Volume 28, number 3-4 (2009)
Keynote Address · 2007 CASID Conference
Human Rights, Democracy, and Development in an Age of Global Insecurity
“The first and best lesson to be learned in international development may be humility. When I went off to Chile in 1962 with the first wave of Peace Corps Volunteers, we had been told, ‘Don’t give a man a fish; teach him to fish.’ That sounded right until it dawned on us that we didn’t know how to fish and he did. I suppose now the slogan—if not of the Peace Corps, at least of the International Monetary Fund—would be, ‘Don’t give a man a fish; sell him the fish—in a can—and if he can’t afford it, give him a loan.’ I hope that by now there are also development guerrillas teaching that fisherman how to drive out the gringos who are scooping up all their fish in factory ships …”
‘Development’ in the Second Decade of the Twenty-First Century
“I was honoured to comment in Saskatoon on Jan Knippers Black’s keynote address in mid-2007, but even more privileged to write a response over the new year in Trinidad & Tobago as we anticipate the fifth Summit of the Americas in April 2009 … Saskatchewan in 2007 was booming unexpectedly because of changes in the global economy, particularly the rise of China. Ontario, meanwhile, has become by 2009, for the first time ever, a have-not province. If Canada’s economy is now in such flux, what are the prospects for global development? Jan Black’s address on the disjuncture between economy and community was prescient but, as was the case 18 months ago, I have reservations that are in part a reflection of analytic, disciplinary and regional differences. Also, these responses are partly informed by the endless challenge and pleasure of life in the Caribbean and of editing two book series on international political economy. The latter allows me the privilege of observing forthcoming analyses, as we shall see …”
Rethinking a Framework for Action for the Americas from a Latin American Perspective
“In her keynote address, Dr. Black … eloquently reminded us of the need for humility in this field, and of the challenge of being self-critical. Indeed, as she indicated, there was an extreme naïveté in the Peace Corps slogan ‘Don’t give a man a fish, teach him how to fish.’ … This crucial point brings to mind a quotation by Marshall McLuhan: ‘I am not sure who discovered water, but I am pretty sure it wasn’t the fish.’ In other words, when we are immersed in our own culture, we tend to accept its values and projects as real, accurate, and universal, but when we step out of its confines, when we become immersed in another culture, that “crystal reality” shatters. Then we can start to look at the water we were accustomed to swimming in with critical eyes. However, as Dr. Black argues, this process happens only if we are humble and open to accepting the many cultures in the world …”
2007 Kari Polanyi-Levitt Prize
Return in Dignity: A Neglected Refugee Protection Challenge
The origins, evolution, and content of the principle of a dignified return are examined, as are the implications of using dignity as a guiding principle governing the return of refugees. The emergence of provisions on safe and dignified return are tracked and analyzed in international agreements, UN documents, and speeches by UN High Commissioners for Refugees since 1978. Key theoretical perspectives are examined, and the insights of these theories are considered. At least two key components of a dignified return can be deduced: the principle of refugee choice, and the need to redress the injustices that cause and characterize displacement.
Articles
The Value of Managing Urban Solid Waste: Evidence from Enugu State, Nigeria
Empirical findings of a contingent valuation method survey conducted in Enugu State, Nigeria, from July to September 2003, to elicit from urban residents monetary values placed on improved solid waste management facilities. Two formats were used in the study: a referendum design that mimics a typical political referendum and a stochastic payment card design, which incorporates uncertainty into an individual’s valuation of an environmental quality improvement. Results indicate that the traditional referendum design produced a lower mean willingness to pay.
Making the Poor Work for their Services: Neo-liberalism and ‘Pro-Poor’ Privatization in El Alto, Bolivia
This paper critically analyzes how the neo-liberal agenda to promote the participation of the poor and privatization have been linked in the water and sanitation sector. Drawing on three case studies of “participatory” water and sanitation projects in El Alto, Bolivia, I argue that the mobilization of the poor people’s labour in the construction of urban water and sewage systems has been primarily used as a means to stabilize commercial relationships and shift the costs associated with service delivery onto the poor.
Coûts et niveaux de consommation différenciés de l’eau des ménages dans les villes africaines : le cas de Conakry
Differentiated Domestic Water Rates and Consumption in African Cities: The Case of Conakry. During the 1980s, several African states privatized the management of the potable water supply in cities, a reform aimed at increasing access to water by extending the water network and at making the service profitable by introducing the user-pay principle. Results of a survey conducted in Conakry, Guinea, highlight three main findings: a diversification of the modes of water supply despite an extension of the network; a differentiation of the monetary and non monetary costs of access to water based on household income, mode of provisioning and location; and a variation in levels of water consumption based on these same factors.
From Progress to Risk: Development, Participation, and Post-Disciplinary Techniques of Control
The rationality that has made the adoption of participatory methodologies coherent for development is underlined. Post-development and reflexive development perspectives are compared and critically engaged. Changes in mainstream development discourses and practices, particularly their embracing of participation, point to the emergence of post-disciplinary technologies of control and the displacement of the notion of progress by that of risk. These technologies are highly ambivalent in that they simultaneously promote carefully bounded grassroots autonomy and generate conditions that subvert it.
Social Compacts in Regional and Global Perspective
This article addresss four issues related to the emergence of new social compacts. It discusses various attempts to theorize and conceptualize the notions of globalization and global and regional governance. It then looks at the transformation from welfare to workfare and examines the impact of global restructuring on labour and social conditions. Examples of the distributional consequences and resulting inequality, poverty, and unemployment are provided. This process has had an important impact on the emergence of reactive regional social compacts based on various forms of negotiated contracts. Finally, the article explores new, proactive attempts to challenge the existing dogma of neo-liberal governance.
Comparability over Time of the Human Development Index: A Shapley Value Approach
The Human Development Index of the United Nations Development Programme is not comparable over time. From 1990 to 2001, three different factors caused its variations: modifications of methodology, limits to the values of variables, and changes to the living conditions of citizens. Thus, it has been of limited value as a guide for development policy management. This paper discusses the solutions adopted so far by the UNDP and proposes an alternative based on the Shapley value approach, with an application to Cameroon.
Economic Voting in Cameroon
This paper tests the hypothesis that economic fundamentals influence presidential election outcomes. There has been much interest in recent years in the relationship between economics and elections in Western democracies. Relatively no attention has been paid to developing countries in general or Cameroon in particular. The major contribution of this paper is to have redirected the geographical focus of this investigation to Cameroon, by considering the argument that if economic conditions worsen (improve), Cameroonians are more (less) likely to vote against the incumbent president. The analysis indicates that this hypothesis is consistent with data in Cameroon.
A Critical-Ethical Perspective on the Disconnect Between Project Design and Implementation in Rural Turkey
An evaluation of reasons for the failure to realize design objectives in a development project with a dual purpose of conserving the environment and generating income. The consequences of a lack of appropriate interaction during the design and implementation stages of the project are documented. Drawing on development and participation literature, the author suggests that a critical-ethical perspective can alert development actors to the technical, political, and ethical dimensions of their ideas and actions. This perspective considers a micro case in a holistic view that is sensitive to the underlying assumptions, content, and practice of such concepts as democracy, participation, capacity building, local governance, and sustainability.
Community-Based Conservation and Development: Lessons Learned from the 2004 Equator Prize
Common features of successful community-based conservation and development initiatives are drawn from the finalists of the 2004 Equator Prize program managed by the UNDP. Through interviews, factors that contributed to the success of 24 finalists’ initiatives are identified, focusing particularly on community organization and cross-scale institutional linkages. Factors include motivation and commitment of individuals concerned, participation, partnership and co-operation, funding, and capacity-building in organization and management. Emerging biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction research issues are raised.
The Global Coffee Crisis and Indian Farmers: The Livelihood Vulnerability of Smallholders
This paper examines the global coffee crisis that began in the late 1980s and its impact on local livelihoods for smallholding farmers in India. The coffee crisis is characterized by low farm-gate coffee prices caused by oversupply, an unregulated open market, and growing corporate concentration. Smallholding coffee farmers in India suffered severely during the recent crisis as they experienced lower yields, lower coffee prices, and weak market institutions. The impact of the coffee crisis is considered in terms of structural changes in the coffee market and rural institutions and the measures farmers have used to cope with market volatility.
Which Market Economy for China? Decision Making and Bureaucracy in the Guangxi Sugar Market
In the mid-1990s, prompted by internal problems in its domestic sugar industry and concerns related to negotiations on its entry into the World Trade Organization, China began to progressively introduce reforms aimed at opening its market. These reforms and their impact in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region particularly, China’s main sugar producer and one of the world’s major sugar-producing areas, are analyzed. Market liberalization hindered by a specific institutional context and the coexistence of a bureaucratic logic and a limited market economy have created economic difficulties for the sugar industry in Guangxi. Overall, the article casts a shadow on the progress of the market economy in China.
Voices from the Field
Culture aborigène et développement touristique : le cas des Amis de la commune de Fongbin, Taïwan
Aboriginal Culture and Tourist Development: The Case of the Amis People of Fongbin Township, Taiwan. This article is about the challenges of introducing development to the aboriginal Amis people of Taiwan. Because of the relocation of Taiwanese industry to China and the importation of foreign workers, many aboriginal people have had to return to their townships to find work; but there are few employment opportunities. This study looks at an attempt to solve this problem by encouraging the Amis to raise buffalo as a tourist attraction. This project articulates with traditional Amis social organization. What tactics can be used with the local people to develop a plan to sustain their way of life?
Reviews
Gender and Natural Resource Management: Livelihoods, Mobility and Interventions, Bernadette P. Resurreccion and Rebecca Elmhirst, eds.
Water First: Issues and Challenges for Nations and Communities in South Asia, Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt and Robert J. Wasson, eds.
Woman of the Forest, Fekerte Mariam Haile
World Food Security: A History since 1945, D. John Shaw
The New Political Economy of Development: Globalization, Imperialism, Hegemony, Ray Kiely
Canada in Afghanistan: The War So Far, Peter Pigott
African Development: Making Sense of the Issues and Actors, Todd J. Moss
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, Naomi Klein
Tourists, Migrants & Refugees: Population Movements in Third World Development, Milica Z. Bookman