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Neoliberalism, industrial reconstruction and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) increasingly dictate the character and the agenda of Mexico's economic policy in the 1990s. Recognizing the importance and potential of the small firm sector within this framework, the Salinas and Zedillo Administrations have strongly supported economic activities once labelled as 'informal' or belonging to the 'black market'. Despite strong support, however, there is a great dearth in studies that address the phenomenon of accelerated expansion of the small-scale enterprise sector. The present article examines this problematic from a flexible specialization perspective. Against an historical background, the author offers an account of the expansion of mezcal production by small-scale enterprises clustered in a micro region of the State of Jalisco. The central argument is that the relative success of the mezcal sector can be understood through the concepts of 'clustering' and 'collective efficiency'. Through these concepts, the author throws some light on a form of production organization in which a gradual increase in the division of labour has brought about a flexible type of manufacture. This flexible and otherwise viable production form is characterized by a fragmentation of the labour process into a multiplicity of individual producers, input suppliers, etc. This has enabled rapid changes along the web of vertical and horizontal relationships of mezcal producers and, in turn, allowed for quick changes in production levels. The article concludes by stating that the emergence of flexible forms of artisanal production - like in the case of mezcal - is relevant at a macro-economic level for three reasons. First, because of its relative independence from complex, sophisticated and expensive technology. Second, because of the creation of new forward and backward linkages. Finally, because networks of small, flexible firms are less prone to be affected by the disruptive economic conditions that characterize this era of globalization, The International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food, Vol. 5 (1996)

This chapter offers a micro-level view of how aspects of policy changes at the macro-political and economic levels affect the lives of smallholder irrigation farmers in a government managed irrigation scheme. It focuses on how farmers in communal irrigation situations are affected by policy changes that are made at top government levels. Smallholder irrigation schemes in communal areas provide places where farmers have relatively more secure water supplies than their rain-fed counterparts and can grow enough food for themselves and their relatives, and able to sell surpluses to meet their cash needs. Zimbabwe’s agriculture is divided into two sub-sectors: large-scale commercial farms, and smallholder communal farms. The chapter attempts to highlight some of the indirect social impacts of Structural adjustment programmes on the section of the population by alluding to price decontrols for farming inputs and basic commodities, market deregulation, and some implications of retrenchment and streamlining of the civil service.

Motivated by an inconclusive debate over implications of resource scarcity for violent conflict, and common reliance on national data and linear models, we investigate the relationship between socio-ecological vulnerability and armed conflict in global drylands on a subnational level. Our study emanates from a global typology of smallholder farmers’ vulnerability to environmental and socioeconomic stresses in drylands. This typology is composed of eight typical value combinations of variables indicating environmental scarcities, resource overuse, and poverty-related factors in a widely subnational spatial resolution. We investigate the relationships between the spatial distribution of these combinations, or vulnerability profiles, and geocoded armed conflicts, and find that conflicts are heterogeneously distributed according to these profiles. Four profiles distributed across low- and middle-income countries comprise all drylands conflicts. Comparing models for conflict incidence using logit regression and ROC (Receiver Operator Characteristic) analysis based on (1) the set of all seven indicators as independent variables and (2) a single, only vulnerability profile- based variable proves that the non-linear typology-based variable is the better explanans for conflict incidence. Inspection of the profiles’ value combinations makes this understandable: A systematic explanation of conflict incidence and absence across all degrees of natural resource endowments is only reached through varying importance of poverty and resource overuse depending on the level of endowment. These are non-linear interactions between the explaining variables. Conflict does not generally increase with resource scarcity or overuse. Comparison with conflict case studies showed both good agreement with our results and promise in expanding the set of indicators. Based on our findings and supporting literature we argue that part of the debate over implications of resource scarcity for violent conflict in drylands may be resolved by acknowledging and accounting for non-linear processes.

On the basis of a detailed case study this paper questions the equity of centralised piped drinking water supply systems installed by the government of Nepal in rural areas. The study shows how processes of socio-technical interaction and change alter the physical water supply infrastructure of the installed public water supply system, simultaneously altering patterns of access to taps and water. The analysis suggests that this happens through a process of "informal privatisation", with community taps becoming appropriated by individuals over time, cutting off some families from their access to community tap water while reinforcing the water security of others. This process is deeply shaped by prevailing relations of power and cultural difference along axes of gender, caste and wealth.

Here we present the results from an intercomparison of multiple global gridded crop models (GGCMs) within the framework of the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project and the Inter-Sectoral Impacts Model Intercomparison Project. Results indicate strong negative effects of climate change, especially at higher levels of warming and at low latitudes; models that include explicit nitrogen stress project more severe impacts. Across seven GGCMs, five global climate models, and four representative concentration pathways, model agreement on direction of yield changes is found in many major agricultural regions at both low and high latitudes; however, reducing uncertainty in sign of response in mid-latitude regions remains a challenge. Uncertainties related to the representation of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and high temperature effects demonstrated here show that further research is urgently needed to better understand effects of climate change on agricultural production and to devise targeted adaptation strategies.

We develop a Socioeconomic Vulnerability Index (SeVI) for climate change affected communities in seven unions 1 of Koyra upazilla 2 in south-western coastal Bangladesh. We survey 60 households from each union to collect data on various vulnerability domains and socioeconomic indicators. The SeVI aggregate these collected data using a composite indicator index, where a relative weight is assigned to each indicator with a view of obtaining weighted average index scores for different vulnerability domains in different unions. Results suggest that southern and south-eastern unions are relatively more vulnerable, which are the most exposed to natural hazards and mostly surrounded by the mangrove forest Sundarbans. Furthermore, social, economic and disaster frequency are found as more influential indicators to adaptive capacity, sensitivity and exposure respectively in Koyra. This pragmatic approach is useful to figure out and monitor socioeconomic vulnerability and/or assess potential adaptation-policy effectiveness in data scarce regions by incorporating scenarios into the SeVI for baseline comparison.

This paper documents how the implementation of forest tenure policy affects the decision-making of farmers in mangrove-shrimp farming systems with regard to their access to and management of mangrove forest in Ca Mau, Mekong Delta, which is the largest remaining mangrove forest in Vietnam. Policies on land allocation, land tenure and use-rights are important since they potentially promote sustainable mangrove-shrimp management. Forest management policy in Vietnam has been changed to promote equality of benefit sharing among stakeholders and devolved State forest management to the household level. However, to what extent its implementation can stimulate both mangrove conservation and livelihood improvement is still being debated. We use access and its social mechanisms to investigate how State Forest Companies (FC) and farmers can benefit from mangrove exploitation. The study was conducted from September 2008 to August 2010 using both qualitative and quantitative methods and using a participatory approach. After group discussions and in-depth interviews with a wide range of stakeholders, we interviewed 86 households in four communities using structured questionnaires. Results show the imbalance in access to finance, markets, and differences in authority between the two actors, farmers and FC. The discussion focuses on the possibilities of “win–win” outcomes, i.e. land tenure regimes promoting the devolution of sustainable forest management to farm households to balance benefits of both mangrove conservation and livelihood improvement.

The Government of Ghana is leading the implementation of Community Child Labour Monitoring (CCLM) System as remediation and monitoring tool to free cocoa production from the worst forms of child labour and trafficking. Through a mixed-method approach which combines exploratory qualitative and quantitative methods, this paper sought to understand how CCLM operates and its ability to mobilize or generate social capital to deal with worst forms of child labour. It also ascertained the emerging household labour re-arrangement to facilitate a more sustainable change in cocoa production systems. The results indicate that the CCLM as a voluntary social auditing system is working in the community where members hold themselves accountable for the welfare of children. Task distribution was developmentally determined and tasks considered appropriate for children are based on their body and psychosomatic maturity and not only on the age of the child. Again the study asserts that the willingness of children to support parents even at the expense of school suggests that child labour is family embedded and that children should not only be targeted for separation from work but should be offered appropriate avenue to nurture their skills through cultural-legally acceptable work frame.

Resource grabs, particularly land and water, can be a proxy for geopolitical influence. As such, ‘grabs’ become intertwined in international power relations and the competing collective goals and state priorities of economic development, poverty elimination, ecosystem management, energy, self-sufficiency, and food supply stability. African land has become the most appealing and vulnerable to acquisition. In this article we will analyze external investor actions in Africa by South Africa to explain how regional and global geopolitics are fostering a ‘new’ scramble for natural resources on the African continent. This south–south geopolitical concern examines South Africa's investment in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Lesotho. We argue that ‘grabbing’ is important, but often it is not the foremost factor in south–south relations and, as such, is an inadequate basis for exploring the role of domestic capital and government investment corporations. We contend that grabbing is not only about food, finances, energy, or even water itself, but also about geopolitical influence. Land and water resource acquisition become intertwined in international power relations and the competing goals of state priorities. This article uses an International Relations framework to analyze these complex relationships, spheres of influence, and asymmetries. Its central argument is that countries with limited arable land ‘securitize’ (B. Buzan, O. Waever, & J. de Wilde [Eds.], 1998, Security: A framework for analysis, Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf) their food supply and seek ways to increase the supply of food and sources of ‘virtual’ water by targeting ‘easy targets’ for resource imperialism, like weak states

Efforts to unlock the genetic potential of both rice and fish, when combined with improvements in the management of rice-fish systems, can potentially increase agricultural productivity and food security in some of the poorest and most populous countries in Asia. In Bangladesh, estimates suggest that the country's potential rice-fish production system encompasses 2-3 million hectares of land. But despite three decades of research on biophysical and technical aspects of rice-fish systems, this potential has not been fully realized due to insufficient attention given to the social, economic, and policy dimensions of rice-fish system improvement. This paper provides a characterization of the diverse and changing nature of rice-fish systems in Bangladesh to shed new light on the economic viability of different rice-fish systems and recommend policy and investment options to accelerate the development of appropriate rice-fish technologies. Data are drawn from a novel subdistrict-level survey of fishery officers, a household/enterprise survey, focus group discussions, and a meta-review of the literature on aquaculture in the country, all of which were conducted in 2010-2011. Findings indicate that concurrent rice-fish systems, alternating rice-fish systems, and collectively managed systems offer considerable potential for increasing productivity and farm incomes in Bangladesh. Findings also suggest that while innovation in these rice-fish systems is being driven by households and communities, there is need for more supportive government policies and investments to enable further innovation. Policymakers need to develop effective regulations to promote feed and fish quality and quantity, for example. More rigorous analysis of the intended and unintended impacts of these policies and investments is also necessary. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Faced with rising non-communicable diseases (NCDs), the Ecuadorian Government has proposed a model health program targeting individual and environmental level determinants. Drawing on cosmopolitan social theory, the experiences of counter-movements and concerns over food policy, the authors explore how mass pesticide poisoning and obesity can be viewed as the product of the ‘success’ of the modernization policy as well as a specific range of global phenomena configuring civic activity and policy situations. Through the study of NCDs as an emergent social field, the authors examine historical developments and heterogeneity in peoples’ practices for insights on more practical and effective public policy responses. The rise of the consumer–citizen in counter-movements represents a paradoxical, but promising dynamic capable of reconstituting economies, culture, and society. In Ecuador, social action appears to be a largely neglected and under-utilized resource for tackling NCDs and perhaps other highly pressing and seemingly intractable food policy concerns.

This paper contributes to ongoing debates about the possibilities/impossibilities and particular challenges related to conducting field research in conflict settings by addressing a particular topic of concern: collaboration between researchers, organisations, respondents, and other actors present in the field. Whereas collaboration with local actors has been common for reasons of access and security, there seems to be a lack of recognition of the manner in which collaboration in the field shapes the generation of knowledge on conflict and post-conflict settings. The objectives of this paper are twofold: (i) to highlight the potential contribution of research collaborations in conflict environments beyond pragmatic considerations of access and security; and (ii) to argue for more explicit attention to how such forms of collaboration influence the construction of knowledge and for more rigour in tracing the implications of such cooperation. The paper seeks to contribute to continuous learning on the possibilities/impossibilities of working with interactive research under conditions of conflict and insecurity.

This article analyses the effects of slum upgrading on the lives of slum dwellers, especially on their position in society and their relation with the state. It zooms in on the implementation of Prometrópole, a World Bank-funded slum upgrading project in Recife that removes the population from shacks close to rivers to new housing estates. In this project, the state embraces participatory democracy and stresses the growing inclusion of the poor as citizens of the Brazilian nation-state. The question that inspired the article is: ‘How does the “citizenship agenda” employed by the Brazilian state relate to practices of political belonging in the urban periphery, characterized by social exclusion and violence?’ On the basis of ethnographic research, the article concludes that the upgrading of poor neighbourhoods indeed increases feelings of belonging and inclusion among the poor population. At the same time, however, the stress on the responsible citizen and the empty participatory procedures in the project have the perverse effects of side-lining the poor and reinforcing clientelist politics.

This article presents findings on the current state of fisheries governance in South Asia from the perspective of legal pluralism. It is based on ethnographic fieldwork in six coastal districts of India and Sri Lanka and focuses on resource health and allocation. We suggest that interactions between state and non-state systems vary, and include indifference, conflict, accommodation and mutual support. None of the studied governance patterns appear to have been able to halt or reverse overfishing, though we identify some positive local innovations. The situation is more promising with regard to resource allocation. Fairness in allocation emerges as a prime concern of most non-state legal systems in South Asian fisheries, and state agencies do tend to become involved in resource allocation if non-state fishery authorities fail to achieve it. We conclude by arguing that addressing resource health and allocation concerns will require increased state and non-state cooperation.Cet article se penche sur l′état actuel de la gouvernance des pêches en Asie du Sud, dans la perspective du pluralisme juridique. Il s′appuie sur des recherches ethnographiques effectuées dans six districts côtiers de l′Inde et du Sri Lanka et s′intéresse plus particulièrement à l’état et la distribution des ressources. Nous notons que les interactions entre les systèmes étatiques et non-étatiques varient entre l′indifférence, le conflit, le compromis et le soutien mutuel. Aucun des modes de gouvernance étudiés ne semble être en mesure de stopper ou inverser la tendance à la surpêche, malgré certaines innovations positives constatées au niveau local. La situation est plus encourageante en ce qui concerne la distribution des ressources. Nous notons que l′équité dans la répartition constitue une préoccupation majeure pour la plupart des systèmes juridiques non-étatiques des pêcheries d′Asie du Sud, et que les organismes d′État ont tendance à intervenir lorsque les autorités de la pêche non-étatiques échouent dans leurs efforts redistributifs. Nous concluons que tant la préservation que la distribution des ressources nécessitent une coopération accrue entre les organisations étatiques et non gouvernementales.

Snapped up for, in places, as little as fifty cents per hectare, African land is not necessarily brought into immediate food, forestry and mining production, and when it is, staples and biofuels dominate rather than export crops. Speculative hoarding, with a view to bringing the land into production when grain and other staples commodities markets are at their most profitable or selling the cheaply acquired land off again at enormous profit at a propitious future moment. The present contribution will see land grab, along with the virtual energy and virtual water that come with the land, as a phase in an ongoing geopolitical game for influence. Moreover, the present article considers the circumstances and options of two regionally hegemonic powers, Egypt and South Africa, claiming land and virtual water - or claiming it back. Atualmente, no continente africano, grandes porções de terra são negociadas a preços que chegam a até 50 centavos de dólar por hectare. Seu caráter especulativo indica que tais áreas entrarão em produção no momento que o preços dos alimentos estiverem altos ou serão vendidas quando valorizadas. Neste contexto, este artigo têm por objetivo contribuir no entendimento de como a atual apropriação de territórios, juntamente com sua energia e água virtual, representam uma fase do jogo geopolítico contemporâneo. Para isso, este artigo analisa as circunstancias e opções de dois países Africanos regionalmente hegemônicos, Egito e África do Sul, e suas estratégias em reivindicar e manter o acesso às suas terras e água virtual frente à tensões com outros países e investidores. Os dois casos ilustram como a importância das preocupações em relação a segurança geopolítica destes países legitimam as suas reivindicações territoriais. Tierras por todo el continente Africano están siendo apoderadas por tan poco como 50 centavos de dólar por hectárea. Sin embargo, éstas no se utilizan necesariamente para producción alimentaria, forestal, o minera, y cuando es el caso, dominan los biocombustibles y alimentos de primera necesidad, dejando de lado la exportación de cultivos. Por otra parte, dichos terrenos también se acaparan especulando con futuros auges de precios de los commodities o aumentos del precio de la tierra. El presente artículo considera la apropiación de la tierra, junto con los conceptos de agua virtual y energía virtual, como una nueva etapa en el juego geopolítico de lucha por la influencia. Además este trabajo abarca las circunstancias y opciones de dos potencias hegemónicas regionales, Egipto y Sudáfrica, los cuales reclaman el agua y tierra virtual que les fueron arrebatadas.

Deze bijdrage gaat in op methodologische problemen die optreden als je corruptie naar waterbeheer wilt onderzoeken op basis van twee sterk verschillende landenstudies: de verlening van watervergunningen in Kazachstan en Chili. De case studies laten zien hoe corruptie op macro- en microschaal in zijn werk gaat en wat de voorwaarden zijn. In plaats van met de vinger te wijzen is het zinvoller om greep te krijgen op de manier waarop zowel de gevers als ontvangers van smeergeld corrupte praktijken in woord en daad in stand houden. Door bewustwording van die patronen kunnen mogelijk gevestigde patronen worden doorbroken.

This article addresses food quality standards. It suggests that writing on standards creates a flat view of the subject, failing to grasp the richness of the multiple self-organizing practices that shape quality within functioning markets. The article documents the social dimension of quality and the ‘quality strategies’ developed by fresh-food wholesalers, greengrocers and producers in the Buenos Aires Wholesale Central Market, Argentina. These strategies assemble the freshfood market and construct a representation of quality as an aspect of trade in places where food exchanges are conducted. Using a social interactionist approach, we propose that attention needs to be given to the settings in which food quality standards are negotiated and used by different actors. In so doing we suggest that studies that focus on the diffusion of ‘global’ quality standards should not omit consideration of differential responses to these standards, even if the conditions appear relatively homogeneous

Este artículo analiza la relación entre conflictos mineros, desarrollo y procesos de participación democrática en Guatemala. A través del estudio de caso de San Idelfonso Ixtahuacán, un municipio en el departamento de Huehuetenango, explora cómo los casos de activismo se pueden entender en relación a las experiencias de la ciudadanía en Guatemala. Se relata primero la marcha de los mineros de Ixtahuacán y cómo ella puede ser entendida dentro del marco del conflicto armado interno (1960-1996). Después se analiza cómo el conflicto armado moldea las maneras contemporáneas con las que la población resiste a la minería, y cómo el Estado guatemalteco reacciona ante estos actos de protesta.

Crisis als kans? – Het Chinese karakter voor ‘crisis’ staat voor ongeluk, maar ook voor kansen. Een crisis kan destructief zijn maar ook constructief, in de zin dat ze positieve ontwikkelingen kan bevorderen. ‘Never waste a good crisis’, zei Hillary Clinton: de huidige economische crisis zou heel positieve effecten kunnen sorteren op klimaat en onze energiezekerheid. Onder druk wordt alles vloeibaar: een crisis legitimeert noodmaatregelen die normaliter ondenkbaar zijn, en kan ongekende innovatie bewerkstelligen.

Shrimp farming is a major livelihood activity in the Mekong Delta in the southernmost part of Vietnam. The Vietnamese government has promoted shrimp farming as a way to reduce poverty, provide employment opportunities and increase exports to support economic development. The shrimp farming system, however, is economically and ecologically risky and may negatively influence the environment and the sustainability of local people's livelihoods. Because very little is known about the diversity of strategies people employ to deal with these risks, a study was performed in the Mekong Delta across four shrimp farming systems: (1) improved extensive non-forest, (2) mixed mangrove-shrimp, (3) intensive and (4) clustered intensive. The risks and livelihood strategies that were encountered differed systematically across the four farming systems. It was found that the uncertainties that the shrimp farmers faced include limited access rights to the mangrove forest, crop failure due to regular occurrence of shrimp disease, high investment costs and volatile markets for shrimp. Shrimp farmers have created several strategies for coping with these uncertainties, including redesigning farms, producing salt, changing the species farmed from Penaeus monodon to Penaeus vannamei, becoming involved in a cooperative cluster, integrating aquaculture and agriculture, and farming shrimp by organic standards.

Fishery in Ca Mau, Viet Nam’s most southern province in the Mekong Delta, plays locally an important role for human nutrition and has great potentials for export earnings. The overexploitation of inshore fishing resources is a major problem in Viet Nam’s coastal areas along the Mekong Delta. As a result, the Catch per Unit of Effort of small-scale fishing enterprises has decreased, undermining the sustainability of livelihoods of fishing families. The paper focuses on livelihoods’ strategies and diversification in the context of overexploitation and exhaustion of near-shore resources in relation to fishery policies. The results show that overexploitation is unavoidable in near-shore waters because of the lack of enforcement of fishery regulations for offshore vessels and the limitation of alternative sources of income and opportunities for livelihood diversification for small-scale fishers. The present policies to prevent overexploitation need to be reconciled with livelihood sustainability and fishery management, resource conservation and socio-economic goals

Spoils of Truce: Corruption and State-Building in Postwar Lebanon

While adaptation tends to be approached as an issue for policy analysis, framing and powering strongly interact with policy analysis (puzzling) and are at least as important for adequate outcomes in such an ambiguous context. The present contribution compares and analyzes two Dutch adaptation strategies in the Central Netherlands: (1) realizing a flood bypass channel near the town of Kampen and (2) exploring possibilities to raise the water level of Lake IJssel, enhancing the country’s freshwater storage capacity. The article concludes that in both trajectories there is an important role for policy analysis (puzzling) but the cases differ strongly in the way actors frame the intervention, their corresponding powering strategies and the policy outcomes.

Ghana produces about 2,000,000 metric tons of oil palm fruits annually, and small-scale processors contribute about 60% of crude palm oil production. The country is not self-sufficient in the fats and oils needed for industrial use and home consumption. A large percentage of the palm oil produced by small-scale processors cannot be utilized by the larger scale industries in Ghana or abroad because of its poor quality. There is an urgent need to explore the causes and to identify ways to address the situation. We carried out a diagnostic study in the Kwaebibirem District using key informant interviews, focus group discussions and surveys based on a semi-structured questionnaire to assess the processing practices of small-scale oil palm fruit processors, and to analyse the rationale behind these practices and their effects on the quality of palm oil produced. The processing practices identified included storage of loosened fruits for long periods before boiling, disposal of effluent into drains, use of spent tyres for boiling fruits and no clarification of the oil. About 54% of the processors store oil palm fruits for 1–3 weeks before processing, possibly allowing some fermentation, to increase extractability and reduce labour costs. This practice may reduce the quality of palm oil by increasing the levels of free fatty acids. The effects of the storage period on the quality and quantity of palm oil, the seasonal oil content of oil palm fruits, and the types of linkages and interactions amongst actors in the oil palm industry were identified together with stakeholders as issues for further research. Innovation in small-scale oil palm fruit processing is revealed as a multi-stakeholder, multiple-scale, and interdisciplinary process.

Human rights entered the language and practice of humanitarian aid in the mid-1990s, and since then they have worked in parallel, complemented or competed with traditional frameworks ordering humanitarianism, including humanitarian principles, refugee law, and inter-agency standards. This article positions the study of rights within a sociology of praxis. It starts from a premise that interpretation and realisation of international norms depends on actors’ social negotiation. We seek to contribute to the sociology of rights with insights from legal pluralism and to analyse human rights as a semi-autonomous field in a multiplicity of normative frameworks. Based on cumulative research into humanitarian aid in disaster response, refugee care and protracted crises, the article explores how humanitarian agencies evoke different normative frameworks to legitimate their presence and programmes. How aid is shaped through the ‘rights speak’ of aid workers and recipients alike is illuminated by cases of programmes promoting women’s rights against sexual abuse from Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Using the example of one of the African fisheries that has been most significantly transformed from family based to commercialized—that on Lake Victoria in Tanzania—this article considers the social nexus of decision making and focuses on analyzing women’s place. It is true that women have never been more than a minority in fisheries due to traditional inheritance patterns and new market structures, both of which bypass women in questions of ownership and decision making. We look in vain for fishwives, if this means female fish producers acting with a highly visible degree of economic and social autonomy. There is no vernacular term to identify women who work with fish or those rare women who own fishing vessels. And yet the absence of derogatory representation suggests that there have been few attempts to detract from women who are active in the fishery. Should we thus be aiming at more subtlety in our analytical approaches to fishing relations on Lake Victoria? The article unveils the ways in which women’s relations with fishermen are negotiated and how agreements are reached on behalf of their families. It explores for women’s empowerment via the customary social relations and management arrangements that exist in these riparian communities. The lake fishery has a basis for development, but its potential for the kind of growth that will have returns for future generations rests on an appreciation of how fisher-wives conceive of, and respond to, the opportunities, constraints and risks of investing in this fishery.

This article envisages slum dwellers' politics in Recife, Brazil as a realm of possibility in which care and recognition are central. Community leaders are its main facilitators as articulators of slum dwellers' needs and aspirations. The article's notion of slum politics is an elaboration of Chatterjee's (2004) ideas on popular politics as a “politics of the governed.“ Yet the article critiques the governmentality perspective for its inability to envisage a politics of hope and possibility. It distinguishes among slum politics, governmental politics (projects and programs), and electoral politics (voting), which are entwined and interdependent, but different. Zooming in on a community leader's urban agriculture project, the article argues that this project, which from an outsiders' perspective may be considered non-viable, provided slum dwellers with possibilities to strive for community solidarity and personal recognition. Slum politics, the article concludes, is about claiming the right to be counted and recognized, and about the care for the other.

This article presents an ethnography of the evolution of Prometr´ opole, a slum upgrading project in the Brazilian city of Recife. The project aims to improve the urban infrastructure, eradicate slums and resettle the population. We focus on the project's first area of intervention, Jacarezinho. We analyze how, from lead-up through implementation, the project gained shape and gradually became real. Participatory procedures were very important in shaping the project that for a long time did not materialize. We argue that the project manifested itself as a vehicle of modernity that evoked a dream of progress. The population, which never asked for the project, was attracted to this dream, but remained critical. We contend that, although the project partly delivered on its promises, for many slum dwellers it failed to entail a better life. We portray the project's genealogy, the compromise between different aims, and an echelon of post-project frustrations.

Since the 1990s Latin America has witnessed the emergence of ethnic, often social movement-based, political parties. Within this context Rigoberto Quemé Chay became the first indigenous mayor of Quetzaltenango, the second-largest city of Guatemala, a place that until then had been marked by indigenous political exclusion and racism. This article seeks to explain why Quemé was victorious in 1995 and also why he subsequently lost the election in 2004 through an analysis of the ideational struggle within the (indigenous) political organisation, Xel-jú, which backed Quemé's candidacy twice. I use the movements of ‘departure’, ‘manoeuvre’ and ‘arrival’ in the process of the constitution of hegemonic visions of power to analyse Xel-jú's rise to political power

This paper shows how regimes of spatial ordering in Brazil are produced by the entangling of neoliberalism, leftist populism and modernist visions. The paper focuses on Prometrópole, a slum upgrading project in Recife funded by the World Bank, which commenced in 2007. In this project, the neoliberal dimension manifests in the idea that the state, private companies and citizens together are responsible for (re)constructing urban space, and further, that beneficiaries should behave as autonomous citizens, taking responsibility for their new living environment. The leftist political dimension is seen in participatory procedures to involve the target population from project design through to implementation, in expectation of their cooperation with the government. The modernist aesthetics – of straight lines, open spaces and visible order – informs the project design with the requirement to use the new houses and public spaces according to the standards of ‘modern civilization’. As our research shows, such a regime of spatial ordering clashes with the livelihoods of the urban poor, whose quality of life might even deteriorate as a result of the intervention. Furthermore, so-called participatory procedures fail to grant the target population any real influence in creating their environment. Consequently, these residents of the new housing estate drastically reconstruct their private and public areas, reappropriating the urban space and contesting the regime of spatial ordering imposed upon them

Este artículo analiza la configuración de redes de innovación en dos casos de cadenas de valor de biocomercio en Suramérica: producción de salsas de ajíes con frutas amazónicas en Colombia y producción de perfumes en Brasil a partir de aceites esenciales provenientes de Ecuador. Por medio de la integración de dos perspectivas teóricas, los autores resaltan tanto los aspectos económicos como socioculturales que influencian la configuración de estas redes. Esto permite considerar las tensiones, sinergias y contradicciones entre las lógicas del mercado y las prácticas, significados y valores socioculturales locales. Sacando lecciones aprendidas de los estudios de caso, el artículo contribuye a la discusión teórica sobre cómo las cadenas de valor (incluyentes) son social y económicamente construidas, y cómo su desempeño está relacionado con las redes de innovación.

The shoot and root apical meristems (SAM and RAM) formed during embryogenesis are crucial for postembryonic plant development. We report the identification of POPCORN (PCN), a gene required for embryo development and meristem organization in Arabidopsis thaliana. Map-based cloning revealed that PCN encodes a WD-40 protein expressed both during embryo development and postembryonically in the SAM and RAM. The two pcn alleles identified in this study are temperature sensitive, showing defective embryo development when grown at 22°C that is rescued when grown at 29°C. In pcn mutants, meristem-specific expression of WUSCHEL (WUS), CLAVATA3, and WUSCHEL-RELATED HOMEOBOX5 is not maintained; SHOOTMERISTEMLESS, BODENLOS (BDL) and MONOPTEROS (MP) are misexpressed. Several findings link PCN to auxin signaling and meristem function: ectopic expression of DR5rev:green fluorescent protein (GFP), pBDL:BDL-GFP, and pMP:MP-β-glucuronidase in the meristem; altered polarity and expression of pPIN1:PIN1-GFP in the apical domain of the developing embryo; and resistance to auxin in the pcn mutants. The bdl mutation rescued embryo lethality of pcn, suggesting that improper auxin response is involved in pcn defects. Furthermore, WUS, PINFORMED1, PINOID, and TOPLESS are dosage sensitive in pcn, suggesting functional interaction. Together, our results suggest that PCN functions in the auxin pathway, integrating auxin signaling in the organization and maintenance of the SAM and RAM.

Smallholder livelihoods in the Peruvian Altiplano are frequently threatened by weather extremes, including droughts, frosts and heavy rainfall. Given the persistence of significant undernourishment despite regional development efforts, we propose a cluster approach to evaluate smallholders’ vulnerability to weather extremes with regard to food security. We applied this approach to 268 smallholder households using information from two existing regional assessments and from our own household survey. The cluster analysis revealed four vulnerability patterns that depict typical combinations of household attributes, including their harvest failure risk, agricultural resources, education level and non-agricultural income. We validated the identified vulnerability patterns by demonstrating the correlation between them and an independently reported damage: the purchase of food and fodder resulting from exposure to weather extremes. The vulnerability patterns were then ranked according to the different amounts of purchase. A second validation aspect accounted for independently reported mechanisms explaining smallholders’ sensitivity and adaptive capacity. Based on the similarities among the households, our study contributes to the understanding of vulnerability beyond individual cases. In particular, the validation strengthens the credibility and suitability of our findings for decision-making pertaining to the reduction of vulnerability.

The concept of wellbeing is gaining popularity in the study of quality of life and cultural significance of living. The paper aims to contribute to our understanding of objective and subjective wellbeing by exploring the perceptions of women left behind by out-migrating husbands on their quality of life in a transnational social field. The paper uses both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Its primary focus is on the life stories of the four women left behind by their migrant husbands, complementing by quantitative data obtained from a survey among 277 households. Taking an example from Nepal's eastern terai, the paper shows that additional income from remittances has increased the objective wellbeing of the women left behind, but it may not have increased their subjective wellbeing. Hence, it is concluded that improved objective wellbeing of a woman does not necessarily translate into her (improved) subjective wellbeing. The subjective experiences are rather complex, multi-faceted and context specific depending on the family situation, socio-cultural disposition and prior economic situation of the actors involved.

Drylands display specific vulnerability-creating mechanisms which threaten ecosystems and human well-being. The upscaling of successful interventions to reduce vulnerability arises as an important, but challenging aim, since drylands are not homogenous. To support this aim, we present the first attempt to categorise dryland vulnerability at a global scale and sub-national resolution. The categorisation yields typical patterns of dryland vulnerability and their policy implications according to similarities among the socio-ecological systems. Based on a compilation of prevalent vulnerability-creating mechanisms, we quantitatively indicate the most important dimensions including poverty, water stress, soil degradation, natural agro-constraints and isolation. A cluster analysis reveals a set of seven typical vulnerability patterns showing distinct indicator combinations. These results are validated by case studies reflecting the cluster-specific mechanisms and their spatial distribution. Based on these patterns, we deduce thematic and spatial entry points for reducing dryland vulnerability. Our findings could contribute new insights into allocating the limited funds available for dryland development and support related monitoring efforts based on the manageable number of key indicators.

Recent theoretical and experimental work suggests that species diversity enhances the temporal stability of communities. However, empirical support largely comes from experimental communities. The relationship between diversity and stability in natural communities, and the ones facing environmental changes in particular, has received less attention. We created a gradient of fertility in a natural alpine meadow community to test the effects of diversity and fertilization on the temporal variability of community cover and cover of component species and to determine the importance of asynchrony, portfolio effects, cover and dominance for diversity-stability relationships. Although fertilization strongly reduced species richness, the temporal stability in community cover increased with fertilization. Most species showed a decline of temporal stability in mean population cover with fertilization, but two grass species, which dominated fertilized communities after 10 years, showed an increase of stability. Detailed analysis revealed that the increased dominance of these two highly stable grass species was associated with increased community stability at high levels of fertilization. In contrast, we found little support for other mechanisms that have been proposed to contribute to community stability, such as changes in asynchrony and portfolio effects. We conclude that the presence of highly productive species that have stabilizing properties dominate fertilized assemblages and enhance ecosystem stability.

We analysed the temporal and spatial transcript expression of the panel of 18 putative isoallergens from four gene families (Pru p 1–4) in the peach fruit, anther and leaf of two melting cultivars, to gain insight into their expression profiles and to identify the key family members. Genotypic variation of abundantly expressed genes in mature fruit was further screened in nine additional melting cultivars. In the Pru p 1 family, Pru p 1.01 and Pru p 1.06B were predominant and constitutively expressed in all the tissues, with large difference among cultivars observed in mature fruits. Pru p 1.02 was especially abundant only in the leaf. A new member of the Pru p 1 family, Pru p 1.06D, was identified through peach genome mining. In the Pru p 2 family, Pru p 2.01B was predominant in all tissues, whereas Pru p 2.01A was abundant in a few cultivars and undetectable in others. Pru p 3.01 was the most highly expressed member in all tissues except the mesocarp, while the other two members exhibited tissue specificity: Pru p 3.02 was highly expressed in the leaf, and Pru p 3.03 in the anther. Both Pru p 4 isoallergen genes were equally expressed in all tissues of both cultivars. There was high expression variability of Pru p 1 and Pru p 2 members in mature fruits among 11 cultivars, while relative lower for Pru p 3 and Pru p 4. The location, arrangement and features of peach isoallergen genes on the peach genome scaffolds were illustrated.

Investigating continuities and discontinuities is useful for an analysis of changes over time. Continuity is not just a simple, unbroken line of events, but involves a set of institutional and discursive linkages. The paper explores continuities in that relate to the agricultural expert system that has gradually taken shape in South Africa and that plays a prominent role in the design of land reform. The persistence of continuities indicates the extent to which dramatic transformations of the institutional infrastructure in agriculture have occurred, but with fewer changes in its content. Historical and contemporary analysis allows us to underline the continuity of prescriptions and modes of ordering in the past and present, evident in three land and agrarian reform projects in the Eastern Cape

In this article, I analyze how indigenous authorities in Guatemala negotiate citizenship at the local level within the larger context of indigenous claim making in Latin America. I argue that the construction of citizenship at the local level is not only framed by models imposed on indigenous communities but also shaped by the meanings that individuals attach to their indigenous identity. I use the election of Quetzaltenango's first Maya mayor and the abolition of part of the system of community services in Santa María as points of departure for exploring the ways that indigenous actors approach legal frameworks as a way of constructing citizenship. In concluding, I discuss how new categories of inclusion can result in new categories of exclusion

Seasonal floodplains under private and public ownership in the Indo-Ganges river basin provide food and income for millions of people in Bangladesh. Floodplain ownership regimes are diverse, covering the whole spectrum from public to private ownership. The paper compares community-based fish culture projects in these floodplains and analyzes the institutional arrangements of three different Floodplain Management Committees (FMC). The paper aimed to understand the complex institutional relations that govern ownership, access, and control of the floodplains under community-based fish culture (CBFC) to increase fish production and the livelihoods of the poor. We followed the stakeholders representing the various institutions and organizations such as the Department of Fisheries (DoF), Department of Land (DoL), and FMC. Other important stakeholders were the lease-holders of public water bodies in the floodplains, private landowners, seasonal, and professional fishers. The analysis demonstrates a significant increase of benefits to all stakeholders, including the poor, through the sharing of benefits derived from their involvement in the project. The willingness of different social classes to work together, the adoption of new technologies, and the societal embeddedness of local government institutions appear to be important inputs for policy making.

The Buenos Aires Central Wholesale Produce Market (BACWM) in Argentina supplies 1,500,000 tons of produce yearly to more than 11 million consumers and receives about 13,000 trucks a week from areas within and outside the country. This market faced global transformations with the emergence of supermarkets in the 1980s. Supermarkets started buying fruit and vegetables from wholesalers, but later dealt directly with producers. To understand the evolution of the relationship between wholesalers and supermarkets, this essay uses the concept of knowledge interface. The research question is how knowledge is transferred and negotiated between different kinds of actors, and how wholesalers and supermarket procurement managers negotiate conflicts and acquire knowledge. The relation between buyers and sellers involves different kinds of knowledge and power, and their interactions generate unplanned results. The negotiation between tacit knowledge embodied in the wholesalers and the knowledge about quality and logistics that supermarkets want in their procurements allows the actors to resolve problems. This social encounter is a clear example of how geographically distant actors (e.g., international supermarket companies) shape social processes, strategies, and actions in local settings

In Nepal, male out-migration is an important factor to contribute to GDP through regular remittances. This paper looks at the effects of male out-migration on the women left behind in relation to labour participation and decision-making in agriculture. The literature speaks of feminisation of agriculture as a positive development for women’s empowerment. A distinction is made between labour feminisation and managerial feminisation. As the two concepts indeed refer to two different roles, power positions and managerial practices, the paper separately explores these practices and actors involved. Data were collected for a doctoral study in Jhapa District, Eastern Nepal; a lowland area from where much male out-migration is taking place. The study shows a higher level of feminisation in a situation where de-facto autonomous female heads-of-household are decision makers and less in case of women who stay within the patrilineal household of their parents-in-law. Moreover, feminisation in the first case has the unexpected outcome that women seem to be moving away from agriculture. An interdisciplinary approach using anthropological in-depth interviews and demographic survey data shows that a concept like feminisation of agriculture needs to be considered and understood in the wider social and cultural context of an expanding rural space

The article discusses the debate on Mayan identity and culture in the context of the abolition of the offices of mayor and "alguacil" (court marshal) in 2003 in the municipality of Santa María de Chiquimula, Guatemala as a result of the perceived improper arrest of an inebriated individual. It notes that peace agreements signed in 1996 marked the beginning of a period of governance according to Mayan custom. The article examines identification with Mayan culture in local power relationships and in political and religious interests, with a focus on the municipality versus rural areas, evangelization versus local customs, and professionalization versus local tradition. It also analyzes discourse on human and indigenous rights versus local customs

'Humanitarian space' denotes the physical or symbolic space which humanitarian agents need to deliver their services according to the principles they uphold. This concept, which separates humanitarian action from its politicized environment, is widely used in policy documents and academic texts, even though empirical evidence abounds that this space is in fact highly politicized. To some extent the uncritical use of the concept of humanitarian space is understandable because of its aspirational character. This article explores a different angle: how different actors use the concept and the language of humanitarian space and principles in the everyday politics of aid delivery. It proposes an empirical perspective that approaches humanitarian space from the perspective of everyday practices of policy and implementation. It maintains that the humanitarian space is an arena where a multitude of actors, including humanitarians and the disaster-affected recipients of aid, shape the everyday realities of humanitarian action. The paper develops this perspective for two humanitarian operations: a protracted refugee camp in Kakuma, Kenya, and the tsunami response in Sri Lanka.

The Buenos Aires Central Wholesale Market is a place where a lot of social and political relationships with different degrees of power are developed. Since this market was opened in 1984, the participating actors have faced several internal and external transformations, such as the implementation of neo liberal policies, changes in the Market’s administrative rules and the introduction of new actors in the retail distribution chain. Therefore, this article shows how international economic processes and policies become embedded in local distribution systems, and focuses on the spatial and social variability, i.e. the multiplicity of local social actors and interests involved in the globalization process. The article aims at exploring the creation of the Buenos Aires Central Wholesale Market as a constructed process linked with different kinds of social and political interests and motivations. In this respect, we combined the theoretical framework of political economy and the actor-oriented approach along with different ethnographic tools. The first one helps us to analyse the macro-dynamics of the market, whereas the second one allows us to analyse how people experience global processes in this particular social space. By doing so, we studied the strategies that actors developed in order to confront changes. Since the opening of the Buenos Aires Wholesale Market, these changes have modified the degree of economic and social relevance of the Market, thus generating different degrees of power in the actors involved