[Review of] Raymond T. Smith, ed. Kinship Ideology and Practice in Latin America

Kinship Ideology and Practice in Latin America is a collection of papers resulting from two conferences sponsored by the Joint Committee on Latin American Studies of the American Council of Learned Societies and the Social Science Research Council. The conferences brought together historians, sociologists and anthropologists who were charged with infusing sophisticated social theory into research on the family in Latin America

The public–private pension mix in OECD countries

This article surveys the relationship between public and private pension provision in the countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. OECD. Population ageing has led many OECD countries to undertake a wide range of pension reforms. The overall effect of these reforms has in many cases been to reduce public pension promises, often signficantly. This, in turn, has increased the role of private pensions, which have expanded significantly in a number of countries. The article discusses the extent to which a number of countries will need to further increase private provision in order to guarantee adequate future retirement incomes.pension; retirement

Contributors

Bios of contributors

Friendship and Gift in 2 Corinthians 8–9: Social Relations and Conventions in the Jerusalem Collection

Whiteford, Ruth A. “Friendship and Gift in 2 Corinthians 8–9: Social Relations and Conventions in the Jerusalem Collection.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2018. 197 pp. The collection in 2 Corinthians 8–9 not only presents the opportunity for a transfer of economic resources, but also signifies a particular kind of social relationship between the Christians in Corinth and Jerusalem. While the Corinthians interpreted prospective transactions through the lens of patronage and therefore as an opportunity to gain status, Paul’s sustained use of the ancient Greco-Roman friendship topos in his instructions reveals his conviction that all members of the ἐκκλησία are equal, ideal friends on the basis of God’s gifts of χάρις and δικαιοσύνη. An assessment of status and its role in the different social relationships in the Hellenistic world, especially in Corinth, and an examination of Hellenistic friendship first set the foundation for a comprehensive examination of Paul’s adaptation and use of the topos throughout 2 Cor 8–9. This dissertation then concludes with an evaluation of how friendship provides an organizing framework for individual and corporate Christian flourishing under the gospel

Dividing lines, converging aims : a moral analysis of micro-regionalism in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire

This thesis provides a moral analysis of micro-regional forces in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, using the framework of the New Regionalism Approach (NRA). It presents an original contribution to the field through the addition of the Ghanaian-Ivoirian case study, as well as a unique application of Martha Nussbaum’s Capabilities Approach to the NRA. In an attempt to counter the view that borders in Africa are artificial, arbitrary and the result of colonial imposition, this research employs the Capabilities Approach, providing a narrative of both positive and negative impacts resulting from the opportunity created by borders in West Africa. The way in which the Ghanaian-Ivoirian border is used by individuals in their security strategies in the face of economic deprivation and physical threats represents a positive impact of borders. Conversely, the role of borders in the continued prevalence of human trafficking in West Africa is also questioned in this piece, providing a balanced account of the impact of borders. This research concludes that the Ghanaian-Ivoirian border presents opportunities that can be exploited to both positive and negative ends at the micro-regional level. This interpretation suggests that any complete account of borders in West Africa more broadly ought to employ a moral framework in addition to a multi-levelled scale of analysis