‘Water divide’ in the global risk society

In contemporary society, which is also defined as global risk society, the water crisis plays a controversial but decisive role in comparison with other kinds of risk (health care, environmental, financial, warlike). However, the sociological debate does not confer to the world water crisis the right significance: the essay precisely highlights this lack and focuses on the hypothesis that it could be also connected to the lack of interest that mass media agenda-setting shows to this issue. The result is that, in most cases, industrialized countries show an irresponsible approach towards a resource which is so precious for the simple fact that it is exhaustible. Furthermore, the advantages of both development and globalization are not equally distributed from a geographic point of view, and the gap between the ‘rich’ and the ‘poor’ is getting deeper and deeper also within this phenomenon. According to the author's perspective, it would be reasonable to talk about a water divide and assume a sustainable development capable of dealing with the overall problem of drinking water availability, its quality, its public access, with a view to democratic management and the sharing of this resource.     

Beyond the nature–labour divide: trade union responses to climate change in South Africa

ABSTRACT

We present the life histories of two environmentally engaged unionists in South Africa, who were decisive for formulating the environmental programmes of their respective trade unions. Their experiences of participating in the resistance against apartheid in universities and factories taught them the necessity to connect different struggles and equipped them with the knowledge and ability to connect the fight for workers’ rights with the fight against environmental degradation. Both activists experienced the difficulty of integrating ‘the environment’ politically and practically into a trade union agenda. The labour movement has traditionally experienced nature as a place outside of work to be enjoyed for recreation. While nature constitutes an indispensable condition for labour, it has been privately appropriated by Capital. For environmental policies to form an integral part of union agendas, nature needs to be wrestled away from its appropriation by Capital and understood as an inseparable ally of labour.     

The globalization of production,national labour regulations and income inequality in the global North and South, 1980–2013

A central concern over global value chains (GVCs) is whether the integration of national firms into GVCs exacerbates income inequality within countries. However, despite decades of research, the distributional consequences of GVCs remain unclear in the empirical literature. Drawing on panel data from 96 countries between 1980 and 2013, we examine the effects of GVC integration on market income inequality and whether national labour regulations moderate these effects. We find integration increases inequality in the global North and South. More importantly, we find labour regulations amplify the inequality effects of integration in Southern countries by expanding the size of the informal sector while suppressing these effects in Northern countries by promoting unionization. This suggests institutional power from national labour regulations may enhance the bargaining power of labour in the North through increasing collective resources while disempowering labour in the South through reinforcing labour market segmentation between formal and informal sectors.     

Inequality in Interaction: Equalising the Helper–Recipient Relationship in the Refugee Solidarity Movement

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - In this paper, we supplement existing scholarship on the interactional process within volunteering with one that focuses...     

Are people in the South less intelligent than in the North? IQ and the North–South disparity in Italy

Socioeconomic disparity between North and South Italy has been recently explained by Lynn (2010) as the result of a lower intelligence quotient (IQ) of the Southern population. The present article discusses the procedure followed by Lynn, supplementing his data with new information on school assessments and per head regional income. Genetic North–South differences are then discussed on the basis of the most recent literature on the subject. The results do not confirm the suggested IQ-economy causal link.     

Power and its sources in the governance of global value chains: The Argentina–European Union biodiesel value chain

This paper tackles the broader question of why inequality along global value chains (GVCs) tends to remain unchallenged despite the successful upgrading and insertion of firms operating in the world-system's periphery. Because the reduction and reproduction of inequalities are both intimately connected to power relations along GVCs, such relations are at the core of my analysis. Conceptually, my theorization of power builds on recent work by Dallas, Ponte and Sturgeon, which has sought to more systematically theorize and account for the multidimensional nature of power, and complements it with key insights drawn from World-Systems theory. Empirically, this paper analyses the biodiesel GVC between Argentina and the European Union, a case in which the successful economic upgrading and enhanced competitiveness of biodiesel producers in Argentina fail to overturn their subordinated position vis-à-vis European producers and traders.     

Globalization as the ‘Pulping’ of Landscapes: Forestry Capitalism's North–South Territorial Accumulation

Abstract

The article presents the findings of a long-term incorporated comparison of forestry capitalism's globalization process. Primary data was collected by participant observation in pulp investment areas in Brazil between 2004 and 2011 and semi-structured interviews with key industry personnel, particularly in Finland. It is argued that the key cyclic change in industrial forestry from innovation–capitalization to material–territorial accumulation explains why and how the industry has globalized to the south via industrial tree plantations. The interlinked northern (Finnish) and southern (Brazilian) cases reveal that industry trajectories are influenced by who controls the supply chains of commodities. The findings are relevant for theorizing about the globalization of natural resource exploitation sectors. Changes in agrarian political economies and agency of state, business, and social movement actors—that is, socio-ecological relations and landscapes—help to explain how and why national and global capitalism and its developmental–environmental impacts are transformed.

Este artículo presenta las conclusiones de una comparación incorporada a largo plazo sobre el proceso de la globalización de la silvicultura capitalista. Los datos primarios fueron recopilados mediante la observación participante en áreas de inversión de celulosa en el Brasil entre el 2004 y 2011 y entrevistas semiestructuradas con el personal clave de la industria, particularmente en Finlandia. Se sostiene que el cambio cíclico clave en la silvicultura industrial desde la innovación–capitalización a lo material–acumulación territorial, explica el porqué y cómo la industria se ha globalizado hacia el sur vía plantaciones de árboles industriales. La interconexión entre los casos del norte (finlandeses) y del sur (brasileño), revelan que las trayectorias de la industria están influenciadas por quien controla las cadenas de suministro de productos básicos. Las conclusiones son pertinentes para teorizar sobre la globalización de los sectores de explotación de los recursos naturales. Cambios en las economías políticas agrarias y los actores de las agencias de estado, negocios y movimientos sociales—es decir, relaciones y paisajes socioecológicos—ayudan a explicar cómo y por qué el capitalismo nacional y global y sus desarrollos—impactos medioambientales, están transformados.

本文演示对森林资本主义的全球化过程的公司化比较研究的一些发现。在2004至2011期间在巴西的纸浆投资领域的原始数据通过研究人员的观察收集,并且,对相关工业界人士,尤其是在芬兰,进行半结构性的采访。在森林工业的从创新-资本化到物质的-领土的积累关键的周期变化解释了这一产业通过产业化的种植园为什么和如何在南方实现了全球化。南（巴西）北（芬兰）相互联系机制的案例说明,工业的发展趋势受制于谁控制商品的供应链。此项发现与关于自然资源开采部门的全球化的理论是相关的。在土地开发的政治经济的变化,以及国家机构、商业和社会运动的行动者——也就是社会-生态关系和风景——帮助解释了国家和全球资本主义以及其发展-环境影响如何与为什么受到转型的。

???? ??? ??????? ??????? ???? ????? ?? ??????? ??? ????? ?????? ?????? ????? ?????? ????????? ?? ???? ???????. ??? ????? ???????? ??????? ?? ???? ???????? ???????? ?????? ????????? ?? ????? ????? ?? ?? ????? ?? ???????? ???? ?????? ?? ??? 2004 ??? ??? 2011? ????? ?? ???? ??????? ?????? ??? ????? ?? ?????? ?????? ?? ??? ???????? ????? ?? ??????. ???? ??????? ?? ???????? ?????? ??????? ??????? ???????? ???????? ?? ???????? ?????????? ????????? ??? ????? ?????? ???????? ???? ??? ?????? ?????? ??? ??????? ???? ????? ??? ?????? ?? ???? ?????? ????? ??????? ?????? ??????. ????? ????? ??????? ???????? ??? ?????? (??????) ??????? (????????) ?? ?????? ??? ??????? ????? ?????? ???? ????? ??? ????? ??????? ?????? ????????. ?????? ??? ??????? ?????? ?? ??????? ?????? ????? ???? ????? ?????? ??????? ??????? ????????. ??? ??? ???????? ?? ??????????? ???????? ???????? ???? ?????? ???????? ???????? ??????????-?? ??? ????? ???????? ???????? ?????????? ??????- ?? ???? ???? ???? ???????? ?? ?????????? ??? ??????? ?????? ???????? ??????? ??? ?????? ???? ????? ??????.

? ??? ?? ????? ??? ??? ?? ???? ??? ?? ??? ????. 1??? ??? 2004??? 2011? ?? ??? ???? ???? ???? ????? ?? ???? ?? ??? ????? ????? ???? ??? ?????. ??-????? ??? ??? ???? ??? ????? ???? ???? ??? ??? ? ??? ??? ???? ??? ?? ?????? ??? ???? ???????? ????. ???(???)? ???(???)? ?? ??? ?? ??? ??? ?? ??? ???? ?? ??? ??? ???? ?? ????. ??? ??? ?? ??? ??? ????? ?? ??? ???? ?????? ????. ??? ????, ?? ??, ??? ???? ??????? ?? ? ????? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ????? ??? ???-??? ??? ??? ??? ? ????? ????? ??? ??.

В статье представлены результаты долгосрочного объединенного сравнения процесса глобализации капитализма лесоводства. Первичные данные были собраны путем включенного наблюдения за целлюлозно - инвестиционным направлением в Бразилии с 2004 по 2011 год и частично структурированных интервью с ключевыми сотрудниками промышленности, в частности в Финляндии. Утверждается, что ключевое циклическое изменение в индустриальном лесоводстве от капитализации инноваций до материально-территориального накопления объясняет, почему и как промышленность глобализировалась на юг через индустриальные плантации деревьев. Взаимосвязанные северный (финский) и южный (бразильский) случаи показывают, что промышленные траектории находятся под влиянием того, кто управляет каналами поставок товаров потребления. Выводы важны для теоретического осмысления глобализации сектора эксплуатации природных ресурсов. Изменения в аграрной экономике и государственных органах, бизнесе и субъектах общественных движений, то есть в социально-экологических отношениях и ландшафтах, помогают объяснить, как и почему национальный и глобальный капитализм и связанные с их развитием последствия будут преобразованы.     

Global walls and global movement: new destinations in Jewish migration, 1918–1939

Research often argues or implies that the First World War suddenly discontinued the age of Jewish mass migration and led to increased sedentarism. Indeed, the former main destinations like the USA drastically cut down on the arrival of East European Jews. This did not, however, result in the end of Jewish mass migration. This article will demonstrate that it rather led to manifold attempts to circumvent the newly introduced and increasingly exclusive measures, to a rising complexity of transnational movement patterns, and finally to the emergence of new destinations and Jewish communities all over the globe. This movement, however, was overshadowed and impacted by the almost global rise of xenophobia and fascism. Based on local histories, statistical and legal sources, as well as reports and communications by delegates of Jewish relief organizations, this article presents a social history of the intersection between global Jewish migration and politically motivated migration management. It leaves behind the focus on “departure” and “arrival” in Jewish migration history and elaborates on the relevance and dynamics of transmigration, the dominance of migrant networks and the complex relationship between national policies and migrants' agency.     

Bridging the qualitative–quantitative divide: Experiences from conducting a mixed methods evaluation in the RUCAS programme

Quantitative and qualitative approaches to planning and evaluation in education for sustainable development have often been treated by practitioners from a single research paradigm. This paper discusses the utility of mixed method evaluation designs which integrate qualitative and quantitative data through a sequential transformative process. Sequential mixed method data collection strategies involve collecting data in an iterative process whereby data collected in one phase contribute to data collected in the next. This is done through examples from a programme addressing the ‘Reorientation of University Curricula to Address Sustainability (RUCAS): A European Commission Tempus-funded Programme’. It is argued that the two approaches are complementary and that there are significant gains from combining both. Using methods from both research paradigms does not, however, mean that the inherent differences among epistemologies and methodologies should be neglected. Based on this experience, it is recommended that using a sequential transformative mixed method evaluation can produce more robust results than could be accomplished using a single approach in programme planning and evaluation focussed on education for sustainable development.     

Gateway cities for transnational higher education? Doha,Dubai and Ras al-Khaimah as regional amplifiers in networks of the ‘global knowledge-based economy’

This paper investigates how the developmental ambitions of governments to attract university offshore campuses to Doha, Dubai and Ras al-Khaimah and these universities’ internationalization strategies affect the three cities’ positionalities. It links interdisciplinary literature on globally uneven geographies of higher education to geographical debates on the intermediating role of cities in regional and global economies. The paper conceptualizes the three cities as a triadic ensemble of gateways for transnational higher education (TNE), thereby contributing to further theorization of gateway cities. The paper shows that the three cities fulfil two crucial gateway functions. First, they connect internationalizing universities with particular student segments from their regional hinterlands seeking access to TNE. Second, they thereby amplify and disperse hegemonic regimes of the globalising knowledge-based economy in their regional hinterlands. While all three cities share similar functions and rationales, they also have distinct positionalities rooted in different strategies of the respective governments.     

Corridors of Power: The Institutional Design of North–South NGO Partnerships

Power asymmetries within partnerships between Northern and Southern NGOs are thought to be undesirable. Based on a comparative case study of the partnerships between three Northern NGOs and their Southern partners in Ghana, India and Nicaragua, this study examines how the partnerships’ institutional design affects local partners’ room to manoeuvre. It is demonstrated that (1) the Northern agencies unilaterally set the rules that govern the partnerships, based on their own norms, values and beliefs; (2) similarities and differences between the rules of the three agencies can, above all, be attributed to the corresponding and diverging nature of their norms, values and beliefs; and (3) informal rules allow more flexibility in their use. Whether this is beneficial for the Southern partners’ room to manoeuvre depends on individual project officers, who are responsible for interpreting and applying the rules, and the partners’ ability to conduct negotiations.     

Inequality of opportunity in the land of opportunities, 1968–2001

We measure inequality of opportunity for earnings acquisition in the U.S. between 1968 and 2001. Following recent theories of social justice, earnings determinants are divided into two parts: Circumstances, which are characteristics outside individual control and effort representing factors impacting earnings but under individuals’ responsibility. Equality of opportunity requires that inequality of circumstances must be corrected while differences of effort must remain unaltered. Circumstances are represented by parental education and occupation, ethnic origin, place of birth and age. Effort is modeled with schooling choices and labour supply decisions. Using the PSID from 1968 to 2001, we provide two alternative assessments of inequality of opportunity using counterfactual distributions. The statistical framework is semi-parametric and builds on duration models. Finally, we conclude that inequality of opportunity represents between 20 and 43% of earnings inequality, but decreases all over the period reaching around 18% in 2001.     

Rurality and Income Inequality in the United States, 1975–2015

Recent events have focused attention on the perceived widening of the economic divide between urban and rural areas, and on the continued rise of national income inequality. We demonstrate that, in fact, the average income gap between urban (metropolitan) and rural (nonmetropolitan) households has not risen over the past 40 years, and makes virtually no contribution to national income inequality. Rising national inequality is driven by rising inequality within both urban and rural America, not by an urban/rural divergence. As is well known, the growing dispersion of household money income is partly driven by rising wage inequality, particularly in urban areas. Less well recognized is the role played by other income sources. We show that a decline in the progressivity of the distribution of social security payments and cash transfers, and an increase in the regressivity of the distribution of retirement incomes, have jointly made a comparably large contribution to rising income inequality. At the same time, the share of income from self-employment has declined, particularly in rural America, and because self-employment income is very unequally distributed, its diminution has retarded the growth of rural inequality. In 2014–15, however, rural inequality increased, cutting the urban/rural inequality gap in half.     

Warriors without spears: Africans in the South African War, 1899–1902

Black People in the South African War 1899–1902, by Peter Warwick. Johannesburg, Ravan Press, 1983. Pp. xiv & 224: maps, tables.     

Income Inequality across the Rural-Urban Continuum in the United States, 1970–2016*

The growth in macro-level income inequality in the United States is well established, but less is known about patterns of inequality at subnational scales and how they vary between and within rural and urban localities. Using data from the Decennial Census and American Community Survey, we produce estimates of within-county income inequality from 1970 to 2016 and analyze differences in inequality levels, the persistence of high (low) inequality, and populations' exposure to high (low) inequality across the rural-urban continuum. We find that income inequality has historically been higher in non-metropolitan than metropolitan counties, but inequality levels converged by 2016 due to growing inequality in metropolitan counties. Additionally, levels of inequality were generally persistent within counties over time, except that counties characterized by low inequality in 1970 were unlikely to remain as such in 2016. Third, non-trivial shares of the metropolitan population resided in low-inequality contexts in 1970, but virtually none of the U.S. population resided in such places by 2016. Residence in high-inequality counties is normative in rural and urban America. This statistical analysis provides an updated portrait of income inequality across the rural-urban continuum, and should spur additional research on stratification in rural America during an era of growing inequality.     

The media construction of remittances and transnational social ties: migrant–non-migrant relationships in the Romanian press

The study explores through a ‘transnational lens’ the Romanian media construction of remitting practices and identities within a wider debate on circular migration. It uses a broad definition of remittances (financial, sociocultural and political) and is concerned with the role of the Romanian press in articulating migrant–non-migrant relationships and laying the ground for informed policy debates. The methodology consists of qualitative corpus analysis and discourse analysis applied to a corpus of 221 news articles. The main findings indicate an overall positive evaluation of remittances (with the main exception of family separation), which endows migrants with social recognition as development agents and is used to justify various policy initiatives, but at the same time disempowers them through instrumentalisation. Even though limited in scope, grassroots migrant–non-migrant interaction, combined with a critical journalistic stance in editorials, opens up an avenue towards negotiation and joint transnational actions.     

Irrationality and Regulation: Constructing Mad Cow Knowledge in the US–South Korea FTA

This article explores the scientific rhetoric by which United States has attempted to promote its preferred Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE or ‘mad cow disease’) risk-management policies with several key Asian trading partners. When Korean civil society rejected its government's decision to resume full trade of US beef products following Free Trade Agreement negotiations in 2008, the US government called these expressions ‘irrational’ and refused to address questions about the uncertainty and contested knowledge regarding its beef safety. Rather, the US government dismissed Korean citizens’ concerns over the safety of US beef through the use of scientific and technocratic rhetoric, as a way to obscure the US’ particular political and economic interests. Through investigation of the US' campaign to change international standards on BSE-related trade and the comparative shortcomings of the US' domestic BSE regulatory practices, this article presents the trade conflict as a conflict between competing cultures of risk: the United States used an economically driven risk assessment model while its Asian trading partners favored a more precautionary approach. Thus, the politicized, value-laden nature of the US' claims failed to persuade the Korean public. This paper also considers how the presence of the Free Trade Agreement negotiations and the particular pro-American stance of the Korean president weakened the Korean state's accountability to public protests, in contrast to the continued precautionary approach of China, Taiwan, and Japan.

Este artículo explora la retórica científica por la que los Estados Unidos ha tratado de promover su política de manejo de riesgo de la encefalopatía espongiforme bovina (EEB, o “mal de las vacas locas”) con varios socios comerciales claves del Asia. Cuando la sociedad civil coreana rechazó la decisión de su gobierno de reanudar completamente el comercio de los productos de carne de res siguiendo las negociaciones del Tratado de Libre Comercio en 2008, el gobierno estadounidense llamó a estas expresiones “irracionales” y se rehusó a abordar las preguntas sobre la incertidumbre y la controversia del conocimiento respecto a la seguridad de su carne de res. Por el contrario, el gobierno estadounidense buscó “cientifizar” su posición, difiriendo con reclamos tecnocráticos y científicos y poniendo en duda la legitimidad de los estándares de seguridad internacionales, para opacar sus intereses económicos particulares sobre los riesgos de salud inciertos, percibidos por los ciudadanos coreanos. A través de una investigación de la campaña estadounidense para cambiar los estándares internacionales AQ1 sobre la EEB, relacionada con el comercio y las deficiencias comparativas de las prácticas reguladoras domésticas de la EEB, este artículo presenta el conflicto comercial como un conflicto entre culturas competitivas de riesgo: Estados Unidos usó un modelo de evaluación con una visión de riesgo económico, mientras que los socios comerciales asiáticos favorecieron un enfoque de mayor precaución. De tal manera que los reclamos estadounidenses cargados de valores y de naturaleza politizada, fallaron en persuadir al público coreano. Este artículo también considera cómo la presencia de las negociaciones del Tratado de Libre Comercio y la postura pro-americana de la presidencia de Corea debilitaron la obligación del estado coreano a responder a las protestas públicas, en contraste con el constante enfoque de precaución de la China, Taiwan y Japón.

本文探讨美国一直试图向其亚洲贸易伙伴推销美国喜好的“疯牛病”（Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy（简称BSE） 风险管理政策而使用的科学修辞（scientific rhetoric） 。当韩国的公民社会驳斥他们的政府伴随着2008年的自由贸易谈判而决定恢复美国牛肉产品的全面贸易时,美国政府声称这些驳斥为“非理性”且拒绝回答有关美国牛肉安全的不确定性和检测知识方面的问题。反而,美国政府诉诸“科学化”其立场,怠慢科学和技术的观点以及国际安全标准的正当性,以便在韩国市民感到的不确定的健康风险上隐藏其特殊经济利益。通过对美国的改变AQ1关于疯牛病贸易的国际标准和美国的国内BSE调控惯例的比较缺点的调查,本文认为贸易冲突是竞争中的不同风险文化之间的冲突：美国使用经济驱动的风险评估模式,而其亚洲贸易伙伴则喜欢预警的方式。因此,美国的主张的政治化的、价值倾向的性质难以劝说韩国公众。本文也考虑到自由贸易协定以及特定的亲美的韩国总统的存在如何弱化了韩国国家的对公众抗议的责任,比较起来,中国、台湾和日本则是采取持续的预警方式。

? ?? ??? ???? ?? ????? ??? ???(BSE) ?? ?? ??? ???? ??? ??? ????. 2008? ??? ????? ???? ??????(FTA)? ?? ?? ???? ??? ?? ??? ?? ??? ???? ?, ?? ??? ??? ??? ‘????’??? ???, ??? ??? ??? ????? ?? ??? ?? ???? ?????. ??, ?? ??? ?? ???? ??? ???? ?? ???? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???/??? ??? ?? ??? ???? ????? ??? ??? ?????? ????. ? ?? ???? ??? ?? ??? AQ1 ????? ???? ??? ??? ??? ?? ??? ??? ??? ???? ?? ??? ??? ?? ??? ???? ?? ??? ?? ????? ????: ??? ???? ? ? ????? ??? ?? ???, ??? ??? ??? ?? ?? ??? ????. ???? ??? ????? ??? ??? ??? ?? ??? ????? ???. ?? ? ?? ??, ??? ??? ????? ???? ????? ??????? ??? ???? ?? ???? ??? ?? ??? ?? ?? ??? ???? ??? ??????? ???.

В статье исследуется научная риторика, с помощью которой Соединенные Штаты попытались продвигать свои предпочтения в политике управления рисками коровьей губчатой ??энцефалопатии (BSE или "коровьего бешенства") во взаимодействии с несколькими ключевыми азиатскими торговыми партнерами. Когда корейское гражданское общество отклонило решение своего правительства возобновить торговлю говядиной из США в полном объеме, после Соглашения о Свободной торговле на переговорах в 2008 году, правительство США, назвав эти проявления "иррациональными", отказалось ответить на вопросы о неопределенном и спорном знании о безопасности своей говядины. Скорее всего, правительство США стремится научно обосновать свою позицию, откладывая научные и технократические претензии и легитимность международных стандартов безопасности для того, чтобы скрыть превалирование своих частных экономических интересов над неопределенными рисками здоровью корейских граждан. Посредством исследования кампании США по изменению международных стандартов торговли AQ1 на коровью губчатую энцефалопатию и при сравнительных недостатках внутренней практики регулирования BSE - методов в США, статья представляет торговый конфликт как конфликт между конкурирующими культурами риска: США использовали модель оценки степени риска ведомую экономически, в то время как ее азиатские торговые партнеры одобрили более осторожный подход. Таким образом политизированный, ценностный характер претензий США не убедил корейскую общественность. Также статья рассматривает, как присутствие Соглашения о Свободной торговле, переговоры и особая проамериканская позиция корейского президента ослабили ответственность корейского государства перед общественными протестами, в отличие от длительного предупредительного подхода Китая, Тайваня и Японии.