Civil Society and Development: Scientific and Professional Associations in Public Policy in Santa Catarina and Sergipe, Brazil

This paper uses Brazil's regional inequality to carry out comparative research on the role of civil society in economic development. Through quantitative event count data buttressed with primary archival research, greater involvement of civil society in public policy is shown to correlate with economic and social development. The results suggest that a robust, free civil society can improve development outcomes by providing additional informed voices in the policy process. These serve both as independent voices to vet policy proposals, and as sources of new policy initiatives themselves.     

The dynamics of the community support framework for Greece and its contribution to regional convergence

The objective of this paper is to shed light on the dynamic aspects of the Community Support Framework for Greece and to further explore its contributions to regional convergence. Given that, the majority of the Greek regions have been classified among the poorest regions of the European Union (EU) with a major inter and intra regional divergence gap, the issue of catching up the convergence factors acquires paramount importance in view of the new trends of European Community (EC) Regional Policies. Unquestionably, the convergence of the Greek regions requires a series of macroeconomic management devices and the encouragement of a series of soft and hard infrastructure projects which will restructure, upgrade and adjust their regional economy. The analysis of this paper will focus on the assistance stemming from the Regional and Structural Funds of the EU, plus the Cohesion Fund with the aim to uncover the factors which determine the extension and intensity of the convergence and divergence procedure. Using the data from the Community Support Framework (CSF I) (1989–1993), which has already been completed, attention will be paid to some of the basic problems which decisively impedes the real convergence of the Greek regions. The author will also examine in depth the criteria used by the competent authorities in allocating the funds to the regional bodies in relation with the existing regional imbalances and then he will propose a new synthetic method considering more factors which influence the final allocation approach. The conclusions of the paper might systematically unravel a series of problems facing the regions both socio‐economic and administrative which if they are not effectively confronted may possibly enlarge the existing divergence gap of the Greek regions.     

Patterns of Regional Inequality in Transition Economies

This paper provides a comparative account of important aspects of regional development in transition economies, on the basis of regional statistics available for Poland, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. More specifically it examines the geographical pattern of disparities, the convergence/divergence trends that have taken place at the regional level and the relation of regional disparities to the process of transition. It is found that spatial adjustments under transition favour metropolitan and western regions, especially in countries sharing common borders with the European Union (EU) and being a short distance from the European core. In addition, disparities have increased at various rates and degrees in transition countries to levels that are higher than most of the EU countries. Given that the catch-up process, which favours more often efficiency than equity policies, has a long way to go, the regional problems in these countries may take alarming, by EU standards, dimensions.     

Stone Tool Research at the End of the Millennium: Classification, Function, and Behavior

This is the second of the two papers that review the literature of archaeological lithic analysis over the last decade. This paper concentrates on aspects of stone tool research that are not directly related to the production or procurement of the tools themselves. It is divided into classification, functional analyses, behavioral processes, and approaches to the subject currently popular among analysts. As with the previous paper, an attempt has been made to be as comprehensive as is reasonable, though availability of sources has resulted in an emphasis on North American literature.     

Reviews

The Oxford Companion to Irish History S. J. Connolly (ed.), 1998 Oxford, Oxford University Press pp. xvii + 618, ISBN 0.19.21 1695.9, £25.00 (hb)

Colonialism, Religion and Nationalism in Ireland Liam Kennedy, 1996 Belfast, Institute of Irish Studies pp. xv + 231, ISBN 085389.621.6, £9.75 (pb)

Rebellion in Wicklow: General Joseph Holt's Personal Account of 1798 Peter O'shaughnessy (ed.), 1998 Dublin, Four Courts Press pp. 176, ISBN 1.85182.366.2, £9.95 (pb)

Rebellion in Kildare, 1790–1803 Liam Chambers, 1998 Dublin, Four Courts Press pp. 173, ISBN 1.85182.362.X, £30.00 (hb); ISBN 1.85182.363.8, £9.95 (pb)

The Women of 1798 Daire Keogh & Nicholas Furlong (eds), 1998 Dublin, Four Courts Press pp. 208, ISBN 1.85182.358.1, £30.00 (hb); ISBN 1.85182.359.X, £9.95 (pb)

Land, Politics and Nationalism: A Study of the Irish Land Question Philip Bull, 1996 Dublin, Gill & Macmillan pp. 242, ISBN 0.7171.2191.7, £14.99 (pb)

James Connolly: Selected Writings Peter Beresford Ellis (ed.), 1997 London, Pluto Press pp. 256, ISBN 0.7453.1279.9, £40.00 (hb); ISBN 0.7453.0267.X, £12.99 (pb)

James Connolly: The Lost Writings Aindrias Ó Cathasaigh (ed.), 1997 London, Pluto Press pp. 256, ISBN 0.7453.1297.7, £45.00 (hb); ISBN 0.7453.1296.9, £13.99 (pb)

Revolution in Ireland: Popular Militancy 1917 to 1923 Conor Kostick, 1996 London, Pluto Press pp. 248, ISBN 0.7453.1122.9, £40.00 (hb); ISBN 0.7453.1123.7, £13.99 (pb)

The Trouble with Guns: Republican Strategy and the Provisional IRA Malachi O'doherty, 1998 Belfast, Blackstaff pp. 221, ISBN 0.85640.605.8, £11.99 (pb)

Jews in Twentieth Century Ireland: Refugees, Anti‐Semitism and the Holocaust Dermot Keogh, 1998 Cork, Cork University Press pp. 320, ISBN 1.85918.149.X, £45.00 (hb); ISBN 1.85918.3, £16.95 (pb)

Mary Robinson: An Independent Voice John Horgan, 1997 Dublin, O'Brien Press pp. 224, ISBN 0.86278.540.5, £14.99 (hb)

Print and Popular Culture in Ireland Niall Ó Cios´in, 1997 London, Macmillan pp. 249, ISBN 0.333.66684.4, £45.00 (hb)

Power in the Eye: An Introduction to Contemporary Irish Film Terry Byrne, 1997 Lanham, MD, Scarecrow Press pp. 231, ISBN 0.8108.3296.8, £32.50 (hb)

Media in Ireland: The Search for Diversity Damien Kiberd (ed.), 1997 Dublin, Open Air/Four Courts Press pp.94, ISBN 1.851182.315.8, IR £6.95 (pb)

Shooting to Kill: Filmmaking and the ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland Brian Mcilroy, 1998 Trowbridge, Flicks Books pp. 182, ISBN 0.948911.53.0, £12.95 (pb)

The Amazon Journal of Roger Casement Angus Mitchell (ed.), 1997 London, Anaconda Editions pp. 534, ISBN 1.901990.00.1, £17.98 (pb)

Representing Ireland: Gender, Class, Nationality Susan Shaw Sailer (1997) Gainesville, University Press of Florida pp. xv + 224; 23, ISBN 0.8130.1543.X, £39.95 (hb)

Devils and Angels: Television, Ideology and the Coverage of Poverty Eoin Devereux, 1998 Luton, John Libbey Media/University of Luton Press pp. 174, ISBN 1.86020.545.3, £14.95 (pb)

The Health of the Irish in Britain: The Report of a Community Conference Seeromanie Harding & Gearóid Ó Meachair, 1998 London, Federation of Irish Societies pp. 60, ISBN 0.9533.7191.3, £5.00 (pb)

Elderly Irish People in Britain: A Profile Mary Tilki, 1998 London, Federation of Irish Societies pp. 32, ISBN 0.9533.7192.1, £4.00 (pb)

Report of the London Irish Pensioners Day Hammersmith Irish Centre, 1997 London, Federation of Irish Societies pp. 12, ISBN 0.9533.719.5, £3.00 (pb)

Ideologies of Epic: Nation, Empire and Victorian Epic Poetry Colin Graham, 1998 Manchester and New York, Manchester University Press pp. 194, ISBN 0.7190.5285.8, £40.00 (hb)

The Trials of Oscar Wilde: Deviance, Morality and Late‐Victorian Society Michael S. Foldy, 1997 New Haven and London, Yale University Press pp. 206, ISBN 0.300.07112.4, £19.95 (hb)

Oscar Wilde: Trial and Punishment 1895–97 London, Public Record Office, 1998 ISBN 1.873162.50.2, £12.99

Irish Writing on Lafcadio Hcarn and Japan: Writer, Journalist & Teacher Sean G. Ronan (ed.), 1997 Folkestone, Global Oriental pp. 351, ISBN 1.901903.05.2, £16.50 (hb)

James Joyce and Trieste Peter Hartshorn, 1997 Westport, Connecticut and London, Greenwood Press pp. xix + 184, ISBN 0.313.30252.9, £43.95 (hb)

James Joyce and Censorship: The Trials of ‘Ulysses’ Paul Vanderham, 1998 Basingstoke, Macmillan pp. 242, ISBN 0.333.63955.3, £45.00 (hb)

Joyce's Abandoned Female Costumes, Gratefully Received Elisabeth Sheffield, 1998 New Jersey, Associated University Presses pp. 147, ISBN 0.8386.3734.5, £25.00 (hb)

Conjuring Complexities: Essays on Flann O'Brien Anne Clune & Tess Hurson (eds), 1997 Belfast, The Institute of Irish Studies pp. 240, ISBN 0.85389.678.X, £25.00 (hb); ISBN 0.85389.675.5, £12.40 (pb)

Samuel Beckett and the Idea of God Mary Bryden, 1998 London, Macmillan pp. 204, ISBN 0.333.640676.4, £42.50 (hb)

Beckett before Godot John Pilling, 1997 Cambridge, Cambridge University Press pp. 277, ISBN 0.521.46496.X, £37.50 (hb)

Troubled Pleasures: The Fiction of J. G. Farrell Ralph J. Crane & Jennifer Livett, 1997 Dublin, Four Courts Press pp. 173, ISBN 9.781851.832109, £35.00 (hb)

Irish Love Poems A. Norman Jeffares (ed.), 1997 Dublin, O'Brien Press pp. 192, ISBN 0.86278.514.6, £8.99 (pb)

Francis Ledwidge: The Poems Complete Liam O'meara (ed.), 1997 Newbridge, The Goldsmith Press pp. 312, ISBN 1870.491.475, £15.00 (pb)

After The Ball Breda Sullivan, 1998 Moher, Co. Clare, Salmon Poetry pp. 54, ISBN 1.897649.33.2, £6.99 (pb)

Nominies Ian Duhig, 1998 Newcastle upon Tyne, Bloodaxe Books pp. 64, ISBN 1.85224.457.7, £6.95 (pb)

Famine Desmond Egan, 1997 Co. Kildare, Goldsmith Press pp. 39, ISBN 1.8870491.42.4, £5.95 (pb)

Entering the Mare Katie Donovan, 1997 Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe Books pp. 78, ISBN 1.85224.429.1, £6.95 (pb)

The Arts and Crafts Movements in Dublin and Edinburgh, 1885–1925 Nicola Gordon Bowe & Elizabeth Cumming, 1998 Dublin, Irish Academic Press pp. 160, ISBN 0.7165.2579.8, £29.50 (hb)

Irish Public Sculpture—A History Judith Hill, 1998 Dublin, Four Courts Press pp. 302, ISBN 1.85182.274.7, £29.95 (hb)

The Keeper's Recital: Music and Cultural History in Ireland, 1770–1970 Harry White, 1997 Critical Conditions: Field Day Essays and Monographs Series editor Seamus Deane Cork, Cork University Press pp. 227, ISBN 1.85918.171.6, £14.95 (pb)

In Honor of St. Patrick: Chant for His Feast The Schola Cantorum of St Peter's in the Loop Director, J. Michael Thompson, 1998 Collegeville, MN, the Liturgical Press Compact disk, ISBN 0.8146.7927.7, US$14.95 Audio‐cassette, ISBN 0.8146.7926.9, US$11.95

Last Night's Fun: A Book about Music, Food and Time Ciaran Carson, [1996] 1997 London, Jonathan Cape, Pimlico pp. 198, ISBN 0.2240.4141.X, £15.99 (hb); ISBN 0.7126.6252.9, £10.00 (pb)

Celtic Fury Se´n Kenny, 1998 Dublin, Wolfhound Press pp. 288, ISBN 0.86327.607.5, £6.99 (pb)     

Some thoughts on the ‘givenness of everyday life’ in Australian international relations: Theory and practice

Reality, it seems, is not what it used to be in international relations. In recent times many of the givens of the postwar world have undergone remarkable and often dramatic change. In the Gorbachev era, for example, ideologies have been reordered, boundaries redrawn, alliances reconstituted, new symbols of identification constructed and old identities resurrected. Recently, also, patterns of thought and behaviour, deemed to correspond with an enduring, essential reality in international life have come under increasing scrutiny within the international relations community. Accordingly, in the United States in particular, a new critical literature has emerged concerned to confront intellectual and policy sectors with the limitations, omissions, silences and givens of conventional approaches to international relations at a historical moment resonant with old dangers and unique opportunities. This paper represents a brief introduction to an Australian audience of some of the issues associated with this new literature. It seeks also to emphasise its relevance via an unconventional discussion on some major thinkers and important foreign policy themes.