A dream denied? Mining legislation and the Constitution in Indonesia

Indonesia is blessed with a wealth of natural resources. After wresting power from the Dutch, the leaders of the new republic adopted a constitution that required this national wealth to ‘be controlled and utilised by the State for maximum prosperity of the people’. The dream of turning the country's abundant natural resources into a catalyst for socio-economic development was not pursued actively until 1967, when Soeharto's incoming New Order government introduced policies that supported a significant expansion of the mining industry. The combined effect of the Asian financial crisis and domestic political unrest in 1997–98 interrupted this process. It was anticipated that the introduction of a new mining law in 2009 would re-invigorate the sector. Based on an analysis of five significant elements of the new legislation, this article finds it is unlikely to result in a mining industry that provides maximum benefit to the Indonesian people.     

Measuring the duration of emotional experience: the influence of actual duration and response format

In a number of retrospective studies it has been found that the duration of emotional experience is highly variable and several determinants that account for this variability have been identified. However, two issues that may have consequences for the measurement of emotion duration have been left unaddressed. First, it is unclear whether people are capable of remembering the duration of their actual emotional experience. Second, it is uncertain whether estimates of the duration of emotional experience are influenced by the format of the response scale. Participants watched joy- and sadness-sustaining movie fragments of different durations. At the end of the day they were asked to estimate the duration of each fragment or the duration of their emotions during each fragment on a relatively short-range or long-range scale. Regardless of whether fragment or emotion duration was estimated, estimates were (a) largely accurate and (b) higher on long-range compared to short-range scales.     

Stipend-paid volunteers in South Africa: A euphemism for low-paid work?

Given the high unemployment rates in South Africa, the government has introduced policies to assist individuals to enter the job market, including stipend-paid volunteering. This research sought the views of stipend-paid volunteers and managers from four Johannesburg-based non-governmental organisations. The aims were to investigate whether stipend-paid volunteering was more like low-paid work than volunteering, the motivations for stipend-paid volunteering, the relationship between livelihood strategies and stipend volunteering, and the challenges and opportunities facing stipend-paid volunteers. It emerged that stipend-paid volunteers were initially motivated by extrinsic factors, such as the stipend, but later their volunteerism was sustained by intrinsic motivations, such as their community service orientation. While stipend-paid volunteering provided opportunities for training and experience, the work also presented challenges in terms of emotional stress, low remuneration and minimal support. Findings suggest that stipend-paid volunteerism would seem to be a euphemism for low-paid work.     

Investing in Eastern Europe: Two case histories

This feature is in three parts: the first two are case histories of the contrasting experiences of two Western companies which expanded abroad for the first time in the mid-1990s, into different countries in Eastern Europe. One is so far successful, the other not. The third section draws out the implications of these experiences: although still quite risky, investment in Central and Eastern Europe can already be made to pay by firms that enter as part of a well-conceived and financed global strategy. Particular benefits are lower labour costs and access to untapped markets.