Western Agencies Research Articles

Discrepancy and cross-regional bias in sovereign credit ratings: Analyzing the role of public debt

Differences in sovereign ratings from major credit rating agencies (CRAs) generate debate among scientists and practitioners, with prior literature attributing these discrepancies to subjective factors. Using panel data from 70 countries from 2011 to 2018, we examine whether the observed heterogeneity in CRAs' ratings can be associated with cross-regional discrimination. While sovereign ratings among leading Western agencies, S&P, Moody's, and Fitch (the Big Three), are statistically similar, they significantly differ from their main Asian counterpart (Dagong). These differences appear to be driven by how these agencies value the role of public debt, as discrepancies are especially larger for countries with a public debt ratio beyond the estimated threshold of 52.86%. In addition, while the Big Three tend to disadvantage Latin American and Eastern European countries, Dagong tends to disadvantage Western countries, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. This suggests significant biases against geopolitical remoteness.

Gruusia-Abhaasia sõja (1992–1993) retseptsioon eesti meedias sõja ajal ja järel

In the minds of Estonians Abkhazia is associated mainly with Estonians living there. When the Georgian-Abkhazian war broke out in August 1992, the Estonian state evacuated about 170 Estonians and their families from Abkhazia in the autumn of the same year. The reception of the war itself in the Estonian media was low and related to the situation of Estonians there, but the motives and direct causes of the war and the development of war events were also examined. One Baltic News Service journalist observed the evacuation of Estonians and wrote about the events of the war on the spot, but most of the authors operated in Estonia and used various sources. In today’s context, it may seem surprising to what extent materials from Russian information channels were used, but at that time it was understandable: Russia covered events in its border countries more actively than Western agencies. Materials translated directly from Russian newspapers were also published in the Estonian press. The choice of sources also influenced the framing in which the events of that time were mediated. The coverage of the war in the Estonian media has undergone significant developments over the decades. The articles published during the war presented the events in a neutral way, rather sympathizing with the Abkhazians than the aggressor. While in the first half of the war the fighters of the Confederation of Mountain People of the Caucasus were presented as allies of the Abkhazians, the articles published at the end of the war sometimes included Russians, although the contribution of the Russians was not explained. However, even at the end of the war, the coverage remained largely neutral, conveying the views of both Georgians and Abkhazians. From the middle of 1994, the reception of the war began to change, which was related to Georgia’s international self-assertion. Reports from international organizations increasingly highlighted the issue of Georgian war refugees and Georgia’s claim to territorial integrity. This was also reflected in the Estonian media, where Abkhazians were increasingly called separatists without the right to independence. However, until the end of the 1990s, some articles were published that also provided Abkhaz views on events. Estonia had taken a clear direction towards integration with the West, but there was no clear understanding of Georgia’s orientation, which also influenced the attitudes of Estonian media towards Georgia-Abkhazia relations. Georgia’s leader, Eduard Shevardnadze, maneuvered between the West and Russia, pushing Abkhazia into an economic blockade and concluding agreements with Russia, while seeking integration with NATO and the European Union. The situation changed dramatically after the Rose Revolution in Georgia, when Mikhail Saakashvili, who had come to power, began to move unequivocally on the path of Western integration. At the same time, Georgia’s relations with Russia deteriorated. Georgia, a small brave country in conflict with Russia, suddenly became Estonians’ ally and friend. The common enemy unites, and when Saakashvili’s rhetoric gained a firm foothold in Georgia’s territorial integrity, Abkhazia was clearly positioned in the Estonian mainstream media as a separatist Russian puppet. Retrospectively, the reception of the Georgian-Abkhazian war changed – the pluralistic approach of the 1990s was replaced by the Georgian version. In this connection, the portrayal of the role of the Russians in the war also changed: peace mediators in the early 1990s or postcolonial implementers of the divide et impera principle now became allies of the Abkhaz. After the Law of Occupied Territories was adopted in Georgia on 23 October 2008, the concept “occupied Georgian territory” as an epithet of Abkhazia appeared in the Estonian media. As Russia continues to be in the position of a negative external “stranger” for the Estonian media, Russia’s relations with Georgia continue to influence our media attitudes towards Abkhazia and interpretations of the Georgian-Abkhazian war.

A Discussion of Measuring the Top-1% Most-Highly-Cited Publications: The Case of China

The top-1% most-highly-cited articles are watched closely as the vanguards of the sciences. Using Web-of-Science data, one can find that China had overtaken the USA in the relative participation in the top-1% (PP-top1%) in 2019, after outcompeting the EU on this indicator in 2015. However, this finding contrasts with repeated reports of Western agencies that the quality of China’s output in science is lagging other advanced nations, even as it has caught up in numbers of articles. The difference between the results presented here and the previous results depends mainly upon field normalizations, which classify source journals by discipline. Average citation rates of these subsets are commonly used as a baseline so that one can compare among disciplines. However, the expected value of the top-1% of a sample of N papers is N / 100, ceteris paribus. Using the average citation rates as expected values, however, errors are introduced by (1) using the mean of highly skewed distributions and (2) a specious precision in the delineations of the subsets. Classifications can be used for the decomposition, but not for the normalization. When the data is thus decomposed, the USA ranks ahead of China in biomedical fields such as virology. Although the number of papers is smaller, China outperforms the US in the field of Business and Finance (in the Social Sciences Citation Index; (p<.05). Using percentile ranks, subsets other than indexing-based classifications can also be tested for the statistical significance of differences among them.

Political Trials of the Second Half of the 1930s in the Mirror of the Regional Press

The article reveals the reaction of the regional press, and in particular, on the Mordovian regional Committee of the CPSU(b) of the newspaper “Red Mordovia” in the political trials of 1937 in Moscow, and the establishment of Soviet society a climate of suspicion, “hostile environment”, the search for “enemies of the people”, “wreckers”, “spies”, “Trotskyites”, spies of Western and Japanese intelligence agencies.

Furthering Pluralism? The German Foundations in Transitional Tunisia

This article examines the widely held assumption that Germany’s political foundations pursue distinctively partisan approaches that promise to be advantageous with regard to the furtherance of pluralist civil societies abroad. It reviews this assumption through a qualitative analysis of their partnerships in transitional Tunisia, following a comparison between the German foundations and other Western agencies. It exposes a common secular bias in Western civil society support and qualifies the assumption that the partisan approaches lead easily to pluralist civil society support. While the foundations partner with rather diverse organizations, they still favor organizations that follow Western lines, and their civil society support practices display interest in the furtherance of both pluralism and democratic stability promising corporatism.

Trends in Advertising and Cultures in Nigeria

This paper tracks the evolution of Advertising in Africa and especially Nigeria. It covers advertising’s journey across African culture and how this negates the widely held belief that advertising began with the establishment of western agencies in the continent. Using a historical review of literature, the paper examines the timelines of communication forms within the context of the evolution and development of advertising. The town crier was the most popular adverting tool and is still being used in the form of hawkers calling out their wares today. This example of oral advertising which has existed in Nigeria long before Western influence, confirms that it has survived alongside the more traditional and foreign but now integrated forms of advertising. It transitioned into the introduction of classified ads with the first newspaper in 1859 – Iwe Iroyin fun awon Yoruba ati Egba” and became recognised with the establishment of the West African Publicity Company in Nigeria in 1928, which went on to become Lintas, one of the major advertising agencies due to the promulgation of the Nigerian Enterprises Promotion (Indigenisation Decree of 1972), which in Nigeria, prevented direct foreign ownership of advertising agencies amongst other ventures. As a result more agencies sprung up to work the opportunities and it led to the establishment of regulatory agencies like the Association of Advertising Practitioners of Nigeria in 1973. Creativity has been the main factor for the continuous survival of the industry mentioning great copywriters and business men like Ogilvy, Leo Burnett and Mukoro a veteran who started his career in broadcasting. His ability [and that of other writers] to position consumers in the brand story has accounted for the success of the industry as it employs advertainment to continually push the boundaries of what is possible. Today, the industry which is worth billions employs celebrity advertising to get the attention of its consumers. The industry has come a long way and adverts like Guinness’s “My friend Udeme is a Great man” or Indomie’s “Mama you too good o – Indomie” or even 7up’s “Fido Dido” or Miranda’s “Three Orange Men” will not be forgotten.

“How Little Progress”? A Political Economy of Postcolonial Nutrition

“How Little Progress”? A Political Economy of Postcolonial Nutrition

The Initial Stages of Implementing the Western Quail Management Plan

The Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) established the Western Quail Working Group (WQWG) in July 2009. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed by the western agencies responsible for quail management (Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Washington) as ‘‘a cooperative agreement to improve management and implement strategies for conservation of western quail and their habitats.’’ The primary habitat management goals identified by the group are outlined in the Western Quail Management Plan, published by the Wildlife Management Institute in January 2010. Some of the past accomplishments of the WQWG, highlighted at recent WAFWA meetings, include shrub density reductions in New Mexico, riparian habitat restoration in Texas, private landowner habitat improvement cost-share in Kansas, and mesquite removal monitoring in Arizona. Management of western quail and their habitats has traditionally been accomplished on a relatively fine, local scale, so many of the current efforts to implement management practices identified in the plan are undocumented. A need identified by the WQWG is to better engage technical staff to guide outcomes and deliverables outlined in the plan. Additionally, the group is working to update the MOU to include Federal Land Management agencies, to better facilitate land management between state and federal agencies. A technical meeting with state and federal agency staff is scheduled for May 2017 in New Mexico to discuss state progress on implementing the Western Quail Management Plan, and how to increase state interest and efforts towards quail management. The discussions of the technical meeting will be presented at Quail 8.

The Globetrotting Regulator

I am putting in a lot of miles on behalf of international regulatory fraternity.Like Johnny Cash said, “I’ve been everywhere” — or at least it seems that way. Recently I’ve visited with government health officials in China (both PRC and ROC), the Philippines, Malaysia, Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Russia, Brazil, Colombia, South Africa, Indonesia, Kenya, and many other points in-between. And the only thing that’s grown more than my frequent flyer miles is my respect and admiration for those over-worked and under-appreciated civil servants toiling on the front lines of medicines regulation. It’s a global fraternity of dedicated (and generally under-paid) healthcare and health policy professionals devoted to ensuring timely access to innovative medicines and quality generics drugs. But, just as in similar Western agencies (USFDA, EMA, Health Canada, etc.), “doing the right thing” is often a battle of evolving regulatory science, tight resources, competing priorities … and politics.

Endogenous development: naïve romanticism or practical route to sustainable African development?

Development theory and practice in developing countries are dominated by the power of Western ideas, worldviews, actors, tools, models, and frameworks. Consequently, the resulting development interventions may too rarely be locally rooted, locally driven, or resonant with local context. Another reality is that theories and practice from developing countries rarely travel to the Western agencies dominating development, undermining the possibility of a beneficial synergy that could be obtained from the best of the two worlds: West and developing countries. There are many reasons why the experience of locally driven development is not communicated back to global development actors, including but not limited to the marginal role of Southern voices in global fora. Perhaps the greatest unwelcome and unintended outcome is that by trying to create, or perhaps better said, “clone” development in developing countries in the image of Western “development”, development efforts defeat their own purpose through undermining their own relevance, legitimacy, and sustainability.

Ethnic and Racial Stereotypes: A Critical Appraisal of Identity Politics in Nepal

As per the scope of this paper, it attempts, in its first part, to offer an operational definition of the term "stereotype." Then it scrutinizes three visual images to demonstrate how racial /ethnic stereotypes are constructed. The first image is extracted from Jo Sharp's Geographies of Postcolonialism. The second image comes from Mike Chappel's The Gurkhas and the third carton sketch is taken from The Kathmandu Post. In its final part, the paper explains how some ethnocentric elites in Nepal, motivated and funded by western agencies, are attempting to homogenize /stabilize the complex social racial and ethnic texture. The paper concludes that such stereotypical and monolithic representations can provoke racial and ethnic issues resulting in disintegration, xenophobia and conflict in Nepali society. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ctbijis.v1i1.10471 Crossing the Border: International Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies Vol.1(1) 2013; 79-84

Editorial

This special issue of Afrika Focus is called “(r)Urban Africa: multidisciplinary ap- proaches to the African city”. It contains a number of articles that were presented at GAPSYM5, the fifth symposium of the Africa Platform of the Ghent University Association, on 2 December 2011. In all four articles in this issue the reader is introduced to a unique aspect of African culture. These are cultural elements or developments the West should be made aware of, they could be promoted and supported by the West, and they could even be enriching for external powers. In his article “The Ogaden War: Somali women’s roles” Van Hauwermeiren tries to refute the stereotypical role the West tends to attribute to African women. During the 1977 Ogaden War, both Somali and Ogadeni women were active in the war, thus presenting a different image of gender roles in the Horn of Africa. Van Hauwermeiren stresses that women participated in the war of their own free will, and that they were respected for what they did. This article illustrates that the role of women in African societies is often much stronger than expected. It is espe- cially women who testify to dynamism, resilience and exibility, and this also in African cultures usually associated with very stereotypical gender roles. This is one of the African strengths the West should try to tap into and help to develop. Brinkman’s article – “Town, village and bush: war and cultural landscapes in south-eastern Angola (1966- 2002)” – also talks about a war situation, more particularly about the opposition between ‘town’ and ‘bush’ during the war in Angola, and how this opposition altered perceptions and could eventually have lethal consequences. The fact that the terms ‘urban’ and ‘rural’ received a very particular, but rapidly changing significance is illustrative of a society that wants to start appropriating reality to its own needs, rather than having its reality determined by post-colonial imaginations. In Mpofu’s article – “Perpetual ‘Outcasts’? Squatters in peri-urban Bulawayo, Zimbabwe” – the reader is introduced to a typical urban African phenomenon: the township dweller. The author stresses that squatter camps are often informal, but well-organized societies that should qualify as ‘cities inside the city’. These squatter camps are dynamic structures in which citizenship and local identity are forged – they are another vibrant element of contemporary Africa, to which local governments and Western agencies should pay much more attention. Finally, Batibonak also describes a distinctive African phenomenon in her article “Sorcellerie en milieu urbain amplifiée par les pentecôtismes camerounais”. This article deals with the way in which witchcraft was transformed when it was introduced into modern city life. In the context of Cameroon, witchcraft has thus been reconstructed by Pentecostal preachers in order to find an answer to socio-economic urban challenges. Also in this case, a fundamental African concept is transformed and re-invented, in a manner that attests to an enormous capacity for exibility and vitality.The strength of women, the re-appropriation of current-day realities, the dynam- ics of new and informal social structures, and the exibility of traditional values are all unique elements of African society, but these elements rarely attract attention, as they do not match the merely economic or security-oriented interests in Africa. In finishing, we would like to draw the reader’s attention to the fact that this issue of Afrika Focus also contains a large number of reports, most of which are extensive reports of doctoral research. These reports provide an interesting overview of the research that is being carried out in and on Africa and they testify to the fact that Africa is indeed a valuable research site, with highly competent researchers and research institutes.

Boom time for neuroscience in China

Summary A decade after the foundation of the Institute of Neuroscience in Shanghai, the field enjoys rapid growth and can attract young investigators back from abroad. Michael Gross reports.

Roses and Tulips: Dynamics of Regime Change in Georgia and Kyrgyzstan

The regime changes in Georgia (2003) and Kyrgyzstan (2005) that resulted in the overthrow of Presidents Shevardnadze and Akaev are widely considered to be part of a common phenomenon of ‘coloured revolution’ in the post-Soviet space. A key factor was the rise of successful opposition movements that dislodged the ruling regimes. However, in contrast with the widespread notion that opposition unity was a prerequisite for the overthrow of the presidents, opposition parties found it too difficult to coordinate their actions and their leaders could not agree how best to challenge the election results. Neither was it the case that the Rose and Tulip revolutions were orchestrated by Western agencies seeking to induce a change of government so as to further US interests in the region. Such analyses exaggerate the influence of foreign actors in the Rose and Tulip revolutions, and over-estimate the unity of purpose among the main opposition parties.

Curriculum and Civil Society in Afghanistan

Although research has traditionally discussed the ways in which societies in conflict develop educational practices, only recently have scholars begun to examine the role of education in creating or sustaining conflict. In Afghanistan, changing regimes have had an impact on state-sanctioned curricula over the past fifty years, drastically altering the purpose and ideology of education. In this article, Adele Jones traces the changing nature of Afghan curricula since the 1960s, highlighting the conflict surrounding curricula during the Soviet regime. She posits that resistance to statesanctioned curricula was seen as resistance to the state regime, often putting schools at the center of conflict. This continues today, as Taliban groups resist the Western-influenced curricula of modern Afghanistan. Jones argues that understanding this cycle of resistance is critical for Western agencies aiming to support educational efforts in the country.

The Virtuous Circles of Western Exposure in Russian Regions: A Case for Micro-Polity Analysis of Democratic Change

Exposure to democratic values has been regarded as a significant factor in the diffusion of democracy, and has also been linked through conditionality to assistance from Western agencies. Diffusion and the targeting of such assistance in a country of the size of Russia is likely to be uneven, however, implying uneven effects, as public authorities, private businesses and the broader citizenry are exposed to varying levels of influence according to the level of diffusion and assistance applied in particular regions. Statistical analysis shows regional exposure levels to be higher in regions that lie in closer proximity to the West, even when urbanization, gross regional product and other domestic variables are held constant. This further implies that methodological approaches to democratization based on assessing the ‘whole nation’ miss the significance of geographical factors in post-communist political change, which will need to be addressed in future analyses.

IMPROVING THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH

When the report titled as “report of the working group on inequalities in health” was submitted, in 1980, to the government headed by Margaret Thatcher; it was rejected by the conservative policy makers. The report was based on the recommendations on the reducing the income inequalities among the Britons through taking equity-based initiatives in the areas of education (also women’s’ education), health, housing, working conditions and living environment of the people (Social determinants of health-SDH). 1 This was the time when the neoliberal agenda prevailed in most parts of the world. The developing countries were becoming overtly dependent on the aid and debt incurred by Western agencies such as IMF and the World Bank. Many third world countries were frequently asked to carry out structural adjustment programs (SAPs) and to cut the health and social sector development budgets. At the same time, these countries were encouraged to adopt a health care system that favored the elites and wealthy. This was because the private sector was allowed to take the lead role in health care provision. As a result of this governmental ignorance of its duty to provide health for all; the private sector emerged as a market where they were least interfered by the government and had full control on the allocation of resources for production as well as distribution. This was also true for our health sector and it continues to be the same for Pakistan today. The governmental expenditure on social determinants of health and social development has always been very tiny and inequitably distributed. The private sector has become the major health care provider to a vast majority of over 80% of our population with no regulation on the cost and quality of the care they provide.

Western medicine doesn't have all the answers

Disease outbreaks in poorer countries could be handled far more effectively if only western aid agencies would break with their cultural chauvinism

Globalizing Chinese martial arts cinema: the global-local alliance and the production ofCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Using the Mandarin-language global blockbuster Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as a case, this project aims to study how an oriental culture is globalized against the odds as predicted by theories of cultural imperialism. First, the globalization of local talents is found to be a precondition for this reversed cultural flow. Second, the formation of a global-local alliance, consisting of networks of both local and global firms and professionals, plays a critical role. The alliance serves to translate local cultural capital into economic capital and to enhance the transculturability of the cultural product. To be accountable to the Western agencies and to be faithful to local culture, the production team is under constant pressure to strike a balance between particularization and universalization. The implications of this unprecedented case are discussed.

The Modern Yugoslav Conflict 1991-1995: Perception, Deception and Dishonesty by Brendan O'Shea (review)

REVIEWS 375 victory,when Fidesz threatenedto mobilize millions of demonstratorsagainst the change (p. 4). Zigzags in public assessmentsof the Communist past reflect the pattern of alternatingsocialistand centre-rightgovernmentsin Hungary since I990 but, at a deeper level, link to ambiguous attitudes towards Hungary's comparativelyliberalpost -I956 Communistregime. It is interestingthat Fideszfelt that millions could be mobilized on this issue.James illustratesthe mixed opinions of ordinaryHungarianswith referenceto an opinion poll askingBudapesters to name people they associated with I956. Although most mentioned Imre Nagy, only 56 per cent considered him a 'positive' actor. Discussing the controversyover Tam'asV'arga'sstatueof the executed PrimeMinister,James explores why it is that Nagy has not achieved the status of 'postcommunist foundationalhero' (p. I47)despite the extraordinarysymbolic significanceof his public reburialinJune I989. James also discusses many dilemmas which are not specific to Hungary. There is the issueof whether some crimesaremore heinous than others are Fascistatrocitiesunderrepresentedin the House of Terror?The desirabilityof a dispassionateapproachis also implicitlyquestioned:the even-handednessof the official I956 exhibit in the MilitaryMuseum is contrastedwith the more moving but partisan approach of Gergely Pongratz in his private I956 museum. Although its main focus in on post-Communism, the book includes many vignettes of the Communist period -the terrorof the unfortunatesculptors commissioned to design the Stalin statue, or the ironic attitude of the public towardsgrandiosememorialswhich were given irreverentnicknamesand used as meeting places and landmarks. The book is generously illustrated,with forty-two photographs, sited in relevant sections of text. Many of the outdoor photographswere taken in the snow, making them particularlystriking. Department ofEuropean Studies andModemLanguages ANNE WHITE University ofBath O'Shea,Brendan.7heModern rugoslav Conflict I99I-I995: Perception, Deception andDishonesty. Cass Contemporary Security Studies Series. Frank Cass, London and New York, 2005. xii + 244 pp. Notes. Select bibliography. Index. ?6s.oo. IN September 1994, BrendanO'Shea, a formerlong-servingofficerin the Irish Defence Forces,joined the European Community Monitor Mission (ECCM) in the formerYugoslavia.Afterservingas a Monitor, he was attached to HQ Staff in Zagreb with responsibilityfor 'evaluatingand reporting on the war in Bosnia' (p. i). This book has come out of that experience, but it is not an account based primarily on the author's active role in the field with the ECCM. The bulk of it comprises five chapters, each titled simply by year (I99I-95), and he joined the ECCM only towardsthe end of the period dealt with in the book. It is important to be clear on this point, because O'Shea 376 SEER, 84, 2, 2006 writesmostly about events, and the personalitiesinvolved, of which he has no first-handknowledge, nor does he claim it. This is an interpretativework of history,not a personal memoir. O'Shea writeswell enough on the militaryaspects of the Bosnian conflict, but his strengthis as an analystof the politicalcontext. He was in post during the crucialfifteenmonths leading up to the Dayton Agreements,in December 1995, and this experience informsthe whole book. He was able to observe at close quartershow businessbetween the warring sides and Western agencies was done, or mostly, in fact, failed to get done. Hopes of reaching agreement on a ceasefirein Bosniawere continuallyscupperedby malevolent competing nationalismsand appallingblunders(orwere they part of a deliberatepolicy?) perpetrated in the name of the Realpolitik dictated from Washington. His account of how a Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (COHA) failed at the final stages, in December I994, gives a remarkableinsight into the way in which personalitiesand circumstancescombined to ruin a promising peace initiative, leaving the misery to continue for another year. In a compressed way, it says an awfullot about everythingthat went wrong in Bosnia. O'Shea's telling of this episode is notable for its generous assessmentof the part played by Radovan Karadzicin nearlybringing COHA to fruition,and he questions the justice of tryingto convict the Bosnian Serb leader of genocide under international law. This even-handedness runs through the book as a whole. The massacreat Srebrenicais recounted in all its unrelievedand inexcusablehorror,but O'Shea is scathingabout comparisonswith the Holocaust , and points out that the expulsion of the Krajina Serbs was the biggest single act of ethnic cleansing during the Balkanwars. There are no heroes. Izetbegovic, Tudjman and Milos'evic'are presented as perfidious, amoral clones, and O'Shea is...