Governance for reconstruction in Africa: challenges for policy communities and coalitions

This article seeks to advance analyses and responses to conflict prevention and reconstruction in Africa that go beyond state‐centric perspectives to include a range of non‐state players. Drawing on examples from both Uganda and Canada, it focuses on the activities of NGOs that have ‘partnered’ with state‐based actors in various peacekeeping and peace‐building operations as well as on the increasingly important role played by think‐tanks. The latter have emerged in Africa as major contributors to the proliferating literature on the political economy of violence, an approach that recognizes that African conflict reflects imperatives of production and consumption in relations that juxtapose Africa’s political institutions and cultures with international and global political economies. The article argues that novel forms of ‘security communities’ are emerging from the non‐state/state/international partnerships and coalitions that have developed around contemporary issues like ‘blood’ diamonds, small arms, debt and HIV/AIDS, thus drawing attention to connections between conflict and development.     

“We Actually Trust the Community:” Examining the Dynamics of a Nonprofit Funding Relationship in New Zealand

Funding relationships in nonprofit management are increasingly defined by a philosophy of rational management, characterized by measurement of outputs and benchmarking, which represents an audit culture system (Burnley, Matthews, & McKenzie, 2005). There is concern that these approaches are constantly undermining the mission of community service nonprofit organizations (Darcy, 2002). In this research, we analyzed the management of funding relationships by examining dynamics within a nonprofit funding relationship in New Zealand. Through focus groups we explored the relationship between 17 representatives from nonprofit organizations and four Board members of a funding Trust. The management of this funding relationship was characterized by an appreciation of the diverse nature of nonprofit organizations, a balance between trust and control, and communication. We suggest that elements of these dynamics could be incorporated into nonprofit funding relationships in order to challenge an over-reliance on audit culture systems, and to re-establish relationships characterized by interaction between nonprofit organizations and their funders. Finally, we call for future research in this area.     

Bounds on the covariate-time transformation for competing-risks survival analysis

A fundamental problem with the latent-time framework in competing risks is the lack of identifiability of the joint distribution. Given observed covariates along with assumptions as to the form of their effect, then identifiability may obtain. However it is difficult to check any assumptions about form since a more general model may lose identifiability. This paper considers a general framework for modelling the effect of covariates, with the single assumption that the copula dependency structure of the latent times is invariant to the covariates. This framework consists of a set of functions: the covariate-time transformations. The main result produces bounds on these functions, which are derived solely from the crude incidence functions. These bounds are a useful model checking tool when considering the covariate-time transformation resulting from any particular set of further assumptions. An example is given where the widely-used assumption of independent competing risks is checked.     

How Do Disaster Characteristics Influence Risk Perception?

The main purpose of this study is to examine how risk perception is influenced by the type of disaster (flood or landslide) and victim characteristics. The data reported here are based on the National Risk Perception Survey (NRPS) that was administered for the victims and the general public in Taiwan in 2004. In that year, many towns in Taiwan were seriously affected by floods and landslides, resulting in huge economic losses and fatalities. The primary findings are: (1) the victims and the general public are concerned about the different potential hazards that might affect their residential area, (2) the negative associations between the sense of controllability and the perceived impact is high for landslide victims, but not for flood victims, and (3) disaster type, gender, and previously experienced disasters are good predictors of victims' attitudes toward natural disasters.     

分析的马克思主义在当代——威廉姆·H·肖教授访谈录

美国圣荷塞州立大学哲学系威廉姆·H·肖(William H.Shaw)教授在上世纪80年代与英国的柯亨(G.A.Cohen)、北美的罗默(John E. Roemer)、爱尔斯特(Jon Elster)、伍德(Ellen M. Wood)、莱特(E. O. Wright)等著名学者共同开创了英语世界中分析学派的马克思主义研究,出版了一批影响广泛的重要著作,并组成了一个有着明确宗旨、纲领和活动规范的学术团体,该流派的异军突起遂成为西方马克思主义理论研究中的一道引人注目的景观。肖教授上个世纪80-90年代在英语世界重要学术刊物上发表了关于马克思主义研究的几十篇论文,他在1979年出版的《马克思的历史理论》(Marx’Theoryon History)一书于1989年被译成中文,编入重庆出版社出版的国外马克思主义研究丛书,已为中国广大学者所熟悉。2007年7月25-29日,肖教授应邀参加吉林大学哲学:基础理论与当代问题国际学术研讨会,在会上发表了题为《马克思主义、商业道德、公司企业的社会责任》的演讲。会议期间,吉林大学哲学系师生邀请肖教授以分析的马克思主义在当代为题进行了专题访谈,这里刊发的即是此次访谈的记录,由沈...     

Modelling the management of underground water assets

Central to the activities of any industry is the modernization of its assets. This paper describes the application of statistical methods to the asset management plan of a large water company. A model for the underground assets is given in detail, and the extensive computations required are illustrated. A Bayesian model shows the consequences of various policy options and provides realistic measures of the uncertainty connected with them.     

Government perceptions of population growth

Summary This paper seeks to evaluate the extent to which the world's population is represented by governments that judge population growth largely in terms of their countries' socio-economic capacity to absorb such growth. The initial data base consists of 125 countries, representing approximately 94 per cent of the world's population, classified according to whether their governments perceive their rates of population growth as deficient, satisfactory or excessive. Using various socio-economic development indices, a crude attempt is made to assess linkages between government perceptions and absorptive capacity. Results lead to insights into why some governments perceive their population situation at variance with the popular tide of opinion about desirability of reducing population growth everywhere.