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Natural resource management decisions are complicated by multiple property rights, management objectives, and stakeholders with varying degrees of influence over the decision making process. Underlying institutional factors will give certain stakeholders a greater level of influence over the policy outcome. How a stakeholder uses their influence can greatly effect the decision making process. We utilized the Legal Institutional Analysis Model to account for stakeholdersʼ political power in the decision making process. We then extended the use of this model by integrating concepts from decision analysis and public choice economics into a single, comprehensive approach called Disparate Stakeholder Management. We demonstrate this new approach in this report through a case study concerning elk and bison management in the Southern Greater Yellowstone Area.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how an organized framework for risk management called Risk Navigator SRM^© can be practically applied to common risk management problems.

The program makes complex risk principles easier to understand and access by linking together disparate and difficult risk management concepts into a single strategic risk management (SRM) framework. The strategic framework is organized into ten steps in order to organize and develop a practical and applied risk management plan. This paper demonstrates the SRM process in a crop insurance example. A simple version of the program, called Risk Navigator Lite^©, is also applied to crop insurance to demonstrate how robust the framework is for adaptation to field settings, where data may be limited or where decision makers might have limited capacity to understand complicated principles necessary for risk management.

This manuscript elaborates upon how the SRM process may be effectively implemented by agricultural producers. The information herein should also help students of risk management better comprehend how to apply what they learn.

The contribution of Risk Navigator is to make underused, sophisticated risk management concepts and tools more available to farm and ranch managers, and others, by putting them into a framework that is both easy to use and comprehensive.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the efficiency of current subsidized crop insurance products (SCIPs) in Miyun county, in northern China, by testing the existence of adverse selection.

The authors examine the efficiency of SCIPs from a farmers' point of view by testing the existence of adverse selection using nonparametric tests and logit regression on data from individual interviews in Miyun County. Due to adverse selection, producers with more risk should be more likely to buy crop insurance in pursuit of the benefits from SCIPs.

However, both methods conclude no existence of adverse selection, which indicates that the programs are inefficient. This may not be surprising based on the issues of concern cited above. The opportunities and challenges of a growing interest in weather index insurance are discussed toward the end of the paper.

This paper weaves together literature on traditional and weather index insurance, along with primary data from a survey, to examine the pros and cons of each type of insurance. Implications for policy makers are to compare the tradeoffs between concerns of the two types of insurance examined here, traditional and weather index insurance. Ultimately, the political goals might best determine which option is most desirable.

The integration of religion and democracy in the Kuwait National Assembly (KNA) produced definitions of democracy distinct from others in the region as well as from Kuwait's own national history. The uniqueness of Kuwait's democracy in the Arabian Peninsula is primarily due to the establishment of its parliament and constitution, which make it a constitutional rather than an absolute monarchy. The development of Kuwait's democracy relied heavily on the construction of its monumental national assembly building, designed to mix symbols of democracy as understood in Western discourse (see, for instance, the columniation inspired by the Greek Pantheon) with images inspired by local elements (like the tent): this combination allows the building to produce an image of democracy and independence that resonates with local as well as international populations.

The initial plan for the development of a national assembly building in Kuwait included a mosque that would have become part of the assembly complex. The mosque building was later replaced by a prayer hall inside the KNA building, and at the same time a decision to build a state mosque in a different location within the old city of Kuwait was confirmed. The separation of the two structures can be read, at first glance, as an important symbolic action expressing the separation of the church and state; yet an in-depth analysis of the KNA's design suggests different conclusions. This chapter explores how the design of the KNA building is apparently rooted in universal laws of spirituality and religion; on a related note, the tent-inspired building reveals a reliance on ancient religious traditions and proportions.

This paper aims to understand the perception of smallholder farmers on climate change, identify major livestock related climate change adaptation (CCA) strategies and their determinants in selected neighboring districts of Tigray and Amhara regions of Ethiopia.

A total of 416 household heads were involved in a questionnaire survey using a multistage sampling approach. To understand the socio-economic factors that influence farmers’ perception on climate change (CC) and/or variability, a binary logit model was used. Multinomial logit model was used to identify the determinants of smallholder farmers’ choices of adaptation strategies.

Milk reduction, weight loss, feed shortage and frequent animal disease outbreak were indicated as major impacts of CC on livestock production. About 86.2% of the farmers’ exercise CCA measures where livestock health care and management (25%), followed by livelihood diversification (21.5%) and shifting and diversification of livestock species (20.9%) were the top three adaptation measures implemented. Education, knowledge on CCA strategies, access to veterinary service and extension, market access, annual income, non-farm income, total livestock unit, sex of household head and household size were the major determinant factors to farmers’ choice of CCA.

Concerned authorities working in CC related sectors should give due attention to improve smallholder farmers’ access to extension and veterinary services, market access and climate information to enhance their adaptive capacity to CC impacts. In addition, incorporating climate change awareness trainings into the existing extension packages is crucial to enhance the awareness of farmers on climate change and implement appropriate adaptation strategies. Moreover, it is very essential to provide appropriate herd management and marketing strategy based on the production system to avoid the significant price reduction during drought periods.

Concerned authorities working in CC related sectors should give due attention to improve smallholder farmers’ access to extension and veterinary services, market access and climate information to enhance their adaptive capacity to CC impacts. In addition, incorporating climate change awareness trainings into the existing extension packages is crucial to implement appropriate adaptation strategies. Moreover, it is very essential to provide appropriate herd management and marketing strategy based on the production system to avoid the significant price reduction during drought periods.

This research is focused on smallholder crop-livestock farmers, livestock-based CCASs and presents the determinant factors to their choice of adaptation.

Whereas a combination of unique historical conditions and a specific set of public policies in the United States enabled labor to significantly increase its relative power during the quarter century following World War II, this halcyon period for labor was followed by a period of over two decades during which labor's relative status and power declined. This paper explores this reversal of fortunes.

Although the current plight of labor has been extensively studied within the discipline of economics, these studies have typically focused upon specific aspects of labor's declining status. In this study, labor's plight is examined within the larger context of the institutions and dynamics of capitalism as a socio‐economic system. Within this broadened context, an exploration is made of whether the sustained period of progress for American labor set in motion the creation of forces that eventually led to reversal.

Labor's relative successes in the quarter century following World War II encouraged behavior that enabled the interests of capital to politically legitimate policies that, combined with trends in international trade and technology, served to decrease the relative power and welfare of labor.

Further research is needed to determine whether there are other instances of a dynamic whereby labor's successes set in motion forces that lead to reversal.

This study emphasizes the importance of a broaden institutional focus for grasping important economic changes in society.