There Is No Bournville in Africa: Chocolate Capitalist, African Cocoa Workers, and International Labor Relationships from the 19th Century to the Present

The issue of labor exploitation and the impact of neocolonialism, have in recent years, become extremely important as our global community continues to shrink. This paper focuses on the relationships between European chocolate manufactures and West African cocoa laborers from the 1870’s to the present day as a means of discussing the complex connections that have developed between industrial capitalism and labor in Africa. This study will address two key questions: One, if labor exploitation is necessary for industrial capitalists to maintain the high levels of profit they desire; and two, if the exploitation of labor becomes increasingly easier the farther away the exploited person is from the society that benefits from their work. These issues will be explored in the context of trade relationships established during the colonial era, between Europe and West Africa, as well as through the various types of labor used in cocoa production including, accusations of slavery. To further complicate these questions, and in order to reach well rounded conclusions, a case study will also be used that focuses on the Cadbury chocolate company, and their dealings in São Tomé, Príncipe, Angola and Ghana over the last 130 years. In closing, a brief discussion of present day labor issues in the Cote d’Ivoire cocoa industry will be analyzed as well. Overall this study seeks to reveal the complex and often contradictory process of colonialism and capitalism in Africa

Is Cybercrime One of the Weakest Links in Electronic Government?

This paper provides an insight to the increasing problem of cybercrime in the context of electronic government. It takes examples from the UK government to argue that it is no longer possible to just rely on technical controls while securing electronic government transactions. Reports and studies reflect that illicit acts such as cybercrime are predominantly the result of not only disregard for basic information security and but also lack of awareness about the importance of social issues associated with information technology. Consequently, focusing on the technical controls provides only a partial solution while managing cybercrime particularly in electronic government context.

The Ideological Scalpel: Physician Perpetrators, Medicalized Killing and the Nazi Biocracy

With the conclusion of the Nuremburg Doctor’s trials in August 1947, the role of German physicians in the concentration camps of Europe became a widely discussed and researched topic in the historiography of the Holocaust. Like many other perpetrators indicted by the Allies following the Second World War, German physicians claimed to have been swept up in the mass indoctrination of the National Socialist movement and had ultimately become powerless cogs within the Nazi totalitarian regime. While this claim may be true in some cases, the historiography of German physicians-turned-killers reveals different sources of motivation which allowed doctors in the Third Reich to reverse the precepts of the Hippocratic Oath in order to therapeutically kill for the greater health of the German Völk

The uptake of different tillage practices in England

Reduced tillage systems have been argued to provide several potential benefits to soil, environment and to farm incomes. In England, while many farms have partially adopted such practices, a large proportion of arable farmers do not undertake reduced tillage in any form. This paper analyses the rationale for and uptake of different cultivation techniques, including analysis of the barriers to adoption of reduced tillage, aiming to benefit policy makers and researchers and increase the spread of smart agricultural practices. Based on a postal questionnaire, we estimated that 47.6% of English arable land is cultivated using minimum‐tillage and 7% under no‐tillage. As farm size increased, so did the probability of reduced tillage uptake. Furthermore, farms growing combinable crops were more likely to utilise reduced tillage approaches than other farm types. Soil type, weed control and weather conditions were noted as the main drivers for ‘strategic' and ‘rotational' ploughing, constraining continuous reduced tillage use. To effect greater reduced tillage uptake, greater communication between researchers and farmers is needed to facilitate the implementation of sustainable soil management solutions, supported by current legislation permitting responsible herbicide use in arable production. Financial support to access reduced tillage machinery may also be required for farmers operating smaller holdings. Adopting reduced tillage is a continuous learning process requiring ongoing training and information‐gathering; supporting a network of reduced tillage ‘farmer champions' would facilitate practical knowledge exchange, allow farmers to observe soil improvements, understand transition phase barriers, and ultimately encourage increased reduced tillage uptake