Archive for 2010

The 1997 Financial Crisis and the East Asia Development Paradigm

Piangtawan Piang Phanprasit • Jul 13 2010 • Essays

The financial collapse of 1997 which led to regional economic meltdown the following year exposed the link between financial sectors and macroeconomic performances of the troubled economies, and hence the revision of development models pursued by those economies. A distinction needs to be drawn between the crisis as the precipitating event or as the source of Asia’s extraordinary vulnerability

The advocacy politics of NGOs: shaping society to respond to climate change

Adam Groves • Jul 13 2010 • Articles

In his seminal article The Tragedy of the Commons, Garret Hardin described a dilemma whereby individuals, acting independently and in rational pursuit of their own self-interest, will ultimately destroy shared, limited resources, even when it is accepted that this is not in anyone’s long-term interests. Today, climate campaigners see this unfolding before their eyes. But what does it mean for the study of advocacy politics?

Framing climate change

Rodger A Payne • Jul 12 2010 • Articles

At my home institution, I’m involved in a project to reduce carbon emissions via individual behavioral changes. A relatively small group of scholars and administrators have been looking at some interesting theoretical and empirical social science research to bolster our efforts.

Scientific illiteracy and religion

Rodger A Payne • Jul 10 2010 • Articles

The May/June 2010 Utne Reader has a brief piece on science versus religion that reframes classic tensions in terms of climate change. By the way, I’m sorry for disappearing for so long. I originally agreed to blog through the Copenhagen meeting, but I later decided to post regularly through this year. I’ll aspire to do better.

To what extent does the EZLN political economy framework offer a viable development alternative to its followers?

James Wilhelm • Jul 9 2010 • Essays

The EZLN is a Polanyian reaction to a specific type of market subordination, something which is central in understanding the extent to which the EZLN represents a viable political economy model for its followers. Furthermore, the Mexican Revolution triggered the emergence of these markets

Outer Space Development: Including Everyone in the Process

Edythe E. Weeks • Jul 9 2010 • Articles

The first phase of outer space development has already taken place, involving satellite telecommunications industries, television, cell phones, the Internet and a multitude of goods and services linked to these space technologies. The vast majority of people around the world still think of outer space as an elite field for government astronauts and scientists. So, why not expose more people to outer space development?

The Responsibility to Protect: a new response to humanitarian suffering?

Antony Lewis • Jul 6 2010 • Essays

The “responsibility to protect” principle (R2P) has radically transformed the international community’s approach to major cases of humanitarian suffering, shifting its focus from “intervention” to “prevention”. Nevertheless, the tragic case of Darfur has clearly demonstrated its limitations.

A NATION AT WAR

Harvey M. Sapolsky • Jul 5 2010 • Articles

President Obama and other senior US officials make constant reference to America being “a nation at war.” This is politically necessary to say and obviously the case because the US has nearly a hundred thousand troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan and reports combat casualties daily.

Raising the Bar on Chocolate: Cocoa Farmers in Ghana Shape the Future

Pauline Tiffen • Jul 3 2010 • Articles

In 1993 Ghana initiated the partial liberalisation of its most significant economic export, cocoa beans. Having resisted World Bank pressure to liberalise fully, the Cocoa Marketing Board retained its monopoly on exports through the Cocoa Marketing Company. It thus sustained its farm-to-port quality control system of every sack and its authority to determine the terms of trade

Hobbes and Thucydides: How the fathers of Realism differ from their offspring

Lea Wisken • Jul 1 2010 • Essays

If the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes has been called a “father of Realism”, then the Greek historian Thucydides must surely be its forefather. This essay is going to compare Hobbes’ and Thucydides’ opinions on the sources of state-behaviour with respect to Realist standpoints, questioning whether they can justifiably be classified as belonging to this school of thought.

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