The Ecologist articles from July 1996

The Ecologist archives from July 1996

Denying the global a home.(Editorial)
July 1, 1996... It is many centuries now since environmental degradation and social injustice could be blamed solely on local actors - though many still seek to do so. Colonialism and the development era have so enmeshed local political structures into the...

Who competes? Changing landscapes of corporate control. (includes related articles on migrant labor and women in the work force)
July 1, 1996... "The reason [handloom weavers] are attached to [the locale of their work] is that they carry out their work under their own roof, beside their relatives and also more or less when they feel like it. They have an unsuperable horror of the...

From the many to the few: privatization and globalization. (includes related articles on privatization efforts in the UK and World Bank programs)
July 1, 1996... For more than a decade, an alliance of "free" market interests - from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to neo-liberal politicians, transnational corporations and conservative think-tanks - has carried out a sustained...

Free market miracle or myth? Chile's neo-liberal experiment. (includes related articles on healthcare, rightists and the forestry industry in Chile)
July 1, 1996... Chile has moved farther, faster than any other nation in South America toward real free-market reform. The payoff is evident to all: seven straight years of economic growth. You deserve your reputation as an economic model for other countries...

Neither market nor state: the development debate in South-East Asia. (includes related article on agricultural liberalization in the Philippines)
July 1, 1996... The explosive economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region over the last few years continues to fixate the attention of economic policy makers, corporate leaders and academic thinkers throughout the world. For the US economic and political...

Public risk, private profit: the World Bank and the private sector.
July 1, 1996... In late 1995, the World Bank - an institution whose mandate is the relief of poverty in the Third World - embarked on a bizarre promotional campaign. It placed full page advertisements in the major Washington newspapers, informing readers of...

TNCs as aid agencies? Enron and the Dabhol Power Plant. (transnational companies)
July 1, 1996... Development in many Third World countries has failed, claim many TNC representatives, because of the active role of the state. They contrast the inefficiencies, corruption and wastage resulting from state involvement in development projects...

Scapegoating and slander: blaming the poor for poverty. (includes related articles on poverty statistics, discrimination in the workplace and corporate welfare)
July 1, 1996... Three decades ago, Martin Luther King spoke prophetically about polarizing national and international trends: "A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it...

Behind the Myth of European Union: Prospects for Cohesion.
July 1, 1996... This book lives up to its title: it reveals several crucial myths underlying the unification of various countries into the European Union (EU). Foremost among these is the belief that integration has reduced the social and regional gaps between...

The Moral Economy of Trade: Ethnicity and Developing Markets.
July 1, 1996... Sociologists of development often distinguish developing economies from those in the industrial heartlands of Europe or the United States by the "non-economic" practices of the former. Stereotypical renditions of rural, subsistence economies...

Geographies of Exclusion: Society and Difference in the West.
July 1, 1996... A homeless woman sitting amidst her tatty belongings on the pavement is asked by local police to move along, denied access to what most people would consider public space. Gypsy camps are relegated by a local authority to waste land near the...

Free Markets and Food Riots: The Politics of Global Adjustment.
July 1, 1996... In July 1976, mass demonstrations, strikes, looting and street violence erupted in Peru in response to price increases after subsidies for food, education and gasoline were removed. This was the first incidence of mass demonstrations as a...