Businesses from the Rising Powers: Traditional or Progressive Development Partners for Africa?

Expectations about the role of businesses as development actors have become almost unrecognisable from the ones summarised by Milton Friedman: ‘The only social responsibility of business is to increase its profits’ (Friedman 1970). Despite Friedman’s relative abruptness, the role of business in contributing to the overall economic growth of a given country cannot be overstated. Businesses create employment, a taxation base for the state, generate innovation and provide goods and services for the population. No country has been able to develop (including the BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – and other rising powers) without a vibrant and competitive business sector. However, there is growing pressure on businesses nowadays to go well beyond their contribution to overall economic growth (which may be called the ‘traditional’ role of business in development) and become directly involved in poverty alleviation schemes, environmental regeneration activities and even the promotion of human rights. This second set of expectations depicts a more ‘progressive’ role for businesses in development. It may have begun with the more general term ‘corporate social responsibility’ but this progressive role keeps on evolving and can take many different forms, including business models such as the ‘Base of the Pyramid’ approach (first espoused by C.K. Prahalad), which proposes that business can involve the poorest inhabitants of a country both as consumers and as producers for their economic benefit as well as for the improvement of the businesses’ bottom line (Prahalad 2004). Other such business models are ‘inclusive business’ (ensuring that businesses include poor people within their core operations and not only as charity activities which do not challenge the companies’ business model), ‘making markets work for the poor’ (tackling the systemic market failures that exclude the poor from productive activities), and ‘pro-poor value chains’ (removing inefficiencies that prevent the poor from getting greater shares of the profits generated in a given chain). As globalisation of business has spread around the world, these expectations about the role of businesses in development extend to the operation of business in developing countries and particularly in low-income countries in Africa. There are, however, concerns about the capacity and intent of any foreign business operating in Africa and claiming to be a responsible corporate citizen. Businesses from the global North have been the usual targets of these concerns but as firms from the BRICS increase their presence beyond their ‘near abroad’ and venture into African markets, their role as true progressive partners in development has been increasingly scrutinised.UK Department for International Developmen

Do Businesses from the BRICS Contribute to Development in Africa?

As businesses from emerging economies become more globalised, expectations are raised about their role as responsible corporate citizens and development actors when operating in low-income countries. While businesses from the global North have been the usual targets for praise or criticism with regards to their contributions (or lack thereof) to African development, little is known about the development contribution of firms from the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). It is important to explore a variety of activities of these firms in Africa, which they consider to be developmental, and the justification behind them. In this context, there is a need to ask and understand how these firms view their own role as development partners for Africa.UK Department for International Developmen

Brazil's Engagement in International Development Cooperation: The State of the Debate

The international development cooperation architecture has changed dramatically over the last decade. The global context, characterised by a lingering financial crisis and the emergence of new powers, has brought South–South Development Cooperation (SSDC) to the core of international development debate. The growing influence of emerging countries, such as the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), as development cooperation providers requires a deeper understanding of how and to what extent these countries are promoting sustainable and inclusive development by cooperating with partners in the global South. To be able to answer these questions, the national dynamics need to be unpacked by mapping institutions, ideas, and interests informing decision-making processes, and shaping, not only policy priorities, but also the effectiveness of development cooperation. Brazil is in the spotlight and Brazilian cooperation, in all its different modalities (from technical, scientific and technological, educational, and humanitarian cooperation to contributions to international organisations, refugee support and protection, and peace operations), has risen to unprecedented levels in recent years. According to official data, Brazilian development cooperation increased from US$160 million in 2005 to more than US$900 million in 2010. In that period, the country’s technical cooperation disbursements grew almost fourfold and its humanitarian cooperation expanded from less than half a million dollars in 2005 to US$161 million in 2010. However, interviews and the current budget freeze on the Brazilian Cooperation Agency’s (ABC) activities indicate that the upward trend may have changed in the last three years.UK Department for International Developmen

Tract-specific damage at spinal cord level in pure hereditary spastic paraplegia type 4: a diffusion tensor imaging study.

SPG4 is a subtype of hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP), an upper motor neuron disorder characterized by axonal degeneration of the corticospinal tracts and the fasciculus gracilis. The few neuroimaging studies that have focused on the spinal cord in HSP are based mainly on the analysis of structural characteristics. We assessed diffusion-related characteristics of the spinal cord using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), as well as structural and shape-related properties in 12 SPG4 patients and 14 controls. We used linear mixed effects models up to T3 in order to analyze the global effects of 'group' and 'clinical data' on structural and diffusion data. For DTI, we carried out a region of interest (ROI) analysis in native space for the whole spinal cord, the anterior and lateral funiculi, and the dorsal columns. We also performed a voxelwise analysis of the spinal cord to study local diffusion-related changes. A reduced cross-sectional area was observed in the cervical region of SPG4 patients, with significant anteroposterior flattening. DTI analyses revealed significantly decreased fractional anisotropy (FA) and increased radial diffusivity at all the cervical and thoracic levels, particularly in the lateral funiculi and dorsal columns. The FA changes in SPG4 patients were significantly related to disease severity, measured as the Spastic Paraplegia Rating Scale score. Our results in SPG4 indicate tract-specific axonal damage at the level of the cervical and thoracic spinal cord. This finding is correlated with the degree of motor disability

Corticospinal tract and motor cortex degeneration in pure hereditary spastic paraparesis type 4 (SPG4).

Objective: SPG4 is an autosomal dominant pure form of hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) caused by mutations in the SPAST gene. HSP is considered an upper motor neuron disorder characterized by progressive retrograde degeneration, or "dying-back" phenomenon, of the corticospinal tract's longest axons. Neuroimaging studies mainly focus on white matter changes and, although previous studies reported cortical thinning in complicated HSP forms, cortical changes remain unclear in SPG4 patients. This work aimed to compare changes in white matter microstructure and cortical thickness between 12 SPG4 patients and 22 healthy age-matched controls. We also explore whether white matter alterations are related to cortical thickness and their correlation with clinical symptoms. Methods: we used fixel-based analysis, an advanced diffusion-weighted imaging technique, and probabilistic tractography of the corticospinal tracts. We also analyzed cortical morphometry using whole-brain surface-based and atlas-based methods in sensorimotor areas. Results: SPG4 patients showed bilateral involvement in the corticospinal tracts; this was more intense in the distal portion than in the upper segments and was associated with the degree of clinical impairment. We found a significant correlation between disease severity and fiber density and cross-section of the corticospinal tracts. Furthermore, corticospinal tract changes were significantly correlated with bilateral cortical thinning in the precentral gyrus in SPG4 patients. Conclusions: Our data point to axonal damage of the corticospinal motor neurons in SPG4 patients might be related to cortical thinning in motor regions

Thalamic atrophy in patients with pure hereditary spastic paraplegia type 4.

SPG4 is an autosomal dominant pure form of hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) caused by mutations in the SPAST gene. HSP is considered an upper motor neuron disorder characterized by progressive spasticity and weakness of the lower limbs caused by degeneration of the corticospinal tract. In other neurodegenerative motor disorders, the thalamus and basal ganglia are affected, with a considerable impact on disease progression. However, only a few works have studied these brain structures in HSP, mainly in complex forms of this disease. Our research aims to detect potential alterations in the volume and shape of the thalamus and various basal ganglia structures by comparing 12 patients with pure HSP and 18 healthy controls. We used two neuroimaging procedures: automated segmentation of the subcortical structures (thalamus, hippocampus, caudate nucleus, globus pallidus, and putamen) in native space and shape analysis of the structures. We found a significant reduction in thalamic volume bilaterally, as well as an inward deformation, mainly in the sensory-motor thalamic regions in patients with pure HSP and a mutation in SPG4. We also observed a significant negative correlation between the shape of the thalamus and clinical scores (the Spastic Paraplegia Rating Scale score and disease duration). Moreover, we found a 'Group × Age' interaction that was closely related to the severity of the disease. No differences in volume or in shape were found in the remaining subcortical structures studied. Our results suggest that changes in structure of the thalamus could be an imaging biomarker of disease progression in pHSP