Political Cleaners: Women as the New Anti‐Corruption Force?

There is currently a myth in the making: that women are less corrupt than men. Recently some aid donors have cited statistical evidence that countries with larger numbers of women in politics and in the workforce have lower levels of corruption. That this finding can be explained by the fact that there are more women in politics and the workforce in liberal democracies that are anyway less corrupt than poorer less liberal regimes does not detract from the eagerness with which some development actors are seizing upon the potential role women might play in fighting corruption. The myth of women's incorruptibility is not, of course, new. It is grounded in essentialist notions of women's higher moral nature and an assumed propensity to bring this to bear on public life, and particularly on the conduct of politics. After demonstrating that some of the recent studies about gender and corruption record perceptions about propensities to engage in corrupt behaviour, this contribution suggests rather that the gendered nature of access to politics and public life shapes opportunities for corruption. In addition, corruption can be experienced differently by women and men, which has implications for anti‐corruption strategies. A gendered analysis of corruption is in fact a useful entry‐point to the examination of the gendered nature of accountability failures, and of gender‐specific gaps in current attempts to promote good governance.     

TERRITORIAL GOVERNANCE,NETWORKS AND POWER: CROSS‐SECTORAL PARTNERSHIPS IN RURAL POLAND

Research on the operation of territorial governance and rural development programmes is dominated by qualitative methodologies, paying little attention heretofore to the characteristics and structures of new horizontal and vertical relationship formations that are the explicit objective of the governance and rural development model. Seeking to address this deficit in the literature, this article adds to a small number of existing contributions that use social network analysis (SNA) to examine the role of inter‐organizational networks in shaping geographic functional regions in the context of governance. Rooted in the methodological perspective of SNA, the analysis focuses on relations between local actors participating in three area‐based rural partnerships in Poland, which are conceptualized as territorially embedded institutional network clusters. The structure of inter‐sectoral relations, understood as interactions (competition, conflict, coordination, cooperation, and control) and flows (information, financial, human, or tangible resources), between the institutional partners of these partnerships is examined. Analysing in detail attributes of network relations, the article identifies structural characteristics of the area‐based partnerships, such as manifestations of how diverse local resources are engaged and how dominance by traditional powerful stakeholders can be overcome by network structures. Structural dynamics and transformations that represent expressions and manifestations of how territorially embedded governance networks are expected to operate are important areas of inquiry in political geography. In this context, the particular empirical and theoretical capacity of SNA is illuminated in this article as part of a broader presentation of primary field data on how network governance and rural development is taking shape in Central and Eastern Europe.     

Metalworking at Hazor: A Long‐Term Perspective

The temporal and spatial distribution of metal production remains from Hazor was used in this study to sketch the development of metalworking (bronze, iron and silver) at this important site. The remains attest to a long sequence of metalworking at Hazor, from the Middle Bronze Age through to the Iron Age, and significantly highlight the transition from bronze to iron production and the mode of bronze production after the transition had been completed.     

Book review

The article discusses some features of the political culture of late medieval Norway by focusing on the broader strata of the people and their political influence. To what extent could these groups express their own political goals and act to achieve them? The point of departure is the 1448–50 struggle for the Norwegian throne, the claimants being the Danish‐German Kristian I and the Swedish Karl Knutsson (Bonde). The Norwegian Council of the Realm was divided into two ‘parties’, both of which recognized the importance of the common people's support and acceptance of their candidate. However, the article argues that there were interesting differences in the two parties' tactics and rhetoric towards the common people. It was no coincidence that it was the supporters of Karl who mobilized the common people in the political struggle. Several central political, social and geographical arguments made by supporters of Karl were not employed in favour of Kristian. The supporters of the latter had to base their tactics on constitutional law and tradition. Nevertheless, it was concrete, contemporary political and economic interests that motivated the representatives of the common people, when they could not have a domestic king, to want Karl rather than Kristian,. This contemporary situation overshadowed a possible underlying constitutional conservatism among the common people. The popular representatives fought for what has been called ‘The Norwegian System’ in order to defend their own interests.     

Insights into the processes behind the contamination of degraded human teeth and bone samples with exogenous sources of DNA

A principal problem facing human DNA studies that use old and degraded remains is contamination from other sources of human DNA. In this study we have attempted to contaminate deliberately bones and teeth sampled from a medieval collection excavated in Trondheim, Norway, in order to investigate this poorly understood phenomenon. Five pairs of teeth and bone samples were bathed in water containing various concentrations (from 10⁻⁹ and 10⁻²¹ g/l) of purified ΦX174 DNA. Subsequently the samples were subjected to a routine decontamination protocol involving a bleach bath followed by exposure to λ=254 nm ultraviolet light, prior to DNA extraction and analysis for evidence of the persistence of the contaminant. The results support previous speculation that bone is more susceptible to water‐borne sources of contaminant DNA, although both bone and teeth are readily contaminated and are difficult to decontaminate using the tested protocol. We believe that this is largely due to the porous nature of bone and teeth facilitating the deep penetration of the contaminant DNA. To simulate a more realistic handling situation, 27 further teeth were directly handled and washed, then decontaminated, prior to assaying for the residual presence of the handler's DNA. Surprisingly, although our results suggest that a large proportion of the teeth were contaminated with multiple sources of human DNA prior to our investigation, we were unable to contaminate the samples with further human DNA. One potential explanation may be the deposition of sediment or other structural changes that occur within the samples as they desiccate post‐excavation, which may protect samples from subsequent contamination, but also prevent the efficacy of bleach baths in decontaminating specimens. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stable isotopes in human skeletons of Southern Ontario: reconstructing Palaeodiet

Most native plants of Ontario use the C₃ photosynthetic mechanism and therefore have relatively low ${}^{13}\text{C}{}^{12}\text{C}$ ratios; maize is a C₄ plant and is relatively enriched in ¹³C. The proportion of maize in the diet of a human can therefore be estimated from the ¹³C-content of collagen of fossil bone. We have used this method to follow the increase in consumption of maize in ancient native populations over the interval from AD 400 to 1650, and to quantify the amount of maize consumed. Maize consumption rose gradually to a maximum of 50% of the diet by AD 1400. These data agree with archaeologically derived data for this region, and with previous isotope studies in the northeastern U.S.A. In some of the latter, however, the maximum percentage of maize consumed has been overestimated because maize was assumed to have a δ¹³C value of ?12·5‰; our studies of archaeological specimens show the correct value to be closer to ?9‰. The introduction of beans into the native diet about AD 1100, should have caused a decrease in the ¹⁵N content of human bone collagen because legumes are deficient in this isotope, with respect to meat and fish. However, we observe no significant change in the ${}^{15}\text{N}{}^{14}$N ratio of human bone collagen over the period from 2300 BC to AD 1640. We conclude that meat and fish remained the main sources of protein even after the advent of agriculture into this region.     

A Hierarchical Flow Capturing Location Problem with Demand Attraction Based on Facility Size,and Its Lagrangian Relaxation Solution Method

This article presents a hierarchical flow capturing location problem (HFCLP) and proposes an effective Lagrangian heuristic solution method. The original flow capturing location problem (FCLP) aims to locate a given number of facilities on a network to maximize the total flow that can be serviced at facilities along their preplanned routes, such as daily commute to work. We extend the original model to allow a decision maker to select the size of facilities among m different size alternatives. Larger facilities are assumed to be more attractive and, therefore, can attract more customers, but they cost more to construct than smaller ones. Customers deviate from their preplanned routes to access a facility's service when the size of the facility is sufficiently large. The degree of deviation from the original path is measured by the additional distance customers have to go to access facilities, and the acceptable deviation distance becomes larger as the size of a facility increases. This article presents a new problem in which the number of facilities of each size and their locations are simultaneously determined so as to capture as much flow as possible within the total budget available for locating all facilities. We present an integer programming formulation of the problem and devise a Lagrangian relaxation solution method. The proposed algorithm is tested using road networks with 300 and 500 nodes. The results show that the method produces high‐quality solutions in a fairly short time. Este artículo presenta un problema de localización de captura de flujo jerárquico (hierarchical flow capturing location problem‐HFCLP) y propone un método heurístico eficiente de tipo Lagrange (lagrangian). En su formulación original el HFLCP tiene como objetivo localizar un número determinado de instalaciones en una red con el fin de maximizar el flujo total que puede ser atendido por las instalaciones existentes a lo largo de rutas preestablecidas, como en el caso por ejemplo, de los desplazamientos diarios del lugar de residencia al de trabajo. Los autores amplían el modelo original para permitir que el tomador de decisiones seleccione el tamaño de las instalaciones entre “m” alternativas. Se asume que las instalaciones más grandes son más atractivas que las más pequeñas y, por lo tanto, pueden atraer a más clientes, pero a la vez, son también más costosas de construir. Los clientes se desvían de su ruta preestablecida para acceder al servicio de una instalación cuando el tamaño de la instalación es lo suficientemente grande. El grado de desviación de las rutas se mide por la distancia adicional que los clientes viajan para acceder a las instalaciones. La distancia de desviación aceptable se hace más grande en relación al tamaño de la instalación. En este artículo se presenta un nuevo modelo para el HFLCP en el que el número de las instalaciones de cada tamaño y su ubicación son determinadas simultáneamente con el fin de capturar la mayor cantidad de flujo dentro del presupuesto total disponible para la localización de todas las instalaciones. Los autores presentan una formulación de programación entera (integer programming) del HFCLP e implementan un método que relaja la solución lagrangiana. El algoritmo propuesto es evaluado utilizando redes viales con 300 y 500 nodos. Los resultados muestran que el nuevo método produce soluciones de alta calidad y en tiempos de computación relativamente cortos. 本文介绍了一种分层的截流选址问题 (HFCLP),提出了一个有效的拉格朗日启发式解决方法。最初的截流选址问题(FCLP)目标是在网络上布局给定数量的设施使总流量最大,使按预定路线的行进流可以获得最大的服务,如每日的工作通勤。本文对原始模型进行扩展,让决策者可在不同的设施规模选择方案中进行规模选择。假设更大规模设施具有更大的吸引力,因此也能够吸引更多的客户,但同时也需要更多的建造成本。当设施规模足够大时,消费者会选择偏离预定路径而进入该设施的服务范围。对原始路径的偏离程度可通过用户进入该设施所增加的额外距离度量。可接受的偏差距离随着设施规模增大而增大。本文提出了在总预算确定条件下,同步确定不同规模设施数量及其位置以实现截取最大流量的新问题,并给出了该问题的整数规划方法,设计了拉格朗日松弛解法。通过300和500个节点的网络测试,结果显示该算法可在相当短时间内获得高质量的解决方案。     

If You Don't Count,You Don't Count: Monitoring and Evaluation in South African NGOs

Non‐Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are increasingly challenged to demonstrate accountability and relevance, with reporting, monitoring and evaluation arguably having become development activities in their own right. Drawing on interviews and observation research, this article examines the impact of intensified monitoring and evaluation (M&E) requirements on a number of South African NGOs. M&E — and the types of expertise, vocabularies and practices it gives rise to — is an important area that is usually neglected in the study of NGOs but that significantly impacts on NGOs’ logic of operation. By focusing on three areas — data that are considered appropriate to conduct M&E, staffing and organizational cultures, and NGOs’ reformist relationships with other civil society organizations (CSOs) — M&E is revealed as a central discursive element in the constitution of NGOs appropriate to neoliberal development. By engaging a neo‐Foucauldian framework of governmentality, M&E practices are thus understood as technologies through which governing is accomplished in the trans‐scalar post‐apartheid development domain.