in favour of a “democratic emergence” paradigm.     

早期以英语为媒介的中学西渐

鸦片战争前夕,伴随着基督教新教大规模东进,传教士在向中国介绍西学的同时,自觉或不自觉地以英语为媒介向西方介绍中学。传教士向西方介绍中学的努力,一方面是为了更好地在中国居住和传教,有效配合列强对华掠夺,另一方面也使中学多了一个直接走向世界的窗口,有助于中西学术的对话和交流。     

西方国家民事诉讼审前准备程序概况与评析

西方国家民事诉讼的发展趋势由偏重开庭审理转为审前准备程序并重 ,体现出法官的职权行使受当事人权利的约束等一些共同特征。审前准备程序的价值在于为当事人拥有积极行使诉讼权利的空间和手段 ,提高诉讼参与性 ,保障诉讼的民主性、公正性和公开性提供基础条件。     

再谈中国古代文论与西方诗学的不可通约性

只有当我们“在概念(所指)还原的层面上”清除“语词翻译表面(能指)的相似性混乱”,将中国文论还原为中国文论,将西方诗学还原为西方诗学,两者之间的比较研究才有一个“事实性的前提”,这个前提就是两者在“概念上”的差异和不可通约性。“概念上的”差异和不可通约性是全球化时代形形色色文化殖民要消灭的东西,不过,它正是后现代精神要维护的东西。     

人性论视角下的中西方传统行政文化差异

性善论与性恶论分别是中西方历史上的主流人性思想。总的说来,性善论思想对中国传统行政文化的主导影响是消极的,性恶论思想对西方传统行政文化的主导影响则是积极的。不同的主导影响造成了中西方传统行政文化之间的深刻差异。实现我国行政文化的现代化,需要吸取我国传统行政文化的精华,借鉴西方行政文化的优秀成分,避开两者的不足并积极进行创新。     

Remortgaging Women's Lives: The World Bank'sLand Agenda in Africa

In recent months, the World Bank has issued a series of draft policy reports on land relations. This is the first time in over two decades that the Bank has sought to review its policy on lending in the land sector. Access to the draft reports and participation in the consultation process has, however, been severely limited. Nonetheless, the World Bank expects to issue the final Report by the end of this year. This paper presents a gender analysis of the two draft documents that have been made available to date. It assesses their implications for gender relations in Africa. It explores the World Bank's promotion of formal rural credit and challenges the assumption of the availability of women's unpaid agricultural labour. The paper argues that, far from being over, the struggle over land relations which has characterised the last decade in Africa, must continue. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

西部大开发中需要借鉴的外国经验

放眼世界,不同民族、不同地区间的不平衡发展,是许多国家面临的共同问题。如何从政府行为即政策措施倾斜的角度,扶贫济弱,加大贫困地区的开发力度,使其迅速摆脱贫困落后的面貌,尽快走上致富之路,进而缩小差别,协调发展,实现共同富裕,是许多国家长期以来所追求的理想目标。为此,本文分别介绍了发展中国家印度和巴西、发达国家美国和日本的经验并进行了国际社会反贫困的经验比较,旨在强调我国在实施西部大开发中应该从中学习其有益的经验。     

厦泉漳城市联盟发展的意义及取向探析

深化闽台经济合作、充分发挥对台优势是海峡西岸经济区建设的重要依托,其关键是实施城市联盟发展战略,打造海峡西岸“区域经济集群”发展优势。厦泉漳城市联盟有利于提升海峡西岸经济区的综合竞争力,从而增强海峡西岸经济区承接海峡东岸经济辐射、“承‘珠’接‘长’、连接中部”、对抗区域经济边缘化的能力,因而,应大力加以推动。本文仅就厦泉漳城市联盟对于海峡西岸经济区建设的意义和发展取向加以探讨。     

Strategic voting,information, and ethnicity in emerging democracies: Evidence from Kenya

This paper explores the conditions under which voters in emerging democracies support non-viable candidates. We argue that cognitive biases and the geographic clustering of minor-party supporters in ethno-political enclaves lead to misperceptions about the electoral prospects of minor-party candidates, weakening strategic defections both among co-ethnic and non-co-ethnic supporters. We explore these arguments using original survey data from Kenya's 2007 presidential election, a contest that featured a minor-party candidate, Kalonzo Musyoka, who stood little chance of electoral victory. Despite this, results show that most of his supporters chose to vote for the candidate, failing to perceive that he was not a viable contender. The findings suggest that theories of political behavior in multi-ethnic settings can be enriched by drawing upon insights from the political psychology literature on belief formation.