Peasant Associations and Agrarian Reform in Ethiopia

summary In setting up peasant associations to implement the Land Reform Bill, the Ethiopian Government intended to redistribute land equally, set up local government institutions and foster the transition to socialism among the peasantry. This article examines the implementation of the bill by looking at the scope and performance of the peasant associations. It is argued that without popular political power at the central and local levels, the peasant associations cannot overcome the political, economic and social domination of the rich peasant class. The failure of land redistribution policy is thus explained by the hegemony of these classes and their supporters at the local state level. The paper demonstrates the transformation of the peasant associations into local organs of the central state with the intensification of the war in Eritrea and on the Somali border. Resumen Asociaciones de campesinos y reforma agraria en Etiopia Al crear asociaciones de campesinos para poner a efecto el Decreto de Reforma Agraria, el Gobierno Etfope trató de redistribuir la tierra ecuánimemente, crear instituciones locales del gobierno y respaldar la transición al socialismo entre los campesinos. Este articulo estudia la puesta en efecto del decreto observando el objetivo y el rendimiento de las asociaciones de campesinos. Se argumenta que sin el poder politico popular a niveles central y local, las asociaciones de campesinos no pueden superarel dominio politico, económico y social de la clase rica de campesinos. El fallo de la politica de redistribución de la tierra se explica asi por la hegemonia de estas clases y quienes las respaldan a nivel estatal local. El articulo demuestra la transformación de las asociaciones de campesinos en órganos locales del estado central con la intensificación de la guerra en Eritrea y en la frontera de Somalia. Résumé Les associations de paysans et la réforme agraire en Ethiopie En créant des associations de paysans pour mettre en place la Loi sur la Réforme Agraire, le Gouvernement éthiopien avait l'intention de redistribuer la terre de manière juste, de mettre en place des institutions gouvernementales et de favoriser la transition vers le socialisme parmi les paysans. Cet article examine la mise en place de la loi en étudiant la portée et les réalisations des associations de paysans. On soutient que sans le pouvoir politique populaire aux niveaux central et local, les associations de paysans ne peuvent pas surmonter la domination politique, économique et sociale de la riche classe paysanne. L'échec de la politique de redistribution de la terre est ainsi expliquée par l'hégémonie de ces classes et de leurs défenseurs au niveau de l'état local. Le document démontre la transformation des associations de paysans en des organes locaux de l'état central avec l'intensification de la guerre en Erythrée et sur la frontière somalienne

Swimming Against the Tide: How Developing Countries Are Coping with the Global Crisis

Background Paper prepared by World Bank Staff for the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting, Horsham, United Kingdom on March 13-14, 2009

New policies to deal with climate change and other drivers impacting on resilience to flooding in urban areas: The CORFU approach

Copyright © 2011 Elsevier. NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Environmental Science and Policy. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Environmental Science and Policy, Vol. 14 Issue 7 (2011). DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2011.05.008In the context of urban flood management, resilience is equal to resisting, recovering, reflecting and responding. The variety of causes of flooding and their consequences underpin the need for increased and internationally coordinated efforts to enhance technologies and policies for dealing with floods. This paper addresses this issue and presents some novel research ideas related to resilience to flooding in urban areas, which are under development within the EU FP7 project ‘Collaborative research on flood resilience in urban areas’ (CORFU). The approach adopted in this project aims to quantify the cost-effectiveness of resilience measures and integrative and adaptable flood management plans for different scenarios of relevant drivers: urban development, socio-economic trends and climate changes. It is believed that the way in which the different models are being put together, combined with the variability of conditions in case study areas in Asia and in Europe, will ultimately enable more scientifically sound policies for the management of the consequences of urban flooding

Fostering Social Change in Peru Through Communication: The Case of the Manuani Miners Association

Much has been done to formalize miners in Peru; since its inception in 2006 the Ministry of Environment passed laws to align mining policies with international standards. However, the combination of the necessity to have a source of income and the rapid acquisition of money that illegal and informal gold mining provides has proven a serious impasse for the Peruvian government; hence these mining practices keep growing. As part of the Initiative for the Conservation of the Andean Amazon II (ICAA II), the Manuani Miners Association in Madre de Dios, one of the regions more prone to illegal mining and bad environmental practices in Peru, started a land restoration, remediation, and reforestation process of the degraded rainforest. This case study analyzes how a program within ICAA II used communication to promote this significant change in behavior, what communicational tools were used, and what is their possible further applicability in similar scenarios to foster positive change

Creative thinking as an innovative approach to tackle nutrition in times of economic crises

An interactive session ‘Let’s cook something up’ organised by the European Nutrition Leadership Platform (ENLP – www.enlp.eu.com) during the 20th International Congress of Nutrition (ICN) organised in Granada, Spain, showed how an innovative approach to parallel sessions can be a meaningful tool in formulating solutions to current nutritional challenges. The key objective of the session was to provide a proof-of-concept that even in the context of a large conference such as the ICN, with approximately 4250 attendants, one can utilise innovative and active learning techniques to get a message across and work towards solutions rather than using the traditional ‘chalk and talk’ method. There is a huge potential for innovation at these types of conferences in creating an environment that encourages interaction by breaking down the boundaries of authority and placing the focus on sharing knowledge with enjoyment. To provide such a proof-of-concept, the context of nutrition during times of economic crises was chosen to guide the session

International Trade and Investment Sanctions

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the theory of international economic sanctions and to provide estimates of the short-run economic impact on South Africa of externally imposed reductions of the imports and capital flows into that country. A macroeconomic picture of South Africa's "dependence" is drawn, and the economy's vulnerability in the short run is seen to be in its capacity to import, not in exports or capital flows. Trade and capital sanctions most clearly damage South Afnca's growth potential; the short-run impact is harder to quantify. A static linear programming model of the South African economy is constructed in an attempt at this quantification. This model estimates that small sanctions would have small impact—i.e., if imports were reduced by less than one-fourth, GDP would be cut by only about one half as large a percentage as imports. Larger import reductions cause greater damage. If imports were to be cut in half, not only would GDP be seriously reduced but massive unemployment and relocation of white labor would occur.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68182/2/10.1177_002200277902300401.pd

The Mental Health of War?damaged Populations

Summaries This article draws upon the psychiatric, psycho?analytic and anthropological literature to show that we know very little about the psychological consequences of war and upheaval in the non?Western world. The small amount we do know suggests that while suffering is often intense, many of the therapeutic responses on offer are inappropriate as they are informed by psychiatric and psycho?analytic thought and practice which have little relevance to the majority of people living in the non?Western world

Taxation and Development: a Review of Donor Support to Strengthen Tax Systems in Developing Countries

Recent years have seen a growing interest among donors on taxation in developing countries. This reflects a concern for domestic revenue mobilization to finance public goods and services, as well as recognition of the centrality of taxation for growth and redistribution. The global financial crisis has also led many donor countries to pay more attention to the extent and effectiveness of the aid they provide, and to ensuring that they support rather than discourage the developing countries’ own revenue-raising efforts. This paper reviews the state of knowledge on aid and tax reform in developing countries, with a particular focus on sub-Saharan Africa. Four main issues are addressed: (1) impacts of donor assistance to strengthen tax systems, including what has worked, or not, and why; (2) challenges in ‘scaling up’ donor efforts; (3) how to best provide assistance to reform tax systems; and (4) knowledge gaps to be filled in order to design better donor interventions. The paper argues that donors should complement the traditional ‘technical’ approach to tax reform with measures that encourage constructive engagement between governments and citizens over tax issues.Department for International DevelopmentBill and Melinda Gates Foundatio

Measuring global health inequity

which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background: Notions of equity are fundamental to, and drive much of the current thinking about global health. Health inequity, however, is usually measured using health inequality as a proxy – implicitly conflating equity and equality. Unfortunately measures of global health inequality do not take account of the health inequity associated with the additional, and unfair, encumbrances that poor health status confers on economically deprived populations. Method: Using global health data from the World Health Organization's 14 mortality sub-regions, a measure of global health inequality (based on a decomposition of the Pietra Ratio) is contrasted with a new measure of global health inequity. The inequity measure weights the inequality data by regional economic capacity (GNP per capita). Results: The least healthy global sub-region is shown to be around four times worse off under a health inequity analysis than would be revealed under a straight health inequality analysis. In contrast the healthiest sub-region is shown to be about four times better off. The inequity of poor health experienced by poorer regions around the world is significantly worse than a simple analysis of health inequality reveals. Conclusion: By measuring the inequity and not simply the inequality, the magnitude of the disparity can be factored into future economic and health policy decision making