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Huge numbers of middle-income groups are distributed in China and Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). In this context, global firms recognize the need for localization strategy. The practical upcoming challenge of global companies is to determine the best way to accomplish localization. In this paper, we present the development of a self-contained localization system based on organizational capabilities, and suggest the self-contained localization strategy through case studies of Japanese firms. The foreign subsidiaries with self-contained units include their own R&D, operations, marketing, service, and human resource functions. Therefore, the self-contained localization strategy allows the foreign subsidiary a large degree of autonomy in responding appropriately to local competitive conditions with locally responsive strategies. When we analyze the relationships between Japanese headquarters and local business subsidiaries, we find the larger a degree of autonomy of self-contained subsidiaries, the higher their global market share. Huge numbers of middle-income groups are distributed in China and Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). In this context, global firms recognize the need for localization strategy. The practical upcoming challenge of global companies is to determine the best way to accomplish localization. In this paper, we present the development of a self-contained localization system based on organizational capabilities, and suggest the self-contained localization strategy through case studies of Japanese firms. The foreign subsidiaries with self-contained units include their own R&D, operations, marketing, service, and human resource functions. Therefore, the self-contained localization strategy allows the foreign subsidiary a large degree of autonomy in responding appropriately to local competitive conditions with locally responsive strategies. When we analyze the relationships between Japanese headquarters and local business subsidiaries, we find the larger a degree of autonomy of self-contained subsidiaries, the higher their global market share. Huge numbers of middle-income groups are distributed in China and Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). In this context, global firms recognize the need for localization strategy. The practical upcoming challenge of global companies is to determine the best way to accomplish localization. In this paper, we present the development of a self-contained localization system based on organizational capabilities, and suggest the self-contained localization strategy through case studies of Japanese firms. The foreign subsidiaries with self-contained units include their own R&D, operations, marketing, service, and human resource functions. Therefore, the self-contained localization strategy allows the foreign subsidiary a large degree of autonomy in responding appropriately to local competitive conditions with locally responsive strategies. When we analyze the relationships between Japanese headquarters and local business subsidiaries, we find the larger a degree of autonomy of self-contained subsidiaries, the higher their global market share. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper was to assess the level of community participation and the localization of decision-making with regards to foreign donor funded projects in Zimbabwe. The participatory approach was the theoretical framework that was adopted for the research paper. The primary data were collected from a survey of 52 project members who were from two local NGOs that were randomly selected from Chiredzi District, located in the South Eastern low veld of Zimbabwe. The findings show that there was partial to no involvement of the project members in various phases of the project cycle. Furthermore, there were consultations with the local leadership, but not during the assessment phase of the project. The authors conclude there is need for community involvement in decision making, project ownership, and clear lines of communication with the NGOs, among others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a lack of understanding of the forms of knowledge and expertise in so-called developing societies such as Malaysia. This paper addresses this issue by suggesting a framework—based on Schutz and Luckmann's (1973) concept of social distribution of knowledge and Knorr Cetina's (1999) notion of epistemic communities—for examining the Malaysian automotive and information technology industries. These industries are central to Malaysia's agenda of becoming a knowledge society in the context of Vision 2020. Vital to these industries is a group of Malaysian professionals who possess knowledge and expertise: the “technological elite.” is group, the technological elite, includes, but is not limited to, engineers working for Proton, as well as professionals working in the Multimedia Super Corridor. Using professional biographies and narratives, this paper illuminates the context and culture of knowledge in Malaysia. Similarities in the principles that inform epistemic practices and relations within an “old” industry (i.e., automotive) and a “new” industry (i.e., ICT) call for the recognition of epistemic work characterized by the mixing of specialist knowledge with other forms of knowledge, and of localized knowledge in nascent epistemic communities with knowledge developed from an established tradition of technological practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nigerian urban centers, especially the socially disadvantaged neighborhoods (SDNs), like other disadvantaged communities across Africa, are increasingly becoming breeding grounds for youth violence and Armed Non-State Actors (ANSAs). The increasing waves of violence in socially disadvantaged communities in Nigeria and the inability of security apparatus to curtail them, suggests a 'nation' bewildered and a comatose state. This article attempts to dissect the root causes of youth violence in socially disadvantaged urban areas of Nigeria using relevant sociological theories. The paper subjects the current waves of youth violence across ethnic cleavages in Nigeria to a more nuanced and pragmatic analysis in order to dissect and unravel the socio-structural and political factors responsible. The paper argues that the inherent social structural maladies embedded in socially disadvantaged communities appear to have provided an impetus for youth violence and the emergence of ANSAs in Nigeria. These social structural maladies are captured within the context of social disorganization, relative deprivation, and broken windows theories. The assumptions of these theories provide insights into understanding the predisposing and enabling factors to youth violence and the emergence of ANSAs in socially disadvantaged communities in Nigeria and beyond. They also provide fundamental policy and research options to nip the contours of violence in socially disadvantaged environments in Nigeria and beyond in the bud. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper empirically assesses the effect of the determinants of Internet use, using several samples of both developed and developing countries. Based on a sample of 23 low-income economies in 2015, we find that Internet use depends upon computer access. Using a sample of 38 lower middle-income countries we find that Internet use depends upon Internet quality and Internet affordability. Using a sample of 41 upper middle-income countries, we find that computer access and Internet affordability influence Internet use. From a sample of 45 high-income countries, we are able to show that computer access, Internet quality, and affordability do affect Internet use. Using a sample of thirty OECD countries, we find that Internet use depends upon computer access and Internet quality. When a sample of 150 developing and developed countries is used, results show that Internet use is influenced by computer access, Internet quality, Internet affordability, and Internet application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

EU energy policy objectives are directed at three highly interdependent areas: energy supply security, competitiveness and decarbonization to prevent climate change. In this paper, we focus on the issue of energy supply security. Security of energy supply for the immediate and medium-term future is a necessary condition in the current context of the global political economy for the survival of the Union and its component member states. Since the Lisbon Treaty entered into force, energy policy no longer comes onto the agenda of the European Commission through the backdoor of the common market, environment and competitiveness. The Treaty created a new legal basis for the internal energy market. However, securing external supplies as well as deciding the energy mix, remain matters of national prerogative, though within the constraints of other parts of EU's legislation in force. Without a common defense policy, the highly import dependent Union and its members face external instability in the energy rich Arab Middle East and North Africa. Concern about energy security has been triggered by declining European energy production as well as the strain on global demand exerted by newly industrializing economies such as China and India and the Middle East, as well as the political instability in this reserve-rich part of the world. This paper explores the following two topics [1] the current situation and past trends in production, supply, demand and trade in energy in the EU, against the background of major changes in the last half decade and [2] threats to the security of the supply of oil and natural gas from import regions. Fossil fuel import dependence in the eu is expected to continue to increase in the coming two decades. As global trends show, and despite new fields in the Caspian region and the Eastern Mediterranean, conventional fossil oil and gas resources remain concentrated in fewer geopolitically unstable regions and countries (i.e. the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and the Caspian Region (CR) including Russia), while global demand for fossil energy is expected to substantially increase also within the energy rich Gulf countries. This combination directly impacts EU energy supply security. It should be noted that the trend towards higher levels of import dependence was not interrupted when the era of low energy prices, between 1980 and 2003, came to an end. Within the eu itself, domestic resistance to the development of unconventional resources is an obstacle to investment in unconventional sources in this part of the high-income world. This should therefore not put at risk investments in either renewables or alternative sources at home or conventional resources mainly in the Arab-Middle East. The situation is exacerbated by the spread of instability in the Arab-Middle Eastern countries. There are three domestic and geopolitical concerns to be taken into consideration: (1) In the Arab-Middle East, threats to EU energy supply security originate in the domestic regime of these countries. Almost all Arab resource-rich countries belong to a type of patrimonial, rentier-type of state-society relation. These regimes rely on rents from the exploitation of energy resources and the way in which rents are distributed. Regimes of this type are being challenged. Their economies show uneven economic development, centralized power structures, corruption and poverty at the bottom of the social hierarchy. The discrimination of females is a major obstacle to the development of the service sector. At present, even the monarchies fear the spread of violent conflict. Offshoots of these consequences have proven to cause civil unrest, exemplified by what optimists have called the Arab Spring.' (2) The second concern is the domestic and global impact of Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFS) managed by Arab patrimonial rentier states. SWFs have proven to be an asset in both developing and developed economies due to their ability to buffer the 'Dutch Disease,' and to encourage industrialization, economic diversification and eventually the development of civil society. In patrimonial states, however, SWFS are affected by corruption and the diversion of funds away from long-term socioeconomic development to luxury consumption by political elites. In fact, Arab SWFS underpin the persistence of the Arab patrimonial rentier state system. (3) Finally, the post-Cold War, ME and CEA geopolitical landscape is shifting. The emergence of China and other Asian economies has increased their presence in the Middle East due to a growing need for energy and the expansion of Asian markets. The recent discovery of energy resources in the US has led to speculation that there will be less us presence in the region. There would be a serious risk to EU energy security if emerging Asian economies were to increase their presence in the Middle East as us interests recede. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines China's policy and position in relation to the evolving climate change negotiations in order to explain how China is dealing with the dilemma of meeting its growing development needs while reducing GHG emissions. It argues that global climate governance requires steering and leadership to deal with the interlocked political process; that the developing countries (DCS) right to develop is challenged by the need for ecosystemic standards especially as climate change is seen as a zero-sum game as the more one country emits the less another one can. This is especially problematic as Industrialized countries (ICS) appear to be both unwilling and unable to increase growth without increasing emissions. This explains China's policy of insisting on its right to develop, of demanding that ics reduce their emissions and that they fulfil their obligations under the FCCC, while expressing its willingness to take on a voluntary target. The paper argues that China's state-led transition has eight unique characteristics that may allow it to lead as it moves beyond a no-regrets policy to a circular and green economy, cooperating with other DCS and mobilizing conscious green values in citizens. The question remains--will the initial success and scale of state-led transition lead the global green transition to a sustainable world? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Influenced by promising economic indicators, the mass media and policy circles have begun to use the term "China Model" to celebrate China's fast-speed development. However, researchers are still not clear what exactly the China Model is. This paper provides a critical examination of the China Model of development. This paper starts with a discussion of what are the major characteristics of the China Model and why the developing countries are attracted to them. Then this paper argues that researchers should not take the China Model for granted because its ingredients are highly contested. Finally, this paper discusses what implication the China Model has for developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a new shift in the appropriate technology movement in less economically developed countries as seen in a multi-sited ethnography of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the scientific field of ophthalmology. This research reveals how Aravind Eye Care System in southern India and Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology in Nepal are addressing "undone science" for avoidable blindness. They are creating the requisite local hospital and personnel infrastructure while conducting "civil society research." They are also providing high quality modern care to low-income patients of the global south while charging reduced or no fees. This paper argues that they represent a third model in the appropriate technology movement–contextually appropriate local production of high technology. This third model focuses on socially responsible innovation for purposes of social improvement; it is rooted in nonprofit, social enterprise organizations to include the following four aspects: (1) scientific innovation or the "appropriation" of new science; (2) organizational innovation, including changes in operations management for self-sufficiency through multiple revenue streams; (3) technological innovation or the creation of new products and artifacts; and (4) an underlying ideological orientation that is based on local philosophy (and challenges hegemonic understandings of postcolonial dependency or neoliberalism). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on ethnographic research and from an actor-oriented approach, this paper investigates the outcomes in terms of social and institutional change of the introduction of microcredit in Tigray (Ethiopia). It shows how farmers' appropriation of microcredit programs causes informal credit, land, and social security institutions to alter in significance, function, and meaning. Contrary to the intentions of microcredit programs, farmers use their loans to bridge seasonal food gaps and meet deficiencies in seed and draught power. This depresses a number of longstanding informal institutions that regulate seasonal lending and land rental between households with differential access to resources. Due to microcredit clients' immediate large cash needs to pay off their debts, short-term informal money lending and one-year land “sale” have gained importance. An informal social security institution has been adapted to take care of unlucky microcredit borrowers. On a broader level, the paper analyzes the encounter of the global paradigm of microcredit to fight poverty with local Tigrayan, historically grounded conceptions of debt, independence and wealth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modern Turkish Republic emerged from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire less than 85 years ago. Yet the majority of analysis and writing on contemporary Turkey neglects or superficially treats the Ottoman historical legacy. This paper argues that contemporary Turkey is very much shaped by the legacy and identity that the Ottoman Empire left it as a clear imperial successor state. A key contention is that understanding Turkey's Ottoman legacy and the historical memory of past leadership among the Turkish public, in the region and globally, is instrumental for any analysis or discussion about Turkey's present or future. By looking at Turkey's identity and international behavior since the Republic, this paper seeks to develop a better understanding from which to analyze the historical roots of many of the values, tensions, institutions, and motivations that permeate contemporary Turkey today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pacific island countries (PICs), ever since their independence during the second half of the last century, have been among the world's top ten recipients of official development assistance (ODA) on a per capita basis. Until the mid 1990s, most of them were receiving aid from their erstwhile colonial masters for budgetary support. With the introduction of reforms in ODA delivery in the late 1990s with focus on program and project-tied aid, it was expected that aid would directly facilitate creation of much-needed growth enhancing infrastructures, physical as well as social, since domestic savings were found to be insufficient to finance them. However, continued stagnation in some PICs and deterioration in some others have been causing concerns. This paper seeks to examine the effectiveness of aid by undertaking a case study of Fiji, which has a longer time series data needed for econometric investigation. Based on the study's findings, the paper lists some policy conclusions relevant to the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to further the immigrant-link literature by applying, for the first time, gravity models to Malaysia. Specifically the paper seeks to quantify the impact upon Malaysia's bilateral trade flows of ASEAN and non-ASEAN skilled immigration, and to identify the underlying mechanisms underpinning this relationship. The results indicate that skilled immigration positively affects both the imports and exports of Malaysia. Immigrant-link is stronger between Malaysia and ASEAN countries than to non-ASEAN countries. The magnitude of the elasticity with respect to trade is larger for imports than for exports. Skilled immigrants' demand for native products outweighs the business-links formed between Malaysian trading partners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the case for adopting the Australian dollar as a common currency among the island countries in the South Pacific. The proposal of a single currency was informally floated by Australia at the Pacific Forum Leaders Meeting in Auckland, in August 2003. The Pacific Forum consists of 14 developing island countries and the developed countries in the region, namely, Australia and New Zealand. In early 2003, a committee of the Australian Senate recommended adoption of a single currency as a possible remedy to meet the deteriorating economic situations in the Pacific island countries, arising out of poor fiscal discipline and failure to effectively use external aid inflows. Successful adoption of a single currency with either a new currency or an existing currency of a dominant partner in trade and development requires the fulfillment of various prerequirements, which are well known as optimum currency area conditions. The paper assesses the feasibility of the proposal in the light of these conditions and concludes that the time for adoption has not yet arrived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As is long overdue, this paper attempts to expose "health development" professionals to the Human Rights discourse in the health sector. This paper is presented as an advocacy piece for an alternative to the existing "Health Sector Reform" (HSR). HSR is primarily advocated by the World Bank and is influencing World Health Organization (WHO) policy (WHO 2000). Literature concerning the contrasting of these two approaches to health is scarce. Consequently, for many readers, this paper will mark their first exposure to the human rights-based approach to work in health; for others, it will reinforce and refresh some of their already known key concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The persistence of food insecurity in many African countries continues to engage the attention of policymakers, development theorists, and the world at large. One panacea touted to address food insecurity, specifically from the angle of production, is biotechnology. This paper examines the extent to which biotechnology can bring about marked improvements in agricultural production in Ghana. The paper focuses on the institutional capacities of the national agricultural research system, especially the role of research institutions to generate, to engage, or to harness biotechnology. The paper also examines policy dilemmas on biotechnology and some policy options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Weaknesses in social protection and risk management systems within workplaces and in the wider public health environment and weak investment in health insurance and health services shift a significant share of the burden of production risks onto worker communities and under-funded public services. Inequality has been constructed by powerful economic and political interests and by weak policies for channelling the benefits of globalization to those most in need. Powerful drivers of inequity are not simply addressed through technical interventions—they demand political and economic action. This paper explores the knowledge and evidence needed to impact public policy and the approaches to building political momentum for that knowledge to be used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are both critical for economic development and highly disruptive to existing employment opportunities. Maximizing the potential of ICTs requires both promoting their use and addressing the inequality and dislocation they may cause. This paper examines South African national policy efforts that have an explicit goal of both growth and equity in the promotion of ICT use. Through an examination of two particularly high profile programs, the paper argues that national policy underestimates the potentially negative impact of ICTs on traditional employment sectors and fails to address the volatile nature of employment and skill requirements in ICT industries themselves. As a result, unless these shortcomings are addressed, national ICT policy in South Africa seems likely to further contribute to the disruption of existing employment opportunities while contributing to growing inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased economic integration throughout the world, the growing dominance of foreign affiliate production over international exports, the routinization of innovation, and amplified knowledge-intensiveness of FDI collectively characterize the new global economic environment in which SADC nations are attempting to develop and compete. This paper provides a detailed summary of the global economic context and one of its leading engines, namely, science and technology (S&T). Analysis of Africa's post-independence S&T travails and successes constitutes the second section of the paper. Various factors that have collectively arrested S&T growth are discussed. The third and largest section is the analysis of commonalities and particularities of S&T needs and activities by the SADC secretariat and member states. Focused analytical reports on the status of S&T development efforts in Botswana and Zimbabwe comprise the final section. Based on the contextual threats and opportunities discussed above, the paper concludes with two concrete recommendations: integrating and adopting the elements suggested in the paper for a long-term S&T development model, and pursuing state-sponsored or quasi-state-sponsored reverse engineering campaigns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Success in the fight against HIV/AIDS is related to the degree to which women are acknowledged as and indeed become active stakeholders in the negotiation process of sex relations. As part of that awareness, advertisement campaigns in Botswana attempt to make room for the participation of women in the fight against HIV/AIDS by including women's voices in the discourse around sex as significant actors in negotiation processes of sex and condoms. Using a critical approach, this paper deconstructs notions of equity and assumptions of empowerment in order to expose the limits of the discourse of inclusion of women in public. Advertisements campaigns that seek to empower women in Botswana, while a useful beginning, are examined for the ways they perpetuate cultural attitudes and stereotypes as well as maintain male hegemony. In addition, the paper suggests that the discourse of women's empowerment and inclusion in sexual negotiations cannot be isolated from the socio-cultural, economic and psychological contexts of women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a world where we are being confronted with seemingly ever more distressing images of our inability or unwillingness to exercise and extend our humanity to one another, this paper discusses global development aid, and how education, and, more specifically, syllabus and policy documents, can contribute to a more informed and empathic response to people who see through eyes different from our own. This paper discusses curricular initiatives, to enhance students' understanding and responses to issues of global inequalities. The paper embeds this discussion within an examination of elements shaping minds and hearts with regard to such issues, and on impediments to and opportunities for a more informed and humane response to our shared humanity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

E-books are regarded as a new, digital way to access reading material and as a learning tool for students. Therefore, South African institutions of higher learning are spending increasing amounts of money on the provision of e-books for use by students. However, the extent to which students will accept e-books remains unclear. This paper is aimed at examining the factors of e-book use intentions among students in tertiary education, based on theoretical considerations rooted in UTAUT. Data used in the analysis was sourced from 544 participating students from five institutions of higher learning using a structured questionnaire. Results of the analysis identified performance expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions as salient factors of e-book use intentions among tertiary students. Interestingly, gender and e-book use experience had no significant moderating effect of the factors of use intention examined in this study. The implications of these findings on the efforts aimed at promoting a more enthusiastic acceptance of e-books among tertiary students are highlighted in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

His research interests include development studies, borderland studies, political sociology, environmental sociology, and cultural politics. Hongjiang Zhao is an associate professor of Finance at the School of Management and Economics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC). Is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China-Chengdu. [Extracted from the article]

The introduction of an old age pension in Lesotho in November 2004 brought relief and hope to the elderly. The paper examines how the old age pension has helped in the acquisition of material goods, increased access to health care and, most importantly, strengthened the status of the elderly in their households. Two hundred and fifteen old age pension recipients in rural areas were interviewed. Results show that the elderly now participate more in household decision-making and contribute towards income and community projects. The poverty and hunger vulnerability existing before the pension have been halved. Pensioners play an increasing role in the care of orphans and vulnerable children. This has boosted pensioners' self-esteem and strengthened respect given to them. Although the pension is seen as meagre, elections results show the efforts of the government continue to be highly appreciated. The paper concludes the old age pension has empowered the elderly and helps them live a more graceful life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to understand different phases of solar photovoltaic (SPV) technology in India and the interplay of scientific, technological, economic, and political factors in each of the phases. There are four distinct phases. In the first-phase (1947-1970), SPV technology was recognized as an important source of energy for countries like India. In the second phase (1971-1990), the oil crisis led to the formulation of new scientific and technological initiatives and programs in SPV, but due to a lack of political commitment the initiatives disintegrated. In the third phase (1991-2003), several factors seemed to have undermined the development of SPV sector. Currently in the fourth phase (2003 to the present), India has virtually lost the race for development of photovoltaic technology. Within the context of climate change and resource constraint, India has reformulated its strategy which has taken the form of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission Plan (JNNSM).This paper examines how JNNSM influences indigenous attempts in photovoltaic technology development. The paper shows how scientific, technological, economic and political factors have contributed to discontinuities in the development of the technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines why Chinese National Oil Companies (CNOCS) conduct transnationalization and why the level of transnationalization remains low. Part one of the paper reveals the three main factors behind the transnationalization process since China has become a net importer of oil. Firstly, following economic reform in the 1990s, oil companies acquired autonomy and began to address the problem of domestic resource scarcity by seeking business opportunities abroad. Given the dependency on oil imports, the Chinese government is worried about energy security and so supports the overseas activities of NOCS to ensure reliable sources of international oil. Furthermore, some basic conditions for transnationalization have been met: NOCS have more than 30 years of domestic experience in oil exploration and development; the structural change of the international oil market, with resource countries looking East and welcoming cooperation with China; and the strategic adjustment of established international companies, making room for participation by Chinese companies. Part two evaluates the level of transnationalization of Chinese oil companies from a comparative perspective using UNCTED's Transnationality Index (TNI). Subsequently, four challenges to transnationalization are identified: geopolitical risks, resource nationalism, business competitiveness and human resources development. Part three provides empirical analysis on the performance of CNOCS in Sudan and Saudi Arabia, focusing primarily on the driving forces, conditions, achievements and challenges of CNOCS in these two countries; it also shows how some of the challenges are successfully addressed. Three conclusions are reached: that the ongoing transnationalization of CNOCS is a necessary result of the combination of a number of factors; that we should not exaggerate the level of transnationalization of CNOCS, which remains low. Moreover, by addressing the challenges, CNOCS are exploring a new way of transnationalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalization has increased the mobility of labor, product of lower fertility rates and working age populations in developed nations that creates a demand for migrant workers to sustain national economic growth. According to the United Nations Population Fund in 2010, three percent of the world's population lived outside their country of origin. Migration is an important force in development and it also has become an important factor in social change processes. Perceived as a force that can contribute to development, migration has become a focus of state-level policy-making planning policies creating a growing interest in the political and economic consequences of migration for both receiving and sending communities. This paper offers an overview of the different factors that are leading to migration out of Oaxaca and Chiapas, and the consequences to local indigenous societies. The paper also presents viable existing alternatives to rural development that have been developed by local small-scale farmers that can help reduce the massive exodus of people and consequently destruction of communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many communities in Cameroon are fast losing large expanse of ancestral land in the wake of a global land rush to local and foreign capitalists operating in the mining and agricultural sectors. This study examines the legal status of commercial land acquisition, the extent to which investors are complying with the law, and the land rights of those affected. It is based on primary data collected through interviews conducted among local administrative and traditional authorities, community members, and civil society organizations. The article highlights how agro-investors with complicity of the State have exploited weakness in Cameroon land laws to dispossess poor communities from ancestral lands. Findings indicate that in violating both laws and due processes to acquire land, the current land rush has left affected communities impoverished and without land and security. Commercial agriculture has displaced communities from traditional sources of livelihood to promote international capitalist interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ambiguous nature of electronic government (e-government) has resulted in hype and confusion, with little systematic consideration of the expectations and limitations of taking government online. This paper seeks to examine the role of e-government in the United states as an evolving process that manifests itself in three distinct sectors: government-to-government, government- to-business, and government-to-citizen. Using this typology as an organizing principle, we show how information technology has the potential to enhance government accessibility and citizen participation. We also show how the move toward a market-focused conceptualization of government information and service delivery raises the potential for blurring citizen and consumer roles, possibly at the cost of a robust, informed, and engaged citizenry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the experience of thejerusalemite participants in the Wisconsin plan, and its impact on them as individuals and family members, and on thejerusalemite society from an economic and social perspective. The paper also relies on field information that stems from the practical experience of the Community Action Center, based on its role in advocating the marginalized groups and empowering them for knowledge and skills that strengthen and support them in dealing with this plan, including other services provided by the official Israeli authorities to the Jerusalemite community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although virtually unknown in 1990, payday lending has become an important and profitable credit practice over the past two decades. Because of this growth, and because it has been implicated in ever-increasing levels of debt among the poor, payday lending has been confronted by an active political movement which has had some success in imposing forms of regulation in the United States and abroad. This paper argues, however, that this activism has failed to address the increasingly globalized nature of payday lending. Over the past five years, in particular, payday lending has become a thoroughly globalized practice deeply connected to and enabled by liberalized global financial markets. This paper reflects on the distance between the activism that now confronts it in national or subnational contexts and this increasingly global reach of payday lending. It concludes by making the case for a more fully globalized conception of global financial justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this paper, we utilize time series tests with structural breaks to test for evidence of an impact on economic growth rates in North African countries following the 2007-2009 U.S. and global financial crisis. One or two breaks in economic growth are identified in each country, except for Morocco where no break is found. However, breaks that coincide with the financial crisis are found in only two of the six countries (Libya and Mauritania), while other breaks coincide most often with earlier U.S. and EU recessions. To further examine the impact of shocks, impulse response functions are estimated from Vector Auto-Regression models with structural breaks. We again find no evidence that shocks from the financial crisis had a significant impact on economic growth in North Africa. We conclude that shocks from the 2007-2009 financial crisis had only a temporary and relatively small impact on economic growth rates in North Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this paper we introduce a conceptual model and corresponding research propositions for consumption informality, utilizing households as the unit of analysis and the South Texas borderlands as our geographic exemplar. The model connects demographic and facilitation mechanisms as the primary determinants of consumption informality. In an initial and exploratory appraisal of the model, we find that a majority of households engage in informal consumption, when modeled, utilizing household work substitution services; and hence, we offer preliminary support for the conceptual model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International development agencies argue that 'good governance' is crucial to attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but there are many ways to define and measure good governance. The paper begins by examining the World Bank's minimal state conception of governance and then proposes an alternative approach based on strengthening state capacity. The paper tests this framework by developing a provisional Millennium Governance Index (MGI) for 126 countries. In comparative empirical analysis, the MGI has noticeably higher statistical correlations than the World Bank's governance indicators on six out of seven MDGs even after controlling for per capita income levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has three objectives: i) to empirically examine labor market transitions in deindustrializing Asian economies; ii) to study the character of labor market risks and how these risks are shifting by gender, by education level, and by age in the transitional period; and iii) to rethink the commonly accepted assumptions that deindustrialization and globalization are the main causes of new labor market risks and, thus propose the possibility of institutional legacy as an important factor for such risk shifts. This study focuses on the labor market risks in the Republic of Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. Three steps are taken in this inquiry. First, this study commences by empirically examining the three labor market changes mentioned above. Second, it challenges the idea of the emergence of 'new risks,' arguing instead for the concept of 'risk shift': the feature of risk shifting to different demographic groups. Lastly, with the empirical evidence already used, this paper discusses whether deindustrialization or globalization is a sufficient cause for risk shifts in deindustrializing Asian economies, proposing that institutional legacy may be an important factor in risk shift. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past, large multinational corporations led entrepreneurial activities in the technology sector, creating value and stimulating growth by bringing new ideas to market. Further, they were in charge of the growth internationally. In the last two decades, however, immigrants have increased their percentage in starting technology companies in the United States, as well as investing in technology companies, building business partnerships, allocating resources, exchanging information, and tapping technical expertise in their home countries. This paper presents a case study of Indian immigrants in the U.S. technology sector to demonstrate how entrepreneurialism is changing with transnational migration. Indian immigrants are actively contributing to an emergent global reality where the borders containing them in the field of technology are increasingly virtual, and beyond the control of any country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To assess the impact of microcredit programs, several microfinance organizations have begun using a management tool developed by Assessing the Impact of Microenterprise Services (AIMS) at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). This tool recommends comparing veteran members to new members of a microcredit program, and attributes any difference to the impact of the program. The tool introduces a potential source of bias into estimates of impact by not instructing organizations to include program dropouts in their calculations. This paper uses data from a longitudinal study in Peru of Mibanco borrowers and non-borrowers to quantify some, but not all, of the biases in the cross-sectional approach. In these data, not including dropouts overestimates the impact of the credit program. Furthermore, we find that the sample composition shifted over the two years (i.e., the characteristics of those who join), introducing further bias into a cross-sectional impact assessment. Note that the “reestimates” here are themselves biased and thus not a recommended procedure. They are calculated merely to assess the attrition and sample composition biases in a cross-sectional approach that compares veterans to new entrants to assess impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effect of income distribution on growth in developing countries. Based on data from the World Bank and the United Nations Development Program and the use of a sample of twenty-eight developing economies, this study finds that income distribution does not affect growth in these countries, unlike the results of previous studies conducted by Alesina and Rodrik (1991, 1994). Neither does this study find that the level of democracy in a country has a statistically significant impact on growth. Observations of findings show that the coefficient estimate of one independent variable does not have the anticipated sign due to the severe degree of multicollinearity among statistically significant explanatory variables. Regression results show that the total fertility rate, the initial level of per capita GDP, and the ratio of female to male literacy rate, taken together, linearly influence growth in developing economies. The least-squares estimation technique is applied in a multivariate linear regression. Data for all variables are from the 1978 World Development Report, the World in 2007, and the 1999, 2000, and 2007/08 Human Development Reports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remittances have been a great support to Pacific island countries (PICs). Aside from providing additions to domestic savings and, hence, real resources, they have been one of the major sources of foreign exchange earnings. In the context of falling exports and limited options to diversify their exports, inward remittances have assumed greater importance. This paper examines the nexus between growth and remittances in Samoa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the actual and potential impacts on developing countries such as India and the global trend towards a stronger protection of intellectual property rights, and captures the changing scientific practices, cognitive and political, in the wake of this new institutional regime. It briefly discusses the organization of scientific research in post-colonial India and then reflects on the shifts in the nature and scope of scientific research in India and the associated practices that are contingent upon the WTO provisions on the IPRs, as illustrative of the new scenario that is emerging in regard to the participation of developing countries in international collaborative research in the areas of science and technology. The scientific community in India is confronted with the dialectic of resistance and accommodation under the stringent norms of IPRs regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes Hilferding's Finance Capital as a robust representation of a certain form of capitalist organization. This organization is characterized by industrial production in the core, trade surpluses as a feature of military and economic power, and the gold standard as the institutional metric of sound banking. Banks are the central organizing node of industrial production and favor tariffs and monopoly. The focus on gold-finance-industry leads Hilferding to foresee extreme concentration of capital as the ultimate end-point of capitalism. But the economic foundations of Wal-Mart world, where industry is subordinated to retail and is also divorced from banking, show that completely different mechanisms are at work. In contemporary capitalism trade deficits are not necessarily a sign of weakness, and the most powerful firms tend to favor free trade. The gold standard has long been a relic. For our time key questions are: what gives value to paper assets, and what sorts of spatial asymmetries are evident in the production and consumption process? How does Keynes's “sudden decrease in the marginal efficiency of capital”—as the precursor to recession—take on differing characteristics depending on where one is in the division between production and consumption? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic, political, and social globalization processes have disrupted the relationship of societies to individual members and of societies to one another. This paper explores a narrow range of globalization effects on these relationships. Using international data bases to demonstrate people's attachment to and confidence in various levels of social order, I outline a preliminary sketch of these relationships. Select trends within and among states are analyzed in this context to suggest opportunities through which states may be strengthened rather than threatened by globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International migrants are generally of two distinct classes; namely, highly skilled and highly credentialed professional workers, on the one hand, and low skilled manual workers, on the other hand. This paper seeks to improve conceptual clarity and attempts to theorize the distinct ways in which the different global classes affect development back home. Many of the findings in the paper are counterintuitive. The paper debunks erroneous observations and clarifies the relationships between global classes and the migration-development model. Hence, the paper explores of the affects of global classes on the migration-development model as well as the affects of migration-induced development on global classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates the socioeconomic and demographic determinants of household access demand for telecommunications (or telecom) services by employing a binary logit model and using a sample survey data from Karnataka State (India). The evidence suggests that social caste, education level, size of income, income tax payers, and location of friends and relatives in local call area have significant impact on household access demand. However, the nature and magnitude of the impact of these determinants are different in rural and urban areas, respectively. Further, given the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, a rise in the average income of households is shown to have a remarkable increase in the probability for access demand. These results imply that knowledge of socioeconomic and demographic determinants are relevant inputs for design of a promotional policy for access to telecom services. Subject to the comparability of socioeconomic structures, these implications are of relevance for promotion of household access demand for telecom services in other developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perhaps one of the ways by which the Third World, especially Africa, may negotiate its position in the unfolding global politics is through what has been described as the necessary "fusion of ideas and cultures" (Anyidoho 2006:158), along an intellectual axis for Africa's developmental goals. Therefore, this paper seeks to explore one of the areas of such intellectual contributions through a reading and analysis of the developmental angle of Ngugi wa Thiong'o's latest novel Wizard of the Crow (2006). Although the novel has been aptly described as a novel that reflects "on Africa's dysfunctions... and possibilities" (Reed Business Information 2006) in the age of globalization, this paper seeks to transcend the overwhelming concern about unbridled African despotism caught in the mesh of global politics, which the author critiques in the novel and which many a reviewer has commented upon in order to consider the developmental rays of hope that fire through the narrative simultaneously. By so doing, the paper is concerned with one of the "possibilities" in the positive sense of the word along the line of the reinvention of autochthonous African medical practice, otherwise derogatorily designated as magic and sorcery. The reason is that it is obvious in the novel that there is a possibility of investing the indigenous medical practice with a logical modern appeal to the extent of finding collaboration with Western medical practice in order to earn better reception across global spatial boundaries. In the process of this exploration, I also engage the notion of modernity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the developing countries, research and technology organizations (RTOs) have a pivotal role to play in creating national innovation system (NIS). Due to a weak industrial and technological base and the competition induced by globalization of economies, these organizations assume the responsibility of initiating and establishing an innovation system by acting as an interface between R&D and production. RTOs envisage their role as a knowledge support system to the firms to enhance their competitive strength in the new knowledge-based economy. This paper focuses on the organizational efforts undertaken by the RTOs to transform themselves into knowledge generating and marketing organizations. The service, which RTOs provide today are based on their accumulated knowledge over the years. These organizational functions can be facilitated through various organizational processes and practices. Further, these very processes and practices have been analyzed to understand the effectiveness of RTO-client interaction, in terms of knowledge generation and delivery. The paper is based on an international study on “Benchmarking the Best Practices for Research and Technology Organizations,” coordinated by WAITRO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There may exist among the university students a true motivation toward science and technology, as these symbolize progress. On the contrary, their attachment to religious values does not discourage their motivation for science and technology. Their critical appreciation of the role of science and technology is related mostly to the ethical and ecological judgments and not to traditional values. The globalization process increasingly shapes this worldview of students. The main approach of this paper comes from a constructivist perspective of science and technology. The empirical data are based on a recent national survey conducted among a sample of students drawn from 25 main Chilean universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the use of quasi-crystal and fractal concepts in the design of rural and urban landscapes for affordable housing. These are shown to provide a framework for the efficient design of communities in which affordable homes are organized. In contrast to classical urban planning with single centers, distributed centers are integrated into the rural and urban landscapes using crystallographic and fractal concepts. These provide a framework for the dispersion of human traffic into well-identified regions. The combination of quasi-crystal and fractal theory is also used to provide a framework for the organic growth of communities around new distributed centers. These basic ideas are discussed within the context of a holistic framework for affordable housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The major challenge facing Africa's socioeconomic transformation pivots on the gross absence of added value to its abundant natural resources. The continent is suffering from low human resources development, poor innovative capacity, and low productivity. This paper argues that, until the continent is able to develop its innovative, competitive, productive, and competence capacity, it will remain an underdeveloped polity exploited by the countries that master the driving forces of science, technology, research, innovation, and globalization in the development process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recurring debates about the impact of the brain drain— the developing world's loss of human capital to more developed countries—has motivated estimation of the magnitude of the phenomenon, most recently by the World Bank. Although frequently cited as a key contributor to Africa's wanting development record, what constitutes the "brain-drain" is not always clearly defined. Today, in the absence of an accounting system, resolution of the definitional and measurement question depends on relative comparisons of measurement variants, which will identify definitional shortcomings by clarifying the merits and demerits of these variants, and thereby suggest corrective imputations. This paper compares the World Bank's approach to a chronological precedent (Dodoo 1997) to clarify the value of variant comparisons. The resultant implications for corrections are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]