1,721,033 research outputs found
Poverty
No full textThis chapter examines key debates that have confounded the analysis of poverty from the very beginning: matters of definition, measurement, methodology, process, history – and of ideology. It examines some of the key fault lines in development as a process of transformation and development studies as a field of scholarship. We do not take any position on these debates, rather we draw attention to the reasons why, and the grounds on which, these differences of opinion emerge. Hundreds of millions of people in rich countries as well as poor live frugal, meagre lives, often without dignity, and with their rights frequently undermined. Understanding who these people are, and in all their complexity, remains a central task for development practitioners, policy makers and scholars that this chapter seeks to contribute to
Introduction
No full textThis introduction chapter outlines each of the contributions for Part 3 of the Handbook. It summarises Rigg and Sims’s chapter on poverty measures, Etter-Phoya et. al’s examination of global financial systems and tax evasion, and Grégoire and Hatcher’s interrogation of neoliberalism and extractive industries. In addition, it provides a summary of Andriesse and Saguin’s work on spatial inequality, Hirsch’s work on land grabbing, Suhardiman’s chapter of development-induced displacement, and Neef an Benge’s writings on climate change migration. This is followed by discussion of Fernandez and Voola’s summative overview of gender and development, as well as Amin et. al's chapter on gender and development pedagogy. Finally, the chapter describes Hayes and Sims’s chapter on cultural violence and Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
Introduction
No full textThis introductory chapter provides a summary overview of each of the chapters in Section 1 of the Handbook. It discusses Walden Bello’s chapter on deglobalization, Murray and Overton’s chapter on retroliberalism, Etienne Nel’s chapter on development in the Global North, Éric Toussaint’s chapter on debt, Heiner Janus’s chapter on the OECD DAC and traditional donors, Patrick Bond and Susan Engel’s chapter on Multilateral Development Banks, Laura Trajber Waisbich and Emma Mawdsley’s chapter on South-South Cooperation, Nicola Banks and Badru Bukenya’s chapter on non-governmental organizations, Linsey McGoey’s chapter on Philanthropy, and Hurriyet Babacan's chapter on Social Enterprises
Violent development in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
No full textThis chapter explores how expanding South-South cooperation is bringing changes to global development which include new forms of violence against ethnic minority ommunities. Noting that no country has been more influential in reworking global development norms, ontologies and practices than China, the authors explore the violent ties between the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) political oppression and human rights abuses in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) and the CCP’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Due to its geographic location in China’s north-western border region, XUAR is widely perceived as of critical importance to the BRI, and thus offers a useful case study for examining how the CCP has wedded development to state-expansionism and efforts to erase cultural diversity. The chapter details some of the violence unfolding in XUAR and argues that such violence is directly linked to the development goals of the BRI, and the CCP’s attempts to bring modernization and security to ethnic minority Uyghur populations. It calls for new empirical research and new (and increased) engagement with ‘Southern’ actors to better understand how shifts in the global development arena are producing new forms of violence, as well as reiterating the longstanding need to take culture more seriously when thinking about development and its effects
Uneven geographies of transnational capitalism in Laos
No full textThis chapter focuses on Laos, officially known as Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), which is both land-locked and considered one of the least developed countries in East Asia. It examines the consequences of rising foreign investment in the country, leaving aside details on who the major investing corporations in the country are, and looking instead at how transnational capitalist flows have been felt by some of the most disadvantaged and voiceless communities. To do this, the chapter will draw on ten months of ethnographic analysis and eighty-six interviews with members of the Lao government, employees of international development organizations and residents of Laos. Rather than focusing on key agents of transnational capitalism, the purpose here is to examine some of the social and spatial implications of greater transnational flows and investment. This includes the increasing centralization of development within Laos and the widespread displacement and marginalization of impoverished communities. Put simply, this chapter draws attention to the poverty-inducing consequences of new transnational capitalist flows within Laos
Culture, community-oriented learning and the post-2015 development agenda: a view from Laos
No full textThis article critically interrogates current policy-sector approaches to culturally sensitive development and the manner in which culture has been conceptualised within the post-2015 development agenda-setting process. By providing a brief interpretive summary of academic debates surrounding culture and development, an analysis of how 'culturally sensitive' practices have been pursued within the policy sector, and an examination of the insufficient consideration given to culturally sensitive development within post-2015 agenda setting, I argue that much uncertainty remains around how to translate complex academic understandings of culture and development into policy responses. Following this, I provide one case study drawn from the small, low-income country of Laos to suggest possibilities as to how culturally sensitive development may be better conceptualised and implemented within a post-2015 global development era
Book review of "Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding in Laos: perspective for today’s world", by S.P. Stobbe. Abingdon, UK, Routledge, 2015. ISBN: 978-1138774766.
No full text[Extract] Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding in Laos offers an ethnographically rich portrayal of Lao cultural ceremonies and rituals that stresses the importance of grassroots practices to conflict resolution. Authored by Stephanie Phetsamay Stobbe, a former Lao refugee and now an academic at Menno Simons College in Canada, the book includes insightful and descriptive personal vignettes of Lao cultural practices. It is unfortunate, however, that poor academic rigour and notable methodological flaws weaken the book
The Asian Development Bank and the production of poverty: neoliberalism, technocratic modernization and land dispossession in the Greater Mekong Subregion
No full textIn 1992 the Asian Development Bank coordinated a meeting between government representatives from China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam to discuss regional economic integration. From that meeting the Greater Mekong Subregion was formed to promote peace and prosperity within the Mekong countries. Yet, despite more than more than USD 14 billion being spent on facilitating trade, development and infrastructural ties between these nations, poverty remains widespread. This article provides a critical analysis of the Asian Development Bank and its approach to development and poverty alleviation within the Greater Mekong Subregion. It suggests that the institution’s technocratic neoliberal development ideology provides a discursive legitimation to processes of displacement and dispossession that has seen the production of new forms of poverty. To make this argument, the article draws on an ethnographic study of the local-scale implications of forced resettlement at the Luang Prabang Airport. It conducts an analysis of how the Asian Development Bank defines and measures poverty, and critiques the institution’s resettlement guidelines for the airport project
Introduction
No full textThis chapter provides the introduction to the Handbook. It provides a broad overview of global development. It notes that while progress has been made on some development challenges, this progress has been uneven, and has been accompanied by the emergence of new challenges. Following this, it makes a case for the shift from international to global development, and then outlines the key contributions made by this Handbook. The effort to provide pedagogical insights is stated
Gambling on the future: casino enclaves, development, and poverty alleviation in Laos
No full textFollowing the extraordinary wealth generation of casinos in Macau and Singapore, governments and non-state actors across Southeast Asia have developed gambling establishments as a means to fast-track economic growth and stimulate national development. Yet, here and elsewhere, casinos have been heavily criticized for their association with immoral behaviour, problem gambling, corruption and organized crime. In this article I focus on two casinos in northern Laos to address two research questions. First, I consider how casinos have come to exist within the remote border regions of one of Asia’s least developed countries. Here, I discuss vice economies within the Golden Triangle region, multi-actor aspirations to boost transnational connectivity within continental Southeast Asia, strengthening political-economic relationships between Laos and China, and Government of Laos efforts to use foreign investment as a mechanism for increasing governance capacities in borderlands. Following this, I critically analyse how, in what ways, and for whom, casinos have brought development to Laos. Here, I focus specifically on the multifarious effects of casinos on the lives and livelihoods of local communities to argue that casino development has been informed by logics of expulsion and the establishment of new predatory formations. To make this argument, the article draws on four fieldwork visits to each of the casino sites between 2011 and 2015, desk-based research, and interviews with local residents, casino staff and members of the Government of Laos
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