Amos Sawyer
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199204762
- eISBN:
- 9780191603860
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199204764.003.0013
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
Post-conflict reconstruction strategies typically focus on identifying and repairing formal governing institutions and physical infrastructures, and tend to ignore the informal arrangements that ...
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Post-conflict reconstruction strategies typically focus on identifying and repairing formal governing institutions and physical infrastructures, and tend to ignore the informal arrangements that sustain people over years of state failure. This paper shows how informal institutions were critical to the survival of local people during state collapse and violent conflicts in Liberia. It argues that there are very healthy informal arrangements that can become important building blocks in post-conflict governance arrangements if used to buttress formal institutions, and that unlocking such capital is important in enabling people to make transitions from short-term survival strategies to more productive long-term arrangements. Failure to recognize these assets have frequently led to the presumption of a social capital deficit and, therefore, the need to look externally for such a resource.Less
Post-conflict reconstruction strategies typically focus on identifying and repairing formal governing institutions and physical infrastructures, and tend to ignore the informal arrangements that sustain people over years of state failure. This paper shows how informal institutions were critical to the survival of local people during state collapse and violent conflicts in Liberia. It argues that there are very healthy informal arrangements that can become important building blocks in post-conflict governance arrangements if used to buttress formal institutions, and that unlocking such capital is important in enabling people to make transitions from short-term survival strategies to more productive long-term arrangements. Failure to recognize these assets have frequently led to the presumption of a social capital deficit and, therefore, the need to look externally for such a resource.
Fred Feldman
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199571178
- eISBN:
- 9780191722547
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199571178.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
Eudaimonism is the doctrine that welfare tracks happiness. Section 8.2 contains critical discussion of several proposed tests designed to help us to focus on the concept of welfare. The Crib Test and ...
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Eudaimonism is the doctrine that welfare tracks happiness. Section 8.2 contains critical discussion of several proposed tests designed to help us to focus on the concept of welfare. The Crib Test and the Sympathy Test are not entirely decisive. Alternatively, we may be able to identify welfare by noting how it fits into a web including such concepts as benefit, harm, self‐interest, prudence, selflessness, altruism, and quality of life. Amartya Sen suggested that when a person's happiness depends upon “desperate survival strategies”, his welfare may be lower than his happiness level. In section 8.3 the objection is critically examined. Another problem for eudaimonism arises in the case of a person whose happiness is “fragmented”. The extent to which the fragmented happiness of such a person constitutes a difficulty for eudaimonism is discussed in section 8.4. Appendix D distinguishes among several different theories that may go by the name ‘eudaimonism’.Less
Eudaimonism is the doctrine that welfare tracks happiness. Section 8.2 contains critical discussion of several proposed tests designed to help us to focus on the concept of welfare. The Crib Test and the Sympathy Test are not entirely decisive. Alternatively, we may be able to identify welfare by noting how it fits into a web including such concepts as benefit, harm, self‐interest, prudence, selflessness, altruism, and quality of life. Amartya Sen suggested that when a person's happiness depends upon “desperate survival strategies”, his welfare may be lower than his happiness level. In section 8.3 the objection is critically examined. Another problem for eudaimonism arises in the case of a person whose happiness is “fragmented”. The extent to which the fragmented happiness of such a person constitutes a difficulty for eudaimonism is discussed in section 8.4. Appendix D distinguishes among several different theories that may go by the name ‘eudaimonism’.
Jacqui True
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199755929
- eISBN:
- 9780199979516
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199755929.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Chapter 4 examines violence against women in the context of the political economy of globalization. The first part of the chapter examines the global and local environments that accentuate gendered ...
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Chapter 4 examines violence against women in the context of the political economy of globalization. The first part of the chapter examines the global and local environments that accentuate gendered inequalities, migration for precarious employment, and the attendant risks of violence. The second part considers women's survival strategies, especially the choice to migrate, given the need for their labor in developed countries and for their income in often impoverished families and countries. The third part of the chapter investigates state responses to labor exploitation, highlighting the criminal justice approach adopted to stem trafficking in particular. The chapter argues that governments in sending and receiving countries have failed to protect migrant women workers and to attend to the socioeconomic inequalities at the root of labor exploitation and trafficking. The fourth part of the chapter analyzes a similar failure at the international level, noting how countertrafficking strategies tend to perpetuate violence against women with their focus almost solely on prosecution rather than prevention. The chapter concludes by considering alternative strategies for preventing violence suggested by a political economy perspective.Less
Chapter 4 examines violence against women in the context of the political economy of globalization. The first part of the chapter examines the global and local environments that accentuate gendered inequalities, migration for precarious employment, and the attendant risks of violence. The second part considers women's survival strategies, especially the choice to migrate, given the need for their labor in developed countries and for their income in often impoverished families and countries. The third part of the chapter investigates state responses to labor exploitation, highlighting the criminal justice approach adopted to stem trafficking in particular. The chapter argues that governments in sending and receiving countries have failed to protect migrant women workers and to attend to the socioeconomic inequalities at the root of labor exploitation and trafficking. The fourth part of the chapter analyzes a similar failure at the international level, noting how countertrafficking strategies tend to perpetuate violence against women with their focus almost solely on prosecution rather than prevention. The chapter concludes by considering alternative strategies for preventing violence suggested by a political economy perspective.
Matthew H. Sommer
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780520287037
- eISBN:
- 9780520962194
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520287037.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This book uses over 1,200 legal cases from Qing dynasty archives to analyze polyandry, wife-selling, and other practices that mobilized a woman’s sexual and reproductive labor to help support her ...
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This book uses over 1,200 legal cases from Qing dynasty archives to analyze polyandry, wife-selling, and other practices that mobilized a woman’s sexual and reproductive labor to help support her family. This analysis reveals the roles played by marriage, sex, and reproduction in survival strategies under conditions of overpopulation, worsening sex ratios, and shrinking farm sizes. If we focus on social practice among the poor (instead of the normative discourse), normative boundaries between marriage and the traffic in women—and between marriage and sex work—cannot be sustained. With polyandry, an outside male would be incorporated into a couple’s household as the wife’s second husband or the first husband’s sworn brother. Polyandry was a strategy to keep the family together by expanding it, raising the ratio of laborers to consumers. In contrast, wife sale was a strategy to survive by breaking up the family, creating a new marriage in the process. In the mid-range of the spectrum, there were less formal arrangements (including polyamory and marital prostitution), whereby a wife would have sex with other men in exchange for their support. This book analyzes the interplay of ideology and practice in Qing law by showing how magistrates charged with enforcing a fundamentalist vision of female chastity coped with widespread wife sales. This contradiction illuminates both the pragmatism of routine adjudication and the increasingly dysfunctional nature of the dynastic state facing mounting social crisis. These prohibited transactions were part of a broader field of illicit customs that flourished in defiance of prohibition.Less
This book uses over 1,200 legal cases from Qing dynasty archives to analyze polyandry, wife-selling, and other practices that mobilized a woman’s sexual and reproductive labor to help support her family. This analysis reveals the roles played by marriage, sex, and reproduction in survival strategies under conditions of overpopulation, worsening sex ratios, and shrinking farm sizes. If we focus on social practice among the poor (instead of the normative discourse), normative boundaries between marriage and the traffic in women—and between marriage and sex work—cannot be sustained. With polyandry, an outside male would be incorporated into a couple’s household as the wife’s second husband or the first husband’s sworn brother. Polyandry was a strategy to keep the family together by expanding it, raising the ratio of laborers to consumers. In contrast, wife sale was a strategy to survive by breaking up the family, creating a new marriage in the process. In the mid-range of the spectrum, there were less formal arrangements (including polyamory and marital prostitution), whereby a wife would have sex with other men in exchange for their support. This book analyzes the interplay of ideology and practice in Qing law by showing how magistrates charged with enforcing a fundamentalist vision of female chastity coped with widespread wife sales. This contradiction illuminates both the pragmatism of routine adjudication and the increasingly dysfunctional nature of the dynastic state facing mounting social crisis. These prohibited transactions were part of a broader field of illicit customs that flourished in defiance of prohibition.
Dickson Despommier
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231161947
- eISBN:
- 9780231535267
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231161947.001.0001
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health
This account of the biology, behavior, and history of parasites follows the interplay between these fascinating life forms and human society over thousands of years. The book focuses on long-term ...
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This account of the biology, behavior, and history of parasites follows the interplay between these fascinating life forms and human society over thousands of years. The book focuses on long-term host-parasite associations, which have evolved to avoid or even subvert the human immune system. Some parasites do great damage to their hosts, while others have signed a kind of “peace treaty” in exchange for their long lives within them. Many parasites also practice clever survival strategies that medical scientists hope to mimic as they search for treatments for Crohn's disease, food allergies, type 1 diabetes, organ transplantation, and other medical challenges. The text concentrates on particularly remarkable and often highly pathogenic organisms, describing their lifecycles and the mechanisms they use to avoid elimination. It details their attack and survival plans and the nature of the illnesses they cause in general terms, enabling readers of all backgrounds to steal a glimpse into the secret work of such effective invaders. The text also points to the cultural contexts in which these parasites thrive and reviews the current treatments available to defeat them.Less
This account of the biology, behavior, and history of parasites follows the interplay between these fascinating life forms and human society over thousands of years. The book focuses on long-term host-parasite associations, which have evolved to avoid or even subvert the human immune system. Some parasites do great damage to their hosts, while others have signed a kind of “peace treaty” in exchange for their long lives within them. Many parasites also practice clever survival strategies that medical scientists hope to mimic as they search for treatments for Crohn's disease, food allergies, type 1 diabetes, organ transplantation, and other medical challenges. The text concentrates on particularly remarkable and often highly pathogenic organisms, describing their lifecycles and the mechanisms they use to avoid elimination. It details their attack and survival plans and the nature of the illnesses they cause in general terms, enabling readers of all backgrounds to steal a glimpse into the secret work of such effective invaders. The text also points to the cultural contexts in which these parasites thrive and reviews the current treatments available to defeat them.
Richard Parker, Regina Maria Barbosa, and Peter Aggleton
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520218369
- eISBN:
- 9780520922754
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520218369.003.0009
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Medical Anthropology
This chapter discusses the political economy of sexual oppression. It maps the diverse social and cultural spaces of female and male sex work, and studies the intersecting structures of economic ...
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This chapter discusses the political economy of sexual oppression. It maps the diverse social and cultural spaces of female and male sex work, and studies the intersecting structures of economic marginalization, racism, sexism, and heterosexism that shape the possibilities for risk reduction on the part of sex workers in Durban, South Africa. It notes that sex work and sex workers have been often treated as no more than vectors of infection and danger. This chapter focuses on the ways various forms of sex work in different parts of Durban slowly take shape as part of a broader range of survival strategies by poor and marginalized men and women.Less
This chapter discusses the political economy of sexual oppression. It maps the diverse social and cultural spaces of female and male sex work, and studies the intersecting structures of economic marginalization, racism, sexism, and heterosexism that shape the possibilities for risk reduction on the part of sex workers in Durban, South Africa. It notes that sex work and sex workers have been often treated as no more than vectors of infection and danger. This chapter focuses on the ways various forms of sex work in different parts of Durban slowly take shape as part of a broader range of survival strategies by poor and marginalized men and women.
Abel Escribà-Folch and Joseph Wright
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198746997
- eISBN:
- 9780191809262
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198746997.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
The chapter explains how foreign policy tools influence regimes’ preferred survival strategies and their expectations about possible post-transition outcomes. The chapter first establishes two ...
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The chapter explains how foreign policy tools influence regimes’ preferred survival strategies and their expectations about possible post-transition outcomes. The chapter first establishes two stylized facts: autocratic regimes differ in the strategies they employ to retain power (patronage, institutions, and repression); and their leaders and elites face different outcomes (or post-exit fates) once ousted from power. Building on the implications of these descriptive tendencies, the chapter then develops a general theoretical framework linking foreign pressure to autocratic survival strategies and the likely post-exit fate of regime leaders and elites. Importantly, the model of regime change allows for both the possibility of democratization as well as transitions to new autocracies. The model thus examines how foreign pressure may alter the choices of domestic actors in different authoritarian settings. From this discussion, this chapter derives theoretical expectations linking foreign pressure to autocratic survival.Less
The chapter explains how foreign policy tools influence regimes’ preferred survival strategies and their expectations about possible post-transition outcomes. The chapter first establishes two stylized facts: autocratic regimes differ in the strategies they employ to retain power (patronage, institutions, and repression); and their leaders and elites face different outcomes (or post-exit fates) once ousted from power. Building on the implications of these descriptive tendencies, the chapter then develops a general theoretical framework linking foreign pressure to autocratic survival strategies and the likely post-exit fate of regime leaders and elites. Importantly, the model of regime change allows for both the possibility of democratization as well as transitions to new autocracies. The model thus examines how foreign pressure may alter the choices of domestic actors in different authoritarian settings. From this discussion, this chapter derives theoretical expectations linking foreign pressure to autocratic survival.
Jennine Hurl-Eamon
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199681006
- eISBN:
- 9780191761362
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199681006.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History, Military History
This chapter ignores officers in order to concentrate on the wider range of survival strategies employed by rankers and wives in London. Married men enlisted not—as previous historiography argues—to ...
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This chapter ignores officers in order to concentrate on the wider range of survival strategies employed by rankers and wives in London. Married men enlisted not—as previous historiography argues—to desert their wives, but rather to help the family. Income from odd jobs augmented soldiers’ pay and wives could better access poor relief with soldier husbands than if they were wed to civilians. Serving soldiers married because wives promised emotional and economic support during and after their term of service. They were also valuable agents in pawning goods, and begging or stealing for survival. Though some ranker couples could suffer poverty, alcoholism, and violence caused by military training and post-traumatic stress disorder, others found lucrative economic opportunities from their association with the army.Less
This chapter ignores officers in order to concentrate on the wider range of survival strategies employed by rankers and wives in London. Married men enlisted not—as previous historiography argues—to desert their wives, but rather to help the family. Income from odd jobs augmented soldiers’ pay and wives could better access poor relief with soldier husbands than if they were wed to civilians. Serving soldiers married because wives promised emotional and economic support during and after their term of service. They were also valuable agents in pawning goods, and begging or stealing for survival. Though some ranker couples could suffer poverty, alcoholism, and violence caused by military training and post-traumatic stress disorder, others found lucrative economic opportunities from their association with the army.
Nandita Prasad Sahai
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195678963
- eISBN:
- 9780199081660
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195678963.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Indian History
In an effort to re-examine stereotypical representations of ‘a continually suffering toiling class’ of artisans and an extractive state, this chapter investigates the complex grid of rights and ...
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In an effort to re-examine stereotypical representations of ‘a continually suffering toiling class’ of artisans and an extractive state, this chapter investigates the complex grid of rights and obligations between the Jodhpur state and its artisans during the reign of Maharaja Vijai Singh (1750s-1770s). The author discusses artisanal strategies of survival in a harsh desert landscape which made for fluctuations in demand for their crafted goods. The author goes on to describe the Birat system of patronage between the elite and the artisan. The chapter also describes how, to avoid market over-saturation, rural artisans worked to establish trade monopolies and disallow caste-fellows to migrate or immigrants to settle in their village. Money lending and debt are also discussed, as also some instances of debt leading to bonded labour when artisans were forced to become halis and valis. The author concludes by discussing opportunities and instances of artisanal rebellion and protest (through petitions and the ultimate threat of mass emigration away from the village) when wajib considerations were violated.Less
In an effort to re-examine stereotypical representations of ‘a continually suffering toiling class’ of artisans and an extractive state, this chapter investigates the complex grid of rights and obligations between the Jodhpur state and its artisans during the reign of Maharaja Vijai Singh (1750s-1770s). The author discusses artisanal strategies of survival in a harsh desert landscape which made for fluctuations in demand for their crafted goods. The author goes on to describe the Birat system of patronage between the elite and the artisan. The chapter also describes how, to avoid market over-saturation, rural artisans worked to establish trade monopolies and disallow caste-fellows to migrate or immigrants to settle in their village. Money lending and debt are also discussed, as also some instances of debt leading to bonded labour when artisans were forced to become halis and valis. The author concludes by discussing opportunities and instances of artisanal rebellion and protest (through petitions and the ultimate threat of mass emigration away from the village) when wajib considerations were violated.
Lawrence Stone and Jeanne C. Fawtier Stone
- Published in print:
- 1995
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198206071
- eISBN:
- 9780191676963
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206071.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
This chapter explains that the elite families were very successful at adopting survival strategies that insured continuity. They were constantly being nudged by newcomers anxious to make their way ...
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This chapter explains that the elite families were very successful at adopting survival strategies that insured continuity. They were constantly being nudged by newcomers anxious to make their way into the elite. The extent of the pressure applied, the origins of those who exercised it, and the degree of resistance to intrusions all vary considerably over time and space. Most of the newcomers were purchasers of established seats already in sample and who merely substituted for the sellers, but a few, who were called ‘entrants’, were responsible for introducing a house into the sample. Membership of the elite carried with it the implication of ‘port’, as it was referred to in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Taking all ‘entrants’ together, the proportion of mere gentry for three generations cannot have exceeded an eighth in Hertfordshire or a half in Northumberland. Only in the latter county were newcomers from generations of mere gentry families in a clear majority.Less
This chapter explains that the elite families were very successful at adopting survival strategies that insured continuity. They were constantly being nudged by newcomers anxious to make their way into the elite. The extent of the pressure applied, the origins of those who exercised it, and the degree of resistance to intrusions all vary considerably over time and space. Most of the newcomers were purchasers of established seats already in sample and who merely substituted for the sellers, but a few, who were called ‘entrants’, were responsible for introducing a house into the sample. Membership of the elite carried with it the implication of ‘port’, as it was referred to in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Taking all ‘entrants’ together, the proportion of mere gentry for three generations cannot have exceeded an eighth in Hertfordshire or a half in Northumberland. Only in the latter county were newcomers from generations of mere gentry families in a clear majority.
