International and Area Studies Commons^™

Grassroots Democracy And Non-State Approaches Toward Popular Empowerment And Rural Sustainbility In The Philippines = 菲律賓的草根民主實戰, Eduardo Tadem

South South Forum 南南論壇

Grassroots democracy is often equated with “popular participation” and is seen as both a goal and a method of change. As Kaufman (1997: 7) puts it:

As a goal, popular participation refers to a society where there no longer exists a monopoly of the means of political, economic, cultural, and social power in the hands of a particular class, sex, social stratum, or bureaucratic elite. As a method of change, participation is a means to develop the voice and organizational capacity of those previously excluded; it is a means for the majority of the population to identify and express their …

African Economy And Land Policy, Ebrima Sall

South South Forum 南南論壇

Thandika Mkandawire reminded us during the 13th CODESRIA GA that land and the agrarian question were present in some way in all the nationalist movements, and liberation struggles the Mau Mau in Kenya, the FLN’s struggles in Algeria, the PAIGC in Guinea Bissau, other struggles in Zimbabwe, South Africa, etc. We know that apartheid South Africa was the story of dispossession—(Pheko)—the reverse
movement in South Africa—re-distribution—is extremely slow.

So, land has been a very strategic issue, and it is still a very strategic issue.

There is currently what some have called a “grain rush”, as “wealthy, foodimporting countries and private …

The Impacts Of Neo-Liberal Policy On Indian Peasantry = 非洲經濟及土地政策, Arindam Banerjee

South South Forum 南南論壇

The sustainability of small-scale cultivation, which largely characterizes Indian agriculture, though not in a homogeneous or undifferentiated manner, has been one of the important casualties of the trajectory of neo-liberal policies into which the country embarked upon in the early nineties. Driven by fiscal fundamentalism, this amounted to a veritable withdrawal of the state from economic operations, more so from agriculture. A host of policies adopted like the rationalization of input subsidies, downsizing of incentive pricing, decline in public investments, shrinking public extension services and contraction of institutional credit availability in rural areas all precipitated a widespread agrarian crisis with …

The Limits Of Agrarian Reform In Brazil = 巴西土地改革的局限, Rogério Faleiros, Rogério Naques Faleiros, Neide César Vargas

South South Forum 南南論壇

Brazil is probably the only country that experienced a deep and complex process of growth and promote economic development without substantial change on the issue of land ownership. Since the Portuguese colonization, through the Land Act of 1850 and throughout the process of industrialization experienced in the twentieth century and still in progress, the land question remained almost unchanged, despite the advances resulting from the growing social and economic contradictions and the related violence observed in the field. Western Europe and countries like the United States (Homestead Act of 1862), China (the Great Leap Forward of 1959) and USSR (after …

Challenge Of Inclusive Growth : Global Capitalization : Institutional Cost Transferring And The Economic Of Being Poor = 包容性增長的挑戰: 全球資本化: 制度成本轉嫁與貧困經濟學, Tiejun Wen

South South Forum 南南論壇

My empirical research started with China’s experiment of rural reform during the 1980s-90s. According to the principle of experiment, only through a process of incessant falsification can we approach the truth. In the process my preliminary conclusion was the theory of institutional costs. However in later comparative studies on different countries, I found that institutional cost was not my innovation. Instead my theoretical innovation should be the discovery that the vested interest groups which appropriate the returns of an institutional transition constantly transfer the institutional costs to disadvantaged groups located at a less privileged position in the institutional structure. Therefore …

Reflecting On Appeals On Questions Of Law Arising Out Of Domestic Arbitration Awards, Darius Chan, Paul Tan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Domestic arbitration awards rendered under the Arbitration Act (Cap 10, 2002 Rev Ed) (“the Act”) can be subject to appeal on a question of law arising out of an award. Unless parties consent, an appeal can only be brought with the leave of court.

From Philosopher To Cultural Icon: Reflections On Hu Mei's "Confucius" (2010), Joseph Tse-Hei Lee, Ronald K. Frank, Renqiu Yu, Bing Xu

Global Asia Journal

No abstract provided.

Opportunities And Challenges For The Asset Management Industry, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

With the secular rise of Asia and a deluge of capital inflows, amid a backdrop of battered global financial markets, bankers, asset managers, academics and investors gathered to hear and discuss the opportunities and challenges facing the asset management industry in Asia. Organised by the Centre for Asset Securitisation and Management in Asia(CASA), under SMU's Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics, the inaugural asset management conference hosted a panel of experts.

Beneath And Beyond The Chinese Miracle, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

China’s rapid economic progress from an impoverished communist state to the world’s second largest economy within just three decades has enthralled many economists. That the country shifted from the classical centrally-planned command economy to one espousing free market practices while maintaining communist rule, has all given rise to this question: What exactly is the China model? Is it the hybrid of innovative state ownership and tight political control? Or is the rapid growth the result of liberal economic and political reforms?

Les Fondements Littéraires De La Réception D’Aimé Césaire Au Bénin, Guy Ossito Midiohouan

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

Aime Cesaire is a popular writer in Benin. Evidence lies in the increasing number of writers and scholars who have been supporting his ideas since the 60s. His books are on secondary school as well as university curricula. He has enjoyed more attention in the 1990s with the advent of democracy and the notable influence of then Head of State N. D. Soglo who is a keen admirer of his political career. Cesaire is held in such an esteem in Benin because he is capable of going beyond his natal Caribbean and willingly express the sad destiny of Africa ever …

Ecological Revival And Sustainable Living In The Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest Of Tamil Nadu: A Measurement Of Residential Perception In Sadhana Forest, Elizabeth Collette Mcguire

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Since 1970, the role and function of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been to promote environmental quality and to form strategies for carrying out environmental policy¹. The EPA has committed to sustainability as the next level of environmental protection. The agency states that sustainability calls for policies and strategies that meet society’s present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs². Presently, society’s requirements have resulted in natural resource exploitation and population distention- projected to reach 10 billion people within two human generations³. These paired occurrences are …

Diversification Or Cotton Recovery In The Malian Cotton Zone: Effects On Households And Women, Jeanne Yekeleya Coulibaly

INTSORMIL Scientific Publications

This dissertation investigates income diversification alternatives from the cotton economy and compares those initiatives with present policy measures to restore the cotton sector in Mali. It also derives the welfare implications for women of these various policy measures.

During the decade preceding 2011, farmers’ incomes in the cotton zone of Mali have been significantly affected by the downturn of the cotton economy explained by many factors including the low farm gate cotton price, the declining cotton yields and soil fertility concerns. In 2011, the Malian government substantially increased the farm gate cotton price as a result of the world cotton …

Fundamental Rights In Latin America A Comparative Study Addressing Human Rights Violations In Venezuela, Colombia, And Argentina, Maria Eugenia Rios

HIM 1990-2015

Over the last few decades the importance of human rights has increased considerably in international relations. With globalization and democratization, more states and individuals develop concerns about the fundamental rights every human is entitled to; regardless of sex, religion and ethnicity. Latin American countries began obtaining their independence over 200 years ago while progressing into becoming working democracies. Yet, they have been plagued by oscillating authoritarian regimes and social conflicts that constrain and inhibit their hopeful development. The majority of the Latin American states have reached a point where further positive growth was expected; yet human violations have taken a …

Extrapolating Strategies For The Scientific And Technological Development Of Underdeveloped Societies From The Examples Of South Korea, Slovenia And Serbia, Vuk Uskoković, Dragan Uskoković

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

The recent history of scientific excellence of a society could be used as an indicator of its economic, cultural and communal prosperity. In this work, two examples of countries that successfully arose from the remnants of comparative poverty and established themselves as scientifically thriving societies, South Korea and Slovenia, are compared with the case of Serbia, a country that is presumably on the doorsteps of a similarly explosive developmental path. Guidelines for social progress in the direction of greater scientific and social prominence are outlined in the course of the discourse. It is concluded that the ideal model of growth …

Norms And Survival In The Heat Of War: Normative Versus Instrumental Rationalities And Survival Tactics In The Blockade Of Leningrad, Jeffrey K. Hass

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

When war challenges civilian survival, what shapes the balance between normative and instrumental rationalities in survival practices? Increasing desperation and uncertainty can lead civilians to focus on their own material interests and to violate norms in the name of survival or gain—to the detriment of the war effort and of other civilians. Do norms, boundaries against transgressions, and considerations of collective interests and identities persist, and, if so, through what mechanisms? Using diaries and recollections from the 872-day Blockade of Leningrad (1941–1944)—an extreme case of wartime desperation—this article examines how three forms of cultural embeddedness shape variation in the strength …

Investment Treaty Disputes: Ideological Fault Lines And An Evolving Zeitgeist, Locknie Hsu

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The zeitgeist of the 21st century in the field of investment treaty arbitrations comprises a rise in the number of such arbitrations and accompanying observations on the unwieldy jurisprudential effects of such a rise. The international investment arbitration community is alive with discussion over these effects, which discussion includes an examination of the value of prior awards as precedents.' The existing regime based on treaty interpretation clearly provides no formal system of precedent and the 'players' (read: arbitrators) change from dispute to dispute as investment arbitration tribunals do not fall within a single, neat judicial hierarchical system. With the number …

Revisiting The Similar Fact Rule In Singapore: Public Prosecutor V. Mas Swan Bin Adnan And Another, Siyuan Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The similar fact rule in Singapore—as with the law on any evidence law doctrine that can be found in both our Evidence Act and the common law—has required clarification for some time. This note, which discusses the latest local decision on the similar fact rule, considers if that decision is compatible with the Evidence Act and the various conceptualisations underlying the doctrine.

Doing A Little More For The Poor? Social Assistance In Shanghai, Zhang Haomiao

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Shanghai was a leader in nation-wide social assistance reform. It has established an extensive and complex social assistance system. This paper offers a general overview of different major assistance programs in Shanghai and uses a recent survey ofMinimum Living Standard Guarantee System (MLSGS) recipients in urban Shanghai to briefly examine the performance of social assistance. It finds that on the program construction and administration level, Shanghai's social assistance is advanced. However, due to high living costs and relatively low values of social assistance, social assistance plays a limited role in relieving the distress of recipients. The paper analyzes the main …

Muslim Women And The West: Faith, Feminism, And The Quest For Gender Equality, Kelly Haller

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For centuries the West has seen the Muslim woman as an entire group of people in need of saving. Lacking a thorough understanding of Islam and an incredibly diverse Middle Eastern society, Western powers endeavored to shape women of the Middle East into secular, modern examples of "liberated" women. Completely unacknowledged in this pursuit are the grass roots movements that emerged out of nationalist movements in the early twentieth century. An attempt to understand why the West is so incredibly fascinated by Muslim is undertaken in this scholarly pursuit. Additionally, a case study on the nation of Egypt shows not …

Palestinian Film: Hyperreality, Narrative, And Ideology, Sarah Frances Hudson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have developed diametrically opposed national narratives and identities that are both predicated on the concept of victimization. These narratives have developed into simulacral narratives as the result of the nature of their development. This paper deals with the Palestinian simulacral narrative which bolsters societal values, particularly the value of victimhood, that are crucial to coping with the prolonged conflict. The Western media, at any given moment during the conflict, has either accepted the concept of Palestinian's as victims of the conflict and the Palestinian simulacral narrative, or rejected it. The media then produces a …

The Prosecution's Duty Of Disclosure In Singapore: Muhammad Bin Kadar V Public Prosecutor [2011] 3 Slr 1205, Siyuan Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The Court of Appeal (CA) judgment in Muhammad bin Kadar v Public Prosecutor created quite a stir in Singapore. The case pertained to a murder involving two suspects, and its resolution took almost six years, with many twists and turns as to the actual facts. The CA attributed the confusion in part to questionable practices adopted by the police and the prosecution at various points in the proceedings, and reserved strong words for them in its judgment. It also established new requirements for the prosecution regarding its duty to the court to disclose relevant material not favourable to the case …

Going Beyond The Multicultural Experience-Creativity Link: The Mediating Role Of Emotions, Chi-Ying Cheng, Angela K. Y. Leung, Tsung-Yu Wu

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This research examines the mediating role of emotions implicated in the multicultural experience—creativity link. We propose that when individuals are dealing with apparent cultural contradictions upon encountering two cultures simultaneously, mentally juxtaposing dissonant cultural stimuli could lower positive affect or increase negative affect, which could in turn induce a deeper level of cognitive processing of cultural discrepancies and inspire creativity. Two studies compared dual cultural exposure versus single cultural exposure among bicultural Singaporeans (Study 1) and compared self-relevant (jointly presenting local and foreign cultures) versus self-irrelevant (jointly presenting foreign cultures only) dual cultural exposure among monocultural Taiwanese (Study 2). As …

Singapore Consumer’S Inflation Expectations And Creation Of Singapore Index Of Inflation Expectations, Aurobindo Ghosh, Jun Yu

Research Collection School Of Economics

The aim of this report is to highlight a broad spectrum of issues that brings about the measurement of the disagreement and the uncertainity and the formation of inflation expectations among economic agents in Singapore.

Cracks In The Empire: Reflections Of French Journalists And Authors On The Crisis In 1930s Indochina, Henri Copin, Tobias Rettig

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The events of the early 1930s in Vietnam left an important legacy to France's literature of enquiry and protest. Writers, essayists and journalists enquired on behalf of their audiences, and in the process developed France's littérature coloniale. By showing an interest in the colonial 'other' and identifying discrepancies between imperial ideology and colonial reality, they formed a new body of thought. This new colonial humanism arguably changed metropolitan sensibilities towards the French civilizing mission. Nevertheless, while they are critical of colonial abuses and in favour of reforms, the authors discussed in this paper do not really question the French colonial …

Special Issue: Revisiting And Reconstructing The Nghê Tinh Soviets, 1930-2011, Tobias Frederik Rettig

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The seven papers presented here constitute the first collective effort in a Western language to revisit the Nghe Tinh Soviets of 1930–31. The Nghe Tinh movement, its name a compound of two neighbouring provinces in the north-central part of the French protectorate of Annam, not only occupies a special place in the history of the early Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP) but also became a site for animated debate on the causes of agrarian unrest that produced two of the most influential books in South East Asian Studies: James Scott’s Moral Economy of the Peasant (1976); and Samuel Popkin’s The Rational …

One Mandarin Benefits The Whole Clan: Hometown Infrastructure And Nepotism In An Autocracy, Kieu-Trang Nguyen, Quoc-Anh Do, Anh Tran

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper studies nepotism by government officials in an authoritarian regime. We collect a unique dataset of political promotions of officials in Vietnam and estimate their impact on public infrastructure in their hometowns. We find strong positive effects on several outcomes, some with lags, including roads to villages, marketplaces, clean water access, preschools, irrigation, and local radio broadcasters, as well as the hometown’s propensity to benefit from the State’s “poor commune support program”. Nepotism is not limited to only top-level officials, pervasive even among those without direct authority over hometown budgets, stronger when the hometown chairperson’s and promoted official’s ages …

Ancient Chinese Power, Modern Chinese Thought, Linsay Cunningham-Cross, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Ancient Chinese Thought, Modern Chinese Power is the latest publication to come from Yan Xuetong's ongoing research project that explores the interstate political philosophy of China's pre-Qin era. This book is interesting on many levels, and has already drawn attention from public intellectuals and scholars in the West. This essay thus first will examine the scholarly issue of how Yan and his colleagues are employing pre-Qin thought to make philosophical and political arguments about how China will rise. It will consider the relation of the ‘kingly way’ (wang 王) and the ‘hegemonic way’ (ba 霸) to critically analyze Yan's argument …

Tax Havens And Fdi Spillovers: Implications For Ldcs, Luisa Blanco, Cynthia Rogers

School of Public Policy Working Papers

Tax competition and spillover models offer ambiguous predictions concerning the economic impact of tax havens on non-tax havens. The implications of tax havens for less developed countries (LDCs), in particular, are not well understood and are little studied. This paper investigates the impact of tax havens on non-tax haven countries in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI). We investigate the importance of agglomeration effects by accounting for the level of FDI inflows as well as the role of geography by measuring proximity to the nearest tax haven. Our analysis yields several interesting findings. First, using panel data for 142 countries, …

Chinese Lessons From Other People’S Wars, Andrew Scobell, David Lai, Roy Kamphausen

Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies

The 12th annual Carlisle Conference on the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) took place at the U.S. Army War College, in Pennsylvania October 22-24, 2010. The topic for this year’s conference was the PLA’s lessons from other people’s wars. Participants at the conference sought to discern what lessons the PLA has been learning from the strategic and operational experiences of the armed forces of other countries during the past three decades.

Authoritarianism And Economic Development: Ethiopia's Investment Gamble, Chuck Schaefer

Distinguished Lectures on Africa

Prior to his positions at Valparaiso University, Dr. Schaefer taught at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia as a Fulbright Lecturer and has since focused his research in Ethiopia. As an economic historian, Dr. Schaefer analyzes Ethiopia’s integration into the world economy in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, looking strictly at economic indices such as trade, capital creation, money supply and credit and lending in order to partially answer the question: Why is Ethiopia poor? His research has since shifted to answer the question: Why is there conflict in Ethiopia and what can be done about it? This research …