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Development may be best understood in terms of the interplay among capital accumulation, the state, and class. Subject to globalizing structures, classes, in turn, are examined in light of their interactions with culture, especially gender and religion as well as ecology. Case-studies - Brazil, the Asian newly industrializing countries, China, and Mozambique - reveal three possibilities for overcoming underdevelopment: joining, leaving, or weaving through global capitalism. The conclusions do not fail to present specific principles upon which policies can be based.

The 1980s in Latin America saw the implementation of a sweeping programme of economic reforms, either imposed as a condition for securing new loans or to embrace the neoliberal doctrine of structural adjustment, the ideology of a newly formed transnational capitalist class. However, the structural adjustment programme also generated widespread resistance, especially from within the popular sector of civil society. This book analyses both the politics of the adjustment process and the political dynamics of this resistance in Latin America.

The author examines Brazil's emerging role as an important actor in various sectors of global governance. By exploring how Brazil's exercise of power developed over the last decade in the sectors of health, food security and bioenergy, this book sheds light on the power strategies of an emerging country from the global south.

This book explains in fascinating detail how economic and social transformations in pre-1600 Japan led to an industrious revolution in the early modern period and how the fruits of the Industrious Revolution are what have supported Japan since the eighteenth century, improving living standards and leading to the formation of the work ethic of modern Japan. The arrival of the Sengoku Period in the sixteenth century saw the emergence and domination of government by the warrior class. It was Tokugawa Ieyasu who unified the realm. Yet this unity did not give rise to an autocratic state, as the shogun was recognized merely as a main pillar of the warrior class.Economically, however, from the fourteenth century, currency payments for shōen nengu (taxes paid to the proprietor) became standard, and currency circulation began, primarily in the central region. Under Tokugawa rule, organized domestic coinage of currency began, opening the way to establishing a national economic society. Also, agricultural land was surveyed through cadastral surveys known as kenchi. Land values were converted in terms of rice, so the expected rice yields for each village were assessed, and the lords used this as a benchmark for imposing taxes. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Japan experienced a “great transition,” and conditions for peasants, agriculture, and farming villages underwent great changes. Inefficient traditional agriculture using peasants in a state of servitude was transformed into highly efficient small-sized farming operations which relied on family labor. As production yields increased due to labor-intensive agriculture, the profits obtained by the peasants improved their living standards. The stem-family system became the norm through which work ethics and even literacy were transmitted. This very change was the result of the “industrious revolution” in Japan. The book thus presents theframework of the facts of pre-industrial Japanese history and depicts pre-modern Japan from a macroscopic point of view, showing how the industrious revolution came about. It is certain to be of great interest to economists and historians alike.

Against the background of a long and continuing record of political instability in Africa, this edited collection presents a multi-disciplinary approach to selected issues in African political studies. The contributions explore a range of political and conflict situations, discuss efforts to develop indigenous conflict resolution mechanisms and consider some of the key political and economic issues facing the continent. The specific country studies illuminate the diversity of the African continent and indicate the ways in which the political and socio-economic contexts of African states bear directly upon the ability of states to solve political and economic challenges. The volume seeks to present and promote novel analytical frameworks, conceptual approaches and empirical accounts of relevance to scholars working on Africa and to practitioners and policy makers in politics, governance and peace initiatives in Africa.

Developing and ‘transition'economies face myriad challenges in their attempts to achieve and maintain political stability and foster the economic growth essential for national security, the social well-being of current citizens and sustainable environments for future generations. Governments in the Western Balkans have striven to achieve all of the above, and this volume assesses the nature of their experiences as well as the level of their success in doing so. Featuring detailed case studies of public policy reforms in the region as well as comparative analysis on a range of indicators, the book analyzes the role of key players in setting the political agenda as well as implementing policy reforms. It also distils the lessons that can be learned from the Western Balkan experience, recommending strategies for enhancing the policy making process. In addition, it examines the developmental role played by the full spectrum of policy actors, including the private sector, NGOs, specialinterest groupings, international financial institutions, donor nations and the EU.Each case study has been prepared by academics with deep knowledge and experience of the western Balkans and addresses a core set of questions: identifying the policy issue and its broader context, defining the roles of specific individuals in formulating policy and reform and assessing the influence of networks and coalitions in the policy making process. With so little detailed literature on public policy making in a group of nations strategically positioned between Europe, Russia and the near East, the detailed insights provided by this volume will be widely welcomed.Our book provides case studies of specific public policy reform episodes in selected Western Balkan post-conflict and transition countries. The focus of these case studies extends beyond the technical aspects and entails substantive examination of the policy actors, constituencies and politics that ultimately shape the policy that emerges from the policy making process. This analysis draws lessons for strengthening the quality of policies, the transparency, consistency, and governance of the policy making process and ultimately for contributing to economic and social development of the region.

Der 22. Deutsche Soziologentag fand vom 9. bis 12. Oktober 1984 in Dortmund statt. Sein Thema lautete:'Soziologie und gesellschaftliche Entwicklung'. Der vorliegende Band dokumentiert die Arbeit der Sektionen und der Ad-hoc-Gruppen.'Sektionen'sind innerhalb der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie langfristig institutionali­ sierte Arbeitszusammenhänge, die sich mit jeweiligen'Bereichssoziologien'beschäftigen.'Ad­ hoc-Gruppen'sind von einem oder mehreren Interessenten zu einem bestimmten Thema initi­ ierte Arbeitskreise, die zunächst nur im Rahmen eines Soziologentages stattfinden, u.U. aber auch danach noch weiter zusammenarbeiten und eventuell auf einem folgenden Soziologentag wieder vertreten sind. Die Referenten der Sektionen und Ad-hoc-Gruppen wurden vom Herausgeber gebeten, maximal fünfseitige Kurzfassungen ihrer Beiträge anzufertigen. Ich danke allen Autoren, daß sie es ermöglicht haben, eine nahezu vollständige Dokumentation der Sektions- und Ad-hoc­ Gruppen-Arbeit des Soziologentages vorzulegen. Der Band gibt zugleich einen Eindruck von der Vielfalt und Bandbreite der gegenwärtigen soziologischen Arbeit in der Bundesrepublik Deutsch­ land, wobei die Beiträge aus Nachbarländern eine Bereicherung darstellen. Danken muß ich den Autoren auch für ihr Verständnis, wenn ich aufgrund der großen Fülle von Beiträgen und des damit verbundenen Umstandes, alles setzen lassen zu müssen, in etlichen Fällen rigide um Einhaltung des vorgegebenen Umfanglimits nachsuchen mußte. In einigen Fällen konnte ich die überschreitung des Limits dulden, weil andere Beiträge ausfielen oder aufgrund von Absprachen unter den Autoren entsprechend gekürzt wurden. Daß die an­ nähernd 1.400 Seiten Manuskrfpt gesetzt werden konnten, wurde durch einenZuschuß der Stadt Dortmund ermöglicht, für den ich auch an dieser Stelle danken möchte.

This case book provides examples of multi-stakeholder partnerships that aim to create sustainable enterprises for both the for-profit sectors and for individuals who live in conditions of poverty. Ideal for teaching, after a brief introduction to the case method, the cases are presented as descriptions with no comments or criticisms. The cases are arranged thematically and cover a broad array of solutions in diverse countries including India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Tanzania, the United States, South Africa, Mozambique, Peru, Ghana, Haiti,and Mexico. Specific programs for alleviating—or even eradicating—poverty through profitable partnerships come from myriad sectors such as banking, health, education, infrastructure development, environment, and technology. The cases highlight solutions that focus on bringing about substantive shifts in the conditions of life for those living in poverty.​

The Latin American and Caribbean region has been undergoing a rapid demographic and epidemiological transition, which has had important health and economic consequences. Not only is the population aging rapidly, it is also experiencing major lifestyle changes. These changes, in turn, have altered the disease and mortality profile of the region, resulting in a greater weight of noncommunicable diseases—such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes—within the overall disease burden. As they affect more and more people, noncommunicable diseases pose a growing economic and development threat to households, health systems, and economies. Part of this health and economic burden can be avoided, however. An important share of such diseases is attributable to preventable risk factors, such as an unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, tobacco use, and alcohol abuse—the leading health risk factors in most of the region. This book outlines the design and implementation of policies that would promote healthy living in the region, thus effectively preventing premature mortality from noncommunicable diseases. Reducing the exposure to these risks factors at the society level requires the concerted effort of stakeholders from a variety of sectors; therefore, the decision-making process presents challenges to policy makers and other health advocates. International experience has shown that overcoming these challenges often requires negotiation and dialogue among all interested parties, the mobilization of public opinion, reliance on information and research, the leadership and political commitment of key political figures, and institutional arrangements that favor multisectoral coordination and take advantage of favorable conditions, among others. Promoting Healthy Living in Latin America and the Caribbean reviews the design and implementation processes of several successful or promising international examples as well as some regional ones; specifically, the agreement between the government and industry to reduce sodium in processed foods and to reform the Food Code to reduce trans fats in Argentina; a built environment that promotes physical activity in Bogotá, Colombia; the National Agreements for Food Health in Mexico; and the tobacco-control policies in Uruguay.

Advances in Quality-of-Life Theory and Research is relevant to quality-of-life researchers working in the areas of Social Medicine, Sustainable Development, Social Indicators Research and Health Psychology/Behavioral Medicine. This volume contains 14 chapters that represent a culmination of programmatic research in the science of quality of life (QOL). Each chapter offers interesting findings in different areas of QOL research and, together, the chapters reflect the very basic premise that QOL research is a broad interdisciplinary topic explored in a multidisciplinary manner. The research methods and conceptual models used by the different authors are exemplary and can induce QOL researchers to conduct future research in QOL in other cultures, geographic areas, and different socio-economic and demographic groups as well as in different QOL domains.

This book shows how Rwanda's development model and the organisation of genocide are two sides of the same coin. In the absence of mineral resources, the elite organised and managed the labour of peasant producers as efficient as possible. In order to stay in power and benefit from it, the presidential clan chose a development model that would not change the political status quo. When the latter was threatened, the elite invoked the preservation of group welfare of the Hutu, called for Hutu unity and solidarity and relied on the great mass (rubanda nyamwinshi) for the execution of the genocide. A strategy as simple as it is horrific. The genocide can be regarded as the ultimate act of self-preservation through annihilation under the veil of self-defense. Why did tens of thousands of ordinary people massacred tens of thousands other ordinary people in Rwanda in 1994? What has agricultural policy and rural ideology to do with it? What was the role of the Akazu, the presidential clan around president Habyarimana? Did the civil war cause the genocide? And what insights can a political economy perspective offer?Based on more than ten years of research, and engaging with competing and complementary arguments of authors such as Peter Uvin, Alison Des Forges, Scott Strauss, René Lemarchand, Filip Reyntjens, Mahmood Mamdani and André Guichaoua, the author blends economics, politics and agrarian studies to provide a new way of understanding the nexus between development and genocide in Rwanda. Students and practitioners of development as well as everyone interested in the causes of violent conflict and genocide in Africa and around the world will find this book compelling toread..

here ofexchange, and borrowing in debates between these disciplines, all the more so, as we shall see a little further on, as the analysis of the Central and East European transformations has also contributed to introduce into political science and sociology theoretical systematizations first formulated in economics. In addition to this opening up to the objects and theories of economics, the pseudo-'dilemma'ofsimultaneity produced, by a kind of feedback, another series of effects on transitology and the related research domains. Contrary to most expectations and predictions in the wake ofthe 1989 upheavals - affirmations that the'dilemmas','problems'or'challenges'of the transitions in Central and Eastern Europe ought to have been dealt with and resolved one after the other in sequence, in the manner of the more or less idealized trajectories of Great Britain or Spain (trajectories significantly enough promoted, far beyond the circles of scholars, as a'model'of transition), andabove all, contrary to the assumption that superposing a radical economic transformation upon a transition to democracy would make the whole edifice thoroughly unworkable, unstable or dangerous - it must be stated clearly out that the two processes, in their'simultaneity', are not necessarily incompatible. This is one of the main findings stressed upon in several chapters of this book.

The wntmgs by Japanese and Gennan economists presented here originated against the backdrop of ongoing globalization processes and notable fluctuations in regional economic dynamics observable at the same time, primarily in the East and South East Asian area. They provided the occasion for these writers to come to tenns with globalization processes, and in particular with the stabilizing and destabilizing elements at work in them. This is the basis for their investigation of the options provided by economics and economic policy for stabilizing an ever more tightly interwoven world economy. The regional focal points of the contributions are the East Asian realm and the European Union, and the points of view are in every case both from the Japanese and the Gennan side. Questions of international competition and mechanisms of the spread of the crisis in the wake of globalization processes lie at the centre of the analyses by Hisashi Watanabe and Willy Kraus. Hisashi Watanabe focusses on the relationship, an especially important one from the Japanese perspective, between Japan and South Korea and takes up the problem of South Korea's demand that Japan should energetically promote its own transition to a service-sector-oriented society and withdraw from certain areas of manufacturing. This, it is argued, will grant Japan's Asian neighbours better chances for development and make a positive contribution to the economic stabilization of the region.

This book is concerned with the question of inequality - which points to a major structural problem in intra-national and inter-national respect. It covers the tension between the rich and poor in less developed countries as well as within richer countries in the process of globalisation. The main topics are the scope of disparities between the rich and poor, people's perception of wealth and poverty, and the concomitants of inequality which shape this relationship and influence its socio-economic consequences. In the tradition of social reporting, the book brings together authors from 15 countries, documenting a broad range of the international inequality debate. The results are related to the trends of socio-economic development, to statistical problems of measuring inequality, and to socio-political problems of integrating society in the facing the challenge of dividing forces. The book is of interest for everybody who wants to understand the tensions of modern world.

This book is a compilation of cases of best work in community indicators research. The cases describe communities that have launched their own community indicators programs. Elements that are included in the descriptions are the history of the community indicators work within the target region, the planning of community indicators, the actual indicators that were selected, the data collection process, the reporting of the results, and the use of the indicators to guide community development decisions and public policy. Community planners, community indicators researchers and urban planning specialists will find this book very helpful in learning from communities that have done community indicators work and have done it well.

James Busumtwi-Sam and Laurent Dobuzinskis have assembled a leading team of experts in the field to examine how phenomena associated with globalization impact on political economy in theory and in practice. The volume employs a variety of theoretical and analytical approaches to examine the very changeable nature of the global political economy, in terms of academic analysis, policy and practice.

The main theme is how local economic cultures and economic networks in the South and in Eastern Europe are put under strain by global deregulation and how traditional and not so traditional but locally rooted structures of economic life adjust to deregulation or fail to do so. All the contributions, written by different authors, combine a'flexible specialization in clusters'approach with original empirical data. An Introduction and a concluding chapter by the editors brings out the common issues and conclusions.

Part of a series designed to give a comprehensive analysis of some of the complex problems facing contemporary Latin America. The contributors focus on land reform, property rights, the problems of the rural poor, and changes in agricultural practice in Chile.

Since 1957, more than 45 African countries have received aid from China, yet until recently little has been known about the effectiveness or impact of this assistance. Bräutigam provides the first authoritative account of China's experience as an aid donor in rural Africa. In a detailed and highly readable analysis, the author draws on anthropology, economics, organization theory and political science to explain how China's domestic agenda shaped the design of its aid, and how domestic politics in African countries influenced its outcome.

This book analyses the impact of the current economic reform on the income development of peasant households in the People's Republic of China. The research is based on detailed information derived from book-keeping records of the sample households of selected regions in central China, the national statistical network, local statistics and chronicles. Moreover, the basic tools of economic analysis are applied to the main problems of the Chinese rural economy in order to gain a better understanding of the current development of China.

El Salvador is a small developing country that has undergone important processes of agrarian change and suffered the consequences of a 12-year civil war which ended with a peace agreement in the 1990s. Economic reforms have given insufficient weight to history, institutions and politics. This book will show that to improve their efficiency, there is a need to consider how both economic and political variables have affected social structures and institutions. To be sustainable reforms should aim at an appropriate balance between growth and distribution. The outcomes of this research question some commonly accepted theses on agrarian transformation, state autonomy and the role of economic policy and foreign intervention in El Salvador and Central America in general.

Despite the policy change the Asian Development Bank's rural sector projects have continued to focus on increasing production, with little impact on unemployment or poverty. This study examines the reasons - both political and organizational - for the gap between policy practice.