Summer 2008 Issue No 2
Getting Started...
In This Issue
Getting Started…
by Theologia Iliadou
Second Term WGDS Seminars
by Halia Haddad, Theologia Iliadou &
Mouzayian Khalil
We would like to welcome you to our second and
1 last issue of the academic year 2007-2008. We, as
the newsletter team, are both thrilled and sad to
present you with this work as we are both proud of
2
presenting our activities throughout the year and
disappointed we will soon have to part after the end
of our courses.
Articles & Reflections:
In this issue we decided to give room to our lecturers and professors to present you parts of their inspiring research interests that we had the priviledge
by Shirin Rai
of becoming a part throughout the year. Moreover
Interregionalism in Global Govas promised we are providing you with reviews of
ernance
11 our society’s seminars as well as with summaries of
by Mathew Doidge
both our participation in WarMUN and this year’s
Ha-Joon Chang: A Critique of the WGDS Symposium.
Civic-Driven Change: Opportunities and Costs
9
Critique
by Iain Pirie
14 The following pages will help you get an idea of the
amazing work that was taking place in our department from both the academic staff and all the stuWGDS Events
dents for the successful completion of the courses.
Team WGDS at WarMUN
17 We would like to thank all those that with us made
by Priya Soman
this learning experience a hard working, and yet
WGDS Symposium 2007-2008 20 fun, process that gave us enough inspiration to start
our dissertations and see them as a world changing
by WGDS newsletter team
process.
Alumni Articles
Working in Uganda
by Vu Ndlovu
Good luck to all with our futures and with our commitment to use with zeal the knowledge we gained
33
in order to make the world a healthier, safer and
more equal place.
Theologia Iliadou
Editor and team
1
Summer 2008 No 2
Second Term WGDS Seminars
Halia Haddad, Theologia Iliadou & Mouzayian Khalil
Building Global Democracy
By Jan Aart Scholte
Professor Jan
Aart Scholte
is Professorial Research
Fellow in the
Centre
for
the Study of
Globalisation and Regionalisation
(CSGR) and
former (Co-)
Director of the Centre in 2003-7. He
is also Professor in the Department
of Politics and International Studies
at the University of Warwick and
Centennial Professor in the Centre
for the Study of Global Governance
at the London School of Economics.
His main areas of research are:
world-historical-sociological
perspectives on social change; globalisation; and civil society and global economic governance.
“His current research focuses on
questions of governing a more global
world. In particular he is since the
start of 2008 convening the Building
Global Democracy programme in
CSGR, together with colleagues in
Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India and Russia. The BGD programme also involves some 60 academic researchers, 180 other workshop participants, and several thousand correspondents in an exploration of the conceptual, pedagogic,
institutional, distributional and cul
tural aspects of 'rule by the people' in
relation to global affairs”(CSGR website, 2008).
Professor Scholte gave a characteristically enthusiastic/passionate presentation on his ongoing research. He
began by challenging our conception
of democracy within the context of
globalisation. He emphasised the significance of the ‘demos’ encompassing not only the citizens of a state
but also the non-state and nonterritorial peoples. He illustrated
how the contexts within which democracy takes place-space, regime
(governance),
and
community
(collective identity)-have been influenced by conditions of globalisation,
thereby creating a need to reconsider the concept of democracy.
He outlined five factors/steps to be
considered in building global democracy: re-thinking of democracy in
globalisation, public education, institutional accountability, redressing
structural inequalities, and last but
not the least, inter-cultural recognition and voice. Therefore, when democracy is reconsidered in context,
the people have to be educated
aware of the changes; global accountability has to be enforced and
monitored; there should be progressive re-distribution of the world’s resources to allow equal opportunity
for participation; and there has to be
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Summer 2008 No 2
intercultural tolerance and equality.
All of this was presented with contagious passion, however, the discussion session reflected some scepticism about the utopic notion of
‘global democracy’ especially one
which
depends
on
the
redistribution of resources to allow
equality in participation of people all
over the world. The obvious obstacles of poverty, conflict and disease
are only the fundamental issues to be
considered when applying this
Globalisation and Religion
By Jim Beckford
Jim Beckford
is a member
of staff in the
department
of sociology
in Warwick
University
and a Fellow
of the British
Academy. He
was
President of the
Association
for the Sociology of Religion (1988-89), VicePresident of the International Sociological Association (1994-98) and
President of the International Society for the Sociology of Religion for
1999-2003. His professional responsibilities include: Co-Vice-Chairman of
INFORM, Member of the Institut Européen en Sciences des Religions
(Paris), and Member since 1998 of
the Editorial Board of The British
Journal of Sociology. His research has
model. Professor Scholte countered
the scepticism with unwavering enthusiasm and I will conclude with his
words of encouragement which is an
important lesson for everyone, not
only academics, but all who seek to
build a future which is sustainable:
“By pursuing the impossible you come
closer to making it possible”.
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/
pais/staff/scholte
focused on the theoretical and empirical aspects of religious organizations, new religious movements,
church-state problems, civic religion,
religion in prisons and religious controversies in several different countries. His current research deals with
the relationship between social theory and religion, the treatment of
religious in prison, and ‘emergent’
faith communities in England.
In the seminar he gave for our
society Professor Beckford talked
about his current research in relation
to globalization. Specifically he
spoke about the relationship between globalization and religion.
As a starting point he used the
definition of globalization, as the
growing frequency and volume of
interconnectedness, the growing capacity of information technologies
and the rise and development in the
standardised protocols and relationships.
Within this context religion
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Summer 2008 No 2
tends to be overlooked as a source of
ideas about the global. On the contrary religion has contributed towards globalization, or at least towards visions of harmony in ‘one
world’. He urged us to think of religion as a reverse colonization process
and stressed that the most common
mistake that is being done in the
study of religion is when it is approached in relation to fundamentalisms and religious nationalisms. Instead he defined religion as the beliefs, values, emotions, actions, roles
and organizations that are oriented
towards convictions about ultimate
reality and the normative requirements that supposedly flow for
them. In addition as the set of questions that have lead humanity over
time for the quest and the creation
of the global.
Prisons, according to Professor
Beckford, are a good place to track
religions and consequently all of the
notions they incorporate. Not only
cause many imprisonments are a result of fundamental differences in
views of morality but also cause, as
in the case of UK, church and religion take a great part within the rehabilitation process. Especially in the
UK system where religious representation is an important factor of the
system itself religion identities and
their subcategories are brought forward, and especially the correlation
between ethnicity and religion is
matched and highly taken into consideration.
Religious diversity in prisons is
a major political contemporary topic.
Especially in UK were the chaplain
has played a great role prisons are
asked to transform themselves
within the requirements of a religiously global terrain. Prison diets
have been transformed, the power of
Christian chaplain has been reduced
and chaplains have come to represent all major world faiths whose
number has risen, the design and
decoration of prison chapels has become multi faith. Moreover the demands for the learning pastoral
world have risen as Buddhist, Hindu,
Muslim, concerns about the risk of
‘radicalisation’ among Muslims has
escalated and the training and monitoring of chaplains has assumed to
have acquired great importance.
There are though variations between countries. In France for example the separation between religion
and state highly exists. There are no
signs in prisons of religion as morality is a separate civil concept. In a
religiously free prison environment
religious outfits are against the
French political traditions and convictions themselves. These two separate approaches give rise to questions for both the relevancy of religion in the contemporary global
world, the significance of religion as
a tool for the maintenance of civic
order and its relevance as a tool for
the construction and deconstruction
of approaches to life and the world
themselves.
The internet as a mean and a
tool poses new challenges to religions. In India lots of Hindu temples
have installed web-cams for the live
broadcast of their services. The
variations of challenges though that
we have seen the internet pose to
religion don’t only have to do with
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Summer 2008 No 2
the capabilities of broadcast and
reach. Instead the challenges can fall
under three categories 1. wars, 2.
ghost-tricked sites of religions, 3.
false religions.
We have seen through internet
the spread of new types of religions
or internet cults, eg scientology.
These types of religions have concealed knowledge around the faith
creating a power structure with the
help of technology, power-rankings
associated to knowledge. Internet
has become a religious battlefield
not only between different religions
but also between opponents of varied denominations themselves. The
heresies are so diverse and high in
number that internet has presented
itself as a vessel of communication,
negotiation and arbitration of oppositional approaches towards same
religions. False religions such as the
“flying spaghetti monster” are a common reality that can neither be neglected nor be taken lightly as it embodies the dynamics of both internet
as a technology for bringing about
new dynamic communities irrespectively of already existing common
characteristics and for creating new
types of informal and privately negotiated and accepted knowledge. In
other words it embodies the dynamics of both internet and contemporary culture around knowledge, faith
and contemporary culture themselves.
With globalisation and the rise
in the dimensions of internet the
regulation over religions has become
a sensitive issue since especially the
9/11 incidence. There are the free
market religion countries such as
USA where we see freedom of
thought battling over the preservation of irrationality, even though
there exists religious protectionism
through major reports on religion
from the State Department, and the
example of the French republic
where it is trying to protect its citizens from irrationality and has led
itself towards secularism.
Concluding Professor Beckford
stressed that it is a mistake to ignore
the links between globalisation and
religion. The internet has become a
battle ground for religion. This progress creates thoughts of a ‘global
religion’ prospect which will be
based on internet. The battle between texts and fundamentalism will
increase but the major question will
be whether we will be lead into a
global religion under the label of
cosmopolitanism.
The discussion after the seminar centred around the notion of
cosmopolitanism as a religion.
Through the discussion it was defined as political ideology with tendencies around a religion of Human
Rights, Deism of 1980s and modernity, as well as a religion for the environment, a physical deity away from
the human element itself. Moreover
we clarified the nation of Islam as an
internet organization and contradicted it with the relationship between the church and the state in
UK.
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/
s
o
c
i
o
l
ogy/staff/academicstaff/beckford/be
ckfordj
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5
Summer 2008 No 2
The Globalisation
Rights
By Leslie Sklair
of
Human
Dr
Leslie
Sklair
is
Professor
Emeritus of
Sociology at
the London
School
of
Economics.
On 20 February 2008
he spoke to
the Warwick Global Development
Society about the globalisation of
human rights, specifically seeking to
place human rights at the centre of
globalisation theory and research.
Professor Sklair began by discussing
human rights and globalisation in
terms of a tripartite distinction: (a)
generic globalisation, (b) capitalist
globalisation, (c) alternative globalisation.
Generic globalisation, he argued, is
characterised by four key forces or
events which he termed ‘moments’.
These moments comprise the theoretical possibilities of generic globalisation, and it is within these terms
that we must tackle the globalisation
of human rights.
Firstly, Professor Sklair discussed
the ‘electronic moment’: the idea
that the new digital age makes globalisation possible, and counters the
idea of historical globalisation. The
electronic moment helps make human rights violations instantaneously and globally transparent, and
thereby influences the
around human rights.
struggle
Secondly, the ‘postcolonial moment’, which emphasises selfdetermination. This arose in the 19th
century but came into use more
broadly post World War II. The
postcolonial moment (aided by the
electronic revolution) allowed the
opportunity for the “other” to fight
back, for minority rights to be recognised, both at home and abroad.
Ideas of racism, inferiority and subjugation were all challenged as never
before, light was thrown where previously there existed darkness and
misinformation. Out of this arose
new possibilities for the respect for
human rights.
Thirdly, the idea of ‘transnational
social spaces’; the electronic revolution has made possible email, telephone calls, video, and so forth.
These communication linkages have
created historically unprecedented
transnational
communities.
Throughout
history
oppressed
groups have depended on compatriots in diaspora. Now these communications are quicker, stronger, and
clearer than ever before. Transnational social spaces open up a new
immediacy, for example the independence of Kosovo, which was
transmitted on a minute-by-minute
basis. Images, the spread of knowledge, and communication challenge
the “tyranny of spaces”.
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Summer 2008 No 2
Finally, Professor Sklair considered
‘new forms of cosmopolitanism’. He
considered whether global ethics is
modern neo-colonialism. That postEnlightenment values are taken for
granted by the Western world does
not mean that they are taken for
granted by people with different histories. He argued that such ideas
have nothing to do with the nationstate or relative values, but that we
must establish a set of values with
which all peoples around the world
are comfortable. Once these minimum standards have been set, those
who reject them can be considered
‘mentally disabled’.
struggle against capitalist globalisation, including the transnational
capitalist class, the culture and ideology of consumerism, and transnational corporations.
Professor Sklair then broached the
subject of capitalist globalisation.
He argued that capitalist globalisation subverts all the emancipatory
potential of generic globalisation for
human rights in every field. He argued that to see this, the distinction
must be made between civil/political
human rights and economic/social
human rights. The United Nations
Charter puts these all in equal place,
but in human rights literature and
practice (both protection and violation), the focus is on the former.
The question, therefore, is how to
transform capitalism to ensure the
protection of every individual’s economic and social rights? This, Professor Sklair argued, is not possible
under the current global configuration. He asserted that we need to
replace the transnational capitalist
class – including those who own
transnational corporations (TNCs)
and their affiliates, the globalising
politicians and bureaucrats, the
globalising professionals amongst
TNCs and in universities, and the
consumerist elites. Fundamentally,
the ideology and culture of consumerism, in which individuals’ worth
and happiness is based on what they
consume and what they possess,
must be replaced by and ideology of
human rights. Challenging the capitalist hegemony can happen through
a subversive way, e.g. through the
‘green movement’, or through a radical way, such as the social responsibility required of corporations.
He then explained how this emphasis on civil/political rights runs parallel to capitalist globalisation. Under capitalism, civil and political human rights are good for business.
Business does not thrive under autocracy. However, economic and social human rights strike a death blow
to the heart of the capitalist modes
of production. The struggle for economic and social rights is therefore a
So what exactly is so wrong with
capitalist globalisation? There are
two ongoing crises. The first is that
there is increasing class polarisation,
where ‘winners’ are being created at
the very top at an historically unprecedented rate.
However, the
poor are not disappearing at the
same rate, and in fact are probably
growing (though this is contested).
But despite decades of promises by
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Summer 2008 No 2
the capitalist class, the issue is not
being resolved, and new ideas are
running out. The second crisis is
one of ecology and sustainability.
This is a crisis we cannot escape, because capitalism intensifies it.
So what is the solution? Alternative
forms of globalisation. Though this
may take hundreds of years, Professor Sklair argued that genuine democratic (participatory) political
structures and social movements will
drive change from capitalist globalisation to alternative globalisation.
Moreover, this alternative form of
globalisation will have human rights
at its heart. His vision includes producer-consumer cooperatives, comprising small self-sustaining communities which are linked up to satisfy
the economic and social human
rights of the people involved.
http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/soc
iology/whoswho/sklair.htm
Some Major Publications of our speakers:
Jan Aart Scholte
Civil Society and Global Democracy, Cambridge: Polity, forthcoming
Globalization: A Critical Introduction, Basingstoke/New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005 (1st
edition 2000)
Democratizing the Global Economy: The Role of Civil Society, Coventry: CSGR, 2004
Civil Society Voices and the International Monetary Fund, Ottawa: North-South Institute,
2002
Contesting Global Governance: Multilateral Economic Institutions and Global Social Movements, (With R.J. O'Brien, A.M. Goetz, and M.A. Williams)
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000
International Relations of Social Change, Buckingham/Philadelphia: Open University Press,
1993, xii + 186pp
Jim Beckford
The Trumpet of Prophecy: A Sociological Analysis of Jehovah's Witnesses (1975)
Cult Controversies: The Societal Responses to New Religious Movements (1985)
Religion and Advanced Industrial Society (1989)
Religion in Prison (1998) (with S. Gilliatt)
Social Theory and Religion (2003)
Muslims in Prison: Challenge and Change in Britain and France (with D. Joly and F. Khosrokhavar, 2005)
Leslie Sklair
The transnational capitalist class and contemporary architecture in globalizing cities in: International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (September 2005)
'Capitalism, global'. In International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences
(Elsevier Science, 2002)
Globalization: Capitalism and its Alternatives, Oxford: Oxford University Press (2002)
'The transnational capitalist class and global politics: Deconstructing the corporate-state
connection', International Political Science Review. 23 (April 2002): 159-174
The Transnational Capitalist Class, Oxford: Blackwell (2001)
Halia Haddad is a student of the MA in IR in the PAIS department and co-president of WGDS
Theologia Iliadou is a student of the MA in Globalisation & Development in the PAIS department
and editor of WGDS newsletter
Mouzayian Khalil is a student of the MA in Globalisation & Development in the PAIS department
Warwick Global Development Society all rights reserved © 2008
8
Summer 2008 No 2
Civic-Driven Change: Opportunities and Costs
Shirin Rai
I am a
member of
an Internat i o n a l
Think Tank
on
Civic
D r i v e n
change. In
our discussions about
how
the
agency of citizens can be harnessed
towards progressive change I have
been worrying about the costs of exercising such agency. My concern
arises from the reading of a true
‘story’ – of the Women’s Development Programme in Rajasthan, India
- is at the same time a celebration of
agency and also a cautionary tale.
The tensions resulting from the important but flawed state-run, I/NGO
supported WDP, which sought to
manage social change through the
work of women volunteer workers,
called sathins (friends), came to a
head with the gruesome gang rape of
one sathin - Bhanwari Devi - in 1992.
Bhanwari Devi, who had dared to
take the Programme’s goals seriously
and challenge domestic violence in
upper-caste/class homes, was paraded naked through the streets of
the village and her husband was also
beaten up for not being able to keep
his wife under control. The men involved in the rape and violence were
acquitted by the Magistrates’ Court
on the grounds that an upper caste
man would not disregard caste differences to rape a low caste woman.
In the last few years, the WDP has
been since bureaucratised, as well as
starved of funds.
Reading this story, I celebrate the
agency of the sathins to act in difficult political landscapes but also
worry about the issues that the
sathins face - there is the real question of levels of risk involved in exercising agency on a political landscape where political power is manifest as well as hidden, disciplining as
well as disruptive. Agency needs to
be informed by a mapping of
power/relations – class, caste, gender, space among others, as well as
adequate supports, in order to translate conscientisation into practical
results. A nuanced reading of power
in order to understand, measure or
analyze agency as a concept, strategy
or outcome is important. So, for example, with the move from a focus
on women to a concern with gender
relations, feminist theorizing took a
big step. Instead of arguing for adding women to male dominated institutions, policies and frameworks of
analyses, this challenge allowed us to
explore the underlying biases of
socio-economic contexts and political institutions; it also allowed us to
get away from viewing women simply as victims in need of rescue and
to see them as actors in struggles
against their oppressions. A study of
embodied agency (men or women,
rich or poor, healthy or sick, with or
without access to power spaces and
relations) can then allow us to examine the various modes of struggle –
within oneself (conscientization),
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Summer 2008 No 2
with others (women’s groups, movements and networks) and for social
change.
However, I have increasingly become convinced that it is also important to assess the costs that are attached to these modes of struggles
that signify exercising agency to
achieve empowerment, to know who
pays these costs, what vulnerabilities
are made visible and which ones
overlooked. So, when analyzing or
measuring agency, can we afford to
overlook the risks? When developing
programmes that might empower
citizens seeking change, can we
overlook the perils of participation?
When encouraging civic agents to
act to bring about social change, can
we afford to overlook their vulnerabilities which do make them victims as well as actors in their strug-
gles for empowerment? By insisting
upon counting costs, we can also insist upon the recognition of structural barriers to empowerment. In so
doing, we can re-politicising both
how we regard agency as well as the
empowerment that might accrue as a
result of exercising it. This would
then allow the focus of civic-driven
strategies of social change to include
not only individuals but also the
contexts in which individuals function; not only recognition of disadvantage that needs to be overcome
through the redistribution of advantages that are needed to shift inequalities in our societies; not only
celebration of agency but the power
of structures that frame it.
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/
pais/staff/rai
Some of Her Major Publications
Gender and Political Economy of Development: From Nationalism to Globalisation, Polity
Press, 2002
Chinese Politics and Society: An Introduction, (co-author Flemming Christiansen), 1996,
Harvester-Wheatsheaf, Hemel Hempstead
Resistance and Reaction: University Politics in Post-Mao China, 1991, HarvesterWheatsheaf, Hemel Hempstead
Mainstreaming Gender, Democratizing the State?; Institutional Mechanisms for the Advancement of Women, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2003
Development and the Challenge of Globalisation (co-ed Peter Newell and Andrew Scott), IT
Publishers, London, 2002
Rethinking Empowerment: Gender and Development in a Global/Local World (co-ed with
Jane Parpart and Kathleen Staudt), Routledge, 2002
Global Social Movements (co-ed with Robin Cohen), Athlone Press (UK) and Transaction
Press (USA), 2000
International Perspectives on Gender and Democratisation, Basingstoke, Macmillan, 2000
Civil Society: Democratic Perspectives (co-ed with Robert Fine), Frank Cass, London, 1997
Women and the State: International Perspectives (co-ed with Geraldine Lievesley), Taylor and
Francis, London, 1996
Stirring It: Women’s Studies in Transition (co-ed with Gabrille Griffins, Marianne Hester and
Sasha Roseneil), Taylor and Francis, London, 1994
Women in the Face of Change: Soviet Union Eastern Europe and China (co-ed with Hilary
Pilikington and Annie Phizacklea), Routledge, London, 1992
Shirin Rai is a Professor in the PAIS department, the director of the Taught Masters (MA) Programme in Globalisation and Development and of a Leverhulme Trust Programme on Gendered
Ceremony and Ritual in Parliament
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Summer 2008 No 2
Interregionalism in Global Governance
Mathew Doidge
Since
the
1990s, interregionalism
–
group-togroup interaction – as the
logical extension of regionalism,
has
flourished.
Where Rostow
(1990) heralded ‘the coming age of
regionalism’, we might now herald
the coming of an age of interregionalism, as the new regionalisms increasingly establish themselves as
actors on the global stage, and develop their own array of external relations.
In 2001 Guy Verhofstadt, then
President of the European Council,
called for the transformation of the
G8 into a ‘G8 of the regions’, explicitly positing the governance of globalisation on a platform of regionalism and interregional partnerships.
With the collapse of the WTO negotiations in Seattle in 1999 and the
subsequent failure in Cancun in
2003, attempts to strengthen the institutional basis of trade at the global
level seem to have reached an impasse. In this context, regional and
interregional trade negotiations have
come to the fore. Indeed, the rise of
interregionalism in the governance
of global trade is increasingly acknowledged within the WTO Secretariat (Crawford and Fiorentino,
2005) and the World Bank (2005). In
short, interregionalism has become a
seemingly indelible part of the inter-
national system. Over the course of
two decades, the density of such interregional contacts has intensified,
moving beyond the EU-centred huband-spokes structure of the bipolar
period, to become a complex network with multiple hubs.
Nevertheless, consideration of
these interregional structures is still
very much in its infancy. While regionalism has generated significant
research, interregionalism is underrepresented in academic debate. My
research therefore focuses on exploring these interregional structures,
considering their shape and place in
global governance, and exploring
specific policy applications of interregional relations.
Interregionalism in the architecture of global governance
Of particular interest is the
place of interregionalism in the architecture of global governance.
With the diffusion of authority away
from states that has been characteristic of globalisation, the process of
governance has been gradually disaggregated into a five-tiered structure of interaction and policymaking: the global multilateral level,
the interregional level, the regional
level, the subregional transborder
level and bilateral state relations
(Hänggi et al. 2006, p.12). Interregionalism needs to be analysed in
the context of the roles and functions it performs as a distinct level in
this hierarchy of global governance
(see Rüland, 2001; Doidge, 2004).
In this respect, a number of
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Summer 2008 No 2
key issues are of interest. Firstly, how
does interregionalism impact on
governance at the global level? How
effectively does interregionalism feed
into multilateral institutions such as
the UN and WTO? It is, for example,
a matter of course that interregional
ministerial meetings between the EU
and the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) express a desire to pursue collective goals in
these global institutions, but to what
extent does this actually occur? Can
it be expected that interregionalism
will contribute to the streamlining of
multilateral institutions, perhaps
even acting as a ‘clearing house’ for
agreements at the global level?
Secondly, how does interregionalism impact upon regionalism?
It has, for exampled, been suggested
that interregionalism contributes to
the strengthening of regional institutions (Rüland, 2001) and regional
identities (Gilson, 2001). In other
words, interregionalism may contribute to governance and securitisation
at the regional level. But again, to
what extent does this occur? And under what specific conditions?
The shape of interregionalism
In addition to considering the
role and functioning of interregionalism in global governance, my research also critically examines the
specific shape of the interregional
architecture. This involves addressing a number of questions, including:
1. Whether
the
comparative
‘actorness’ – the ability to act in the
international system – of the regions
involved has been a shaping factor in
interregional dialogues (Doidge,
2007, 2008);
2. Whether interregionalism is being pursued more actively in relation
to particular regions and not others,
and if so, what the causative factors
behind such decisions are;
3. Whether interregionalism is
more significant in certain areas of
external relations policy than others.
And if so, why this is the case; and
Whether the network of interregional relationships conforms to a
single form, or whether multiple
models are on display.
In this respect, my research
focuses on the spokes stemming
from two hubs in the interregional
web – the EU and ASEAN.
The EU is chosen as the oldest
regional arrangement in existence,
and one premised to a large extent
on supranationalism as an organising
feature (feeding into the actorness
issue). It has also, historically, played
a fundamental role in the emergence
of interregionalism. In this respect, it
constitutes the best case from which
to extrapolate basic principles and
arguments which can then be applied and tested more widely. In particular, my research explores the
EU’s dialogues with partners such as
MERCOSUR and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) grouping of
states.
ASEAN has been selected as
another regional organisation of
long-standing, though one that has
always been explicitly intergovernmental in nature. As with the EU,
ASEAN has developed an extensive
network of interregional interactions, but very little work has been
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Summer 2008 No 2
done on exploring the nature of this
framework (or indeed frameworks of
interaction centred around any interregional hub other than the EU).
How, for example, does the relationship of ASEAN with the Andean
Group, or the Southern African Development Community, meet the expectations for governance outlined
above? And in addition to addressing
the shaping factors highlighted
above, there is also the question as
to the extent to which ASEAN’s
range of interregional relationships
has been conditioned by its prior experience of dialogue with the EU
(the question of single/multiple interregional models).
Interregionalism in support of
policy
Finally, I am interested in the
place of interregionalism in particular areas of external policy, and specifically the use of interregionalism
in the EU’s development relationship
with the six subsets of the ACP
grouping of states (with whom it is
negotiating regionally-based Economic Partnership Agreements). The
developmental approach utilised
here is one of regionalism negotiated
through an interregional dialogue
engaging a coherent region (EU) and
proto-region (ACP subsets). The
question that arises, therefore, is
whether such a developmental regionalist approach can demonstrate
positive synergies with the interregionalist structure within which it is
nested, thus reinforcing the developmental process. In other words, can
we conceive of a ‘developmental interregionalism’?
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/
pais/staff/doidge/
References
Crawford, J. and Fiorentino, R.V. (2005) The Changing Landscape of Regional Trade Agreements. Discussion Paper No.8. Geneva: WTO Secretariat.
Doidge, M. (2004) ‘Inter-regionalism and Regional Actors: The EU–ASEAN Example’, in W.
Stokhof et al., eds. The Eurasian Space: Far More Than Two Continents. Singapore:
ISEAS.
Doidge, M. (2007) ‘Joined at the Hip: Regionalism and Interregionalism’, Journal of European
Integration, 29(2), pp.229-248.
Doidge, M. (2008) ‘Regional Organisations as Actors in International Relations: Interregionalism and Asymmetric Relationships’, in J. Rüland et al., eds. Asian–European Relations:
Building Blocks for Global Governance? London: Routledge.
Gilson, Julie (2001) ‘Europe-Asia: the formal politics of mutual definition’, in P. Preston and J.
Gilson, eds., The European Union and East Asia. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Hänggi, H., Roloff, R. and Rüland, J., eds. (2006) Interregionalism and International Relations.
Abingdon: Routledge.
Rostow, W.W. (1990) ‘The Coming Age of Regionalism’, Encounter, 74(5), pp.3-7.
Rüland, J. (2001) ASEAN and the European Union: A Bumpy Interregional Relationship. Bonn:
ZEI.
World Bank (2005) Global Economic Prospects: Trade, Regionalism, and Development. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.
Mathew Doidge is a lecturer in the course Globalization, Governance and Development in the
PAIS department
Warwick Global Development Society all rights reserved © 2008
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Summer 2008 No 2
Ha-Joon Chang: A Critique of the Critique
Iain Pirie
Despite
not
yet
h a v e
achieved a
full professorship at
Ha-Joon
Chang is
one of the
m o s t
prominent
public intellectuals in Britain today.
The President of Ecuador considers
Chang work as key in shaping his understanding of the world, Joesph
Stiglitz invited him to write an introduction for his recent book on globalisation and the leading public intellectuals of neo-liberalism recognize him as their most effective
critic. While Chang has written, and
edited, a number of texts targeted at
his fellow academics he has focused
the greater part of his efforts on publishing for the general reader and
seeking to influence global public
opinion and political realities. Chang
can be understood as part of wider
group of institutionalist scholars
who have sought to challenge the
neo-liberal orthodoxy and to stress
the role that states have played in
promoting capitalist development
not simply as regulators but as entrepreneurial agents. While the intellectual merits of his work vis a vie that
of other members of the institutionalist school can be debated what is
clear is that Chang enjoys an unparalleled level of public recognition.
Moreover, given his influence on
those movements critical of neo-
liberal globalisation it is imperative
that his work is subject to careful
scrutiny.
Chang work has much to recommend it to any critic of neoliberalism. Chang pervasively argues
that extensive trade protection and
active industrial policy have historically played a key role in the large
majority of capitalist development
projects. Moreover, Chang develops
a more realistic understanding of
neo-liberalism than other institutionalists and sets out a clear alternative world vision to the hegemonic
neo-liberal project that stresses the
importance of national policy autonomy. Despite these strengths Chang
work suffers from a number of fundamental flaws. First, despite his
constant stress on the critical role
that the interventionist state has
played historically in the development process Chang work is very unclear about how effective developmental states actually come into being. For Chang it is important to
demonstrate that the experience of
the Northeast Asian developmental
state is at least partially replicable in
very different political circumstances. In order to do so it is necessary to ignore the literature on the
historical development of different
national social formations and assume that determined political elites
can create institutional capacity relatively quickly. Development is simply a question of political agency. A
question that Chang analysis, that
eschews any form of historical soci-
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Summer 2008 No 2
ology, is unable to address is why
certain state elites prioritises the
achievement of rapid accumulation
while others do not.
Chang is equally unclear
about the relationship between democracy and effective state policy or
the inclusion of ‘popular classes’
within the developmental alliance.
Chang’s rather superficial analysis of
these questions stands in sharp contrast to the work of many of counterparts within state institutionist
school who are much clearer about
the deep historical roots of the East
Asian Developmental state and the
necessity of excluding the ‘popular
classes’. Chang silence on these issues reflects his disciplinary background (economics) and his status in
the popular opposition to global
neo-liberalism. The logic conclusion
of much of his analysis of the role
that insulated policy elites in East
Asia played in the process of capitalist development is that we ought
promote authoritarian governance.
However, Chang public position
means he can never openly reach
this conclusion.
The most serious flaw within
Chang work relates to his understanding of the evolution of the
global political economy. Chang has
never demonstrated a great deal of
interest in understanding how global
systems of production and finance
have evolved over historical time.
This failure to properly engage with
debates over how systems of economic organisation have evolved
over historical time has important
implications for Chang’s policy recommendations. Chang assumes that
the policies that the Northeast Asian
developmental state pursued in the
post-war era remain viable in the
contemporary global economy. Development is to be achieved by promoting the development of a set of
internationally competitive nationally owned manufacturing firms. In
so far as these policies are likely be
frustrated it is by politically constructed neo-liberal international
institutions, which can and should
be reformed, not deeper structural
changes in the global economy.
Chang analysis underestimates the extent to which the locus
of economic organisation has shifted
to the supranational level, the importance of technological change
and the changing significance of
manufacturing in the global economy. The task of developing
‘independent’ exporting capacity in
key global industries has been rendered almost impossible by the increasing dominance of key industries
by a small number of multinational
firms, rising technological barriers to
entry and the centrality of the image
in post-Fordist capitalism. If we wish
to be provocative we may also question the simple unproblematic relationship Chang assumes between industrialisation and the achievement
of core capitalist state status. In the
contemporary world large scale
manufacturing is primarily a semiperiphery activity with core capitalist
international competitiveness been
concentrated primarily in the organisation of financial and informational
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Summer 2008 No 2
services, the production of marketised images and technological innovation.
Chang analysis of the constraints that supranational governance frameworks impose on development strategy is also deeply flawed.
Chang understands the development
of these frameworks as being driven
by a combination of neo-liberal ideology and the self-interest of the developed world. Obviously there is
some truth in both these claims.
What Chang ignores, however, is
how global profitability pressures
and structural changes relating transition from Fordism to Post-Fordism
have structured the actions of the
core capitalist states’. It is profoundly ahistorical, and somewhat
native, to analysis how capitalist
state managers have sought to open
up new spaces for global capitalist
outside of the long-term downturn
to profitability that all major capitalist states have endured since the
1970s. Chang own reading of downturn in global economic growth
since the late 1960s as a simple consequence of neo-liberalism represents polemic rather than analysis.
While Chang has written a
number of interesting polemics
against neo-liberalism there is little
point in anyone committed to a developing a serious understanding of
late capitalism or the development
process reading his work. There is
still less point in anyone interested
in challenging global gender, racial
or class inequalities looking towards
Chang for any meaningful answers.
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/
pais/staff/pirie
His Recent Publications:
Monographs:
The Korean Developmental State: From Dirigism to Neo-Liberalism, London,
Routledge (2007)
Journal Articles:
'Economic Dynamism and Social Injustice in Contempoary Korea', Critical
Asian Studies, 38 (2) (2006).
'Economic Crisis and the Construction of a Neoliberal Regulatory Regime in
Korea', Competition and Change, 10 (2006)
'Better by Design: Korea's neoliberal economy', Pacific Review, 18(3):1-20
(2005).
'The New Korean State', New Political Economy, 10 (1): 27-44 (2005).
Iain Pirie is a lecturer in the course Globalisation, Governance and Development in the PAIS department
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Summer 2008 No 2
Team WGDS at WarMUN
Priya Soman
Fun. Engaging. Chaotic. The WarwickMUN (WarMUN) 2008 was everything that it promised and more.
Moving away from the traditional
MUN debate, WarMUN set out to
create a weekend of constant action
with multiple bodies debating the
same issue in an interactive crisis
style.
As MUNs are often said to be (in a
really small way) contributing to saving the world, the WGDS team had
to be in there and we did! Putting
together a team of people who have
never been to many a MUN was
quite an incredible experience. The
week leading up to it was a mad
scramble to comprehend the vast
and complex issues that engulf the
Middle East and the rules of the
MUN (which seemed a lot more con-
fusing). Thanks to Alex’s (Perry) special preparatory session earlier in the
week (for WGDS only), the opening
session was a lot easier to grasp.
With the conference zeroing in on
regional tensions especially among
Iran, Iraq and Turkey and of course
the role of the hegemonic US, the
various bodies US National Security
Council, the Iranian Supreme National Security Council and the Iraqi
Council of Ministers mainly dealt
with the evolving regional crisis, responding exclusively to the news stories and intelligent reports that
emerged.
The UN bodies, the General Assembly and the Security Council debated
‘Peace and Security in the Middle
East,’ but the discussion was directed
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Summer 2008 No 2
more and more towards the breaking
news and the evolving situations.
With a high degree of interaction
among the different bodies and parties to the crisis, thanks to technology, the emerging crisis was broadcast on the giant screens catapulting
the discussions into an overdrive of
arguments. Though for the General
Assembly (GA) the interruptions often came a bit too many times, the
developing scenario is what was the
life of the conference.
Though on the second day technology did fail us and remind us how it
continues to rule our lives, with the
network crashing and dampening
things a little bit at WarMUN. But
the active build-up of events, including Israleli airplanes flying over Iran
airspace, US launching at attack on
Iran and the chaotic Iraqi civil fighting, kept us on our toes. Most importantly the disparity of importance of
the different nations in the world decision-making scene was on display,
with the more ‘powerful’ nations tak-
ing the lead to
drive
the
resolution (of
the GA) protecting their
‘interests.’
As delegates
confronted
with the challenges put forth by the complex and
emergent situations, the heated debates at the GA definitely gave us a
new perspective on the problems
that run so deep in the Middle East.
And even though more often than
not we were overwhelmed by the inability to get to a resolution and the
blatant realisation of the complexity
and difficulty in making choices in
politics.
As Globalisation, Governance and
Development students, it was tough
not to drift towards the lack of faith
in the international system but the
MUN did give us the impression that
negotiation and discussion is the way
out of any situation,
if everyone had an
equal voice (equal
being
the
key
word).
Delegates from Iran
and Israel kept the
debate of the GA on
the edge supported
by the US and UK
and
China
of
course.
Special
mention to the
press
conference
given by the Presi-
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Summer 2008 No 2
dent of the United States,
who was meticulous in tone
and message. As the GA tried
in the closing moments to
desperately pass a resolution,
the news of Air Force One
being shot down over Iraq
with the American President
on board, sending the conference into more madness.
In a world of immense complexities, WarMUN gave us a
chance to explore the immense number of issues that are on
the top of the agenda for the UN
with regards to the Middle East with
ethnic and sectarian violence, democracy building, energy security,
terrorism and sovereignty (among
others).
At the end of the weekend, we
walked away being involved in a fun
and challenging interaction, and
definitely a much much deeper understanding of the region and a realisation that world peace is definitely a
thing of the distant future. But most
importantly that making the right
choice is what will define our lives in
this global world.
Special thanks to Halia for answering
those innumerable questions and constantly feeding us with all the information and pushing us to go out
there and have some fun! Also we
were very proud to see her in the role
of Assistant Chair, General Assembly
(she rocked!)
The WGDS WarMUN team:
IRAQI COUNCIL OF MINISTERS
Emily Tang - Minister for Trade
UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Annie Phillip Kaleekal - Bahrain
Supriya Roychoudhury - Ethiopia
Kleoniki Kipourou - Sweden
Priya Soman - Kenya
Theologia Iliadou - Spain
Emma Opokuaa Amponsah – Republic of Congo
Svenja Stender - Norway
Priya Soman is a student of the MA in IR in the PAIS department
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Summer 2008 No 2
WGDS Symposium
WGDS Newsletter Team
Introduction
We live in an increasingly connected world. The students of Globalisation,
Governance & Development (GGD) present a strong testimony to this in that
we represent all continents and corners of the world. Our interests and participation in GGD only solidifies the fact that we are all stakeholders in this
process called globalisation - whether we are citizens of developed or developing nations.
The Warwick Global Development Society (WGDS) student symposium 200708 wished to highlight some of the issues that encounter and determine the
lives of people in these countries by providing a platform for discussion on areas most burning in contemporary global politics. The day-long forum heard
presentations from four panels, each addressing individual area of focus led by
panel chairs and discussants. The core aim of the forum was to engage both
the audience and participants in discussions on the limitations and possibilities of global practices from
a critical point of view.
In behalf of the GGD
groups, we would like to
thank Professor Shirin Rai,
Mathew Doidge and Iain
Pirie for providing us with
intellectually
stimulating
discussions on globalisation
and development, and for
their support and patience.
Also, sincere thanks to the
participants without whom
this forum wouldn’t have
been possible.
We wish all our fellow
compatriots the best luck in
pursuing their passion and
life endeavours.
Halia Haddad & Tamina M
Chowdhury
WGDS Presidents 2007-08
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Summer 2008 No 2
First Panel:
Modes of Global and Regional
Governance and Development.
By Juan Carlos Gomez chair of the
first panel
This article makes a review about the
different presentations of the topic
on Global Governance that was offered by students for the symposium
on Globalization, Governance, and
Development held as a closing activity at the Warwick Global Development Society.
Before referring to the specificities of
the panel on Global Governance, it is
worth mentioning, that this symposium was the perfect opportunity to
have a say on the analysis about the
pros and cons that the concept of
globalization has had on us. For sure,
the symposium allowed us to conclude that globalization phenomena
are a contested concept which has a
particular characteristic. First, its
lacks of consensus about its nature
and impact on the development, although it is clear
that globalization is concerned about the transformation of the spatial organization in spheres as dissimilar as economical, political,
and social relations (Held,
et. al. 1999). Second, it’s not
clear what its impact will be
either in the local level or in
the global level. In this respect, the analysis of globalization should be understood as an open-ended debate which demands of us
constant
reconsideration,
re-evaluation and critical thinking
about the positive (or negative?) correlation between development and
its policies.
In this order of ideas, the challenges
that globalization has to face are
various, and of course, complicated.
It has to deal with pressing worldwide problems related with Poverty,
Human Security, Global Governance
Institutions, Social and Material Inequality, Climate Change, Sustainable
Development, Health and Water Crises, Armed Conflicts and Human Migration. Whether or not globalization will be able to solve these problems will depend on, first, the way in
which we analyse the impact of globalisation on people’s livelihoods, and
second and most important, on the
way in which old patterns of political
authority change the immediate future.
Global governance, as one of the
problems of Globalization, was one
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Summer 2008 No 2
of the topics examined
during the symposium.
Specifically, this panel
was titled: Modes of
Global and Regional
Governance and Development. The reason
by which this topic has
been selected, among
those discussed in the
symposium, was a
clear sign of its releMouzayian Khalil, Emily Tang, Matthew Gatt, Kleoniki Kipourou
vance as a concept
that provides a better explanatory
towards solving problems that affect
framework to understand developmore than one state or region when
ment under globalization.
there is no power of enforcing comGlobal Governance, as a concept,
pliance.
was born as a requirement of more
integral and comprehensive tools for
Indeed, the purpose of this panel was
understanding global change caused
to offer the different perspectives
by globalization. According to Weiss
that the speakers had about several
(forthcoming), global governance is
topics with regards to Global governthe ‘collective efforts to identify, unance that worries each of them, eiderstand, or address worldwide
ther for its impact on their own
problems that go beyond the capaccountries or regions or because they
ity of individual states to solve.’
find some conceptual problems in its
Thus, global governance should be
application. For instance, Karen Van
understood as the political interacRompaey assessed, during her prestion of transnational actors aimed
entation titled: From Open Regionalism to a Developmental
Mode of Regionalist Governance in the Southern
Common
Market
(MERCOSUR)?, whether or
not there had been a shift in
MERCOSUR from a mode of
open regionalism to a developmental mode of regionalist
governance. She concluded
that such shift has actually
happened, but in an incipient
and fragile fashion.
Annie Philip, Frauke Rogalla and Priya Soman
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Summer 2008 No 2
The changes in the
global order are related to changes of
global life. Furthermore, those changes
will be better identified and understood
if we all agree that
the solution of our
problems can be
solved if we go beyond the capacity of
individual states; in
other words, the
changes in political
Tamina M Chowdhury and Juan Carlos Gomez
skills and horizons
have
“bifurcated”
the world from a State-centric to
In turn Mouzayian Khalil, during
multi-centric realms. For this reason
her presentation titled: “Is Global
is that our society is being witnessing
Governance Democratic”? showed,
a global change from a primacy of
by means of citing arguments about
“government”
to
tha t
of
Human Rights issues, level of inclu“governance”. Should we not be asksion of women, and accountability of
ing ourselves what does it mean to
International Financial Institutions
for the global life to be changing,
that global governance is not a deand in this order of ideas what implimocratic process because the struccations does this have on global orture of global governance incorpoder?
rates democratic principles which
are not reflected in the practice. Finally, Frauke Rogalla made a presentation titled: “The World Bank’s
Strategies for Managing Slums in
Dhaka”, she critically argued that
REFERENCES:
World Bank’s policies to reduce
Held, David (1999). Global Transforslums communities in this city are
mations: Politics, Economics and Culinsufficient and unbalanced; and in
ture. Cambridge: Polity Press.
this order of ides, highliged the need
Weiss, Thomas (Forthcoming) The
of a transformation of the world orUN and Global Governance: An Unganizations’ environment in order to
f i n i s h e d
H i s t o r y .
face the global change.
(http://www.unhistory.org/pubs.htm
l)
All these topics and those that could
not be covered during this panel left
us with an important conclusion.
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Summer 2008 No 2
Second Panel:
The
Challenges of Climate
Change
By Harpreet Bhal chair of second
panel
The latest scientific evidence confirms that climate change is ‘humaninduced’ and its impacts will affect
millions across the world. Global
warming will cause across the globe
more intense heat waves, droughts
and flooding. This may lead to severe
problems for regions where people
are particularly vulnerable to
changes in weather, often being the
poorest societies. The social, environmental and economic costs of climate change could be huge having
serious impacts across the world. Indeed, environmental degradation
undermines
development
and
threatens future progress.
In the wake of such a scenario, it is
timely that the Globalisation. Governance and Development Student
Symposium addressed the issue of
climate change. Two speakers gave
their view on
the subject, and
late
engaged
with the audience in lively
debate.
The
first
s p e a k e r ,
Kleoniki
Kipourou,
addressed
the
symposium on
the contradictions of interna-
tional law in tackling climate change.
She argued that the demand for state
sovereignty, for example, contradicts
with the fact that state as well as
non-state actions have a deep impact
on global environment law. This is
indeed observed with the case of the
United States, which emits close to
25 % of the world’s greenhouse
gases. However, she notes that there
isn’t currently an avenue under international law, to compel such
countries to participate in global initiatives to respond to the problem of
climate change. As a consequence,
she argued, responses to climate
change cannot therefore be reduced
to legal instruments such as the
Kyoto Protocol. She contended that
tackling climate change is, above all,
a political decision which is intertwined with economic and social relations, within the context of the
dominant patterns of production,
distribution and consumption of
goods and services across the planet.
The second speaker for the panel,
Sana Ghazi, focused her presentation
Harpreet Bhal and Sana Ghazi
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Summer 2008 No 2
on China and climate
change. She noted that
as the world’s largest
economy, China currently depends on coal
supplies to meet twothirds of its needs. With
a rapid rise in its greenhouse gas emission, experts say that China may
well overtake the United
States as the world’s
largest emitter of greenhouse gasses by as early
Harpreet Bhal, Sana Ghazi and Kleoniki Kipourou
as the end of this year.
This, she argues, would put its citiIn summary, threats to stability and
zen’s health and wellbeing at risk,
human security are inherent in clihowever, China has been keen on
mate change impact and, therefore,
embarking on sustainable developthe need for developing an effective
ment initiatives to counter this probrationale for timely and adequate
lem. Among its efforts include more
action to avoid and lessen such
wind, nuclear and hydro power as
threats in the future. This calls for
well as making coal plants more effiboth the developing and developed
cient, with an aim to raise its use of
nations to stop passing the buck and
renewable energy from 7 % currently
take action and responsibility in orto 10% by 2010. Her presentation
der to secure a safer planet for future
tackled the issue of whether or not
generations.
China was ready to meet these challenges and at what cost.
Third Panel
Identity and Gender panel
By Annie Philip chair of the third
panel
The globalisation wave has impacts
not just on economic transactions
throughout the world, but on sociocultural elements as well. The Identity and Gender panel at the Globalisation, Governance and Development Student Symposium aimed to
look at how identity and gender have
been transformed by the process of
globalisation.
The first speaker of the panel, Theologia Iliadou, looked at gender issues in the context of division of labour. The presentation looked at
gender inequalities at the workplace
in the context of globalisation of
work. Current patterns of work seem
to amplify gender inequalities and
this has been the focus of recent
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Summer 2008 No 2
feminist
debates.
Looking
through the viewpoint of human rights, she looked at how
individuals affected by gender
inequalities seem to be either
physically, socially, politically
or economically bound, unable
to negotiate their rights under
the current status quo. She also
looked at the role of socially
constructed
identities
of
women in the workplace and
the differences in perceiving
women of developed and developing countries.
The presentation suggests approaching the issue of gender inequalities
in the globalised work arena through
a human rights perspective and
within the construction of a global
map through which the locus of
power and its distributed failures
would be located in specific actors.
Matthew Gatt
Priya Soman, Supriya Roychoudhury
and Theologia Iliadou
She highlighted that within the
global system, international inequalities has shifted responsibility
into a more distant and global level.
The institutions that take part in the
current formation of the divided
workforce are organized through dispersed concentrations of economic
and political power. This complexity
demands an apolitical and independent analysis through which dependencies will be brought forward.
This complex structure requires an
apolitical and independent analysis
through which dependencies will
be brought forward, according to
the presentation. It also draws attention to the need for a global organisation of the social movements
that act as negotiators of workers
right within contemporary global
production chains.
Over the years there has been a
growing discourse of feminist critiques of development in this age of
globalisation. The second speaker
of the panel Matthew Gatt assessed
the impact of feminist critiques of
development. He looked at feminist
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Summer 2008 No 2
epistemologies and the commonalities between different feminist development critiques, drawing on
their common view of knowledge,
thus framing a common development approach. He brought out the
differences in what is meant as liberating for different women. After considering the major contributions of
the feminist development approach
the presentation examined the impacts that feminist development critiques have had in the case of Egypt.
While certain developments are
noted, the overall impacts of feminist critiques in Egypt are found to
be limited. While a ban on female
genitalia mutilation was enforced,
Matthew observed that there has
been little or no change in social attitudes towards women. He looked at
forms of domination not limited to
gender perspectives and asserted the
need for emancipation of subordinated groups that cut across gender.
The presentation concluded that the
potential for feminism lies in considering other non gender related identities which impact women, to come
together under a common universalistic conception of knowledge that
focuses not only on the emancipation of women but of all subordinated groups.
Globalisation has resulted in an increasingly fluid notion of identity,
replacing certain earlier fixed ideas
of identity. This then is the age of
multiple identities. The Global Indian is a good example of this. The
third presentation by speakers Priya
Soman and Supriya Roychoudhury
examined the construction of the
identity of the Global Indian in the
context of India’s road to globalisation. The speakers looked at the various nuances of the Global Indian.
From the Indian Diaspora abroad to
the professionals of India, the new
Indian identity is global in scope but
Indian in essence. There is a comfortable fusion of multiple identities.
Globalisation has allowed India to
expand opportunities both for Indians abroad to return to India and for
Indians at home to explore new ventures outside. Among the new roles,
professional women play a critical
role in re-inventing the Indian family
and thus, in creating a new kind of
‘global Indianness’ – the ability of
professional women to strike a balance between an ‘Indian’ home life
and a ‘global’ professional life. The
presentation observed that there is a
positive consensus that is developing
both within and outside the country
that the way forward is to explore
and exploit the opportunities of
globalisation to ensure that India becomes the next economic/global superpower. From ambitious Indian
conglomerates to the voice at the
end of the customer service call, India today is negotiating cultural
rootedness with new forms of technology and modernity, creating a
distinct identity for itself in the international arena. The speakers highlighted the sense of optimism among
the young Indians and their confidence to embark on an exciting journey to forge a promising future for a
global India.
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Summer 2008 No 2
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Summer 2008 No 2
Fourth Panel:
China in a Globalising World
By Emily Tang discussant of the
fourth panel
The discussion in the China panel
gave a comprehensive and detail
overview of China's role in the international politics as well as the internal problems it is facing while striving to be an upcoming hegemonic
power. To study the uprising of
China, one should understand the
reforms in China since the 1970s
which has actually transformed the
country from a socialist regime to a
capitalist one. Since the '70s, a series
of reforms have been carried in
stages in China. The well-respected,
late Communist Party leader Deng
Xiaopeng was the leading reformer.
He introduced the opening up policy
which focused on economic development. Trade with foreign countries
were allowed and special economic
zones were set up. State's role in national resource allocation started to
decrease in the 80s. Prices of commodities were now more determined
by the market instead of by the state.
Further reforms in the banking
system to facilitate investment
were introduced in the '90s
which helped build up the foreign reserves. All these reforms
have led to a stronger China in
the economic perspective. As
one of the presenter pointed
out, while China nowadays is
still very often equalled to a
communist state, it is no longer
the case. More interestingly, as
he further elaborates, whether
China is communist or not is
just a matter of labelling. The fact
that the economy of China is progressing and the general living standard of the country is improving
should be the focus. As another presenter points out, China has no intention to develop itself into a dominating hard power in the international stage. By devoting its energy
in economic reforms, China's uprising will be a peaceful one. Its opening up and the increasingly well-off
population will serve to be a growing
market to the rest of the world, creating more opportunities instead of
threats to other countries.
Nevertheless, behind the thriving
economy, the political development
in China has remained largely stagnated. Despite frequent pressure
from western countries to improve
its human rights and democracy
situation, no obvious improvement
has been seen. This can be attributed
to the increasingly closer economic
relations between these western
countries with China that their pressure remains largely lip service.
Moreover, uneven development is
Jian Hu, Yijie Fang, Halia Haddad,
Yuefan Xiao and Emily Tang
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Summer 2008 No 2
job-related qualities like appearances, body figures can be
concerns of employers. A
number of them opting to enter the sex industry become a
counter evidence to the economic achievement of China
despite the quarter decade of
reforms.
Emily Tang, Yefan Xiao, Yijie Fang,
Jian Hu and Xiaohua Chen
intensifying the poverty gap between
the rural and urban areas. Many people are now aware of the rich population in the big cities and their stunning purchasing power while the
poverty in the rural areas has not
been properly addressed and even
masked by the superficial growing
wealth of the country.
The employment patterns in China
have altered hugely over the decades
as the state diminishes its role in
economic control. Large number of
lay-offs and early retirement become
a characteristic feature of stateowned enterprises. Many young
workforces especially those from the
rural areas coming to the cities to
look for employment opportunities
are now employed by private enterprises. Nevertheless, the prospects of
the less-educated are limited and
very often only confined to low-pay
factory jobs. Since a number of the
private enterprises are unwilling to
set up labour unions, the rights of
the workers are least represented
and protected. Among them, women
from the rural areas with low education level are most vulnerable. Non-
In conclusion, there is no denial that China has achieved
remarkable success in its
economy over the past decades after
Deng kicked off the series of policy
reforms in the '70s. Poverty level had
dropped remarkably since the '80s.
Nevertheless, it does not mean that
the stagnated political development
can be neglected. Social reforms to
allow the voices of the public to be
heard and their problems and grievances properly addressed should be
implemented. While China is striving to become an important international player, it is not simply to be
accomplished through economic
strengthen or holding the Olympic
Games. Instead, it should be an overall improvement of both economic
and political situation to convince
other countries that China is ready
to be one of the leading power in the
world.
The website of WGDS Symposium
2 0 0 7 - 2 0 0 8
i s
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/
pais/alumi/gad/news/?newsItem=09
4d43f0188a0f840118c68bac214a8c
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Summer 2008 No 2
Working in Uganda
Vu Ndlovu
I completed my MA in Globalization
and Development in August 2005. I
had been working at a bank in Toronto until I quit in December. It
was a great experience, but I’ve been
keen to be involved in and get some
practical experience in something
that is much more closely related to
development.
Since February I’ve been in Jinja,
Uganda on an internship through
the Foundation for Sustainable Development (FSD). FSD has programs
in India, Kenya, Uganda, and
throughout Latin America. They
place interns with grassroots organizations to work on sustainable development projects that, in most cases,
have been initiated by the organizations and the communities they
work in. The first week was an orientation week in which we received
comprehensive training in performing needs assessments and writing
grant proposals. During the internship interns have the option of entering into an FSD grant competition
to receive funding for whatever project they’re working on.
I’ve been placed with The Organization for the Good Life of
the
Marginalized
(OGLM),
which works mostly with marginalized women and children in
a community (Buwaiswa Village)
about 60km north of Jinja. I’ve
spent the last 10 weeks working
with
grandmothers
whose
grandchildren have been orphaned by AIDS. OGLM has
identified 110 grandmothers
who, between them, care for close to
450 grandchildren orphaned by
AIDS. Our needs assessment involved 20 of these grandmothers.
On average each grandmother faces
the challenge of providing 4 grandchildren with adequate nutrition,
clothing and education on a very low
level of income (the vast majority are
subsistence farmers). The very low
levels of income mean that most of
them are unable to do so.
We’ve been working to try and increase their incomes by getting them
involved in income generating projects. Most of the grandmothers
have wanted to start projects but
don’t have the capital to do so – they
don’t have the collateral that would
allow them to borrow at reasonable
rates. The goal of the project is to
give the grandmothers low-interest
loans for all the inputs they need and
training sessions in any skills they
might need to run the projects successfully. To begin with, we have focused on two groups: a group of 6
grandmothers is going to start an agriculture project in which they grow
Buwaiswa Village
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Summer 2008 No 2
Paraffin Group
and sell crops (beans, maize, groundnuts) and a group of 4 grandmothers
is going to start a paraffin/kerosene
(used for light in rural Uganda) project in which they sell paraffin to the
rest of the community. The idea is
that the funds from their repaid
loans will be recycled as new loans to
new groups of grandmothers. I applied and received a grant of $498.45
from FSD to fund the initial loans
and training sessions for the two
groups. OGLM has funded of group
of 8 grandmothers who will be running a village kiosk.
OGLM was supposed to receive a
$150,000 grant from the Ugandan
Government in November 2007 for
its
microfinance/micro-enterprise
program. It still hasn’t arrived and
no one seems to know when it will
come.
So for now the microfinance/micro-enterprise program will
be limited to the $498.45 grant to
fund the two groups mentioned
above and OGLM funding to the kiosk group. A lack of a constant flow
of funding and a failure to plan for
reduced or cessation of funding
seems to be one of the major challenges faced by organizations here.
It has certainly been a source of
frustration while I’ve been here.
While we were out visiting the
grandmothers last week we managed to get the kiosk group to
agree to buy their paraffin (for resale) from the paraffin group. We
anticipated there would be concern and disagreements over the
price at which the kiosk group
would buy the paraffin. But to our
surprise the two groups quickly
came to an agreement on the price.
No, the major concern for the two
groups was who would provide the
20L container in which the kiosk
group would need to transport the
paraffin! We had also provided some
notebooks to the groups to encourage them to keep records of their
sales and had asked them to bring
the books to the record-keeping
training session last week so we
could evaluate their progress. When
we asked the agriculture group why
they hadn’t brought their books,
they promptly responded by asking
us how
we expected
them to
k e e p
re cords
w h e n
we hadn’t given
t h e m
a n y
pens!
Agriculture Training Ses-
Vu Ndlovu is a former student of the MA in G&D of the PAIS department
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Summer 2008 No 2
WGDS Presidents:
Tam Chowdhury
T.M.Chowdhury@warwick.ac.uk
Co-president
Halia Haddad
haliahaddad@gmail.com
Co-president
WGDS Newsletter
Editorial Team:
Theologia Iliadou
T.Iliadou@warwick.ac.uk
Editor—Layout Coordinator
Harpreet Bhal
Co-editor
Matthew Gatt
Co-editor
In relation to all material published in this newsletter, for commentaries on the articles as well
as the newsletter and the society
themselves feel free to contact us
in our e-mail addresses. Moreover if you have any enquiries
about the events the society is
running we will be looking forward to receiving your e-mails.
Don’t forget to visit our website
for more information and for participation on our society’s forum.
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/
soc/pais/ss/wgds/
Mouzayian Khalil
Co-editor
Supriya Roychoudhury
Co-editor
Pryia Soman
Co-editor
Chen Xiaohua
Co-editor
Juan Carlos Gomez
Co-editor
Annie Philip
Co-editor
Emily Tang
Co-editor
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