The Struggle for Life

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 133-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Víctor M. Toledo ◽  
David Garrido ◽  
Narciso Barrera-Bassols
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Environmental Conflicts ◽  
Social Fabric ◽  
Resistance Movements ◽  
The Social ◽  
Indigenous Territories ◽  
The Government

The global expansion of the neoliberal model is most forcefully expressed in the processes of social, cultural, and environmental predation undertaken by corporations in the so-called Global South. Three pertinent processes are taking place in Mexico: (1) an increase in socio-environmental conflicts, mainly in rural areas and in predominantly indigenous territories; (2) the proliferation of citizen resistance of an essentially communal, municipal, or micro-regional nature; and (3) increased violence against these resistance movements by the government across its three levels (federal, state, and municipal) in complicity (or not) with companies and corporations that are trying to implement projects that damage natural resources, affect the quality of the environment, and destroy cultures and the social fabric. La expansión mundial del modelo neoliberal se expresa con mayor fuerza en los procesos de depredación ecológica, social y cultural que las corporaciones realizan en el llamado Sur Global. Tres procesos de la realidad mexicana ilustran lo anterior: (1) el creciente aumento de los conflictos socio-ambientales, principalmente en las áreas rurales y predominantemente en los territorios indígenas; (2) la multiplicación de las resistencias ciudadanas, esencialmente de carácter comunitario, municipal o micro-regional; y (3) el aumento de la violencia contra esos movimientos de resistencia, llevados a cabo por gobiernos en sus tres niveles (federal, estatal y municipal) en complicidad (o no) con las empresas y corporaciones que intentan implementar proyectos que dilapidan los recursos naturales y/o la calidad del ambiente y que provocan destrucción de culturas y tejido social.

scholarly journals Opportunities and Challenges of Economic Development in Malaysia’s Rural Areas

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. h1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
ELLFRELSTERN ANAK EDIRIN
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Transport Infrastructure ◽  
Development Economic ◽  
Social Stability ◽  
The Social

Rural areas play traditionally important role for our economy as well maintaining social stability. Most of the development is entirely dependent on natural resources in the area which is specialized in a limited number of industries such as agriculture, livestock, forestry, fisheries and local tourism. People that live in rural areas have fewer choices in the social and economic terms. They are facing many problems such as low income, unemployment, low quality of social services like education and healthcare. In addition, remoteness from major urban centres is also one of the problems which is implying the need for well-developed transport infrastructure to support economic development. As stated in the Eleventh Malaysia Plan, the Malaysian Government is committed to ensuring equitable opportunities for all segments of society.Keywords: Development, economic, Eleventh Malaysia Plan, rural

scholarly journals Improving maternal health services through social accountability interventions in Nepal: an analytical review of existing literature

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adweeti Nepal ◽  
Santa Kumar Dangol ◽  
Anke van der Kwaak
Keyword(s):  
Maternal Health ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Health System ◽  
Maternal Health Services ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Social Accountability ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background The persistent quality gap in maternal health services in Nepal has resulted in poor maternal health outcomes. Accordingly, the Government of Nepal (GoN) has placed emphasis on responsive and accountable maternal health services and initiated social accountability interventions as a strategical approach simultaneously. This review critically explores the social accountability interventions in maternal health services in Nepal and its outcomes by analyzing existing evidence to contribute to the informed policy formulation process. Methods A literature review and desk study undertaken between December 2018 and May 2019. An adapted framework of social accountability by Lodenstein et al. was used for critical analysis of the existing literature between January 2000 and May 2019 from Nepal and other low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) that have similar operational context to Nepal. The literature was searched and extracted from database such as PubMed and ScienceDirect, and web search engines such as Google Scholar using defined keywords. Results The study found various social accountability interventions that have been initiated by GoN and external development partners in maternal health services in Nepal. Evidence from Nepal and other LMICs showed that the social accountability interventions improved the quality of maternal health services by improving health system responsiveness, enhancing community ownership, addressing inequalities and enabling the community to influence the policy decision-making process. Strong gender norms, caste-hierarchy system, socio-political and economic context and weak enforceability mechanism in the health system are found to be the major contextual factors influencing community engagement in social accountability interventions in Nepal. Conclusions Social accountability interventions have potential to improve the quality of maternal health services in Nepal. The critical factor for successful outcomes in maternal health services is quality implementation of interventions. Similarly, continuous effort is needed from policymakers to strengthen monitoring and regulatory mechanism of the health system and decentralization process, to improve access to the information and to establish proper complaints and feedback system from the community to ensure the effectiveness and sustainability of the interventions. Furthermore, more study needs to be conducted to evaluate the impact of the existing social accountability interventions in improving maternal health services in Nepal.

“Thinking the Unthinkable”: The Prospect of Compulsory Sterilization in India

1977 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meredith Minkler
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Birth Rate ◽  
Population Policy ◽  
Policy Statement ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
The Social ◽  
Compulsory Sterilization ◽  
The Government ◽  
Demographic Impact ◽  
Medical Infrastructure

The National Population Policy Statement adopted by the Government of India in April 1976 gave states the mandate to adopt coercive and compulsory sterilization measures toward the end of bringing under control the nation's massive population growth. Many states have since adopted stringent measures which penalize couples having three or more children, and four states additionally have proposed legislation for compulsory sterilization. While the demographic impact of compulsory sterilization after the third child is undisputed, the administrative feasibility of such an undertaking has been widely questioned, particularly in light of the inadequacy of India's medical infrastructure in the rural areas. Critics further have raised questions concerning the social and ethical implications of compulsory sterilization and of measures which penalize the poor through means which may have adverse effects on their health and welfare. Finally, opponents of the new sterilization measures have suggested that they divert attention from the need for more basic changes in the nation's economic and social structure. While the need for bringing down India's continued high birth rate is widely recognized, alternative population measures—e.g. increased abortion facilities and an enforcement of the raised age at marriage-have been advocated in lieu of the compulsory sterilization measures currently being proposed.

scholarly journals How Unique is "E-stonia"? A Cross-Country Comparison of E-Services Usage in Europe

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabian Stephany
Keyword(s):  
Role Model ◽  
Young Population ◽  
Baltic State ◽  
Digital Government ◽  
Individual Privacy ◽  
The Social ◽  
User Data ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
The Government

User data fuel the digital economy, while individual privacy is at stake. Governments react differently to this challenge. Estonia, a small Baltic state, has become a role model for the renewal of the social contract in times of big data (hence, often ironically referred to as "E-stonia"). While e-governance usage has been growing in many parts of Europe during the last ten years, some regions are lagging behind. The Estonian example suggests that online governance is most accepted in a small state, with a young population, trustworthy institutions and the need of technological renewal. This work examines the development of e-governance usage (citizens interacting digitally with the government) during the last decade in Europe from a comprehensive cross-country perspective: Size, age and trust are relevant for the usage of digital government services in Europe. However, the quality of past communication infrastructure is not related to e-governance popularity.

scholarly journals Itako on screen

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 76
Author(s):  
Ilaria Vecchi
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Visual Ethnography ◽  
Social Fabric ◽  
The North ◽  
Fieldwork Experience ◽  
The Social ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Critical Religion ◽  
Visual Methodology ◽  
North Eastern Part

This article is based on my fieldwork with Itako shamans in the north-eastern part of Japan. The progressive modernisation of Japan at the expense of rural areas has also affected Tohoku, resulting in the ageing of the social fabric of its communities. Within this context, this article focusses on traditional and established activities practised by the blind female Itako shamans, who are going through a process of adaptation. Therefore, the article is concerned with this process and, in particular, on the methodology applied before and during my fieldwork experience of spending time, observing, having conversations, and filming these women in their everyday life. In the attempt to understand and document these shamans, I consider the use of visual ethnographic methods for understanding the changing aspects and their implications on the life of these women. While doing this, I also considered their communities and the area in which they live. I analyse this process by blending different methodologies such as visual methodology and digital visual ethnography and the critical religion approach proposed by Fitzgerald (2000). In addition, the paper will describe how I applied this methodology to provide a fresh look at these women and their daily activity.

The Sovereign State v Foucault: Law and Disciplinary Power

2000 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carole Smith
Keyword(s):  
Expert Knowledge ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Sovereign Power ◽  
Disciplinary Power ◽  
Sovereign State ◽  
Social Fabric ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government ◽  
And Control ◽  
Foucauldian Analysis

A Foucauldian analysis of discourse and power relations suggests that law and the juridical field have lost their pre-eminent role in government via the delegated exercise of sovereign power. According to Foucault, the government of a population is achieved through the wide dispersal of technologies of power which are relatively invisible and which function in discursive sites and practices throughout the social fabric. Expert knowledge occupies a privileged position in government and its essentially discretionary and norm-governed judgements infiltrate and colonise previous sites of power. This paper sets out to challenge a Foucauldian view that principled law has ceded its power and authority to the disciplinary sciences and their expert practitioners. It argues, with particular reference to case law on sterilisation and caesarean sections, that law and the juridical field operate to manipulate and control expert knowledge to their own ends. In so doing, law continually exercises and re-affirms its power as part of the sovereign state. Far from acting, as Foucault suggests, to provide a legitimating gloss on the subversive operations of technologies of power, law turns the tables and itself operates a form of surveillance over the norm-governed exercise of expert knowledge.

Population, Desertification, and Migration

1994 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 110-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur H. Westing
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Displaced Persons ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Conflict Situations ◽  
The Social ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Population Controls ◽  
Human Carrying Capacity ◽  
Human Displacement

It is noted that the number of more or less permanently displaced persons throughout the world (now of the order of 1% of the total human population) continues to increase at a rate of approximately 3 millions per year; the situation in Africa is especially grave, with the number of displaced persons there (now of the order of 3% of the African population), continuing to increase at a rate of approximately 1.5 million per year. Human displacement — which can be seen to originate largely in rural areas — results primarily from one or more of three factors, namely escape from persecution, escape from military activities, or escape from inadequate means of subsistence. A number of examples from Africa are provided of the social and political consequences of human displacement, with emphasis on conflict situations at the sites of relocation.It is further noted that the numbers of displaced persons continue to grow relentlessly despite there being no discernible rise in persecution or military activities, and despite the long-sustained ameliorative efforts and financial assistance by intergovernmental agencies and others.It is accordingly suggested that the major cause of the continuing increase in the numbers of displaced persons is an ever-growing imbalance between population numbers and the human carrying capacity of the land. Population increases lead to smaller per caput natural resource bases, a predicament exacerbated by over-use — and thus degradation — of the land and its natural resources. In the arid and semi-arid regions of Africa, over-use of the land most often takes the form of overgrazing, leading to land degradation that is severe enough to be referred to as desertification. It is concluded that to achieve sustainable utilization of the land and its natural resources will necessitate the integrated attainment of environmental security and societal security — the latter inter alia requiring participatory governance, non-violent means of conflict resolution, and especially population controls.

Falling inequality will help China 'rebalance' economy

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
National Bureau ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
Hukou Reform ◽  
The Government ◽  
People's Congress ◽  
Opinion Polls ◽  
Official Corruption

Subject Inequality in China. Significance 'Income distribution' is the social issue of greatest concern to the Chinese public, according to opinion polls by Xinhua and the People's Daily ahead of the National People's Congress (NPC) currently underway in Beijing. However, the latest data from China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicate, paradoxically, that income inequality has actually narrowed for six successive years. Impacts Though falling, inequality is still high enough to weaken political stability. Greater equality will not earn the government as much popular support as cracking down on official corruption and conspicuous consumption. Urbanisation and household registration (hukou) reform will redress imbalances that have disadvantaged people from rural areas.

Monitoring Quality in a Federal State with Shared Powers in Healthcare: The Case of Belgium

2011 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 413-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Fornaciari ◽  
Arthur Vleugels ◽  
Stefaan Callens ◽  
Kristof Eeckloo
Keyword(s):  
Healthcare System ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Quality Of Healthcare ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Flemish Community ◽  
The Government ◽  
Regulatory Powers ◽  
Monitoring Quality

AbstractThe Belgian healthcare system consists of a complex of more or less autonomous groups of healthcare providers. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that the fundamental right to qualitative healthcare is secured through the services they provide. In Belgium, the regulatory powers in healthcare are divided between the federal state and the three communities. Both levels, within their area of competence, monitor the quality of healthcare services. Unique to the Belgian healthcare system is that the government that providers are accountable to is not always the same as the government that is competent to set the criteria. The goal of this article is to provide an overview of the main mechanisms that are used by the federal government and the government of the Flemish community to monitor healthcare quality in hospitals. The Flemish community is Belgian’s largest community (6.2 million inhabitants). The overview is followed by a critical analysis of the dual system of quality monitoring.

scholarly journals THE APPLICATION OF THE BALANCE PRINCIPAL IN THE NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN MARINE AND COASTAL AREAS

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 285
Author(s):  
Jantje Tjiptabudy
Keyword(s):  
Social Welfare ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Natural Resources Management ◽  
Conceptual Approach ◽  
Resources Management ◽  
Balance Principle ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government ◽  
Government Authority

This research aims to discuss the implementation of balance principle of marine and coastal resources management.  The type of this research is a normative research by way of applying the provisions and conceptual approach. The result of the research shows that the government authority is more dominant than protect the interest of adat law society. In the implementation of balance principle with regards to the coastal and natural resources management has not yet fully provided the positive impact for the social welfare. Besides, both parties have different concept of balance principle, so that it is incompatible with the substance and interpretation in its implementation. Penelitian ini bertujuan mengkaji penerapan asas keseimbangan dalam pengelolaan sumberdaya alam laut dan pesisir. Jenis Penelitian ini adalah normatif dengan menggunakan pendekatan perundang-undangan dan pendekatan konsep. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa kewenangan pemerintah lebih dominan dalam pengelolaan sumber daya alam, namun kurang memberikan perlindungan terhadap kepentingan masyarakat hukum adat. Penerapan prinsip keseimbangan dalam pengelolaan sumberdaya alam di wilayah laut dan pesisir belum sepenuhnya memberikan pengaruh positif bagi kesejahteraan masyarakat. Selain itu, kedua belah pihak mempunyai konsep yang berbeda tentang prinsip keseimbangan sehingga dalam penerapannya belum sesuai dengan makna atau hakekatnya.

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