Volume 23, number 1 (2002)
2001 Kari Polanyi-Levitt Prize
Social Capital for Development: What Does it Mean if There Isn’t Any? A Case Study of Agricultural Producers in Dmitrov Rayon, Russia
Social capital was the development “buzz word” of the 1990s. Numerous studies identified the importance of social capital for civic and democratic society, inevitably decrying its gradual disappearance from North American society and its under-recognition in international development initiatives. In this paper, the author takes the discussion of diminishing social capital a step further, addressing the development implications of an absence of social capital. Preliminary fieldwork by the author among agricultural producers in Dmitrov Rayon, Russia, found no evidence of overt forms of social capital—no community organizations, formal co-operation or volunteer activity. Although further investigation of the case study site found seeds of community activity in urban areas and a social assistance structure embedded in the region’s rural businesses, the apparent absence of social capital among study respondents raised questions about the universality and utility of current social capital theory. The author uses the profile of social capital in rural Dmitrov Rayon generated through her field research to discuss the influence of a command society on social capital formation. She raises issues related to the implications of limited, absent and unexpected forms of social capital for international development initiatives in general and for democratic development in particular.
Articles
Economic Sanctions: The Institutional Factor
This paper addresses a neglected issue in sanction literature: the role played by developing countries’ institutions in managing the impact of economic sanctions on the population. Using recent literature acknowledging the importance of institutions in managing external shocks as a base, I argue that institutional efficiency is a major factor in minimizing the suffering of a population under sanctions. Since the international community seriously values human development and poverty alleviation, imposing parties must either put aside the noble desire to protect the population or avoid imposing sanctions if the target population cannot rely on effective institutions to mitigate the impact of sanctions.
The Allocation of Canada’s Bilateral Foreign Aid
This study examines the factors determining the allocation of Canada’s bilateral aid from 1990 to 1998. The evidence does not support the contention that bilateral aid is driven by such factors as the alleviation of global poverty, the reduction of gender disparities, human resource development and debt relief. Rather, political and strategic considerations such as Commonwealth membership and proximity to Canada seem to be quite important. These conclusions, however, remain tentative given the limited data available. Also, no attempt is made to evaluate how much Canada’s domestic economic considerations weigh in the allocation process.
Exchange Rate Changes and Trade Balance Adjustments in Malawi
This paper analyzes how trade balance responds to changes in exchange rates for Malawi. A trade balance model involving the demand for Malawi exports and imports is estimated using time-series data from 1968 to 1998. The estimated results show that devaluation will worsen the trade balance in the short run and improve it only slightly in the long run. This suggests that perhaps aggregate-demand management should complement exchange-rate policy for the trade balance to improve markedly.
Can the Grameen Bank Be Replicated in Africa? Evidence from Malawi
Although success stories of microcredit schemes from Asia have generated a lot of enthusiasm among development practitioners about the prospects of rural poverty alleviation, informed opinion is still sharply divided on the efficacy of this instrument in Africa. Using evidence from FINCA-Malawi, this paper empirically questions the replicability of Grameen-type banks in Africa. While the credit scheme was financially sustainable and FINCA clients had higher savings, working capital and business expenditure, these did not translate into higher household consumption. Clients’ risk aversion in investment and uncharacteristically high turnover rates seem to explain the low program impact on the household economy.
East Asia, Land Reform and Economic Development
In trying to explain the economic success of East Asia (Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan) reference is often made to the fact that all three of these countries had extensive land reforms. These land reforms are thought to have significantly contributed to the rapid growth of the region by eliminating the landlord class and providing the basis for an equitable distribution of the benefits of growth. However, it is often argued that these land reforms were an exogenous event or experience in that it required an environment of upheaval in which an external force, the United States, played a key role in making the reform possible. This paper argues that land reform in all three countries was the result of the unfolding of similar internal historical and economic forces over an extended period of time. Thus it makes more sense to think of land reform as an endogenous event determined by internal factors.
Taming a Leviathan: Geopolitics, State Power and the Making of a Development Regime in Taiwan
The current debate on Taiwan’s development has been dominated by the statist perspective that identifies state power as a key to its growth miracle. The paper challenges this statist idea. By analyzing the evolving process of the developmental state from a predatory government in the 1950s and early 1960s, we argue that the imposing of constraints on the despotic power of the state constitutes a key mechanism by which a balanced power structure between the state and capital is formed and the private sector can develop and benefit from policy incentives. The taming of a Leviathan state and the shift from a war economy toward a developmental regime were a result of strong US geopolitical intervention.
Reviews
Rethinking Globalization: Critical Issues and Policy Choices, Martin Khor
Debating Development: NGOs and the Future, edited by Deborah Eade and Ernst Ligteringen
Breaking Ground: Development Aid for Land Reform, Martin Adams
The No-Nonsense Guide to Fair Trade, David Ransom
Closing the Circle: Democratization and Development in Africa, Richard Sandbrook
The Mongolian Economy: A Manual of Applied Economics for a Country in Transition, edited by Frederick Nixson, Bat Suvd, Puntsagdash Luvsandorj, and Bernard Walters
The Limits of Capitalism: An Approach to Globalization Without Neoliberalism, Wim Dierckxsens
Evaluating International Humanitarian Action, Adrian Wood, Raymond Apthorpe, and John Borton (eds.)