Professor Andharia has over 26 years of experience in the field of community organization and social development. Her areas of work focus on gender issues, environmental concerns, social planning and participatory development, addressing diverse forms of marginalization and vulnerability. She has been involved in policy work and has had a long association with grassroots organizations. She has been teaching at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) for over two decades and was Head, Department of Urban and Rural Community Development before moving on as Chairperson of the newly created Centre for Disaster Management. Community organization (CO) has come to acquire a distinct meaning in India. This special issue reflects upon the nature of intervention of community workers and forces of transformation both in the lives of ordinary people, especially the poor and the marginalized, and within the sphere of knowledge related to community studies, across diverse institutions and socio-political contexts. The selection of articles in the issue captures the theoretical refinement of CO and also represents challenges that CO practice confronts at the practical level in the contemporary Indian scenario. The history of India as a nation is replete with organizing, asserting, demanding and fighting for rights. It is the collective assertion and courage of citizens that are often celebrated on 15 August â the date in 1947 when India got her independence. A relatively young nation, India covering an area of 3,300,000 km2 and housing a large diversity of ethnic groups1 is respected as one of the largest democracies in the world. CO was introduced as a method of social work in the 1950s in several western countries, and it was also during this period that the Department of Urban and Rural Community Development (URCD) was established in the first school of Social Work in India, generating several scholars and practitioners espousing diverse perspectives and ideologies. By 1980s the term âCommunity Developmentâ was generally regarded with disdain due to the failure of the official Community Development Programme, launched by the Government in the 1950s. In India the term âCommunity Organizationâ on the other hand was regarded as far more progressive and received an impetus through the mid-1970s up until early 1990s. In 1975â1977 the country experienced political upheaval when a state of Emergency was declared suspending official democracy. This simultaneously gave rise to a large number of protests with a democratic fervour and specifically in the form of mass-based movements and voluntary organizations. It also saw a critique of social work positioned largely as an apolitical enterprise. The failure of community development programmes to impact the poverty levels or people excluded from health, education, housing, sanitation and infrastructure services forced social workers and community organizers to re-examine its excessive emphasis on local development issues. They began to recast their work to include structural factors that shape local realities. The expanding critique of social work influenced CO teachers who redefined and reshaped CO to align with, contribute to and borrow from literature on diverse forms of organizing â social movements, trade unionism and mass-based people's organization and self-help groups (SHGs). Organizing communities against atrocities and against forms of dominance is evident in almost all parts of India and is not restricted to a particular discipline. In fact, sensitive social workers draw on the history of organizing within a region or of specific communities, metaphorically invoking historical events to reach out to the masses. A generation of teachers and activists from 1980s onwards who began to associate themselves with mass-based struggles, discovered different strategies and new allies and questioned conventional moorings of western forms of institutionalized social work and its relevance to India. Grass-roots empowerment took precedence over community development and saw greater involvement of community organizers and scholars in issues of exclusion, violation and assertion of rights, discrimination against dalits, tribals and other marginalized groups. (See Figure 1 for an overview of the trajectory of CO and CD in India.) A sharper ideological orientation gave CO a political edge much to the discomfort of certain social work professionals. Historical trajectory of CO and CD in India. Source: Andharia (2007, 103). The changing perspective of CO in particular compelled the social work fraternity to review its curriculum, the choice of field work agencies and the intervention processes with which scholars aligned themselves. Modes of intervention were questioned and revised, tools of analysis underwent a shift and political frameworks were consciously used, in more fundamental ways to shape both the practice and education in CO. Despite the strong imperative to move away from a traditional social work orientation based on a naĂŻve belief of âbridging gapsâ through simple welfare means, the transition within the academia was painstakingly slow. At the end of nearly three decades of debates, most of these changes remain undocumented even as CO confronts fresh challenges in contemporary times. For example, the fact that the economic reform agenda is pursued assiduously by the government, when poverty and inequality levels remain high, exploitation is legitimized by the state and the globalizing forces are moving ahead unabashedly, is all a matter of serious concern to community organizers. Withdrawal of the state from health, education and social security sectors has caused further exclusion and deprivation of the marginalized section. The special issue on CO in India is devoted specifically to locating the challenges of the context and possibilities which community workers in India need to familiarize themselves with and it is hoped that it renews interest in collective action for social transformation in a rapidly globalizing world. A community in some ways is a microcosm of a nation. One would assume that in a democratic nation, all institutions function democratically upholding values of equity with reference to citizens and their collectives. However, in practice, this does not happen and rights have to be asserted and structures are to be negotiated. As a result the understanding of democracy, citizenship and collective action are never static. A community gets mobilized when citizens organize to take a stand and work towards specific demands. Such assertions are fundamental to the empowerment of citizens and such shifts in power balance between people and institutions are fundamental to CO. The broader context for CO practice in India can be discerned from the country's performance on human development indices and the agenda for community practice may be drawn from a critical appreciation of processes that marginalize and alienate large sections of society. India is often called a country of contradictions. For example India prides itself as a nation on the move, a nation that has witnessed, during the last century â a transformation from a colonial, agrarian economy into a modern, industrial, knowledge-based economy. As a parliamentary democratic system, the country is an acknowledged home to people of diverse cultural, faith, ethnic and social identities. The constitution provides for democratic participation of citizens giving them a voice in politics. Popular movements and struggles are credited with ensuring that parliamentary democracy has retained its vitality over the last 60 years of independence. On the other hand, despite the political democracy, the country is faced with economic inequalities, concentration of wealth and regional imbalances that work in favour of exploitative social, political and economic structures. About 70 percent of India's population is rural and agriculture is the backbone of livelihood security system for nearly two-thirds of the population. Farmer's suicides, ethnic tensions created by right-wing Hindutva forces, poverty, malnutrition, disease and deprivation, falling per-capita intake of food grains are often said to reflect the erosion of democratic principles and secular fabric of the nation. The media and the judiciary have played a significant role in highlighting the backwardness and social injustice and inequalities based on caste, class, gender and ethnicity. Besides popular struggles, new social movements led by trade unions, women's organizations, voluntary organizations and committed individuals have responded to the overwhelming poverty, illiteracy displacement, dispossession of land and rising food insecurity. Criticisms about the ability of the development agenda to ensure social inclusion and equality of opportunity for all have sparked vigorous debates about addressing the âdemocratic deficitâ. In India, the Constitution through its amendments has devolved more powers to local bodies, but they are yet to be empowered in full. Their capacity needs to be built and financial powers to be strengthened before we can expect them to adopt best practices in governance. The dalits constitute 16 percent of India's population and the tribals constitute 8 percent. According to government estimates, some 125 districts spread over 12 states, covering more than a quarter of the landmass mostly in the central part of India, is affected by extremist Naxalite activities. A combination of economic and socially oppressive factors is identified as the major cause of rise of Naxalism in India. The next section highlights the democratic deficits' that will enable an appreciation of the Indian social, economic and political fabric which constitutes the context in which community organizer sets an agenda and chooses specific strategies for action. The focus is on food security, education, access to potable water, health care facilities and housing â all of which constitute fundamental rights of every citizen â basic requirements for a life with dignity. During 2007 escalating food prices and vanishing global food reserves added about 75 million to the hunger trap of which nearly 30 million are from India according to a Food and Agriculture Organization Report [2007]. Data from the National Family Health Surveys paint a grim picture. More than one-third of the Indian population lives in sub-human poverty and a recent World Bank estimate put nearly 42 percent as absolutely poor by international standards. More than three-fourths of the population has a daily purchasing power of less than 20 rupees a and nearly the are The Development India out of a of and in the India has to out of Food security a issue in According to Development Report India the hunger the million people, nearly are in India. This it the country housing the largest food population. It in the of Despite years of economic India than nearly and all of of India's rural population or over million people are the food intake of the country's economy is percent with a population of about people, in every are It is that hunger and are in On the other hand, India its into the 12 The wealth of the was to about percent of India's in with less than percent in According to the also as the in India individuals wealth to almost a of the in were the in The Food and Agriculture organization also that percent of the poor in India, as the percent. This the of wealth and are social inequalities in the According to economic be development when it does not into of the of the of the poor in of and as as for health, housing, education and political with economic are and rise in according to be as to people's social and political India's not basic such as to and inequalities are with access to food and before a â it the of between the of 1 and by about one economic does not into hunger More of and health services and action to based on and are and progressive CO practice these issues. to food and and factors as environmental health work and This can be through a of political will and and people's and CO to the and the to work with the of the The of and global factors significant in the analysis of a context and The emphasis is on structural of and The of organizations with National Rural in in or that of in and in all the of work and the of CO. of these are in the articles in this teachers of CO to with these and their of CO move towards a more involvement in ensuring social and political rights, a life with for the The by strong global forces have had a impact on the and rural the is of an to food for and their for a in international prices of the especially who are to their For example, across districts in western nearly have committed over the last of an of poor failure and On an two were to take their lives in the last districts saw two financial several and a for who within the The impact has not been A population that and and in their social and political and to The to education in India are education in government and of and and the of of the school to or local of these constitutes significant areas of intervention by community organizers towards action and to in percent of India's population is percent of India's can the of 75 percent of in India from and the is 42 percent of the received all the and access to education and health care in India. with a rise in prices and the health has for the the in of who is from it and needs to be health and education to ensure that economic development is with and human to is of fundamental for and sanitation have a with health, a human international The by India to access â daily within a â of the World Health of at the end to be as level According to government about percent of the country's have been This is serious as about percent of the from are up or are have and are and major on and are by and The traditional of services has been and are into infrastructure does not the of the government is the need to communities in from and new such as and and take to and This has come about through a of work by rural development by the and may be but it will to a or an environmental and social on the country can put and in The 2007 is a in the history of human for the first the and rural population of the is It is that has new economic and to people who to However, it has also created the of all over the world. According to the of the one in three in are areas people not have access to basic for life with such as water, housing or that from Urban India for 30 percent of the population and its is to rise to about percent by In of a policy and housing in the housing in Indian is on the In 2007 the housing was about million and it is to 26 million by About percent of this to groups. The economy by government especially on agriculture and forced serious the history of organizing and in â the of India the population lives in Community organizing housing rights through the 1980s has been to some but She that political and a for community Her the of CO can be all and education and organizers to with experienced by the the last three decades Indian in participatory democracy, collective by social movements, and organizations a to and reflect on CO. are a of ways of in the with and The and of analysis often the forms of involvement and the choice of strategies In the contemporary of community and CO are rapidly as areas of and practice They draw from political critical and and such as environmental studies, and This nature of CO in India has received in the country has had a and experience in CO and 1950s. The country's political history is replete with movements of people of diverse cultural, social and identities. movements and struggles a strong of a democracy. CO has been through of social action of movements, movements, and is as new social movements women's to a constitute some of the most and of new social movements in human For example, special economic have been up across India with concern for the and that they are over for this The the development of specific areas as and â with infrastructure that would have a capacity and for as a new of at and large they are to be in their and local and The policy and its have serious for groups and communities their and their are largely as a trade capacity development with a to economic A number of community organizers are struggles against across India. The issues to the and of in the of environmental concerns, the to the on rights to organize and and the in which has not been in India. The political of of for development is the most critical of the the largest number of has strong from in and who have themselves into and the which have all a struggles have been in and who were to land by and in the of development. In India, popular movements that the of development is from to led will the imbalances in of economic and power at local and regional levels intervention a political is evident is that over the last three CO in India has experienced through work on health, education, housing, food security or with dalits and has a refinement at the practice level the of collective action and a strong and ideological The of assertions through in the form of trade or in the form of organizations or organization is This is it the that the one are not but collective â a shift towards understanding social issues in or structural with a critical understanding of the power of major development is a of the of CO with other or as community political and studies, community media and of these are in this special issue with The articles and the of CO and the shift and refinement of CO the in social work education in India on in India and the for equality provides an to of the that we in India as a democratic nation. on democratic which is of The for equality a collective form in CO. However, that the of communities impact the of in communities are based on the context and have of communities of caste, and gender needs to on the one hand, within the democratic against of the of and the within community to its of in the exclusion of For example, in a democracy, has an and is on who them and their against equality and gender dignity. at communities on and to the rise of right-wing forces and of of against in the in over a This the of a which to be built on principles of and in a democratic nation. are between two communities which shape both and collective which in often into and Community organizers to despite the of and and for the need to diversity and as fundamental to CO The strategies to and community the organizers to have a understanding of issues, factors and processes and in the It and to that and in community addressing and at and and communities are when CO is committed to human rights and social In this the role of social action the and of food especially on and sections of society. the exclusion faced by marginalized sections India is a food nation and that assertion of rights and community is the The work of Development is by has a with from 75 in of In with other they on education, and and at level food It has also in the specifically on and CO that towards and over local and socio-political institutions through and to the and rise of communities in the of and its The by the drawn between and CO over a â a which has and teaching of CO in India. It in the of the struggles of workers in and a strong for community practice to at issues of work and and for social workers a sharper understanding of of strategies and in grassroots organizing, especially in the of the Indian economy. and the of the for the to in of the of within the government which A long by the rural poor and activists democratic and in the of one of the most progressive in the in It is as a of that the of the citizen with the and voluntary of of and facilities by is greater and is for citizens to the of progressive community organizers are in this area and have been with the India has to In people on part of government to In of of has been from the India has had a strong women's with a of to organizing from which community practice has drawn and in diverse on the of a rising number of and activists have out that in areas have on exploitative created and for to in the and a of women's women's citizenship rights are asserted through by which the agenda of The economic of in out their and women's based on education and empowerment are by that have a financial agenda with focus on rights and social the women's several about By over to the and of work and are generally has been of government such as the Development and the the state is as the for poverty and institutions are of and of The strategies of have of activists across the world. In India, for community an of and at a when is not more and but also more They and values are to be in daily lives by individuals and to and up possibilities and can be to global as a large number of on the â â have been a social by and a young the work by in and for community organizers in a and from a strong in her work with tribals in and districts of are in this The first in rural India and both regarded as economic The on human development in rural India and such as and its education, of education, health care and in development across social groups. The is a of on that are more human than the contemporary political or and have a broader The last a on and in India. CO has political interest distinct from most which largely within of the groups or communities or a both of which have a It to the need or the is in and are through forms of and CO in India is in organizing, on development critical and is based on an analysis of state power and of It is a which all that to power that contribute to the experience of discrimination and CO not at the level of communities but with social structures and with democratic institutions of governance. to activists and a They are or and in different parts of the through are and the system is to the people's organization and their against organizers on or which remain for also their ability to out and education in CO needs to to with these this it is to that community workers have often received their orientation in social they have their of knowledge from a of In their practice, community workers are to specific issues and in of and with a focus on social equality and access to This has a sharper political and CO has in practice has drawn from the context of exclusion, violation of rights, of services and a of issues, of which are in the selection of articles in this special
We put forth a new computational notion of entropy, which measures the (in)feasibility of sampling high entropy strings that are consistent with a given protocol. Specifically, we say that the i'th round of a protocol (A,B) has *accessible entropy* at most k, if no polynomial-time strategy A* can generate messages for A such that the entropy of its message in the i'th round has entropy greater than k when conditioned both on prior messages of the protocol and on prior coin tosses of A*. We say that the protocol has *inaccessible entropy* if the total accessible entropy (summed over the rounds) is noticeably smaller than the real entropy of A's messages, conditioned only on prior messages (but not the coin tosses of A). As applications of this notion, we -- Give a much simpler and more efficient construction of statistically hiding commitment schemes from arbitrary one-way functions. -- Prove that constant-round statistically hiding commitments are necessary for constructing constant-round zero-knowledge proof systems for NP that remain secure under parallel composition (assuming the existence of one-way functions).
The health financing schemes is the foundation for the nationâs health care system, and the health insurance is a main one of some options for financing health care. This article compares two health care financing schemes in urban areas before and after the health reform, and targets at the impacts facing coverage groups, the financing methods, decision-making power or financial management (i.e. the distribution of responsibility and rights between the central government and local governments), payment arrangement and cost containment of health care financing mechanisms. Prior to reform, the equal access and universal coverage of health care services were implemented through the employment-based health insurance in a state-controlled economy with guaranteed full employment and central control in general. The decentralization reforms of fiscal system and tax sharing reforms disrupts the past economic foundation, the rebuilding health insurance system which still benefits the employed bring the limited coverage. The next trend is to make transition from health insurance covering only part of the employed population to what are in effect national health services covering the whole population in urban areas.
The goal of decentralized decision making is to ensure that local governments deliver services consistent with local preferences, make the most cost-effective use of tax moneys, provide fair governance, and are answerable to local residents. Structuring fiscal and institutional arrangements to achieve such diverse objectives for merit goods such as education, health, infrastructure, and poverty alleviation while supporting decentralized decision making is the motivation for various chapters in this section. Health and education expenditures constitute some of the most important public services that governments provide. Their features are also particularly relevant for nations with multiple orders of government. The provision of health care and education services, and sometimes health insurance coverage for individuals, is typically entrusted to subnational governments. At the same time these services fulfill important national objectives. They contribute to redistributive objectives such as equality of opportunity and social insurance, and they also promote efficiency and growth in the national economy. The result is that, although the provision of health and education services are decentralized, the federal government maintains an interest in how they are delivered and engages in policies to influence that delivery. Chapter 11 is devoted to investigating in more detail some the issues that arise because of this shared responsibility. It discusses conceptual considerations and practices in decentralized assignment of health and education services and financing mechanisms to ensure that equity objectives are not compromised in pursuit of efficiency and matching services with local preferences.
Decentralizing revenue-raising responsibilities is one of the most unsettled issues in fiscal federalism. The dispute concerns the extent and method of decentralizing expenditure responsibilities, with relatively little debate about its merits. It is common in federations to decentralize the provision of major public services in areas of health, welfare, and education, as well as the provision of public goods and services of purely state or local concern, such as roads, water, and sanitation. Some of these programs are of national importance. Federations differ considerably, however, in the extent to which they accompany expenditure decentralization with revenue-raising responsibilities. For example, in Canada and the United States, provincial or state levels of government enjoy considerable revenue-raising autonomy with access to virtually the same broad-based taxes as the federal government. On the contrary, in Australia and Germany, while the states and LĂ€nder are responsible for delivering health and education services, they rely heavily on transfers from the federal government for their financing and have no direct access to income or general sales taxes. In both cases, they share sales tax revenues with the federal government through revenue-sharing arrangements, but this leaves them with no independent revenue-raising discretion of their own. The reason for this disparate situation is that the case for decentralizing revenue-raising responsibilities is much less clear-cut than for expenditures. Perhaps the strongest political argument is that of accountability, a notion that is not easy to formulate or verify.
Health and education expenditures constitute some of the most important public services that governments provide. Their features are also particularly relevant for nations with multiple levels of government. The provision of health care and education services, and sometimes health insurance coverage for individuals, is typically entrusted to subnational governments. At the same time, as we have mentioned in earlier chapters, these services fulfill important national objectives. They contribute to redistributive objectives such as equality of opportunity and social insurance, and they also promote efficiency and growth in the national economy. The result is that, although the provision of health and education services are decentralized, the federal government maintains an interest in how they are delivered and engages in policies to influence that delivery. We devote this chapter to investigating in more detail some the issues that arise because of this shared responsibility. RESPONSIBILITY BY LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT In discussing the assignment of responsibilities for health care and education and the role of each level of government, it is important to distinguish between the provision of services and their financing. Provision of Health and Education Services Both health care and education represent services provided by hospitals, doctors, schools, teachers, and others directly to individuals. By necessity, the provision of these services is decentralized to local agencies or institutions.
Decentralization has the potential to lower corruption and alleviate poverty across the world. The true effects of this process are unclear since there are relatively few studies on decentralization and many of these studies, both theoretical and empirical, give conflicting results. One major problem in the literature for the effects of decentralization on corruption has been sample selection bias. The main cross-country dataset for decentralization, the IMF's Government Finance Statistics (GFS), has data for only about 40 countries, and most of these are developed. I attempt to mitigate this sample-selection problem by first estimating a Heckman model for decentralization in order to predict values for unobserved countries and then using these predicted values to estimate decentralization's impact on corruption. My results show that decentralization has an insignificant effect on corruption, suggesting that decentralization alone may not be a useful tool for mitigating corruption.
CASE DESCRIPTION In today's global economy, organizations are faced with many challenges including motivating and rewarding employees; communicating and making effective decisions; evaluating group and team behavior; assessing their organizational structure and determining its effectiveness, assessing its leadership and determining its effectiveness; and evaluating alternative methods to managing change in the newly designed organization. Successful managers must learn the importance of creating functional and effective structures, processes, and understanding and managing the human side of the organization as this will enable people to effectively work together to achieve agreed upon goals. Therefore this term-long group case study, designed to cover multiple aspects of Organizational Behavior and Theory and Organization Design, will give you an opportunity to design an effective organization. The author developed the case for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of the situation. The names including the organization have been disguised. The case, instructor's manual, and synopsis were anonymously peer reviewed and accepted by the Western Casewriters' Association for its annual meeting, March 27, 2008, Oakland, CA. CASE SYNOPSIS Mount Cedar Technologies, Inc. was founded in Los Angeles, California in 1995. It began as an importer and distributor of computer accessories, but by 2000 had evolved into an IT infrastructure integrator specializing in hardware and software products, storage and security solutions, and technical services to Enterprise, Small and Medium Businesses, and to Government, Educational, and Medical institutions. Its employees grew rapidly from 6 in 1995 to more than 170 employees in 2006. The company lacked an organizational structure to improve its operations' effectiveness. Additionally, there were complaints from employees who did not feel equitably treated, resulting in the loss of talented employees. Department managers acknowledged that they were very busy reacting to problems and customer issues, allowing them little time to coordinate and listen to their employees. Decision making was highly decentralized. This resulted in the loss of possible gains to be obtained from cooperation among other managers. The silo effect that resulted from this structure meant that departments were making decisions based on what was best for them. While John Curtis (CEO) had been instrumental in growing the organization, his present leadership style had become increasingly problematic to many including upper management. He liked to surprise people by showing up un-invited to meetings and all employees and managers were expected to provide off the cuff answers to questions he would throw at them during these visits. Managers were asked to focus mostly on financial measures. The culture was described by many people as a task oriented one that did not encourage risk taking or empowerment. Additionally, the organization was lagging in the areas of training and the advancement of women and minorities. Finally, upper management wanted to grow its business by adding new product offerings. INTRODUCTION Sam Farris was hired as the new Vice President of Mount Cedar Technologies, Inc. in December 1998 to work closely with the company's top executives to oversee daily operations, support sales and technical logistics, to be part of the top management team, and to determine, along with other executives, the future strategic direction of the company. During a coffee break, he shared the following advice with his senior management team (John Curtis, President and CEO; Bob Holt, Vice President of Finance and Human Resources; and Frank Mathew, Vice President of Sales) : Revisit your organization and take it to the next level! You have great people, great customers, and great products. You need to build an effective, sustainable business, and be a regional leader in what you do. âŠ
The paper intends to analyse a model of decentralization specific to Continental Europe, which shows that a transferof responsibility to the local authorities has not always been appropriately followed by a transfer of resource, the consequencebeing the appearance of budgetary imbalances at the level of local communities. In this situation, the local communities areforced to identify the funding source and, therefore, they have used the most rapid instruments provided by the law and thefinancial institutions â the borrowed sources. As long as the borrowed funding sources have been used to the restoration of thepublic infrastructure and, therefore, to the public investments, the solutions identified by the public manager are not to beblamed, the problem being the use of borrowed sources in order to cover certain consumerism needs which illegitimatelycharges, in our opinion, the public cost, the obligation to finance the maturity rates including the interest falling back on thefuture generations.
James O. Young, professor and head of the department of philosophy at the University of Victoria, has given us a clear, concise, and overwhelmingly informative introduction to the complex subject of the ethics of cultural appropriation. This book could only have come about through many years of travel and scholarly investigation. It is a valuable introduction for those not familiar with the literature on this interesting subject. Youngâwhose writing voice is always confident, displaying an authoritative grasp on the relevant issuesâmanages to bring to the work a fastidious clarity of thought and the ability to lead the reader by the hand through his arguments. In five chapters, Young lays out what is at stake in the various kinds of cultural appropriation of artworks, his own views about what should and should not be considered morally wrong about cultural appropriation, and his recommendations for what part public policy should play in this area. His motivation for writing this book is clearly to defeat as many arguments against cultural appropriation of artistic elements as possible. In this, he is mostly successful. In chapter 1, Young introduces the topic and stresses his position that the understanding of what constitutes culture need not be too precise for the views he presents to have value. There are two main types of appropriation he is interested in here: They can be roughly thought of in terms of content (the taking of an idea or a style) and object (the taking of an artwork itself). He further breaks cultural appropriation into five different, more specific types, namely: tangible objects, content, style, motif (influenced by the art of a culture), and subject. He also discusses various objections to cultural appropriation that different writers have offered, objections that have tended to become the orthodoxy in scholarly debates. For example, one might say that cultural appropriation is wrong because a culture is harmed, or that a work or a style or an idea has been stolen from it, or that an artwork in a culture's style by an outsider is profoundly offensive to members of that culture, or that appropriation is wrong not for ethical reasons, but because there are aesthetic flaws when outsiders take something from insiders. The rest of the book is organized according to these different possible aesthetic and ethical wrongs. Chapter 2 addresses the question of whether culturally appropriated artworks always suffer aesthetically. There are two versions of what he calls the aesthetic handicap thesis: The first maintains that outsiders will always necessarily employ aesthetic content ineffectively; the second says that the mere fact that the content has been appropriated from another culture constitutes an aesthetic flaw. Some have argued that an artist must be a member of a culture in order to produce aesthetically valuable artworks distinctive of that culture. This he calls the cultural experience argument. Young's answer to this argument is that many cultural outsiders in fact have produced such artworks. For instance, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and others have played blues music so well that they have won awards and praise from African American cultural insiders. Working in a given style is like learning a language, Young tells us, so that the language can be learned by anyone, even outsiders (p. 41). It is here that I encounter my first difficulty with Young's arguments. While it is certainly true that someone with enough talent can master most any style, even one that arose from outside of one's own culture, I do not think Young does the cultural experience argument justice. I think he mischaracterizes the claims made by proponents of the view. For instance, Young quotes Charlie Parker as having said, âIf you don't live it, it won't come out of your hornâ (p. 35). This statement does not sound as strong to me as it apparently does to Young. I would paraphrase it something like this: The manner in which you perform music is crucially formed, in part, by the unique life experiences you have had, and so if you try to perform music as if it were coming from someone who had different experiences, you will be in some way unsuccessful. But Young takes this quote and others like it as saying that if one has not had a particular cultural experience, one will necessarily produce works of poor quality in that style. This seems an overly simplistic interpretation of the view. One with a nonâAfrican American background can certainly produce music in the blues style, especially if one has had oppressive cultural experiences of one's own (which is often the subtext of much of the blues), and the resulting music can in fact be very good. Young mentions several examples of white blues musicians who have even been praised by black blues musicians (as if this is any kind of proof that there is no difference!). But what white blues musicians cannot produce is blues music that reflects the oppressive cultural heritage of African Americans. This is the point, I think, that all of Young's quotes on this topic make. In chapter 3, the large topic of cultural appropriation as theft is discussed. Two types of theft structure the discussion: (1) theft of objects and (2) theft of styles, motifs, and subjects. Young leans heavily on the issue of who (a culture or an individual) can own an object or a style and why. Here as elsewhere in the book, Young is a strong advocate for the maximum freedom of artists to appropriate subject matter, as he finds the idea of a culture's owning subject matterâby inheritance, traditional law, or as have being given it by gods, for instanceâto be unfounded. Young argues that only individuals can own things, and only concrete things at that. This Eurocentric position is evident in many of his arguments against any moral obligation to regard property (intellectual or artistic) as collective. While I tend to agree with the outcome of his argument here, his argument itself seems to rest on assumptions that not everyone would accept. Chapters 4 and 5 cover cases where cultural appropriation could be wrong due to the harm and the profound offense it does to the culture's members, respectively. With regard to harm, misrepresenting the style of a culture can do that culture harm; however, that harm can be done by both insiders and outsiders. With regard to offense, even though it is prima facie wrong to engage in activities that are profoundly offensive, Young argues that, nevertheless, appropriation that causes profound offense is not always wrong. Borrowing from Joel Feinberg's works in philosophy of law, Young holds that two considerations are important for determining whether causing offense is a moral wrong: the availability of alternative arrangements and the reasonableness of the offense. I think there are a pair of dichotomies implicitly lurking beneath the surface of this book. The first is an observableâunobservable dichotomy about aesthetic properties; the second is a consequentialistâdeontological dichotomy about morality. With regard to the first, there are those who hold that only observable properties are relevant in evaluating an artwork on the one hand and those who hold that much of what is unobserved about an artwork is relevant for aesthetic evaluation on the other. All Young's aesthetic arguments lean toward countenancing only strictly observable aesthetic properties, which may explain why he so often comes down in favor of free and open cultural taking (though there are exceptions). In other words, if an outsider can make a work that appears to be aesthetically equivalent to an artwork made by a cultural insider, then that work is just as aesthetically authentic and valuable as a work made by an insider. While this may seem initially plausible, after further and deeper thought, it seems that many works do in fact have unobservable, aesthetically significant properties. With regard to the second dichotomy, Young appears to give a largely (though again, there are one or two exceptions) utilitarian evaluation of the ethics of cultural appropriation. This theoretical position leads to what feels, to a westerner, like an agreeably simple formulation in which pleasure and freedom are maximized. This is a laudable outcome in most cases. But this hidden orientation also allows Young to too quickly claim unarguedâfor ethical priorities; he merely takes them for granted. For instance, when he discusses the idea that some cultures believe that they have been given artworks or property as gifts from their gods or ancestor beings, he suddenly says that âclaims to have been given something by the gods or ancestor beings are falseâ (p. 78). Of course, Young is entitled to his beliefs, but especially in a book of philosophy, whose grounds are presumably always open to question, this seems particularly abrupt. No argument for this is even attempted. All in all, however, Cultural Appropriation and the Arts is a commendable achievement. I had fun arguing with this book, and it must always be appreciated that it is only in clearly written works that one can find positions presented lucidly enough to argue with. Cultural Appropriation and the Arts will become the standard work in this field for many years to come, and undergraduates could gain every bit as much from its interesting examples and clear arguments as graduate students and professionals can. In the current world political climate, with national boundaries becoming ever more amorphous, we should be having lively debate on the ethics and aesthetics of the cultural borrowing and stealing of artworks. Young's book serves as a sterling contribution toward this important goal.
A hallmark of post-apartheid South Africa has been the introduction of bold and innovative policy in areas ranging from the national Constitution to resource management policy. In line with this approach, there has been a clear commitment to principles of decentralization and participatory development, with Local Economic Development (LED) featuring prominently in national, provincial and local government pronouncements and planning. Despite considerable policy and funding support for LED, results at best can be described as only modest. This paper critically reflects on the importance attached to LED in South Africa, what has been attempted over the last decade, and the various reasons that might explain the limitations experienced with applied LED, including those that are inherent in the nature of LED and those that can be attributed to local factors. The paper draws upon field-based research undertaken over more than a decade and the findings of a major study undertaken by an international development finance organization. The paper raises challenging questions about the nature, focus and potential of LED as an appropriate development intervention.
This paper offers a brief overview of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) from its origins until the present day in order to identify the factors that have been shaping its evolution. It then attempts to evaluate how persistent these trends will be in the future, whether new policy imperatives are gaining relevance in CAP reform and what they imply for the CAP over the coming years. Budget crises, international trade pressures and enlargement have driven the CAP reforms of the last fifteen years. In the future, change will be driven by the need to maintain the economic rationality and political acceptability of agricultural policy in an enlarged European Union of twentyâseven heterogeneous member states. Further decentralization of decision making and financing can be expected.
Abstract : University of North Texas (UNT) is collaborating with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in the design and development of ZKP protocol and in investigating its suitability for airborne networks. During this project, we accomplished the following tasks: (1) Implemented a prototype version of graph isomorphism based ZKP protocol. (2) Analyzed the implementation complexity of the ZKP protocol. (3) Investigated the selection of graphs that are suitable for ZKP implementation. Our experiments related to task (3) indicate that the graphs selected for ZKP implementation must possess specific characteristics. While we developed the basic guidelines for this selection, our results are inconclusive and require additional experiments.
Rahul Jain, Alexandra Kolla, Gatis MidrijÄnis, Ben W. Reichardt
Let $L$ be a language decided by a constant-round quantum Arthur-Merlin ($\QAM$) protocol with negligible soundness error and all but possibly the last message being classical. We prove that if this protocol is zero knowledge with a black-box, quantum simulator $\cS$, then $L \in \BQP$. Our result also applies to any language having a three-round quantum interactive proof ($\QIP$), with all but possibly the last message being classical, with negligible soundness error and a black-box quantum simulator. These results in particular make it unlikely that certain protocols can be composed in parallel in order to reduce soundness error, while maintaining zero knowledge with a black-box quantum simulator. They generalize analogous classical results of Goldreich and Krawczyk (1990). Our proof goes via a reduction to quantum black-box search. We show that the existence of a black-box quantum simulator for such protocols when $L \notin \BQP$ would imply an impossibly-good quantum search algorithm.
Martin Altemeyer-Bartscher, Dirk RĂŒbbelke, Eytan Sheshinski
International environmental protection like the combat of global warming exhibits properties of public goods. In the international arena, no coercive authority exists that can enforce measures to overcome freeârider incentives. Therefore decentralized negotiations between individual regions serve as an approach to pursue efficient international environmental protection. We propose a scheme which is based on the ideas of Coasean negotiations and Pigouvian taxes. The negotiating entities offer sideâpayments to counterparts in order to influence their taxation of polluting consumption. Sideâpayments, in turn, are selfâfinanced by means of externalityâcorrecting taxes. As we show, a Paretoâefficient outcome can be attained.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights announces a significant array of welfare entitlements--to personal health and health care, medicine, nutrition, water, improved living conditions, environmental protection, and so forth--as well as corresponding governmental duties to provide for such public health measures, though the simple expedient of announcing that such entitlements are "basic human rights." The Universal Declaration provides no argument for the legitimacy of the sweeping governmental authority, taxation, and regulation to create and impose such "rights." As this paper explores that some action promotes a purported good, such as "health," does not thereby make the action morally permissible. Just as there are moral limits on legitimate personal actions, there are also moral limits on legitimate governmental actions to promote purported goods, including health. A core question of any governmental regulation, therefore, is whether it is a legitimate application of moral political authority or an unauthorized act of state coercion. Pace UNESCO's wide-ranging assertions, this paper argues that promoting health only falls within the legitimate authority of governments in very narrowly defined circumstances. As the paper critically explores, at stake are foundational moral and political questions concerning the limits of governmental authority to intervene in the consensual interaction of persons. Imposing such duties on others, including citizens of a state through regulatory activity and taxation, must be justified, nonarbitrary, and demonstrably within the limits of moral political authority. UNESCO's assertions do not meet this burden of proof.
BACKGROUND: During the Suharto era public funding of health in Indonesia was low and the health services were tightly controlled by the central government; district health staff had practically no discretion over expenditure. Following the downfall of President Suharto there was a radical political, administrative and fiscal decentralization with delivery of services becoming the responsibility of district governments. In addition, public funding for health services more than doubled between 2001 and 2006. It was widely expected that services would improve as district governments now had both more adequate funds and the responsibility for services. To date there has been little improvement in services. Understanding why services have not improved requires careful study of what is happening at the district level. METHODS: We collected information on public expenditure on health services for the fiscal year 2006 in 15 districts in Java, Indonesia from the district health offices and district hospitals. Data obtained in the districts were collected by three teams, one for each province. Information on district government revenues were obtained from district public expenditure databases maintained by the World Bank using data from the Ministry of Finance. RESULTS: The public expenditure information collected in 15 districts as part of this study indicates district governments are reliant on the central government for as much as 90% of their revenue; that approximately half public expenditure on health is at the district level; that at least 40% of district level public expenditure on health is for personnel, almost all of them permanent civil servants; and that districts may have discretion over less than one-third of district public expenditure on health; the extent of discretion over spending is much higher in district hospitals than in the district health office and health centers. There is considerable variation between districts. CONCLUSION: In contrast to the promise of decentralization there has been little increase in the potential for discretion at the district level in managing public funds for health - this is likely to be an important reason for the lack of improvement in publicly funded health services. Key decisions about money are still made by the central government, and no one is held accountable for the performance of the sector - the district blames the center and the central ministries (and their ministers) are not accountable to district populations.
In most local developing settings, the political leader and the municipal manager are embodied in the same figure, the directly elected mayor. This research explores the impact of mayoral quality on local public finances in a developing country. Mayoral quality is operationalized as educational background and jobârelated expertise to analyze its impact on two local financial indicators: property tax collection and social spending per capita. The mayoral quality thesis is tested across 40 Colombian municipalities over five years (2000â2004). After considering other political, economic, and external influences, the findings reveal that mayoral quality is associated with greater property tax collection and more social spending per capita. This positive influence, however, decreases under external constraintsâsuch as presence of illegal armed groups. This study demonstrates how much influence the mayor can have when circumstances permit. The findings point to the significance of electing qualified mayors, as decentralization may not directly improve subnational finance. Instead, through decentralization, qualified mayors contribute to improved local public finance.
Federica Paci, Ning Shang, Sam Kerr, Kevin Steuer · 6 authors
Users increasingly use their mobile devices for electronic transactions to store related information, such as digital receipts. However, such information can be target of several attacks. There are some security issues related to M-commerce: the loss or theft of mobile devices results in a exposure of transaction information; transaction receipts that are send over WI-FI or 3G networks can be easily intercepted; transaction receipts can also be captured via Bluetooth connections without the user's consent; and mobile viruses, worms and Trojan horses can access the transaction information stored on mobile devices if this information is not protected by passwords or PIN numbers. Therefore, assuring privacy and security of transactions' information, as well as of any sensitive information stored on mobile devices is crucial. In this paper, we propose a privacy-preserving approach to manage electronic transaction receipts on mobile devices. The approach is based on the notion of transaction receipts issued by service providers upon a successful transaction and combines Pedersen commitment and Zero Knowledge Proof of Knowledge (ZKPK) techniques and Oblivious Commitment-Based Envelope (OCBE) protocols. We have developed a version of such protocol for Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled cellular phones.