The ideology of sustainable tourism development: a critical review

This paper provides a background to the origins of sustainable tourism development, highlighting key areas of rationale for adoption. The paper’s main focus however will encourage the audience to question Western ideological discourse, suggesting that despite its benefits there appear many limitations associated with the adoption of sustainability principle s to include the juxtaposition of definitions, implementation difficulties and the influence of political-economic power in shaping development. As identified by Tosun (2000) in his research surrounding sustainable development in developing countries, 'any operation of principles of sustainable development necessitates hard political and economic choices, and decisions based upon complex socio-economic and environmental trade-offs'. These trade-offs appear to a greater extent to be shaped by not only the political economy within which the destination operates but also under the pressures of global political-economic forces

The Role of Knowledge in Constructing the Quality of Olive Oil in Spain

The sustainability of a large proportion of Spanish olive oil-producing territories depends to a great extent on their capacity to fit into a specific model of food quality. The strategies used in the di erent territories di er with respect to their adherence to the objectifiable conception of quality, based on scientific-technical knowledge, or subjectivating conception of quality, based on tacit and practical knowledge. In this paper, we analyse the route taken by two territories with olive oil protected designation of origin (PDO) status in Spain to construct their quality model, the type of knowledge that has been applied and how knowledge processes a ect the construction of sustainable quality models. This study applies a qualitative methodology based on participative observation and semi-structured interviews with key actors of the territories. The results indicate that processes of production, reproduction and dissemination of knowledge are basic pillars for the construction of sustainable quality projects. The degree of understanding of the objectifiable and subjectivating conception of quality in olive-producing territories and the interaction between them depend on the specific characteristics of the territory, the objectives set in connection to the olive oil quality method, the importance given to the di erent types of knowledge, and its standing on the issue of territorial sustainabilit

Strategic accounting: revisiting the agenda

Rapid changes in the external environment of organisations have been accompanied by calls for accountants to change the nature of information they provide, the skills they possess and the role they play in the organisation. The proposed changes, which are encapsulated under the phrase accounting for strategic positioning or strategic management accounting are two pronged. On one hand accountants are required to reposition themselves in the organisation hierarchy where they will be involved in the formulation, implementation and choice of strategies. Accountants are also being urged to adopt a range of techniques whose emphasis is futuristic and external to the firm especially emphasizing the importance of monitoring customers and competitors. A review of the literature has revealed that while considerable effort has been put into the development of rational techniques for proposed use less has gone into whether, how and with what effect the proposed techniques have been implemented in organisations and society. The literature has adopted an uncritical approach to the proposals for a strategic accounting, providing little insight into how the discourse of strategy has come to occupy such a position of centrality in organisations and society with other functions seeking to be branded “strategic”

Explaining Showering: a Discussion of the Material, Conventional, and Temporal Dimensions of Practice

This article considers the increasing popularity of showering in the UK. We use this case as a means of exploring some of the dimensions and dynamics of everyday practice. Drawing upon a range of documentary evidence, we begin by sketching three possible explanations for the current constitution of showering as a private, increasingly resource-intensive routine. We begin by reviewing the changing infrastructural, technological, rhetorical and moral positioning of showering. We then consider how the multiple and contingent constituents of showering are arranged and re-arranged in and through the practice itself. In taking this approach, we address a number of more abstract questions about the relation between practices, technologies and infrastructures and about what these relationships mean for the fixity and fluidity of ordinary routines and for associated patterns of consumption. The result is a method that allows us to analyze the ways in which material cultures and conventions are reproduced and transformed. This has practical implications for those seeking to contain the environmental consequences of resource-intensive practices.Xx

An organisational perspective on social exclusion in higher education : a case study

We explore organisational mechanisms underlying social exclusion in higher education, the latter defined as the underrepresentation of students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. We focus on “decoupling,†which is a central concept in organisational institutionalism referring to the construction of gaps between public commitment and core organisational practices, a common phenomenon in organisations worldwide. In the context of social inclusion this implies that universities are often publicly committed to social inclusion whereas their actual practices reproduce social exclusion. Drawing on an in-depth case study of a Flemish university, we identify four possible antecedents of decoupling: institutional contradictions resulting from the neo-liberalisation of higher education, uncertainty about effective inclusive practices, resistance of key constituencies and resource stringency resulting from experiences of lacking public funding

Reassessing Putin's project : reflections on IR theory and the West

Putin's aim was not to isolate Russia from international society but to challenge the West's claim to define its norms

Country life: agricultural technologies and the emergence of new rural subjectivities

Rural areas have long been spaces of technological experimentation, development and resistance. In the UK, this is especially true in the post-second world war era of productivist food regimes, characterised by moves to intensification. The technologies that have developed have variously aimed to increase yields, automate previously manual tasks, and create new forms of life. This review focuses on the relationships between agricultural technologies and rural lives. While there has been considerable media emphasis on the material modification, and creation, of new rural lives through emerging genetic technologies, the review highlights the role of technologies in co-producing new rural subjectivities. It does this through exploring relationships between agricultural technologies and gender, changing approaches to understanding and intervening in animal lives, and how automation shifts responsibility for productive work on farms. In each of these instances, even ostensibly mundane technologies can significantly affect what it is to be a farmer, a farm advisor or a farm animal. However, the review cautions against technological determinism, drawing on recent work from Science and Technology Studies to show that technologies do not simply reconfigure lives but are themselves transformed by the actors and activities with which they are connected. The review ends by suggesting avenues for future research

Themes, Issues and Practice Dilemmas in Ethnically Matched Adoption Placements

The issue of ethnicity and adoption in children’s social work services is a controversial and complex area of child care practice. Ethnic matching has been regarded as a successful way to place children and provide BME (Black and minority ethnic) children with a stable and settled placement. Crucially, it is argued that ethnically matched placements encourage and nurture a positive black identity within BME children, which is perceived as central to their well-being. Using the findings from a service evaluation in the UK, this paper explores themes and issues, as well as policy, and practice dilemmas inherent in the practice of ethnic matching in adoption. Research has rarely examined this process in any depth, nor has it prioritised the views and experiences of adopters from BME communities. The field is dominated by the discourse surrounding trans ethnic adoption (the placement of BME children with white adopters). Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to evaluate practice in a specialist BME adoption service and to compare this to a mainstream adoption service within the same organisation. Results indicated the specialist focus was important. However, it also posed conceptual and practice dilemmas. The increasingly complex nature of ethnicity in modern society underlines the importance of services engaging directly with the challenging fluidity of ethnic and cultural identity