This chapter proposes a framework explaining the evolution of property rights in land, assuming two unequal groups of actors: elites possessing means of violence and nonelite land…
Abstract
This chapter proposes a framework explaining the evolution of property rights in land, assuming two unequal groups of actors: elites possessing means of violence and nonelite land cultivators. It then shows that all intermediary groups – those acting between the chief violence holders (i.e., rulers) and cultivators – are in effect (greater or lesser rulers and cultivators). Using this framework, this chapter explains most of the developments in the evolution of land rights in 19th century colonial Bengal. The proposed theoretical framework explains how different, hierarchically arrayed claims over land and the resulting allocation of rights was a function of asymmetries in power and information between three groups: rulers, direct cultivators, and intermediaries without their own coercive means. It explains inter alia why private property in land was not likely to emerge in this configuration, and that the (non-private) property rights of the other two groups wouldn't attain stability as long as rulers perceived an information asymmetry. In such a situation, land rights would attain neither “private,” nor “public” character.
Details
Keywords
The need for information and intelligence services has long been recognized. About 2,500 years ago an excellent service was supplied at Delphi. The Classical Dictionary attributes…
Abstract
The need for information and intelligence services has long been recognized. About 2,500 years ago an excellent service was supplied at Delphi. The Classical Dictionary attributes the success of this unit to ‘the efficient accumulation and use of information’, although Charles Seltman has recognized in the current awareness bulletins that have survived that the oracle experienced an all‐too‐familiar difficulty in distinguishing between ‘the trivially inexplicable and the cosmically ineffable’.
The danger attending the use of the insufficiently purified waters derived from the Thames and Lea should, we think, be constantly pressed upon the attention of the Legislature…
Abstract
The danger attending the use of the insufficiently purified waters derived from the Thames and Lea should, we think, be constantly pressed upon the attention of the Legislature and of the public. We regard it as a duty to endeavour to prevent the continued neglect of the warnings which have been put forward from time to time by those who have made a careful and unbiassed study of the subject, and which have recently been again uttered and emphasised by SIR A. BINNIE, the late Engineer of the London County Council. In the public interest it is greatly to be regretted that the system of analytical control, which was maintained by certain London Borough Councils with regard to the water supplied within the areas under their jurisdiction, has been discontinued. The local checks referred to were of the greatest value to the inhabitants of the districts concerned by affording timely warning when water of dangerous character was being supplied, thus enabling some protective measures to be taken. They also served the useful purposes of keeping public attention fixed upon the matter.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the structural factors responsible for why “donor darling” has not changed the pitfalls of stagnation and lifted post‐conflict Sierra Leone…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the structural factors responsible for why “donor darling” has not changed the pitfalls of stagnation and lifted post‐conflict Sierra Leone out of poverty.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts a bottom‐up approach (“through the eyes of the poor”) and a combination of primary and secondary research methods – substantial desk research to investigate and review documentation related to the project and field interviews with development stakeholders at the national, district, and community levels with humanitarian aid workers, local civil society organisations, international non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) and national government officials.
Findings
It is argued that aid without the necessary local institutional structure for effective coordination and stringent aid conditionality – and therefore narrow focus – has stifled sustainable socio‐economic development initiatives. The international community's narrow definition and support for liberal peace, in tandem with the overarching neoliberal economic paradigm and failure to embrace an inclusivist approach to peacebuilding, has further stonewalled effective reconstruction, growth and development.
Originality/value
The paper calls the attention of development NGOs to be self‐reflexive, “wear native spectacles”, coordinate their actions and avoid “development as dependence”, by prioritizing what matters most to the beneficiaries of development. The basis of effective and sustainable socio‐economic development is institutional building.
Details
Keywords
Dulce Nascimento do Ó, Ana Rita Goes, João Filipe Raposo and Isabel Loureiro
Diabetes is a chronic and challenging disease and requires personal daily self-management decisions and skills. For that, it is necessary that patients have sufficient information…
Abstract
Diabetes is a chronic and challenging disease and requires personal daily self-management decisions and skills. For that, it is necessary that patients have sufficient information and health literacy to make the right choices and decisions in their self-care. Sequentially, health literacy has great relevance and influence in the daily lives of people with diabetes, since it encompasses the necessary skills to manage disease and health. Health literacy can be a relevant factor to consider when tackling diabetes self-management. Thus, for the prevention and treatment of diabetes, it is essential to promote individual health literacy. The quality of communication and patient-centred communication style seems to be a key aspect for the health literacy.
Details
Keywords
Purpose: The chapter explains how entrepreneurship can generate either subsistence, destructive, or peace-positive outcomes in the conflict zones of the Middle East and North…
Abstract
Purpose: The chapter explains how entrepreneurship can generate either subsistence, destructive, or peace-positive outcomes in the conflict zones of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Institutional arrangements are examined for how they can advance the latter.
Methodology/approach: Literatures from conflict resolution, development, economics, corporate social responsibility, entrepreneurship, and psychology are drawn on to frame the multiple roles of entrepreneurs in conflict zones, and understand the institutional arrangements that support peace-positive entrepreneurship.
Findings: The chapter indicates that formalization plays a major role in promoting peace-positive entrepreneurship while deterring destructive entrepreneurship. Conflict zone institutional arrangements that reestablish trust, can uphold the rule of law, and incentivize entrepreneurial activity aid in the formalization process. Special attention is paid to the inclusive nature of these activities, with the need to heal religious, tribal, and sectarian divides in the region, and promote the inclusion of all societal actors (namely, minorities and women) to engage in enterprising activities.
Social implications: The chapter outlines the importance for both foreign donors and local actors to understand the determinant role of institutions in conflict zone entrepreneurial ecosystems, promoting the role of institutional reform over and above the micro-level activity currently grabbing attention in the region.
Originality/value of the chapter: The chapter contrasts the singular narrative often presented on the positive role of conflict zone entrepreneurship in the informal sector, offering a paradoxical view on the topic, and arguing for formalization and institutional reform to remain aspirational among researchers and practitioners who commonly accept and promote the role of the informal sector in conflict zones.
Details
Keywords
As Africa strives to catch up with the rest of the world at the economic, political and sociocultural fronts, there is an increasing coalescence around the need for backward…
Abstract
As Africa strives to catch up with the rest of the world at the economic, political and sociocultural fronts, there is an increasing coalescence around the need for backward integration and the revival of traditional business management practices as enablers in the global war for economic dominance. Unfortunately, a significant consequence of colonial rule was the systematic denigration and portrayal of traditional African institutions and knowledge systems as inferior to those of the West. Although the negative depiction of the African worldview has been extensively challenged in the academy, changes in their perception and adoption have remained slow. The ‘Igbo Apprenticeship System’ (IAS), widely recognised as the largest business incubator platform in the world today, is a great testament to the sophistication and resilience of indigenous African business models and the need to scale up their impact as a strategic step towards the economic emancipation of the continent. However, one fundamental aspect of IAS's success story that is hardly ever mentioned in the extant literature is its approach to conflict management. Understandably, business by its nature is competitive and conflict-prone. Nonetheless, the Igbos appear to have successfully managed different types of conflicts associated with their traditional business model without recourse to western methods or processes. Using a conceptual approach, this chapter attempts to examine the efficacy of the conflict transformation mechanisms in the ‘Igbo Traditional Business School’ (I-TBS) against the background of emerging challenges in the twenty-first-century business environments in Africa and around the world. From the prism of the Conflict Transformation Theory, the chapter argues that I-TBS can serve as a vehicle for the economic growth of the continent, but it must be prepared to deal with ‘new’ conflicts and demands arising from within and outside of its ecosystem.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the opportunities for future organizational and leadership research presented by positioning dialogue related to the #MeToo movement within…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the opportunities for future organizational and leadership research presented by positioning dialogue related to the #MeToo movement within a peacebuilding agenda. The #MeToo movement raised public consciousness about the pervasiveness of sexual assault and harassment in schools, workplaces and other institutions by an international social media campaign. However, subsequent discussions are often charged with hostility and outrage that result in divisiveness within workplaces and other settings that can further silence about these issues. The authors argue a community peacebuilding framework can create space to have difficult conversations to further the efforts of the #MeToo movement.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors will discuss the implications of a peacebuilding framework by the discussion of a case study in a rural setting to highlight the ways in which community conversations necessary to further the goals of the #MeToo movement.
Findings
A grassroots community peacebuilding framework can present opportunities for victims, offenders, family members and the community to voice expressions harms experienced and to enable processes of accountability. Promotion of a positive relational peace includes opportunities for education, skill development and conflict resolution that are healing and transformative for individuals and communities.
Research limitations/implications
The systemic social and cultural change required to prevent sexual harassment and sexual assault must happen within face-to-face relationships within community dialogue.
Practical implications
The authors argue a critical relational peace lens offers an emancipatory framework that can initiate change from the bottom up to facilitate social healing and further the efforts of the #MeToo movement.
Social implications
Grassroots peacebuilding invites a relational peace established by dialogue within communities. This dialogue is often not easy but is recognized as essential to establishing trust, resolving conflict and fostering community integrity.
Originality/value
In this paper, the authors offer a community peacebuilding framework to provide skill development and a vision necessary to host difficult conversations to inform the next wave of the #MeToo movement.