TENURE SECURITY INTERVENTIONS IN CAMBODIA: TESTING BEBBINGTON'S APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENT GEOGRAPHY

The relationship between the development industry and the problems it claims to address is problematic. Development studies have often found development practice systematically misrepresenting its context with the result that interventions are out of kilter with reality and fail. In a series of articles in the early 2000s Antony Bebbington suggested development geographers attend to the spatial distribution of development interventions by mapping and explaining immanent development, mapping and explaining intentional development and studying the relationships between them. This article uses the case of property rights interventions in Cambodia to examine the extent that Bebbington's approach might explain development interventions and their relationship to the contexts into which they are inserted. Primary data consist of interviews with key actors involved in decisions over the locations of these interventions. Secondary data consist of reports and databases showing their geographical spread, and political and social science literature explaining the main transitions in recent Cambodian history. The main empirical finding is that the interventions, land titling and community forestry, have not been implemented in the places where the problems they are claimed to address are located. The methodological reflection is that Bebbington's approach valuably challenges policy narratives that tend to smooth space and conceal unevenness. However, it provides only a broad theoretical framework rather than any theoretical content. The approach may only realize its potential when Bebbington and others begin to apply it to generate hypotheses and theory. A new hypothesis emerging from the Cambodian case is briefly introduced in this regard.     

Moving sources: A preliminary study of volcanic glass artifact distributions in northeast China using PXRF

Recent studies have highlighted the long-distance transport of obsidian from the Paektusan (Tianchi or Baitoushan in Chinese) volcano on the border between China and North Korea to eastern Russia and Korea, but little is known about the role of the local population in the production and movement or exchange of this important raw material. This paper addresses this data lacuna by presenting sourcing results of 440 artifacts from 18 Late Paleolithic sites located in northeast China. A portable XRF enabled rapid non-destructive characterization of samples. The results show that although Paektusan obsidian was widely transported throughout northeast Asia, material from at least three other sources was also used. In particular, we highlight the significance of basaltic glass artifacts with the same geochemistry as sources found in the Primorye region of Far East Russia in sites from northeast China. This result indicates a two-way movement of volcanic glass artifacts between Primorye and the northeast of China rather than a unidirectional long-distance exchange system originating from Paektusan Volcano.     

Forest Policy Reform and the Organization of Logging in Peruvian Amazonia

Reform in the forest sector in Peru resulted in a new forestry law, developed with substantial input from international conservation and donor organizations. While it incorporates the principles of sustainable forest management, biodiversity conservation and livelihood improvement, inconsistencies remain between the regulatory mechanisms and actual practices and outcomes in the field, leading some to consider the legal framework a failure. This article suggests that problems in the sector persist because the legal and regulatory frameworks do not incorporate existing local institutions, norms and practices — all of which are rooted in complex historical social, political and economic relationships. Based on information from interviews, data on movement of timber and analysis of secondary information, the authors examine the local structure, actors and dynamics of the concession forestry system in the Peruvian Amazon. The article focuses on how financial, social and political relationships in the network of actors, and particularly the patronage system, have helped actors in the sector adapt to the new policy framework. It is proposed that any further reform in the forest sector must be based on a keen understanding and appreciation of the praxis of timber extraction in the region.     

Interrepublic Trade in the Former Soviet Union: Structure and Implications

A senior CIA economist presents and analyzes the structure and implications of hitherto unpublished 1990 data on interrepublic trade, recently available from sources identified with the former Goskomstat SSSR. The study, unique in its access to statistical data of Soviet origin affording detailed comparisons of trade with indigenous sectoral detail, reveals advantages and dependencies inherent in the trade structures of each of the former Soviet republics. Analysis of the context in which interrepublican trade flows (valued in rubles and dollars) occurred highlights the relationship between drastic declines in industrial output and trade among the newly independent states in the 1990s. 9 figures, 18 tables, 12 references.     

Idées and mentalités; the case of the catholic reform movement in France

The connection between Godwin and Fénelon has traditionally been restricted to the famous and controversial moment in the first edition of Political Justice (1793) in which Godwin presents an example of the interdependence of rationality and ethical action. This paper argues, however, that Fénelon, and particularly his political and educational treatise Telemachus (1699), plays a significant role in a number of Godwin's subsequent fictional works. Employing Telemachus to explore the theories of education presented by Godwin in the various editions of Political Justice and The Enquirer (1797), this paper explores the manner in which Godwin's version of the Enlightenment transcendence of pedagogical power comes up against its limits. Reading this issue in relation to Godwin's argument, in ‘Of Choice in Reading’, that literature remains outside of socio-ethical corruption, three of Godwin's major novels are shown to demonstrate that Telemachus provides the chance for meta-textual moments in which the appeal to reason (the reader's rational capacity or ‘private judgement’) is at once reflected upon and produced. Reading educational theories and problems into Godwin's major fiction in this fashion helps to clarify aspects of the Godwinian (or ‘Jacobin’) novel.