Local Conflicts (local + conflict)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Intensive Hog Farming in Manitoba: Transnational Treadmills and Local Conflicts,

CANADIAN REVIEW OF SOCIOLOGY/REVUE CANADIENNE DE SOCIOLOGIE, Issue 1 2003
JOEL NOVEK
L'exploitation intensive des porcheries a connu un essor rapide dans L'Ouest canadien. La croissance de L'agriculture industrielle porcine manitobaine est analysée comme une étude de cas d'un «tapis roulant de production transnational». La production et les exportation ont augmenté de façon considérable alors que L'industrie est devenue plus concentrée; mais des coûts environnementaux, entre autres des préoccupations quant aux odeurs et à la qualité de L'eau, sont devenus plus visibles. Les gouvernements provinciaux ont encouragé, par des politiques néolibérales, L'expansion de cette Industrie et ont hésitéà imposer des exigences réglementaires. Le processus d'approbation des porcheries a été en grande partie ramené au niveau des municipalités rurales. Il reste que cela s'est traduit en une controverse politique acharnée dans plusieurs collectivités locales, ce qui a forcé le gouvernement du Manitoba àétudier une réglementation plus rigoureuse dans ce secteur d'activité. Intensive hog operations have grown at a rapid rate in Western Canada. The growth of factory hog farming in Manitoba is analysed as a case study of a "transnational treadmill of production." Output and exports have increased dramatically and the industry has become more concentrated, but negative environmental externalities, notably odour and water-quality concerns, have become more visible.Provincial governments have promoted the expansion of this industry through neo-liberal policies and have been reluctant to impose regulatory restrictions. The hog barn approval process has been largely downloaded to the rural municipal level. However, this has resulted in fierce political controversy in many local communities, which has forced the Manitoba government to consider more active regulation of hog factory farms. [source]


A NEW NEW ORLEANS?

JOURNAL OF URBAN AFFAIRS, Issue 3 2008
LOCAL RELATIONSHIP IN THE RECOVERY PROCESS, UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF HISTORY AND THE STATE
ABSTRACT:,Two years after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, the city still struggles to rebuild and recover. In this article, we examine how deeply rooted historical patterns of state,local conflict reasserted themselves even after the terrible destruction of Katrina and the redemptive promise of a new beginning. We also explain how state government, some city leaders, and most New Orleanians took advantage of the opportunities presented by Hurricane Katrina to change certain aspects of governance in New Orleans. This research highlights the importance of the state,local relationship in understanding urban affairs and the critical nature of historical patterns and their persistence. State,local conflicts over finances, control of local politics, and cultural differences have plagued New Orleans for decades, and they continue to do so in the post-Katrina era. [source]


Global Religious Transformations, Political Vision and Christian Witness,

INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF MISSION, Issue 375 2005
Vinoth Ramachandra
From the nineteenth-century onwards religion has been, and continues to be, an important resource for nationalist, modernizing movements. What was true of Protestant Christianity in the world of Victorian Britain also holds for the nationalist transformations of Hindu Neo-Vedanta, Theravada Buddhism, Shintoism and Shi'ite Islam in the non-Western world. Globalizing practises both corrode inherited cultural and personal identities and, at the same time, stimulate the revitalisation of particular identities as a way of gaining more influence in the new global order. However, it would be a gross distortion to identify the global transformations of Islam, and indeed of other world religions, with their more violent and fanatical forms. The globalization of local conflicts serves powerful propaganda purposes on all sides. If global Christian witness in the political arena is to carry integrity, this essay argues for the following responses, wherever we may happen to live: (a) Learning the history behind the stories of ,religious violence' reported in the secular media; (b) Identifying and building relationships with the more self-critical voices within the other religious traditions and communities, so avoiding simplistic generalizations and stereotyping of others; (c) Actively engaging in the political quest for truly participatory democracies that honour cultural and religious differences. In a hegemonic secular culture, as in the liberal democracies of the West, authentic cross-cultural engagement is circumvented. There is a militant secularist ,orthodoxy' that is as destructive of authentic pluralism as its fundamentalist religious counterpart. The credibility of the global Church will depend on whether Christians can resist the totalising identities imposed on them by their nation-states and/or their ethnic communities, and grasp that their primary allegiance is to Jesus Christ and his universal reign. [source]


Estimating the direct costs of social conflicts: Road blockings in Bolivia,

JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, Issue 7 2009
Bruno De Borger
Abstract Social conflicts are a serious obstacle to economic growth in many Latin American societies, affecting economic activity both in the short and the long run. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we develop a methodology to estimate the direct, short-run impact of frequently occurring exponents of local conflicts, such as road blockings, on economic activity. The methodology is based on using high frequency (daily) data to estimate the relation between a proxy for economic activity and the occurrence of road blockings. Careful analysis of impulse-response functions traces the effect of such local social conflicts on economic activity. This information is combined with the aggregate annual time series relation between gross domestic product (GDP) and the high frequency proxy for economic activity to estimate the direct cost of local social conflicts for the economy as a whole. Second, we apply the proposed methodology to analyse the direct economic costs of road blockings in Bolivia, using detailed daily information for the year 2003. The results show that these costs are large. Stronger institutions are a critical factor in reducing the prevalence of such conflicts and to avoid the huge economic costs that they imply. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


A NEW NEW ORLEANS?

JOURNAL OF URBAN AFFAIRS, Issue 3 2008
LOCAL RELATIONSHIP IN THE RECOVERY PROCESS, UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF HISTORY AND THE STATE
ABSTRACT:,Two years after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, the city still struggles to rebuild and recover. In this article, we examine how deeply rooted historical patterns of state,local conflict reasserted themselves even after the terrible destruction of Katrina and the redemptive promise of a new beginning. We also explain how state government, some city leaders, and most New Orleanians took advantage of the opportunities presented by Hurricane Katrina to change certain aspects of governance in New Orleans. This research highlights the importance of the state,local relationship in understanding urban affairs and the critical nature of historical patterns and their persistence. State,local conflicts over finances, control of local politics, and cultural differences have plagued New Orleans for decades, and they continue to do so in the post-Katrina era. [source]


How an energy company takes a human rights approach

ALTERNATIVES TO THE HIGH COST OF LITIGATION, Issue 3 2008
John Sherman
Two CPR Fall 2007 Meeting panelists re-team to expand their focus on corporate social responsibility and its relationship to conflict resolution. First, John Sherman, of Westborough, Mass., describes why his employer, energy provider National Grid, focuses substantial business efforts on giving communities a voice in its efforts. Caroline Rees, of Cambridge, Mass., examines the need for grievance mechanisms to address inevitable local conflicts. Both authors provide practical advice based on adaptable existing models. [source]


Principles for hearing grievances, and an effective response

ALTERNATIVES TO THE HIGH COST OF LITIGATION, Issue 3 2008
Caroline Rees
Two CPR Fall 2007 Meeting panelists re-team to expand their focus on corporate social responsibility and its relationship to conflict resolution. First, John Sherman, of Westborough, Mass., describes why his employer, energy provider National Grid, focuses substantial business efforts on giving communities a voice in its efforts. Caroline Rees, of Cambridge, Mass., examines the need for grievance mechanisms to address inevitable local conflicts. Both authors provide practical advice based on adaptable existing models. [source]