Local Political Structures Research Articles

International Norms, Commerce, and the Political Economy of Insecurity in Sierra Leone

In certain circumstances, international intervention — whether economic, military, or political — accomplishes the opposite of its stabilizing goal. This article shows how officials in Sierra Leone who presided over feeble state institutions at the outset incorporated into their own domestic political strategies the norms that guide international intervention. Although these international norms, which emphasize marketoriented reform, democratization, and state-building, undergird order in many states in the international system, they can also reinforce corruption and disorder in other contexts where political entrepreneurs are able to channel external resources for consolidation of extant or new local political structures based on alternative forms of control. The article focuses on the role played by externally-prescribed economic reform, the politicization of multinational corporations, and the emergence of nonstate security alternatives in providing new opportunities for state and local actors. These opportunities allow actors to avert common statebuilding strategies, and minimize the voice of ordinary Sierra Leoneans in local and national politics. The article concludes by considering alternative ways to foster the creation of political order.

The Politics of Community and Inka Statecraft in the Colca Valley, Peru

AbstractIn this paper I investigate the community-level articulation of imperial and local political structures during the Inka occupation of the Collagua Province, located in the Colca Valley of highland southern Peru. Combined ethnohistorical and archaeological analysis document the emergence of a hybrid imperial/local political formation in the shift from autonomous rule during the Late Intermediate period (A.D. 1000–1450) to the Inka occupation during the Late horizon (A.D. 1450–1532). Documentary evidence reveals considerable but uneven penetration of Inka imperial institutions across the two ranked moieties that structure local community organization, with remarkably close conformity between Inkaic ideals of rank and hierarchy among the communities (ayllus) of the lower moiety, but greater autonomy among the higher-ranking ayllus of the upper moiety. New data from a systematic survey around the provincial capital documents a decentralized Late Intermediate period settlement pattern associated with fortifications, suggesting segmentary autonomous political organization. The subsequent Late horizon settlement pattern signals overall occupational continuity, but with the establishment of an Inka administrative center and the installation of central plazas and Inka structures at large settlements with local elite domestic architecture. The two data sets combined provide a integrated view of centralized, but locally mediated, Inka administration.

‘Stop kissing and steaming!’: tuberculosis and the occupational health movement in Massachusetts and Lancashire, 1870–1918

Historians have argued that American social welfare reformers looked to Europe for examples of successful programmes. This article provides a counter-case where a progressive American state, Massachusetts, developed public health reforms prior to their British counterparts. Social concerns about reducing cases of tuberculosis in Massachusetts' cotton manufacturing cities led to the transference of the public health discourse from the urban living environment to the workplace. This same relationship could have been applied within the Lancashire industry. Instead, the urban public health discourse focused on living conditions. In both countries, local and state political structures influenced health campaigners' actions.

Validity of a Social Capital Measurement Tool in Vietnam

AbstractAlthough there are now several instruments available to measure social capital in a quantitative manner, very few of them have been validated, and no published study has examined respondents' interpretation of the meaning of the questions. This article represents one of the first attempts to measure the validity of a quantitative social capital instrument. Young Lives is a study that includes quantitative measures of caregivers' social capital using the Short Adapted Social Capital Assessment Tool (Short A-SCAT). Vietnamese respondents' interpretations of questions on social capital were compared to the original intended meaning of the questions and to fieldworkers' interpretations. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with two interpreters who were involved in translating the original questionnaire from English to Vietnamese, two supervisors and six interviewers. In-depth interviews were conducted with 24 female caregivers similar to the original respondents. Key concepts in social capital, like trust and sense of belonging, were interpreted similarly by all actors. Support was perceived narrowly by caregivers (limited to money and goods). Most problems arose from changes originating from translation from English to Vietnamese and by the changing nature of local political structures and how one refers to them. Overall validity appeared fairly high with a "correct interpretation" rate of 77 percent. There is now a valid tool for quickly and cheaply assessing social capital in a quantitative manner in Vietnam.

‘THIS HORRID HOLE’: ROYAL AUTHORITY, COMMERCE AND CREDIT AT BONNY, 1690–1840

This article suggests that differences in local political structures and credit protection regimes largely account for Bonny's displacement of Old Calabar as the principal slave port of the Bight of Biafra in the eighteenth century, despite Bonny's reputation for being particularly unhealthy for Europeans. We argue that this displacement occurred in the 1730s, several decades earlier than previously thought. We suggest that this was made possible by the early growth and consolidation of royal authority at Bonny. The use of state authority to enforce credit arrangements in Bonny proved more effective than the mechanisms adopted at its closest rival, Old Calabar, where, in the absence of a centralized political authority similar to the monarchy at Bonny, credit protection before 1807 was based on pawnship.

American Sugar Kingdom: The Plantation Economy of the Spanish Caribbean, 1898–1934

How did U.S. capital come to dominate the Spanish Caribbean’s social and economic structure after 1898? This is the principal question posed by César Ayala’s comparative study of the modern sugar industry of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic in the decades immediately following the Spanish-American War. Ayala rejects the Plantation School’s emphasis on long historical continuities and proposes instead that the Caribbean was a site for a “radical social and economic transformation . . . as a result of U.S. imperial expansion” (p. 2). Driving this transformation was a new type of corporation—the holding company. U.S. banking and sugar-refining corporations came together at the end of the nineteenth century to form powerful sugar trusts that not only defined the relationships between corporate structures in the mainland but also the ways in which these interests organized sugar production in the Spanish Caribbean—the “American Sugar Kingdom.”Ayala eventually retreats from his “radical transformation” argument when describing the emergence of the colonato (sugar farmers), the labor system, and the relationship between the plantations and the centrales (mills). Although U.S. capital transformed the industrial process of sugar making during the twentieth century, Ayala argues for the importance of local differences in shaping the encounter between U.S. interests and those in the islands. Therefore, Ayala creates a gap between radical transformation and the conditions (land tenure, labor, industrial) that existed in the islands. When looking closely at the sugar industry during the period, Ayala argues that it is clear that U.S. capital had a transformative power in relation to production and output. However, U.S. capital was not hegemonic. American sugar interests were dependent on local political, social, and economic structures in order to successfully secure land and labor to supply their centrales. Yet, the American-owned centrales were not the only ones in existence, as Ayala shows. The presence of locally owned industrial mills, some of them constructed at the end of the nineteenth century, challenges the “radical transformation” claim.Ayala’s arguments regarding the role that colonos played in the industry are based on his analysis of Cuban sugar farmers. His examination of Puerto Rican and Dominican sugar farmers is less detailed. However, his approach merits further consideration, because Ayala provides a new methodology to understand this complex agricultural subject. According to this study, Puerto Rico’s colonato emerged late and was the product of American economic expansion. Unlike Cuba, where the Americans found virgin land to build their mills without having to depend on the colonos, in Puerto Rico, American investors and mill owners found that most of the island was already owned by farmers. Ayala’s reliance on statistical analyses of agriculture done in the 1930s and 1940s pushed him to conclude that, under such conditions, most of the land planted in sugar was either controlled by a small number of large colonos and centralistas or by a large number of smallholders. According to Ayala, Puerto Rico had far more smallholders who worked their lands with the help of family labor (p. 141). Following the model created by Mintz, Ayala begins to describe the colonato in terms of small farms or minifundia.Ayala’s evidence—based on extensive primary and secondary source materials—shows the overwhelming importance and power of the Cuban sugar industry. Documentation of investment levels, size of farms, output of centrales, and so on, supports this claim without rejecting the importance of Puerto Rico and the Do-minican Republic for the industry. This is a splendid book that explores a side of the encounter between the U.S. and the Spanish Caribbean during the twentieth century, making it a valuable reference to those interested in comparative colonialism and empire building.

LOCAL POLITICS AND VIOLENT CRIME IN U.S. CITIES*

Recent research has begun to examine the effects of politics on crime. However, few studies have considered how local political variation is likely to affect crime. Using insights from urban politics research, this paper develops and tests hypotheses regarding direct and conditional effects of local politics on violent crime in 958 cities in 1991. Results from negative binomial regression analyses show that violent crime rates vary by local political structures and the race of the mayor. In addition, the effects of structural factors such as poverty, unemployment, and female‐headed households on violent crime depend on local form of government and the number of unreformed local governmental structures. Implications for systemic social disorganization and institutional anomie theories are discussed.

Decentralisation in Zimbabwe: a local perspective

AbstractAlthough decentralisation has been on the Government of Zimbabwe's agenda since the early 1980s and there have been several structural reforms, little effective power has been decentralised. This article describes Zimbabwe's various decentralisation efforts and effects including fiscal decentralisation, sectoral decentralisation, local political and institutional structures and local economic development and poverty reduction, and analyses their impact in Binga District, which is one of the poorest parts of the country. A number of conclusions are drawn from this experience. Firstly, decentralisation is part of a wider process of national political and economic change and cannot be planned independently; moreover, decentralisation for the ‘wrong’ reasons can be worse than no decentralisation at all and, if the political environment is not ‘right’, the problems of decentralisation can be exacerbated by external funding agencies. Secondly, decentralisation must be accompanied by capacity building, and the capacity of local institutions depends to a significant extent on the individuals involved. Thirdly, decentralisation must be seen as a ‘learning process’; consequently, despite the relatively little effective decentralisation to date, those involved have learnt valuable lessons. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Local institutional and political structures and processes: recent experience in Africa

AbstractDemocratic decentralisation is a stated goal of many African countries, but there are considerable institutional and political challenges involved in making it a reality. Even where official government decentralisation programmes are underway, many central agencies may be reluctant or unwilling to share significant powers with local governments. Overcoming local elite capture and generating genuine local participation can also be extremely difficult. This article reviews basic institutional and political mechanisms intended to facilitate effective decentralisation and intergovernmental fiscal relations, including legal, constitutional, fiscal and managerial reforms. It also explores the challenges of developing institutional mechanisms for hierarchical control and internal accountability which are potentially subject to considerable abuse. Particular attention is given to the development of external accountability through local elections, appropriately defined local government structures and operations, appropriately sized local government jurisdictions and various direct voice mechanisms that have been used to various degrees in Africa. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Political Identity and Worker Politics: Silk and Metalworkers in Lyon, France 1900–1914

This paper aims to explain the different political trajectories and identities of two sets of industrial workers in the city of Lyon, France during the years immediately preceding the first World War. Silk workers supported reformist socialist parties while metalworkers were pillars of the revolutionary syndicalist current that dominated the prewar CGT. Unlike base and superstructure models or political autonomy explanations, it is argued that the particular industrial structures and social relations within each industry interacted with local and national political opportunity structures in ways that rendered some strategies and forms of collective action more efficacious than others. The programs and strategies proposed by revolutionary syndicalism matched the conditions of metalworkers and attracted their support, while reformist socialism struck a similar chord with silk workers resulting in similar results.

Biros, Books and Big‐men: Literacy and the Transformation of Leadership in Simbu, Papua New Guinea

ABSTRACTThis article examines local strategies used to build leadership roles and enlist public support in a newly literate Papua New Guinean highlands rural community. The ethnographic evidence presented shows how the relationship between literacy and local ideas about modernisation and development has facilitated a shift in patterns of local political structures. When literacy is viewed as an unequally distributed and novel resource with inherently modernist connotations it becomes evident why male villagers in a contemporary highlands village endeavour to acquire and exploit it in rivalry with others. And while individual villagers market their reading and writing proficiency as a means to bolster their reputations within the existing socio‐political system, this has significance for traditional leadership and authority patterns, given that village leaders have traditionally been unschooled and therefore do not possess these highly regarded skills. To illustrate these processes I examine the political careers of two prominent villagers with particular attention to their respective claims to head two competing village‐based development projects. An analysis of the agendas they use to legitimate their authority roles in these projects makes clear how the quest to be seen to be literate has become a constitutive component of a prospective leader's repertoire of skills.

Gendering Production in Wartime South Africa

To SAY THAT THE SECOND WORLD WAR WAS IMPORTANT is to make last uncontroversial statement in African Studies. These words opened a volume on Africa and Second World War several years ago. The editors went on to suggest that such accord arose because Everyone knows that it was either end of beginning or beginning of end of European colonialism in Africa. Indeed, by end of World War II, European colonial powers were exhausted by second maelstrom to hit their continent in twentieth century and soon determined that direct rule over African territories could not be sustained. Within fifteen years, most of African continent was on road to independent political rule. Historians and other scholars, however, have not looked very closely at wartime experiences that brought about such momentous change. According to editors of Africa and Second World War, most historians refer to conflict as an almost incantatory invocation, a sort of empty historical marker, assuming immense significance of event but not examining it as a period in history or paying any attention to its complexities.1 While historians agree that there must be a relationship between war and subsequent African independence, our understanding of such a connection remains paradoxically both emphatic and amorphous. More recently, Frederick Cooper has addressed this lacuna in analysis, drawing our attention to fundamental importance of war in shaking old structures of power and habits of discourse and causing British and French colonial authorities to change their entire approach to the labor in their African colonies. During and after war, officials pondered the reshaping of a political framework in which a social question is debated. The political framework was colonialism. The social question was labor control over African colonial subjects. As Cooper demonstrates, political framework was shaken by African laborers who challenged outright and brutal repression exercised by their colonial employers. Massive labor strikes during and immediately after war threatened to bring production to a standstill throughout both British and French colonies. As war drew to a close, colonial policies gradually changed in hopes of turning unruly workers into a stabilized work force. Colonial administrators throughout Africa began to accept their subjects as urban dwellers and industrial workers, incorporating them into local political structures instead of treating them as minors without rights, and they allowed union representation and

Toward a healthy democracy.

Because it represents a revival of citizen responsibility, the Healthy Communities movement is not only a health and quality-of-life movement but a civic and democratic movement as well. Healthy Communities efforts need to seek meaningful partnerships with local governments and work their collaborative and citizen-based efforts into formal local political structures. As the foundation of the Healthy Communities movement, civic renewal should be elevated as a major theme and goal for its future.

Rebuilding the local landscape: environmental management in Burkina Faso

Part 1 The resilience of the peasantry in Burkhina Faso (or les paysannes sont fortes): Burkhina Faso physical geography population history and politics economy history, environment and movement in West Africa the peasant mode of production the peasantry peasant adaptation family dynamics and the farm lifescapes. Part 2 The province of Sissili physical environment location, climate and geography natural vegetation and land use bush fire vegetative production human resources and human systems population and ethnic groups immigration administrative and local political structures issues of resource use in Sissili background agricultural characteristics of the Nuni, Mossi and Fulani land tenure the development of the agricultural landscape soil types and indigenous soil classification pastoralism an introduction to the three case study villages Lon Boutiourou Saboue Islam in Sissili the introduction and spread of Islam why it fitted so well to Nuni life animist Muslims. Part 3 Culturally locating production patterns: the Nuni background power and governance in Nuni communities the Nuni farming system hunting and gathering the Mossi background the farming system of the Mossi the Fulani. Part 4 Lon: population description of the landscape evolution of the farmed area the future of the occupation of space in Lon networks and linkages Nuni Mossi Fulani legal arrangements and administrative decision making ethnic interrelationships in Lon. Part 5 Boutiourou: population description of the landscape evolution of the farmed area the future of the occupation of space in Lon networks and linkages Nuni Mossi Fulani legal arrangements and administrative decision making ethnic interrelationships in Boutiourou. Part 6 Saboue: population description of the landscape evolution of the farmed area the future of the occupation of space in Lon networks and linkages Nuni Mossi Fulani legal arrangements and administrative decision making ethnic interrelationships in Saboue. Part 7 Comparing differences: a comparative analysis overview a comparison of the farming system women's agriculture and off-farm activities household consumption in the villages animal husbandry in the villages discussion of analysis explaining land-use change possibilities and choice for new livelihoods land use in relation to national agricultural policy diffusion of ideas directions of agricultural development continuity and change. Part 8 Conclusion - African realities and Western dreams: Western scientific thought versus African thought why we have not been able to understand African economies how can we better understand African economies? local environmental management and the emerging development paradigm appendix - land classification unit according to de Boer, 1992.

Making a case for developing collaboration. Applying the framework for action planning in health promotion and education for reproductive health.

This article discusses the development of collaboration among different countries through the application of the Framework for Action Planning in Health Promotion and Education for Reproductive Health. International collaboration on this project first came into existence in early 1997 when two individuals within the US Department of Health and Human Services wanted to convene a group of committed people from countries around the world to share experiences and lessons learnt in order to benefit from each other. Because the topic of focus was maternal and child health the Framework for Action Planning in Health Promotion and Education in Reproductive Health was used as the basis for discussion. The selected countries were Argentina Bolivia Canada Estonia Kenya Nicaragua Nigeria Romania and the US including Puerto Rico. Representatives from these countries were given the opportunity to share their experiences that were related to reproductive health. In return they were provided with a three-day orientation meeting on the application of the framework within their respective countries. In this way each country attending the meeting had the opportunity of doing something similar to what the other participating countries were doing in every context so that subsequently the participants would be able to share their experiences and progress in an ongoing setting. Preliminary feedback has shown that the framework is a very useful tool for bringing clarity and collaboration to the development of reproductive health programs. It promotes an approach that can be used simultaneously in many countries with highly divergent realities because it accounts for the need to accommodate and respond to the differences found among local values cultures and political structures.

Civil society, municipal government and the state: enshrinement, empowerment and legitimacy. Scotland, 1800–1929

ABSTRACTCivil society remains the most challenging and all-pervading of concepts, yet too rarely is it examined empirically. The potential of civil society is that it better allows understanding of local political structures as well as cross-class associational activity. Its alternatives, while many, are principally ‘public life’ and ‘influence’, both of which have their own highly respected traditions. It is argued here that civil society offers a powerful analysis of structure and action in the urban world, and that it is one mediated by municipal government. To operationalize this definition, this article will introduce three further concepts: ‘enshrinement’, ‘empowerment’ and ‘legitimacy’. Each of these is linked to the relationship of the municipal state with that at Westminster, the formal mechanism through which the stability of civil society in nineteenth-century Britain was negotiated.

Geschiedschrijving en lokale politiek

In Belgian historical research a lot of attention is given to local politics, also by the activities of local amateur historians. This research mostly bas a very limited scientific finality because the local political past is taken in isolation. 'Glocal history' requires representative data. Within a broader perspective one can consider the local political past in a global context. This 'global history' sees the local level as a field in which to analyze the political, social, economic and cultural developments in relation to each other. At the same time the local political sphere is considered a link between the individual citizen and higher political authorities. Local political structures act as a buffer between the citizen and (inter) national policy and are at the same time a grounds for experimentation.

Maternal health, war, and religious tradition: authoritative knowledge in Pujehun District, Sierra Leone.

In Sierra Leone constraints to ideal maternal health require a primary health care approach that includes collaboration with traditional midwives. They are authoritative figures embedded within local political structures and a powerful women's religion. The local causes of maternal risk are described, including civil war and refugee camp life. Traditional midwives provide vital services in the camp, are respected for their social status, and learn additional skills. Biomedical and traditional systems of authoritative knowledge, based on different kinds of legitimacy to heal, are in a complementary relationship.

UNO … . What happened to autonomy? Politics and ethnicity on Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast

Abstract Current debates surrounding the ethnic mobilization of indigenous groups are explored with reference to Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast region. The Autonomy Project, promoted under the revolutionary government of the 1980s, inspired new forms of regional multi‐ethnic forms of mobilization and, in so doing, eschewed nationalistic claims associated with the resurgence of ethnicity elsewhere. The fate of the principle of ethnic autonomy is subsequently examined in the wake of the defeat of the Sandinistas in the elections held in 1990. Evidence suggests that domestic political conditions as well as international political and economic pressure have been crucial in undermining the autonomy process. This, in turn, has had important consequences for ethnic identity formation in the region, since a combination of pressure from international agencies, the United States government and multinational companies in conjunction with the UNO alliance have undermined educational and employment as well as political initiatives built around old and new ethnic groupings. Examples of bilingualism and initiatives to control and protect the region's resources are shown to have suffered directly as a result of the increased activity of multinationals, the privatization programmes of the Chomorro government and efforts to bypass local political structures. A local radio station, which also played a role in promoting multi‐ethnicity in the region, was similarly under threat. In conclusion, and drawing on wider debates, it is argued that Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast provides an important example of the interpenetration of local and global pressures in the development of ethnic politics. The analysis of changes on the Atlantic Coast during the period of the revolution and after the defeat of the Sandinistas in 1990 allows us to assess their impact on changing forms of cultural and ethnic identity in the region. The article argues that the scope for ethnic autonomy, including new and empowering forms of regional multi‐ethnic identity, is seen to be profoundly contingent on political circumstances which themselves cannot be considered independently of wider international and economic conditions.

"The Leniency Shown Them Has Been Unavailing": The Confederate Occupation of East Tennessee

"The Leniency Shown Them Has Been Unavailing": The Confederate Occupation of East Tennessee Noel Fisher The divisions within the Confederacy are well documented and have received increasingly sophisticated attention in the last few years. Even so, a number ofconsequences of those divisions have yet to be explored. One is that Southern troops sometimes had to play the role ofoccupiers in their own country and employ force to suppress elements of their own population. These situations challenged the ability of the Confederate government to balance local interests with national needs; they also strained the patience and discipline of Confederate troops and resulted in frequent atrocities. The policies adopted by the Confederate government in these areas, the responses of Southern troops to resistance, and the similarities and differences in Confederate and Federal responses to dissent all reveal a great deal concerning not only the politics of the Confederacy but also its approach to war.' One area in which the struggle between Southern Unionists and the Confederate government became a full-fledged war was East Tennessee. From the beginning of the secession crisis, loyalists there displayed a fierce resistance to Confederate rule. About 70 percent of the region's voters rejected separation in both February and June 1861, and when secession passed in Middle and West Tennessee they attempted to form a separate, loyal state. The collapse of this scheme also failed to deter the Eastern Unionists. Throughout the summer and fall of 1861, they organized regional and local political structures, established¦Victoria E. Bynum, Unruly Women: The Politics ofSocial and Sexual Control in the Old South (Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1992), 130-50; Michael Fellman, Inside War: The Guerrilla Conflict in Missouri During the American Civil War (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1989): Paul D. Escott, Many Excellent People: PowerandPrivilege in North Carolina, 1850-1000 (Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1985), 32-84; Steven Hahn, The Roots ofSouthern Populism: Yeomen Farmers and the Transformation ofthe Georgia Upcountry, 1850-1890 (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1983), 86-1 13. Civil War History, Vol. XL, No. 4 © 1994 by the Kent State University Press 276CIVIL WAR HISTORY military companies known as home guards, and seized control of most counties . Some East Tennessee loyalists left the state to enter Federal units forming in Kentucky, while others began to threaten, kill, and drive out supporters of the Confederacy. In response, in July 1 861 the Confederacy sent two regiments to East Tennessee and initiated attempts to conciliate, or suppress, the dissenting population.2 For the next two years, Confederate officers engaged in a futile quest to find the proper balance between conciliation and repression. The combination varied with changes in circumstances and leadership, but no mix would sway the loyalist population. As Confederate frustrations increased, the emphasis shifted increasingly toward repression, and policy in 1863 was far harsher than that in 1861. Nonetheless, Confederate officers never lost all hope in persuasion , nor did they abandon their commitment to restraint in their dealings with the loyalists. The first man appointed to command the Department of East Tennessee, Brig. Gen. Felix K. Zollicoffer, embodied the Confederacy's emphasis on conciliation in the war's first months. Both Tennessee governor Isham G. Harris and President Jefferson Davis had received numerous reports that the resistance in East Tennessee resulted from unreasonable fears created by demagogic leaders, particularly Senator Andrew Johnson and Representative T. A. R. Nelson. Thus Harris and Davis agreed to station only a small force in East Tennessee and to appoint as commander a moderate and prudent man, preferably a former Whig. Zollicoffer fit these criteria. He had long been an important figure in the state Whig party, first as assistant editor of the influential Nashville Republic Banner and then as the representative of Tennessee's pivotal Eighth District. When the secession crisis emerged, Zollicoffer used all his influence for compromise. He helped organize the Constitutional Union party, represented Tennessee in the Washington Peace Conference, and campaigned against secession in the February referendum. He did not break with the Union until the outbreak of fighting at Fort Sumter, and he remained sensitive to the fears of Southern Unionists.3 Zollicoffer's primary responsibility...