Reasons for Hope: Instructive Experiences in Rural Development (Kumarian Press Books on International Development)

Book Description

Eighteen of the world's most exemplary rural development successes from Africa, Asia, and Latin America are presented in the words of their originators and managers. This is a true story of hope that shows what can be done. Cases may be read individually for guidance or together for their cumulative advice on how to promote the most desirable forms of rural development.

Reasons for Success: Learning from Instructive Experiences in Rural Development (International Development)

Average customer rating:

Reasons for Success: Learning from Instructive Experiences in Rural Development (International Development)
Norman Uphoff , Milton J. Esman , and Anirudh Krishna
Manufacturer: Kumarian Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Policy & Current Events | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Development & Growth | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Economic Policy & Development | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Regional Planning | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Urban Planning & Development | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Business Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Reasons for Hope: Instructive Experiences in Rural Development (Kumarian Press Books on International Development)
People First: A Guide to Self-Reliant Participatory Rural Development
Whose Reality Counts?: Putting the First Last
Active Social Capital
Challenging the Professions

ASIN: 1565490762

Book Description

Reasons for Success draws from lessons presented in the earlier work, Reasons for Hope. It is enriched by the knowledge and insights the authors have gained from decades of participation, observation, and scholarship on Third World development. Concerned that rural development is increasingly neglected in economic development circles, the authors demonstrate that improving rural living standards depends more on ideas, leadership, and appropriate methods and less on money alone.

Markets and States in Tropical Africa: The Political Basis of Agricultural Policies (California Series on Social Choice and Political Economy)

Average customer rating:

Straightforward, seminal - - if perhaps too simple
A Testimony to Dependent Development
Rational Choice Approcah to African Agricultural Crisis
Extracting Rents Away from the Agricultural Sector
Explains how states affect market operations in Africa

Markets and States in Tropical Africa: The Political Basis of Agricultural Policies (California Series on Social Choice and Political Economy)
Robert H. Bates
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Agricultural | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Africa | History | Subjects | Books

Public Policy | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General & Reference | Technology | Science | Subjects | Books

History of Technology | Technology | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

African Economies and the Politics of Permanent Crisis, 19791999 (Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions)
Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy
The Moral Economy of the Peasant: Rebellion and Subsistence in Southeast Asia
States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia and China
Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World

ASIN: 0520052293

Customer Reviews:

Straightforward, seminal - - if perhaps too simple.......2007-08-07

This book examines a simple and important puzzle: why do African governments choose such terrible economic policies? These policies are especially bad for agriculture, even though most Africans are farmers.

The answer is simple: African governments systematically favor urban interests. That means that they provide cheap food for urban workers, which means cheap labor for urban businesses (capital). These groups are outnumbered, but they live in the cities. This means that labor and capital can mobilize politically against the government in the capital city, while farmers - - who are scattered all over a large countryside with poor transportation links - - find it very difficult to pressure the government.

Bates' basic claim has much to recommend it. It is simple, yet it served as a productive research agenda for other studies - - such as Michael Lofchie's comparison of Kenya and Tanzania, among others. It is no wonder that this book made Bates' reputation, and was a seminal contribution to political economy in its day.

Its simplicity also makes the argument incomplete. Though he does discuss colonial legacies, Bates doesn't consider the wider international context. African countries would find it difficult to pursue pro-farmer policies because the rich world, especially in Europe and Japan, closes its markets to many African food products. Certainly this fact deserves to play an important role when we consider the poor choices that African governments make.

A Testimony to Dependent Development.......2007-04-26

The decolonization of Africa was espoused by two ideals of the African people: political independence and economic development. The African nationalists attributed their economic backwardness to their colonial heritage and believed that `independence' would pave the way to prosperity. Yet facing the dilemmas of economic development and the limitations of the international system, they eventually ended up with inefficient industrial firms, impoverished peasantry, and increased economic inequality.

Robert Bates' Markets and States in Tropical Africa analyzes the reasons for and the mechanism of state intervention in market in African states. Like every other country who has attempted to develop so far, independent African countries too faced the dilemmas of economic development, namely capital accumulation and market creation. The economies of Africa have been overwhelmingly rural in nature and the governing elites in Africa aimed to change this situation by through industrialization. The scarcity of capital led national elites to extract resources from agriculture and channel them into manufacture and industry. What is important here, as Bates emphasize, is that all nations seeking to industrialize have done this: "The African policies are thus notable not as exceptions but as examples of a larger class," (p. 119). The forms of economic manipulation were compatible with the prevailing economic doctrines: industry is the engine of growth, savings come from the profits of industry, rural sector should be squeezed for development, etc. (p. 97).

The African governments had both economic and political incentives to channel resources from the rural agricultural sector to the urban industrial enterprises. On the one side they regarded this as necessary for the industrialization and economic development of their countries; on the other side, "the politicization of the electorate" in the nationalist era pushed the governing elite to follow clientalist policies to maintain their political status. As Bates put is, the resources allocated through governmental programs have been channeled to those "whose support is politically useful or economically rewarding to the state - that is, to members of the elite," (p. 56).

As for the instruments of state intervention in the market, African governments mostly exploited taxes, tariffs, and subsidies to transfer resources from rural areas to urban ones. Government in Africa subsidized fertilizers, seeds, mechanical equipments, land, and credit for commercial farming (p. 50). The taxes collected from the rural areas constituted the bulk of these subsidies given to the urban and rural elites. Also, to promote industrial development, African governments constructed protective barriers between the world and domestic markets which sheltered local industries from foreign competition (p. 66). Apparently, the peasantry has been the victim of both policies.

The history of African economic development in the post-independence era in general and Robert Bates' book in particular demonstrate the inevitability of the sacrifices and burden that at least one class should undertake. Historically speaking, these classes have usually been peasantry and workers. A capitalist economic development necessitates the accumulation of capital in the hands of a capitalist entrepreneur class, which forces the state to intervene in the market and to channel resources from the lower strata to the upper ones. Neither the developed Western countries nor the East Asian NICs escaped this necessity of economic development. Yet what made these countries `overcome' the aforementioned dilemma and eventually become a `success story' were the availability of `external resources and market' at their disposal. While in the Western case the cheap labor, food, and market of what is now called the Third World made possible the redemption of the agonies of the peasantry and the eventual establishment of `welfare states', in the `Asian miracle' case, their privileged access to the Western markets provided the `fuel' to keep their economic growth and to gradually relieve the burden of the peasantry and working class in these countries. It was not the intervention of the state in the market that differed the African case from the `success' stories, rather it was the unavailability of external means that determined the eventual fates of African countries.

Rational Choice Approcah to African Agricultural Crisis.......2006-07-28

In this work, Bates moves away from dependency theory in explaining the financial discrepancies between the Center and Periphery. Rather than concentrating on external catalysts to stalled development, Bates rational-actor model concentrates on the internal problems facing African development, particularly the pursuit of interests on the part of political and urban elites.

Much of Africa is facing an agricultural crisis. Although generally populated by small farmers, many nations in Africa face food shortages. Bates argues that these crises are the result of inefficient policies (which intervene in, and distort markets) implemented by political and economic elites. The question becomes, why are these policies being pursued? Bates explains the implementation of these inefficient agricultural policies through a rational choice model. Bates suggests that these policies are developed and implemented by rational political and economic elites seeking to maximize their own utility - particularly in regards to garnering political support - rather than pursing the collective good. This often occurs at the expense of many small farmers. He writes, "Policies are designed to secure the advantages of particular interests, to appease powerful political forces, and to enhance the capacity of political regimes to remain in power" (5-6).

The political and urban elites work in tandem to harvest economic resources garnered from the agricultural sector to promote industrialization. This is often done through the manipulation of market forces, particularly in keeping food prices low for urban interests. Doing so keeps the urban masses content, and allows industrialists to maintain low wages. In turn, the policy making elites garner political support. Bates spells out the beneficiaries of such policies clearly. "Owners and workers in industrial firms, economic and political elites, privileged farmers and the mangers of public bureaucracies - these constitute the development coalition in contemporary Africa" and hence benefit from the inefficient policies.

In regards to production, such policies skew the incentive structure of smaller agricultural producers. When receiving below world market prices, farmers will lower production, in turn limiting food supply. Or farmers may pursue a policy of "out-migration" and moved to the urban areas in pursuit of jobs. In this regard, the peasants are too acting rationally according to Bates model. Bates also discusses the problems of mass organization in order to oppose these policies. The small farmers are so dispersed and politically weak that the collective action problems ensue. The government expands on these collective action problems by offering preferential disbursements of subsidies, etc. to those who tow the party line. This divide and conquer technique has limited the power of the rural masses to organize a coherent oppostion.

Extracting Rents Away from the Agricultural Sector.......2005-12-05

In this landmark study, Robert Bates offered an interpretation of African economic policies toward the agriculture sector that set the terms of the debate for the years to come. Why do African governments pursue policies that create market distortions, skewed incentives and misallocation of resources, despite their obvious costs for social welfare and long-term development? The core of Robert Bates' argument is that bad economics often makes good politics: governments choose to pursue policies that are clearly irrational from an economic viewpoint because their economic and social costs are more than offset by the political benefits that accrue to them and to the social forces that maintain them in power.

Things did not have to turn that way. Political elites who took power at the time of the independences sincerely believed that they could put their countries on a path to economic modernization and social well-being. What trapped Africa into a low equilibrium of narrow clientelism and entrenched self-interests was a mix of bad institutions, bad advice and bad luck.

African governments inherited from their colonizers institutions that were set to extract rents from the agriculture sector rather than to maximize the welfare of farmers. They chose a mix of development policies that emphasized the role of the state and the importance of a nascent manufacturing sector. And they benefited from a period of high commodity prices that led them to consider cash crops and natural resources as an inexhaustible source of foreign exchange revenue.

The institution that came to symbolize the rent-extracting nature of African agriculture policies is the marketing board, which purchased cash crops from farmers at administratively determined prices and then sold them for a higher price on the world market, thereby accumulating funds that could be used for state-sponsored industrial projects or for social subsidies, if not for outright plundering. Another instrument of redistribution away from the agriculture sector was the local industrial firm that processed raw agricultural products acquired at artificially low prices, or the importation of foreign crops at prices below domestic ones in order to feed urban workers and lower the cost of living.

This complex web of policies and institutions should not be seen solely as a way to transfer resources away from agriculture into the modern urban economy, thereby achieving the "primitive accumulation" that Marxist economists saw as a condition to industrial development. Some policies, such as large irrigation projects, the subsidization of inputs, the channeling of credit or the extension of public services to rural areas, benefit large landowners at the expense of small-scale farmers. Likewise, industrial development projects under protective trade policies give rise to large, capital intensive public enterprises which often operate below capacity and at high costs.

Robert Bates makes heavy use of interest group theory to explain how policies are designed to secure advantage for particular interests, to appease powerful political forces, and to enhance the capacity of political regimes to remain in power. More ground-breaking is his analysis of the market as the setting for the struggle between the peasant and the state, the political arena in which social forces collide or avoid each other. Through intervention in the market, the state seeks to levy resources from the countryside, to appease social unrest in urban areas and to serve the private interests of those in power. For their part, rural producers use the market as a means of defense against the state, thereby evading some of the adverse consequences of government policies. They do so in part by reducing output, shifting crops, migrating out of the countryside, returning to subsistence lifestyles or joining the informal sector. Consequently, policy aberrations on the part of the government are more likely to result in exit patterns than in attempts at reforms.

This book has been vilified in some quarters because it was said to have provided the intellectual blueprint to the policies of structural adjustment that swept African countries soon after its publication. The denunciation of the urban bias and the abolition of the marketing boards certainly provided a rallying cry that was easily picked up by market reformers working from development agencies, with little consideration to the social forces that would be put in motion by such prescriptions. And it is true that Bates is almost entirely silent on the organizational characteristics of his interest group coalitions that underpin policy choices and institutional settings. But this classic work still provides many insights on Africa's internal and external structural problems.

Explains how states affect market operations in Africa.......2000-10-31

This book nicely presents the way that African governments influence markets, why they do so, and the effect of their involvement on citizens, especially the poor. I found it helpful in explaining why some states make the decisions they do, despite the fact that they might not always be the most economically efficient.

International Agricultural Development (The Johns Hopkins Studies in Development)

Average customer rating:

International Agricultural Development (The Johns Hopkins Studies in Development)

Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Policy & Current Events | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Development & Growth | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Economic Policy & Development | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | International | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Business & Investing | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Science | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Making a Large Irrigation Scheme Work: A Case Study From Mali (Directions in Development) (Directions in Development (Washington, D.C).)
The Earth Policy Reader
The Politics of Precaution: Genetically Modified Crops in Developing Countries (International Food Policy Research Institute)
Reclaiming the Land: The Resurgence of Rural Movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America
Development as Freedom

ASIN: 0801858798

Book Description

Extensively revised to reflect the new directions in development thought and policy, this new edition of a classic text examines what has been learned theoretically and empirically about agricultural and rural economic development since the 1950s.

With 24 of the 35 chapters completely new, the book takes into account recent developments in international agricultural development, especially as these affected the role of the state, markets, and other institutions in development. The authors address three basic questions about agricultural development in low- and middle-income countries: What are the strategic roles of agriculture in national development strategies? How can the agrarian transformation be accelerated? How can rural economic development be promoted to generate jobs and reduce poverty in rural areas? In addressing these questions, the authors deal with topics such as market failures, food insecurity, rural poverty, environmental degradation, income and asset inequality, fiscally sustainable organizations, the changing roles of the public and private sector in research, and input and output marketing systems. Four case studies (China, Indonesia, Colombia, and Sub-Saharan Africa) examine how different countries struggle with these issues as they restructure their basic economic institutions.

Praise for previous editions:

"A welcome addition to the literature on agricultural development... with a wide coverage of its major considerations." -- Canadian Journal of Development Studies

"Presents the views of leading scholars on major theoretical and policy issues concerning agriculture's role in the Third World economies." -- Abstracts of Development Studies

Late Victorian Holocausts: El Nino Famines and the Making of the Third World

Average customer rating:

Why so many are poor...
Impressive Synthesis: 4.5 stars
Imperialism: the deadliest stage of capitalism
Look at History from an Alarming Perspective
Davis Book

Late Victorian Holocausts: El Nino Famines and the Making of the Third World
Mike Davis
Manufacturer: Verso
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Economic Conditions | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

19th Century | World | History | Subjects | Books

20th Century | World | History | Subjects | Books

Social History | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

Public Policy | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

History | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Planet of Slums
The Many-Headed Hydra: The Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic
The Origins of the Modern World: A Global and Ecological Narrative from the Fifteenth to the Twenty-first Century (World Social Change)
Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America's Perilous Path in the Middle East
Moon, Sun and Witches

ASIN: 1859847390

Book Description

Examining a series of El Nino-induced droughts and the famines that they spawned around the globe in the last third of the 19th century, Mike Davis discloses the intimate, baleful relationship between imperial arrogance and natural incident that combined to produce some of the worst tragedies in human history. Late Victorian Holocausts focuses on three zones of drought and subsequent famine: India, Northern China; and Northeastern Brazil. All were affected by the same global climatic factors that caused massive crop failures, and all experienced brutal famines that decimated local populations. But the effects of drought were magnified in each case because of singularly destructive policies promulgated by different ruling elites. Davis argues that the seeds of underdevelopment in what later became known as the Third World were sown in this era of High Imperialism, as the price for capitalist modernization was paid in the currency of millions of peasants' lives.

Customer Reviews:

Why so many are poor..........2007-08-27

One of the major perennial topics of research in the social sciences is "Why are some nations rich and others poor?" Tackled from the time of Plato onwards, many texts have been written on this subject, from many points of view. Like the other sciences, the huge advances in metrology, analytical techniques, and data collection, manipulation and visualization using computers in the 20th century has helped scientists connect dots that once were thought unlinked. And so answers to this question have become more comprehensive, more factual-based, and more pressing in the amount of evidence brought to bear. This book attempts to answer this question by examining the economic divergence of the world's major civilizations in the approximate period of 1860 - 1920 AD. The civilizations examined include Brazil, Indonesia, France, England, the USA, Philippines, India, China, Ethiopia, and Russia. Specifically, England, France and the USA underwent huge economic growth and subsequent improvements in the standard of living, while China, India and many other parts of the world descended into Third World status that have lasted until the late 20th century.

The author examines data for these countries such as suspot cycles, birth and death tolls, annual rainfall, sea temperatures, acres farmed and acres abandoned by farmers, and economic transaction data such as trade volume between specific agents (i.e. countries). Looking at all of this, the author puts forth the theory that abrupt weather patterns due to El Nino and La Nina occurrences in this time period substantially weakened the agricultural sectors of numerous countries. This occurred as technological progress in transportation and communication was creating the global economy with humans (slaves), clothing, precious metals, and food produce (crops) being the primary objects of trade. The weakened countries, nearly all of which were centralized monarchies, were colonized by the First World democracies. Within specific nations like the USA and Brazil, one region might rise in prominence vis-a-vis a decline in another region. The results included gradual but radical changes in power structures that lead to famines in times of poor agricultural output. The poor agricultural output was due to bad weather and the forced transitions to cash crops; the famines was caused by evil colonial policies. The final tragedy was tens of millions of dead peasants across the world in what is now known as the Third World.

Impressive Synthesis: 4.5 stars.......2007-06-28

In 1887-1888, former President US Grant undertook a world tour. In stop after stop, Grant and his party witnessed scenes of famine and mass death. This was no coincidence, Nature and other scientific journals published accounts of approximately coincident famines circling the globe. Millions died. Remarkably, this global disaster was only one of three major world spanning famines in the final quarter of the 19th century, all with death tolls in the millions. The explanation for these events was not uncovered for decades. In the 1960s, Jacob Bjerknes of UCLA synthesized approximately a century of meterological and climatological data and speculation with his description of the El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) as a major driver of world weather. All the great 19th century famines were driven by weather events resulting from unusually strong ENSOs.
Davis does a very nice job of describing the character and history of the discovery of the ENSO, the history of the devastating 19th century famines, and the evidence correlating ENSO changes with the famines. This is a model of integrating diverse scholarship to produce a synthesis with considerable explanatory power. These sections are very well written and leave the reader with powerful impressions of the world wide extent and severity of the famines.
Davis also makes a strong and largely successful effort at further elaboration and synthesis by integrating the social and economic history of the 19th century into his discussions of the great famines. Davis argues that the development of the world economy under European hegemony resulted in a series of changes in many regions that altered traditional societies in ways that made these societies more vulnerable to the effects of El Nino events. The increasing emphasis on cash crops for the world market, for example, eroded traditional subsistence farming that offered some safeguards against famine. Davis documents this feature best for the case of colonial India, where he can draw on a critical literature dating back to the 19th century and where successive British administrations behaved abysmally.
Davis also discusses several other societies impacted by the great famines, notably Qing China and Northeastern Brazil. Quite a few other regions are mentioned at least briefly. Davis has probably bitten off a bit too much in some of these sections. His effort to be comprehensive leads sometimes to superficial coverage.
Davis takes considerable pains to rebut the traditional argument that these famines were a Malthusian consequence of over-population. This is the complement to his argument that the 19th century European imperialism greatly exacerbated the consequences of El Nino events. In the case of India and some other regions, like the Phillipines and Dutch dominated Java, he makes a very good case. In the case of China, his argument is less powerful. By his own account, the horrible vulnerability of China, particularly North China, stems more from ecological consequences of population growth in the 18th and early 19th century plus the decay of the power of the Qing state. In all fairness to Davis, British imperialism did contribute to the decline of the Qing state.
Davis argues also with some force that the great famines contributed to the immiseration of China, India, and many other regions, contributing to the 20th century backwardness of the Third World. This is such an ambitious book that Davis is not always successful, especially in the second half fo the book, in presenting a complete story. Nonetheless, this is an unusually informative and even daring book.

Imperialism: the deadliest stage of capitalism.......2007-05-27

Marx wrote about capital's destruction of the old social organizations of the societies it enters into, either originally or by force, that "the history of this, their expropriation, is written in the annals of mankind in letters of blood and fire". Mike Davis demonstrates that this is, indeed, the case, and not just for Western Europe either. Focusing on the case examples of Brazil, India and China, Davis shows irrefutably how weather fluctuations, known as El Ninõ phenomena, combined with free traderism, colonialism and capitalist organization to create a series of harvest failures, famines, epidemics and regressions compared to which the Biblical plagues are child's play.

The first part of the book describes the various mass famines that occurred in northeastern Brazil, central and northern India, and central and northern China in the period of the apogee of colonialism, namely roughly 1870-1910. This matter is certainly not for the light of heart: the scale of the famines is such that they far exceed anything ever experienced under Mao or Stalin combined, and the indifference and repression of the the British and other colonialist elites in the face of so much suffering is staggering, evoking parallels with nazism. Of course Mike Davis' usual ill-chosen title attempts to make precisely this comparison, which rather weakens instead of reinforcing the effect of his book, but the facts speak for themselves regardless. Nothing can describe the effect it must have had on the Indian population to be forced to pay for British wars in Afghanistan and South Africa as well as a tremendously grand Jubilee for Queen Victoria, while in the meantime tens of millions of peasants were dying, in some district leading to reductions in population of almost two-thirds. Such is the effect of Whiggish history still that these facts are almost not known at all, and are never taught in high school history books. But everywhere capitalism goes, it leaves behind such corpses.

The second part of the book is a rather technical discussion of weather patterns, especially the oscillation known as ENSO, leading to the El Niño phenomena. Davis also delves into the scientific discussions of these phenomena both during the period of capitalist famines and in contemporary meteorology. This part of the book is furnished with strong statistical data, which will primarily be of interest to people engaged in studying weather patterns, as well as agriculturists because of the importance of these patterns for monsoons etc.

The third and final part of the book picks up where the first one left off, and goes into more detail about the social organizations of Brazil, India and China both before the colonialist period and during it. Davis produces interesting evidence to the account that not only was the average standard of living for the majority of the people quite higher in India and China than in Europe during the 18th Century, their degree of productivity in terms of manufacturing was higher as well. This to directly contradict the many Whiggish histories, like Landes and others, who posit the societies of India and China as stagnant and unproductive from the start. Instead, Mike Davis hypothesizes that the real reason for the sudden collapse in effectivity and productivity of India and China is the military involvement of (mainly) the British in these regions. Subjugating India entirely to a system of hyper-exploitation for the sole benefit of paying for the huge British military and for the interests of the factory manufacturers and traders in Manchester and London (whose direct influence over Indian Raj policy is shockingly large); and in China forcing the government into such large-scale wars and interventions against the British as to make the Qing dynasty go entirely bankrupt and unable to pay for the vast infrastructure and reserve funds, as well as destroying the most effective administation the world had ever seen, the Imperial magistrature system, from the inside via opium trade corruption. Davis makes plausible, if not quite proven, therefore that the downfall of India and China as powers in the 19th Century was exogenous rather than endogenous to these societies.

But what is most important about this book is the enormity of what it describes: the incredibly large-scale death of the subjugated and exploited peoples of what would later form the 'Third' or developing world. By even modest estimates the various preventable famines in China during 1850-1900 alone must have killed some 30-60 million people, and in India probably again anywhere between 30 and 85 million. Then if we add to that the deaths in Brazil (not exploited by foreign powers this time, but by their own capitalist plutocracy), of various African nations, as well as the costs of rebellion and civil war caused by the social disintegration resulting from invasion and colonialism, we get quite a pretty picture: indeed the 20th Century can hardly be considered bloodier than the 19th was. And this is called, by historians, the "Belle Époque"! One wonders if those who write so-called "Black Books of Communism" etc. are even aware of the lethality of capital.

Look at History from an Alarming Perspective.......2007-01-04

This book recounts in detailed, well documented ways how famines occured in various regions of the world because of El Nino and La Nina weather patterns. This part of the author's message is not difficult to believe, though the science and climatology is complex. The alarming assertion, also extrodinarily well documented, is that British (and other European nations") colonial rule in these areas disrupted the ways in which these cultures traditionally handled famine conditions by focusing the local economies on profit making enterprises benefitting the British, and responded with incredible callousness to the utter misery that resulted. Those who generally think of the British as a civilized, Christian people will be shaken by their deliberate actions which caused millions of deaths. My criticism of the book is the absence of a summary chapter, and the lack of editing for readability. This book is difficult to read, and should be widely read.

Davis Book.......2007-01-04

An interesting take on hurricanes in Cuba. Very interesting when compared to the United States. Read this book for a history of natural disasters class. If you are interested in natural disaster, consider reading Kenneth Hewitt's work about natural disaster from the point of a geologist.

The Greening of the Revolution: Cuba's Experiment With Organic Agriculture

Average customer rating:

Pure castrist propaganda.
should be required text
First-rate scientific and social examination of Cuba's agric

The Greening of the Revolution: Cuba's Experiment With Organic Agriculture
Global Exchange (Organization)
Manufacturer: Ocean Press (AU)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Greenhouses | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Environmental Science | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Agronomy | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Agricultural | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Sustainable Agriculture and Resistance

ASIN: 187528480X

Customer Reviews:

Pure castrist propaganda........2006-03-27

Some years ago, a brazilian lend this book to me.It's a small and concise book.In fact the only quality of this bad book is his small size.
All the rest are ridiculous Castro's propaganda.
Well, I'm an (unemployed) brazilian agronomist.I must tell you that Cuba has nothing to teach about agriculture.In fact Castro's Cuba is, a complete agriculture failure.The big Cuba's crop is sugar.Well, in 1912, Cuba produced more sugar then in 2003,2004 and 2005.
Cuba's experimente with organic agriculture was and is a failure.In fact, in Cuba, the general people has no flowing water, eletricity,etc.
Outside privileges and money support to latin american marxists, Cuba's money goes to propaganda.And this is pure castrist propaganda.

should be required text.......2001-04-18

for any environmental studies program. Ideas put to the test on an island with very little outside resources. Excellent discussion material. Unique insight into the revolution.

First-rate scientific and social examination of Cuba's agric.......1999-01-25

Cuba's social and economic systems have been in crisis since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The prime concern of the country is how to feed its citizens so that every member has an adequate and nutritious diet. Rosset and Benjamin's scientific delegation to Cuba examined the history leading up to the current crisis, and the social, political and economic factors which maintain the food shortage up to this day. They then launch on an encyclopedic survey of the agricultural and social reform programs launched by Cuba's government to remedy the crisis. The country has adopted a Low Input, Sustainable Agriculture (LISA) style of food production in order to cope with drastically reduced inputs of chemicals, fertilizer, fuel, and capital since the USSR collapsed. Research programs abound, with several hundred research and development facilities in a country little larger than Vancouver Island, B.C. They are studying and implementing programs in non-chemical control of insects, weeds, and disease; soil remediation and fertility; labour distribution; post-harvest physiology and storage; and the distributions of production and population centers. The Greening of the Revolution combines the expertise of a 20 member delegation who spent a week in 1992 travelling the country. It reads like a comprehensive Annual Review article, with insightful analysis throughout, but not for the faint-of-heart looking for a light read. The 1992 date is now 7 years past, it would be of great interest to have a second edition of the book published in a repeat of the 1992 surveys. The book could also use some close editing; although logically laid out and of strong scientific style, there were reduncies and inconsistencies sprinkled throughout the text. In all, though, an excellent and compelling analysis of a country in transition.

Agricultural Research, Livelihoods, and Poverty: Studies of Economic and Social Impacts in Six Countries (International Food Policy Research Institute)

Average customer rating:

Agricultural Research, Livelihoods, and Poverty: Studies of Economic and Social Impacts in Six Countries (International Food Policy Research Institute)

Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Policy & Current Events | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Development & Growth | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Economic Policy & Development | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Research | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0801885965

Book Description

Those who study global poverty and ways to reduce it face a perennial set of questions: Do advances in knowledge, research, and technology make a real difference in the lives of poor people? What effect does research have on the poor? Who benefits? The contributors to Agricultural Research, Livelihoods, and Poverty shed light on these questions through a collection of case studies that explore the types of impact that agricultural research has had on livelihoods and poverty in low-income countries.

The studies focus on the impact of research carried out by several institutions that are part of or collaborate with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), the leading nonprofit consortium conducting international agricultural research in low-income countries. The countries covered include Bangladesh, China, India, Kenya, Mexico, and Zimbabwe.

The contributors employ micro-level case studies and macro-level analysis and combine methods and perspectives from economics, sociology, and anthropology. They examine whether and how agricultural research has affected livelihoods, vulnerability, and poverty; the extent to which poverty reduction can be attributed to different technologies; and the economic, social, and cultural contexts in which technologies affect different social and economic groups.

This book will help researchers in the agricultural and social sciences, as well as others concerned with development policy and its implementation, to better understand the pathways connecting research and poverty reduction and to guide future study of this vitally important issue.

CONTRIBUTORS: Michelle Adato, Javier Becerril, Suraiya Begum, Mauricio R. Bellon, Manik L. Bose, Michael Bourdillon, Connie Chan-Kang, Alamgir Chowdhury, Shenggen Fan, Lawrence Haddad, Kelly Hallman, Peter Hazell, Paul Hebinck, John Hoddinott, Mahabub Hossain, Bill Kinsey, K. Krishnaiah, David Lewis, John Marondo, Ruth Meinzen-Dick, Dubravka Mindek, Netsayi Mudege, Mary Omosa, Trudy Owens, Frank Place, and Keming Qian.

Rural Livelihoods and Diversity in Developing Countries

Average customer rating:

Rural Livelihoods and Diversity in Developing Countries
Frank Ellis
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Policy & Current Events | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Development & Growth | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Economic Policy & Development | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Agricultural | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Urban Planning & Development | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Methods for Development Work and Research : A New Guide for Practitioners
The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good

ASIN: 0198296967

Book Description

Both livelihoods and diversity have become popular topics in development studies. The livelihood concept offers a more complete picture of the complexities of making a living in rural areas of low income countries than terms formerly considered adequate, such as subsistence, incomes, or employment. Diversity recognizes that people manage by doing many different things rather than just one or a few things. This book sets out the rural livelihoods approach within the larger context of past and current themes in rural development. It adopts diversity as its principal theme and explores the implications of diverse rural livelihoods for ideas about poverty, agriculture, environment, gender, and macroeconomic policy. It also considers appropriate methods for gaining quick and effective knowledge about the livelihoods of the rural poor for project and policy purposes.

Seeds of Contention: World Hunger and the Global Controversy over GM Crops (International Food Policy Research Institute)

Average customer rating:

Seeds of Contention: World Hunger and the Global Controversy over GM Crops (International Food Policy Research Institute)
Per Pinstrup-Andersen , and Ebbe Schiøler
Manufacturer: International Food Policy Research Institute
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Policy & Current Events | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Development & Growth | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Economic Policy & Development | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Sustainable Development | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Natural Resources | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Genetics | Evolution | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Conservation | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Business & Investing | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Outdoors & Nature | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Professional | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Science | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Lords of the Harvest: Biotech, Big Money, and the Future of Food
Food, Inc.: Mendel to Monsanto--The Promises and Perils of the Biotech Harvest
Dinner at the New Gene Cafe: How Genetic Engineering Is Changing What We Eat, How We Live, and the Global Politics of Food
Travels in the Genetically Modified Zone
Genetically Modified Foods: Debating Biotechnology (Contemporary Issues Series)

ASIN: 0801868262

Book Description

In recent years the media have reported, frequently with alarm, on the increasing use of genetically modified crops in agriculture. Some groups have expressed concern about consumer safety and the risks of large-scale ecosystem damage. Others have noted the resulting shift of power away from locally controlled farming operations toward large agribusiness and biotech companies, and the particular vulnerability of farmers in the developing world to this trend.

In Seeds of Contention: World Hunger and the Global Controversy over GM Crops, development specialists Per Pinstrup-Andersen and Ebbe Schiøler focus attention on the less discussed issues of the potential benefits and costs of genetically modified crops for developing countries. Pinstrup-Andersen and Schiøler review the basic issues and discuss the potential that such crops have for addressing the great needs of poor and undernourished peoples throughout the world. They explain how increased agricultural productivity is not enough in addressing the problem of famine. People in developing countries need crops that are disease-resistant, can fend off insect predators, and can withstand severe environmental conditions in order to produce larger crop yields.

Pinstrup-Andersen and Schiøler are sober in their assessment of these prospects, for they acknowledge that GM crops alone will not solve the world's food problem. They argue, however, that they may be one element in the solution and people in developing countries should have information about benefits and risks and the freedom to make their own decisions about whether or not to grow and consume GM crops.

The Policy Analysis Matrix for Agricultural Development

Average customer rating:

The Policy Analysis Matrix for Agricultural Development
Eric A. Monke , and Scott R. Pearson
Manufacturer: Cornell University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books