Mobilizing Against GM Crops in India, South Africa and Brazil

This paper explores the national and transnational character of mobilization against GM crops in India, South Africa and Brazil in the ten-year period to 2005. By examining the contexts and practices of mobilization across the three countries, and in particular the complex, often fraught, local and global connections, the paper examines the diverse mobilizations that have occurred. The paper argues that to understand these processes, particular national political and economic contexts must be appreciated, alongside how the GM debates articulate with other foci for activism and the complex and often fragile nature of alliances that make up activist networks. The paper shows how the debate about GM crops has become a much wider one: about the future of agriculture and small-scale farmers, about corporate control and property rights and about the rules of global trade. In sum, a debate not just about the pros and cons of a particular set of technologies, but about politics and values and the future of agrarian society.     

The Institutionalisation of “Noise” and “Silence” in Urban Politics: Riots and Compliance in Uganda and Rwanda

Amid ongoing debates about institutions and development, the importance of informal institutions (or norms) is widely recognised. Relatively little, however, is known about how informal institutions form and persist over time in particular contexts. This paper combines a concern with the process of informal institutionalisation and a focus on everyday politics in urban areas. Drawing on a comparative study of Kampala (Uganda) and Kigali (Rwanda), it argues that in the former the regular mobilisation of urban social groups into protests and riots has institutionalised what might be termed “noise” as the most meaningful form of political participation. In Kigali, by contrast, comparatively “silent” processes of collective mobilisation that involve structured activities and community “self-policing” have become institutionalised. The paper analyses these differential patterns, considering the tacit norms of negotiation in each case and the incentives for urban social and political actors to adhere to them.     

Asia's Irrigation Management in Transition: A Paradigm Shift Faces High Transaction Costs

Many water management problems have arisen in past Asian irrigation projects. They have been characterized as a vicious cycle involving the lack of maintenance, poor irrigation service, low rates of fee collection, inadequate institutional arrangements, and lack of user participation. This article argues that we have generally agreed on a strategy to address these problems and asks whether or not the strategy is being implemented effectively. A review of the irrigation record of six countries in Asia (including India and China) shows that they have implemented several of the key irrigation management reforms but that high transaction costs have delayed reform.     

Performance of success and failure in grassroots conservation and development interventions: Gender dynamics in participatory forest management in India

Co-governance of forests, or participatory forest management, has been a wide-spread conservation and development (C&D) intervention in India for over two decades. The practice began in the 1990s as Joint Forest Management (JFM), where local communities – organised into forest protection committees (FPCs) – worked in cooperation with various state forest departments. Later on, this intervention took shape of Community Forest Management (CFM), where communities managed their forests largely independent of the forest departments. Under both the JFM and CFM models, gender mainstreaming – enabling equal distribution of opportunities and services across genders – held a pivotal position. This study shows that despite continued marginalisation, female FPC members often performed as if initiatives were successful. Thus, the central question investigated in this paper is: "Why women performed success in participatory forest management interventions while experiencing marginalisation in the FPC?” This paper adopts an ethnographic case study methodology (immersion), utilising in-depth ethnographic case studies from three states of India for analysing performances of success and the resulting dynamics of participation, to explain the gendered nuances of the grassroots conservation and development interventions. The concept of 'situated agency' of community actors is explored to understand the practices around the performances of success in C&D interventions in forest-dependent communities in India. The paper argues that these performances hold the promise of a slow, but steady progress towards the creation of a gender-sensitive system in an otherwise patriarchal social structure.     

传统旅游地旅游产品改进与创新——以四川省三岔湖为例

传统旅游地经过20年的发展,普遍进入了成熟期,这一时期的旅游地都免不了出现产品、路线老化和旅游质量下降等问题.通过分析当前传统旅游地的现状和衰落的原因,根据熊波特的经济可创新理论,得出传统旅游地旅游产品的可创新理论,并总结出传统旅游地的创新途径.     

Regional Economic Growth and Inequality in India during the Pre- and Post-reform Periods

Abstract

This paper evaluates the economic performance of 15 major states in India, and examines whether initially disparate states displayed any tendency towards convergence in real per capita income during the period 1960/61–2006/07. Though the growth performance of the states has improved in the post-reform period, since 1991 the states have diverged in per capita income. The states following different steady-state paths are classified into three clubs—one convergent and two non-convergent. The regional divergence and club convergence are explained in terms of interstate variations in physical and social infrastructures, state-level policy reforms, foreign direct investment flows and economic structure. The poorly performing states could improve their relative economic position by undertaking investments in physical and social infrastructures, and speeding up the reform process by liberalizing investment and infrastructure policies. As industry and services are the major sources of regional divergence, any effort to reduce regional imbalance must focus primarily on these two sectors.     

Constructing and Contesting a Gujarati-Hindu Ethno-religious Identity Through Development Programmes in an Indian Province

Through a case study of Hindu nationalism in India, this paper explores how development programmes serve as the site of construction of, as well as contestation over, religious identity. The participation of low-caste Dalits and tribal Adivasis in the mass violence perpetrated against Muslims in the Indian province of Gujarat in 2002 conveyed the impression that Hindu nationalists had achieved one of their key objectives of creating “Hindu unity”. Cutting across social and status divisions in the local Hindu population, the Hindu nationalist party's constituency today includes its traditional upper-caste supporters, as well as lower castes. While “the other” in the Hindu nationalist conception of community included Dalits and Adivasis as well as Muslims and Christians until the mid-1980s, the recent “Hindu unity” agenda has seen the boundaries of “the other” closing in around Muslims and Christians only. Despite these developments, this paper argues, continuing attempts at the construction of a unified ethno-religious identity are circumscribed and complicated by processes of contestation. Through village-level research, it shows how government actors are involved in simultaneous processes of construction as well as contestation over a Gujarati-Hindu identity through development programmes.     

浅析发展非公有制林业应遵循的若干基本原则——非公有制林业发展研究之二

非公有制林业是我国林业的重要组成部分,发展非公有制林业是一个开拓性的课题,是一个复合的社会系统工程。在发展非公有制林业的过程中必须遵循一系列的基本原则,主要包括可持续发展原则、法制化原则、公众参与原则、稳定性和连续性原则、“效率优先,兼顾公平”原则和鼓励、规范及引导相结合原则等,并着重阐述了这些原则的内涵及具体要求。     

生态文明建设与资源环境承载力

生态文明是以人类社会与自然生态环境平等、共同、持续发展为宗旨的文明发展方式.生态文明建设应在以自然资源环境为对象创造和享受社会财富的同时,促进自然资源环境的循环、更新、稳定、持续发展,形成共生、包容、协调、统一的人地关系.生态文明建设必须兼顾资源环境保护和经济社会发展,统一认识、制定战略、总体谋划,统筹区域协调发展,建立健全生态文明建设的法制、体制、机制,补充完善生态文明建设相关政策,对资源环境承载力进行综合评价,将人类活动控制在资源环境承载力范围之内.     

基本生活需要研究进展:理论视角和测量实践

基本生活需要在民生保障体系中具有重要位置。通过回溯基本生活需要相关理论视角,归纳这一概念的由来、主要内容和测量经验,总结已有研究的主要观点与发展趋势,能够为今后基本生活需要的理论辨析和实证测量提供借鉴。相关研究表明,基本生活需要是一种社会认可的维持和保护人的健康及其自主能力必不可少的需要,具体内容包括人的生理需要、文化需要和社会参与需要;已有理论脉络先后经历了生理、能力、目标和权利等研究视角的转换,开展了生理需要、生活需要和需要战略等代表性测量实践,采用单一收入方法或多维指标方法展开需要测度具有广泛应用前景。重视人的基本社会参与需要的测量、深化最低生活需要与基本生活需要的比较、探讨基本生活需要的多维满足途径,是拓展基本生活需要理论研究的方向。     

The Unique Identity (UID) Project,Biometrics and Re-Imagining Governance in India

At various points in its existence, the Indian state has deployed technologies to govern the nation. Recently, the state has undertaken a number of large-scale projects to make use of digital technology. The most controversial of these is the Unique Identity (UID) project, which is registering biometric, along with demographic, information about residents. This paper seeks to understand what is at stake politically in this technological intervention. It aims to explore the political logics and consequences of such a biometric system. It argues that UID re-imagines the economy and the state–citizen relationship as a series of transactions. Theoretically, the main thrust of this paper is to understand the “general economy of power”, as Michel Foucault calls it, which is unfolding in India around the issues of capitalist growth, inequality, social protection and terrorism—and UID signals the technological potential for the convergence of these concerns.     

Urban poverty and the politics of caste and religion in early 20th century North India: Implications for development practice and research

Abstract

This paper seeks to bring out the importance of engaging with the themes of religious and ethnic politics in development studies. With case studies from urban north India in the early 20th century, the paper argues that religion and caste are central to both the incidence and conditions of poverty and to the experience of development and change for the poor. The paper shows that with rapid social and economic transformation, various groups of the low caste poor refashioned and reformulated their religious ideas and caste ideologies, in an attempt to construct a political vocabulary and a cognitive framework with which to conceptualize the changing nature of social relations, deprivation, poverty and inequality, as well as to question or challenge them. Drawing lessons from these cases, the paper also advocates the need to take on board the politics of caste and religion, not only as an academic exercise, but also in development practice, instead of ignoring or condemning them as anachronistic and backward. A serious engagement with religious or ethnic politics amongst the poor, both ideologically and organizationally, may well enable development activists to facilitate grassroots initiative and involvement, and thus achieve a greater degree of democratization in development practice.     

乡村振兴的共建共治共享路径研究

厘清乡村振兴的主体及实现路径问题,可以避免乡村振兴出现重大导向性偏差。本文在评述政府主导、资本主导和农民自主三种路径面临困境基础上,提出应以习近平“共建共治共享”社会治理理论引领乡村振兴。在阐释习近平“共建共治共享”社会治理理论后,构建了一个乡村振兴与共建共治共享内在关联的理论分析框架,回答了乡村振兴的本质属性“是什么”、乡村振兴“为什么”需要共建共治共享、乡村振兴“怎么”进行共建共治共享的问题。然后以明月村为例,阐明了普通乡村在特定的经济与制度条件下通过共建共治共享走上振兴之路的现实可行性。本文认为,乡村振兴应以增进农民福祉为导向,但从实现路径上不应只依靠农民,多元主体共建共治共享至关重要。现阶段实施乡村振兴战略,关键是抓住城市化带动消费升级的历史机遇,健全城乡融合的体制机制,构建一套可操作的共建共治共享机制,让城市化辐射到的乡村以市场方式率先振兴起来,同时把节约的财力转移给城市化辐射不到的乡村进行保底建设。     

Factors affecting participation in joint forest management in the West Bengal state of India

This study analyses participation in joint forest management (JFM). The study is based on in-depth interviews with 150 households of Forest Protection Committees (FPC) in Paschim Medinipur district in the West Bengal state of India. Based on a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of 14 participatory indicators, it follows that “social” aspects of participation are considerably less important in West Bengal than as found elsewhere in India, while the perception of the environment (first and third factor) stand out as the most important aspects of participation in JFM, jointly explaining almost half of the variance. Regression analyses indicate that household size, the number of forest committee meetings, religion of the household, willingness to pay of the household for the forest protection and the size of land holding are important variables for explaining variation in levels of participation. Results from estimating game theoretic models on participation among villagers in JFM indicates that in two out of the four possible situations, harmonious sharing of the benefits is an (Nash) equilibrium, but not unique. In all cases, institutional checks and balances are needed to guarantee mutual participation, which is possible only by strengthening the JFM management body.     

Agrarian Crisis and Agrarian Questions in India

This essay reviews five recent books concerned with different aspects of the agrarian crisis and agrarian questions in India. Each book deals, implicitly or explicitly, with specific facets of these issues. Specific regional patterns of highly exploitative agrarian capitalist developments and the role of agro‐commercial capital are analysed by the books. The essay argues that the agrarian crisis is class specific and that the capitalist farming classes are, in the main, able to successfully accumulate, although uneven development across India makes generalization difficult. The review concludes with some overall perspectives on agrarian transition in India.     

Introduction to the Special Feature: Will the BRIC Decade Continue? The Role of Rural Areas and Agriculture

This article provides an introduction to the special feature on agriculture‐related issues in the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) contained in this issue of Journal of Agricultural Economics. The special feature is motivated by the increased interest which these countries have received since the turn of the millennium and by the significance of agriculture in their development. It considers economic and social development in BRICs, their integration in world agricultural trade as well as environmental concerns. This article presents key figures on economic, social and agricultural features in BRICs and compares them across countries. A synthesis of the articles included in the special feature is provided by highlighting the selection of topics likely to be crucial for further development across BRICs.     

A social networks approach for strengthening participation in technology innovation: lessons learnt from the Mount Elgon region of Kenya and Uganda

Participatory approaches to agricultural technology development have not yet fully lived up to their promise to incorporate farmer knowledge. This paper introduces a social networks approach (SNA) to improve participatory research processes for co-innovation. Drawing upon findings from a collaborative project developing conservation agricultural production systems for smallholders in western Kenya and eastern Uganda, the paper explores farmer support networks to improve participation in technological innovation and development. Key research themes include: identifying farmers’ agricultural production networks; the local articulation of agricultural production networks and mindsets; using networks to facilitate meaningful participation in technology development; and disadvantages and advantages of using a social network approach. The introduction of SNA improved participatory research by building external and internal legitimacy for determining who participates, discouraging participatory attrition, and providing a meaningful forum for participation of all stakeholders. As a result, the introduction of SNA is demonstrated to show strong promise for improving processes of participatory technology development in agriculture.     

Is Bt Cotton a Pro‐Poor Technology? A Review and Critique of the Empirical Record

Policy makers, journalists and other commentators have hailed genetically modified (GM) crops as a ‘pro‐poor’ success in the developing world. Their confidence appears to be justified by the encouraging conclusions reached by academic studies on the performance and impacts of GM crops, which seem to provide convincing evidence of substantial benefits for smallholders in developing countries. However, a detailed, critical examination of studies on transgenic, insect‐resistant cotton in China, India and South Africa demonstrates that the technology's impacts have been evaluated and represented in selective and misleading ways. The performance and impacts of GM crops have in fact been highly variable, socio‐economically differentiated and contingent on a range of agronomic, socio‐economic and institutional factors. The shortcomings of the GM crop‐impacts literature have done a disservice to public and policy debates about GM crops in international development and impeded the development of sound, evidence‐based policy.     

Unlocking the Black Box of Institutions in Livelihoods Analysis: Case Study from Andhra Pradesh,India

Weaknesses of sustainable-livelihoods analysis include the neglect of power relations; a focus on the material bases of livelihoods, ignoring social and cultural aspects; and failing to incorporate dynamism. This paper seeks to reinvigorate sustainable-livelihoods frameworks through a broader conceptualisation of institutions which identifies the multiple ways in which they mediate livelihoods. It draws upon Scott's (1995) three pillars of institutions (regulative, normative and cognitive) and the three schools of neo-institutionalism (rational, cultural and historical) to present a more comprehensive approach to understanding the ways in which institutions mediate livelihoods. These approaches are in themselves limited in their understanding of agency and institutional transformation. The paper argues that attention to “complex subjectivities” and contestations over meaning within a broader institutional context can identify entry points for strategic development interventions. The utility of the approach for development practice and research is demonstrated through its application to rural livelihoods in Andhra Pradesh, India.     

公众参与城市绿地建设初探

阐明了城市绿地建设中的"公众参与"的基本概念,以及公众参与城市绿地建设的社会基础和理论基础,归纳总结了日本与中国公众参与绿地建设的经验,指出公众参与是实施城市绿地建设民主及发展生态文明的重要举措。