The effect of entitlement and patronage on empowerment : a case study on a development project in Bangladesh

Text in EnglishSustainable development empowers poverty-affected people and communities by strengthening their capabilities. HRDP, a Bangladeshi development agency aims to achieve this goal by offering literacy classes and primary school edu-cation. In recent years, they have encountered obstacles to their empowerment strategy. Socio-cultural mediated expectations and moral obligations impeded the capability approach. This case study seeks to research the effects of entitlement and patronage on the empowerment of people in one of their projects. To be able to understand these structures and to determine possible implications for the asset-based ap-proach, 14 interviews and two focus-group discussions with local stakeholders have been conducted in the village of Gabtali, Bangladesh. Findings revealed that people desire to invest their own assets to increase their well-being, but expect assistance for this to happen. The study suggests align-ing expectations and obligations with the capability approach and also suggests a few ideas how this could be accomplished.Development StudiesM.A. (Development studies

The Refugee Convention and the Convention Against Torture: Failures of China and the United States

This Note will focus specifically on China’s violations of the non-refoulement principle and its failure to carry out proper refugee status determinations (“RSD”). It will also consider the practices of the United States, which has also been criticized as violating the non-refoulement principle. Part I will discuss the background of China’s refugee policy, including China’s treatment of the North Korean refugees in 2002. Part II will discuss the current treaty obligations that China is failing to meet with its forced repatriation of the Kachin refugees and the international response to its actions. Part III will discuss similar failings of the United State of the non-refoulement principle and RSD requirement, in addition to the international response to it. Finally, Part IV will discuss suggested remedies, including the possibility of establishing a third-country asylum system