Social Movements and the Dynamics of Rural Territorial Development in Latin America

This special section brings together 4 of the 12 studies conducted within a research program analyzing the relationships among social mobilization, governance, and rural development in contemporary Latin America. The introduction gives an overview of the contemporary significance of social movements for rural development dynamics in the region, and of the principal insights of the section papers and the broader research program of which they were a part. This significance varies as an effect of two distinct and uneven geographies: the geography of social movements themselves and the geography of the rural political economy. The effects that movements have on the political economy of rural development also depend significantly on internal characteristics of these movements. The paper identifies several such characteristics. The general pattern is that movements have had far more effect on widening the political inclusiveness of rural development than they have on improving its economic inclusiveness and dynamism.     

The impact of basic and social infrastructure investment on South African economic growth and development

Basic and social infrastructure investment can assist in addressing widespread inequality and divided societies by promoting economic growth and social development. The aim of this study is to determine whether basic and social infrastructure investment differently affect economic growth and social development indicators of urban and rural municipalities. We used a balanced panel dataset containing infrastructure, economic, demographic and social indicators for rural and urban municipalities for the period from 1996 to 2012. Principal component analysis was used to construct synthetic indices of basic and social infrastructure. Restricted within least squares dummy variable estimation techniques are used to evaluate the differences between urban and rural municipalities. The elasticities of basic and social infrastructure investment generally are more pronounced for economic growth and social development indicators in rural municipalities. These findings could potentially influence policy decisions in terms of infrastructure investment in favour of rural municipalities to increase economic growth and social development.     

Mining enclaves and taxation

This paper examines certain macroeconomic effects of major mining projects in developing countries, paying special attention to the case of Papua New Guinea. It goes on to assess the contribution that such projects can make to economic development indirectly through their contributions to government revenue. This paper reviews existing evidence on the linkage effects of foreign investment in mining projects in developing countries and presents as new evidence the results of a study on the macroeconomic effects of major mining projects in Papua New Guinea. Considerable support is found for the proposition that such projects tend to perform as enclaves, having only weak direct links with host national economies. This paper stresses the importance of applying fiscal arrangements which can be expected to appropriate a large share of the mineral rent from intra-marginal mining projects while preserving the incentive to invest. Fiscal arrangements of this type are being applied in Papua New Guinea and are indeed able to capture very large benefits for the country. In Papua New Guinea the enclave nature of large-scale mining projects is consistent with their making large contributions to progress towards national objectives, and this paper argues that given the application of appropriate fiscal arrangements, this conclusion can be extended to other developing countries.     

农村家庭人力资本投资:基于现状与基本模型的框架分析

现代经济发展的大量实践表明,人力资本是一国经济发展速度和水平的最终决定因素。在农业现代化以及工业化和城市化的进程中,农村人力资本投资的增长是关系到劳动力素质提高,生活与就业条件改善,以及促进我国国民经济与社会长期稳定发展的重大课题。本文主要从农村居民家庭的微观角度,分析了农村人力资本投资的现状、影响因素以及农村家庭如何进行人力资本投资决策,在此基础上提出了改善农村人力资本投资不足的政策与措施。     

Earning the “Write to Speak”: Sell‐Side Analysts and Their Struggle to Be Heard

This paper explores the ways in which sell‐side (SS) financial analysts seek to position themselves advantageously within the wider field of investment advice in spite of widespread skepticism over the value that their forecasts and recommendations add to investment decisions. The field of investment advice has been characterized in recent years by a number of regulatory and technological changes that have forced SS analysts to reconstitute the ways in which they influence the investment decisions of buy‐side (BS) actors. Faced with existential threats, SS analysts have responded to the disruptive impact of technology and regulation by struggling hard to ensure that their services are still valued by fund managers. Key to this ongoing process is the recalibration of professional expertise, which previous research has alluded to but not explored in detail. Central to the persistence of SS analysts in processes of investment decision making are activities revolving around the production and use of analyst reports which, our findings indicate, are less valuable for their informational content than their role as “relational devices,” ascribing legitimacy to SS analysts and earning them an entry ticket to more substantive, value‐adding interactions with companies and BS actors. We also show that economic considerations in the area of investment advice are influenced by social ties, the motivations of various actors in the field, and their relative position vis‐à‐vis other actors. More generally, we contribute to the literature on professional projects by showing how professional groups are constantly engaged in attempts to reposition themselves in the social space, but that field‐level changes can restrict the outcomes of these strategies to mitigation rather than advancement for the professionals concerned.     

Neo-Corporatism and Territorial Economic Development: The Ecuadorian Indigenous Movement in Local Government

This article argues that the democratization of local governments that has been led by indigenous movements in Ecuador can best be described as “neocorporatist”. The article, based on the evidence from two cases of indigenous local governments in the Andes, argues that the forms of “neo-corporatism” created by the Ecuadorian indigenous movement on its entry into government are designed as participatory institutional frameworks that also serve as channels for the expression of social movements’ demands. The neocorporatist practices deployed by indigenous movements in these areas have had mixed results, both in terms of their implementation and of their capacity to foster viable income-generating activities for poor rural areas. On balance, while the forms of neocorporatist government fostered by the indigenous movement can have positive impacts on economic development, there are still two broad limitations. First, it continues to be difficult to foster a process of territorial economic development that effectively addresses the distinct interests that exist among different community organizations. Second, the negative effects of the wider economic context in which local territories find themselves remain beyond the control of the local government.     

Capitals and Capabilities: A Framework for Analyzing Peasant Viability, Rural Livelihoods and Poverty

On the basis of themes emerging in current debates on rural development in Latin America, this paper develops an analytical framework for analyzing rural livelihoods in terms of their sustainability and their implications for rural poverty. The framework argues that our analyses of rural livelihoods need to understand them in terms of: (a) people’s access to five types of capital asset; (b) the ways in which they combine and transform those assets in the building of livelihoods that as far as possible meet their material and their experiential needs; (c) the ways in which people are able to expand their asset bases through engaging with other actors through relationships governed by the logics of the state, market and civil society; and (d) the ways in which they are able to deploy and enhance their capabilities both to make living more meaningful and to change the dominant rules and relationships governing the ways in which resources are controlled, distributed and transformed in society. Particular attention is paid to the importance of social capital as an asset through which people are able to widen their access to resources and other actors.     

The organisation of urban agriculture in Cape Town,South Africa: A social capital perspective

This article explores urban agriculture in Cape Town and its organisational forms. Based on a literature review of peer-reviewed articles and grey literature, it examines the state of linkages among urban farmers and various supporting organisations of urban agriculture. Moreover, it examines the coordination of activities among key supporting organisations. By analysing the roles of state and non-state actors and linkages, the article discusses implications for the development of urban agriculture. This article suggests that a lack of effective coordination of initiatives among supporting actors presents a significant pitfall in the development of urban agriculture. Furthermore, the failure of farmers to self-organise is identified as equally detrimental. Therefore, it calls for improved synergies between state and non-state actors involved to ensure that the gains of urban agriculture are enhanced.     

Looking back: Government politics and trust in rural developments in Tanzania and Zimbabwe 1980–1990

Trust is assigning the right to act to others. Trust is therefore building community. But trust can increase and wane with complex consequences. Community was built differently in Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Tanzania reached independence already in 1961; Zimbabwe in 1980. Both were subjected to British colonialism. Both experienced liberation movements more harshly suppressed in Zimbabwe than in Tanzania. Both had large rural populations. It can be argued that some level of generalised trust among people within the state’s formal boundaries is a condition for a functioning democracy. Distrust that makes a citizen, a group or a whole category of people exit from the state’s basic institutions fragments the state. The question here is how government politics in rural affairs, both policy-making and the organisation of implementation, affected trust relations between rulers and rural citizens in the two countries. The assumption is the less positive meaning policy has, the less trust, a reduced willingness to assign authority to policy maker and implementers.     

我国农村基础设施建设对农村经济发展的作用分析与思考

通过对1990年以来我国政府对农村地区基础设施建设财政投入量与农村地区经济发展的增加额的协整分析,本文发现我国对于农村地区基础设施建设的投资对农村地区经济发展具有明显而有效的促进作用,并且在这种促进作用中,基建性的实物投资对于农村地区经济发展的刺激作用会优于货币性的财政补贴支出。基于该分析结果,本文结合我国农村地区的基础设施建设投资现状和农村地区政府部门的运作特点,对我国政府如何更加优化地进行农村基础设施建设投资提出了相应的建议,从而有助于我国农村基础设计建设投资政策的优化和调整。     

农村公共物品供给与投资优先序问题调查

从农村基层视角,实证分析现阶段农村公共物品供给状况和进一步投资优先序问题。结果表明:现阶段农村公共物品有了长足的发展,但仍然存在结构性和区域性不足;今后投资优先序依次为农业水利设施和道路、医疗保健和社会保障、信息服务和文化娱乐等,但不同地区、不同地形、不同区位、不同收入水平下优先序存在显著差异。要充分尊重农民意愿,根据各地实际情况正确确定农村公共物品投资优先序,进而区分轻重缓急、合理确定各项公共物品投资规模,实现有效供给。     

Women and empowerment through the ‘economy of affection’ in KwaZulu‐Natal: Its significance for sustainable development

This article is an attempt to demonstrate how, in the absence of infrastructural requirements for development in the rural areas, the interpersonal relationships of women articulated through their households, kinship networks and community structures serve as indispensable mechanisms for their survival. These mechanisms are seen as part of an indigenous socio‐economic framework that is referred to here as the ‘economy of affection’. This framework is presented, through ethnographic data, as a means of facilitating moral, social and economic support among the indigent rural people in KwaZulu‐Natal. Taking cognisance of local organisational forms and resources is the best possible way to reconstruct South Africa's vast hinterland against the background of a history of development patterns, where rhetoric has played a more important role than actual substantive contributions to development of the rural poor, and where capital investments, technology and expertise of a post‐industrial nature are unlikely to spread.     

Understanding 20 Years of Change in West-Central Nepal: Continuity and Change in Lives and Ideas

Research into the political economy of agrarian change was undertaken in 1974–75 in West-Central Nepal, as part of a wider study of the effects of road construction in the region. The field research centered on a comprehensive income and expenditure survey of 667 rural households. An explanatory framework was developed in which class analysis was combined with dependency theory. Few signs were found of a dynamic which might lead to capitalist development in the rural (or urban areas) of the region. In a book, Nepal in Crisis, based on this fieldwork, this analysis was generalized to Nepal as a whole. A re-survey of rural households in the same region in 1997–98 confirmed that, indeed, very little capitalist development had taken place, and that the disposition of rural households within the social classes and forms of production identified 20 years before had remained remarkably stable. The paper examines the significance of continuity and change both in theoretical approaches and in the dynamics of change affecting the lives of local people.     

我国村镇银行发展模式探索与政策建议

作为新型农村金融机构,村镇银行对于农村金融建设和经济发展有着重要的促进作用,然而在实际运作中,村镇银行的发展面临诸多困境。本研究从制约村镇银行可持续发展内外部因素入手,通过三家村镇银行的案例分析及国外发展模式对比研究就我国村镇银行发展的有效模式进行了探讨与总结。在此基础上,就政府如何帮助村镇银行实现可持续性发展给出了进一步的政策建议。     

Agricultural reconstruction in a consumer society: The Mboza Village project 1

While this paper draws upon research conducted in northern Natal, it has general relevance for rural development debates in South Africa today. The authors argue that it is imperative that agricultural development be located within the context of socio‐economic factors that prescribe relations of consumption and development of labour supply. Agricultural performance and the potential for agricultural development should be assessed within the context of the interrelationship between different spheres of economic exchange as well as the differential management of risk within a narrow range of marginal economic options. Serious attention should be given to the structural causes of rural poverty and the high social and economic costs associated with rural life in South Africa. Such issues are not necessarily addressed in attempts to increase rural productivity through reforming indigenous land tenure systems.     

Women and the effects of state policy on the everyday environment

The aim of this viewpoint is to show how state policy has shaped the everyday environment in two South African communities, rural Masemola and urban Phola, and how women in particular have responded to the challenge of development. A case is made for gender sensitivity in policy‐making.     

从社会交换论看农村合作经济组织的建设及发展

经济合作的物质基础是利益的相互交换,农村合作经济组织也是藉由政府、合作组织与农户之间的社会交换建立和发展起来的。社会交换网络中各行为主体之间的合作关系本质上是一种互惠关系。在不同的互惠关系中,各主体看重和追求的目标并不完全一致。厘清这些目标,对于促进农村合作经济组织的发展,促进农业发展和农民增收是至关重要的。     

Varieties of communist system transformation and their common systemic grounds: a comparative study of China and East European countries

This paper analyzes the similarities and differences in the structure and dynamics of party–state systems and their different metamorphosis from a comparative perspective. This approach allows interpretation of the Chinese system specifics and its transformation within this framework. Theoretical findings are based on empirical research carried out in Hungary, Romania, and China by the author between 1975 and 2014. Empirical research revealed a politically monopolized interactive and intertwined network of dependency and interest promotion among actors in the party, the state, and the economy during decision-making. This network possesses similar elements and connecting and operating principles whatever the time, the space, and the level of its aggregation. It renders the structural background of power distribution and that of the politically rational behavior of economic actors in the selective distribution of resources and in the overall drive for growth, resulting in frequent investment overheating and overcapacity. The comparative framework also defines the structural varieties of power distribution in the network that are responsible for the differences in the operation and the sequence, speed, and conditions of system transformation.     

中国农村人力资本投资与农村经济发展

文章认为,目前我国农村广泛存在着教育投资动力不足和教育能力缺乏的问题,其中原因主要是农村人力资本的投资收益率不高。除此之外,教育体制方面的不健全、学校教育与农村经济发展状态脱节的事实以及农业职业教育力度不够,在很大程度上制约了农村人力资本的投资额。但在现代新农村环境下,只有依靠加大对农村人力资本投资才能够真正实现农村经济的可持续发展。在这种现实的背景条件下,文章对人力资本投资和农村经济发展之间的相互关系进行了说明和分析,以试图对农村人力资本收益与农村经济发展提供一些思路。     

Conservation and Development Interventions as Networks: The Case of the India Ecodevelopment Project,Karnataka

Experience with community-based biodiversity conservation programs in the 1980s and 1990s contributed to the conviction among donor agencies and researchers that such programs must be based on the active support of local resource users, appropriate incentives, and institutional support. Yet the continuing struggles of practitioners to implement conservation interventions that are socially and ecologically sustainable point to difficulty in realizing these principles on the ground. Actor-oriented research in rural development and actor network theory emphasize that the capacity of facilitators to engage effectively in negotiation processes and establish strong networks with key actors is critical in mediating intervention outcomes. Drawing on the case of the India Ecodevelopment Project at Rajiv Gandhi (Nagarahole) National Park in Karnataka, India, this paper explores the role of relationships and networks between actors in a conservation and development intervention, finding that practitioners need to focus on negotiation and network building as a central rather than subsidiary part of the intervention process. Associated with this is the need for change in the way donor and implementing agencies conduct themselves, to promote communication and greater flexibility in intervention processes.