‘Best Practice’ Options for the Legal Recognition of Customary Tenure

Is there a ‘best practice’ model for the legal recognition of customary tenure? If not, is it possible to identify the circumstances in which a particular model would be most appropriate? This article considers these questions in the light of economic theories of property rights, particularly as illustrated by the World Bank's 2003 land policy report. While these theories have their flaws, the underlying concept of tenure security allows a typological framework for developing legal responses to customary tenure. In particular, this article suggests that the nature and degree of State legal intervention in a customary land system should be determined by reference to the nature and causes of any tenure insecurity. This hypothesis is discussed by reference to a wide variety of legal examples from Africa, Papua New Guinea and the South Pacific. The objective is not to suggest that law determines resource governance outcomes in pluralist normative environments, but to improve the quality of legal interventions in order to assist customary groups to negotiate better forms of tenure security and access to resources.     

Law,ethnicity and taxes in Ostrogothic Italy: a case for continuity,adaptation and departure

This article considers the relationship between the social status of Goths and Romans in Italy and the legal and administrative regime of the Ostrogothic state. It is argued that the distinctions made between Goths and Romans by the Ostrogothic state were based primarily upon economic conditions and circumstances of land tenure in Italy, rather than upon ‘ethnicity’. It is furthermore argued that the social and economic conditions that produced the status landscape of late fifth‐ and early sixth‐century Italy were not innovations of the Amal rulers at Ravenna, but rather they represent adaptation to the previous imperial administration ongoing since the early fifth century. In examining this topic, the article touches upon issues of the legal difference between Goths and Romans, the manner of accommodating and administrating soldiers in Italy, and the fiscal resources available to the Ostrogothic court.     

European Cohesion Policy impact on development and convergence: a local empirical analysis in Portugal between 2000 and 2014

Substantial European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) monies have been directed at regional economic and social development in Portugal in which Portuguese local government plays a vital role. Given the magnitude of funding, an important question turns on the effect of the ESIF on overall local authority performance. This paper focuses on the impact of the ESIF on Portuguese municipality performance and development. In particular, it investigates whether the ESIF improved the performance of Portuguese local government and which factors best explain its effect on municipality development. The analysis considers all 308 Portuguese local authorities for the period 2000–2014. Various policy implications flowing from the empirical results of this analysis are explored.     

Neoliberalism,governance, and the geographies of conditional cash transfers

This article considers the geographic effects of conditional cash transfer programs (CCTs), focusing specifically on the ways they rework space, modes of production, and State/society relationships. While CCTs appear linked to neoliberal development and biopolitical governance regimes (viz., governmentality), this article highlights the counterintuitive reasons for why CCTs sometimes fail to meet these broader State objectives. More directly, despite obvious tactics of Statecraft behind CCT initiatives, the effects of these programs can in fact undermine their intended governance outcomes. Drawing from case study research in rural northeastern Brazil – where an overwhelming majority of residents receive Bolsa Família CCT benefits – this article examines the political geographic changes induced by Bolsa Família in a region that has until recently seen very little State presence. By engaging a geographic perspective that focuses on the political and economic effects of CCT programs, this article sheds new light on processes of governance and development in a host of countries throughout the Global South.     

Exile in a Land of Exiles: The Early History of Criminal Transportation Law in New South Wales, 1788–1809

This article considers the peculiar application of English criminal transportation law in the ‘convict colony’ of New South Wales during its foundation years. It demonstrates, first, that transportation was not intended to be within the sentencing jurisdiction of the New South Wales Court, but that it was adopted and practised nonetheless, with confused and incongruous results. In particular, substantial challenges emerged in applying colonial or local sentences to a population that was largely already under sentence of transportation. The result was a raft of innovations and inconsistencies that highlighted the legal and practical problems of performing exile in a land of exiles.     

THE SOVIET OIL INDUSTRY IN THE TWELFTH FIVE-YEAR PLAN

The article briefly considers the question of conservation and oil displacement in recent years. It then focuses on the problem of petroleum supplies, on the factors affecting their expansion, and on Soviet efforts and plans in the field. Investment growth in the oil industry and its regional allocation in the 1980s and beyond are examined. The nature and thrust of the exploratory effort, its relationship to the new reserve classifications, and to prospects for the Soviet oil industry are analyzed. Finally, the causes of the current rebound in output and Soviet plans for field development are assessed.     

HISTORICAL JUSTICE THROUGH REDRESS SCHEMES?

The Swedish redress scheme intended for victims of historical child abuse in out-of-home care compensated only 46% of claimants who sought economic compensation for past harms. This article explores the reasons behind this comparatively low validation rate by investigating a) how the eligibility criteria of the Redress Act were evaluated by the Redress Board; and b) the justifications and underlying values used when applications were rejected with reference to the fact that reported abuse was not deemed to be sufficiently severe according to past standards. Victim capital, which determines how vulnerable or credible a victim is perceived to be by others, as well as competence and narration, are essential aspects for this type of legal proceeding. The article demonstrates that the claimants had to traverse a complicated web of criteria to be awarded compensation. The outcomes for claimants were affected by how the past was conceptualized in this legal setting, what competences the victims themselves possessed, what competence and resources the administrative system offered, and the extent to which the decision-making process fragmented victims’ narratives.     

The Stadium and Economic Development: Cardiff and the Millennium Stadium

Cardiff, in common with other cities in the UK, has increasingly identified the attraction of major sporting events as a potential driver of economic development. This policy in large part depends on the ability of the Millennium Stadium to attract these events, and for local agencies to lever the maximum consequent regional benefit. This article examines the development of the Cardiff stadium, through its construction and hosting of the 1999 Rugby World Cup, to operations in the longer term. Drawing in part upon the substantial American narrative, the article examines whether the city centre stadium is likely to drive wider city or regional economic development, and considers the likely success of an events-based development strategy.     

Occupying the Margins: Labour Integration and Social Exclusion in Artisanal Mining in Tanzania

This article examines the marginal position of artisanal miners in sub‐Saharan Africa, and considers how they are incorporated into mineral sector change in the context of institutional and legal integration. Taking the case of diamond and gold mining in Tanzania, the concept of social exclusion is used to explore the consequences of marginalization on people's access to mineral resources and ability to make a living from artisanal mining. Because existing inequalities and forms of discrimination are ignored by the Tanzanian state, the institutionalization of mineral titles conceals social and power relations that perpetuate highly unequal access to resources. The article highlights the complexity of these processes, and shows that while legal integration can benefit certain wealthier categories of people, who fit into the model of an ‘entrepreneurial small‐scale miner’, for others adverse incorporation contributes to socio‐economic dependence, exploitation and insecurity. For the issue of marginality to be addressed within integration processes, the existence of local forms of organization, institutions and relationships, which underpin inequalities and discrimination, need to be recognized.     

The New Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank: China's Ambiguous Approach to Global Financial Governance

The creation of the New Development Bank (NDB) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has generated a great deal of attention and controversy in the development community and beyond. Do these banks indicate that China is promoting a new model of multilateral development finance that undermines the existing system dating back to Bretton Woods? What are the forces shaping China's policy choices in this area? In contrast to the prevailing tendency to view these banks as part and parcel of the same challenge or opportunity for multilateral development financing, this article highlights major distinctions between the NDB and the AIIB. The fact that China is playing a prominent role in both the NDB and the AIIB suggests that China is not promoting a coherent new model of multilateral development financing, but is instead straddling different traditions in this realm of global financial governance. The ambiguity in China's approach to multilateral development finance is shaped by its multiple identities and complex economic and political interests.     

RESTRUCTURING LOCAL ECONOMIES THROUGH NEGOTIATED INVESTMENT STRATEGIES

This article examines an experimental process called the Negotiated Investment Strategy (NIS). The NIS, a method for coordinating federal, state, and local (public and private) expenditures at the community level, has been tested in three midwestern communities: St. Paul, Minnesota; Columbus, Ohio; and Gary, Indiana. The article describes the assumptions which underlie the concept, results of the three-city experiments, and speculates on the potential of the NIS for restructuring local economies. Particular attention is given to evaluating the SIS as a process intervention which could assist communities undergoing traumatic economic change.     

A sociotechnical order for the umma: connecting Islam and technology in Suharto’s Indonesia

ABSTRACT

This article explores narratives connecting Islam and technology that arose in Indonesia during the New Order period (1965–1998). These public discussions defined technological work, especially work in high technology, as a vital spiritual and economic arena for Indonesian Muslims. By asserting technology as a site for spiritual action, Indonesian Islamic activists offered a redefinition of economic development intended to alter both its goals and the character of participation in the development enterprise. In doing so, they framed technological activity as a crucial form of moral agency. Embracing the postsecular turn in historical scholarship which emphasizes attention to the ongoing social processes which define religiosity and secularity, this article investigates how religion and technology are entangled in contemporary Indonesia.     

Spatial Strategic Planning in the Stockholm Region—Discourses on the Space-economy and Growth Factors

This article analyses strategic spatial planning for city regions. The analysis uses a strategic development plan for a region as an example and is intended to contribute to discussion about the role of politics and the state in economic structures and processes. The objective was to define the types of discourses in the Stockholm plan. Norman Fairclough's (Analysing Discourse, New York, Routledge, 2003) methodological framework for analysing texts in social research was an important source of the study design. The analysis focused on assumptions in the text and the compatibility of these with different concepts of dynamic development and economic growth in city regions. These concepts were city as clusters, city as interconnection, city as milieu and city as symbol. Outcomes of the analysis showed that the strategic development plan for the Stockholm region stresses large-scale international economic activities and specialized cluster activities, but it marginalizes other activities. In the context of city regions comprising a multiplicity of actors and activities, such a one-sided approach may hinder broad economic development. A more nuanced representation of the urban economy in strategic planning is called for.     

Catholic Relief and the Political Awakening of Irish Catholics in Nova Scotia, 1780–1830

Over the course of the eighteenth and early-to-mid-nineteenth centuries the Irish, who moved throughout the British Empire, helped to build the social, political and economic structures that would enable the success of countless colonial settlements. They were merchants, traders, fishers and labourers, and a significant proportion of them were Catholic. While many would go on to play pivotal roles in the development of Catholicism in the colonies, the Irish were not alone and often joined or were joined by other Catholic groups such as the French, Spanish and Scottish Highlanders. That the Irish achieved greater political and economic success, though, had a knock-on effect for the other Catholic groups could then use the foundation that the Irish established for their own progress and development. This article considers the place of Catholics on Britain’s expanding colonial landscapes by examining the political awakening of Irish Catholics in Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island, two of Britain’s north Atlantic colonies, between 1780 and 1830. These two colonies, like many others, witnessed the growth of an Irish Catholic laity that was ambitious, pragmatic and adept at using the political structures available to reframe their legal status. The election of Laurence Kavanagh, a second-generation Irish Catholic merchant from a tiny fishing outpost on Cape Breton Island, to Nova Scotia’s legislative assembly in 1820, is offered as an example of how this process actually worked on the ground and opens up a broader discussion about the importance of minority populations like Catholics to Britain’s imperial programme.     

‘Las Vegas is not where we are’: Queer readings of the Civil Partnership Act

This article interrogates the United Kingdom's new Civil Partnership Act, which is intended to create a new legal status of ‘civil partner’. The Act confers benefits and imposes legal responsibilities on those same-sex couples who register their relationships. Analysing the Governmental material produced in support of the legislation, as well as Parliamentary debates, the article provides a critical analysis of the ideological underpinnings of civil partnership. A series of dichotomies—marriage/not marriage; sex/no sex; status/contract; conjugality/care; love/money; responsibilities/rights—informs the Government's construction of the category of ‘same-sex partner’. Those dichotomies lend themselves to a deconstructive analysis, applying the insights of queer theory. The result is a skepticism regarding the Act's replication of a marriage model for same-sex couples. Instead, the article concludes by advocating the search for more pluralistic and flexible legal models that better represent the diversity of relationship forms found today.     

Soft balancing against the US ‘pivot to Asia’: China’s geostrategic rationale for establishing the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

The existing accounts about the China-led multilateral development bank—the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)—have focused on the USA’s policy concerns and the economic and commercial reasons for China having established it. Two deeper questions are left unaddressed: Was there any strategic rationale for China to initiate a new multilateral development bank and, if so, how effective is China’s strategy? From a neorealist balance-of-power perspective, this article argues that China has felt threatened by the Obama administration’s rebalance to the Asia-Pacific strategy. In response, China is opting for a soft-balancing policy to carve out a regional security space in Eurasia in order to mitigate the threat coming from its east. China’s material power, premised on the fact that the country is a huge domestic market and flush with cash, has proved irresistible for Asian states, with the exception of Japan, to be enticed away from the USA. On the one hand, this article adds weight to the claim that although the USA remains the pre-eminent military power in the Asia-Pacific, it has fallen into a relative decline in regional economic governance; on the other, China’s soft balancing has its own limitations in forming like-minded partnerships with, and offering security guarantees to, AIIB members. A China-led regional order is yet to have arrived, even with the AIIB.     

Israel and the International Legal Arena

Israel considers the international legal arena as another battlefield where the country's legitimacy is challenged. Jerusalem's apprehension in regard to its international standing further increased in 2002 following the establishment of the International Criminal Court at The Hague. Developments in the case against Prime Minster Ariel Sharon in Belgium between June 2001 and September 2003 strengthened the Israeli government's conviction that an anti-Israel agenda could percolate into the legal process. Similarly, the International Court of Justice's advisory opinion in regard to the “wall” (security fence), issued on 9 July 2004, reinforced Israel's distrust of the international legal arena. This article follows the anti-Israel offensive in the international legal arena and analyzes Israel's counter actions.     

GeoDa : An Introduction to Spatial Data Analysis

This article presents an overview of GeoDa™, a free software program intended to serve as a user-friendly and graphical introduction to spatial analysis for non-geographic information systems (GIS) specialists. It includes functionality ranging from simple mapping to exploratory data analysis, the visualization of global and local spatial autocorrelation, and spatial regression. A key feature of GeoDa is an interactive environment that combines maps with statistical graphics, using the technology of dynamically linked windows. A brief review of the software design is given, as well as some illustrative examples that highlight distinctive features of the program in applications dealing with public health, economic development, real estate analysis, and criminology.     

A Grassroots Developmental Strategy for Africa: Towns as Agents of Growth Through Financial Credit

Since independence, governmental leaders in Africa have not pursued the policy option of making towns, represented as incorporated units, borrowers of commercial credit. To improve the quality of life among rural populations, governments in Africa should pursue the development strategy of making financial credit available to the towns located in those communities, because there is a high distribution of managerial expertise and material resources among the population. This article considers how African governments may adopt a development strategy that will encourage towns to borrow financial credit to engage in various economic and social activities, just like private companies. If these activities become viable, they may be a useful start in reversing the deterioration in economic and social well-being that several rural communities in Africa have suffered.     

The Viability of the United Nations Approach to Economic and SocialHuman Rights in a Globalized Economy

The United Nations approaches economic and social human rights through a framework of legal positivism. States are called on to respect, protect and fulfil their legal obligations contained in international human rights law. The state remains ultimately responsible for guaranteeing these economic and social human rights. This article explores the viability of this statist approach in this era of economic globalization. The less developed countries often face economic deprivation caused not by state action/inaction but by the global economic system itself. In many key respects states appear to be losing their capacity to regulate their economies and labour markets effectively. Yet despite the shrinking nature of our global community, the state is still central in the creation of the proper environment for the fulfilment of these rights. This article analyses the national strategies that governments can pursue to respect, protect and fulfil the economic and social rights of their citizens, and thus meet their international legal obligations.