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This paper claims that the forging of a common identity among India, Brasil and South Africa based on their role as leaders in their respective regions is a relevant yet neglected aspect of their partnership that will ultimately determine the success of IBSA. The argument is that the foundational south identity of the IBSA initiative retains ideological elements drawn from the heyday of the confrontational politics of Non-Alignment which do not adequately (or at least do not fully) represent the contemporary political and economic context of its members. Linked to this is the fact that, while acknowledged as powers by dint of their preponderance of economic and material means, this has not translated into wide-spread recognition within their respective regions. For all these reasons, IBSA relies primarily on an elite defined form of south activism as a key source of legitimacy for its endeavors. The construction of a strong regional identity for IBSA based on its members' strategic positions in South Asia, South America and Southern Africa is, in our viewpoint, a more convincing common ground to legitimize a sustainable diplomatic partnership between the IBSA states. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Issues of power, hegemony and conflict are present in all regions of the world, yet there are some contexts where these dynamics are a more salient dimension to daily life. Culture and politics within India collide with the multiple layers of hegemonic relationships that exist within Indian society. Disputes over regional, religious, territorial, economic and caste issues are all arenas in which hegemony takes center stage. This paper will consider the various ways in which power and hegemony contribute to the multiple layers of conflict within Indian society on dimensions that are evident and those that are more subtle. Peace Education is considered as one manner of addressing these issues and is evaluated as a contribution that runs the risk of possibly only impacting the more privileged members of the society. This analysis, then, will consider both the role and responsibility that education has not only in teaching about issues of hegemony, but in addressing these issues more directly in the dissemination of knowledge. This paper will consider these issues as they relate to the author’s experience as a 2003 Fulbright Scholar in India working on the development of a Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution Center at the University of Madras. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is in your Salad? An Ecological Political Economy of the Salad Bowl of CaliforniaCalifornia produces one third of the food eaten in the United States and exports billions of dollars worth of agricultural products. Monterey County, California, has some of the most intensely farmed landscape of the world and one of the most prosperous farming regions of the global North. It produces about 40 percent of the total exports originating from California. The Salinas Valley, known as the ‘Salad Bowl’, produces a large portion of the total exports originating from California. The lettuce, broccoli, celery, cauliflower, spinach, asparagus, tomatoes and carrots produced here, may be part of industrialized ‘precision’ farming but are heavily dependent on human labor, specifically migrant labor. This paper interrogates the ‘nature’ and the ‘dirt’ on agriculture/ecology in light of California’s global agribusiness. It adopts an ecological political economy approach to examine the foundations of this agribusiness based on the desire to maximize productivity and profit in order to compete in a global market. It examines the systematic transformation of food into a commodity that hides devastating ecological and social costs. In particular, it examines the heavy dependence on migrant labor and conditions of labor camps to make connections between economy and ecology. The paper also examines how Salinas Valley communities are reclaiming resources, human dignity and confronting consumption.It compares these efforts to the Landless Movement in Brazil and the Organic Movement in India. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the findings of a research project that investigates the political and economic challenges that thwart reform of the fertilizer sector in India. Fiscal, distributional and environmental concerns make the case for such reform quite compelling. While international organizations have consistently advocated reforms in this sector and successive administrations have attempted changing policies for a decade and a half, actual change has been sporadic and incremental and has had little impact on the burgeoning fertilizer subsidy bill. This paper unpacks the international, national, state-level and societal factors that have shaped policy change. Predictably, the strong fertilizer lobby and representation by large farmers present substantial hurdle in initiating and implementing proposed changes. Domestic institutional factors such as bureaucratic politics and center-state politics have shaped the reform process substantially. Global hydrocarbon prices as well as pressure from international organizations play important roles in the reform process. However, the paper concludes that while the factors mentioned above are important, the strongest explanation for lack of reform is ideational. Based on the literature on discourse coalitions, this paper argues that two distinct coalitions with different world-views on the role of state and markets in the economic arena are engaged in the discourse on policy change. Policy change has not occurred because the coalition for change continues to be much smaller and less articulate about the benefits of change as compared to the coalition in favor of the existing policy framework. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at the efforts of developing nations to gain access to the economic, security, and political benefits of space. The analysis in this paper compares the efforts of several developing nations and identifies the extent to which developing nations have been successful in gaining access to the many benefits of space. In measuring ?success? the analysis focuses on whether developing countries individually and/or collectively have been able to develop space capabilities and thus the essential elements of national ?space power.? Particular attention is given to the cases of India, Brazil, and China. However, attention is also given to the efforts of several other developing nations in regions such as Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. The paper concludes by identifying several common factors that have constrained the respective efforts of developing nations and ensured that they have remained dependent upon the space capabilities and assistance of more developed nations. This dependency undercuts the ability of these aspiring space powers to improve their respective positions vis-à-vis the more developed nations. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic ascent and political self-assertion of a set of newly emerging powers holds the potential to transform the established institutional hierarchies of capitalist world order in the coming decades. There appears to be a growing consensus on the part of 'Western' elites that the increasing economic and political weight of countries such as China and India merits their integration into the upper echelons of international organization. The debate over reform of the Group of Eight (G8)—a powerful informal grouping of major capitalist countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and, since 1998, Russia)—epitomizes recent attempts to include emerging market economies in the structures of global governance. Membership in this exclusive forum has been a point of contention ever since, and problems of legitimacy and efficiency have been long-standing concerns. Against the backdrop of what seems to be an impending global power shift, the expansion of G8 membership has become a matter of utmost urgency. Unless extended to include at least some of the major emerging market economies, it is argued, the G8 can no longer contribute to the management of the global political economy. Numerous organizational schemes have been proposed, and important steps towards G8 expansion have been taken (for a comprehensive overview, see Hajnal 2007a). After two decades of fixed membership, the original Group of Seven (G7) officially admitted Russia in 1998. One year later, a joint 'Group of Twenty' (G20) of the G7 finance ministers and central bank governors and their counterparts from 'systemically significant' countries was established. Consultations with emerging market economies have become regular fixtures of the G8 summits, and since 2003 a permanent 'outreach group' including Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa has formed. At the most recent summit in Heiligendamm, a two-year, issue-specific dialogue between the G8 and the 'outreach five' was initiated. Some observers have argued that the G8+5 process may conclude with the admission of these countries into the G8 and give impetus to the reform of other international organizations such as IMF, World Bank and OECD (Kirton 2007; Gnath 2007). These developments raise the fundamental question of whether a more closely coordinated, globally integrated form of political-economic regulation is in the making. The specialized literature on the G8 seems to answer this question in the affirmative. Approaching the issue of institutional reform almost exclusively from the point of view of how the legitimacy and efficiency of the G8 can be enhanced, most scholars tend to view the increasing involvement of emerging market economies in the G8 system as necessary and desirable steps towards a more inclusive and effective form of global governance. While providing a wealth of information and detailed political analysis, the extant literature can be said to be guided by a 'problem-solving' approach: it takes the existing social relations in which the G8 is embedded as given, and seeks to give policy advice on what adjustments are necessary for the governance mechanism to operate under changing conditions (Cox 1981). Such an approach, however, takes for granted what is arguably the most striking institutional feature of the G8. More than a preference of summit leaders (Garavoglia 1984, 5) or unavoidable trade-off between efficiency and breadth of participation (Bayne 2002, 26), the informal and exclusive institutional format of the G8 architecture points to an underlying power relationship between 'insiders' and 'outsiders'... ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

American hegemony has passed its peak. The twenty-first century will see a more multi-polar international system. Yet Western European countries may not be the United States' main foils in decades to come. Four new poles of the international system are now widely known in the business and financial press as the "BRICs economies" (Brazil, Russia, India, and China). Does the concept of "the BRICs" have meaning within a rigorous political science framing? From the perspective of an economic liberal employing neoclassical assumptions to understand the world economy, the category's justification is surprisingly weak. In contrast, a political or economic realist's framing instructs us to focus on states that are increasing their relative material capabilities—as each of the four is. Finally, within a liberal institutionalist's mental model, the BRICs countries are a compelling set, yet one with a deep cleavage between two sub-groups: large emerging powers likely to remain authoritarian or revert to that state, and those that are securely democratic. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article compares the results of the transitions to modernization of China and India. Modernization programs delved in the economy and the political system. In terms of gross domestic product (GDP) indicators, China's GDP has increased ninefold while that of India increased threefold. China has performed better than India regarding human development indicators including fertility rates and life expectancy at birth. China was able to reduce its population growth rate as India ignored its population growth.

Energy is fueling the sped-up Indian economy, which in turn is fueling demand for even more energy. Given the inability of domestic supply to match demand, the Indian government and its companies have been increasingly looking beyond the country's borders ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study estimates the effects of politics and economics on the phenomenon of declining fertility in 15 states in India over the time period 1981-1998. Reduction in birth rates is a critical step in a nation?s demographic transition. In transitions engineered by governments, we expect politics to play a key role in stabilizing a nations? population. In order to test the expectations relating politics, economics, and demographic change, we first estimate measures of political capacity for fifteen Indian states using the techniques outlined in Arbetman and Kugler (1997) and Organski, Kugler, Johnson, and Cohen (1984). Second, we test this measure of politics on declining birth rates in India. Consistent with the literature, we find that increasing income levels within a state tends to reduce birth rates. We also find that after controlling for economic effects, politics plays a significant role in explaining variation in birth rates across the states. Relatively capable but poor states outperform their less capable but richer counterparts in reducing birth rates. From a policy perspective, a stable population across the Indian states will lay the foundations for increases in productivity. Sustained gains in productivity will ultimately determine India?s role in world politics. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]