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Political Crises, Social Conflict And Economic Development: The Political Economy of the Andean Region
Manufacturer: Edward Elgar Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1845421965 |
Book Description
The contributors to this authoritative volume analyze the impact of political crises and social conflict on economic performance in the Andean region of Latin America. The blend of theory and case studies is also relevant for understanding other complex societies in the developing world and transition economies. The book provides illuminating insights on how to understand, and survive, the complicated interactions between volatile politics, unstable democracies, violence, social inequality and uneven economic performance. Recent political economy theories are combined with valuable quantitative and qualitative information on presidential crises, breakdowns of democracy, constitutional reforms, quality of institutions, and social inequality and exclusion to understand actual country realities. Part I provides the conceptual framework and a regional perspective of the book. Part II contains five political economy country studies - Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela - written by leading scholars in the field and former senior policymakers, including a former President. Together, the chapters highlight the detrimental effects of political instability and social conflict on economic growth and stability, as well as the feedback effects from poor economic performance on political instability and institutional fragility. The country studies warn that narrow economic reforms that do not pay adequate attention to politics, institutions and social structures are bound to fail in bringing lasting prosperity and stability to complex societies. Examining new and rich information on episodes of political turmoil, military interventions, forced presidential resignations, constitutional reforms and social uprisings, this book will be required reading for all those interested in the interface of politics and economic development.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Journal of Economic Issues, published by Thomson Gale on September 1, 2006. The length of the article is 1439 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Political Crises, Social Conflict and Economic Development: The Political Economy of the Andean Region.(Book review)
Author: Kenneth P. Jameson
Publication:
Journal of Economic Issues (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 40
Issue: 3
Page: 850(4)
Article Type: Book review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Average customer rating:
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Electronic Governance: An Eastern African Perspective
Rogers W'O Okot-Uma , and
John Onunga
Manufacturer: Commonwealth Secretariat
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0850927668 |
Book Description
The face of Electronic Governance as viewed from an Eastern African perspective, providing a unique picture from a relatively less resource-endowed jurisdiction. This is a publication in a new and emerging area of electronic governance. It is a rich resource on the fundamentals of driving eConnectivity through diverse workgroups in new information and communications technologies.
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Effects of the Roadless Policy on Rural Small Business and Rural Communities: Hearing Before the Committee on Small Business, U.S. House of Representatives
Manufacturer: Diane Pub Co
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0756725488 |
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Manager's Complete Guide to Speech Writing
Kaplan
Manufacturer: Free Press
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Binding: Board book
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ASIN: 0029169518 |
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Open Fire: Understanding Global Gun Cultures
Charles Fruehling Springwood
Manufacturer: Berg Publishers
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1845204174
Release Date: 2007-01-09 |
Book Description
Guns are everywhere: three quarters of a billion guns - from pistols to machine guns - exist in the world today. And guns are everything: a hard-won symbol of individual freedom, an index of crime and disorder, a whole industry legitimately contributing to an economy, a popular piece of sports equipment, and an object of desire, endlessly duplicated by toys, video games and films. Open Fire presents a broad analysis of the social, cultural and political significance of firearms and the worlds they create. Illustrated with a wide range of case material - from North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa - Open Fire explores and questions this global icon of our times. Why do guns proliferate? What does it mean to shoot or to be shot? Who owns guns and who does not? How is a firearm, a manufactured thing, very different from any other object? Is there such a thing as a "gun psychology"? How are firearms regarded in places where they are largely non-existent? Is a gun a different thing when held by a white man?
Customer Reviews:
Understanding Police Culture.......2007-05-07
This book presents an interesting book on police cutlure. I am sure that not all cops fall into his descriptions, but I think the author got the essence of how some cops deal with things. The author is coming from an academic stand point especailly since he teaches at a University in Florida. This is an easy book to read.
Not very insightful.......2003-06-13
The author, Crank, isn't a cop! It's obvious from his writing that he doesn't understand police culture at all. While there are some interesting observations made in this book, they are the observations of an academic who has studied cops---and who doesn't understand what we go through on a daily basis. I wouldn't waste my money on this one. Just my honest opinion.
Average customer rating:
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Totally Awesome Money/Business Book Pak for Kids
Adriane G. Berg , and
Arthur Berg Bochner
Manufacturer: Newmarket Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 155704340X |
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- A Great Read
- AMAZING
- A New Side of Henry Ford
|
Recasting The Machine Age: Henry Ford's Village Industries
Howard P. Segal
Manufacturer: University of Massachusetts Press
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1558494812 |
Book Description
"Recasting the Machine Age" recounts the history of Henry Ford's efforts to shift the production of Ford cars and trucks from the large-scale factories he had pioneered in the Detroit area to nineteen decentralized, small-scale plants within sixty miles of Ford headquarters in Dearborn. The visionary who had become famous in the early twentieth century for his huge and technologically advanced Highland Park and River Rouge complexes gradually changed his focus beginning in the late 1910s and continuing until his death in 1947.
According to Howard P. Segal, Ford decided to create a series of "village industries," each of which would manufacture one or two parts for the company's vehicles. Although he imagined that the rural setting of these decentralized plants would allow workers to become part-time farmers, Ford's plan did not represent a reaction against modern technology. The idea was to continue to employ the latest technology, but on a much smaller scale--and for the most part it worked. All nineteen of these village industries helped save their communities from decline, in several cases ensuring their survival through the Great Depression. The majority of workers in the village industries, moreover, appear to have preferred their working and living conditions to those in Detroit and Dearborn.
Ford may well have been motivated to spend great sums on the village industries in part to prevent the unionization of his company. But these industrial experiments represented much more than "union busting." They were significant examples of profound social, cultural, and ideological shifts in America between the World Wars as reflected in the thought and practice of one notable industrialist. Segal recounts the development of the plants, their fate after Ford's death, their recent revival as part of Michigan's renewed appreciation of its industrial heritage, and their connections to contemporary efforts to decentralize high-tech working and living arrangements.
Customer Reviews:
A Great Read.......2006-11-06
This is the best kind of academic writing: direct, technically accurate and concise, yet intriguing, lively and infomative. Segal clearly has affection for his subject, yet does not hedge on Ford's notoriously disagreeable qualities. A clear-eyed look at a complex man and his ideals.
AMAZING.......2006-02-03
This book is fabulous! It captures this topic better than any I've ever read. It's very interesting to me, and I'm not in the least way associated with Ford. Great book and enjoyable read!!
A New Side of Henry Ford.......2005-11-08
Henry Ford is famous for setting up the basic concepts of mass production. And some of his factories Highland Park, River Rouge and Willow Run to name three were truly huge facilities producing huge numbers of vehicles, even aircraft. Yet at the same time he was concerned about the social aspects of the businesses.
In the early 1920's he was instrumental in Ford setting up nineteen smaller 'village industries.' Each of these industries were set up to provide some kind of easily specified component that would be used in Ford vehicles or manufacturing. These included things like voltage regulators, twist drills, manufacturing test equipment, etc.
After his death, in the late 1940's and early 1950's these nineteen was shut down, usually merged into a large factory in the newly formed parts division. This effort cannot be considered a failure. All in all, the nineteen plants were too small, too hard to manage.
Now similar outside suppliers provide such sub component manufacturing, but they are larger, and independently owned. This same concept is also followed closely in Japan where smaller independent suppliers make components for automobiles and other products.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Utopian Studies, published by Thomson Gale on March 22, 2006. The length of the article is 1294 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Howard P. Segal. Recasting the Machine Age: Henry Ford's Village Industries.(Book review)
Author: Harold J. Goldberg
Publication:
Utopian Studies (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 22, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 17
Issue: 2
Page: 425(4)
Article Type: Book review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Historian, published by Thomson Gale on June 22, 2007. The length of the article is 562 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Recasting the Machine Age: Henry Ford's Village Industries.(Book review)
Author: David Meyer
Publication:
The Historian (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 22, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 69
Issue: 2
Page: 352(2)
Article Type: Book review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This collection of articles and notes covers what works and what doesn't when you are launching a Customer Value Management Project. The collection has been prepared by Rodger Gallagher and Ray Kordupleski, based on what they have learnt working with companies around the world on adding real value to businesses with the Customer Value Added (CVA) approach to Customer Value Management.
The CVA approach was developed and proven by successful businesses. Its management science basis has been confirmed by academic research. Originally developed for use as proprietory techniques in the business arena, it has now entered the public domain. In many countries around the world it is being used successfully by leading companies in a variety of industries. The CVA 2000 collection covers both the Science and the Art components of Customer Value Management. All of the main CVA tools such as tree diagrams, value profiles, and value maps are covered. A comprehensive section covers new techniques for tracking customer perceptions of cost and price.
Extensive coverage on the science of Customer Value is complemented by lighter items from the authors' day to day experiences.
Book Description
In the last decade, neoliberal policies have created debt and global impoverishment on a massive scale. In this updated edition of his internationally recognized book, Eric Toussaint traces the origins and development of the crisis in global finance.
This new edition is fully updated with new statistics to account for new developments in global financial institutions like the World Bank and IMF. Your Money or Your Life is widely considered one of the clearest and best-documented books on globalization available. Includes an extensive bibliography and notes.
Eric Toussaint is president of the Committee for the Cancellation of Third World Debt and is a fellow and frequent lecturer at the International Institute for Research and Education in Amsterdam.
Customer Reviews:
Good on debt issues, uneven otherwise.......2006-04-30
This book goes into detail on the problems of globalization, debt relief for developing countries, the international flow of capital, the World Bank, and the IMF. The book makes a very good case for debt relief for poor countries. As Toussaint points out, in most cases the borrowed money went straight into the pockets of dictators and corrupt officials, and was never invested in the country at all. It therefore seems nothing short of ridiculous to expect repayment from the present governments and peoples of these countries, who never saw any of the money. Do we really expect developing countries to shut down their school systems and courts to be able to make payments on these debts?
Toussaint is also convincing on the subject of radical reform or outright elimination of the World Bank and the IMF. These institutions have consistently failed in the economic stabilization and development of poor countries that was their supposed mission. Today they are more of a force dragging down developing countries than pulling them up. Toussaint is very good on the need for a Tobin tax and other controls on the international flow of capital.
Toussaint misses the boat on some economic issues. He points out that GDP is a poor measure of economic growth, but doesn't discuss more accurate statistics such as the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW). Toussaint wants growth so that the developing countries can be lifted out of poverty. What he doesn't mention is that if growth is accomplished by overexploitation of natural resources and pollution of the environment, as it usually is these days, in the long term this will mean more poverty. Since GDP does not account for changes in population, exhaustion of resources, or declining quality of life, increase in GDP is certainly not evidence of prosperity. I think the best we can hope for is the steady state economy; further economic growth is just not possible. This is not necessarily a bad thing. For more on this, I would suggest Herman Daly's book "Beyond Growth."
Toussaint is a fan of low prices for consumer products, apparently out of concern for the poor. I see the difficulty here as that low prices exacerbate the exhaustion of natural resources. Developing countries today are being systematically cheated out of the true value of their resources. An example is oil, today found mostly in developing countries. Given that a barrel of oil takes millions of years and tons of plant material to make, an accurate price would be nearer $700 a barrel than today's $70 a barrel.
Toussaint also wants the developed countries to open their borders to migrants from impoverished countries. This is totally wrongheaded. Such opening would very likely bring on a worldwide ecological collapse. Toussaint is being way too optimistic here about the worldwide economic future. The next decade is likely to see very substantial declines in the standard of living in both developed and developing countries, due largely to climate change and the passing of the global oil production peak. The developing countries are not going to be able to export their people or their problems to the rest of the world. Developing countries do have some advantages in these times, in that they are less oil-dependent than the developed countries are. Developing countries need to capitalize on their advantages, reduce their populations, and focus on their local markets. Dependence on international export for development is a futile exercise. In the developed countries, reducing unsustainable populations is equally necessary, and refocusing from global to local markets will be a must. For more on this, see Kunstler's book "The Long Emergency."
Toussaint also takes aim at the global patent system. Toussaint sees the patent problem as another example of the rich countries exploiting the poor, making drugs too expensive for people in poor countries to afford. The reality is that high-tech medicine in rich countries has long since reached the point of diminishing returns. The fact that a drug is under patent does not necessarily mean it is better than other drugs; in fact, the opposite is often true. In any case, most drug patents have surprisingly short lives, no more than a few years. The health care systems of developing countries would be better off if they forgot about patented drugs and focused on more-value-for-the-money health care improvements.
Toussaint opposes privatization of government assets and in some cases supports nationalization or re-nationalization of such assets. Toussaint makes a good case that in some countries privatization has been botched. I don't see, though, that the problem is privatization as such; more that the process should generally proceed slowly and that controls on the international flow of capital are a necessity. These assets, after all, were not contributing anything to government coffers when they were under government control; quite the contrary, they were a drag on the budget.
The book itself is rather unfocused, and is dull and academic in spots. It addresses many important issues, though. Some of Toussaint's proposals are excellent, others would only make matters worse. I would recommend the book for anyone with an interest in globalization and world poverty. Read it with a large grain of salt, though.
Average customer rating:
- Good on debt issues, uneven otherwise
- An invaluable resource!
|
Your Money or Your Life!: The Tyranny of Global Finance
Eric Toussaint
Manufacturer: Pluto Press (UK)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Development & Growth
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ASIN: 0745314120 |
Customer Reviews:
Good on debt issues, uneven otherwise.......2006-04-28
This book goes into detail on the problems of globalization, debt relief for developing countries, the international flow of capital, the World Bank, and the IMF. The book makes a very good case for debt relief for poor countries. As Toussaint points out, in most cases the borrowed money went straight into the pockets of dictators and corrupt officials, and was never invested in the country at all. It therefore seems nothing short of ridiculous to expect repayment from the present governments and peoples of these countries, who never saw any of the money. Do we really expect developing countries to shut down their school systems and courts to be able to make payments on these debts?
Toussaint is also convincing on the subject of radical reform or outright elimination of the World Bank and the IMF. These institutions have consistently failed in the economic stabilization and development of poor countries that was their supposed mission. Today they are more of a force dragging down developing countries than pulling them up. Toussaint is very good on the need for a Tobin tax and other controls on the international flow of capital.
Toussaint misses the boat on some economic issues. He points out that GDP is a poor measure of economic growth, but doesn't discuss more accurate statistics such as the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW). Toussaint wants growth so that the developing countries can be lifted out of poverty. What he doesn't mention is that if growth is accomplished by overexploitation of natural resources and pollution of the environment, as it usually is these days, in the long term this will mean more poverty. Since GDP does not account for changes in population, exhaustion of resources, or declining quality of life, increase in GDP is certainly not evidence of prosperity. I think the best we can hope for is the steady state economy; further economic growth is just not possible. This is not necessarily a bad thing. For more on this, I would suggest Herman Daly's book "Beyond Growth."
Toussaint is a fan of low prices for consumer products, apparently out of concern for the poor. I see the difficulty here as that low prices exacerbate the exhaustion of natural resources. Developing countries today are being systematically cheated out of the true value of their resources. An example is oil, today found mostly in developing countries. Given that a barrel of oil takes millions of years and tons of plant material to make, an accurate price would be nearer $700 a barrel than today's $70 a barrel.
Toussaint also wants the developed countries to open their borders to migrants from impoverished countries. This is totally wrongheaded. Such opening would very likely bring on a worldwide ecological collapse. Toussaint is being way too optimistic here about the worldwide economic future. The next decade is likely to see very substantial declines in the standard of living in both developed and developing countries, due largely to climate change and the passing of the global oil production peak. The developing countries are not going to be able to export their people or their problems to the rest of the world. Developing countries do have some advantages in these times, in that they are less oil-dependent than the developed countries are. Developing countries need to capitalize on their advantages, reduce their populations, and focus on their local markets. Dependence on international export for development is a futile exercise. In the developed countries, reducing unsustainable populations is equally necessary, and refocusing from global to local markets will be a must. For more on this, see Kunstler's book "The Long Emergency."
Toussaint also takes aim at the global patent system. Toussaint sees the patent problem as another example of the rich countries exploiting the poor, making drugs too expensive for people in poor countries to afford. The reality is that high-tech medicine in rich countries has long since reached the point of diminishing returns. The fact that a drug is under patent does not necessarily mean it is better than other drugs; in fact, the opposite is often true. In any case, most drug patents have surprisingly short lives, no more than a few years. The health care systems of developing countries would be better off if they forgot about patented drugs and focused on more-value-for-the-money health care improvements.
Toussaint opposes privatization of government assets and in some cases supports nationalization or re-nationalization of such assets. Toussaint makes a good case that in some countries privatization has been botched. I don't see, though, that the problem is privatization as such; more that the process should generally proceed slowly and that controls on the international flow of capital are a necessity. These assets, after all, were not contributing anything to government coffers when they were under government control; quite the contrary, they were a drag on the budget.
The book itself is rather unfocused, and is dull and academic in spots. It addresses many important issues, though. Some of Toussaint's proposals are excellent, others would only make matters worse. I would recommend the book for anyone with an interest in globalization and world poverty. Read it with a large grain of salt, though.
An invaluable resource!.......2000-07-17
This book has the best, clearest summary of key issues in financial globalization, Third World debt and free-market reforms that I have ever seen (and I've seen a lot). I recommend it for academics who study globalization in their research, anti-globalization activists, and concerned world citizens in general--you'll find yourself using it as a reference!
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Capital & Class, published by Conference of Socialist Economists on September 22, 2002. The length of the article is 705 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Your Money or Your Life! The Tyranny of Global Finance. (Book Reviews).(Book Review)
Author: Wendy Olsen
Publication:
Capital & Class (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 2002
Publisher: Conference of Socialist Economists
Page: 179(2)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
In the late summer of 1984, the author and a group of his archaeology students excavated fragments of Chinese porcelain at the site of a Pomo Indian village a hundred miles north of San Francisco. How did these ceramics, which were more than a hundred years old, find their way to this remote area? And what could one make of local legend that told of Pomo women wearing Chinese silk shawls in the 1850’s? The author determined to find the answers to these questions, never dreaming that his quest would eventually involve the lives of nineteenth-century Boston merchants, Baltimore shipbuilders, Bombay opium brokers, and newly rich businessmen in gold rush San Francisco.
The author soon learned that in 1850 the clipper Frolic, a sailing ship built specifically for the Asian opium trade, had wrecked on the Mendocino coast, a few miles from the Pomo village. He unearthed the business records of its owners, A. Heard & Co., which showed that respectable Bostonians had made their fortunes running opium from India to China. The family histories of the firm’s two most influential partners are traced from the American Revolution to their joint decision to order a custom-built Baltimore clipper for the opium trade. In describing the design, construction, and outfitting of the Frolic, the author was aided by a stroke of luck—a slave named Fred Bailey, later known to the world as the abolitionist Frederick Douglass, worked in the Frolic’s shipyard in 1836 and wrote detailed descriptions of the building of such ships.
The Frolic, under Captain Edward Faucon (who was depicted as the “good” captain in Richard Henry Dana’s Two Years Before the Mast) plied the opium trade from Bombay to China from 1845 to 1850. The author describes the political, financial, and logistical aspects of the profitable enterprise before 1849, when the introduction of steam vessels into the opium trade made the Frolic obsolete as an opium clipper. However, the California gold rush created a lucrative market for Chinese goods, and the Heard firm dispatched the Frolic to San Francisco with a diverse cargo that included silks, porcelain, jewelry, and furniture. When the Frolic wrecked on the Mendocino coast, the Pomo Indians salvaged its cargo, and the vessel’s history passed into folk tradition.
The subsequent lives of those intimately associated with the Frolic are profiled. The owners’ families preferred to forget the source of their fortunes, and prior to her death in 1942, the daughter of the Frolic’s captain burned her father’s papers to preserve his reputation. She could not know that in 1965 sports divers would discover the remains of her father’s opium clipper, and that 134 years after its wreck, the Frolic’s story would inspire an archaeologist-anthropologist to pursue its colorful history.
Customer Reviews:
Exciting History of a fast moving opium runner.......2002-03-08
A model of the Frolic is on display at the Cabrillo Lighthouse, Mendocino, CA. Before you visit the area, read this book. The book covers the entire history of the Frolic, those who built it, the course it took for its short 6 year life -- before sinking off Pt. Cabrillo. Its history includes its involvement with the Opium War, American incursions in China and exciting trade run with opium, Chinese ceramics and silks. A must read if you're interested in international history and the ships that created commerce and connection with the rest of the world.
In a class all its own.......2001-04-10
Oddly enough, our book group chose Voyage of the Frolic and what great fun and an education it has been. I've always dreamed of going on an archeological expedition and here, without the dirt, pan, screens and brushes, I've discovered another layer of the past. What an eclectic history California has.
Wonderfully executed.......2000-09-09
The Voyage of the Frolic is a readers dream. Bostonian History, Maritime life, Chinese trade, the Coast of California and our indigenous Indians all rolled into one well written and enjoyable read. Thank you Professor Layton for unraveling the past and placing it in a wonderful china bowl for all of us to peruse and get to know.
Intricately woven mystery.......2000-02-17
Layton is a master at pulling you in and teaching you a thing or two. I'd love to learn more about the Chinese connection.
Fantastical Voyage and Historical Guessing Game.......1999-04-28
This book was most enjoyable--An historical and literary voyage through history until it capsizes--here, at our feet and on our shores on the California-Mendocino Coast.
WOW what fun, work and incredible research the author had to dive through. THIS IS GREAT READING!
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Canadian Journal of History, published by University of Saskatchewan on April 1, 2000. The length of the article is 856 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: The Voyage of the Frolic: New England Merchants and the Opium Trade.(Review) (book review)
Author: Stephen J. Randall
Publication:
Canadian Journal of History (Refereed)
Date: April 1, 2000
Publisher: University of Saskatchewan
Volume: 35
Issue: 1
Page: 181
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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