‘Not just numbers!’ Homeless people as potential economic contributors in Tshwane

ABSTRACT

Statistics on homelessness in the City of Tshwane fail to give us ideas about the capacities homeless people have that could be used as a stepping stone for their own economic empowerment and development. Stories of homeless people considered in this research affirm that there are real people behind those ‘cold’ numbers. This research further unearths by means of a basic capacity inventory the potential for economic contribution that a homeless community could make in Tshwane. I found that, given the resources and support needed, the homeless community that participated in this research has the capacity to contribute, through self-employment, cooperatives, internship programmes, formal employment and so forth, to many industries in the City of Tshwane, some of which are mentioned in the article.     

Unshackling the chains of homelessness in the City of Tshwane: A critical appraisal of the current policy in the light of national and local policies and strategies

ABSTRACT

This article provides a critical appraisal of the current Homelessness Policy for the City of Tshwane in the light of national and local policies and strategies. Both a literature review and policy analysis were conducted to attain the main aim of this article. Documents consulted and used in this process included the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, the Freedom Charter, the National Development Plan 2030 and the Tshwane Vision 2055. The study was prompted by the need to find a lasting solution towards the challenge of homelessness in the City of Tshwane through governmental and non-governmental interventions. Recommendations for the appraisal of the current policy document will be directed to the City Council which is empowered by the provision of the Municipal Systems Act, Act 32 of 2000, Section 11(3) to revise the current policy document.     

‘A shelter is not a home’: Voices of homeless women in the City of Tshwane

ABSTRACT

In response to a request from the City of Tshwane that homelessness in the city be explored, a research team was established in 2014. The research was divided into four pillars: conceptual/theoretical perspectives of homelessness; narratives and experiences of homeless and former homeless people, particularly women; documentation of current practices to curb homelessness in the city; and policies that address homelessness in City of Tshwane. This article focuses on the second pillar. Individual interviews and one focus group interview with eight women were conducted. The results revealed four storylines: a shelter was halfway home; shelters had restrictive and protective regulations; reconnection programmes with families were required; and hope – as a matter of survival. Improving people’s economic status (not providing shelters) was the permanent solution to homelessness. Emphasis was on women’s right to equal status in housing issues which are guided by well-founded policies that are women friendly.     

(Finding) Pathways out of homelessness: An engaged,trans-disciplinary collaborative in the City of Tshwane

ABSTRACT

Street homelessness in the City of Tshwane was brought to public attention in the winter of 2014. This led to a composite research project involving different constituencies, including homeless people, to reflect on ways of addressing street homelessness in the city. This article serves as a conceptual and epistemological introduction to this collaborative research project entitled Pathways Out of Homelessness. The article argues for the use of a broad working definition of street homelessness that allows for complexities of homelessness to emerge, in order to discern diverse and appropriate alternatives.     

International responses to homelessness: Lessons for the City of Tshwane

ABSTRACT

Reports of increases in the numbers of homeless people are pouring in from all over the world yet many governments still do not consider homelessness worthy of a policy response in its own right and relegate it to the periphery of either housing or social (welfare) policy arenas and interventions. In the introductory sections of this article, reference is made to the current extent of homelessness in the world and the rise to prominence of a rights-based approach to homelessness. This is followed by a brief overview of responses to homelessness in Australia, the USA and some European countries. A few of the key components of these responses and their relevance for homelessness policies in South Africa and the City of Tshwane are identified.     

Contextual determinants of family dissolution in sub-Saharan Africa

ABSTRACT

The question of family dissolution has been widely debated by demographers, economists and health experts in developed countries. However, there appears to be a dearth of research on the contextual determinants of family dissolution in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and the variations that exist within regions. This article is stimulated by the recognition that family dissolution is associated with negative consequences both for adults and for children. Using pooled data from the recent Demographic and Health Surveys of 16 SSA countries with a weighted sample of 51 474 (Central Africa), 61 069 (East Africa), 42 247 (Southern Africa) and 83 187 (West Africa) women, the article examines the contextual determinants of family dissolution in SSA. Dissolution rates ranged from 12% in East Africa to 20% in Central Africa. Socio-economic variables were strong predictors of dissolution in all of the regions although direction of association differed. This article adds to the body of knowledge of family dissolution in SSA.     

The geography of urbanization — Sweden and Finland,c. 1570–1770

Abstract

In this article Swedish urbanization is considered as a long term growth cycle. The urban system expanded both geographically and demographically during the seventeenth century. Many new towns were founded, and urban growth rates were generally high. Swedish urban geography was characterized by peripheral expansion mainly towards northern Sweden. At the same time there was a strong tendency towards the centralization of urban resources. The capital city, Stockholm, evolved from being a medium-sized town to becoming a city worthy of Sweden s great power status. During the eighteenth century several of the seventeenth century trends were reversed: the centralising tendency ended and indeed regressed, while general urban growth slowed down, turning into an ‘urban growth from below’. Stockholm became a stagnation metropolis' and the eastern-central part of Sweden experienced an urban setback relative to western Sweden, where several towns, including Gothenburg, profited from their close connections with the expansive markets of northern and western Europe.     

Finnish mortality in the eighteenth century: A reply

Abstract

In SEHR No.2, 1978, Eino ]utikkala took issue on a number of points with my article published in SEHR No.2, 1977, and I should like to make several comments in reply, Firstly, I have found it misleading to call the results of my data adjustments as ‘correction coefficients’. This term tends to suggest that my corrections produce precise results, an impression which the caveats explicitly stated in my text were designed to prevent. My purpose was to provide a rough suggestion of, and an approximation to the extent of errors, since it would have profited no one had I concluded the study with the simple acknowledgment of gaps in the registers and the admission that there is no way of determining their extent. Because this type of research is still relatively new, and because there seemed to be no other way of assessing the number of infants who died below one year of age, but were omitted from the registers of ‘baptised’ and ‘buried’, the national figures were used for the corrections, and an attempt was made to ensure that this approach did not lead to an overestimation of error.     

A Framework for the Strategic Design of Science and Technology Policy for African Development*

Abstract: The key role of science and technology and the ways in which it can be developed and deployed to achieve the identified goals of development in Africa are articulated in this paper. Notable projects, programmes, declarations etc. addressing issues of development of Africa are: the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), aimed at poverty reduction over a stipulated period of time with globally defined measurable indicators of progress; the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD); the Blair Commission Report for Africa; and the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) targeted at repositioning Africa in the world economy. During the WSSD Summit process, the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPOI) identified the three pillars of sustainable development as the economic, environmental and social pillars, and emphasized the fact that ‘science and technology must be placed at the heart of policies to promote sustainable development’.     

Neutrality and free trade: Sweden and trade liberalisation, 1948–1958

Abstract

This article discusses the Swedish attitude to European economic cooperation, an attitude that has been described as reluctant. The traditional explanation for this has been Sweden's neutrality. This explanation has been challenged by researchers, who have claimed that a nationally self-sufficient social democracy was responsible for the reluctance towards Europe. In this article, neutrality is still seen as the main explanatory factor. Swedish strategies for dealing with European integration linked the concepts of neutrality and global free trade. Nordic cooperation was also seen as a strategy to meet demands for European integration. Swedish activities within the European organisations were limited by neutrality concerns. Within these limits Sweden worked for economic policy solutions, which might be called social democratic.     

Could Sweden have stopped the second world war?

Abstract

In a recent article in the Scandinavian Economic History Review, R. Karlbom raised an important issue, and one which had not up to that point received the attention it merited.¹ This issue is the degree to which Germany was dependent on Swedish exports of iron ore between her invasion of Poland and her defeat of France. Could Germany have conquered Norway, Denmark, France, Holland and Belgium without a regular supply of iron ore from Sweden? Could Sweden, as Mr. Karlbom implies, have stopped the war?     

The transatlantic tar trade

Abstract

The tar trade has been of especial interest to Finnish commercial history, as tar has been regarded as Finland's main export article in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.¹ However, the studies of Professor Aulis J. Alanen suggest that this was no longer the case during the final phase of the Swedish regime, when the boom in shipbuilding for export, the new sawmill industry and the rising incomes from freights reduced the share of tar exports in the balance of payments. The significance of tar production and the tar trade was nevertheless fairly considerable for a long time in Northern Finland.     

Agriculture and controls in Denmark 1930–1950

Abstract

In 1932/33 the Danish Ministry of Agriculture established a number of government export boards with fairly wide-ranging powers. In spite of strong liberal traditions, Danish farmers soon learned to appreciate government intervention. Firstly, the administration was entrusted entirely to the agricultural organisations, giving them wide opportunities for influence. Secondly, through the export boards, the agricultural interest was afforded the chance of controlling the marketing stage in the same way as it already dominated the production stage via the cooperative movement.

Starting off from this example, we shall discuss in more general terms the integration mechanisms responsible for bringing about close teamwork between organisations and government. This teamwork came about in large measure for reasons of technical administration, the organisations being able to offer a complementary administrative machine which at the same time functioned as a harmonising element for the government. Moreover the Danish political system, characterised as it was and is by consensus democracy and minority parliamentarism, facilitated close integration of the organisations in policy formulation and implementation.     

Norway and the scandinavian economic history review

Abstract

In the first volume of SEHR, published in 1953, we can find articles from Denmark, Finland and Sweden but not from Norway. The question is whether this was accidental or symptomatic. Professor Johan Schreiner was the Norwegian representative on the editorial board from the beginning, and I assume that he also took part in the founding meeting in 1952, described by Kristof Glamann. He also published an article in the second volume (1954) entitled “Wages and Prices in England in the Later Middle Ages”. Schreiner stayed on as the Norwegian representative throughout the Sdderlund period, that is until 1961. During this period 11 main articles by Norwegians appeared in SEHR, most of which dealth with aspect of pre-industrial agrarian history, a field that had been developed by Professor Andreas Holmsen, who was the author of four of the eleven articles.     

Short-distance migration,circles and flows: Movement to and from Ullensaker according to the population census lists of 1865

Abstract

This article arose from the ‘Ullensaker research project’ of the Institute of History of the University of Oslo (supported by the Norwegian Research Council for Science and the Humanities), which has as one of its objectives the application of micro-historical methods and electronic data processing techniques to social history. The article examines how far it is possible to reconstruct the migration patterns of a local population by detailed study of place-of-birth data in a nominative population census, and discusses some aspects of short-distance migration as a historical, sociological and socio-psychological phenomenon.     

The ‘Special’ World: Stalin's Power Apparatus and the Soviet System's Secret Structures Of Communication

ABSTRACT

Two of the most defining trends of the nineteenth century were the growth of international trade and the increased role of government activities in the economy. In the conjuncture between these developments lie taxes on foreign trade. Sweden was one of the examples where customs revenue became the single most important source of revenue before WWI. This article sets out to test how this source of revenue could increase as much as it did. The analysis focuses mainly on trade policy and how tariffs were set and how that affected revenue. The results show that Swedish liberalisation of trade forced a switch in the fiscal structure of tariffs, moving revenue to fewer commodities. Increased importance was given to consumption goods with lower elasticity of demand. Trade continued to increase under fiscal taxation, which led to increases in revenue. During the early period increased revenue was achieved with higher tariffs on a few key commodities. Towards the end of the century tariffs on agricultural and capital goods became more fiscally relevant, which could have clashed with protectionist intentions. The article highlights that more work is needed on this fiscal component of trade policy.     

Land ownership in the nordic countries

Abstract

The article examines the relationship between the Norwegian State and international cartels and trusts in the interwar years. In this period, Norway was at the forefront with regard to implementing legislation regulating cartels, yet the legislation was not an antitrust legislation in the modern sense. It was aimed not only at protecting consumer interests, but more importantly at defending domestic businesses against foreign monopolies and cartels. In the article we examine how the Norwegian authorities interacted with international cartels and trusts in seven different cases in the interwar period. The study shows that although there was a deep seated scepticism towards concentration of market power in Norway, cartels received support from the Norwegian government when they were deemed to be beneficial to Norwegian economic interests. The legislation was used to foster the development of domestic cartels, while at the same time it was employed as a tool to limit the operations of foreign cartels and trusts.     

How Does Corruption Influence the Effect of Foreign Direct Investment on Economic Growth?

Abstract

We investigate the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on economic growth in 130 countries from 1995 to 2008, considering the role of corruption in each country as an absorptive factor. The estimation results indicate that although FDI alone does not promote economic growth, it has a significant effect on economic growth if the interaction term between FDI and corruption is considered. Specifically, FDI has a positive impact on economic growth when corruption is severe, but a negative impact if corruption is below a certain threshold.     

Japan's Policy Stance on East Asian Neo-Regionalism: From Being a “Reluctant”, to Becoming a “Proactive” State

Abstract

This article is a theoretically grounded empirical contribution aimed at shedding light on Japan's policy stance on East Asian neo-regionalism. It aims to examine the recent region-building process in East Asia. The dynamics in East Asia suggest that regional institutionalization, brought about by norm diffusion based on the idea of neo-regionalism, is likely to follow a progressive and evolutionary trajectory through the institutionalization of the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN)?+?3 (South Korea, Japan and China). It provides a wide spectrum of regional-integrationist perspectives in order to offer as full a picture as possible of Japan's role in promoting regional integration in East Asia. The key finding of this article is that Japan has changed from a being “reluctant”, to becoming a “proactive” state in the context of regional collaboration in East Asia.     

Big business in Sweden: The golden age of the great Swedish shipyards, 1945–1974

Abstract

This article examines the great Swedish shipyards during the long period of expansion and transformation which lasted from the end of the Second World War to the beginning of the shipping crisis in 1974. It aims to try to explain the successes achieved during this period of growth. Swedish shipbuilding's character as an export industry was linked to the rapidly growing international oil economy and the building of tankers which created enormous opportunities for development. The tanker vessel's simple hull, along with the requirement of tightness, brought an early orientation towards welding and sectional building. The demand for ever-larger vessels resulted in the alignment of production systems towards such construction. The consequences of this are studied in terms of markets, financing problems, investment. production technology and the role ofthe state.