NGOs,Civil Society,and the State in Bangladesh: The Politics of Representing the Poor

The established rhetoric of opposition between state and NGOs as development agents has shifted to one of complementarity and common interest. Along with this, the ‘comparative advantage’ claimed for NGOs has expanded from economic and welfare benefits to encompass also the political goods of civil society and popular participation. This paper reviews these developments in the context of Bangladesh. It argues that they need to be assessed critically in ways which are both theoretically informed and locally contextualized. While recognizing that there are, indeed, areas of common experience and interest between the state and NGOs in Bangladesh, it questions whether these necessarily coincide with the interests of those they all invoke: the poor.     

The Respectable Politics of Climate Change: The Epistemic Communities and NGOs

Climate change is unusual compared with most environmental issues in the extent to which it has become accepted among orthodox policy institutions and public-and private-sector organizations. The authors explore the conditions that have led to the establishment of an epistemic community that brings together a broad array of actors, including the various NGOs, and the operational dimensions that define the participation of NGOs within the community. An epistemic community does not imply conformity of opinion or approach but allows for differentiation in terms of how its members construct the problem, and their objectives, core beliefs and favoured responses to climate change. Three broad styles of engagement through which NGOs contribute to this debate are identified: developing creative policy solutions, knowledge construction, and lobbying or campaigning. It should be noted that the authors refer primarily to development or environmental NGOs (ENGOs), though they do discuss business NGOs at a few points.     

开拓创新与时俱进

在首轮修志任务基本完成和全面启动续志工作之际,进行队伍培训具有重要意义。修志队伍的水平决定志书的质量。我们必须认真总结首轮修志的经验,这是全国规模、历时20多年,包括两万多专职人员在内的十万多专兼职人员参加的修志实践,是弥足珍贵的。实践是理论的源泉,这么广泛、丰富的实践,只要认真梳理总结,是能够产生新的理论的。我们还必须深入研究面临的新情况、新问题。续修志书主要记述我国改革开放以来这段历史,这是中国历史上发展最迅速、变化最广泛深刻的历史时期之一。只有提高修志队伍的理论素养和业务能力,才能保证续修新志的高质量。     

Saints, Stalwarts, and Slackers: State Financial Contributions to Welfare Reform

Considerable literature finds that spending levels are important predictors of poverty rates, both in the American states and in western European nations. Those jurisdictions with the most generous support programs generally have lower poverty rates. This article examines state Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) spending levels in relation to national norms, the spending ability of the state as predicted by their total taxable revenue base, and the state's poverty rate. The analysis shows enormous variation in state per capita TANF spending, with many states spending far less than the national mean and their fiscal capacity. Most of the low-spending states have the fiscal ability to fund more vigorous programs but at optimal levels; some would still fall below the national mean. In return for improved funding, these states would be candidates for increased federal assistance. A few states with a high poverty rate and usually with large numbers of poor citizens are generous spenders, indicating that funding is one component of effective programs.     

Accountability,motivation and practice: NGOs North and South

This Article does not have an abstract.     

改革开放以来农村改革的历程与经验

实行农村经济体制改革,是我们党在新的时代条件下坚持以马克思主义为指导、结合中国不断发展变化的实际进行的理论创新和新的伟大革命。实践证明,农村实行以家庭联产承包责任制为基础的双层经营体制,是我们党在改革的实践中寻找到的既符合客观规律又符合中国国情的发展之路。为此,梳理、分析我国农村改革与发展的历程,探索和研究其历史经验,把握其发展规律,这对于推进中国特色社会主义事业和全面实现小康目标具有十分重要的理论和实践意义。     

Overcoming the Resource Curse: Reform and the Rentier State in Chile and Argentina, 1973–2000

This article examines the possibility of overcoming the resource curse through case studies of the appropriation and use of mining rents derived from public–private joint ventures in Argentina and Chile in the period 1973–2000. In particular, it examines how two similar cases of sectoral liberalization resulted in divergent outcomes: the deployment of rent‐appropriation strategies around multinational corporations in Argentina and an innovative and productivist approach based on joint ventures with foreign capital in Chile. The article argues that while the liberalization of the sector created similar opportunities for appropriating rents in both countries, the existence of strong civil society pressures in Chile constrained rent‐appropriation and waste by the state, in comparison to the absence of such pressures in Argentina.     

Landscape Mapping (Its Significance,Its Present State and Its Tasks)

The article surveys the post-war economic development of Canada from the point of view of the nation's rapid expansion as a supplier of raw materials and semi-finished goods on the world market. The regional section analyzes the development of four major Canadian regions: the Atlantic, Central, Prairie and Far West regions, as well as the Canadian North. In all regions the most rapid rates of growth are found to have been recorded by raw-material-producing industries oriented toward the export market.     

The missionary position: NGOs and development in Africa

This article traces the evolution of development non–governmental organizations (NGOs) in Africa, and suggests that their role represents a continuation of the work of their precursors, the missionaries and voluntary organizations that cooperated in Europe's colonization and control of Africa. The authors maintain that the work of the NGOs today contributes marginally to the relief of poverty in Africa, and significantly undermines the struggle of the African people to emancipate themselves from economic, social and political oppression. Development NGOs have, unwittingly or otherwise, become a part of the neo–liberal system that has resulted in widespread impoverishment and the loss of the authority of African states to determine their own agenda. NGOs could, and some do, play a role in supporting an emancipatory agenda in Africa, but it involves breaking with the 'missionary position' by disengaging from their paternalistic role in development.     

先秦梁国考

<路史>载伯益为唐泽虞,是为百虫将军,佐禹治水,封之于梁.但较早的文献缺载.1993年陕西岐山县京当乡贺家村东岐山县周原博物馆东墙外西周窖藏出土一件梁伯敔簋,为西周中期之物,说明赢姓梁国的建立最迟也在西周中期之前.经研究,我们认为伯益受封梁国当是事实.商亡后梁国首领归附于周,迁封在周原,梁伯敌就是其后裔,西周中期之后可能为周所并.平王时又将其后裔秦仲的少子康封到夏阳(今陕西韩城市芝川镇西),仍称梁,以续伯益之祀.因此,梁伯敌簋对于梁国史的研究有着重要的意义.