Brazil and the Shifting Consensus on Development Co‐operation: Salutary Diversions from the ‘Aid‐effectiveness’ Trail?

Emerging economies emphasise horizontality and mutual opportunity in their relationship with developing countries, promising an alternative to the failings of traditional North‐South co‐operation. This article draws on research on Brazil's technical co‐operation and its health dimension to compare the Brazilian model with established aid‐effectiveness' principles and to discuss the appropriateness of the latter as standards against which to appraise emerging donors' co‐operation. The analysis shows that, despite progress towards greater dialogue between traditional and emerging donors, the ‘aid‐effectiveness’ framework still falls short of capturing the idiosyncrasies of South‐South co‐operation and therefore offers an incomplete international standard on how best to conduct development co‐operation.     

Ignoring the elephant in the room? Assessing the impact of the European Union on the Development Assistance Committee's role in international development

This article studies the impact of the European Union (EU) on the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD). While the literature thus far has focused on the external challenges for the DAC's role in international development, this study argues that the EU should be taken into account as well. By focusing on the cases of policy coherence for development and the concessionality of official development assistance (ODA) loans, we show that the EU poses a structural challenge for the DAC's role in international development given the strong overlap in membership between both institutions and the Union's changing nature as a development actor.     

Eastern Donors and Western Soft Law: Towards a DAC Donor Peer Review of China and India?

The international system is still governed by a normative framework designed mainly by OECD countries, especially with regard to soft‐law standards in the field of development co‐operation. However, the growing relevance of ‘Eastern donors’ is weakening its efficiency and raises the question of how compliance with these standards can be assured in a changing donor landscape. Despite efforts to integrate emerging countries into the traditional approach of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) to monitoring compliance through peer reviews, the aid architecture of the future might turn out to be a synthesis of established and new approaches.     

Open Data on a Closed Shop? Assessing the potential of transparency initiatives with a focus on efforts to strengthen capacity development support

Despite strong political commitment, actual gains in improving accountability in development co‐operation have been limited. Main reasons for this include the low level of transparency and high number of actors, as well as the limitations of the self‐reported and input‐oriented OECD reporting system. Efforts through the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) and related transparency initiatives are ill‐equipped to change this given their decision to adhere to the same system. This article uses the specific area of support to capacity development to illustrate this. While further disaggregation of reporting on technical co‐operation could respond to a transparency gap, overcoming the accountability gap requires moving beyond promoting ‘supply‐side’ reform and re‐engaging in efforts to promote collective action.     

Living up to Policy Coherence for Development? The OECD's disciplines on tied aid financing

Tied aid credits are a way for donors to look to boost the international competitiveness of domestic enterprises while simultaneously contributing to development in recipient countries. Though regulated through the Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits, tied aid credits claim a place among the instruments of development policy and are eligible as Official Development Assistance (ODA). This raises the question of whether the international regulatory framework is equipped to safeguard the presumed development goals. This article examines the internal coherence of the tied aid disciplines of the Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) with the development principles coined by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC). Thereby, the extent to which the OECD lives up to its own promise of Policy Coherence for Development (PCD) is scrutinized.     

Table of Contents

CSAT Letter on Take‐Homes: Methadone Treatment Providers Cry Foul State Lawmakers, Prosecutors Continue to Target Pregnant Substance Users California Tackles Meth Use by Gay and Bisexual Men Praise for New Mexico's ‘Four‐Pillar’ Approach to Methamphetamine Bush Budget Promises Flexibility on Use of NOMs Performance Awards Briefly Noted State Watch Coming up     

Social Capital,Organic Agriculture,and Sustainable Livelihood Security: Rethinking Agrarian Change in Mexico*

Abstract This paper explores the relevance of extra local market linkages and local‐level social capital to sustainable livelihood outcomes in two agrarian communities on Mexico's Baja Peninsula. Contextualized by the specificity of Mexico's transition from state‐directed rural development to neoliberally‐guided rural development in the 1990s, findings suggest that market linkages can intersect with pre‐existing social capital to both create new and destroy preexisting social capital, thus shaping the direction of development and inequality outcomes. The nature of a community's social fabric is often a result of long‐standing historical legacies. In the communities presented, the quantity and quality of social capital was intricately connected to their history of state‐sponsored or market agriculture; the nature of local institutions, with particular emphasis on the formation and evolution of the ejido; and the access to and availability of natural resources, namely land and water, which are both intricately connected to market access options. Moving beyond a simple demonstration that social capital matters, this analysis explores the complex and dynamic interaction between local‐level social capital and extralocal market linkages. In doing so, it contributes to the larger debate on how the historical legacy of populist reforms and the social and political institutions created during state populism have nuanced the trajectory of neoliberal development in Mexico.     

Social movements and biopolitical states: A study of humanitarian aid in Cape Town 2008

In May of 2008, a wave of xenophobic violence erupted in South Africa resulting in the displacement of thousands of ‘refugees’ who ended up in government-established ‘safety camps’. Due to the lack of an adequate response by government and the United Nations, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), a South African AIDS activist organisation, began providing relief to the displaced population. In this paper, we are interested in investigating the ‘biopolitical technologies’ used by the TAC in their response to this crisis. We argue that the TAC's approach to providing humanitarian aid to refugees in Cape Town drew on both the organisation's own archive and repertoire of activist techniques and practices and the biopolitical toolkit deployed by international agencies such as the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. The outcome of this cross-fertilisation, we argue, was a hybrid assemblage of tactics and techniques that did not conform to the characterisation of humanitarian aid as simply another kind of bureaucratic antipolitics. The case study draws attention to the ways in which the TAC sought to ‘empower’ refugees and non-nationals as well as pressure and leverage the South African state into responding to the crisis, and thereby fulfil its pastoral role as ‘the watchful shepherd’ and the protector of human life.     

Travelling theory in China: contextualization,compromise and combination

In this article we explore the dissemination of human rights ideas in China through an ethnographic study of three women's organizations: the government's ‘letters and complaints’ department, the governmental NGO affiliated with it, and a legal aid centre; all are located in Beijing. We argue that there are two paths in China for the transmission of international human rights ideas – a government one and a non‐government one. The government path, featured as contextual and compromising, is rooted in socialist and collective values, and the governmental organizations we studied function squarely within the domestic legal framework and the concept of ‘women's rights and interests’. The non‐governmental path, by contrast, characterized by vernacularization, namely a combination of international ideas with local practice to promote legal reform in China, is the result of economic development and interactions with the international community. Both paths interact within their different spheres to further the development of women's rights.     

Unveiling the public procurement market in Brazil: A methodological tool to measure its size and potential

Public procurement plays a key role both in the proper functioning of public administration and in the realization of broader policy objectives. This article aims to present a methodology to assess the Brazilian public procurement market based on government statistics, as well as reflect on the potential of public procurement policy for the development of the country. The article found that public procurement comprised an average of 13.8% of Brazil's gross domestic product during 2006−2012. The Brazilian public procurement market is comparable to that of a typical Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) country. These findings imply great potential for public procurement in Brazil as a policy instrument for promoting the country's development.     

‘Violent’ deaths of children in England and Wales and the major developed countries 1974–2002: possible evidence of improving child protection?

Child protection services are criticised for failing to prevent abuse but demonstrating successful prevention is impossible as it is trying to prove a ‘negative’. The alternative is to examine ‘failures’, i.e. the ‘violent’ deaths of children (0–14 years) to indicate whether matters are improving or deteriorating. This paper uses the latest World Health Organisation data to compare children's ‘violent’ deaths in England and Wales with those in other major developed countries. To account for possible ‘hidden’ under‐reported abuse deaths, undetermined, i.e. ‘other external causes of death’ (OECD) and fatal accidents and adverse events (AAE), deaths are also analysed along with homicides, to compare all ‘violence‐related’ deaths between 1974–76 and 2000–02. England and Wales infant (<1 year) homicide rates were annually 57 per million but fell to 17 per million, a 74% fall. Infant AAE deaths fell in every country with England and Wales falling from 341 per million to 71 per million, a 76% reduction. Both these results were significantly better than those of eight other major developed countries, although England and Wales infant OECD at 26 per million, were high compared to the major developed countries. In the 1970s, combined ‘violent’ deaths of all children (0–14 years) (homicide, OECD and AAE) in England and Wales were 203 per million, they are now 61 per million, a 70% decline with only Italy having lower rates. The worst rates were in the USA which had the highest combined ‘violent’ death rate. These overall results in the major reductions of ‘violence‐related’ deaths in England and Wales can be a boost to the morale of front‐line staff and provide the public with an indication of the progress being made. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Politics and land in Matatiele 1844–1900: A report from the archives

This essay is concerned with some of the details of the history of Matatiele District, in its wider East Griqualand context, from the mid‐nineteenth century to the 1900s. The Griqua State (capital at Kokstad) is well documented as is the general history of a South African peasantry, a topic which has also inspired a number of specific regional studies. But the polity established by Nehemiah Sekhonyana Moshesh at Matatiele has not been studied and was sufficiently important and long‐lasting to deserve some attention.

Section 1 attempts to show the need to consider Lesotho's influence in the Drakensberg/Matatiele area as opposed to the more obvious Griqua connection; section 2 suggests how weak the Griqua link was in day to day practice. These case studies also provide good illustrations of a number of important themes in both colonial and South African history. Nehemiah's relationship with local and imperial authorities displays well the contrast between local ‘settler’ colonialism with its ‘white settler'concern, its farming vents herding tensions, anditsnearparanoiaaboutpowerful ‘native’ blocs;and long‐distance imperialism which sought ‘control’ without responsiblity (and therefore expense), an attitude that led to a greater tolerance (and sometimes a more realistic assessment) of existing political influence and powers. Land issues likewise seem to demonstrate the validity of the Wilson/Bundy thesis about the early prosperity of the black peasantry, which flourished beside and even ahead of white farming interests in some cases. One of the main themes of section 2 is the irrelevance of ‘colour’ where acquisition of land was concerned, the ability and desire of blacks to become farmers, the scarcity of white takers in an era of supposed ‘white’ preference.     

A reconceptualization of state transnationalism: South Korea as an illustrative case

Our reconceptualization of state transnationalism underlines the active role that states can play in generating and sustaining cross‐border flows between a nation's homeland and its diasporic communities. This represents a sort of ‘middle ground’ between formerly hegemonic state centric’ approaches to global processes (focusing heavily on the ‘international’) and more recent ones emphasizing ‘transnational’ dynamics (which primarily arise through the agency of cross‐border migrants). We discuss a typology of approaches and avoid the tendency to set nation‐states against global and transnational processes. In fact, we highlight the various ways in which states often initiate key transnational flows, such as migration and the integration of diasporic communities into the sending nation, as well as maintain and regulate various processes instigated by immigrants. As an iconic case, we present an illustrative study of the South Korean government and Korean diasporic communities in the USA. Finally, in a brief conclusion, we outline some challenges for future research.     

The 3×1 Programme and criminal violence in Mexico

Are levels of criminal violence lower where emigrants collaborate with the state authorities in the funding and provision of public goods and services? In this article, I examine the causal effect on violence levels in the municipalities participating in Mexico's Three‐for‐One (3×1) Programme for Migrants. Using municipal‐level data for the period between 2001 and 2010, the analysis shows that the implementation of this programme led to an increase in violence in the municipalities in question, and that this effect is driven by the ‘war on drugs’ initiated by the Mexican government in 2006. Because cartels splinter when kingpins are captured, they look for sources of revenue other than drug smuggling. The budgetary gains obtained via the 3×1 Programme inadvertently increased the returns of extortion and directed the attention of organized criminals to the participant municipalities. The evidence highlights some of the unintended effects that the leveraging of emigrants' money may have in home countries where governments make the so‐called ‘kingpin strategy’ a centrepiece of their security strategy.     

Management of the international development aid system: The Case of Tanzania

This article tries to clarify Government behaviours as to how to manage aid in Tanzania. Contrary to the Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donor intentions, the development aid structure, carefully constructed under the poverty reduction regime in Tanzania, has led to Tanzanian‐owned initiatives toward a national development plan (NDP). Furthermore, this article shows that, in the process of creating an international development aid system, the Tanzanian Government has learned to manage aid in a recipient‐driven manner not only from DAC donors, but also from China.     

Room at the top? — the development of South Africa's manufacturing industry 1939–1969

The emergence of a significant manufacturing sector is no index of a social formation's shift to independent economic development. South Africa's path of industrialisation since the Second World War shows precisely the opposite. Industrial growth has been predicated on the reproduction of forms of capitalist production whose shape and rhythm of change are set in the advanced capitalist countries. Thus, South Africa's trajectory of accumulation in the recent phase may be characterised as ‘dependent industrialisation’. This is clearly seen in the domination of manufacturing industry by high‐technology, monopoly interests, closely interlinked with foreign investors and the state.     

When tourists are your “friends”: Exploring the brand personality of Mexico and Brazil on Facebook

Adopting Aaker's (1997) framework, this study explored how popular tourist destinations, Mexico and Brazil, communicate their brand personality through Facebook, and which personality traits their Facebook “friends” associate with them. Results of computer-aided content analysis indicated that both countries’ tourism promotion messages emphasize distinct brand personality traits. However, Mexico's public relations efforts were more successful than Brazil's in transferring projected brand personality to its Facebook “friends”.     

The US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief

This article analyses the US response under former President George W. Bush to the global HIV/AIDS epidemic at the intersection of neo-conservatism and neo-liberalism, highlighting the various ways their distinct gender logics collide to reproduce masculine privilege and gender inequalities on a global scale. The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is the United States global HIV/AIDS policy and is the largest commitment made by any single nation for an international health project. My analysis is based on PEPFAR's ‘formal’ policy texts, including its authorizing legislation, five-year strategic framework and specific policy directives for recipient organizations. In addition, I examine more ‘informal’ texts like Congressional reports and Presidential speeches delivered by George W. Bush on various occasions. Drawing on a rich body of feminist ethnographic work in the fields of global governance, international political economy, organizational theory and sexuality and masculinity studies, the following article examines the various ways market-based norms and practices can legitimate the moral imperatives of neo-conservatism to promote ‘traditional’ values and institutions in the global South as leading solutions to global problems and insecurities.     

Lost in translation: The World Bank and the Paris Declaration

The Paris Declaration embodies the consensus that country ownership of donor programmes is vital, and above all the principle that donors should base their programmes on developing country priorities. The Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) has assessed the World Bank as performing relatively well against the Paris targets, though not moving towards full compliance. In Sri Lanka and Côte d'Ivoire, however, the Bank pays only lip service to the governments’ priorities. The Paris commitment is swamped by the influence of the Bank's governing Board and its US‐nominated President, its lending imperative and the professional preoccupations of its staff. Real implementation of the Bank's Paris commitment would entail, ideally, a reform of Bank governance and a contractual mechanism for developing countries to hold the Bank (and other donors) to their Paris promises. Less ambitiously, the Bank and other donors may still take limited but precise action to ensure that country priorities are respected and ownership becomes a reality. In the Bank, it might be enough for the Bank's President to make true adherence to the Paris Declaration a personal priority, and to nominate one of his senior managers to follow up.     

Bridging inequalities through inclusion: women's rights organisations as the ‘missing link’ in donor government-led participatory policy development and practice

This article focuses on women's rights organisations and their role in challenging inequality within the development process. Women in poverty are excluded as a result of their unequal societal position, geographic location, and the predominance of ‘top-down’ and piecemeal policymaking processes carried out by donor governments. We argue that in-country women's rights organisations provide the ‘missing link’ to bridge the disconnect between grassroots, marginalised women and donor decision-makers. This article focuses on the UK government's approach to developing policy and practice aimed at furthering international women's rights, focusing on the Women, Peace and Security agenda. Engaging with women's rights organisations not only ensures that donor policy and practice responds fully to the interests and needs of the poorest and most marginalised women in the global South, but renders the decision-making process itself empowering to the women involved.