Everyday life after downshifting: Consumption,thrift, and inequality

Much of the early literature on downshifting proposed that reduced hours at work would lead to reduced levels of consumption, increased hours of leisure, and a more sustainable and fulfilling life, and yet recent survey research has challenged these assumptions. Our study contributes knowledge on the differentially lived experience of contemporary downshifting and its relationship to sustainable and/or thrifty consumption. We undertook qualitative interviews with Australians of working age who had voluntarily reduced their hours of work in order to explore the everyday experience of downshifting and its links with consumption practices in the domains of food, leisure, and transport. These downshifters focused on thrift rather than sustainability and consequently did not reduce their consumption in a straightforward way. We found the everyday experience of downshifting was significantly shaped by caring responsibilities and financial and housing security. Moreover, differential levels of financial security affected consumption levels. Although those with lower levels of wealth closely managed discretionary expenditure, financially secure downshifters did not reduce their consumption overall. We argue that reduced working hours are unlikely to lead to reduced consumption in the absence of an ideological commitment to sustainability and without mainstream support for changing consumption mindsets and practices.     

Policy-making in a ‘Cold Climate’ of Ruling Party Benefit: Party Government and the Regulation of Government Advertising in Australia

When analysing party government behaviour, attempts to detect opportunistic policy making (designed to benefit the incumbent) usually focus on electoral law and changes designed to advantage the ruling party in terms of potential votes. However, as Stein Rokkan (1966 Rokkan, S. 1966. “Norway: Numerical Democracy and Corporate Pluralism”. In Political Oppositions in Western Democracies, Edited by: Dahl, R. A. New Haven: Yale University Press.  [Google Scholar], 105) noted: ‘Votes count, but resources decide’. A laissez faire approach to regulating government advertising has allowed the federal government to spend over A$1 billion on advertising over 10 years despite ongoing accusations of misuse for partisan benefit and attempts by multiple actors to tighten the rules. This article, therefore, uses government advertising regulation as a case study of policy making ‘in a cold climate’ where, instead of seeking change, the ruling party benefits from existing rules and is extremely reluctant to change them. Using a hypothesis proposed by Richard S. Katz (2005) Katz, R. S. 2005. “Why Are There So Many (Or So Few) Electoral Reforms?”. In The Politics of Electoral Systems, Edited by: Gallagher, M. and Mitchell, P. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [Crossref] [Google Scholar], it considers what (if anything) might propel policy reform in such a situation.     

Protest or Error? Informal Voting and Compulsory Voting

Some opponents of compulsory voting claim that rising rates of informal voting point to growing antipathy towards the institution. In order to test this claim we examine recent trends in informal voting, focusing upon some recent figures, particularly those of the 2004 Federal election when there was a sharp rise in informal votes. We suggest that it is not compulsion that is leading to informal voting but rather complexity and its interactions with sociological factors that are brought into play by near-universal turnout.     

A Pre-Lapita Structure at Apalo,Arawe Islands,Papua New Guinea

Stilt structures in the inter-tidal zone or over shallow water on fringing reefs are widely accepted as a feature of settlements of the Lapita cultural complex in Near Oceania. Claims for similar structures in a pre-Lapita context at the Apalo site in the Arawe Islands, New Britain, Papua New Guinea, have been queried on several grounds. Re-evaluation of the Apalo evidence, together with 10 additional AMS radiocarbon dates, establishes human activity associated with some form of structure and possibly with a ground stone axe about 400–500 years before the Lapita pottery occupation. The paucity of occupational refuse suggests a non-residential structure perhaps associated with water transport. Comparisons with the older Dongan midden site in the Sepik-Ramu basin suggest stilt structures were probably used there as well. An apparent shift in depositional processes between the pre-Lapita and Lapita use of Apalo could reflect changed sea conditions arising from increased ENSO activity.     

Global Value Chains,Industrial Policy and Economic Upgrading in Ethiopia's Apparel Sector

This article examines whether low-income countries can still benefit from participating in manufacturing global value chains (GVCs) in terms of broader industrial development in a global context of greater competition and higher requirements. It contends that developing internationally competitive local firms and domestic linkages, in addition to upgrading, is crucial for participation in GVCs to drive industrialization. The study focuses on Ethiopia's recent experience with developing an apparel export industry through strategic industrial policy. Based on original empirical data collected through firm-level surveys and interviews with government officials, industry experts and buyers, the article analyses the upgrading and localization trajectories of foreign and local apparel-exporting firms. It argues that value-capture benefits in assembly positions in apparel GVCs have become more difficult. The potential for localization benefits depends on the type of global buyers and foreign producers and their levels of embeddedness, but whether this potential is realized also depends on local firm characteristics and related industrial policy. Ethiopia's industrial policy has been relatively successful regarding national economy linkages, but less successful in developing competitive local export firms due to a weak local manufacturing tradition combined with a global context that has led to a supplier squeeze.