World Development Report 1997

World Development Report 1997

Author:

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 9780195211146

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This is the twentieth in the annual series assessing major development issues. The report is devoted to the role and effectiveness of the state:what it should do, how it should do it, and how it can improve in a rapidly changing world. Governments with both centrally-planned and mixed economies are shrinking their market role because of failed state interventions. This report takes an opposite stance:that state's role in the institutional environment underlying the economy, that is, its ability to enforce a rule of law to underpin transactions, is vital to making government contribute more effectively to development. It argues against reducing government to a minimalist state, explaining that development requires an effective state that plays a facilitator role in encouraging and complementing the activities of private businesses and individuals. The report presents a state reform framework strategy:First, focus the state's activities to match its capabilities; and second, look for ways to improve the state's capability by re-invigorating public institutions. Successful and unsuccessful examples of states and state reform provide illustrations.


Gaia's Wager

Gaia's Wager

Author: Gary C. Bryner

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 9780847694891

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Can environmentalism evolve into a powerful social movement that transforms human practices in ways that are ecologically sustainable? Gary C. Bryner contends that it is in our self-interest as a species to ensure that environmental movements coalesce in the service of sustainability. From the very first Earth Day to the setting of Agenda 21 for the new millennium, this book traces the actors, the issues, and the institutions involved in moving environmentalism from a loose collection of fuzzy groups and goals to a new global force for change. Will the next phase of environmental action resemble the WTO protests in Seattle, the UN Kyoto Protocols, or a Think Tank inside the Washington Beltway? Gaia's Wager shows that movements play an important role between political parties and interest groups on the domestic scene and the unruly forces of globalization internationally. Only social movements can catalyze a response to the global environmental threat that has a chance of both capturing imaginations and institutionalizing progress toward environmental sustainability. Above all, Gaia's Wager bets on the confluence of big ideas and social action to yield a more hopeful environmental future.


Human Development Report 2004

Human Development Report 2004

Author: United Nations Development Programme

Publisher: Human Development Report

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 47

ISBN-13: 019522146X

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This is the 15th report, prepared by a team of independent experts, which explores major development issues of global concern. The 2004 report focuses on issues of cultural liberty and concludes that countries must actively devise multicultural policies to prevent cultural discrimination (whether on grounds of religion, ethnicity or language), since the expansion of cultural freedoms is at the core of human development. Rather than presenting a threat to state unity, the report argues that diversity is the only sustainable option to promote stability and democracy within and across societies. Issues discussed include: confronting extremist movements for cultural domination; myths surrounding cultural liberty and development; the impact of globalisation on cultural choice; social exclusion, human rights and participation. It also includes data tables for the Human Development Index (HDI) which measures key social and economic indicators for rich and poor countries, including life-expectancy, health and sanitation, employment rights, gender equality, education and income per-person.


Implementing Sustainable Development

Implementing Sustainable Development

Author: Phillip J. Cooper

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 444

ISBN-13: 9780742523616

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There is a great deal of rhetoric and no shortage of ideas about sustainable development. However, note Cooper and Vargas (both of the U. of Vermont), there has also been an implementation gap. Saying that implementation is the art of the feasible, they present a feasibility framework for profes


Studies in Development Strategy and Systemic Transformation

Studies in Development Strategy and Systemic Transformation

Author: K. Griffin

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2000-05-15

Total Pages: 345

ISBN-13: 0230510418

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Studies in Development Strategy and Systemic Transformation contains eleven essays by Keith Griffin on many of the contemporary leading issues in economic development. Topics covered include the role of culture in long-term economic growth, globalization and economic governance, human development, and the effects of the distribution of productive wealth on the pace of development. There are also discussions of alternative reform strategies in the transition economies and of an investment-led strategy of structural adjustment in Subsaharan Africa.