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Since its launch, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the China-led economic and cultural development strategy, captured impressive media and scholarly attention and critiques. CHINA'S ASIAN DREAM: Empire Building along the New Silk RoadGEOCULTURAL POWER: China's Quest to Revive the Silk Roads for the Twenty-First Century: By Tom Miller. Miller connects the China's "Go-West" policy with the rise of infrastructure financing as a key component of the international donor community where China is taking the lead. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Critical African Studies is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Rent as a category has been analyzed within economics for over 250 years. Though much has changed since the days of David Ricardo, and Johann von Thűnen, most contemporary theorists consider themselves to be aligned with these early thinkers. More significantly, there is a pervasive belief that the power relationships explicated in the late 1700s and early 1800s hold for urban rent today. This has had two consequences. First, as urban economists continue to justify their work within a much older tradition, the move from production cost theories towards marginalist approaches has occurred largely without comment. Second, the existing urban power structures, with their particular causes and evolutionary histories, have been under-evaluated. The result is landlords seen as either exclusively functional, or as landed aristocrats, neither view producing instrumentally useful analysis for the urban market today. The first portion of this paper outlines the evolution of urban rent approaches, calling attention to the theoretic shifts which have occurred in the meaning of the market. This establishes the need for the latter half of the work, which outlines the basis for an institutionally grounded approach to urban rent. Such a theory is necessary if there is any hope of illuminating the distributional impacts of rental housing allocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on the many existing critiques of BEE, the paper's close reading of several key policy documents and reports delivers a detailed critique of the ways in which BEE is failing to re-organise apartheid capitalism. The first two episodes, in 1979 at the formation of a unity government between the former colonizer and the colonized, and in 1987 with the unity government of Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front ANU-PF and the Patriotic Front - Zimbabwe African People's Union (PF-ZAPU) left key tensions unresolved. In the final paper of this issue, Metji Makgoba critically unpacks the ways in which the South African government and mining corporations falsely construct Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) as transformative. [Extracted from the article]

Transdisciplinary research has gained traction globally for mapping pathways for sustainable urbanisation. The involvement of local communities is believed to central to knowledge co-production needed to address sustainability challenges. But working with local communities can be challenging. This paper is structured around the authors' personal reflections on undertaking transdisciplinary household energy conservation projects in Ghana and South Africa. The paper reflects on the assumptions and challenges of doing transdisciplinary research in urban Africa and suggests some guidelines for consideration when doing transdisciplinary projects. An inductive analysis of our reflections showed five key challenges: lack of integration, divergent problem identification, tensions in knowledge co-production, asymmetrical power relations, and distrust and managing expectations. We draw on our collective experiences to develop guidelines for conducting transdisciplinary research in urban Africa. These guidelines are not prescriptive but can be useful for a growing and broader audience interested in undertaking transdisciplinary research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many parts of the Global South, food systems are confronted with complex sustainability challenges including high levels of poverty, food insecurity, malnutrition, disempowerment, and degraded environments. Transformation is broadly discussed in research, policy, and planning as the systemic change required to address complex sustainability issues. Transformation of food systems has become a global priority for research and action. However, transformation processes are not neutral, but are associated with losses and gains that are unevenly distributed. Institutions play an important role in relation to how transformation of food systems occur and with what outcomes. Empirical understandings of how institutions can influence transformation processes in a way that avoids risks or the so-called dark side of transformation are needed. This article aims to contribute towards understanding the roles that institutions play in transformation processes in the context of Global South food systems through synthesising insights from transdisciplinary case studies. The three case studies include multi-purpose cooperative institutions in farming areas in southwest Ethiopia, fisherfolk organisations in aquatic food-producing areas in northern Philippines, and Gotong Royong for irrigation canal management for pond aquaculture in Indonesia. The article examines whether and how institutions advance inclusion and participation in food systems, and whether institutions enable or constrain food system actors in mitigating or avoiding transformation risks. The paper reflects on the role of community-level institutions and hybrid governance arrangements, and the interplay of structure and agency in transformation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses how narratives influence the legitimation of new industries in peripheral regions. We contribute to the literature a discussion of the emergence of green industries in peripheral regions, but particularly to the emerging debate in evolutionary economic geography on the role of legitimation in the emergence of new industries. Based on an empirical investigation of narratives regarding onshore wind in the Finnmark region in northernmost Norway, we caution against the focus in the literature on 'successful' legitimation, arguing that to better comprehend how new green industries emerge in regions there is a need also to understand delegitimation of new industrial activities and to investigate unsuccessful path creation processes, not only paths that have come into being and where legitimation has been 'achieved'. Following from this we argue that our study on how representations (i.e., narratives) of emerging paths are linked to observable outcomes (e.g., delegitimation) teases out the need for further investigation of power relations, a topic that has received very little interest in research on regional industrial path development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some observers expected a drastic change in the Philippines' diplomacy toward China when Rodrigo Duterte said goodbye to the United States in 2016. However, after six years, the Philippines has remained an allied partner of the United States. The Philippines' defense establishment bolstered its maritime domain awareness capacity thanks to financial and technical support from the United States. Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) maintained the award from the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) favoring the Philippines over China. This paper sheds light on the Philippines' policymaking process by framing the politics of grand strategy in an emerging state. The grand strategy is an intellectual architecture to clarify the general direction of foreign policy shaped by multiple state actors who are not limited by the foreign affairs office. Neither asymmetrical power relations nor presidential power can dominate the direction of the Philippines' diplomacy. The president, the DFA, and the defense establishment have developed institutional foundations to craft particular policies. Once they designed the grand strategy in the 1990s, successive policymakers did not remove it but rather incrementally changed it, especially in the 2010s, when they faced a series of assertive actions from China. In an emerging state with limited state capacity, Filipino policymakers do not always coordinate well with each other but still maintain a certain level of autonomy to create particular policies. Against the dominant framework of the weak state, this paper argues that Filipino policymakers demonstrate the state's capacity to achieve their policy goals, even with limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Critical African Studies is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

How does the Philippines form its foreign policy toward the People's Republic of China (PRC)? Existing work on the Philippine foreign policy toward China explains the country's stance solely through geopolitical or domestic factors. By examining the political calculus of, and the policy formulation by, the Benigno Aquino III (2010–2016), Rodrigo Duterte (2016–2022), and Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (2022-) administrations, I argue that a combination of domestic politics, geopolitical considerations, and economic realities have shaped the approach of the Philippines toward China. Rather than focus on one factor to explain the Philippines' foreign policy, I suggest that the combination and interaction of these three factors accounting for how various Philippine administrations have operated explains the Philippines' China policies. Furthermore, I nuance these three factors through the lens of political survival. I suggest that leaders stay in power by accumulating political power and staving off challengers. In the Philippines, I suggest that leaders capitalize on criticizing or deviating from the prior administration's China policies, which have resulted in economic or political effects that generate resentment from the population. As a result, Presidents often reverse or modify the policies set about by the previous administration, resulting in a new set of approaches toward China. Data on this paper was facilitated by years of fieldwork conducted in the Philippines between 2017 to 2020. I interviewed officials in the Aquino, Duterte, and Marcos administrations, Filipino oligarchs, political brokers, lawyers, political party representatives, and in-country observers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper demonstrates that individuals with high (vs. low) power distance belief (PDB), who tend to support inequality in society, are reluctant to change their initial judgments when receiving preference inconsistent (vs. consistent) information, thereby showing a greater preference consistency effect through three studies. This effect is driven by high (vs. low) PDB individuals' greater resistance to change. Specifically, high (vs. low) PDB individuals are less likely to change their initial judgment because they are more reluctant to make changes in their lives, which leads to a greater preference consistency effect. Furthermore, we demonstrate one important boundary condition: a positive affective state. Key implications are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Chinese government's principle of regional ethnic autonomy has remained consistent since the founding of the PRC in 1949. However, some voices within the country are calling on the government to rethink the principle of ethnic autonomy. Purpose: This paper discusses two examples in support of the hypothesis that the system favoring ethnic minorities under the regional autonomy system implemented since the foundation of modern China has reached a turning point. Main Argument: The first example describes the government's handling of ethnic minority issues, in particular the July 2009 disturbances in Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The second outlines the political discussion of the regional ethnic autonomy system, with open discussion in the past few years about changing the system advanced by an individual formerly directly involved in formulating and implementing ethnic policies. Conclusion: The first example demonstrates that the government's policy of expanding preferential measures favoring ethnic minorities in order to stabilize restive autonomous regions has become untenable. The second highlights that the government's confidence in its hard-line measures, even to the extent of allowing open discussion within China of whether the regional ethnic autonomy system should be reevaluated. This paper's conclusion is that preferential policies for China's ethnic minorities are at a crossroads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to observe how China's exercise of economic statecraft changed with the growth of its economic power. While there is a widely accepted consensus that the distribution of economic capabilities has changed in favor of China over the recent decades, it still needs to be examined what effect this has had on China's actual bargaining behavior within that new power structure. The analysis is built on the framework of complex interdependence, arguing that the expansion of China's economic capabilities has led to greater levels of interdependence with other countries and has also tilted the power asymmetries in favor of China. The analysis operationalizes the change in China's exercise of economic statecraft, i.e., the use of economic tools in pursuit of national objectives abroad, as a foreign policy change and observes the quantitative change (how intensively the same economic tools were utilized), the qualitative change (what means specifically were employed) and the change in goals (what national objectives these economic means were aimed at achieving). The analysis demonstrates that China used the same economic tools more intensively as a result of higher capacity. Also, it turned to unilateral economic sanctions more often since 2007. Further, China embraced multilateralism in the exercise of its economic statecraft under the current leadership. The paper concludes that in the interdependent world, a very inertial process of power asymmetry shift to China's favor has started and China is likely to be increasingly able to translate its economic power into actual influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Critical African Studies is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

South Africa's recent democratic elections have witnessed a decline in political participation. Yet few studies examine the influence of political efficacy on the decision to participate. Using 2014 and 2019 post-election public opinion survey data captured after these respective national and provincial elections, the paper addresses a research gap by demonstrating a relationship between a respondent's level of internal and external political efficacy and their likelihood of voting across two consecutive elections. It finds that external political efficacy, and to a lesser extent, internal efficacy shapes the decision to vote. The responsiveness of the political system is a key determinant of voting even after other key predictors of participation are accounted for. It concludes that years of state-based failures have eroded citizen perceptions of political system responsiveness which has, in turn, undermined how citizens perceive the utility of their vote. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In large-scale negotiation problems and in assessments of complex and uncertain environments, it is vital to analyze the different stakeholders involved and to evaluate their positions in the negotiations. This paper extends a model, which merges previous multi-issue and actor-focused methods, based on power relationships between stakeholders and their ability to bargain in order to increase their utility. The model has already used for assessing a public WLAN landscape. The paper emphasizes the dynamic application of the model we developed for experimenting the negotiation evolution, shifting positions on some issues, and exchanging positions between actors. We also claim that such forecasting analyses of negotiation landscapes can be significantly improved using more appropriate visualization support. We propose new visualization tools for analyzing negotiation outcomes, representing negotiation landscapes, and applying what-if simulations, using passive influence, expected outcome and dissatisfaction, power distribution, proximity, and negotiation maps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contributions of this special issue explore the concept of colonial durabilities in a bid to unearth both the concrete and invisible sites through which coloniality continues to circulate and materialise in the African Great Lakes Region (GLR). Colonial durabilities, we argue, are non-linear dynamic processes that suffuse the realities and structures of international and national politics, as well as the conduct of daily life. These become particularly evident in the knowledge economy of the GLR, in endeavours as broad as state building and everyday practices, within international development and peacebuilding interventions, and in academic theorising, methodologies and writing formats. We introduce the papers in this special issue that urge us to address an important question: Can we truly decolonise if we do not fully understand the coloniality of the present and its effects? We argue a careful investigation of the structural conditions that enable coloniality to actively form and re-form is essential to accurately understand real-world ramifications of asymmetrical power relations, a crucial aspect of the process of decolonisation. Lastly, we reflect on avenues for re-thinking the effects of colonial durabilities and to work towards generating anti-/de-colonial knowledges to perhaps achieve 'epistemic freedom'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I respond to the central claims presented in Samuel Moyn's influential book, Not Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World. Moyn argues that human rights have the following features: they are powerless to combat growing material inequality; they share key characteristics with neoliberalism; they make only minimalist or sufficientarian demands and therefore are not enough to achieve the equality demanded by justice. He suggests, in particular, that Henry Shue's Basic Rights exemplifies these features. My response argues that Moyn does not accurately present the core conceptual and normative characteristics of human rights, nor does he succeed in implicating Shue's conception in his critique. I suggest that Moyn's own ideas about global justice are incompletely developed, including his views about the scope, content, and distributive principles that should guide an account of global justice. Finally, I argue that, even though human rights are only part of an account of global justice, nonetheless they do provide reasons to limit socioeconomic inequality. This point is exemplified by the claim that a human right to democracy requires limits on material inequality in order to prevent power hierarchy. In short, I agree with Moyn that human rights are not enough by themselves to achieve global justice, but I reject his multi-pronged critique of human rights, specifically his claim that they imply no constraints on socioeconomic inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite decades of debate with respect to facilitating 'bottom up' solutions and increased 'beneficiary participation' in development, there is little evidence to suggest genuine intellectual exchange between donors and 'beneficiaries'. Nearly seven decades have witnessed only relatively minor shifts in established power hierarchies, and the sector remains one dominated largely by 'top-down' approaches to decision-making. This paper posits that development, as both a concept and a practice, could be enriched significantly if academics and practitioners paid closer attention to the participatory aspects of design methodologies. While design is associated largely with commercial activity, in the hands of more radical designers its methods can be used to generate more participatory ways of thinking and 'doing'. With this in mind, we consider the extent to which, by employing aspects of design methodologies, there might be scope for alternative approaches to the ways in which development is conceived and practised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It is becoming increasingly important for researchers to critically reflect on approaches that can have a positive impact on the health outcomes of indigenous people. Such issues are of great importance and perhaps of special relevance to researchers in the Global South, and to the African context in which we work. Objective:To share some lessons learned from our fieldwork to contribute to current knowledge and conversations on decolonising research process. Methods: We used an African lens to critically reflect upon some issues raised from individual interviews and focus group discussions with our participants which we deem to be important for consideration in a decolonising research process. Results: The major issues that we raise are about important structures such as power, trust, cultural competence, respectful and legitimate research practice and recognition of individual and communities' health assets in a decolonising research process. Conclusions: Our paper argues for alternative approaches which are culturally appropriate for health research and for improved health outcomes of marginalised groups. In addition, we argue that participatory and transformative research methods which recognises individual and communities' assets are needed. We hope that the lessons that we share in this paper can contribute towards a respectful and good research practice among the marginalised population groups in our context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the paper on analyzing questions of social control and direction of the technological and scientific revolution which was discussed at the conference titled "The Control of Science for Civil Needs" at a Northwestern University Colloquium on April 12-13, 1971. The paper focuses on the impact of technological innovations on the structure of the government. The author points out that the amount of power that the technological revolution has created far exceeds the capability of even the most inspired, dedicated or brilliant leaders to control that power unaided.

In power studies the core issue remains who is to blame for the outcomes of power. The assigning of agency in power has been debated extensively in relation to the local domain, with many viewpoints argued in the literature. Out of this tangle of opinions, what direction should be taken for research in this area? This article attempts an answer by presenting the core theories and reflecting on their contribution to understanding the relationship between power and agency, illustrated by brief reference to a local example. The development of the debate reveals how agency can no longer be ascribed only to individuals, groupings, structures and processes, and that deeper levels of agency need to be probed. This raises the issue of how agency must be approached in research on power at the local level. The paper offers a set of pointers to assist researchers in freeing power studies from criticism of predetermination, and to give direction as they examine agency at this level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with a case study regarding the `rise and fall' of a promotions committee within an Australian College of Advanced Education The paper considers the internal organisational factors involved with the abolition of promotion by merit as part of increasingly dominant managerialist practices The paper attempts to contextualise these institutional developments in terms of the restructuring of the Australian economy and concomitant pressures upon state expenditure and consequent increasing pressures on tertiary education institutions to `pay their own way' The study fits within the `imperialist strategy' within organisational analyses where the study of organisations is "merged within a wider analytical framework geared to the examination of historical transformations in institutional structures and the principles which underlie these long-term historical movements" In the concluding section, some critical remarks are proffered regarding the way senior administrators within tertiary education institutions have responded to these privatisation pressures upon them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What can we learn from the detailed exegesis of Carl von Clausewitz for the study of strategy? Based on a detailed reading of Clausewitz' book On War, this paper proposes that Clausewitz' reflections on strategy unfold along two parallel arguments. First, he explores the principal difficulties of a positive theory of strategy. This critical inquiry shows how quantities and qualities influence each other in war; how events emerge rather uncontrollably from the interplay of action and reaction; and how the fog of war puts a veil of uncertainty over all information. Clausewitz's fundamental critique leads him to the conclusion that a normative theory of strategy is impossible. Clausewitz' second stream of thought investigates how strategy could be studied instead. On the one hand – and based on his famous dictum that war is the continuation of politics by other means – he suggests understanding strategy as a socio-political (rhetorical) mechanism through which people can be convinced in deliberations about a specific course of action. On the other hand, Clausewitz also reflects on the pedagogy of strategy. He concludes that theory may be useful to educate the mind of the future leader, but not to accompany him on the battlefield. The contribution this paper hopes to make to The Age of Strategy: Exploring the Cultural, Organizational, and Political Dimensions of Strategy is twofold: first, the study of Clausewitz represents a contribution to the study of the history of strategic thought. The second contribution is aimed at the relation between strategy as theory and practice. Following Raymond Aron's suggestion,On War does not offer a normative doctrine but rather a critical theory that equips the student of strategy to understand the task at hand ‘without entertaining any absurd claim to communicate the secret of victory.’ [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Social science research on nature conservation ascribes enclosures and the consequent evictions and dispossession of local people to unequal power relations. It reveals that the monopoly of power by the state configures new relations between local people and their natural resources, and legitimizes land grabbing. In this paper we build on this literature by engaging two questions. The first question relates to how land tenure regimes enable green grabbing and also configure the participation of local people in nature conservation enterprises. Knowing how land tenure regimes structure the involvement of local people in nature conservation is a necessary step toward an inquiry into the relationship between local people and protected areas. In the second question we ask how historical land tenure allocations enable current configurations of power relations in conservation areas. We use the case study of Mapungubwe on the Botswana-South Africa-Zimbabwe borderlands to demonstrate that historical land tenure allocations facilitate land alienation and the marginalization of local people in TFCAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local environmental policy has recently become the topic of academic research and practices within the context of increased integration of the ecological dimension in the existing regulation of economies and societies, and space. Based on these discussions, local environmental policy is not merely an issue of ecological technology; rather, it is more a question of social power, in particular the power of the state and its ability to balance other forces and demands placed on it by society. The paper draws on this theoretical discussion to capture the multidimensionality of the power relations involved in the approaches to local ecological policy. The evolution of the policy agenda in the city of Shenzhen provides a paradigmatic example of the way in which policies can be shaped by the political considerations that surround and act between nature, governmental departments and society. The empirical results show that the ecological conservation policy of the city has shifted away from comparatively weak ecological regulations towards a stronger set of principles. The comparatively stronger ecological regulatory regime is best understood as a ‘biophysical fix’ that has been shaped by various forces originating in broader economic, social and institutional struggles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue investigates the role of technology in the co-production of urban services through six empirical articles based on case-studies from Asia, Africa and South America. This topic has not received yet extensive attention in the literature, despite the emergence of technology as the key mediator between the material and immaterial elements of co-production practice. Based on the analysis of the six contributions, this introductory paper presents nine key issues related to the role of technology in service co-production, which are considered from four analytical perspectives: materiality, knowledge, actors and outcome. Technology co-evolves with physical contexts and practices. It fosters synergic knowledge generation, while also being the product of its own application. It contributes to changing governance structures and the emergence of new intermediary actors. Finally, technology influences power dynamics and equality of access to service, resulting in service provision that may be inclusionary or exclusionary, emancipatory or restrictive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper defines historical backwardness in transition, examines its impact on diversely created market structures in non-Baltic states of the Former Soviet Union, and offers a refined taxonomy of their differing transition experiences. The study argues that in contrast to the neoliberal viewpoint of mainstream discourse, the evolutionary-institutionalist (social power) approach to market construction is a more appropriate framework for assessing alternatives to the growth of authoritarianism in the region. The paper reassesses the constructivist policies of Gorbachev's perestroika from the perspective of institutionalist evolutionism and asserts that these policies still constitute a viable strategy for democratic advancement in authoritarian transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper maps the global dimension of higher education and associated research, including the differentiation of national systems and institutions, while reflecting critically on theoretical tools for working this terrain. Arguably the most sustained theorisation of higher education is by Bourdieu: the paper explores the relevance and limits of Bourdieu's notions of field of power, agency, positioned and position-taking; drawing on Gramsci's notion of hegemony in explaining the dominant role played by universities from the United States. Noting there is greater ontological openness in global than national educational settings, and that Bourdieu's reading of structure/agency becomes trapped on the structure side, the paper discusses Sen on self-determining identity and Appadurai on global imagining, flows and 'scapes'. The dynamics of Bourdieu's competitive field of higher education continue to play out globally, but located within a larger and more disjunctive relational setting, and a setting that is less closed, than he suggests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By addressing the growth of digital platforms in Brazil over the past decade, as well as the search for regulation aiming at improving digital workers' conditions, this article discusses regulatory challenges in the face of these companies' increasing economic and political power. With the adoption of the transactional approach of John R. Commons, we discuss the stages and consequences of the spread of digital platforms, highlighting the emergence of new conflicts in driver-platforms and driver-state transactions, thus calling for regulation; as well as the political obstacles of regulation, considering platforms economic power and worker's expectation about their activities under regulation. We argue that these features challenge the regulatory efforts aimed at achieving reasonableness in digital labor transactions, by reducing public pressure towards "better" practices, such as improved working conditions, wages, and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Power has traditionally been rejected from economics and more particularly from the economics of the firm. Although he proposes building an interdisciplinary approach to the firm, Williamson rejects power from the economics of transaction costs. However, regarding the theoretical and behavioral hypotheses he makes, we can raise the following question: does the Williamsonian approach to the firm have intrinsic properties for developing a theory of power? After analyzing Williamson's argument on power/authority, this paper aims to shed light on the fact that the 2009 Nobel Prize winner has built a theory based on power that he rejects due to a questionable methodological choice. Conversely, we defend the thesis according to which power cannot be removed from the economics of the firm and transaction cost economics--at the risk of providing a distorted picture of the reality of capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The current approach to global health has significantly contributed to improving it, as evidenced by the progress made toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, the health gains achieved are often highly unequitable, and the current approach is expected to be insufficient to meet the future health equity challenges. There is an urgent need to re-think and expand the scope of research and programmatic strategies. Objective: This paper aims to assess the ideological underpinnings of the currently dominant norms in global health, with the goal of highlighting the research and programmatic areas that are marginalized and warrant greater efforts in order to resolve persistent health inequity and achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Methods: We have conducted a critical review of the literature that traces the historical origins of global health to the period between the mid-19th century and the end of the 20th century. Results: Critical review of the historical origins of global health reveals a set of dominant norms in global health that are ideological in character, and profoundly shape the current practice. We identified key manifestations of the ideological underpinnings as 1) Democratic deficit, 2) Depoliticization of the discourse, 3) Marginalization of the scholarship that interrogates the relations of power. Conclusion: Examination of the dominant norms that shape the foundation of our knowledge and action in global health is required to solve persistent health inequity challenges and meet the SDGs. Inversion of the key manifestations of the dominant norms can serve as guiding principles to elaborate alternative frameworks that have the theoretical and programmatic potential for a fundamental rather than an incremental change in the practice of global health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the distinctive features of environmental justice theory in Latin America is its influence by decolonial thought, which explains social and environmental injustices as arising from the project of modernity and the ongoing expansion of a European cultural imaginary. The decolonization of knowledge and social relations is highlighted as one of the key challenges for overcoming the history of violent oppression and marginalization in development and conservation practice in the region. In this paper we discuss how conflict transformation theory and practice has a role to play in this process. In doing so, we draw on the Socio-environmental Conflict Transformation (SCT) framework elaborated by Grupo Confluencias, which puts a focus on building community capacity to impact different spheres of power: people and networks, structures and cultural power. We discuss this framework and its practical use in the light of ongoing experiences with indigenous peoples in Latin America. We propose that by strengthening the power of agency of indigenous peoples to impact each of these spheres it is possible to build constructive intra and intercultural relations that can help increase social and environmental justice in their territories and thus contribute to decolonizing structures, relations and ways of being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concepts "ascribed status" and "achieved status," developed by Ralph Linton, have located properties of social systems which have given sociologists valuable insights into the nature of social structure. Linton defined "ascribed status" as "assigned to individuals without reference to their innate differences or abilities" and "achieved status" as "requiring special qualifies" and "open to individual achievement." Thus, accident of birth determines an individual's "ascribed statuses," and performance or effort or volition determine his "achieved statuses." Unfortunately, as clear as the distinction between these two concepts may appear, they have not been received without confusion. It is the contention of this paper that a significant source of confusion has been the treatment of these concepts as if they were unrelated to social structure. Further, it is our view that this confusion removes the essential value of the concepts; and therefore, their relationship to social structure requires restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Viewing organizations as political coalitions has a long history in management studies and has generated a great deal of research on the roles of organizational politics and power in decision making. Information technology (IT) researchers generally have followed the general trend by providing structural-functional accounts of politics, power, and control strategies. Although such studies underscore the importance, nature, and complexity of politics in IT implementation, they are constrained by the lack of both a general theory of human behavior as well as a model of power that bridges the individual actor and the wider interpersonal/organizational setting. In this paper we present a case study of power and politics in a large financial transactions company, but seen through the lenses of the action science perspective of Argyris and his associates and the model of power developed by A.A. Berle. More specifically, we examine the power vacuum in the IT effort that resulted from the senior executive abrogating his power and failing to delegate it to his subordinates. The resulting political havoc, in turn, caused competition and confusion, wasted effort, and a significant lack of productivity with regard to the implementation of a multimillion-dollar IT effort. We conclude with several hypotheses about how principles of action science and interpersonal power must be used by executives to manage the politics of IT design and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the paper on analyzing questions of social control and direction of the technological and scientific revolution which was discussed at the conference titled "The Control of Science for Civil Needs" at a Northwestern University Colloquium on April 12-13, 1971. The paper focuses on the ability of engineers to take control of the technological innovation and scientific revolution. The author points out that the mind of man augmented by machines has capabilities of far more than has yet been accomplished, given adequate financial and moral encouragement.

The article presents the paper on analyzing questions of social control and direction of the technological and scientific revolution which was discussed at the conference titled "The Control of Science for Civil Needs" at a Northwestern University Colloquium on April 12-13, 1971. The paper focuses on the leadership issues on technological innovations and scientific revolution. The author points out that the discussion of technology assessment needs to be broadened to consider the subject of control of technology.

The article presents the paper on analyzing questions of social control and direction of the technological and scientific revolution which was discussed at the conference titled "The Control of Science for Civil Needs" at a Northwestern University Colloquium on April 12-13, 1971. The paper focuses on the application of science in the society. The author points out that science-based technology is one of the great creative form of the generation. The author argues that a basic research is a natural resource, just as agriculture and mineral deposits are, and as important to the public concern as military security, education and the management of the economy.

In Latin America, cooperatives have proven to be powerful change agents, strengthening the longer-term sustainability of peasant agriculture to decrease vulnerability. In Colombia, the IMPACT project provided support to cooperatives, like Coocampo, in their development process. IMPACT's work was guided by a gender equity and empowerment approach to international development. This paper examines learning that resulted from participation in IMPACT's gender equity strategy, as realized through Coocampo activities. This qualitative case study examines how a critical transformative-learning focussed approach to gender in development, one incorporating women and men as change agents, created a shift towards a more equitable sharing of livelihood income; greater female participation in Coocampo activities and governance; and in some cases, a transformation of participants' perceptions of their roles as women and men, of themselves, and of their possibilities in life. Scholars call for ways for men and women to work in solidarity towards gender justice. This study contributes by presenting findings where a comprehensive approach was taken to enable gender justice by working towards women's empowerment and re-defining gender roles, and by working to improve economic security for families in an equitable way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In India, nurses and midwives are key to the provision of public sexual and reproductive health services. Research on impediments to their performance has primarily focused on their individual capability and systemic resource constraints. Despite emerging evidence on gender-based discrimination and low professional acceptance faced by these cadres, little has been done to link these constraints to power asymmetries within the health system. We analysed data from an ethnography conducted in two primary healthcare facilities in an eastern state in India, using Veneklasen and Miller's expressions of power framework, to explore how power and gender asymmetries constrain performance and quality of care provided by Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs). We find that ANMs' low position within the official hierarchy allows managers and doctors to exercise "power over" them, severely curtailing their expression of all other forms of power. Disempowerment of ANMs occurs at multiple levels in interlinked and interdependent ways. Our findings contribute to the empirical evidence, advancing the understanding of gender as a structurally embedded dimension of power. We illustrate how the weak positioning of ANMs reflects their lack of representation in policymaking positions, a virtual absence of gender-sensitive policies, and ultimately organisational power structures embedded in patriarchy. By deepening the understanding of empowerment, the paper suggests implementable pathways to empower ANMs for improved performance. This requires addressing entrenched gender inequities through structural and organisational changes that realign power relations, facilitate more collaborative ways of exercising power, and create the antecedents to individual empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study contributes to the discussion of children's participation in educational practices. In particular we are interested from the moments that reach beyond formal modes of participation. For this purpose, we use the concept of micropolitics and examine happenings in which children's actions collide with everyday school practices and larger social and political surfaces. The data consist of one year-long ethnographic fieldwork produced in two Finnish comprehensive schools. Based on the analysis, we identified two different types of events – 'smooth' and 'sticky' – to which micropolitics entangled. Identifying these two types of events aids us in understanding the kinds of situations in which children have or do not have political power in their everyday school lives. Our analysis show that children take part in discussing wide societal issues, such as social class and local education policies, but it raises questions about the ability of schools as institutions to recognize children's initiatives. Based on the findings, we propose that the concept of micropolitics can be particularly useful in understanding why some modes of participation become difficult and stay hidden while others are easier to recognize. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the power relations in the field of German economics. By incorporating the capital and field theory of Pierre Bourdieu, the study investigates the distribution of economic, social, and symbolic capital on economists in Germany. In a first step, the three forms of capital have been defined and operationalized on publicly available information. This leads to eight main samples of economists. In a second step, information on these economists have been collected to derive indicators regarding their paradigmatic stance and institutional background. The findings indicate a monopolization of mainstream economics and concentration of resources on the large economic departments. Furthermore, these characteristics relate to an increased importance of Colander's Edge, an almost complete marginalization of heterodox economics and a significant center-periphery disparity. Thus, in the field of economics in Germany, a social structural verticalization and elitism of universities as well as a paradigm monism can be observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to combine the state theory of money with institutionalism. These theoretical traditions have a lot in common and this paper is a further attempt to clarify the connections and benefits of their relations. Recent developments in social ontology as well as the expansion of the theoretical analysis of institutions have provided new tools and new sets of arguments in support of such an endeavor. A conception of money that combines institutionalism with chartalism does not need to suffer from the shortcomings and the inconsistencies of the descriptions of money within commodity theory, while it subsequently enjoys sounder ontological foundations. This framework of study can also address questions in which the neoclassical analysis of money has proved unable or misleading; it can provide a dynamic account for the evolution of money and a clear understanding of the relation between money and technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Although Torsten Hägerstrand is not known primarily as a landscape geographer, he made significant contributions to the understanding of landscape in Swedish geography. This paper argues that Hägerstrand examined the importance of representation for the understanding of landscape as place and territory, which is a key ingredient in current engagements with landscape within (Nordic) geography and the broader European political context. The current debate on landscape, however, reaches beyond Hägerstrand's rather “scientistic” approach and brings out a stronger sense of the cultural, social and political powers conveyed by landscape and representation. We show that this is made explicit in recent scholarly work on the so-called substantive landscape. The paper also provides an introduction to the essays of this theme issue, which reflects a selection of the landscape research presented at the Inaugural Meeting of Nordic Geographers at Lund, Sweden, in May 2005. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While researchers and concerned adults alike draw attention to relational aggression among girls, how this aggression is associated with girls’ agency remains a matter of debate. In this paper we explore relational aggression among girls designated by their peers as ‘popular’ in order to understand how social power constructs girls’ agency as aggression. We locate this power, hence girls’ agency, in contradictory messages about girlhood that, although ever‐present ‘in girls heads,’ are typically absent in adult panic about girls’ aggression. Within peer culture, power comes from the ability to invoke the unspoken ‘rules’ that police the boundaries of acceptable femininity. We thus challenge the notion advanced by Pipher and others that girls’ empowerment entails (re)gaining an ‘authentic voice.’ In contrast, we suggest that such projects must be informed by an interrogation of how girls are positioned as speaking subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author critiques the concept of fundamental uncertainty, which is central to post-Keynesian economics. The concept posits that parts of economic decisions are not subject to a calculation of probability, due to the nature of the real world over a long time horizon, and are so are based on conventions or emotions. The author argues that the concept pays too little attention to the impacts of power and class structures, as well as to the prevalence of uncertainty in shorter time horizons. Social institutions can shape uncertainty and distribute its impacts. Similarly, class positions in the production process influence the impacts of uncertainty. The paper mentions overt and covert power relationships, the theory of the firm, and Marxian analysis.

This paper examines state power and cultural marginalisation among Aboriginal women in a relatively remote area of north-western British Columbia, Canada. In this paper, I argue that intersecting state powers explain intra-generational ‘ethnic mobility’, that is, shifts in individual ethnic identity among Aboriginal women in this area. In order to understand these shifting identities I have used the idea of ‘structural violence’ (Farmer 2003, 8) to describe how power inequalities between people and the state affect impoverished and marginalised people in different ways, and how decisions made by others constrain their survival strategies . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The argument of this paper is that a deeper appre-ciation of the nature of the power relationships between firms and the circuits of power that bind them together is key to understand-ing how clusters function -- including how they might emerge and how they might decline. We begin to develop a conceptualization that allows us to generate a deeper understanding of the processes that enable the production and reproduction of enterprise clusters under some combinations of circumstances but not others. The sections of the paper explore: (1) concepts of power and circuits of power including their spatialities; (2) the temporarily stabilized relationships which occur in clusters of economic activity; (3) the openness and permeability of clusters as a way of understanding conditions that foster cluster growth; (4) a tentative integration of concepts. From this reading of the concepts of clustering and pow-er we draw the conclusion that clusters are, at any particular point in time, temporary and transient conjunctures of interfirm relation-ships. They depend on specific circumstances in 'time-space' and, because of their very transience and specificity, those conditions might be very difficult if not impossible to create through the blunt instruments of policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the way in which power was routinely exercised in colonial German East Africa in everyday life. In order to achieve domination rather than ruling just by brute force, the German administration set up district councils called Schauri, in which members of the local African elite were invited to act as advisers to the District Officer. The highly formalized meetings of the council were held in public at least once a week. The district officer had the final say in all matters. The council members deliberated the most mundane aspects of colonial rule. Yet the meetings also dealt with more substantive issues, such as administration of law in the district, local political affairs or the latest public decree from the Governor in Dar es Salaam. The paper argues that the Schauri meetings constituted the most important field of political interaction and engagement between the German rulers and their African subjects. These meetings were thus an indispensable part of what one might call the 'colonial public sphere'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]