Specifying and Justifying a Basic Capability Set: Should the International Human Rights Framework be given a more Direct Role?

The paper considers the role that the international human rights framework should play in the extension and application of Sen's capability approach. It discusses how emerging international standards in the field of human rights, supported by international human rights law, provide a basis for the specification and justification of lists of central and basic capabilities, and associated lists of duties on governments, international organizations and other international obligation-holders (both at the individual level, and collectively—through international co-operation). The idea of combining the capability framework with a background or supplementary theory of international obligation in the field of human rights is examined in the light of broader theoretical debates about the extension and application of the capability approach. The notion of a “human rights-based capability list” is then introduced. Finally, the paper suggests some possible applications of “human rights-based capability lists” in human rights advocacy and international poverty analysis.     

Internet odysseys: linking web roles to career and community investments

This paper examines a new kind of career odyssey, namely that into the relatively uncharted territory of the world wide web. It extends recent ideas about personal and communal career investments by exploring people's web-enabled career behaviour, based on Tapscott et al.'s (2000) typology of web roles. MBA students completed a preliminary career exploration instrument and then met in different focus groups according to the web role with which each student most identified. The reported career investments varied depending on the web role involved. An attempt was made to corroborate these findings through practitioner interviews, but there were problems in reconciling the two kinds of data. The implications of these findings are discussed, and a series of observations is offered concerning the further study of the increasingly virtual journeys anticipated for careers of the future.     

The promotion of maize fertiliser packages: A cause of household food insecurity and peasant impoverishment in high rainfall areas of Zimbabwe

Child malnutrition is a continuing problem in Zimbabwe's communal areas. These include some high rainfall areas, which make a contribution to the country's maize surplus during non‐drought years. A survey of farmers and extension workers in four high rainfall communal areas was carried out to investigate the effects of following recommended practices for maize production on household economy and food security.

Thirty‐two per cent of communal farmers had applied all the officially recommended fertiliser to their 1990/91 maize crop, often by obtaining these inputs on credit in lieu of grain sales receipts from the subsequent harvest. Yet. yields were so low that 48 per cent of these farmers would have been unable to retain sufficient grain to satisfy their families’ minimum requirements, if they had reimbursed the full cost of the input credit.

The majority (64 per cent) of farmers had deviatedfrom the recommended practice by adopting ‘low external input strategies’. A key feature of most of these strategies was the substitution of manure for part or all of the recommended fertiliser. In three of the four communal areas studied, this had improved the chances not only of recovering input costs, but also of achieving maize self‐sufficiency.

These results suggest that policy‐makers should shift emphasis from a dependence on costly external inputs to the integration of low levels of fertiliser with a range of more natural methods of soil improvement, in an effort to improve household food security in the communal areas.     

Portfolio adjustment in open economies: A comparison of alternative specifications

Zusammenfassung Portfolio-Anpassung in einer offenen Volkswirtschaft. Ein Vergleich alternativer Spezifizierungen. — Dieser Aufsatz vergleicht zwei Spezifikationen eines Modells einer kleinen offenen Volkswirtschaft: Erstens eine Bestandsgr?Βen-Version, in der die Haushalte die gewünschten Verm?genswerte sofort nachfragen und zweitens eine Stromgr?Βen-Version, in der die Nachfrage eine allm?hliche Anpassung an den langfristig gewünschten Bestand an Verm?genswerten bewirkt. Die beiden Varianten werden bei festen und flexiblen Wechselkursen verglichen, beide jeweils unter der Annahme vollst?ndiger oder fehlender Kapitalmobilit?t. Sie zeigen unterschiedliche Anpassungsverl?ufe bei festen Wechselkursen, wenn das heimische Geldangebot endogen ist, und besonders, wenn es keine Kapitalmobilit?t gibt (wenn das heimische Angebot an Wertpapieren nicht endogen ist).

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Résumé L’ajustement de portefeuille dans des économies ouvertes: une comparaison de spécifications alternatives. — Cet article compare deux spécifications d’un modèle d’une petite économie ouverte: (1) une version de stock, dans laquelle les ménages entrent dans les marchés d’actif avec des demandes de stock immédiates d’actif et (2) une version de flux, dans laquelle ils entrent dans les marchés d’actif avec des demandes de flux reflétant un ajustement vers des demandes de stock à long terme d’actif. Les deux versions sont comparées sous des taux de change fixes et fléxibles chacune couplée avec une mobilité de capital parfaite ou pas une mobilité. Elles se conduisent d’une manière différente sous des taux de change fixes (si l’offre d’argent locale est endogène) et sont très per?antes s’il n’y a pas une mobilité de capital (si l’offre locale d’emprunts n’est pas endogène).

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Resumen Ajustes de portafolio en economías abiertas. Una comparaci?n de especificaciones alternativas. — Este artículo compara dos especificaciones de un modelo de una economía abierta pequena: (1) una version de stock, en la cual los presupuestos familiares entran en el mercado de activos con una demanda inmediata por activos y (2) una version de flujo, en la cual ellos entran al mercado de activos con demandas de flujo que reflejan un ajuste gradual a las demandas de stock por activos de largo plazo. Las dos versiones se comparan bajo tasas de cambio fijas y flexibles, cada una con movilidad perfecta de capital o no. Ellas se comportan en forma diferente bajo tasas de cambio fijas (cuando la oferta de dinero local es endógena) y son muy penetrantes cuando no hay movilidad de capital (cuando la oferta local de bonos no es endógena).

     

Developmental network structure and support: gendered consequences for work–family strain and work–parenting strain in the Australian mining industry

Developmental networks enhance career success through the support received by the protégé via the network structure. This paper extends developmental network research by exploring the extent to which strain is associated with developmental network structure and support in the Australian mining industry, a highly volatile and unique context. Our research tests the popular notion of ‘the more support you get, the better’ which is in need of further exploration in the developmental networks literature particularly in specific work contexts with strain (vs. success variables) as outcomes. Results indicate that bigger, broader networks with more career, psychosocial and role modelling support are not always beneficial for protégés in this context. A smaller network with a broader range of developers is associated with reduced work–parenting strain, but not work–family strain. Increased career support reduced work–family strain, but this was not the case for increased psychosocial support and role modelling support. Further, gender moderated the relationship between psychosocial support and work–family strain possibly due to token group effects.     

Financing Local Police Spending in England and Wales: Fiscal Federalism in Practice

Since 1995, police forces in England and Wales have been able to raise revenues locally to supplement grants from central government. We analyse the variation across police force areas in locally raised police revenues over the 2000s, and we find that three‐quarters of the temporal and spatial variation in local revenues per head can be explained by differences in incomes, prices and local preferences. A particularly robust parameter is the effective local community tax price associated with raising revenue. We discuss the police funding model in the wider context of fiscal federalism, and we point to alternative funding structures that could be adopted.     

Bridging the Divide: Middle Eastern Walls and Fences and the Spatial Governance of Problem Populations

Building on a long history of spatial control through walling in the region, walls and fences have been built in the Middle East in recent years to undertake a range of practices. Gated communities, residential and security compounds, anti-migrant walls, separation barriers and counter-insurgency fences can all be found in the Middle East. These walls address and govern problems that take the population as their subject. These walls all share a common frame of viewing the populations they work to govern as ‘problematic’ in multiple ways. This paper explores how walls have been and continue to be used in governing populations through mobility and incorporating a combination of disciplinary and biopolitical techniques through a range of spatial and territorial repertoires. As such it works to bridge the divide in border studies and critical security studies between geopolitical/topographical and biopolitical/topological approaches to borders and governance.