Introduction: The International Politics of Resources

Abstract

China, Japan and Korea’s international relations are shaped by the fact that all three are significant importers of resources. This Introduction proposes two conceptual frameworks for understanding the politics that is taken up in the papers of this Special Issue. The first is to consider the extent to which there is an East Asian model of resource procurement. We find that there are some similarities in the approaches taken by all three countries; for example, their development assistance shares a focus on infrastructure building and a reticence to purposefully influence domestic politics. There are, however, also significant differences due in large part to the individual nature of the states as international actors. The second conceptual framework is the broad contemporary theme of the end of Western dominance of the world order. The main way this affects the international politics of resources in Northeast Asia is through the belief that the activities of those countries are threatening in some way. In some cases Northeast Asian approaches to resources are seen as a problem because they are not sufficiently liberal, whereas in others the problem is that Northeast Asian powers are seen as replacing Western powers in exploiting resource-rich developing countries.     

Ecomuseum Evaluation: Experiences in Piemonte and Liguria,Italy

The term ecomuseum has been applied to a wide range of projects that seek to conserve and interpret aspects of tangible and intangible heritage of a defined geographical territory. Ecomuseum theorists have assigned a number of characteristics to these organisations, including in situ conservation, fragmented site interpretation and a democratic, community‐based approach. However, there has been a tendency for the term to be applied casually—sometimes simply as a marketing device—with scant regard to ecomuseum philosophies. To date, little critical evaluation of ecomuseums has been carried out that compares practices at individual sites to the demands of ecomuseum theory. This research examines five ecomuseums in Piemonte and Liguria, northern Italy, to try to discover how far they achieve the tenets of ecomuseum philosophy. Although four of the five sites appear to meet most criteria, the results confirm that a wide variation in ecomuseum practices is inevitable due to local circumstances. Consequently, the ability of any ecomuseum to be a truly democratic organisation and meet all ecomuseum principles is compromised.     

Reviews

Douglas Crimp, On the Museum's Ruins (with photographs by Louise Lawler), Cambridge, Mass. and London: The MIT Press, 1993. xx + 348 pp., 110 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–262–03209–0. £24.95.

Clarissa Campbell Orr (ed.), Women in the Victorian Art World, Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1995. xiv + 208 pp., 1 fig., 29 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–7190–4123–6. £14.99.

Diana Ketcham, Le Désert de Retz, Cambridge, Mass. & London: The MIT Press, 1994. vii + 135 pp., 99 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–262–11186–1. £35.95.

Anthony & Patricia Wylson, Theme Parks, Leisure Centres, Zoos and Aquaria, London: Longman, 1994. 183 pp., 107 figs., 109 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–582–099285. £60.00.

David Lambert, Peter Goodchild, & Judith Roberts, Researching a Garden's History: A Guide to Documentary and Published Sources, Reigate: Landscape Design Trust, in association with Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies, University of York, 1995. 28 pp. 12 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–9518377–0–2. £6.00.

Mike Sixsmith (ed.), Touring Exhibitions: The Touring Exhibitions Group's Manual of Good Practice, Oxford: Butterworth‐Heinemann, 1995. xviii + 237 pp., ISBN 0–7506–2518‐x. £35.00.

Richard Harrison (ed.), Manual of Heritage Management, Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann and the Association of Independent Museums, 1994. xiii + 425 pp. ISBN 0–7506–0822–6. £65.00.

J. M. Fladmark (ed.), Sharing the Earth : Local Identity in Global Culture, London: Donhead, 1995. xviii + 381 pp., 70 b. & w. illus. ISBN 1–873394–19–5. £37.00.

Gary Edson and David Dean, The Handbook for Museums, London and New York: Routledge, 1994. xvi + 302 pp. ISBN 0–415–09952–8. £27.50.

Michael Wheeler (ed.), Ruskin and Environment: The Storm‐Cloud of the Nineteenth Century, Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1995. x + 202 pp., 7 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–7190–4377–8. £40.00.

M. D. Anderson, History and Imagery in British Churches, London: John Murray, [1971], 1995. xxiv + 291 pp., 1 map, 18 figs., 93 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–7195–5414–4. £15.99.

Chris Brooks & Andrew Saint (eds.), The Victorian Church. Architecture and Society, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995. xii + 228 pp., 82 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–7190–4020–5. £16.99.

M. Christine Boyer, The City of Collective Memory: Its Historical Imagery and Architectural Entertainments, Cambridge, Mass., and London: The MIT Press, 1994. xii + 560 pp., 65 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–262–02371–7. £34.95.

John Glasson, Kerry Godfrey, Brian Goodey, Helen Absalom, & Jan Van der Borg, Towards Visitor Impact Management, Aldershot: Avebury, 1995. xii + 189 pp. ISBN 1–85972–054–4. £35.00.

Ann Bermingham & John Brewer (eds.), The Consumption of Culture 1600–1800. Image, Object, Text, London & New York: Routledge, 1995. xvi + 548 pp., 111 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–415–12135–5. £120.00.

B. W. Clapp An Environmental History of Britain since the Industrial Revolution, London and New York: Longman, 1994. 268 pp., 2 maps, 12 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–582–22626–0. £12.99.

Eilean Hooper‐Greenhill, Museum, Media, Message, London and New York: Routledge, 1995. xvi + 299 pp., 23 b. & w. illus. ISBN 0–415–11672–4. £40.00.

A. Davey, B. Heath, D. Hodges, M. Ketchin & R. Milne, The Care and Conservation of Georgian Houses: A Maintenance Manual for Edinburgh New Town, Oxford: Butterworth, 4th ed., 1995. xxviii + 291 pp., 100 b. & w. illus. and 100 figs. ISBN 0–7506–1860–4. £40.00.

Philip Rahtz, English Heritage Book of Glastonbury, London: Batsford & English Heritage, 1993. 144 pp., 97 figs., ISBN 0–7134–6865–3. £14.99.     

Gender,Risk and Micro‐financial Subjectivities

Abstract: This article analyses the gendered contradictions of microfinance's celebrated “double bottom line” of social and financial impact. The example of microfinance is used to illustrate the gendered and colonial constructions of “risk” and “responsibility” that underpin neoliberalism and its gendered paradoxes. After revisiting the discursive critique of these terms, I draw on how indigenous women participating in a microfinance institution in Bolivia describe their experience to suggest how gendered ideas of risk and responsibility are framing their negotiation of and resistance to the market. While the gendered and colonial construction of risk creates dynamics that perpetuate indigenous women's exclusion from the market, the terms of the resistance and use of the intervention also challenge feminist critiques of neoliberal governmentality developed mostly with reference to advanced modernity and welfare regimes.     

ELECTRIFYING AFRICA: AN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY WITH POLICY IMPLICATIONS

The European Union anticipates alleviating future energy shortages and fulfilling renewable energy mandates by importing “green” electricity from Africa. Historical precedent and environmental consequences have largely been ignored. This article presents an environmental history of African electricity generation at a continental scale, tracing its parallel developments with colonialism, as well as its pursuit in the independence eras of development assistance and neoliberalism. Initially electricity served European interests. Independent governments' development policies involved electrification primarily for industrial development; in North Africa, universal access was also a priority. Recurrent themes and cycles of environmental constraint, environmental disruption, and displacement of consequences from one ecosystem to another are addressed. Highlighted are inter‐relationships among electricity generation, fuel supplies, ecosystems, and water cycles. Late twentieth century technologies and globalized markets re‐valued African rivers and deserts as potential energy sources. Mega‐engineering projects were rejuvenated or proposed. Rural electrification was labelled uneconomic social welfare unrelated to economic development policies of selling power through national, regional, continental and intercontinental interconnections. Historical analysis suggests new areas of research for sustainable development and alternatives to declensionist narratives. Decentralized, small‐scale plants offer models of electricity supply for industrial and domestic needs, while investment in rural electrification produced measureable economic benefit at national levels. Will the EU renewable energy mandate simply displace Europe's environmental problems to Africa? Can Africa afford another water‐intensive export commodity? Will the New African Century follow well‐established patterns of exploitation, or take new, sustainable directions?     

Dropping Out or Signing Up? The Professionalisation of Youth Travel

Leaving school and dropping out of employment or further education was once an act of rebellion by cohorts of young people expressing anti‐establishment sentiments. Now it has become a neoliberal market place in the UK. Over the last five years the "gap year" has changed from a radical activity, dominated by charities and inspired by the travel of the hippie generation, to an institutionally accepted commercial gap year industry which helps form new citizens for a global age. This transformation has seen the dramatic growth in commercial gap year companies and in the numbers of young people in the UK taking gap years. Such growth, taking place under an increasingly engaged public gaze, has led to the professionalisation of the sector and to profound changes in its underlying values. Drawing on a range of empirical sources, I examine how the transformation of the gap year through the neoliberal market place has involved the application of corporate values and rhetoric to youth travel. Becoming "professional" has entailed a shift from collective idealism to the infinitely more saleable values of individual career development. While professional values give legitimacy to the gap year industry, its professional gaze is also proving to be relatively myopic—it has yet to be turned on the volunteer development projects through which many companies in the industry make their names, and money.