Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Contention And Ambiguity: Mining And The Possibilities Of Development, Anthony Bebbington, Leonith Hinojosa, Denise Humphreys Bebbington, Maria Luisa Burneo, Ximena Warnaars

Sustainability and Social Justice

The last decade and a half has witnessed a dramatic growth in mining activity in many developing countries. This article reviews these recent trends and describes the debates and conflicts they have triggered. The authors review evidence regarding debates on the resource curse and the possibility of an extraction-led pathway to development. They then describe the different types of resistance and social mobilization that have greeted mineral expansion at a range of geographical scales, and consider how far these protests have changed the relationships between mining and political economic change. The conclusions address how far such protests might contribute to …

Hd R&D Field Evaluation: Rapid Area Preparation Tool (Raptor), U.S. Humanitarian Demining Research And Development

Global CWD Repository

In October 2007 and May 2008, the U.S. Humanitarian Demining Research and Development Program (HD), located at Ft. Belvoir, VA., undertook the testing of the Rapid Area Preparation Tool (RAPTOR). RAPTOR is the latest of a series of area preparation systems on tractor platforms that HD has developed in the last decade. Systems, including the Severe Duty Tractor and Tools (SDTT) and Mantis, have undergone operational evaluations in Thailand, Nicaragua, and Afghanistan. The RAPTOR was developed by the HD program to handle all area-preparation tasks from vegetation cutting and removal (up to Category 3), to antipersonnel mine rolling, plowing, and …

Corruption And Development In Nigeria: A Multidisciplanary Journal, Ozy B. Orluwene Jp

Dr Ozy B.Orluwene,JP

Abstract This paper offers a detail commentary on the state of corruption in Nigeria. It examined the phenomenon in its various dimensions. It posits that because of monstrous proportion it has assumed in Nigeria, it has hampered growth and development.

Linking Mine Action And Development | Humanitarian And Development Ngos, Gichd

Global CWD Repository

Mine action programmes often are not linked early and strongly enough with key development actors. Despite the availability of extensive research documenting the need for greater coordination between mine action and development organisations, concrete guidance for practitioners and policy-makers on how to link mine action with development has been lacking. In response, the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Development has published guidelines on how to ensure mine action promotes development in mine-affected countries. More specifically, the guidelines seek to:

• Increase awareness that landmines and other remnants of conflict block development in many affected countries

• Strengthen coordination between mine action and …

September Roundtable: Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

"The New Colonialists" by Michael A. Cohen, Maria Figueroa Küpçü, and Parag Khanna. Foreign Policy. July/August 2008.

Cosmopolitanism And Rationalizing Tendencies, James Pattison

Human Rights & Human Welfare

When phone-in talk shows, the press, and undergraduates debate the case for cosmopolitan accounts of global distributive justice, there are a number of standard rationalizations given for why we don’t have a duty to help. These include: “we have duties only to our fellow countrymen”; “poverty is caused by corrupt leaders, so not our fault, and therefore not our responsibility“; and “humanitarian aid is counter-productive.” Unlike the other two sorts of rationalization, the latter claim does not necessarily deny the moral cosmopolitanism premise that we have extensive duties to relieve the suffering of those beyond our borders. Rather, it follows …

In With The Old, Out With The New, Brent J. Steele

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Michael Cohen, Maria Figueroa Küpçü and Parag Khanna make some compelling arguments about the inherent drawbacks regarding the role diverse networks of NGOs play in keeping at-risk populations alive throughout the world. We are informed that these groups are “the new colonialists,” agencies much like the old European empires. These new colonialists are apparently enforcing a cycle of dependency which prevents the development of state structures, structures that apparently sustain these populations more effectively. The problem with this thesis is that the authors do not seem to entertain the possibility that the nation-state is itself an (old) colonial construct, and …

Saving Lives: A First Step Toward Freedom Not Dependence, William F. Felice

Human Rights & Human Welfare

During the nineteenth century, European powers extended and deepened their brutal domination of the so-called “uncivilized” (sic) nations and peoples around the world. These efforts were named “colonialist” and were based on the uprooting of indigenous peoples, the export and pillage of natural resources, cultural displacement, direct political control, and economic exploitation and the creation of dependency by the Europeans. While the European states gained colossal economic benefits from these arrangements, the colonized peoples were left with failed states and bad governments. Advocates of these colonialist policies often justified these actions on the basis of a deep-felt ideological belief in …

Nothing "Colonial" About It: Service Delivery And Accountability, Todd Landman

Human Rights & Human Welfare

At one level, there is little in “The New Colonialists” with which I disagree. The necessary state capacity in developing societies for basic service delivery is in many cases absent, significantly weak, or has been corrupted in ways that produce tremendous inequality of access and disproportionate social outcomes that are related to race, ethnicity, poverty, gender, and other categories of social identity. It is true that in the presence of weak state institutions, widespread corruption, and underdeveloped infrastructure, a large number of national and international non-governmental agencies and organizations have sought to redress such imbalances through their work in providing …

Performance Evaluation Test Of The Orbit Screen Model 68a And The Komplet Model 48-25 Rock Crusher, Ida, U.S. Humanitarian Demining Research And Development, Office Of The Assistant Secretary Of Defense Special Operations And Low-Intensity Conflict

Global CWD Repository

At the request of the Demining Center of Ecuador, the U.S. Humanitarian Demining Research and Development Program at Ft. Belvoir, VA., undertook a performance evaluation of the Orbit Screen Model 68A and the Model 48-25 Rock Crusher, two pieces of equipment that could be used to remove antipersonnel land mines from riverbank minefields along the border of Ecuador and Peru. Although these devices could conceivably be used in tandem as a system, this evaluation focused on the performance potential of each unit to operate as a stand-alone system. A test was also conducted to see how long it would take …

Global Governance And Energy, Ann Florini

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Energy has risen to the top of policy agendas around the world. There is now widespread recognition that energy policy has become key to international security, economic development, and the environmental sustainability of modern civilization. Yet this importance is not reflected in the world’s institutional infrastructure for managing global problems. A handful of international organizations work in uncoordinated fashion on various pieces of the energy puzzle. No organizational infrastructure exists to support the global conversation that is now badly needed about how to move the world onto a sustainable path that provides appropriate, reliable, and affordable energy services.

The Persistent Problem: Inequality, Difference, And The Challenge Of Development, Aseema Sinha, John Echeverri-Gent, Leslie Elliott Armijo, Marc Blecher, Daniel Brumberg, Valerie Bunce, Kiren A. Chaudhry, John W. Harbeson, Evelyne Huber, Bronwyn Leebaw, Susanne Hoeber Rudolph, Loren Ryter, Susan L. Woodward

CMC Faculty Publications and Research

This report highlights the complex, multidimensional nature of inequality in the era of globalization. It documents that despite the impressive strides by nations like China and India, absolute inequality between the richest and poorest countries is greater than ever before in history. It demonstrates that the rise of China and India creates a new dimension to the persistent problem of inequality.

Slides: The Urbanizing West: Limits To Water, Limits To Growth, Lora A. Lucero

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

Presenter: Lora A. Lucero, AICP, American Planning Association

18 slides

To Walk The Earth In Safety 7th Edition (Fy2006-Fy2007), Us Dos Pm/Wra

Global CWD Repository

We are pleased to offer the 7th Edition of To Walk the Earth in Safety, the report of the interagency U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action Program for Fiscal Years 2006 and 2007. This report also describes the conventional weapons destruction efforts of the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement located in the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. This office directs programs that encompass humanitarian mine action, and elimination of at-risk small arms, light weapons, man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS), and munitions.

Every edition of To Walk the Earth in Safety, archived at www.state.gov/t/pm/rls/rpt/walkearth, is a look back in time. This …

E-Government For Development: A Case Study From Mozambique, Gertrudes Macueve

The African Journal of Information Systems

This paper draws upon Amartya Sen’s concept of "development as freedom" as an effective approach to analyze e-government for development initiatives. An interpretive analysis of three projects ongoing in Mozambique report that although some "freedoms" are currently reachable through these initiatives, a lot needs to be done to achieve "development as freedom." The use of this theoretical approach provides a valuable contribution to the research domain of ICTs for development. This article also draws practical recommendations to assist managers of e-government projects in Mozambique, as well as other developing countries.

Portland Me: Affordable Housing V. Open Space, Patrick Wright, Brett Richardson, Richard Barringer

Planning

Amid an acknowledged “affordable housing crisis”, a first-time developer approaches the City to release part of a tax-acquired property, promising a smart-growth development that would provide sorely needed starter homes for working families. The case highlights the complications of balancing competing interests in Portland ME. It shows where rational planning fails in the presence of strong neighborhood opposition, a disjointed city staff structure, and the absence of political will among City Councilors. It highlights the need for champions within local government when a project evokes competing interests. It demonstrates the extent to which “words matter” to policy outcomes, and who …

Surfistas For Change: Building New Identity And Community In Poor Brazilian Communities Through Sport And Education, Stephanie Miller

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of my research was to test the hypothesis that sports can be a preventative method for youth risk behaviors such as gang membership. My hypothesis was that sports could provide some of the same benefits as gang membership and other risk behaviors, but in a more healthy and productive way. To test this thesis, I spent three weeks researching the work of ARCA, the Associaçao Recreativa e Esportiva para Crianças e Adolescentes in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil. While I studied all the projects of ARCA, I focused my research on their Escola do Surf, in the poor beach community …

Weight Changes In Wild Wolves, Canis Lupus, From Ages 2 To 24 Months, L. David Mech

USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

Weights of 118 female and 141 male Minnesota Wolves (Canis lupus) aged 2-24 months increased almost linearly from about 8 kg for females and 10 kg for males at 3 months to 30 kg for females and 32 kg for males at 10-12 months and then tended to increase much more slowly in an overall curvilinear trend. Considerable variation was apparent for both sexes during their first year.

Privatization, Efficiency, Gender, Development, And Inequality— Transnational Conflicts Over Access To Water And Sanitation, Srini Sitaraman

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability, and Peace by Vandana Shiva. Boston, MA: South End Press, 2005.

and

Gender, Water, and Development edited by Anne Coles and Tina Wallace. New York: Berg, 2005.

and

Dams and Development: Transnational Struggles for Water and Power by Sanjeev Khagram. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004.

Testing An Individual Systems Model Of Response Evaluation And Decision (Red) And Antisocial Behavior Across Adolescence, Reid G. Fontaine

Reid G. Fontaine

This study examined the bidirectional development of aggressive response evaluation and decision (RED) and antisocial behavior across five time points in adolescence. Participants (n5522) were asked to imagine themselves behaving aggressively while viewing videotaped ambiguous provocations and answered a set of RED questions following each aggressive retaliation (administered at Grades 8 and 11 [13 and 16 years, respectively]). Self- and mother reports of antisocial behavior were collected at Grades 7, 9/10, and 12 (12, 14/15, and 17 years, respectively). Using structural equation modeling, the study found a partial mediating effect at each hypothesized mediational path despite high stability of antisocial …

Sustainable Futures, Ashok Agrwaal

Ashok Agrwaal

A brief note on the sustainability of the current world view