http://repub.eur.nl/res/col/9743/ List of Publications en http://repub.eur.nl/static-eur/img/logo.png http://repub.eur.nl http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/38283/ 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z The standard empowerment model underlying gender policies by international organisations emphasises women's access to resources. This paper presents an exploratory analysis of the relative importance of access to resources as compared with women's agency, recognising that this agency may be limited by gendered institutional constraints. It presents a cross-country analysis with a variety of formal and informal gendered institutions, access to resources and well-being achievements. The regression analysis suggests that women's empowerment depends both on access to resources (positively) and on gendered institutions (negatively), with different institutions affecting different dimensions of empowerment. Staveren, I.P. van http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/39397/ 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z Terugblikkend kan het eind van de jaren tachtig, het begin jaren negentig gezien worden als een omslagpunt voor de financiële mondialisering. De val van de Berlijnse muur bracht mensen als Francis Fukuyama ertoe “het einde van de geschiedenis” uit te roepen: het democratische vrijemarktdenken zou de ideologische slag voor altijd gewonnen hebben. Hoeven, R.E. van der http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/40149/ 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z This paper is one of a series of papers in a research project, The Power of Numbers: A Critical Review of MDG Targets for Human Development and Human Rights (the “Project”)1. Motivated by a concern with the consequences of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) beyond the achievement of the 2015 targets, the Project seeks to explore their broader policy and programmatic implications. It focuses particularly on the reductionism inherent in the way in which these global goals were set and came to be used, as well as the potential for distorting priorities and marginalizing, or even displacing, important human development and human rights concerns inherent in such global goal-setting exercises. A total of 11 studies are included, each analyzing the normative and empirical consequences of a particular MDG goal/target, and considering what other targets and indicators might have been more appropriate. The Project aims to identify criteria for selecting indicators for setting targets that would be more consistent with Human Development and Human Rights priorities, amenable to monitoring impacts on inequality, accountability and consistency with human rights standards. Hoeven, R.E. van der http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/39258/ 2012-12-07T00:00:00Z In 1965 kreeg Nederland de eerste minister voor 'ontwikkelingshulp' (Theo Bot). Dat werden later ministers voor ontwikkelingssamenwerking en nu hebben we een minister voor Buitenlandse Handel, ontwikkelingssamenwerking. Dat is de koopman en de dominee in één werd er al gespot. Hier ligt een ontwikkeling in ons denken over armoede en ontwikkelingslanden aan ten grondslag die besproken zal worden. Dat denken is sterk beïnvloed door de snelle ontwikkeling in Azië, de belangrijke rol van de particuliere sector daarin (commercieel en niet-gouvernementeel), kritiek op de traditionele ontwikkelingssamenwerking en recentelijk door de rol van China en India als donoren in het tegenwoordig ook snel groeiende Afrika. Die nieuwe minister van NGO en PVDA huize (mevr. Ploumen) kreeg gelijk ruzie met de minister van economische zaken (Kamp) over de besteding van die één miljard 'bezuinigingen', in een zaak die heel duidelijk het verschil in achtergrond van beide politici verraadt (Financieel Dagblad 6-11-12). De overgang naar internationale samenwerking heeft nogal wat implicaties Dijk, M.P. van http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/38497/ 2012-11-15T00:00:00Z Experimenteren doe je in een laboratorium. Voor de economie bestaan twee soorten laboratoria. De eerste is voor simulaties van economische gedrag door middel van spelletjes, in computerlabs of in de praktijk van alle dag. De tweede is een denktank waarin gebrainstormd wordt over alternatieve invullingen van economische instituties, organisaties, en beleid om de kloof te dichten tussen enerzijds een wenselijke economische toekomst en anderzijds de werkelijkheid van vandaag. Het Sustainable Finance Labii is van het tweede soort, dat net zoals bijvoorbeeld Economy Transformers en Bank of the Future werkt aan hervorming van de financiëele sector in reactie op de crisis. Doel van het in 2010 opgerichte Sustainable Finance Lab is het ontwikkelen van ideeën voor een daadwerkelijke verduurzaming van de financiële sector: een stabiele en robuuste financiële sector die bijdraagt aan een economie die de mens dient zonder daarbij zijn leefmilieu uit te putten. Staveren, I.P. van http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/39407/ 2012-10-08T00:00:00Z Cities, aware of their environmental challenges, have introduced policies and programs to deal with issues like climate change and pollution. They want to become more ecological which would secure them the label of ‘eco-city’. Policies found in such cases are: closing the water cycle to lose no water; stimulating energy savings and reducing the greenhouse gas emissions; reducing waste and putting in place integrated waste management; developing integrated transport policies, etc. It is a challenge to achieve these goals with stakeholders in the framework of urban management, defined as implementing urban plans. Efforts to create eco-cities in China will be analyzed in this paper to determine to what extent they have contributed to the development of livable, productive and inclusive cities. What were the key urban policies that contributed to their success and which lessons can be drawn from successful examples of eco-cities or neighborhoods that can inform rapidly urbanizing cities in developing countries on how to achieve sustainability? Evidence collected from eight Chinese eco-cities using different indicators is used to determine to what extent these cities are examples of a sectoral or an eco2cities approach.1 The analysis shows that the approach of Chinese cities is often not based on a strategic vision at the city level but involves activities at the neighborhood, building or household level. In practice the focus of aspiring eco-cities is often on one or two sectoral issues instead, such as energy saving, dealing differently with the water cycle, or pollution abatement. Dijk, M.P. van http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/37731/ 2012-09-01T00:00:00Z The education Millennium Development Goals have been highly influential on the priorities for education and concentrated policy efforts on numbers of girls enrolled in public sector schools offering basic education. This focus has been justified by human capital calculations of the social rates of return to basic schooling. This concern with quantities has met criticism from more qualitative researchers concerned with understanding not only why girls are not enrolled in school, but also why they may be irregular attenders and poor performers in public examinations even if they are enrolled. Alongside the efforts to achieve the education Millennium Development Goals have been initiatives to improve adult women's literacies, often combined with an empowerment objective. This paper uses Sen's capability approach to argue that improving deliberative processes is relevant for the well-being of girls and women of all ages. Cameron, J. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/38420/ 2012-08-01T00:00:00Z Solidarity economy (SE) initiatives constitute a worldwide phenomenon that is today at the heart of numerous economic and social debates. They are active in very diverse economic sectors, aiming for example to create employment for poor and low-qualified workers. We begin with presenting a Polanyian framework for the analysis of such economic activities, which enables us to develop a plural and integral conception of a productive organisation. We draw on Polanyi's thesis that economy is a political and institutionalised process and present a historic overview of the construction of the SE 'sector' in Brazil. We put forward the hypothesis that the SE today in Brazil represents a social movement. Then, we ask ourselves if the SE movement led to a change in grassroots economic initiatives, such as 'people's cooperatives'. We present the results of exploratory research undertaken on 15 people's cooperatives in the State of Rio de Janeiro and its conclusions. Lemaître, A. Helmsing, A.H.J. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/34825/ 2012-07-01T00:00:00Z Survival and growth-oriented entrepreneurs follow qualitatively different logics. In this article we retrace the scattered previous theorization of this distinction and present a consolidated set of key characteristics of the two types of enterprises, enriched by our own observations in the field. Our main purpose is to typify the different rationalities of the two groups of entrepreneurs. Second, we argue that because most existing interventions are based on the implicit assumption that all entrepreneurs are growth-oriented, they often fail to address the specific needs of survivalists. Finally, we outline an intervention rationale more attuned to the logic of survival entrepreneurs. Berner, G.E. Gomez, G.M. Knorringa, P. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/38398/ 2012-06-27T00:00:00Z Abstract This article tests the Lehman Sisters Hypothesis in two complementary, although incomplete ways. It reviews the diverse empirical literature in behavioral, experimental, and neuroeconomics as well as related fields of behavioral research. And it presents the findings from an explorative survey among Dutch financial professionals. The conclusion is that both methods find support for the Lehman Sisters Hypothesis. It shows that gender stereotypes are still influential, constraining women to achieve top positions in banking. At the same time, the analysis indicates that women perform better than men in finance and that female leaders have more balanced management skills than men and are rated as better leaders. This would plea for having more rather than less women at the top of the financial sector. Staveren, I.P. van http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/38494/ 2012-06-01T00:00:00Z International cooperation for development relies on several aid modalities and - in addition to bilateral and multilateral programs - non-governmental organizations (NGOs) play an important role in channeling development aid towards their Southern partners. The support of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs to developmental NGOs perceives several objectives, ranging from direct poverty alleviation to capacity building and lobby and advocacy activities. Rigorous evaluations of programs and projects executed by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are generally scarce and tend to be limited to the analysis of perceived effects at local level. Far less attention is usually devoted to the aggregate effect of development aid on global civil society strength and performance. This is, however, considered of utmost importance given the overarching aim of strengthening the role of civil society in the development process. The recently developed database Indices of Social Development (ISD) hosted by the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of the Erasmus University Rotterdam offers a unique opportunity to further analyze the relationships between civil society development and development aid (ODA) over a 20-years period, making use of cross-country data of multidimensional indicators related to civic activism, intergroup cohesion and club membership. The current paper ‘Civil Society, Aid and Development’ has been commissioned by the Policy and Operations Evaluation Department (IOB) of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs to enable the professional discussions regarding the different pathways for strengthening civil society in developing countries. Such analysis requires a careful appraisal of the direction of causality and needs to give due attention to endogeneity issues, including several control variables to account for other relevant factors. The study provides an overview of the literature regarding the influence of foreign aid on civil society, drawing extensively on theories of social capital, social inclusion and social norms. Staveren, I.P. van Webbink, E. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/39410/ 2012-05-10T00:00:00Z Good health and food safety are important for Chinese people. The 1.5 billion Chinese wants to be sure that their food meets international quality standards. Business advice and know-how to upgrade national food industry is welcomed as well as innovative ways to avoid inflation because of increasing food prices. China as net food importer offers opportunities for European food industry. These opportunities will even become bigger because of the higher income and changing eating habits of the Chinese urban population will result in more demand for quality products. Dijk, M.P. van http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/39404/ 2012-03-21T00:00:00Z Les défis comme l'urbanisation et dégradation environnementale dans des villes historiques peuvent être résolus dans le cadre de la gestion urbaine. Van Dijk (2006) a défini la gestion urbaine comme résoudre les problèmes des communautés urbaines en diminuant en même temps les risques qu'ils courent. Dans cette contribution nous considérons comment les villes doivent changer pour résoudre les problèmes du changement de climat. Ce défie en combinaison avec une augmentation de la pollution implique que les températures peuvent augmenter, qu'il y aura plus de pluie ou une sécheresse dans différentes régions. Les villes doivent changer leur politique. Le changement du climat pousse les villes de poursuivre une politique de mitigation, ou d'adaptation. Beaucoup d'initiatives ont été prises aux différents niveaux du gouvernement, dans des secteurs différents, mais les initiatives locales ne sont pas toujours bien intégrées dans les plans existants ou bien coordonnées avec les activités en cours. Nous analyserons des initiatives en Chine et en Europe pour illustrer comment une approche plus coordonnée est en train de se développer avec l'apport des gouvernements locaux, mais pas nécessairement toujours avec la participation de tous les acteurs. Dijk, M.P. van http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/37273/ 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z Gomez, G.M. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/37323/ 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z Otieno, G. Knorringa, P. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/38846/ 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z Gomez, G.M. Patron, P. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/32934/ 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z This chapter sheds light on the family law debate in Palestine following the establishment of the Palestinian Authority (1994). It elaborates on the public debate and political contestation over attempts to reform the ‘Islamic’ family law during the second half of the 1990s. It describes and analyzes the various positions, articulations and styles of argumentation adopted by many actors involved in the debate. In Palestine, as in other Muslim-majority countries, diverging assumptions about the role of the shar’ia, Islam and gender were put forward as expressions of the ‘social will’ that each group claimed to represent. The paper analyzes the deep divisions that split Palestinians over conceptualizing the desired gender relations organized by the reformed family law, including its procedures and institutional organization. Shehada, N.Y. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/34814/ 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z Contrary to what is generally assumed, the gender wage gap and the glass ceiling may not necessarily be positively related. An exploratory analysis of aggregate public service personnel data for Uganda shows that the gender wage gap is small at the middle level of management, whereas it is twice as high at the top. At the same time, the share of women in top positions appears to be twice as high as at the middle ranks. Hence, it seems that in the context of a very patriarchal culture, women “have to pay” for being promoted to the top rather than that there is a linearly thickening glass ceiling that would drive a widening gender wage gap. The exploratory data analysis suggests that the glass ceiling effect may have an equally vicious partner in the shape of a glass ceiling trade-off. Staveren, I.P. van http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/34815/ 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z The two main ethical approaches, utilitarianism and deontology, have not been able to prevent some of the behaviors underlying the financial crisis. A third ethics, the ethics of care might have been more effective than the other two in preventing the last financial crisis. Ethics of care is a feminist ethical theory concerned with relationships. It can be applied to a wide variety of relationships, including market relationships, and has been tested in experimental settings, suggesting that women tend to behave more in ways that can be understood in terms of relationships, whereas men tend to behave more in terms of rules. Using these ethical theories we analyze the crisis pointing at what are its causal behavioral attitudes and institutions and at the very low representation of women at the financial top. Staveren, I.P. van http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/37222/ 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z Lance Taylor has written a fascinating book about Keynes and the relevance of Keynes’ thought in respect to the great recession of 2007–2009. There are those, like Samuel Brittan (writing in the Financial Times, 3 February 2011), who express amazement that some economists still go back to people with ideas from three quarters of a century ago, and there are those who argue that Keynes is just plainly wrong and that current complex economic system cannot learn anymore from Keynes. Hoeven, R.E. van der