WARWICK GLOBAL
DEVELOPMENT SOCIETY
Vol. 2
Issue 1
NEWSLETTER
JANUARY- APRIL 2004
IN THIS ISSUE:
WELCOME!
ARTICLES
World Model United Nations
By Camille Narayan
2
Gender and Development
By Alanna Cant
3
The World Trade Organisation
- Friend or Foe?
By Alanna Heath
5
Stop the War Protest
By Rahul Aggarwal
7
The Refugee Children of Sudan
By Dan Stoenescu
9
The Globalised Individual
By Thomas Card
11
EVENTS
Political Documentary Series
12
CSGR/WGDS Seminar Series
14
About us
15
Please e-mail submissions to:
wgdsnewsletter@yahoo.co.uk
Firstly, on behalf of all those on the Newsletter Committee of the Warwick
Global Development Society, I would like to welcome you to the very first
edition of the WGDS Newsletter for the 2003/2004 academic year. The
committee will agree it has not been an easy task getting both the Newsletter
and the WGDS off the ground! I would like to take this opportunity to thank
everyone for their hard work!
Mostly, I would like to thank Rahul Aggarwal, Alanna Heath, Hiroaki Ataka,
Camille Narayan, Dan Stoenescu and Tom Card for their contributions to this
project, and to remind everyone that the editing team will be putting together
another issue, and further submissions will make the next newsletter another
success!
Finally, I would like to bring to everyone’s attention the “Global Futures” forum
that will bring together a number of speakers who will address the key issues
relating to development and globalisation in the world today. It is tentatively
scheduled for March 10th, so watch for further information from the WGDS
Executive Committee:
Arafat Khalil - Treasurer
Anna Kimmerle - Secretary
Hanna Johnson - Publicity Officer
Best Wishes!
Alanna Cant
President
Warwick Global Development Society
Page 2
WORLD MODEL
The First Warwick
Delegation!!
World
UNITED NATIONS
MUN
This year will be the first year that the
Department
of
Politics
and
International Studies (PAIS) will send
a delegation to the renown Harvard
World Model United Nations, this year
held in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt.
The conference is a week-long
simulation of the various organs of the
United Nations, in which university
students from all over the world
represent different countries and
debate the most pressing issues in
international politics today. At the end
of the week each committee passes a
resolution on their designated topic
which is the product of 6 days
of intense networking and policy
negotiation, as well as months of
background research and policy
writing.
This conference is arguably the most
authentic simulation of the United
Nations as it not only provides a
realistic context in which the
committees function, but also brings
together the ideas of delegates from
the various corners of the world,
making for a dynamic and unique
cultural as well as educational
experience.
The team of 10 PAIS Masters students
have been sponsored in part by the
PAIS for which we are grateful. We
would also like to acknowledge the
help of Professor Rai, Programme
Director of MA in Globalisation and
Development program and of Dr.
Lorraine Elliott, Programme Director of
MA in International Relations. The
formative stages of this year's
delegation began in October, and the
delegation has now been put together
and will begin preparations for
the conference soon.
Look out for our updates on the
progress of the PAIS team and for our
fundraising events!
- Camille Narayan
MA Globalisation and Development
For more information, refer to:
http://www.worldmun.org
Page 3
GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT
How should gender issues be
incorporated into the practice of
development?
An
engendered
approach
to
development seeks to understand in
the relationships between men and
women at the site of development
action, so as to better assess the likely
outcomes of projects and other
activities. This can only be achieved
by acknowledging the sites where
current practice falls short of this goal.
The first major arena where current
practice often does not consider
gender is at the site where
development projects take place:
A. Culturally-specific gender roles
that
influence
development
outcomes:
Often, it is assumed that the effects of
a development project are beneficial to
men and women in the same ways.
This approach doesn’t take into
account the way that the people
themselves
divide
things
like
workload, assets, money, etc.
B. Visibility of women:
In many cultures, women’s roles are
relegated to the “private sphere” of life,
and therefore often have less contact
with representatives of a development
project. This can lead to the
expenditures of development funds in
ways that are more likely to benefit the
visible male portions of society.
The second significant area is at the
site of development planning:
A. The structure of research in the
development
field
often
unintentionally focuses on males:
Often the household is taken as the
minimum unit of analysis, based on
the assumption that costs, capital and
resources are distributed evenly within
the household. Ethnographic evidence
from around the world indicates that
often this is not the case. Also, more
often than not, there is an emphasis
placed on labour that results in
monetary gains, without concern for
the informal economy which, in many
cases, is where women are more likely
to be active. Therefore, their labour
and gains are not considered in many
development schemes.
B. Questions of gender are not
readily
accepted
in
many
development institutions:
Gender and feminist issues are very
politicised in major development
institutions. For people interested in
gender approaches, they either have
to work within the constraints of the
mandates and culture of a given
institution or they have to disengage
themselves from the institution and
critique
from
the
outside.
4
considerations that need to be taken
into account to achieve a more
gender-aware
approach
to
development:
Page 4
1. Gender issues should not be
treated as a “special subject”:
Since gender is inherently involved in
all aspects of human society,
awareness of it should be incorporated
into any development project. To
ignore the relationships between men
and women is overlook an important
organising principle of the people
whom development is intended to
benefit.
2. Development agencies should
actively
support
adequate
representation of women in all
committees
that
deal
with
development
planning
and
management:
This will increase the “visibility” of
women and allow their wants and
needs to be heard as well as the male
perspective. This will enhance the
ability of development projects to
distribute their intended benefits more
evenly.
3.
In
development
planning,
account should be taken that there
are also differences among women:
Just as it is wrong to assume that men
and women have the same wants and
needs, it is also wrong to lump all
women together into the same group.
Other factors such as socioeconomic
class, marital status, number of
children, position in the household,
and age also affect women’s
participation in a project and also they
way they are affected by it.
4. Cultural relativism should not be
used to justify the exclusion of
women in decision-making:
By providing opportunities for women
women together into the same group.
Other factors such as socioeconomic
class, marital status, number of
children, position in the household,
and age also affect women’s
participation in a project and also they
way they are affected by it.
4. Cultural relativism should not be
used to justify the exclusion of
women in decision-making:
By providing opportunities for women
to have input, it stimulates the
generation of ideas, and cultural
change can happen from within. This
can be observed in many places
throughout the world, where women
and men are demanding change in
their own cultures to allow women
greater participation.
- Alanna Cant
MA Globalisation and Development
For Further Reading:
Ostergaard,
L.
Gender
and
Development
Rasavi, S. World Development 25(7):
1111-1125
Young, K. Planning Development with
Women
Page 5
FRIEND OR FOE?
Globalisation has become the subject
of enthusiastic, sometimes violent,
division and protest. The World Trade
Organisation
(WTO),
keeping
company with other international
organisations, is often the target of
such demonstrations against elite
dominance
and
unregulated
capitalism. The advertised principal
function of the WTO is to ensure that
trade flows as smoothly and freely as
possible; yet many consider the
organisation a source of domination power sets the rules rather than
opportunities for justice and fair trade.
Most of us have formed opinions of
the WTO, and I want to offer a few
reasons why careful scrutiny of the
organisation’s activities is warranted.
What can be said about the WTO’s
role in regulating global trade and
production?
Since the creation of the WTO in
1995, there has been a marked
increase in both its importance and
scrutiny. This may be the result of the
inception of biannual ministerial
meetings and the strengthening of the
WTO’s enforcement mechanism for
settling trade disputes. Many
organisations and member countries
question the extent of the WTO’s
agenda:
should
investment,
competition and labour issues be
addressed
in
a
trade-based
organisation? And if these are not
included in the WTO, where else can
labour standards, for example, be
effectively regulated and enforced?
The arguments for and against
inclusion of environmental and labour
standards are complex and it is often
difficult to differentiate true motivations
and in whose interests the arguments
are intended. At first instance it seems
that including labour regulations, for
example child labour, would be a
significant and fair addition to the
WTO.
However,
suspiciously,
Northern countries seem to be in
favour
of
incorporating
both
environmental and labour regulations
in the WTO. Could this be a guise for
Northern protectionism? There is fear
in Northern nations that trade with the
South impoverishes unskilled workers
in the North, and more lax
environmental regulations give an
unfair trade advantage to Southern
nations. Thus, inclusion of these
standards
could
disadvantage
Southern competitors and enable
covert Northern protectionism.
The WTO ministerials also present an
interesting topic of analysis. Most
recently, the Cancun ministerial
collapsed and many believe this is due
to the stance taken by developing
Page 6
countries to not support drafts of the
ministerial’s declaration. Claims about
the infamous and exclusive ‘Green
Room,’ and more deep seeded
problems such as transparency,
democracy and secrecy in the
institution
and
the
biannual
ministerials, suggest the biased nature
of the WTO towards capital and
Northern interests.
These constitute simply a few
illustrations of why I believe the WTO
is an inherently flawed institution.
Taking into account the admittedly
biased nature of this expose, the WTO
does
exhibit
some
redeeming
qualities. The challenge remains to
think critically about the institution and
form an opinion based on the
evidence, not rhetoric.
- Alanna Heath
MA International Political Economy
For more on the WTO, refer to:
http://www.wto.org
Page 7
PROTEST
"We've got hundreds of sites to exploit, looking for the chemical and biological
weapons that we know Saddam Hussein had prior to our entrance into Iraq"
- George W. Bush, California, May 2, 2003
For a brief period we were thrown
back to the days of the British Empire,
as President George Bush II landed
on British soil amidst royal fanfare at
Her Majesty’s request. Shielded in his
cocoon from the prying eyes of the
public and backed up by one of the
most expensive security operations
staged in recent British history, the
“leader of the Free World”, the selfelected
“Warrior
Against
Evil”,
President Bush brought his war
against terror once more to the UK.
The controversial war in Iraq had
caused a huge divide worldwide, and
its impact was also felt at our very own
university. On November 20th, BBC
radio greeted us at 9am outside
Senate House, and after airing our
views on why we saw it necessary to
protest - the war in Iraq being
illegitimate in the eyes of international
law, a total disregard for the UN and a
throw back to the days of imperialism,
just a few reasons - 155 of us made
our way to the capital.
On arrival, we unfurled our banners in
all their glory amongst the throng of
other inspired posters and flags.
Caricatures of Bush and Blair
portrayed as the devil and a George
Bush impersonator stroking a barrel of
oil pretending to randomly shoot
people, were just a few of the
imaginative creations on view. Tight
security delayed the procession, and it
was nigh on 2pm when we started to
snake our way through London.
Media estimates put the number of
protestors anywhere between 100,000
to 250,000. The real number was most
likely somewhere in the middle.
What was most striking was the
peaceful nature in which a whole
cross-section of Britain’s multi-cultural
society had assembled in this common
cause to voice disapproval of Bush
and Blair’s antagonistic foreign
policies. Much credit must go to the
organisers of the “Stop the War
Coalition”. It was a spectacular sight
and on occasions the sound was
almost deafening, especially when we
marched past Downing Street and the
Houses of Parliament: “Bush, Blair
Terrorists!”
The coup de grace came when
images of Bush, being toppled in the
centre of Trafalgar Square à la
Saddam Hussein, were flashed across
the world. Although Bush and his
Page 8
accomplice, Blair, weren’t there to
witness this vast outpouring of public
condemnation, scenes which were
repeated throughout the world, our
point had been made.
They may have “gottem”, but the real
reason the public were conned into
going to war was the over-hyped
threat of Saddam’s chemical and
biological arsenal. In the meantime,
the hunt for these Weapons of Mass
Distraction continues…
- Rahul Aggarwal
MA Globalisation and Development
For more on the “Stop the War”
campaign, refer to:
http://www.stopwar.org.uk/
Page 9
THE REFUGEE CHILDREN OF SUDAN
When many Westerners think of
Egypt, they see the magnificent past
overshadowing the present. Very few
realise that Egypt is also a gateway to
freedom for millions of refugees
escaping the famine, repression and
civil wars of the African continent. The
statistics of 2002 show that there are
10,000 refugees living in Egypt (this
does not include 70,000 Palestinians),
and over two thirds of these are
Sudanese. Most of these refugees are
young people, who have escaped the
hardships of war, torture and
oppression.
Since the early Eighties, Sudan has
experienced conflicts between the
Arab Muslim northerners, the base of
the government, and the black
Africans of the south, who practice
mainly Christian or animist beliefs.
Since 1983 at least one out of every
five southern Sudanese has died
because of the 17-year civil war.
Nearly two million people have died
and about 80% of southern Sudan's
estimated five million people have
been displaced. Besides the atrocities
of war, famine is devastating the
country. Malnutrition is the main cause
of death for hundreds of thousands of
people. Due to the everyday
nightmare
that
the
Sudanese
experience, many choose to cross the
northern border to Egypt, hoping to
immigrate to a safe heaven in the
west. The reality of undocumented
immigrants and refugees in Egypt is
very different from what the official
statistics say.
Many non-governmental associations
and churches talk about hundreds of
thousands, even millions of Sudanese
refugees in Egypt. The situation is
complex because many Sudanese do
not receive refugee status from the
United Nations High Commission for
Refugees (UNHCR).
Once in Egypt many Sudanese realise
that this is not paradise. Many become
homeless, unemployed and face much
discrimination. This is particularly hard
for the thousands of children that face
the real world and the harsh life of
being refugees. The Sudanese
refugee children are not allowed to
attend public schools in Egypt
because they are not citizens. In order
to help with their education, churches
like the Presbyterian Church USA and
non-governmental organisations, like
Rotary International, have established
special schools for the Sudanese
refugee children. One of these schools
is the African Hope School.
The African Hope School is in the
Maadi district, a relatively nice
neighbourhood of Cairo where few
Sudanese live. Because of that, many
children and teachers have to travel a
long way just to get to school. The
school has about 400 students ranging
from 3 to 19 years of age and about
10 dedicated teachers who are
themselves refugees. Most of the
children here have emigrated from
Sudan to Egypt in search of a better
life, but even in Egypt they face
discrimination.
Page 10
Some of the children were sent away
by their parents, who decided to stay
in Sudan. They had hoped that their
children would get a better future if
they emigrated to Egypt. Although
their stories are tragic, they still have a
friendly smile on their faces - a smile
of hope. With the help of UNHCR,
most of these children will emigrate to
the United States, Canada, Australia
or Europe.
For most of these children the African
Hope School is just a short episode in
their lives before immigrating to a
Western country. In spite of that their
education here is crucial. For many
children, especially for those from the
rural and tribal areas of Sudan,
acquiring a basic education, learning
English, and having some kind of
moral support is critical for a future
integration into a western society, like
the American society for example.
Although many will emigrate, the real
aim for most of the refugee children
and their parents is to go back to their
native country. However until the
political disagreements are solved or
the economical situation improves,
returning to Sudan is impossible.
- Dan Stoenescu
MA Globalisation and Development
Please visit:
http://egyptquest2002.tripod.com/delta
for photographs and more information.
Page 11
THE GLOBALISED INDIVIDUAL
For this article I’m going to be selfish
and talk about me. Yes I know these
articles are supposed to be about
Globalisation and Development, but
hear me out.
I have rather a confusing personal
history. I was born in London in 1978.
My father is a Londoner, but my mum
is from Hong Kong. In 1985 we moved
to Canada, where I grew up. With me
so far? In 1996 I graduated from High
School in Toronto, Canada and went
to Edinburgh, Scotland to study law. I
loved the place so much I decided to
stick around and qualify as a solicitor.
Then I found out the law isn’t all it’s
cracked up to be and left to come here
and start a new life as a diplomat, or at
least a cleaner who reads the
newspaper.
Why am I telling you all this? Because
I face something of a dilemma every
time someone asks me the question:
“Where are you from?” This is a
perfectly legitimate question. I ask it
myself when I meet someone new.
So how do I answer the question? I
usually give a really short form of the
above and hope the person posing the
question hasn’t gone into neural shock
once I’ve finished. This hasn’t
happened yet, but what does happen
is that the question “Where are you
from?” somehow mutates into “What
are you?”. The one posing the
question often only picks up one part
of the story and defines me as “that”.
As a result, I am usually pigeon-holed
into being Canadian, or English, or
Scottish, but rarely all three at the
same time.
Somehow, because I support Scotland
at rugby it somehow means I cannot
possibly support England or Canada
too. I feel somewhat diminished when
this happens, as my whole identity and
background is not being recognised.
This mutation of the question “Where
are you from?” may have been fine up
to a few hundred years ago when
most people didn’t travel far. People
could define themselves easily as
English, for example, because they
came from England and had two
English parents, etc. However, as has
repeatedly been stated, this is
supposed to be a globalising world.
Nobody cares if HSBC is a Chinese
bank or a British bank, it’s just treated
as another Transnational Corporation.
We know about the impact of
technology on travel and migration. So
why is it that many people can come
to grips easily with the concept of
moving to far away places, and
working for an “American” firm in
South Africa, but not comprehend that
people themselves are also becoming
globalised? I know I’m not the only
one since I’ve met many people with
similar backgrounds, or even more
complicated ones.
So when someone asks where I’m
from, I’ll tell them the little story I told
you. But that story does not answer
the question “What am I” or “Who am
I”. The answer then is: I am me.
- Thomas Card
MA International Relations
Page 12
POLITICAL DOCUMENTARY SERIES - 2004
More than meets the eye…
H 0.51, Humanities Building
Tuesdays at 6pm
OPEN TO EVERYONE!
Every Tuesday from 6 p.m. throughout
the 2003-2004 year the Politics &
International
Studies
Department
(PAIS) will present a selection of
political documentaries open to all
undergraduate
and
postgraduate
students
at
PAIS
and
other
departments who would like to attend
the screenings. This initiative counts
with the valuable collaboration of:
Politics and International Studies
The Warwick Global Development
Society
in
The collapse of Communism and the
end of the Cold War heralds a new era
of global capitalism. Meanwhile in the
Balkans, bloody ethnic cleansing rips
the region asunder. No chronicle of
the century has ever come so close to
the true spirit of the age. Through
fascinating eyewitness accounts this
acclaimed series examines how
political, economic and technological
changes transformed the lives of
ordinary people.
WEEK 15 - February 3rd
Dying for Drugs (90’)
One World Forum
Postgraduates
Studies
WEEK 14 - January 27th
People’s Century 1991-1997 (107’)
Latin
http://www.slas.org.uk
American
Dying for Drugs exposes the ethical
and humanitarian implications of the
practices
carried
out
by
the
pharmaceutical industry to expand the
market for their products. Unlike other
goods that are produced and sold in
the international market, medicines
have implications for the health and
survival of the poor throughout the
world. The increasing globalisation of
the pharmaceutical industry demands
a responsible debate of what kinds of
regulations should be introduced to
ensure that trade is compatible with
development concerns.
Page 13
WEEK 16 - February 10th
Panorama on the Treatment of
Workers: Gap and Nike (60’)
WEEK 18 - February 24th
Narmada: A Valley Rises (90’)
Gap and Nike have received strong
criticism for the inhumane treatment of
their workers in factories around the
developing world. As a means to
salvage
their
reputation,
these
companies
have
adopted
antisweatshop rules that in principle
ensure an ethical treatment of their
workers. This documentary shows
how these rules are still violated.
A dramatic portrait of a social
movement opposing the construction
of the Sardar Sarovar dam project in
central India, one of the largest
development projects of the World
Bank. The documentary raises critical
and universal questions about the
fragile nature of human rights, social
justice and democracy and the need to
fight for them with hope and
commitment.
WEEK 17 - February 17th
Big Fish, Small Fry (30’)
WEEK 19 - March 2nd
The Tobin Tax
A video that shows the growing
concerns for the future of Lake
Victoria’s Nile perch fisheries, Kenya.
The sustainability of this industry and
its effects on people and the
biodiversity of the Lake are brought
into question by massive overfishing.
Told by the people themselves, this is
a story about an environmental and
human disaster that is unfolding today.
The documentary points to the social
and environmental implications of
international trade in the hope that
their negative effects can be overcome
and avoided.
A short documentary presented by Jon
Snow and produced by the British
NGO ‘War on Want’. The documentary
discusses how the creation of a tax to
financial transactions could be used as
a source of funding for development
projects. After the screening, James
Brassett (PhD student at PAIS) will
give a presentation on the debate
around the Tobin tax initiative and will
answer questions from students.
WEEK 20 - March 9th
Manufacturing Consent
by Noam Chomsky (180’) - Replay After requests from students who were
unable to attend the first screening of
this film, we will be screening
Manufacturing Consent again. In this
film, Chomsky argues that the mass
media agenda in the United States
has been carefully manipulated in an
attempt to influence public opinion
over the governments’ foreign policy.
Chomsky supports his argument with
detailed
analysis
of
American
involvement in Nicaragua, Cambodia
and East Timor.
Page 14
SEMINAR
SERIES
26th January
Dr Nicola Pratt
University of Birmingham
23rd February
Gunter Metzges
Marie Curie Visiting Fellow
Bringing Politics Back In: Examining
the Link between Democratisation and
Globalisation in Egypt
Non-governmental networks: their
influence on international negotiations
25th February (WGDS)*
Dr. Sian Sullivan
University of Warwick
th
28 January (WGDS)*
Dr. Lorraine Elliott
University of Warwick
Presentation and discussion of 'Genoa
Red Zone: a film of the (anti-)
globalisation movements’
Global Environmental Governance
2nd February
Dr Martin Besfamille
Univerisdad Torcuato
Argentina
Di
Tella,
1st March
Dr Graeme Cheeseman
University of New South Wales
International capital markets and subnational borrowing
Military force and
globalising world
9th February
Professor Catherine Hoskyns
Professor Shirin Rai
University of Warwick
8th March
Dr Peter Burnham
University of Warwick
&
forces
in
a
Floating Rates versus Bretton Woods
Gendering
Economy
International
Political
th
16 February
Professor Abdul Paliwala
University of Warwick
Regulation and Global Digital Diffusion
Unless otherwise stated seminars are held
at 1.00pm in the CSGR Seminar room
S1.50 (1st Floor Social Studies Building)
*WGDS seminars are held between 4-6pm
in LIB 1
For a better future…
General Info :
Alanna Cant
(President)
Our Mission Statement
Rahul Aggarwal
(Technical Publisher
and Co-editor)
Alanna Heath
Hiroaki Ataka
Camille Narayan
(Editors)
We’re on the Web !
See us at:
http://www.sunion.warwick.
ac.uk/socs/WGDS
Submissions welcome
on any topic, from
academic to the
bizarre, travel stories,
book reviews…
“Warwick Global Development Society has been
established primarily as a forum for debate and
discourse, available to anyone with an interest in
the development field.
Through programmes of talks, workshops and
events, we hope to further an understanding of
development theory and practice, and allow
members to engage with and critique dominant
models of development and alternative paths for
the future.”
To become a Member of the Society
Simply register at the Union North at the Secretariat
OR visit the Student Union website and enrol online !!
General Email :
wgdsnewsletter
@yahoo.co.uk
_____________________
Next issue in April/May