scholarly journals Reinterpreting energy poverty in Zimbabwe: a scalar perspective

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Fungisai Chipango
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
The State ◽  
Energy Poverty ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Household Level ◽  
Unequal Access ◽  
The Government ◽  
Relational Interactions

Unequal access to electricity has negatively impacted rural households in Zimbabwe. Energy poverty and its impact cannot be understood only at rural household level, but involve the local community, the government, the nature of the state and international relations. The state, non-state and political actors operate across scales and have relational interactions that help to explain inequality in access to energy. Through a qualitative study of Buhera District, Ward 24 and its scalar political ecology, I explain inequalities of access through actor roles and differential power, also finding that patriarchal gender relations play a critical role in socially producing scale in the household. Scalar relations determine policy decisions that are felt by households denied access to electricity.

Re-Territorialising Governance and the State

2017 ◽  
pp. 173-213
Author(s):  
Shefali Virkar
Keyword(s):  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
The State ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
New Information ◽  
Central Case ◽  
Indian State ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
The Government ◽  
Platform System

Attracted by the new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), political actors across the world have adopted computer-based systems for use in government as a means of reforming inefficiencies in public administration. This book chapter critically examines the convergent use of the new digital technologies and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) within the reform of government administration, through the in-depth examination of a central case study focused around a collaboration between the government of the Indian state of Karnataka and the non-profit eGovernments Foundation, from 2002 to 2006; a partnership which sought to reform existing methods of property taxation via the establishment of an online platform-system across the municipalities of 56 towns and cities within the state. The research analyses prevailing actor behaviour and interactions, their impact on the interplay of local contingencies and external influences shaping project implementation, and the disjunctions in these relationships which inhibit the effective exploitation of ICTs within the given context.

scholarly journals CONFLICT OF FOREST RESOURCES AND ECOLOGICAL ADAPTATION STRATEGY

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (15) ◽  
pp. 1483-1490
Author(s):  
Rita Rahmawati ◽  
Arya Hadi Dharmawan ◽  
Rilus Kinseng ◽  
Dudung Darusman
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Adaptation Strategy ◽  
Forest Resources ◽  
The State ◽  
Ecological Adaptation ◽  
Cultural Tradition ◽  
Resource Conflicts ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Right

This study is focused on the adaptation strategy of the local community who has the problem of land rights. In Indonesia, all natural resources are subject to control and to manage by the state. As a ruler of the resources, the Government published any policy which provided revenue for the state, such as giving the right to industrial extraction of logging companies in the forest area. Whereas, many communities' lives depend on the forest. Forest resources are important for the Indonesian economy, as well as for the livelihood of communities who depend on the forest. It finds themselves in situations of conflict. The aim of the study is to analyse adaptation strategy of local community which is in the forest resource conflicts. The study used mix methods. A qualitative method with a focus on ecological adaptation and livelihood strategy, while the quantitative approach stresses defining the meaning of findings or facts that are deconstructed based on the subjective perspective of the researcher. The research held in two site, namely Sungai Utik Forest which Dayak Iban Community and Halimun Salak Mountain National Park which Kasepuhan community live. The result of the research showed that conflict of the forest resources have improved the adaptation strategy of the local community. Although various problems is already attacking them, local community still have loyalty to their tradition. They have own regulation to manage and utilize land, especially for managing forest and rice planting. Faithfulness in carrying this cultural tradition out are their ecological adaptation strategy. Keywords: Adaptation Strategy, Ecological Adaptation, Conflict of Forest Resources, Dayak Iban Community, Kasepuhan Community

The Political Economy of Deficit Spending: A Cross Comparison of Industrialized Democracies, 1955–90

1996 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
S D Hahm
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Work ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Industrialized Democracies ◽  
Parliamentary Systems ◽  
The Government ◽  
Presidential Systems

The postwar deficit experiences of nine industrialized democracies are analyzed. The relative importance of three of the primary influences on a country's deficit which have been suggested in the literature: (1) the state of the country's economy, (2) the ‘left – right’ ideology of the party in power, and (3) the strength of the party in power (as advanced by Roubini and Sachs) are examined. The author also introduces and tests the importance of an additional potential influence based on institutional structure in which presidential, ‘stable’ parliamentary, and ‘unstable’ parliamentary systems are seen to provide different incentives regarding the deficit for key political actors. The arguments are tested on a pooled time-series cross-sectional data set involving two presidential systems (France and the United States), four relatively stable parliamentary systems (Canada, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom), and three relatively unstable parliamentary systems (Denmark, Italy, and the Netherlands). The findings include: (a) strong effects of the state of a nation's economy on its deficit; (b) little systematic relationship between the ideology of the party in power and its deficit; and (c) the observation that increased control of the government leads to lower deficits in unstable parliamentary systems but larger deficits in presidential systems, with stable parliamentary systems serving as an intermediate case. The findings are compared both with the author's theoretical refinement and with recent theoretical and empirical work by Roubini and Sachs.

RELIGION AFTER THE STATE: SECULAR SOTERIOLOGIES AT THE BIRTH OF SOUTH SUDAN

2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 447-469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noah Salomon
Keyword(s):  
Religious Diversity ◽  
South Sudan ◽  
The State ◽  
Islamic Republic ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
South Sudanese ◽  
The Government ◽  
Secular State

AbstractThis article examines South Sudan's experiment in creating a secular state out of the ashes of the professedly Islamic republic from which it seceded in 2011. South Sudanese political actors presented secularism as a means of redeeming the nation from decades of religious excess in which the government conflated political imperative with theological ambition, claiming to save the nation from its woes through the unifying force of Islam. However, secularism as an alternative soteriology—one that contended that it is only through political nonalignment in regards to religion that the public could be saved from the problems that plagued its predecessor—quickly became an object of contention itself, read by many South Sudanese to be anything but neutral. This article interrogates the secular promise of mediating religious diversity through exploring the tensions that have arisen in its fulfillment at the birth of the world's newest republic.

scholarly journals Pravni ukrepi občin v času razglašene epidemije covida-19 z vidika varnosti v lokalnih skupnostih

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bojan Tičar ◽  
◽  
Iztok Rakar ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Local Community ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
The State ◽  
Legal Regulations ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Way

New virus SARS-CoV-2 (hereinafter COVID-19) has reached the Republic of Slovenia in February 2020. On March 12th, 2020, the state has announced the epidemic. In this context, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia began to adopt different measures to protect the population and stop spreading the virus COVID-19. All local communities had to act according to the government’s decisions. In this contribution, we present an analysis of some cases and praxis in local communities. We have analysed some actions of local authorities (mayors and local councils) in the context of fighting against the spread of the virus COVID-19 among the local population. The analysis also includes an overview of local legal regulations and activities of local security authorities (local-community wardens and local community inspectorates) in the fight against the spreading of the COVID-19 virus. The minority of Slovenian communities have adopted some »special lock-down measures«. The way that these activities were legally processed is shown in the last part of this contribution.

scholarly journals Pursuing Self-determined Responses to Climate Change in the Cook Islands: Exploring the Interface between Government Organisational Directive and Local Community Engagement with Climate Change Adaptation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Anabel Lusk
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Political Ecology ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Community Empowerment ◽  
Ecological Resilience ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Institutional Setting ◽  
Cook Islands ◽  
Indigenous Knowledges ◽  
The Government

<p>Small island communities are considered to be amongst the most ‘at-risk’ populations in the world to the impacts of climate change. Global, regional and national entities have framed the plight of Pacific communities through climate change discourses. This study contributes to an emerging line of inquiry that investigates how applying the concepts of ‘vulnerability’ and ‘resilience’ to frame communities might contribute to community empowerment, or marginalisation. Focused on the institutional setting of the ‘Strengthening the Resilience of our Islands and our Communities to Climate Change Programme’ (SRIC Programme), this thesis explores the engagement between government organisations of the Cook Islands and communities of Aitutaki to form adaptation responses to climate change.  Qualitative methodologies coupled with Pasifika methodologies provide a culturally responsive approach to the research. This approach accommodated local narratives and indigenous knowledges throughout the study. The findings from semi-structured interviews suggest that Cook Islands government organisations increasingly frame Aitutaki communities through the concept of ‘resilience’. Interviews with community representatives suggest that Aitutaki communities use indigenous knowledges to make sense of changes in their local environment, without always understanding the science-based notions of climate change. Engagement approaches such as ‘knowledge sharing’, could offer a pathway to increasing community autonomy and confidence in climate change discussions, whilst also contributing to enhancing socio-ecological resilience. To maintain a ‘critical’ political ecology approach, governmentality theory was used to explain how power relations might be embedded in resilience discourse. Insight is offered into how the government-community relationship could enable ‘technologies of government’ as the SRIC Programme progresses. It is suggested that the social conditions of Aitutaki communities could pose sites of resistance to governmentality. Recently implemented, the SRIC Programme demonstrates potential for supporting self-determined responses to climate change and enhancing socio-ecological resilience in Aitutaki.</p>

scholarly journals The Political Ecology of Chinese Large Dams in Cambodia: Implications, Challenges and Lessons Learnt from the Kamchay Dam

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuseppina Siciliano ◽  
Frauke Urban ◽  
May Tan-Mullins ◽  
Lonn Pichdara ◽  
Sour Kim
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Foreign Investment ◽  
The Political ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Energy Poverty ◽  
Large Dams ◽  
The Government ◽  
Institutional Actors ◽  
Reducing Energy

Given the opportunities offered by foreign investment in energy infrastructure mostly by Chinese firms, the Government of Cambodia is giving high priority to developing hydropower resources for reducing energy poverty and powering economic growth. Using a &ldquo;Political ecology of the Asian drivers&rdquo; framework, this paper assesses China&rsquo;s involvement in the development of large dams&rsquo; in Cambodia and its impacts on the access of natural resources such as water and energy by dam builders, local communities and the government. This analysis is based on 61 interviews and 10 focus group discussions with affected communities, institutional actors, Chinese dam builders and financiers in relation to the first large Chinese dam built in Cambodia, the Kamchay dam. Based on the results of the analysis this paper makes recommendations on how to improve the planning, implementation and governance of large dams to ensure that the dams&rsquo; benefits are shared more equally.

Education, neurosis and exception: What really matters in education during/beyond the pandemic?

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Menezes ◽  
Isabel Menezes ◽  
Norberto Ribeiro
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
School Principals ◽  
The State ◽  
State Of Exception ◽  
Daily Newspaper ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Economic Issues ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Government

This study examines newspaper articles about education published in a reference daily newspaper in Portugal during the measure taken to close schools as a way of containing the COVID-19 epidemic. During this three-month period, a total of 105 news items were collected involving several educational and political actors: government representatives from the areas of education, health and work, parents, teachers, school principals, union representatives and, on rare occasions, even students. A qualitative analysis of these news items based on thematic analysis revealed themes that appear at the core of schools – i.e. that are essential and should be resumed as soon as possible. Amid the ‘state of exception’, ‘neurotic citizenship’ is reinforced and managed by the government. Within this context, participation and inclusion seem to disappear from the discourse of education and are captured by work and economic issues that go beyond education itself.

scholarly journals Forest Management Based on Local Culture of Dayak Kotabaru in the Perspective of Customary Law for a Sustainable Future and Prosperity of the Local Community

Resources ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ifrani ◽  
Abby ◽  
Barkatullah ◽  
Nurhayati ◽  
Said
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Sustainable Forest Management ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
Local Culture ◽  
The Government ◽  
Future Policy

Forest management in Indonesia has not yet been able to realize the constitutional mandate which was followed by uncontrolled forest destruction. Implementing a good forest government system is necessary. Therefore, it is essential to give indigenous peoples the authority to play a more critical role in forest management in the future. This study aims to find a form of sustainable forest management and sanctions for the perpetrators of forest destruction based on Dayak Kotabaru’s indigenous people. This study uses the normative juridical method that focuses on data in the form of primary, secondary, and tertiary legal materials. While the objectives of this study are to review and describe the problems due to the absence of legal protection for customary rights, we also examine the extent of forest management by the Dayak Kotabaru’s customary law and seek to formulate forest management solutions in Indonesia based on the local culture as a prescriptive future policy. The results of this study indicate that a large amount of permits, given by the government to the private sector for forests in possession of indigenous peoples, are overlapping and as a result have increasingly marginalized the indigenous community and acted as a drawback to development. Forest management through the local culture, such as the Bera system in Dayak Kotabaru, can be beneficial for the local community, because locals will enjoy the production of farms and gardens, the soil will be naturally fertile because of a four year interlude, and the forest will remain sustainable as less forest area is cut down.

scholarly journals Pursuing Self-determined Responses to Climate Change in the Cook Islands: Exploring the Interface between Government Organisational Directive and Local Community Engagement with Climate Change Adaptation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Anabel Lusk
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Political Ecology ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Community Empowerment ◽  
Ecological Resilience ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Institutional Setting ◽  
Cook Islands ◽  
Indigenous Knowledges ◽  
The Government

<p>Small island communities are considered to be amongst the most ‘at-risk’ populations in the world to the impacts of climate change. Global, regional and national entities have framed the plight of Pacific communities through climate change discourses. This study contributes to an emerging line of inquiry that investigates how applying the concepts of ‘vulnerability’ and ‘resilience’ to frame communities might contribute to community empowerment, or marginalisation. Focused on the institutional setting of the ‘Strengthening the Resilience of our Islands and our Communities to Climate Change Programme’ (SRIC Programme), this thesis explores the engagement between government organisations of the Cook Islands and communities of Aitutaki to form adaptation responses to climate change.  Qualitative methodologies coupled with Pasifika methodologies provide a culturally responsive approach to the research. This approach accommodated local narratives and indigenous knowledges throughout the study. The findings from semi-structured interviews suggest that Cook Islands government organisations increasingly frame Aitutaki communities through the concept of ‘resilience’. Interviews with community representatives suggest that Aitutaki communities use indigenous knowledges to make sense of changes in their local environment, without always understanding the science-based notions of climate change. Engagement approaches such as ‘knowledge sharing’, could offer a pathway to increasing community autonomy and confidence in climate change discussions, whilst also contributing to enhancing socio-ecological resilience. To maintain a ‘critical’ political ecology approach, governmentality theory was used to explain how power relations might be embedded in resilience discourse. Insight is offered into how the government-community relationship could enable ‘technologies of government’ as the SRIC Programme progresses. It is suggested that the social conditions of Aitutaki communities could pose sites of resistance to governmentality. Recently implemented, the SRIC Programme demonstrates potential for supporting self-determined responses to climate change and enhancing socio-ecological resilience in Aitutaki.</p>

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