The ILO: An Agency for Globalization?

The International Labour Organization, set up in 1919 to develop and promote labour standards, is at a crucial point. It has preached that labour is not a commodity and in 1969 received the Nobel Peace Prize. Since then it has run into trouble. This article considers how the ILO has failed to come to terms with the Global Transformation, seeing it as trying to play three roles — a standard‐setter, a technical assistance agency and a knowledge generator — without developing the professional capacity to do so. The big question is whether the ILO could become an effective development agency given the changing character of work and labour in globalizing labour markets and its antiquated governance structure.     

Alice's Unrepresentative Council: Cause for Intervention?

The troubles of Alice Springs have been widely discussed in the Australian media since The Weekend Australian published Nicolas Rothwell's (2011) feature article ‘Destroyed in Alice’ in February. Discussion has covered many things: violence, drugs, alcohol, sex, town camps, property crime, Aboriginal people coming in from outlying communities and the idea of another Commonwealth intervention. One topic that has not been mentioned is Alice's highly unrepresentative town council, built on a little-known electoral system used in Northern Territory local government called ‘exhaustive preferential’. This paper explains and critiques this electoral system and suggests that it is causing significant problems for both Alice Springs Town Council and other local governments in the Territory.1 ¹A version of this article was published in April 2011 in the Canberra Times monthly supplement The Public Sector Informant. Their by-line for the article was ‘A town like Alice needs an intervention’. View all notes It notes that the Northern Territory government is currently reviewing the system and is possibly moving slowly towards change. If change is not effected soon, it asks: is this electoral system cause for another Commonwealth intervention?     

Comment termine-T-on les querelles ? À propos du duel

This essay analyses duels in the early modern period (up until the early part of the nineteenth century), both as the ultimate form of quarrels, their natural conclusion under certain conditions, while duel is itself the object of intense polemics. A duel, which is organised by laws, regulates dissensus at the same time as it exacerbates this dissensus. It is through duels that dissensus in society appears, showing how social intercourses acknowledge disagreements between individuals and regulate ways of solving them. This essay analyses the form of the duel as the end of all quarrels. It then examines the controversies that surrounded duels. Finally, it examines the place of duel in literature, its poetic and dramatic function, in order to underline the ways in which the literary text contributes to a reflection on duels.     

Recycling: A Policy Dilemma for American States?

In 1990, 38 states passed more than 140 recycling laws. What prompts the states to commit to recycling? In this article, various political, economic, and environmental variables are tested for their independent and group effect on states’ recycling commitment. A composite measure of recycling commitment is developed by combining several political and economic attributes. The results indicate that in comparison to the commonly used economic, political, and demographic variables, a new set of variables measuring policy image are more promising.     

Strategizing for Autonomy: Whither Durability and Progressiveness?

What should autonomous formations work towards? How might they strategize to get there? This paper considers these what and how aspects in tandem—a necessary pursuit if clearer pathways to emancipation are to be realized. First, it conceptualizes the relationship between objectives of durability and progressiveness. I introduce “the durability trap”, a situation whereby autonomous formations achieve durability at the expense of their progressiveness, as well as the principles to overcome this. Second, it evaluates how autonomous formations might act collectively and vis‐à‐vis the state to achieve, or not, both durability and progressiveness. I compare the strategies two autonomous formations adopt in response to the development of Media Spree, a redevelopment project in Berlin. I show how symbiotic strategy results in the durability trap and how an interstitial approach works to overcome this. I end by conceiving strategies of interstitiality, symbiosis and rupture as sequential steps to wider transformation.     

Boats for Rivers and Mountains: Sources for New Narratives about River Travel?

What is a boat? Our notions of what constitutes a good boat are tested when it comes to logboats. They are often considered to be of low status, both technologically and functionally. However, logboats are more interesting than that. This article presents three logboats dated to the Roman era and late Viking age, found in the region of Telemark, Norway. The principal concern is to discuss how notions about prehistoric boats can be made known, challenged and discussed by examining the three boats in the context of the rivers and lakes in which they were most probably used. © 2007 Author     

Italy: A new language for a new politics?

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyze the language used by the major actors in contemporary Italian politics. After a brief introduction, which lists the general questions posed by such an analysis, we examine the language of the pre‐1992 regime, which has been rather too hastily condemned as obscure and solipsistic. We then pass to the self‐consciously simple language of Bossi, who constructs a discourse of protest, and of Berlusconi, who offers a discourse of government. These lead to the very different, albeit sometimes complementary, languages of Prodi and D'Alema, which go beyond populism and open new political perspectives. Through these and other examples we examine the role of political language in a changing Italy.     

Geoengineering: re-making climate for profit or humanitarian intervention?

Climate engineering, or geoengineering, refers to large-scale climate interventions to lower the earth's temperature, either by blocking incoming sunlight or removing carbon dioxide from the biosphere. Regarded as ‘technofixes’ by critics, these strategies have evoked concern that they would extend the shelf life of fossil-fuel driven socio-ecological systems for far longer than they otherwise would, or should, endure. A critical reading views geoengineering as a class project that is designed to keep the climate system stable enough for existing production systems to continue operating. This article first examines these concerns, and then goes on to envision a regime driven by humanitarian agendas and concern for vulnerable populations, implemented through international development and aid institutions. The motivations of those who fund research and implement geoengineering techniques are important, as the rationale for developing geoengineering strategies will determine which techniques are pursued, and hence which ecologies are produced. The logic that shapes the geoengineering research process could potentially influence social ecologies centuries from now.     

Education for All: How Much Will It Cost?

In 1990, a target of universal access to basic education by the year 2000 was set by two global conferences. Ten years later, however, it was clear that the target had not been met. Too many countries had made insufficient progress, and although many of the reasons for this inadequate progress were country‐specific, one factor stood out in virtually all countries: inadequate public finance for primary education. In 2000, the Millennium Summit set a new target date for achieving ‘education for all’ of 2015. This article updates the global and regional cost estimates for reaching that target. The estimates are based on the most recent country‐by‐country data on budgetary expenditure, population and enrolment trends, and unit cost. The annual additional cost of achieving ‘education for all’ in developing countries by 2015 is estimated at US$ 9.1 billion. Although this is affordable at the global level, individual countries will need considerably more resources than are currently available. However, official development assistance (ODA) has been declining, and the share of ODA allocated to basic education has changed little over the past decade. Therefore, although affordable, the target of universal basic education by 2015 is likely to be missed, just as it was in 2000, without a major change both in ODA and national budgets.