Nabokov's Dystopia: Bend Sinister, America and Mass Culture

“I am as American as April in Arizona,” Nabokov claimed in a 1966 interview. Although he repeatedly emphasized his American citizenship and the affection he held for his adopted nation, my argument is that his 1947 novel, Bend Sinister, offers us an opportunity to interrogate the received narrative of Nabokov's unproblematic arrival and assimilation into the United States. In examining the engagement with mass culture in this dystopian novel, my intention is to restore some of the political valence denied the novel by both Nabokov and his readers, and to suggest how it functions as a critique of American culture which reveals the author's profound ambivalence about his adopted nation in the early to mid-1940s. Drawing on unpublished archive material, as well as theoretical work by Theodor Adorno, this paper opens up a new approach to Nabokov's American work and demands a reassessment of his avowed apoliticism

Corruption and accountability in the Pacific Islands

The paper investigates the relationship between corruption and accountability in the Pacific Islands, using evidence from surveys of 'national integrity systems' in 14 states. It identifies and assesses four international initiatives to improve accountability and reduce corruption: public sector reform; peer review of accountability systems; cleaning up offshore financial centres, and the intervention of Australian officials on the ground. The paper finds that the relationship between increased accountability and reduced corruption is not straightforward. Moves to improve financial accountability may increase the chances of corruption being detected, but greater political accountability may increase the incidence, or suspicion, of corruption. Comparison between the 14 suggests that accountability and levels of corruption vary independently of each other

How Much Corruption is there in the Pacific Islands? A Review of Different Approaches to Measurement

New ways of measuring corruption are being used to assess the performance of governments in tackling the problem. The Pacific Islands Plan, for example, envisages a 'control of corruption (integrity) indicator' that could be used to assess a government'

The Governance of Common Property in the Pacific Region

In a region where mining, forestry, fish and other primary resources are so basic to income, employment and national prosperity, an understanding of rights t

Civilizing techniques: Transparency International and the spread of anti-corruption

Transparency International (TI) is an international non government organisation founded in 1993 to combat corruption in international business activities. The paper looks at TI both as an agent and critic of ‘market civilisation’, paying particular attention to some of the techniques has developed including: networking; the franchising of national chapters; the publication of an annual ‘Corruption Perceptions Index’; the publication of a ‘Source Book’ on the web; and the development of Business Principles for Countering Bribery. Civilisation may be a coercive process, and the paper is particularly concerned with the kinds of power deployed in these techniques. It analyses them as examples of ‘policy transfer’ and as the results of processes of mimicry and professionalisation that lead to ‘institutional isomorphism’, and draws some conclusions about the spread of civilisation

Fighting corruption in a knowledge-based manner: What role for research?

Knowledge may be embodied tacitly in the experience of an organisation’s members, as well as explicitly in its files and records. Government and non-government organizations may need to manage their stocks of knowledge differently. The paper compares the knowledge management tasks facing government and non-government organizations in the field of anti corruption. The NGO Transparency International has generated an array of indices, tools, and websites to give authority to its advocacy. Its task is to package and repackage existing information. An Independent Commission Against corruption draws on the same pool of information to create useful knowledge about subjects of investigation, recommendations for prevention, and lessons for education. Government agencies also must deliberately keep some knowledge secret. More knowledge is not always a good thing, and may inhibit effective action

Evaluating international action against corruption in the Pacific Islands

AusAI

Knowledge management in anti-corruption agencies

Knowledge may be embodied tacitly in the experience of an organisation’s members, as well as explicitly in its files and records. This paper compares the knowledge management tasks facing government and non-government organisations in the field of anti-corruption

A short introduction to corruption and anti corruption

A corrupção é um fenómeno que condiciona o desenvolvimento dos serviços públicos, quer pelo dano que causa ao erário público, quer pela má imagem e reputação que cria em relação ao desempenho institucional. A crescente preocupação com as ocorrências do fenómeno e sobretudo com a percepção negativa dos cidadãos sobre o desempenho da sua administração tem conduzido a um conjunto de reformas. Alguns países chegaram mesmo a introduzir exames/testes de conduta nas provas de acesso à administração pública, sessões de esclarecimento sobre conflitos de interesse para os novos elementos e comissões de aconselhamento. Outros optaram pela criação de agências anti-corrupção especializadas com autonomia funcional em relação às forças de investigação convencionais e independentes face ao governo. Este artigo começa por uma análise da definição de corrupção e dos factores (individuais, institucionais ou sócio-culturais) que inibem a sua ocorrência. Segue-se uma reflexão sobre a relação entre corrupção e ética em democracia e por fim conclui-se com algumas notas críticas sobre os efeitos perversos das campanhas anti-corrupção.Corruption is a very old problem in government, and concern about corruption has shaped the development of public services. For example, in many countries a Public Service Commission conducts exams or sets for the selection of suitable candidates to be appointed to the Civil Service posts. In this way it prevents political patronage, as well as promoting expertise. Many countries have established specialist anti corruption agencies relatively independent of the police or of the government. Since the mid 1990s, there has been new international attention to corruption. Transparency International (TI), an NGO founded in 1993, publishes an influential Corruption Perceptions Index , and has a number of national groups that lobby governments. The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank now promote anti-corruption in their lending. Economists have become influential in international thinking about corruption. Comparing many countries, Daniel Kaufmann’s statistical work for the World Bank finds correlations between corruption and low growth rates (Kaufmann, Kraay and Zoido 1999). The UN has a Convention against corruption. It sets out a comprehensive agenda for combating corruption in the public and private sectors

The Measurement & Verification of Energy Conservation Measures at a Coal-fired Power Plant

The aim of this dissertation was to use Measurement & Verification (M&V) to determine the improvements in net heat rate at a South African coal-fired power plant (CFPP) following an extensive refurbishment programme. The CFPP consisted of multiple subcritical pulverised fuel generating units and the refurbishment programme aimed to improve the overall net heat rate by 1%. The purpose of using M&V is isolate the performance changes attributable to specific energy conservation measures from those changes brought about by other factors, or that would have occurred anyway for other reasons. An extensive literature review was undertaken, firstly into M&V and secondly into CFPP design and performance. The conventionally accepted methods for determining plant performance are the ‘direct method’ in which a measurement boundary is drawn around the entire plant, and the ‘components method’ which evaluates the boiler, the turbine-condenser cycle and the auxiliary loads separately. Caution is drawn to the fact that plant performance may be expressed in many ways depending on how HR is defined and on which coal measurement base is used. The physical factors affecting plant performance were classified as either fixed or variable. Fixed factors included vintage and design, size, condition of the major components (boiler, turbine and condenser), cooling water system type and pollutant controls. Variable factors included ambient conditions, flexibility of operations (such as running at part-load and load cycling) and the characteristics of the coal used including heating value, total moisture, hydrogen, ash, volatile matter, sulphur, hardness & abrasiveness. It is clear from the literature that the language used to describe flexible operations is inadequate and poorly defined. Other factors that may affect the calculated heat rate of a plant include coal weighing, stockpile surveys, length of assessment periods, changes to static stockpiles, measurement boundary selection and other assumptions. The literature review was used as a basis to develop an M&V methodology for the specific CFPP involved in the case study. The energy conservation measures were described in detail as well as constraints regarding availability and resolution of plant data. Although all measurement boundary options were considered, the whole facility approach was chosen (Option C). This approach was mainly motivated by the lack of data available and a high potential for interactive effects. Another reason is the fact that assessments need to capture the overall performance which could include deterioration in one part of the plant and simultaneous upgrades in other parts. The primary data required to find heat rate is the electrical energy use (exported, imported and auxiliary), the mass of coal consumed and the coal higher heating value. The M&V methodology included the development of a baseline adjustment model to adjust for changes in plant load, coal moisture and coal ash content. Ideally the model should have included changes in ambient conditions (temperature and relative humidity) but this was not possible as no ambient data was available and the assessment was done retrospectively. The absence of ambient data was mitigated by stipulating that assessment periods need to consist of a minimum of twelve consecutive months to account for changes in performance due to seasonal effects. The methodology also included a Monte Carlo analysis to quantify the combined uncertainties associated with electrical energy use, coal energy use, coal heating value and the adjustment model itself. The methodology was used to assess the change in net heat rate of the plant used in the case study for two separate twelve month reporting periods. The calculated impacts of the energy conservation measures were not as favourable as originally anticipated. A brief analysis of the results is provided with a discussion of potential reasons for the underperformance. A whole facility approach does not allow the reasons for performance changes to be pinpointed. One possibility is simply that the energy conservation measures had not been implemented as originally planned. An important finding was that the performance changes could not be solely attributed to the exclusion of any independent variables from the baseline adjustment model (e.g. ambient conditions). A more general discussion of the merits, shortcomings and limitations of the methodology is provided as well as some comments on the general interpretation of results. The baseline adjustment model is only applicable to the plant in the case study and is only valid for small changes in the independent variables. When calculating part-load operation, special attention must be given to generating units that have been derated. The application of a single part-load adjustment model to a multi-unit plant is discussed and found to result in conservative reporting. Factors which contribute to uncertainty, but which are unknown include staithe coal level changes, unknown stockpile dynamics, uncalibrated instruments, unrecorded coal movements and inaccuracy of aerial stockpile surveys. The dissertation concludes that the original hypothesis is supported: that a credible M&V methodology may be developed and applied to determine the heat rate improvements resulting from the refurbishment programme at a coal-fired power plant. Recommendations include an upfront agreement on which measurement reporting bases to use (both for heat rate and for coal), selection of a whole facility measurement boundary, a minimum assessment period of twelve months, installation of at least one accurate instrument to measure actual coal consumption (as opposed to coal delivered to the plant and then moved within the plant), sampling of coal, determination of heating value and collection of accurate ambient condition data from the start of the baseline period. Further recommendations are made to reduce uncertainty, determine static factors and to better interpret reported impacts