Common property resource management in Haryana state, India: analysis of the impact of participation in the management of common property resources and the relative effectiveness of common property regimes.

Common lands in Haryana State, India have suffered severe degradation, continuous erosion and are becoming transformed to open access regimes due to increasing population pressure. This has resulted in environmental damage on a wide scale and reduced welfare of the inhabitants of the region. Realising the enormity of the problem and the critical need to initiate action for greening the common lands, the government and the people came together to establish a participatory planning and development process at the village level.The purpose of this thesis is to examine the effectiveness of participation in managing common property resources. This was undertaken in two phases, firstly through analysis of empirical social and biological data, and secondly through the development of a mathematical model. Specific hypotheses addressed were: i) it is possible to define specific circumstances wherein the common property protects the natural resource base effectively; ii) there exists a level of complimentarity between common property resources and private property resources in the case study area; iii) that socio-economic and cultural factors favour converting open-access regimes to common property rather than to private property.People’s participation level was estimated after conducting a survey of 15 villages in Haryana. The survey results are used to examine institutional development and the government’s role as an enabler in establishing the common property regime. The results of the case study, show that clear benefits may be derived from common property regimes, are used to examine institutional development at the village level. A composite resource condition index is developed in order to measure the success of village institutions. The mechanisms and processes involved in assisting local people to establish common property regimes are also discussed. A mathematical programming model incorporating household dynamics and their interactions with both common property resources and private property resources is developed and scoping studies are conducted to analyse the impact of participation in the management of common property resources and the relative effectiveness of common property regimes

What's a face worth: Noneconomic factors in game playing

Where behavior defies economic analysis, one explanation is that individuals consider more than the immediate payoff. We present evidence that noneconomic factors influence behavior. Attractiveness influences offers in the Ultimatum and Dictator Games. Facial resemblance, a cue of relatedness, increases trusting in a two-node trust game. Only by considering the range of possible influences will game-playing behavior be explained

The coevolution of renewable resources and institutions - implications for policy design

This PhD thesis studies how natural renewable resources and institutions governing those resources mutually influence each other. Theoretical models are developed in which members of a small community have joint access to a common pool resource. We analyze under which circumstances social norms of cooperation evolve that effectively regulate resource exploitation, but also when those social norms break down, identifying obstacles for community governance. Furthermore, in the light of biological and social complexity this thesis analyzes how governmental policy should be designed if self-governance is not sufficient to protect the resource stock. The insights obtained are applied to the case of Arcto-Norwegian cod. An optimal management plan is developed that can be adapted to several policy objectives concerning the utilization of the fleet. In addition, management advice is given for the case that harvesting may trigger an evolutionary response of the fish stock. </p

Living in the Commons: Local Institutions for Natural Resource Management

Garett Hardin' s essay "The Tragedy of the Commons" has for almost three decades stimulated research on common property regimes. This report provides an overview of this research and reviews a selection of empirical and theoretical contributions to the "commons" debate. Despite the hectic research activity, the report is critical of the tendency to reproduce well-worn arguments instead of questioning them. In order to progress beyond a rebuttal of Hardin, the report calls for an interdisciplinary approach to the study of common property regimes and advocates an analytical focus on local institutions. In paricular, the report discusses those circumstances under which local institutions represent an alternative to state management of renewable natural resources. Are J. Knudsen is a social anthropologist and research fellow at the Chr. Michelsen Institute. His research interests include natural resource management, economic change and modernization. He is currently working on forest management and entrepreneurship in Northern Pakistan

Ethical decision-making in the therapeutic space : a psychoanalytic view

This study examined the ethical decision-making process as it transpired in the everyday context of the therapeutic space. In-depth interviews explored the subjective experiences of six South African psychologists, practicing as psychoanalytic psychotherapists, and their efforts to resolve real-life ethical dilemmas. The theoretical framework used to interpret the data subsumed professional literature in psychology on principle-based ethical decision-making as well as contemporary psychoanalytic debates on the phenomenon of countertransference enactments. A review of ethics codes, survey research and seminal decision-making frameworks suggests that ethical dilemmas have traditionally been resolved by recourse to an objective and impartial “principle ethics” perspective. Empirical evidence shows, however, that logical thinking and the rational application of codes, principles and standards are often insufficient to secure ethical action. The establishment of reflective space and the core theoretical notion of “ethical decision-making enactments” were proposed in order to address the subjective, irrational and unconscious dimension of professional decision-making. This study used a broadly hermeneutic research method which transformed participants‟ descriptions of engagement with real-life dilemmas into a psychoanalytically informed interpretive account of ethical decision-making. Twelve aspirational ethical principles were found to guide participants‟ daily analytic work. Beneficence was the principle most strongly identified with and nonmaleficence was the most neglected ethical principle. Unprocessed countertransference responses were shown to drive earlier prereflective phases of the ethical decision-making process. Mature ethical judgment was predicated upon the retrospective analysis of enactment phenomena. Dissatisfaction was expressed by all participants with regard to the role of professional resources in aiding the resolution of stressful ethical dilemmas. Risk factors for compromised professional decision-making included the paucity and perceived irrelevance of postgraduate ethics training, supervisory failure to confront the ethical and countertransference dimensions of common dilemmas and professional isolation. Rather than eliciting the hope of emotional support and greater insight, professional resources on the contrary mostly appeared to induce anxiety, mistrust and fearfulness. Based on the data and the literature, a pragmatic psychoanalytically informed ethical decision-making model was finally generated. The model, which considers both principle ethics as well as countertransference phenomena, offers a preliminary contribution to professional dialogue on the development and evaluation of empirically based decision-making frameworks. Practical recommendations are made for both the revision of the current South African ethics code and for improving the postqualifying ethics education of psychoanalytic practitioners and supervisors. The limitations of the data are discussed and directions for future research initiatives are proposed

Life-Sustaining Technologies and the Elderly

A report on OTA has conducted a study of a wide range of topics, some of which have recently been receiving a great deal of scrutiny inside and outside the government. In order to derive information specific enough to guide possible congressional action and to be responsive to the requesting Committees, this examination of the issues is specifically tied to particular life-sustaining technologies and their use with patients who are elderly. At the same time, much of this information is applicable to life-sustaining technology in general and to citizens of all ages

Course Catalog 2014-15

https://repository.wellesley.edu/catalogs/1142/thumbnail.jp