WGDS NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO 1 !
SPRING 2007
WARWICK GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT
SOCIETY NEWSLETTER
IN THIS ISSUE...
From WGDS...
Welcome Note:
WELCOME NOTE
QUOTES & PHOTOS!
!
2
ACADEMIC ARTICLES!
!
4
Professor Rai on Global Governance:
Feminist Perspectives
Female Foeticide in Urban parts of
India and China by Sonvi Kapoor
The Scary Reality of HIV/AIDS
Education in Africa by Calyn Shaw
Knitting the Social Fabric in Trinidad and Tobago by Natasha DoyleBridgewater
PERSONAL REFLECTIONS !
14
Warwick and Beyond by Matthew
Doidge
Poverty - The Great and Silent Terrorism by Michalis Sotiropoulos
Jeans and Salwars by Sonvi Kapoor
Living in Warwick by Peter Ptashko
POETRY!
!
!
!
19
From J. L. Arturo’s ‘The Decline of British
Transport: My sudden rebirth and
turgid death at Foregate Street Station’
This Land by Claire Kariuki
REVIEW OF WGDS EVENTS
21
CARTOONS!!
!
27
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28
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UPCOMING EVENTS!
The study of globalisation and
development has unique importance in today’s rapidly
globalising world. The shifting
political, economic and social
space associated with the unprecedented de-territorialisation
of information, markets, and people (to name just a
few), means that we are engaged in the study of what
greatly impacts people today and has vital importance
for all our futures. Through this newsletter the members
of the Warwick Global Development Society hope to
bring together a variety of perspectives, which are
merged from our own personal experiences as well as
those that we have gained during our studies.
We would like to thank the PAIS Department, Professor
Shirin Rai and Iain Pirie for their support; the co-editors
Claire Kariuki, Nana Guar, Jiyoung Yoo and Chih Lin
for their contributions towards bringing a new face to
the newsletter; and last but not least the writers, your
response to incessant nagging is overwhelming and
truly warms our hearts. Please keep up the good work!
Thank you
Samar Farah, Editor
Calyn Shaw, WGDS President
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WGDS NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO 1 !
SPRING 2007
Quotes:
"They [Marx and Engels] were convinced
that Western imperialism and the spread
of capitalism were necessary to liberate
the 'historyless peoples' from religious
myth and the tyranny of tradition."
~ Andrew Linklater*
"I am not here just to make
a living. I am here to make a difference"
~ Helice Bridges*
"I believe we are on an irreversible trend
toward more freedom and democracy -but that could change."
~Governor George W. Bush, 5/22/98
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit"
~ Aristotle*
*Quotes submitted by Elinam Adadevoh
MOTHER &
CHILD
Weaving is a
very popular
form of subsistence in
Peru. Mother
and child sit in
a traditional
hut to escape
from the sun’s
strong rays on
the outskirts
of Cuzco,
which lies at
an altitude of
approximately
3,500m above
seal level.
submitted by Samar
Farah
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WGDS NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO 1 !
SPRING 2007
Ready & Waiting
Two children in the town of
Minna, Niger State (Nigeria)
kitted in their best, anxiously await the arrival of
the Emir, hoping to catch a
glimpse of him as he rides
through town on his horses,
greeting the residents and
spectators alike, during the
annual celebration of Eid-ulFitr (or Sallah, an Islamic
celebration marking the end
of ramadan).
submitted by Nana Guar
(above)
Even the baboons in Ghana can’t
stop!
submitted by Calyn Shaw
(left) Development
of Tourism in Taiwan
Development of tourism in semi-peripheral states may
imitate European scenery to attract tourists.
submitted by Chih Lin
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WGDS NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO 1 !
SPRING 2007
is little attention paid to the way in which both
the processes and the institutions of governance
are gendered. By being gendered we mean that
there is an institutional, discursive and structural
bias in favour of men and that this bias leads
global governance to take particular forms, which
affect different sections of society
unequally. Increasingly, we have also seen feminist scholars giving attention to the ways in
which regulatory systems are affecting the life
chances of migratory women and how labour
standards regulations at the global levels affects
women worker’s lives in the local sites (Kofman,
2000). Issues of political participation and representation as well as the outcome of institutional
deliberations have also been highlighted in this
growing literature.
Academic Articles
GLOBAL GOVERNANCE: FEMINIST PERSPECTIVES
~Professor Shirin Rai
I am pleased that the first issue of WGDS newsletter of the class of 2006 is being published.
Thanks are due to Samar Farah and her team for
all their efforts in coaxing us all to contribute to
the newsletter.
I would like to share with you the work that I am
currently engaged in. Together with a colleague
in the University of Sheffield, I have been editing
a book on Global Governance: Feminist Perspectives. In the last decade there has been a significant expansion in the literature addressing
issues of global governance. Since Rosenau and
and Czempiel’s (1992; Rosenau, 1995 ) landmark
work on this theme a plethora of writing has been
produced analysing different aspects of the problem of globality of governance in contemporary
world politics. The key shift has, of course, been
defined as the shift from state based studies of
government to the supranational understanding of
regulation of both the economy and the polity.
The critical IPE questions of the relationships
between states and markets have been examined
in the context of globalisation (Gill, 1995; Murphy, 1994). The increased importance of international organisations (which are often, though perhaps erroneously, referred to as global) has engaged the interest of international relations scholars especially as the reach of these organisations,
their institutional profile, their relations with individual states as well as with non-state organisations have changed (Shaw, 1997). As their reach
has become global, they have transformed from
within as well as in terms of how we regard their
place from the outside.
In my chapter in the book I outline the importance of deconstructing existing definitions to
show how engendering concepts needs to be part
of the transformative impulse of feminist analyzing by outlining the existing literature in three
different political arenas: markets, institutions
and ideology and argues that we need to add a
fourth arena to our analysis in order to better understand the interplay between these three. This
is the arena of the spectacle which is used to both
discipline and challenge dominant modes of
thinking about governance. I argue that a gendered take on global governance allows us to
move the debate forward in not only examining
the consequences of global governance on
women and men, but also in challenging the gendered premise of the concept. This is important if
strategies attempting to achieve a transformation
of global governance through, for example, critical gender mainstreaming or women networking
across borders are to succeed and to have an impact on different policy areas and institutions.
The book will be published late in 2007.
Dr. Shirin Rai is a Professor of Politics and International Studies and
the Director of the MA/Dip in Globalization and Development at the
University of Warwick
However, in all this growing body of literature
marking out the field of global governance, there
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of 49.65%1, in other developing nations. Of these
“missing women”2, aborted female foetuses constitute a very high proportion.
Poverty and illiteracy (lack of ‘modern’ education) are often marked as the most obvious reasons for female foeticide, in these two countries.
But though these factors largely account for the
prevalence of this problem in underprivileged
regions, they do not explain the jarring sex- ratio
at birth in the nations’ privileged regions. So
what is it then, that makes it imperative for ‘educated’ and well-off parents, to nip the female in
the womb itself?
FEMALE FOETICIDE IN URBAN PARTS OF
INDIA AND CHINA: A THEORETICAL
ANALYSIS
The answer is available in the realm of ideas,
which is often ignored as abstract and thus, irrelevant to such matters. I shall apply Derrida’s
theory of the structure and its centre, and the
Gramscian concept of “hegemony”3, to arrive at
this answer.
~Sonvi Kapoor
The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence
against Women was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, in September 1993. This
move on part of the United Nations, formally initiated the issue of women’s security into the international community as an issue of great political and social eminence. Another important
landmark in this direction was The Platform for
Action, the core document of the Fourth World
Conference on Women held in Beijing, in September 1995. In this document the participating
governments declared that, “violence against
women constitutes a violation of basic human
rights.”
According to Derrida, every structure has a centre that regulates the “play” of the elements constituting the former. In the structure of a patriarchal society (like the Indian and the Chinese), it
is the notion of male-superiority that constitutes
the centre. This notion regulates the “play” of all
elements of the social structure, covertly, through
“hegemony”. The concept of “hegemony”, when
applied to culture, can be defined as “the whole
lived social process”4, organised by an interest
group in such a way, so as to propagate their subjective views as nothing but a neutral articulation
of ‘reality’. Therefore, as long as the notion of
male-superiority remains in control, through the
process of hegemonising, no improvement in the
rate of literacy or financial status of these societies shall help to curb the practice of female foeticide. Some illustrations may be useful in establishing this fact.
However, it is ironic for China and India where,
even a decade after this declaration, the problem
of female foeticide continues to grow rampantly,
denying the female sex the most basic of basic
human rights--- The Right to Live.
While China and India top the charts with populations of over one billion each, they have the
lowest percentages of women in the world. According to the World Bank census (2002), women
constitute only 48.4% of the total population of
these two countries, as to the approximate figure
In India, for instance, New Delhi records a literacy rate of 82%, which is much higher than the
literacy rate of 65.38% that the rest of the country
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records. Yet Delhi has an average sex ratio (0-6
years) of 868 females per 1000 males, which is
much lower than minimum figure of 950 females
per 1000 males that WHO accepts. (The Times of
India, 2005). Since Delhi is technologically advanced, foeticide rather than infanticide accounts
for this major imbalance in the child sex- ratio.
On the contrary, less advanced regions of India
like, Upper Siang of Arunachal Pradesh (extreme
north east) and a district from the tribal state of
Chattisgarh (north), record a sex ratio (0-6 years)
of 1018 and 990 females, respectively, per 1000
males.
thus confirming the point
made above, that the urge
to eliminate female foetuses, in the privileged regions of these societies,
does not stem from any actual needs, as much as it
does from the internalised
‘fact’ that the male/
masculine is superior.
The discovery of the distinct nature of the problem in these regions, thus entails, that the strategies to curb this malpractice should be modified
as well.
It is interesting to note that the ratio, in the latter
instance, is of female children between the agegroup of 0-6, and not of female foetuses, as in the
former instance. Thus the argument that sexratios are higher in these regions due to the unavailability of equipment required for pre-natal
sex determination and elimination, does not hold
ground here.
According to the Christian Medical Association
of India, the best sex- ratio at birth for the year
2000 and 2001 has been 933 females per 1000
males, and this ratio has been recorded in those
cases where both parents are educated up to
middle-school or less. Surprisingly, this ratio
drops to a mere 813 when both the parents are
graduates, and to a still lower figure of 769, when
both are post-graduates (The Times of India, July
2005).
According to Gramsci, for any new class to
achieve complete dominance, it has to produce its
own intellectuals (“organic intellectuals”), who
would propagate the class’ particular ideology as
opposing the ideology of the dominant class,
which is upheld by the “traditional intellectuals”.
Since intellectuals belonging to the latter category seem completely divorced from changes in
the contemporary environment, it becomes imperative for “organic intellectuals” to manifest
their own awareness of the changing context, to
triumph over the former.
This concept can be most aptly applied to the issue at stake, for suggesting reforms. If the malpractice of female foeticide needs to be curbed in
the patriarchal societies of India and China, people who are sensitive to the issue need to come
together as “organic intellectuals” of their interest
group, to propagate their concerns and beliefs to
others. This process has already begun to take
place in both countries (especially after the Beijing conference in 1995). For instance, the All
China’s Women’s Federation (ACWF), supported
by the United Nations Development Fund for
women, and CAFF(Campaign Against Female
Foeticide) in India, have been regularly carrying
out public awareness campaigns (through workshops, plays and other media). Yet, not much of a
The situation is no better in China where urban
areas record a sex ratio of 850 females per 1000
males. According to demographic evidence, the
basic reason for these “missing women” is lateterm abortions; a report by the International
Planned Parenthood Federation indicates that out
of 7 million abortions each year in China, 70%
are female foetuses (Asia Times, Feb 2005). Also,
in the tropical island of Hainan (South China),
where state investment has led to a dramatic improvement in the standard of living, the sex-ratio
at birth is a mere 753 females per 1000 males;
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positive change has been perceptible, for the imbalance in the sex- ratio at birth has only increased in these regions.
a community in Rajasthan. Another report by India Today talked of Sarup, a woman in a district
on the Gujarat- Rajasthan border, who had been
married to eight brothers in the same family, due
to the difficulty of finding a wife in this region.
The workshop also emphasized that if the practice of female foeticide continued unchecked, the
sex- ratio of the nation (0-6 years) in 2015 would
be merely 250 females per 1000 males; for it has
been dropping continuously, from 976 females in
1961, to 962 in 1981 and to 927 in 2001 (Registrar General of India).
Thus, what I propose, from my experience of facilitating such workshops, is a different approach
to handling the issue and propagating it. More
often than not, campaigns and workshops highlight the breach of ethics or the cruelty involved
in the practice of female foeticide, to sensitize
people. However, it cannot be ignored that our
focus is on the privileged classes, where advanced scientific technology has made the elimination of the female foetus a very sophisticated
process with no apparent vestiges of cruelty involved. Also, since it is only a foetus that is
aborted, the grasp of guilt fails to hold these perpetrators hostage. This evidences the redundancy
of this approach to catalyse change in these
classes. And it also emphasizes the importance
for “organic intellectuals”, as aforesaid, to continuously modify their “technique” as per the
changing context.
Just this enumeration of facts succeeded in explaining the urgency of the situation to our audience, and this was proven by our winning of
some volunteers from the various workshops we
conducted; thus the potential in this plan of action for catalysing change through the creation of
organic intellectuals.
The adoption of this approach would be even
more beneficial for China, where about 40 million men would be compelled to remain bachelors, by 2020 (Asia Times. Feb, 2005). This
would drive many more women to the fate Sarup
in India has been doomed to. Also, it would further aggravate the problem of trafficking of
women, for being sold as brides. The need for an
effective, studied move is thus evident.
Our group’s approach towards solving the problem of female foeticide has been to concentrate
on the widening of our network of “organic intellectuals”. We work towards this aim through
workshops with young, ‘educated’ people; for
Gramsci says, it is imperative for every interest
group to churn out its own intellectuals and to
make a continuous effort to broaden this network.
Therefore, these workshops attempt to mobilise
young people from the very class we propose to
catalyse change in.
The attempts that the All China’s Women’s Federation has been making, for the development of
women’s research centres in universities all over
the People’s Republic of China, is in fact a move
along the same lines that I have been advocating
so far. This move is based on the urge to encourage ‘educated’ people to conduct research on the
status of women, in China; thus, indirectly motivating them to catalyse change through the writing of papers, proposition of policies, etc.
But how is the requisite impact made? These
workshops aim at conveying the magnitude of
the problem, by laying bare the truth and its devastating impacts. The following are some facts
that were used as instances during our workshops, to achieve this end.
Also, it is well known that when the UN proclaims an issue critical, immediate echoes of the
same are heard from the governments of develop-
According to a report by the Press Institute of
India, there are only 2 females in 200 families, in
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ing countries as well. For instance, the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against
Women (DEVAW) by the UN General Assembly
in 1993 was followed by the immediate response
of the governments that participated in the Beijing conference in 1995(as mentioned at the beginning of this paper).
Derrida, Jacques. “Structure, Sign and Play in
the discourse of the Human Sciences”. Writing
and Differance. Trans. Alan Bass. Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1978. pp. 278- 279.
Dumble, Lynette J. “Female Imperilment in the
Third Millennium”. Vol. 3. Featured Article no.3.
www.saidit.org , 2001.
Gramsci, Antonio. “The Formation of the Intellectual” . Approaches in Literary Theory. Ed.
Anand Prakash. Delhi: Worldview, 2002. pp. 6264.
Therefore, I am certain that if UNIFEM pays
some more attention to the issue of female foeticide per se, by directing some of its resources to
those NGOs that mobilise campaigns on this specific issue, it will become an immediate concern
of the governments too, instead of being relegated to the realm of incorrigible traditional practices. Also, with the assistance of its interns and
volunteers, UNIFEM could help in adding to the
nations’ networks of “organic intellectuals”; thus
ensuring that not only would it use its influence
as a world body to exert pressure from above, but
also help internally in decentring the male-centric
hegemony that sustains the patriarchal societies
of India and China.
I would like to thank Akanksha Dutta, my partner
in the female foeticide workshop, on whose research I have relied in a big way.
Henry, James.S. “South Asia - The Mystery of
the "Missing Women," High Population
Growth Rates, and the Limits of Choice”.
www.typepad.com. 2005.
Moktan, Kathleen M. and
Subramaniam,
Ramesh. “Women in the People’s Republic of
China: a country paper”. Report: Programmes
Department East, Division 1. Asian Development
Bank, 1998.
Syed, M.H. “The Feminine Side”. Human
Rights: The Global Perspective . New Delhi:
Reference Press, 2003. p. 309.
“Celebrating Beijing Plus Ten: The Fifth South
Asia Regional Ministerial Conference” .
www.unifem.org.in , 2005.
“Gender Equality in China” . www.unchina.org .
2001.
Notes:
1. Percentage derived from separate figures given
for South Asia minus India) and all other developing countries. Henry, James.S. “ South Asia The Mystery of the "Missing Women," High
Population Growth Rates, and the Limits of
Choice.” www.typepad.com, 2005.
4 As termed by Raymond Williams, who applies
the Gramscian concept of “hegemony” to culture.
Barry, Peter. “Structuralism”. Beginning Theory:
An Introduction to Literary and Cultural theory .
Manchester University Press .1995.
Sonvi Kapoor is a Postgraduate student, currently studying
International Relations at the University of Warwick
Works Cited:
Benzlova, Antoaneta. “China to punish abortion
of females” . www.atimes.com , 2005.
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THE SCARY REALITY OF HIV/AIDS
EDUCATION IN AFRICA ~Calyn Shaw
grammes, a lack of resources to support education, and a minimal sense of vulnerability. There
are of course other factors which retard the impact of education programmes; however, most of
these are country specific, so I will focus on the
five afore mentioned topics with the hope that
they will provide some useful insight into just
how far we have to go in the fight against AIDS
in Africa.
It is simple for anyone to see, especially at the
grassroots, one of the key components of any effective AIDS strategy is education. The UNAIDS
2006 Report of the Global AIDS Epidemic points
to the positive impact education programmes
have had all over the world. However, despite
some amazing success stories – Uganda is often
the poster-child for stemming the tide of the pandemic – it is clear that AIDS education itself is
limited as a strategy to address the crisis. Strong,
effective education programmes must be implemented in the context of a comprehensive strategy if we are to hope that they have the desired
effect: a reduction of at-risk behaviour.
The rationale for dedicating resources to HIV/
AIDS education in Africa is by no means complex. Clearly, the belief is that as you increase
education and awareness people will respond by
taking measures to protect themselves. However,
one of the rarely discussed hurdles facing the
AIDS pandemic in Africa is the alarming gap between knowledge and behaviour. It only seems
logical to assume that there would be a strong
correlation between HIV/AIDS education and a
reduction of at-risk behaviour in society members
who have access to this information. Unfortunately, in many cases this does not appear to be
the case, and there are a number of reasons for
this. Some of the key factors undermining many
education campaigns throughout Sub-Saharan
Africa include the position of women in society,
myth and stigma, the structure of the pro-
The position of women
If you read any report, study, or article from any
of the hundreds of organizations working on
HIV/AIDS programmes, they will, in some capacity, all acknowledge the disastrous impact that
the inequality of women plays in the spread of
the pandemic. Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy
for AIDS in Africa, rarely makes a speech without dedicating serious time to discussing the
plight of women. At the 2006 World AIDS Conference in Toronto he closed his final speech by
stressing that there cannot possibly be an end to
the pandemic until we can address the obstacles
of inequality that face all women in Africa.
The position of women so fundamentally undermines AIDS education programmes that they are
often rendered totally impotent. If girls are fortunate enough have the opportunity to attend
school (most do not), or are exposed to AIDS
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education in some way, they often still lack the
necessary social power to apply what they have
learned. Women are taught that they are extremely vulnerable to AIDS and yet they often
lack the capacity, especially in marriage, to negotiate safer sex. While education is often a component of empowerment, it is not a magic bullet. If
the education is not supported by providing the
tools and mechanisms women and girls need to
implement what they have learned, then the programmes are basically useless. Teaching women
how to protect themselves has limited impact if,
for a multitude of reasons, they are unable to put
this knowledge into practice.
strong enough to help break down stigma. Children and even adults often refuse to believe that
AIDS even exists in there communities. Often
AIDS is linked to religion and people who have
become infected are seen as being punished for
their sins. According to UNAIDS, “stigma and
discrimination constitute one of the greatest barriers to dealing effectively with the epidemic.
They discourage governments from acknowledging or taking timely action against AIDS. They
deter individuals from finding out about their
HIV status. And they inhibit those who know they
are infected from sharing their diagnosis and taking action to protect others and from seeking
treatment and care for themselves.”
Myth & Stigma
Lack of Resources
Both myth and stigma play a destructive role,
often undermining education programmes and/or
rendering them ineffective in the face of vast societal norms and misunderstanding. Often dispelling myth becomes the primary function of AIDS
educators. If you have to spend the majority of
the education programme convincing people that
they cannot catch HIV from mosquitoes, or that
there is not a conspiracy by the American government to infect condoms in order to “infect all
of Africa” then the amount of productive education you can do is limited. Many myths revolve
around the existence of supposed cures. These
range from traditional medicines or healing practices to the belief that certain foods act as both
preventative and curative measures. One of the
more destructive myths is surprisingly common.
Often HIV/AIDS educators will hear that many
men (or even boys) in a group are under the impression that sleeping with a virgin will cure you
of AIDS. It is unnecessary to go into detail about
how destructive this practice is and how it in fact
significantly accelerates the spread of the virus.
A dire lack of funds limits the resources available
to people who would apply what they have
learned. For example, if you spend an education
session teaching people about the importance of
condom use and then provide condoms, you
would have to feel that it has been a good day for
AIDS education. The problem is that often education workers are the only supply of condom, so
unless the programme has the resources to supply
condoms on an ongoing basis, what use is it to
convince someone to use something which is not
available to them?
The other challenge related to resource support is
a more macro problem. In many countries both
transportation infrastructure and the health systems are tragically under funded. Education programmes in rural communities are fantastic, but
often effective successful education is undermined by a lack of access to proper care facilities.
Vulnerability
It is unfortunate but stigma is still a significant
hurdle for AIDS education. In many communities, even getting people to participate in HIV/
AIDS education is problematic, where communal
ties between people living with AIDS are not
Behaviour change rests
(unfortunately) on perceived vulnerability. This
is perhaps the most
frightening of the five
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hurdles discussed in this article, because there is
often nothing HIV/AIDS educators can do to
make people feel vulnerable. If the prominent
attitude held, especially by young males, is that
“it will not happen to me” then it doesn’t matter
how much you teach them about the virus, until
you can convince them that they are vulnerable
then they will not adopted safer behaviour. This
is more difficult a task than it would appear because one does not follow the other, more education does not equal a great sense of vulnerability.
Stigma plays a role here as well, it is rarely acknowledged that people die from AIDS, so no
one thinks it impact their lives. People will talk
about the numerous people who have died at a
young age in a community but not one of those
people is identified as having died from AIDS. It
is probable that most of them did, but because no
one talks about it, no one acknowledges the risk.
actually reduce the at-risk behaviour of members
of a community.
Limited Scope
Calyn Shaw is a Postgraduate student, currently studying
Globalisation & Development at the University of Warwick.
It is difficult to articulate a concise framework
for the best way forward. Clearly this article is
not trying to make the argument that we should
stop promoting, funding, or participating in HIV/
AIDS education programmes especially in SubSaharan Africa. The challenge lies in finding the
most effective way to make these programmes
impactful. One way to do this is to acknowledge
the gap between knowledge and behaviour and
start to create education models which effectively
address the five hurdles currently stunting HIV/
AIDS education. A focus on effective behaviour
change strategies which promote condom use,
voluntary counseling and testing, and target myth
and stigma throughout communities has to be the
foundation of any education model.
There has to be some acknowledgment that current HIV/AIDS education programs are extremely limited. Often programmes are constrained by societal or religious conventions. Not
being allowed to talk to school age children about
condoms is extremely detrimental to many education programmes all over Africa. Also it is often the case that these programmes are designed
to provide basic knowledge and awareness, they
do not focus at all on behaviour change. In addition, programmes are predominately funded and
run by external donors, meaning those organizing
and running the education are often from outside
the communities.
***
Knitting the Social Fabric in
Trinidad and Tobago
~Natasha Doyle-Bridgewater
Trinidad and Tobago
(T&T) are the two
most Southerly isles
of the Caribbean.
With an estimated
population of 1.3
million, T&T is one
of the most cosmopolitan islands in the Caribbean. Its ethnic mix is approximately 40.3 percent East Indian descent,
39.5 percent African, 18.4 percent mixed, 0.6
percent European, Chinese and Other 1.2 percent.
Going Forward
The challenge currently facing strategies of AIDS
education in Africa is that while knowledge and
awareness are increasing, especially in city centres, so too is the rate of infection. In some ways
it is straight forward to teach people a biological
or epidemiological understanding of the virus; it
is more difficult, because of the reasons covered
in this article to run education campaigns which
As the most developed country in the Caribbean,
the concept of Social Capital is often at work in
various communities throughout the country. In
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this article I define Social Capital as, ‘’features of
social organization such as networks, norms and
trust that facilitate coordination and cooperation
for mutual benefit.’’
The achievement of the Soca Warriors (the T&T
National Football team) brought together citizens
of all ethnicities and age groups. This achievement scored several goals for the island as it
promoted national identity as well as created a
huge reservoir of pride amongst its citizens.
The greatest resource T&T has is its human resource. Volunteerism helps to build the human
resource of T&T and is the heartbeat of Social
Capital. Since 1993, Carlton Phillip has voluntarily taught more than 60 inmates at the nation’s
prisons, who wish to have a new lease on life
once they are released from prison.
Philips indicates that several of his students while
having worked for him have gone on to establish
themselves in business once able to stand on their
own. Success, according to Philips, comes for
him when they succeed. Ideally simple acts such
as volunteering (as in the case of Philips), have
resulted in a greater feat. It is one of confidence,
hope and the rebuilding of trust amongst communities into which these ex inmates are released.
I will attempt to delineate the presence of Social
Capital in T&T through three current examples of
sport, volunteerism and civic engagement.
Having recognized the contribution made by
sport toward youth development and indirectly to
Social Capital, one of the main aims of the Ministry is to provide what it calls ‘social education’.
Programmes such as S.T.E.P. (Sport Training Enhancement Programme) are used to target youths
(8-14) throughout the country by promoting
characteristics such as teamwork, cooperation,
and civic involvement in sport. From athletics to
swimming, the Ministry also funds other sport
education programmes, which encourage club
development and inter-club events such as family
days and sports days. This type of vertical capital
aids in the merging of people, often outside of
their communities. It enhances basic buildingblocks for communities such as trust and community involvement.
Finally, we look at the case of the proposed Aluminum Smelter plant that is to be built by Alcoa
on the Southern Peninsula. When completed this
plant will be one of the largest in the world.
Residents of Chatham and Cap de Ville will be
displaced from their homes if this plant is built.
The Plant threatens their main livelihood of fishing and agriculture as well as their health and
surrounding environment.
Until now, residents of this rural community were
unheard of. Faced with the dislocation of their
communities, residents have united and organized massive protests that have drawn international attention and thus far stalled the initial project. The organisation of the citizens exemplifies
‘civic engagement at its best.’ It has built a process of social trust and a series of networks
amongst residents born primarily out of the mistrust of Alcoa’s promises of an environmentally
Sport has also proved to be a great national unifier as identified by the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
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friendly smelter and their already blemished
record in Trinidad.
As a community that has grown together over
several generations, one of its requests is that if
the members are to be moved, that they be relocated as a community. Thus far, this does not
look as though it will come to fruition. It remains to be seen whether their recent stand
against the government will have any effect on
their current policy to forge ahead with the
smelter plant as well.
Social Capital is most powerful when enveloped within a network that promotes reciprocity. It can be a useful concept for developing
countries particularly as it can
alleviate the pressure from
governments that may be unable to financially structure
their economy or provide social safety nets for their citizens. It is a key notion that
can be utilized by the impoverished for self-development
rather than allowing for a cycle of continued dependency
on the state.
Notes:
1.http://www.cso.gov.tt/cso/tnt/default.aspx Accessed on 24/11/2006.
2. Harris and Renzio, 1997, ‘Missing Link or
analytically missing?: the concept of Social Capital’, Journal of International Development 9(7)
3.http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article
?id=160980182 Accessed on 24/11/2006.
Natasha Doyle-Bridgewater is a Postgraduate
student, currently studying Globalisation & Development at the University of Warwick.
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Personal Reflections
gion is a vast and variegated place – a constellation of small islands in a seemingly endless seascape, it is an area of both outstanding natural
beauty and extraordinary cultural diversity. Filtered through the lenses of glossy travel brochures or Paul Gauguin’s post-impressionism, it
is most often seen as a region of peace and
plenty. But the Pacific Island region is also one of
great economic and social deprivation, and increasingly one of civil and political unrest.
WARWICK & BEYOND
~Matthew Doidge
As an alumnus of the Globalisation and Development programme at Warwick University, I
have been asked to reflect upon my time at the
University, and what the experience of studying
development has given me. I have chosen to interpret this brief rather narrowly, looking at my
key areas of interest in development, and how
these were reinforced by my time at Warwick.
As with any consideration of interests, particularly in the field of development, identity – that
package of ideas and sensibilities, which we all
carry – is intrinsic to understanding my chosen
academic focus. Briefly then, I am of Pacifican
origin. Specifically, I am a Pakeha New Zealander. Pakeha are the ‘indigenised’ white population of Aotearoa/New Zealand (Pacific’s ‘Triple
Star’) – our culture is drawn from our European
inheritance, but also, and now more importantly,
from the culture of our M!ori brothers and sisters
with whom we are partnered under Te Tiriti o
Waitangi, and from the broader Pacifican, and
particularly Polynesian, region. I am, therefore, a
member of a cultural community, which is one of
two dominant partners in a multicultural state, a
state embedded in the broader Polynesia, which
is itself one part of a tripartite South Pacific
(alongside Melanesia and Micronesia). The South
Pacific, Polynesia, and specifically Aotearoa/
New Zealand are my Turangawaewae, my place
to stand.
When I came to Warwick, I brought this identity
with me, manifested in a keen interest in the development challenges faced by the Pacific Island
states. My focus at Warwick became the underdevelopment of the Pacifican region, a focus that
I am sure came to exasperate many of my classmates as I constantly raised the issues of absence
of Pacifican data, absence of Pacifican discourses, and so on in classroom discussions. My
research papers inevitably involved a Pacifican
focus in some respect, be it on the stability of Pacific democracies, the coherence and consistency
of economic, political, military and development
strategies in the region, or the application of the
EU’s post-Cotonou framework to Pacifican
states. My research was complicated by the fact
From a developmental perspective, I come from a
developed country, tied into many of the key
structures and institutions of global governance,
but which is situated in a region comprised of
underdeveloped countries, largely marginalised
from global governance through their lack of development and small size. The Pacific Island re14
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that the Warwick library contains only a handful
of mostly outdated books dealing with political,
economic and development issues in the region, a
fact that again reinforced my opinion that the
South Pacific has been forgotten. My time at
Warwick therefore served to reinforce my views
on the need to explore Pacifican issues, and at the
same time equipped me with the skill-set necessary to conduct the research.
velop during your time at Warwick to improve
your scholarship on those issues that really matter to you. This, I believe, will give you the
greatest benefit from your short time at Warwick,
and thereafter open up the greatest opportunity to
make a difference in your chosen field.
***
POVERTY: THE GREAT AND
SILENT TERRORISM
Since completing my Warwick studies, I have
chosen to push this Pacific focus further. I now
lecture the PO203 (Politics of Developing Areas)
course at Warwick, and have taken this as an opportunity to introduce Pacifican issues to a student audience. In addition, I am currently constructing a research project focusing on European
Union development policy in the Pacifican region, exploring policy formation and the issues of
voice and its absence, as well as policy practice
and specifically the applicability to Pacifican
SIDS of development frameworks established
primarily with the states of Africa in mind.
~Michalis Sotiropoulos
“I wish we could open our minds to see in all
directions at the same time”
- Death Cab for Cutie
In a world of interdependence everything counts,
from war, famine, natural disaster and increasing
inequalities to the fact that a work of art (the
painting by J. Pollock), supposedly a nontradable good, was sold at auction at the price of
140 million dollars, near 73 million pounds. According to the Human Development Index, the
income gap has doubled since 1998 and the attention of the world media seems to compartmentalise these issues.
My Warwick studies, then, served to reinforce
my development interests, perhaps even making
me more evangelical in my pursuit of them. At
the same time, however, these studies allowed me
to place the issues of most concern to me firmly
within a broader empirical and theoretical context, thereby improving immensely the quality
and validity of my scholarship. It is now my job,
as it is with all Globalisation and Development
graduates, to take the tools with which I have
been equipped, and, from small beginnings, to
use them to achieve real results. He ika kai ake i
raro, he r!paki ake i raro – As a fish begins to
nibble from below, so the ascent of a hill begins
from the bottom.
It could be said, as one major Greek newspaper
suggested some weeks ago, that poverty is the
great but silent terrorism. The implications of
poverty on the developing and Least Developed
Countries can be considered as some kind of terrorism. In fact, the statistics are frightening: the
number of people killed as a result of this ‘great
terrorism’ prove that this form of terrorism is by
far more fatal than the ‘traditional’ one. The latter
can be described as an excessive use of violence
(including killings) that targets civilians and noncombatants, where this violence is the means for
achieving a more or less political goal.
As a final word, then, my advice to all Globalisation and Development students, present and future, is to bring your background and your interests to your studies. Use these to inform your approach to the course, and use the skills you de-
In contrast, although the form of terrorism due to
poverty is not based on violence, its conse15
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quences on the victims prove that it is the ‘great
terrorism’. 28,000 people are condemned to death
every day due to poverty, 850 million people
(among them 146 million of children) suffer from
chronic hunger, 1.2 billion people have no access
to clean water and 2.6 billion earn less than $2 a
day. In addition, 113 million children lack access
to education and 50 million are suffering from
HIV/AIDS, deprived of any kind of medical care.
travel at the speed of
light and the world media has expanded its
networks through the
internet, we have to cope
with a difficult problem:
the hiatus between mass
media and mass (global)
reality. This gap can explain why the Western
media was not really interested in the Global Day for the Elimination of
Poverty on the 17th of October. It is also one of
the many reasons why the Millennium Goals,
drawn out by the international community with
the participation of 189 countries, will not be met
according to plan.
Despite these alarming figures, the Western
world refuses to pay attention anymore. The image of an emaciated and helpless child, regardless
of skin colour, does not strike a western chord.
On the contrary, the Western media is always
more preoccupied with diseases that can inflict
pain and suffering on ‘beautiful people’. As P.
Sainath, a developmental
reporter, wonders in one
of his speeches, “why did
the Western media care so
much and dedicated hundreds of pages and ink to
SARS?” Because, as he
argues, this kind of an
epidemic can cause the
suffering and death of
every human being, irrespective of class or nationality. However, the
consequences of poverty
are no different. Thus, ‘the plague of poverty,’
meaning famine, hunger, malnutrition and more
generally, as some argue, deprivation of human
capabilities kills without discrimination: poor and
rich, northern and southern, black and white, developed and underdeveloped, African and European, Asian and American. This is the reason
why it should be called ‘silent’ terrorism.
Finally, we have to pose some questions:
where is the generosity, the sympathy and
most importantly where is the human
solidarity? These are questions that might
sound old fashioned now but are still very
much relevant to Western societies. However, questioning is not enough. We have
to provide answers too. And in order to
provide answers we have to get off our
armchairs, and find out what causes poverty; what causes the deprivation of these
peoples’ basic rights; what provokes their
perpetually impoverished conditions.
We don’t have to look very far to find the answer; we are part of the cause.
Therefore we must act quickly to rectify this
situation. According to V. Shiva, “The 50 billion
dollars of ‘aid’ donated by the North to the South
is just 10% of the 500 billion dollars moving
South to North because of interest rates and other
unfair mechanisms imposed by the World Bank
and the IMF.” Inaction, although convenient, signifies indifference not neutrality. So let’s take P.
Sainath’s advice and, “refuse to be Nero’s guests
during the burning of Rome.”
Unfortunately, the era when people from all
across the planet united and mobilised in response to seeing shocking images of hungry children in Ethiopia, are long gone. In the era of
globalisation, where information and images can
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Jeans and Salwars
The implication was simply that for us, the
Indian youth, westernised “Indian” culture,
symbolised by ‘jeans’, has come to constitute that central point in language from
which we, quite ironically, go abroad to the
“Indian” culture, represented by ‘salwar
kameezes’, and once tired of this “change”
wish to “get back” to the former.
~ Sonvi Kapoor
“I’m dying to get back
into my jeans.” I was
lately inspired by a
writer to observe, that
every language attains a
central point----- a point
from which the speaker
digresses and to which
he/she comes back. This
point is also indicative
of that cross-section of
time and place in which
the speaker of the language feels rooted.
A people’s language is the truest reflector
of their culture, and this is precisely why I
cited the particular line, which is representative of our “Indian” youth’s lingo. It convinces us as to how deep into our lives
western culture has penetrated, and though
excavating our original selves from under
these debris of silent foreign invasions would by
itself be an unnerving task, we might as well take
it up and achieve it so that tomorrow’s Indian
youth can learn to speak an unalloyed language
woven around, not a borrowed, but an indigenous
central point!
Pursuing this very string of thought, I stumbled
upon an interesting observation just the other day.
Early in this year, some students from all over
Delhi University had come together as “Indian”
ambassadors to receive the influx of “foreign”
economists who flew in for an international conference to Delhi.
***
LIVING AT WARWICK
Since we were to be representatives of our “Indian” culture, ‘salwar kameezes’ were prescribed
as our dress code. We quite relished flaunting our
“Indian” dresses afore the fascinated eyes of
those foreigners, over and above enjoying the
“change” for ourselves. However, on the third
and final day, by which we had sumptuously satiated our appetite with pride at being so admired
by all in our “Indian” dresses, the only words to
be heard from each of us were, “oh! I’m dying to
get back into my jeans.”
~ Peter Ptashko
Hey all you WGDS newsletter readers! When I
was asked by our lovely editor, Samar, to have
the honour of writing a brief article about my
own experiences here at Warwick I was both excited, but also scared. With so little space in
which to cover everything, how was I going to do
justice to the fantastic time I’ve had here? So, I
decided to focus on how studying here has given
me the chance to grow as a person as well as a
student.
Mulling over these words in retrospect, what
struck me most was not the not-unprecedentedshamelessness with which we, the youth of India,
articulated our preference for the western over
the Indian, but the interesting implication the
words “get back into my jeans” alluded to.
Since joining the University in 2003 I’ve met
people from all different countries, cultures and
religions; learnt how to live independently, think
independently and never judge a book by its
cover – often quite literally. I vividly remember
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by first few days, all those years ago, discovering
how truly hard it is to leave behind a comfortable, reliable regularity – home life, all I’d
known for eighteen years – for a scary new tomorrow that left me without friends or family and
in a totally new environment: one I’m sure many
postgraduate students joining this year can empathise with.
While Warwick is very much a world-class academic institution, it’s so much more than that. I
truly hope everyone who reads this is encouraged
to make the most of everything that the Warwick
experience has to offer. If you’ve ever wondered
if you should take a chance, a leap, a risk? Stop
wondering, take it.
Peter Ptashko is a Postgraduate student, currently studying Globalisation & Development at the University of
Warwick. He is also the WGDS Social Secretary
It’s through adapting to this, and all the challenges, both intellectual and personal, that have
come my way that I’ve grown into the person
that I am today. I’ve ‘come out’ as a confident
young gay man; met some wonderful people,
some of whom I live with, and can reliably call
friends for life; I’m happily involved with a
number of student societies such as Warwick
Pride, Anti-Sexism, Amnesty and of course
WGDS. I also work in Student Union democracy,
and even have a degree!
***
Lakeside at Sunset: Photo taken by Frank Chen
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Poetry Corner
This Land
~by Claire Kariuki
What was I ever doing at
Foregate Street Station?
The Sun looks over
this glorious land,
Where has the cow come from that is
blocking the line?
How has it been allowed to stray from
the field?
Or did it simply
fall from the sky?
What kind of noise did it make
as the flat front slapped into its side?
Did it have the time to ask with its eyes
for the driver to slam to a stop?
Did anyone care about anything other
than the slight delay?
I think we all imagined the mess.
Some of us for longer than others.
And gives " sight to all
creatures that wake or
sleep,
Oh what divine splendor that's there, for one
to give a look or stare,
From the valleys and
hills to the ocean and
seas,
Each has a tale or story
to give,
Where are we set?
Am I going to the same place as all of you?
Why on earth am I wearing these clothes in the
middle of winter?
I am swaying.
I should have left here hours ago.
Why when I stretch out can I always feel day old
cold soup
drivelling through my frame?
Why the swelling behind my ears
that seems to precede some terrible event?
What could it all mean,
if it meant anything at all?
Our land and all there existing in perfect
calm and care.
Yet in the darkest shadows there lives a
creature so callous,
that goes round defacing earth's colours,
And the wind cries, 'what then becomes of
this glorious land?'...
A desert waste land because of man."
I will not be coming back here
any time soon.
What is it I am trying to sleep off
in the urine swilled toilet
of this godforsaken train?
Better I think to get off and try to eat some fruit.
Were you ever at Foregate
Street Station?
I remember pretending to draw your face,
when, in truth,
I have no means of putting
my eyes onto
the paper in that
pocket-sized hard backed black book.
What was it you were trying to say as the doors
slid shut?
You’re mouth was not moving
but it sure as hell felt like, ‘Goodbye’.
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I cannot control my fingers, my hand;
to move across the page
and make you appear,
nor the bench, the clock
the black headed gull.
You have noticed and
slipped into a smile
that my squiggles do not warrant.
I am lying to you before we have even met.
But if we do I shall tell you the truth;
that I cannot draw but wanted you to think that I
could.
So that I may somehow
connect to you across the train track.
Now you are gone.
I wonder, right now,
where you are in the world?
Your name?
Whether those clothes are in your cupboard,
around your form
Or gone with the trash?
How you have changed?
What you were like to begin?
If our tracks chose to cross would you know who
I was?
I would tell you everything
I had to tell,
which, to tell the truth
is not a lot.
You are wearing a three quarter length cream
winter coat
and your brown hair is pulled back tight into a
pony tail.
You are wearing red boots that are pointed towards me.
I wonder if you are an artist ?
Or at what age you stopped to draw?
If you are vain?
Flattered that a stranger should choose
to take the time to put you on his pad.
I am vain.
And wish that someone would have the thought
to draw me,
or at least make the effort to pretend.
If it came in fits
and bursts, then that would not be so bad.
It is the monotony of the hum
constantly whispering in my ear,
that I have got on the wrong train,
that I am meant to be in someplace quite different
altogether,
which is slowly getting me down.
Taken from J. L. Arturo’s, ‘The Decline of British
Transport: My sudden rebirth and turgid death at
Foregate Street Station’.
Your train arrives before mine,
And you should be gone.
But you step, albeit four foot,
across the carriage and wave to me through the
window,
as the train pulls you in the opposite direction of
the earth.
***
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Reviews: WGDS
Events
October 1st, 2006
Upendra Baxi: Beware
of Beck? Some Reflections on
Reading Ulrich Beck's ‘Unpacking Cosmopolitanism for
Social Science’
~by Calyn Shaw
The opening
lecture of this
year’s edition
of the WGDS
Seminar Series was given
by Professor
Upendra Baxi
from the Department of
Law at the University of Warwick. Professor Baxi’s topic was
Beware of!Beck? Some Reflections on Reading Ulrich Beck's
‘Unpacking Cosmopolitanism
for Social Science.’ The argument put forward by Beck
which Baxi addresses is as follows: It is time to reconceptualize social science
and take a cosmopolitan turn.
Methodological nationalism,
which subsumes society under
the nation-state, has until now
made this task almost impossible. The alternative, a ‘cosmopolitan outlook’, is a contested
term and project; however,
methodological cosmopolitanism opens up new horizons by
demonstrating how we can
make the empirical investigation of border crossings and
other transnational phenomena possible (Beck 2006).
SPRING 2007
Baxi began his lecture by
summarizing Beck’s goal,
which is to escape the notion
that we are bound to the
nation-state society. Beck is
calling for a new cosmopolitan
process. He believes that the
nation as the principle site of
organization is no longer useful
to us. According to Baxi, he is
trying the break the house of
the nation as a centre of understanding. Beck’s further
claim is that of cosmopolitan
realism – we already live in a
cosmopolitan age, it is not a
choice but an empirical reality
– “we live in an increasingly
interdependent world.” This is
where Professor Baxi makes his
first criticism by asking, “Who
constitutes the ‘we’ that Beck is
talking about.” From Baxi’s
point of view it seems that this
cosmopolitan ideal does not
address the reality of a number
of minority or peripheral
groups such as microstates, indigenous people, or sexual minorities. How do these groups
and people fit into the cosmopolitan ideal? Beck presents
cosmopolitan reality as one
that is based on some notion of
ethics and morality, but Baxi
points out that there is no articulation of whose morality or
ethics Beck’s ideas are rooted
in; assuming they are Eurocentric is not out of line.
In the second half of his lecture, Baxi acknowledged that
there is a strong case for saying
that we live in an interconnected post-national society,
but this does not mark the end
of the nation-state, it can more
21
accurately be understood as a
shifting of democratic consent
or authority from the nationstate to humanity. Political
authority is being deterritorialized, but not removed
totally from the state or state
politics. Baxi finished by pointing out the importance of opposition in the framing of political reality acknowledging
the importance of resistance
on part of those who still feel
excluded from the places
where power is articulated.
Beck’s totalising claims about
cosmopolitan reality ignore this
political reality and the importance of these opposition
movements. Baxi concluded by
quoting Foucault to sum up his
position, ‘if revolution is dead,
what is left for politics since
revolution represents the alternative.’ For Baxi, we need to
beware of Beck because he
does not adequately recognize
the importance of those that
exist at the margins.
I would like to thank Professor Baxi for
contributing to the WGDS Lecture Series.
WGDS NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO 1 !
November 7th, 2006
Ben Fine: Privatisation: Rethinking the World Bank’s
Rethink
~ by Calyn Shaw
The second lecture of the
WGDS 2006-2007 Lecture Series was given by Professor
Ben Fine from the University
of London. As indicated by the
title, the topic of Professor
Fine’s lecture was rethinking
the World Bank’s (WB) position on privatization. Fine contends that despite the changes
made at the WB during the
shift from Washington Consensus to post-Washington Consensus the policies on privatization have not substantially
changed. The policies continue
to reflect a dedication to neoliberal economic principles,
which endorse a shift to privatization as an important component of development. Despite the rhetoric emerging in
the late 1990s about shifting
approaches to better reflect the
needs of developing countries,
privatization has remained a
component of WB poverty reduction strategies.
Despite the success of development in East Asia, where the
state played a key role in the
SPRING 2007
development process, the WB
supported unrelenting privatization throughout the 1980s
and 1990s. In defence of privatisation, the WB argued (a) the
policies in developing countries had to be market conforming, and (b) the success of
East Asia was non-replicable
in other countries. However,
the success in Asia in opposition to WB policy and the failure of policies throughout
much of the developing world
led to a major crisis of legitimacy for the WB. This provided the impetuous for a rethink by the Bank. Fine is not
convinced that this rethink has
resulted in a meaningful shift
of policy with regard to privatization.
One reason for this, according
to Fine, is the complex relationship between scholarship,
rhetoric, and policy at the WB.
It is important to note that the
rhetoric and policy often contradict the scholarship especially in terms of privatization.
Throughout the 1980s and
1990s decision makers at the
Bank ignored much of the
scholarship on privatization
(even their own). They did not
believe in the need for preconditions to privatization.
The result of the rethink has
not been a substantial shift in
rhetoric or policy. The WB has
acknowledged some of the
negative repercussions of promoting privatization at all
22
costs. However, the Bank continues to support privatization
as an important component of
it development strategies in
both rhetoric and policy. What
has shifted is that proponents
of privatization now believe
the state has a bigger role to
play in facilitating the shift to
privatization. The rhetoric in
the post-Washington Consensus era is focused on the necessity of states to develop the
capacity of industries so they
have a better chance of succeeding, once privatized. For
Fine, this begs the question: if
public sector capacity is built
up, why is privatization needed
at all?
Professor Fine postulates that
the Bank’s continued dedication to privatization reflects
their continued belief in what
he identifies as five myths
about privatization. These
myths are:
1. The performance of the private sector has been better than
that of the public sector.
2. Privatization removes corruption and politics from the
process of the economy.
3. A growth in privatization is
inherently beneficial for development.
4. The private sector can deliver what the public sector cannot.
WGDS NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO 1 !
5. The public sector has failed.
As a result of these continuing
beliefs, the WB rethink does
not introduce public sector alternatives at any level. For
Fine the only conclusion is that
the overall rethink at the WB
did not result in a significant
change in the approach to privatization; consequently, we
must be skeptical of the Bank’s
rhetoric and policy regarding
privatization as a component
of development strategy.
SPRING 2007
an explanation of concepts and
theory behind their use. Loans
are given to small groups of
women so they can invest in
entrepreneurial projects enabling them to reduce poverty
through their own efforts and
increase empowerment.
I would like to thank Professor Fine for
contributing to the WGDS Lecture Series.
November 14th, 2006
Caroline Sweetman: Livelihoods, Poverty and Empowerment of Women
~by Jen Doehrty
Caroline Sweetman delivered
an insightful and personal lecture on Livelihoods, Poverty
and the Empowerment of
Women. This focused on an
Ethiopian project as a case
study; designed to show realities of women involved in microfinance projects and question the effectiveness of programmes on an individual basis.
Sweetman explained that microfinance has found popular
support among development
agencies, including Oxfam, in
recent years. She began with
Women are targeted in groups
because of their supposed reliability for repayment; reliance
on social networks encourages
them to pay rather than let the
group down. Sweetman
stressed that projects were not
just about lifting individual
households out of poverty but
the collective empowerment of
the whole social group. As
women work together they are
predicted to discuss and question the status quo raising consciousness about inequalities.
This collective critique should
lead to political action. The
realities, however, may differ.
Sweetman outlined the project
she was involved in and her
23
motivations in study. Her interest is driven by life experience; work in journalism and
personal attachment to the region and its people. She claims
that traditionally there is too
much focus on the projects and
not enough on the realities of
those impacted upon. Her
journalistic background has
driven her to investigate the
individual experience and significance of these programmes.
Due to her personal interest
she highlighted objectivity issues for observers. Stating that
while there are only degrees of
subjectivity one must be clear
and self-critical about the ethical issues raised and what informs the research. She relied
on rigorous data collection to
temper any bias.
The case study was a microfinance project in Ethiopia involving 29 ‘chronically poor’
women who could benefit
from very small loans. Their
city was an Orthodox Christian
area, home to many migrants
from rural areas forced there
by unfavourable conditions.
The project group were carpet
producing craft workers; they
were previously marginalised
by the rural farming community but moving to the city
gave them opportunity to set
up production exploiting traditional skills. Sweetman’s study,
however, revealed that loans
were not invested in a new
communal women’s project
but were used to fund tradi-
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tional business with husbands.
While logical to use existing
economic advantage, it did little to aid gender empowerment.
This project was a mixed success, while it appears that the
loans given did not create entrepreneurs, they aided family
survival. Gender empowerment saw little improvement
and no group consciousness
was formed. Sweetman recognised a number of influencing
factors; the environment created by society, church and
government, was not conducive to gender empowerment.
Additionally in this area, collective action had negative
connotations with communism.
In this lecture Sweetman argued that projects must consider the effect they have and
that communities and people
are not homogenous. For example in this region, the craft
worker identity seems more
fundamental than gender. She
concluded this comprehensive
and interesting lecture with the
warning that organisations
must be realistic and modest
about what they can do for
these communities. Microfinance projects may work, but
they should be assessed on a
more individual basis.
I would like to thank Caroline Sweetman for contributing to the WGDS Lecture Series.
SPRING 2007
November 21st, 2006
Film: Big Fish, Small Fry
~by Peter Ptashko
The film itself was set in
Kenya, Africa, focussing on
the communities living around
Lake Victoria. Since 1959 an
exotic fish, the ‘Nile Perch’,
has been dominant in these waters, eating almost all indigenous fish to near-extinction.
With such a pre-eminence
abound, they have been extensively farmed by the local
population for food, thus creating a wealth of jobs. However,
the process of Perch-farming
has become a huge industry,
not unnoticed by multinational corporations, now
seeking to dominate the market.
Local fisherman have both
been priced out and literally
forced out of this formally internal market, and with the
propensity of fish to rot, the
prices offered by external
companies have proven simply
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irresistible. Even worse, the
fish supply has been on the
decline in recent years and
hence local fishermen – making this a highly unsustainable
enterprise, and one which is
undoubtedly leading the destruction of thousands of African’s livelihoods.
With the over-farming taking
place the fish have been
largely unable to breed, and
hence are being caught whilst
small – providing the locals
with less sustenance, and forcing the companies to fish even
more. The local people have
been left without jobs and the
means to support their families
due to the extensive export
market that has developed for
Perch in Kenya. They are left
largely to scramble for skeletons in the filth for scraps of
food; one local I noted to remark “they regard us as dogs”.
European Union regulations
have even forced the scraps to
be cleared away immediately
to keep in line with health
standards, to compound the
problem further.
The one
potential saviour of these people is a tiny fish called the
‘Omena’. It may not look
much but it is perhaps the key
to this communities’ survival.
It is still numerous in the waters of Victoria and can be used
to create a porridge rich in
Iron, Zinc, Calcium, Proteins
and Vitamin A. On top of this,
it has provided a burgeoning
local industry for the local
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peoples. Sadly, however, this
too is being tapped into by foreign companies. It can also be
used as a highly nutritious
chicken feed, and is primarily
exported, becoming more and
more like the Perch.
So, while the people of this
region are suffering without
food or jobs, international
companies are reaping the
profits of a particularly coldhearted piece of unsustainable
harvesting, a microcosm that
can be seen across the Third
World today.
November 23rd, 2006
Professor Scholte:
Governing a Global World
~by Sonvi Kapoor
Professor Scholte delivered the
final lecture of the WGDS
Lecture series for this term on
the topic: Governing a Global
World. Beginning with a definition of the term ‘global
world’ itself, Scholte moved on
to illuminate the nuances that
need to be considered when
one is thinking about governance of the global world today.
Finally, he enumerated the six
criteria that, according to him,
need to be met if the globaworld were to be efficiently
SPRING 2007
governed.
Scholte defined the term
‘global world’ as a “transplanetary social connectivity”.
This connection is of two
kinds--- material (finance,
military etc.) and ideational
(commonly shared ideas).
However he emphasised that
though there are some shared
concerns, the global world is
not a universal one. On the
contrary, several globalisations
coexist without converging
into one common form.
Scholte also clarified that the
global space is not the same as
the international space; for, the
former comprises of a “complex, multilayered geography”
of which the international
space is only a part.
Next, he went on to discuss the
nature of governance that the
global world of today can
have. Scholte argued that this
governance comprises of two
levels--- the “institutional” and
the “structural”. While the
former includes the more immediately tangible regulatory
actors, that is the institutions,
the latter refers to the deeper
structural rules that are manifested in these institutions of
global governance and that
help to replicate, reproduce
and sustain the existing patterns of social hierarchy. He
also emphasises that the onus
for governing the global world
need not necessarily be on the
conventional global-scale gov25
ernance institutions like the
UN, IMF, World Bank and the
likes. The nation states, transgovernmental networks like
the Central banks and private
institutions can all be involved
in the task. To conclude on this
point Scholte said that it is
much better to think of the
governance of the global world
in terms of the governance of
issues of global significance.
Finally he discussed the pros
and cons of various visions for
governing a global world; the
protectionist, the global social
democratic vision and transformative governance, being
some of them. Scholte also argued that more research needs
to be done on the role transgovernmental organisations
could play towards a better
governance of the global
world. He concluded by highlighting that there need to be
clear criteria that governance
of the global world is expected
to achieve, and by enumerating
the following criteria as the
ones he considered most im25
portant: material wellbeing,
ecological integrity, democracy, cultural creativity, distributive justice and peace.
I would like to thank Professor Scholte
for contributing to the WGDS Lecture
Series.
WGDS NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO 1 !
December 5th, 2006
Film: The Corporation
~by Lukasz Niewiadomski
The Corporation” is a Mark
Achbar and Jennifer Abbott
movie that could be regarded
as a response to one of the features of globalisation, which is
emerging from non-state actors. The movie applies a critical approach based on case
studies, interviews and anecdotes that reveal negative aspects of the corporate world. It
is narrated by an unemotional
female voice, which leads the
viewers through a 2.5-hour
story.
The story starts with an attempt to define the term corporation, which turns out to be a
very ambiguous word. The
authors reach deep into American and world history to present the origins of corporations, which are traced back to
the industrialization period in
Europe. However, a breaking
point in their rise is the 19th
century when they acquired a
status of ‘legal person’.
SPRING 2007
The film is also an attempt to
assess the “personality” of a
corporation by using diagnostic criteria provided by the
World Health Organization.
The results show that corporations have an inherently antisocial nature and whose only
aim is to make profits, regardless of political, social and environmental impacts. Case
studies present the power of
corporations and their negative
influence on the biosphere, labour conditions and human
health. The most striking example of corporate power is in
the case of advertising industries, where firms manipulate
the tastes of children in order
to persuade them to nag their
parents and buy their products.
Moreover, the example of
rBGH (a synthetic hormone
used in milk production) presents a conflict of interest between corporations (in this
case Fox
News), which are concerned
about profits and journalists,
whose goal is to present the
truth to people. In order to improve their images and boost
their profits, corporations try to
implement social responsibility
strategies. However the results
are rather disappointing because as Milton Friedman, the
Nobel Prize wining economist
said, “Asking a corporation to
be socially responsible makes
no more sense than asking a
building to be”.
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The movie contains many interviews with academic thinkers such as Milton Friedman,
Peter Drucker, and Noam
Chomsky; managers of the big
multinational corporation such
as Mark Moody-Stuart, former
CEO of Shell; representatives
of NGOs such as Oscar Olivera from the Coalition in Defence of Water and Life as well
as other people with interesting
experiences and views about
the corporate world. The
movie also contains a lot of
interesting and sometimes
shocking metaphors. Finally,
the directors discuss the pillars
on which our civilization has
been built that include among
others, private ownership,
which is considered to be a
prerequisite in the pursuit of
sustainable development.
However, a question arises: are
corporations one of the pillars
of our civilization, without
which we would not be able to
achieve our current level of
development? Or are corporations a cancer that needs to be
cured or removed?
***
WGDS NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO 1 !
SPRING 2007
CARTOONS
FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE
In this final section of the newsletter, we
bring you a collection of cartoons that
illustrate, with much fewer words, some
issues and perspectives surrounding
globalisation and development that are
worth considering…
Enjoy!
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WGDS NEWSLETTER ISSUE NO 1 !
SPRING 2007
NEWSLETTER STAFF
Upcoming Events
Samar Farah
Editor
DATE: February 13, 2007
EVENT: Franklyn Lisk (Centre for the Study of
Nana Guar
Globalisation and Regionalisation, University of
Warwick) on HIV/AIDS and Governance Institutions
Co-Editor/Layout Coordinator
Chih Lin
Co-Editor/Layout Coordinator
DATE: February 27, 2007
EVENT: Prof. Lord Anthony Giddens
Claire Kariuki
Co-Editor
DATE: March 6, 2007
EVENT: Paul Cammack (Manchester Metropoli-
Jiyoung Yoo
tan University)
Co-Editor
Want to Contribute?
For confirmation and details on more upcoming
events, please contact Calyn Shaw by email:
Please e-mail queries
and submissions to
Samar Farah at:
C.S.B.Shaw@warwick.ac.uk
s.farah@warwick.ac.uk
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