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3572. The State in a Changing World: A Critique of the 1997 World Development Report
- Author:
- Devesh Kapur
- Publication Date:
- 02-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
- Abstract:
- In recent years, the World Bank has been at the vanguard in pressing for a circumscribed role for the State in developing countries. It therefore comes as somewhat of a surprise that the 1997 World Development Report (WDR - the World Bank's annual flagship publication), The State in a Changing World, underscores the continuing significance of the State in LDCs.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, Government, International Organization, and Third World
3573. Networks in International Capacity Building: Cases from Sub-Saharan Africa
- Author:
- Kenneth Prewitt
- Publication Date:
- 01-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Social Science Research Council
- Abstract:
- Networking is ubiquitous, Networks are not. By networks we have in mind professional and scientific collaborations unrestricted by geography—a group of scholars taking advantage of improved mobility and communication to work across institutional and national boundaries. This report draws from a conference that inquired into the role of networks in research, training and institution-strengthening in sub-Saharan Africa—terms commonly, if loosely, associated with "capacity building." Although the conference focused on networks that were making headway toward their declared goals, the purpose was not to celebrate success stories. It was to be analytic, with the intention of identifying generic questions and preliminary answers, particularly lessons of use to those involved in building, maintaining, strengthening and funding professional networks.
- Topic:
- Development and Third World
- Political Geography:
- Africa
3574. Emissions and Development in the United States: International Implications
- Author:
- Richard T. Carson and Donald R. McCubbin
- Publication Date:
- 01-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC)
- Abstract:
- Concerns about the sustainability of resource use have no doubt been raised since civilization began. The most famous proponent of these concerns is Thomas Malthus (1976), who, in 1798, predicted that population growth would outstrip the ability of agriculture to supply food, and mass starvation would ensue. More recently, the widely read Limits to Growth report, by Meadows et al. (1974), presented a model of resource use and development that predicted humans would face unprecedented pollution and starvation, if current resource use patterns continued into the future. Of course, both reports' most dire predictions have not come true for several reasons. They failed to account for improvements in technology, the power of market prices to ration scarce resources, and the public's demand for environmental preservation when confronted with a perceived scarcity of environmental goods. Although the dire predictions failed to materialize, many believe that environmental quality will deteriorate as the world's economies grow, unless there are significant changes in human behavior. In this paper we make a modest attempt, using air pollution data, to examine the linkage between economic growth, human behavior, and environmental quality.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, and Environment
- Political Geography:
- United States
3575. Women Coping with Crisis: Social Consequences of Export-Led Industrialization in the Dominican Republic
- Author:
- Helen I. Safa
- Publication Date:
- 04-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The North-South Center, University of Miami
- Abstract:
- What are the social consequences of export-led industrialization, and are they a deterrent to sustainable development? This paper explores these questions by examining the link between export-led industrialization, the feminization of labor, and the growth of female-headed households in the Dominican Republic in a community that has undergone a marked shift in economic base from sugar production, employing mostly men, to export manufacturing, employing mostly women. Employment in export manufacturing gives women greater economic autonomy and greater leverage in the household, which, combined with deterioration in male employment, raises women's resistance to marriage and weakens the role of the male breadwinner. While female-headed households have increased in number, the economic and emotional support provided by consanguineal kin, often living in extended families, has enabled these households to function quite adequately. Under these circumstances, the female-headed household should not be seen as a deterrent to sustainability.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, and Gender Issues
- Political Geography:
- Caribbean
3576. The New Face of Regionalism in the Caribbean: The Western Hemisphere Dynamic
- Author:
- Anthony T. Bryan and Roget V. Bryan
- Publication Date:
- 03-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The North-South Center, University of Miami
- Abstract:
- Regionalism in the Caribbean has emerged as a response to overcoming the development constraints of small size. The theories and strategies that helped to advance the process of Caribbean integration are undergoing a revision because of the process of globalization and the momentum toward free trade in the Western Hemisphere. The Caribbean countries now have to adapt rapidly to the new global liberalization process, based on reciprocal commitments. The way forward is not easy. The road map for the new regionalism in the Caribbean reflects a paradigm shift in the earlier theory and practice of integration. This paper explores the new face of regionalism within the context of second generation regional integration theories and smaller economies' agendas. The dynamic is much more complicated than originally conceived by Caribbean theorists and economists.
- Topic:
- Development, Emerging Markets, Globalization, International Organization, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Caribbean
3577. Global Economics and Local Politics in Trinidad's Divestment Program
- Author:
- Anthony P. Maingot
- Publication Date:
- 12-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The North-South Center, University of Miami
- Abstract:
- This study focuses on the complex interaction between local political, social, and economic exigencies and the imperatives of the global economy in Trinidad. Local systems operate according to the perceived needs of their elites and the moral codes and biases of the political culture. In Trinidad, the dominant biases have to do with racial competition. For more than five decades, efforts have been made to use the state to extend economic rights to underprivileged Afro-Trinidadians. In the mid-1980s, however, a shift in macroeconomic thinking led to liberalization and a growing gap between the traditional nationalist/statist ideology and the actual decisions of political elites. This paper explores this unresolved incongruity through a case study of Petrotrin, the national petroleum company that oversees the fast-growing oil and gas sector.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, International Political Economy, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Caribbean
3578. Democracy and Reform in Cardoso's Brazil: Caught Between Clientelism and Global Markets?
- Author:
- Willian C. Smith and Nizar Messari
- Publication Date:
- 09-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The North-South Center, University of Miami
- Abstract:
- This paper explores President Fernando Henrique Cardoso's record and his attempt to seek reelection on October 4 over the challenge of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, candidate of the Workers' Party (PT) and the left. These events are examined in the context of a central, inescapable dilemma of contemporary Brazilian politics: how to reconcile the exigencies of the market and globalization with the equally compelling needs to promote democracy while combating poverty, violence, and social exclusion. The paper concludes with analyses of various alternative politico-economic scenarios for Brazil following the October elections.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Development, Economics, Globalization, Government, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Brazil
3579. The Implementation of Agenda 21 in Latin America, 1992-1997
- Author:
- Gisela Salomón
- Publication Date:
- 03-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The North-South Center, University of Miami
- Abstract:
- In June 1992, 172 governments meeting at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, agreed to work together to promote sustainable development. Five years later, in 1997, environmental problems continued to deteriorate. In this article, Gisela Salomón analyzes the difficulties faced by Latin American countries in implementing Agenda 21 and points to areas where progress has been made in sustainable development. The author expresses the need for governments to strengthen their political will to implement environmental strategies and to consider not only the economic aspects of development but social and ecological as well, emphasizing the importance of conscience-building, especially through education.
- Topic:
- Development and Environment
- Political Geography:
- Latin America
3580. The External Sector, the State and Development in Eastern Europe
- Author:
- Barry Eichengreen and Richard Kohl
- Publication Date:
- 03-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy
- Abstract:
- Early optimists hoped that Eastern Europe might be able to emulate the high-performance economies of Asia once the shock of liberalization was absorbed. The ingredients of the East Asian “miracle,” in this view, were rapid accumulation based on high investment in physical and human capital, productivity growth based on technology transfer through licensing and direct foreign investment, rapidly expanding exports able to support industrial specialization and scale economies, and a strong state capable of guiding the development process and solving coordination problems. Emulating this recipe could provide the basis, it was hoped, for the expansion of exports and buoyant economic growth more generally.
- Topic:
- Development, Government, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Eastern Europe, and Asia