High-level Government Officials Research Articles

The Worker-Peasant Alliance as a Strategy for Rural Development in China

During the past few years, some high level government officials and many social scientists in China have admitted the many accomplishments made in rural areas under the leadership of Mao Zedong. While acknowledging the building of an agricultural infrastructure, the increase in land productivity, the mechanization of agricultural production, and the provision of the basic necessities of life for the majority of China's rural population, they have conveniently avoided analyzing Mao's model of development. Such an analysis would reveal the fundamental differences between two lines—Mao's versus Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping's—and would undermine Deng's interpretation of China's development and the reasons behind his reform.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

The Rust Workshop

This is an account of a unique international four-day workshop, focused on "The Central American Challenge." Among the fifty participants were high-level government officials, especially from Central America, and other leading political and professional figures, from seventeen countries in all. It was a person-to-person encounter, in a private retreat setting, permitting freedom of expression and interaction. The facilitators were experienced in a person-centered way of working. The article describes the group, the group process, and its culmination, discusses errors and difficulties, and examines the elements that appear to account for the progress made.

Development from below: neighborhood improvement associations in the Latin American squatter settlements.

Juntas a type of neighborhood association found in many Latin American countries are described in terms of their common characteristics functions and strategies. Factors which strengthen juntas are isolated and the potential for juntas to become ongoing institutionalized structures is discussed. Information from a large number of written sources was compared in order to identify the common cross cultural characteristics of juntas. Juntas generally originate as squatter invasion forces organized to take over and settle either gradually or overnight unocupied lands in or near urban centers. After invasion the huntas continue to function as neighborhood associations which make collective demands on the government for public services and which promote various self-help projects within the squatter community. Juntas are widespread in Latin American countries. Of the 91 squatter settlements which have been studied in 11 different countries 61 has juntas. Participation of household heads in the juntas ranges from 10-70%. Most squatter invasions are planned or spontaneous radical political action. The collective invasion itself often serves to open negotiations with the government. After the invasion leaders are elected and they help organize the new community by assigning land setting boundries screening new settlers collecting dues and directing a variety of self-help construction projects. Collective demands are then made on the government to provide urban services such as water and electricity. The collective nature of the demand helps reduce the risk of official retaliation. Demand strategies include petitioning high level government officials utilizing personalistic contacts affiliating with either the rulingpower or opposing parties appealing to outside agencies linking up with other juntas conducting public demonstrations and publicizing their grievances in order to engender public support. After basic services are provided the juntas promote self-help projects such as organizing taxi services medical clinics vocational and lteracy programs and building playgrounds. The juntas sometimes perform quasi governmental functions such as settling disputes between community members and policing the community. Participation in juntas declines as the need for making outside demands lessens; however the high level of self-help activity keeps the juntas viable. They also retain the latent capacity for political demand behavior if the need for action arises. Factors which strengthen juntas included 1) high population density and large size of the squatter community 2) defined boundaries 3) close proximity to urban agencies 4) climatic factors which make it necessary to act quickly and collectively and 5) a moderate level of heterogeneity in the squatter population.

Appeals from Discrimination in Federal Employment: A Case Study

Increased use by Federal employees of ani appeals procedure in matters of suspected racial discrimination has given rise to controversy and conicerni. The writer, in the summiier of 1962, examined the appeals records in 27 cases filed in the last 10 years in a Northeastern Federal manufacturing and repair center of 10,000 employees. Special attention was paid to the fact that 25 of 27 appellants were Negroes, most appeals involved failure to secure promotions, and only one appeal was decided in the appellants' favor. Analysis suggested that despite the official record of losses the procedure served the appellants in four ways: It provided a day in court. It was a source of answers. It was a locus of hope. And it was aln instrumelnt of pressure. Similarly, the center found several uses for the procedure: It was a safety valve. It was a spotlight on sources of friction. It was a device for correcting mis-impressions. And it was an effective check on the conduct of supervisory personnel. Overall, however, the writer concludes tihat the procedure is a limited tool with an essentially negative character. It must 1)-. supl):clnented by mnore positive measures if it is not to undo its own slim contribution to inidustrial race relations. F or nearly 20 years now, a unique form of appeals procedure has been available to any federal employee wlho believed his status threatened or his status aspirations thwarted l)y racial or religious discrimination.1 WVhile Friedland and others have discussed the formal -details in journal articles, t'ie appeals procedure has seldom, if ever, beeii analyzed in terms of actutal cases and their outcomes. Little dacta, if any, has been available to answer tlte questions: Is the status of appellants really protected? Wlho seeks status protection? And what is the futll usefulness of the appeals procedure? Today, in part as a result of ignorance concerning answers to these questions, and as a result of the Negro's new militance in race relations, the appeals procedure in federal employment is the subject of miiucli controversy and concern. Somiie high-level government officials think tlle procedure is an adequate index of industrial race relations. OCthers disagree, and question whether it serves any good purpose at all. Some representative line supervisors consider it just another tool; others, in contrast, think it the only tool necessary to protect the status of minority group members. F;inally, some representative employee spokesmen, usually wlhite employees, believe appellants always win their way. Other spokesmen, often minority group members, believe appel-