Agrarian Change and Gender Relations in South-east Iran

This article looks at some of the recent cross-disciplinary debates on the nature of the household, and in particular the need to juxtapose intrahousehold gender relations against the wider socio-economic context within which households are embedded. It places particular emphasis on the development of market forces, seen as a neglected theme in research on gender relations in rural Iran. Drawing on village-level fieldwork, the ‘conjugal contracts' in two neighbouring districts of the Iranian province of Kerman are located within the wider network of socio-economic relations in which both men and women are involved, taking into account the varied development of commercial agriculture, as well as the impact of state policies and the changing balance of social forces. Although these developments account for some of the observed differences in conjugal relations between the two districts, shared notions of ‘household unity’ and ‘wifely duty’ are also highlighted as critical factors shaping the conduct of husband and wife in ways that are comparable across the two districts. The pressures that are brought upon men and women with the development of market forces in one of the districts, while making women relatively more vulnerable in certain respects, have enhanced their assertive-ness within marriage — often in defiance of deeply-embedded ideologies that subsume their interests to those of their households.     

Overseas Chinese Investments in Transition: The Case of Dongguan

An economic geographer based in Hong Kong presents a study of overseas Chinese investment coming from Hong Kong and Taiwan to Dongguan, a rapidly developing manufacturing metropolis in China's Pearl River Delta, attempting to compare the transformation of these two major sources of investment during the past quarter century. Based on systematic field work and interviews at ca. 60 firms through mid-2006, the paper argues that Hong Kong and Taiwan investments have followed different transformation paths with regard to sectoral composition, investment motivations, market orientation, entry modes, and strategies in response to institutional changes. Most of the substantive differences are related to the distinctive comparative advantages of the two source regions and the specific character of their interactions with the host region. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F21, O16, R11. 4 figures, 4 tables, 60 references.     

Regional Polarization under Transition: The Case of Slovakia

This paper analyses trends in regional polarization in Slovakia on the NUTS II and NUTS IV levels for the period 1985–2002 from the neo-classical and polarization approaches to regional development. Development of disparities in regional incomes was examined via an econometric model. The model was based on extensive datasets from Slovak districts for the period 1985–2002. It identified unemployment rates, urbanization rates, shares of population with university degree and share of foreign investors in total enterprises as major factors behind regional divergence. Strong polarization between Bratislava and the rest of the country was the most remarkable feature of regional development after 1989.     

Population Density,Economic Growth and Societies in Transition: Boserup Reconsidered in a Kenyan Case-study

In examining the relationship between population growth and income growth, this article first looks at the Malthusian, transition and revisionist positions. The first is not borne out by historical experience, and the latter two do not explain why greater affluence generally leads to lower rates of population growth. It is argued here that the crucial population characteristic is density. Rising densities from a low base facilitate more productive agriculture and greater specialization and exchange within a society, as Boserup (1965) pointed out. This leads to increased wealth but also to higher costs for education and land. This provides a link to Caldwell's (1976) explanation of changing attitudes to family size: at low densities in simple societies benefits from children exceed costs, while at higher densities in complex societies costs exceed benefits. The changes in societies and economies are illustrated by a Kenyan case study. Kenya has experienced particularly rapid population growth this century, and high economic growth; it is now experiencing the transition to lower birth rates.     

Environmental Relations and Biophysical Transition: The Case of Trinket Island

ABSTRACT To what extent is an island economy cut off from the rest of the world? Defined as a mass of land bounded by water, island societies connect and exchange with their surroundings rather intensely. Based on empirical research, this paper explores the role of a ‘remote’ island society on Trinket in generating or sheltering itself from the process of globalisation in which con‐textually given borders are transgressed and displaced. To this end, we apply the concepts of societal metabolism and colonising natural processes operationalised by Material and Energy Flow Analysis (MEFA), and Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production (HANPP) respectively. Using these biophysical indicators, we describe the transition from a metabolism based upon the natural environment to metabolism based on exchange with other societies. Data presented in this paper further reveal a process of industrialisation and integration into the global market of a so‐called ‘closed’ and ‘inaccessible’ island society.     

The Case for Mainstreaming Gender Politics Studies

Swers, Michele L. The Difference Women Make: The Policy Impact of Women in Congress. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2002. Pp. xii, 194. $45.00 hardbound, $16.00 softbound.

Borrelli, Mary Anne. The President's Cabinet: Gender, Power and Representation. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2002. Pp xii, 270. $59.95 hardbound, $26.50 softbound.

Watson, Robert P., and Ann Gordon, eds. Anticipating Madam President. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2003. Pp. xv, 271. $55.00 hardbound, $22.50 softbound.

Carroll, Susan]., ed. Women and American Politics: New Questions, New Directions. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2003. Pp. xii, 250. $74.00 hardbound, $24.95 softbound.     

Skill,Migration and Gender in Australia and Canada: The Case of Gender-based Analysis

The shift away from family immigration and towards skilled immigration is one of the most important changes over the past decade in Australian immigration policy. Yet the implications of this shift for female applicants have remained largely unexplored. Skilled immigration has slipped by as a genderless story in which the androgynous skilled migrant is the central character and economists do most of the storytelling. This paper discusses the gender equality concerns raised by the policy shift towards skilled immigration. It argues that Australia's skilled immigration scheme disadvantages female applicants through its construction both of economic independence and ‘skill.’ A comparison with Canada's skilled migration law and regulations, which are audited by gender mainstreaming tools, is considered to ascertain what role, if any, gender-based analysis plays in identifying and rectifying the potential gender inequalities produced by skilled immigration selection.     

Research Article: Getting Shot of Elves: Healing,Witchcraft and Fairies in the Scottish Witchcraft Trials

This paper re-examines the evidence of the Scottish witchcraft trials for beliefs associated by scholars with “elf-shot.” Some supposed evidence for elf-shot is dismissed, but other material illuminates the interplay between illness, healing and fairylore in early modern Scotland, and the relationship of these beliefs to witchcraft itself.     

Development in the dependent state: The Kenyan case

COLONIALISM AND UNDERDEVELOPMENT IN EAST AFRICA: THE POLITICS OF ECONOMIC CHANGE, 1919–1939. E.A. Brett. Heinemann Educational Books, London, 1973.

RACIAL BARGAINING IN INDEPENDENT KENYA: A STUDY OF MINORITIES AND DECOLONIZATION. Donald Rothchild. Oxford U.P. for Institute of Race Relations, London, 1973.

THE POLITICAL INTEGRATION OF URBAN SQUATTERS. Marc Howard Ross. North Western U.P., Chicago, 1973.

KENYA: THE POLITICS OF PARTICIPATION AND CONTROL. Henry Bienen. Princeton U.P., Princeton, 1974.

PEASANT POLITICS: CONFLICT AND DEVELOPMENT IN MURANGA. Geoff Lamb. Julian Friedmann Publishers, Lewes, Sussex, 1974. Paperback edition 1977.

THE ECONOMICS OF COLONIALISM: BRITAIN AND KENYA 1870–1930. Richard Wolff. Yale U.P., New Haven, 1974.

UNDERDEVELOPMENT IN KENYA: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF NEO‐COLONIALISM. Colin Leys. Heinemann Educational Books, London, 1975.     

Ethnographic Understandings of Gender and Economic Transition in Siberia: Implications for Planners and Policy Makers

Economic transition has been defined by neo-liberal restructuring policies and understandings. Using ethnographic data from Omsk, Russia, I examine structural adjustment policy implementation in the context of socially constructed gender norms. These policies have complicated implications for women and men's economic survival. The ethnographic understandings gained from interviews with women provide vital information that would improve planning processes in Omsk. For example, using an economic gardening approach to support women's small business development and workforce development targeting survivors of violence would advance women's economic self-sufficiency. I suggest that if planners use ethnographic understandings they will be able to more effectively respond to planning challenges such as poverty, education and health care issues.