scholarly journals The “Nested” Power of TNCs: Smallholders’ Biggest Challenge

2021 ◽  
pp. 227797602110307
Author(s):  
Christoph Scherrer

The plight of smallholder farmers vis-à-vis their highly concentrated input providers and distributors is well known. This article highlights the embeddedness of dyadic power relations within broader economic, political, and social institutions governing the relations between transnational corporations (TNCs) and smallholders. It provides a Gramscian gaze into the deep roots of TNCs in the neoliberal historic bloc and argues that challenging the power of the TNCs requires a comprehensive strategy that goes much beyond the capacity of smallholders. It requires a broad-based popular movement crossing the North-South divide.

2019 ◽  
pp. 3-11
Author(s):  
E. A. Rogozhin ◽  
A. V. Gorbatikov ◽  
Yu. V. Kharazova ◽  
M. Yu. Stepanova ◽  
J. Chen ◽  
...  

In the period from 2007 to 2017 complex geological and geophysical studies were carried out in the three largest flexural-rupture fault zones in the North-West Caucasus (Anapa, Akhtyrka and Moldavan). The micro-seismic sounding (MSM) was used as the main geophysical method. Studies with the help of MSM allowed us to identify the features of the deep structure of the earth’s crust in the study area and to associate them with specific tectonic structures on the surface.The binding was carried out by harmonizing the results of the MSM and the parameters of the section of the sedimentary cover and crustal boundaries according to the drilling data and the work previously performed by the reflected wave method (MOVZ). It was found that the Anapa flexure and longitudinal tectonic zones have clear deep roots, and also separate the pericline of the North-Western Caucasus from the Taman Peninsula and from the lowered blocks of the Northern slope of the folded system.Faults in the study area are divided into: (1) deep faults of the Caucasian stretch, penetrating into the lower crust and even to the upper mantle, and (2) near-surface faults, do not extend to the depths beyond the thickness of the sedimentary cover. The seismogenic role of these tectonic disturbances in the studied seismically active region has been determined.


Against common postcolonial and historical readings, this article argues that the rise of the primitive urge to dominate and exploit others is what drives Kurtz and Mustafa Sa’eed, the two main characters in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1902) and Tayeb Salih's Season of Migration to the North (1966), respectively, to act as primal fathers and thus commit violence on others. Adopting Freud’s theory on the primal-horde and notions like “hypnosis” and “suggestion,” this article reveals the universal theme of the primal father as disguised in an imperial mask in the two novels under discussion. The article argues that the recurrence of the primal father is manifest in narcissistic, paranoid, and sexually rapacious yet apparently gifted characters who act as the Nietzschean “superman.” It then sheds light on the infectious germ of the primal father as reactivated in the narrators of the novels, i.e. in the form of rival Oedipal sons in Charlie Marlow in Heart of Darkness and the anonymous narrator of Season of Migration to the North. Each narrator (Oedipal son) identifies with the respective protagonist (primal father), and both are fascinated yet repelled by such an affinity. This study is thus an attempt to justify the prevalent darkness haunting the human psyche by arguing that the germ of primitivism recurs in history and world cultures. Though it can lay dormant, it is ready to resurface anytime among the uncivilized or even “the civilized” who claim the white man’s burden. Therefore, this article provides an essential psychoanalytic and comparative intervention to understand the underlying motivations behind imperialism and master/slave power relations.


Author(s):  
I. Grishin

The publication represents the outcomes of the regular academic seminar “Modern problems of development” conducted by the IMEMO Center of the problems of development and modernization. The relationships between the Center and the Periphery, the prospects for the development of the North and the South in the light of Kondrat'ev's long cycles theory, new technological modes and transformation of social institutions are discussed. For the next ten years the major conflicts in the Middle East, Central Asia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Korean peninsula are forecasted.


1982 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-259

Economic Development and Social Institutions: S. JAYAPANDIAN: Convertibility Clause and Investment Climate—An IFMR Survey. D. ARUNA: Social Cost Benefit Analysis. LEON SWARTZBERG, Jr.: The North Indian Peasant Goes to Market. ARVIND K. SHARMA: Management Development in Public Enterprise. MAN SINGH DAS and PANOS D. BARDIS ( Eds.): The Family in Asia. BINOD C. AGRAWAL: Cultural Contours of Religion and Economics in Hindu Universe. RAGHUVIR SINHA: Family to Religion: A Theoretical Exposition of Basic Social Institutions. R. JAYARAMAN: Caste and Class : Dynamics of Inequality in Indian Society.


Author(s):  
Leslie E. Sponsel

Interest in the degradation of the “natural” environment, and the scientific, academic, and activist responses including ecology have developed in Western societies largely since the 1950s. Western ecology is a subfield of the biological sciences, and more broadly it is related to the environmental sciences, environmental studies, and environmentalism. These have all generated accumulating evidence about the ongoing ecocrises at the local, regional, and global levels, and this in turn requires remedial actions. Ecocrises are increasingly becoming an existential threat to the human species and the planet, especially the reality of global climate change. Secular approaches are absolutely indispensable and have made progress but have also proven insufficient to turn things around for the better. Spirituality pursued as an integral part of religion and also independently from it may help. Spirituality refers to mystical phenomena that include profoundly moving emotional experiences that can generate vision, meaning, purpose, and direction for an individual’s life in pursuit of the sacred. Spirituality appears to predate any religion, in the sense of formalized social institutions with a system of prescribed sacred texts, specialists, beliefs, values, and practices. Furthermore, while in recent decades affiliation with religion declined, in contrast interest in spirituality increased. Surveys indicate that individuals range from religious and spiritual, religious but not spiritual, spiritual but not religious, to neither religious nor spiritual. Ecology and spirituality are interrelated in various ways and degrees: spiritual ecology has grown exponentially since the 1990s, although it has deep roots. It is a vast, complex, diverse, and dynamic arena of intellectual and practical activities at the interfaces of religions and spiritualities with ecologies, environments, and environmentalisms. Spiritual ecology may help contribute to the reduction or resolution of many ecocrises.


2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-75
Author(s):  
Chris Yuill

The North Laine in Brighton provides a useful case study in exploring different ways of experiencing and imagining urban life. The area possess many distinctive street forms and supports counter-cultural lifestyles, which emphasise environmentalism and alternative forms of capitalism, such as cooperative and collective organisation of the workplace. Drawing on the ideas and theories of Henri Lefebvre the essay focuses on (1) the various social and historical process that have conditioned and influenced the development of the area and (2) the various social power relations that have both sustained the area, allowing it to develop into its current format, and in turn question its future. A visual methodological approach is used to present the data and to convey the distinctive aesthetic of The North Laine.


2021 ◽  
pp. 111-129
Author(s):  
Е.Б. БЕСОЛОВА

В статье анализируется уникальный этнографический материал по родильной обрядности осетин, собранный на юге и севере Осетии и опубликованный Е.Г. Пчели­ной в статье «Родильные обычаи у осетин». Статья имеет большое познавательное и научное значение, потому что вопросы социализации рассматриваются в ней сквозь призму этнографии, археологии, языкознания и фольклористики, и данный подход все­сторонне высвечивает фундаментальные ценности духовной культуры осетин. Изы­скания передают традиционные нормы, социокультурный опыт, нравственные уста­новки, моральные принципы, психический склад и др., одним словом, этнокультурное наследие осетин первой половины прошлого века. Пчелина зафиксировала составля­ющие осетинской культуры, как локальные, так и универсальные, обусловливавшие проблемы, лежавшие в процессе социализации. В публикации проводится мысль, что семейно-бытовые обряды и обычаи, так же, как и родильная обрядность, складыва­лись согласно конкретным экономическим условиям и представляли собой комплекс ра­циональных и религиозно-магических способов, в которых закрепилась патриархаль­ность осетинского общества. Что же касается первобытных магических обрядовых актов-действ, то утверждается четкая идея о вере в сверхъестественные силы и за­висимость судьбы горца от влияния этих сил. Пчелина раскрывает соционорматив­ные нормы, корни которых кроятся в древнейших социальных институтах осетин; описывает этические нормы внутри семьи, родственного коллектива и этнического сообщества; передает символический смысл родильной обрядности; сохраняет сцена­рии претерпевших трансформацию бытующих и ныне у осетин обрядов и обычаев, а также ушедших в прошлое. Впечатляют имеющиеся в работе этнографа выявленные локальные различия в родильной обрядности осетин, но и специфически универсаль­ные, характерные и для других народов Северного Кавказа. The article analyzes the unique ethnographic material on the Ossetian maternity rituals, collected in the south and north of Ossetia and published by E.G. Pchelina. The article is of great cognitive and scientific importance, because the issues of socialization are considered in it through the prism of ethnography, archeology, linguistics and folkloristics, and this approach comprehensively highlights the fundamental values of the spiritual culture of the Ossetians. Researches convey traditional norms, socio-cultural experience, moral attitudes, moral principles, mental makeup, etc., in a word, the ethnocultural heritage of the Ossetians of the first half of the last century. Pchelina recorded the components of the Ossetian culture, both local and universal, which caused the problems that lay in the process of socialization. The publication suggests that family and household rituals and customs, as well as childbirth rituals, evolved according to specific economic conditions and represented a complex of rational and religious-magical ways in which the patriarchal nature of Ossetian society was entrenched. As for the primitive magical ritual acts-actions, a clear idea of belief in supernatural forces and the dependence of the Highlander’s fate on the influence of these forces is affirmed. E.G. Pchelina reveals social norms, the roots of which lie in the most ancient social institutions of the Ossetians; describes ethical norms within the family, kindred community and ethnic community; conveys the symbolic meaning of childbirth rituals; preserves the scenarios of the rituals and customs that have undergone transformation and are nowadays among the Ossetians, as well as those that have gone into the past. The local differences in the Ossetian maternity rituals, which are found in the ethnographer’s work, are impressive, but also specifically universal, characteristic of other peoples of the North Caucasus.


2019 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 446-456
Author(s):  
Mandla Mfundo Masuku ◽  
Mokgadi Patience Molope

In South Africa, community members have the constitutional right to partake in local governance and the local municipal council has the constitutional mandate to facilitate community participation. Qualitative research was used to assess the impact of power relations on community participation in the Mahikeng Local Municipality. The study findings indicate that power differentials contributed to the abandonment of the legislative provisions in the Mahikeng Local Municipality in the North-West Province of South Africa. Among other things, this paper recommends finalisation of the draft public participation framework. The framework should clearly identify and define the roles of the community, elected councillors and traditional authorities. The paper recommends the development of a strategy that includes clear and comprehensive public participation guidelines, protocols and processes to facilitate implementation of the framework. In consultation with the community, a detailed community participation schedule must be developed, implemented and continuously monitored and evaluated.


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