Sustainability or sustainable development has to consider the indicators of society as one of the important pillars. Society dimension of sustainable development can be enriched through larger formation of social capital. Formation of networks between people lead to a formation of this social capital. For forming those networks people need to stay connected and bonded. For staying bonded through happiness, exchange of positive feelings and energy is important. Music plays a key role in creating this feeling. It is said that music plays a very important role in making bondage between people and creating networks that can form new domains and levels of social capital which can therefore add onto sustainability. Music controls and enhances the positive emotions between two people which can control the quality of the social capital formed through music. This improvement in the quality of social capital thereby enhances the quality of sustainability.
Research has been suggesting that music has its origin to genes and history of language. So if one traces back this origin, then can we say that genes, history of language, sound, rhythm which guides the course of the type of music also plays a role in creating social capital by building more human bondage, networks. This bondage thereafter also contributes to sustainability. So this raises the question whether genes, history of language also plays a role to sustainability.
So while writing this article, I thought to name it as – “GENE, LANGUAGE to MUSIC and SUSTAINABILITY”. However the idea of this association arrived only after reading a paper titled – “ Speak to me, melody, EMBO (European Molecular Biological Organisation) Reports, Science and Society, Vol, 10, No.12, 2009, Pgs. 1294 – 1297”. The paper was given to me for reading by my friend Kostuv Basu.
Association through music can happen between individuals who share like minded or overlapping interest in music. This sharing can help in creating the social capital thereby finally leading to an enhancement in the sustainability.
But the key question is what determines a like mindedness about a particular type of music between two individuals that can help in formation of the social capital and hence can address the sustainability dimension of sustainable development.
Does genetic component play a key role in our musical abilities? Studies on molecular biology has shown that genetic loci of individuals in certain families can have genes that can guide the musical aptitude of the members of the family. Such aptitudes thereafter also determines the taste and preference for music by any particular individual. Results from studies in molecular biology are showing that the creative abilities of individuals in a hereditary lineage are largely determined by the gene structures. These gene structures in turn also affect the behavior of the individuals regarding their music preferences, tastes and chances of bonding with other individuals through music.
So the behavior of attachment of people through a communicating medium of music which forms social capital is very much determined by some of the genetic secrets of neurobiology that are embedded in human beings.
But there is an alternate school also to this thought process. Many neurobiologists and scientists across the world donot believe in the fact that music can be only understood on the basis of genetics. According to this school of thought, vibration of vocal chords determine the tonal and music quality. The nature, degree of the vibration determines the quality of music that can create an association between two human beings. Further this vibration is actually generating a sound wave with a particular frequency. So the typicality of a sound wave, frequency determines the quality aspect of the music rather the gene. Hence any preference for music is embedded in the sense of sound structure that any human body creates.
So two human beings can associate with a particular form of music if they can understand and appreciate similar kind of sound structures that the human body creates. A similar logic can also hold between the sense of appreciation of a speech of one human being by another which further leads to a bonding and formation of a social capital. Many neurobiologists, scientists feel that music and language have similar overlapping cognitive systems. So music can be connected and seen as a form of speech having origins to sound structures. Further these sound structures are connected to origins of language. In some ways one can say that music is a form of speech. This brings forward the question whether music is related to language through a process of evolution. However this can only be known if one gets the answer that whether music when heard has a language and genetic component which gets dissociated in the brain. These facts will be important as then one can also bring in how an anthropological history in language origins and evolution of music plays a role towards formation of human bondings and hence social capital which is key to sustainability.
So one has to seek the answer to the question whether creative genes, sound structures operate simultaneously or separately to determine the preferences of music and hence selection of human beings for bonding leading to creation of social capital. Timing of rhythm can determine the cohesiveness of a cultural human bonding that can generate greater social capital and enhance sustainability.
Roots of language, genes will determine the behavior pattern of a child and will also affect the preferences of the human beings in applying music in forming social capital through bondage. The exact contribution of the language, evolution of anthropology, rhythm, sound structures is yet to be determined. Also it is not known how much separated gene, language and rhythm contents of a music and how the degree and nature of that separation guides a preference for music and hence attributes to the formation of social capital block of sustainability.
May be its not far, when we will find out active participation of anthropologists, neurobiologists, ethnomusicologists in the negotiation platforms of the global debates surrounding several issues of sustainability in the world arena.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
ROAD TO SUSTAINABILITY: THROUGH INDICA INSTEAD OF A BULLOCK CART
Gandhian model of sustainability which emphasizes a lot on village based development and sustainability pathways provoked thoughts on me after completion of readings of some of the research literature on life and activities of Gandhi. Though many of his experimental practices can be criticized and not accepted by my inner self but it still intrigued a cherished desire of going and travelling to villages of India in a bullock cart. My left part of the mind was associating a journey to Indian villages through bullock cart as a metaphor of a road to sustainability. But the law of association was not completely implemented. The travel to the villages with the spirit of “Mera/Humhara Gao, Mera/Humhara Desh” happened. But it was not in a bullock cart but rather in a Tata Indica.
The travel itself taught so many principles of sustainability and like always opened the real institutional schooling for me. My colleague, friend Saswata and I used to start a day’s travel in an INDICA from 9.30 a.m. in the morning that ended in the evening. While going through the well maintained highways, we found out how natural compartments of boilers have been made by villagers on the roadside. In these boilers, agri residues are being burnt to provide the heat that is used for making gur, jaggeries on the road side. Three different levels of temperature blocks are maintained where the agri residues are used to provide different levels of heating. The raw sugarcane juice is going through these three sets of heating procedure after which edible colours are mixed to form “Gurs”. The colour of the juice was changing as the pure raw sugarcane juice was passing through the three sets of treatment process at different boiling temperatures. Saswata and I had the sugarcane juice as well as the “Gur”.
Saswata came up with an idea that if the emissions from this residue burning could be reduced by burning lesser amount of agri residues. Some of the heat source from agri residues can be replaced by solar and other forms of renewable energy. The road side “Desi” “Gur” unit was having a chimney too from which emissions were coming out. I was thinking whether solar energy potential for the place is enough to generate enough heat that is required in the entire process dealing with the conversion of juice to gur. Still, had a feeling that a part of the heat energy can come from solar energy.
May be the first step of juice to gur conversion using certain amount of heat from a certain temperature (which is the lower one in the three stage process – with each subsequent stage having a higher temperature than the earlier one) can be carried out with the energy provision from renewable energy sources like solar. This can reduce the use of agri residues and can help in subsequent fall in the amount of burning of agri residues. The principle used was so simple that it made me feel that science close to nature is smooth and appealing at the same time.
Daily proceedings of a production process is also guided by the streams and principles of science that are embedded in nature itself. Often, we from the city, through our cosmopolitan, speculative and interventionist nature make the working principles complicated which are simple in the lap of the gift of nature.
We met farmers with different levels of landholding starting from 2 acres to 20 acres of land. They told us what are the crops they are growing. Crops grown are mostly rice, wheat and also in some places people have moved towards mixed farming and growing potato, flowers, cauliflowers along with rice and wheat. Most of the farmers are well off and own consumer goods like freeze, car, motorcycle. They are living in their “Pacca” ancestral houses also and getting engaged in businesses and often managing their living through sale of milk and dairy products.
Farmers lease out land and also employ labourers in their fields at wages that are determined in the panchayat/gram sabhas. There is no intervention of the panchayat in the daily farming activities. Farmers have freedom in taking their own decisions and manage farming in their own ways. There is participation of female members as well as from Schedule Cast in the Panchayat though a sense of male domination in the decision making of households, farming was felt.
The reason why I am iterating these facts are because sustainability which has the domains of social, economic and governance were addressed in a mixed way as found through the field visits. These villages in Punjab are doing well in terms of their economic, governance indicators. Gender balance also started coming in the local level governance units because of government introduced policy of woman participation at the Panchayat. However in terms of land entitlements, there is a bias. Most of the land entitlements are in the name of the male members of the family. Women are married at an early age and so the land is always in the name of a male member which is passed on to them through an ancestral lineage. So there is a scope of gender empowerment in the village society of Punjab.
The best part of the villages is that they are well connected to highway through roads running in between the rice, wheat and farming fields. This reduces the transportation cost of taking the produce from the farmer field to the nearby mandis. Good road infrastructure immediately thereby has a curtailing effect on the dominance of middlemen between the farmers and mandis. Most of the farmers are taking their produce to the Mandis by themselves which reassured our above intuition. The farmers are also realizing good declared prices of the government for their agricultural produce that they are carrying to the Mandis.
The farmers also stated about their good health condition and satisfaction, happiness regarding the school and health care services that are very nearby to their houses. Many of the healthcare provisions are coming from private health care centres which are nearby to these villages.
However in one of the domains of sustainability viz. environment, some lacunae could be found. Most of the farmers expressed about the reduction in the water levels every year which is enhancing their motorized drilling costs. On an average there has been a drop of 2 feet water level every year. In some villages the water has gone down to 40 feet below the ground.
Some of the farmers with low land holding also suggested the expenses for motorized drilling have gone up substantially due to fall in the water level. Many times, they are not able to match this rise in expenses through the income from sale of agricultural crops and livestock products. This is a need of concern for future.
But there were brighter pictures that were offered to us in this “Road to Sustainability”of us through the Indica. We travelled as far as Wagah Border and went to a place called “Attari”. On way we stopped in the “Golden Temple” and “Jalianwalabagh”. What I liked about “Golden Temple” was the absence of any security checking in the religious place. In today’s violent terrorism stricken world, security checks often shout at us about lack of trust, faith that over the years we as human beings have bestowed on humanity. But an absence of it in the “Golden Temple” made me feel happy and enjoy a sense of freedom generated from the positive spirits of humanity. The “Sangeet” and the spirit added to the serenity in the mind and helped in an emotional upliftment while we visited “Golden Temple”. Just very near to this, Jalianwalabagh reminded us of brutal forces that jeopardized the social terrains of sustainability and humanity way back during our freedom struggle. We did not stop in the lanes of history for long and moved on towards the Wagah border where more facts addressing sustainability was waiting for us.
We saw the first international station of India viz. Attari where the train from Pakistan comes and enters the Indian territory. Luck was on our side and we actually saw a train with passengers from Pakistan. They waved hands to us and we also did that in return to that. Gradually we moved near the barricaded nomans land that doesnot belong to India and Pakistan. The flag of our neighbouring country was flying in front of me and I was not able to accept that some metres ahead it was a different country although it seemed to me the same in all respects. Trucks from Pakistan were unloading salt and the ones from India were unloading vegetables. I was convinced with the fact that this exchange is so crucial for the sustainability of both the nations. The emotional vibrations of the people waving hands from the train made the feelings stronger. Parallely, it raised the conflicts of the various identities within me. The self within me was not ready to accept that there is a different nation out there in the other side of the boundary which is so similar to the geographical features of this side of the boundary. Whereas the national, external identities, objects outside was continuously saying that another nation exists. I was thinking how a balance has to be created within the two even to bring in sustainability in the thinking process of the humanity. While I was lost in this, the conscious mind realized that we have to come back to Jalandhar to catch hold of our train. The travelogue pages ended over there.
This travel opened many doors, questions and brought in answers also in the working areas of sustainability. The only pinch of salt was that I got those answers through the mechanism of travelling in an exosomatic, mechanized transport – “Tata Indica” but not in a bullock cart. May be the answer for future sustainability models lie in this balancing of exosomatic, mechanized dependence of human race along with the essential gifts of nature.
The travel itself taught so many principles of sustainability and like always opened the real institutional schooling for me. My colleague, friend Saswata and I used to start a day’s travel in an INDICA from 9.30 a.m. in the morning that ended in the evening. While going through the well maintained highways, we found out how natural compartments of boilers have been made by villagers on the roadside. In these boilers, agri residues are being burnt to provide the heat that is used for making gur, jaggeries on the road side. Three different levels of temperature blocks are maintained where the agri residues are used to provide different levels of heating. The raw sugarcane juice is going through these three sets of heating procedure after which edible colours are mixed to form “Gurs”. The colour of the juice was changing as the pure raw sugarcane juice was passing through the three sets of treatment process at different boiling temperatures. Saswata and I had the sugarcane juice as well as the “Gur”.
Saswata came up with an idea that if the emissions from this residue burning could be reduced by burning lesser amount of agri residues. Some of the heat source from agri residues can be replaced by solar and other forms of renewable energy. The road side “Desi” “Gur” unit was having a chimney too from which emissions were coming out. I was thinking whether solar energy potential for the place is enough to generate enough heat that is required in the entire process dealing with the conversion of juice to gur. Still, had a feeling that a part of the heat energy can come from solar energy.
May be the first step of juice to gur conversion using certain amount of heat from a certain temperature (which is the lower one in the three stage process – with each subsequent stage having a higher temperature than the earlier one) can be carried out with the energy provision from renewable energy sources like solar. This can reduce the use of agri residues and can help in subsequent fall in the amount of burning of agri residues. The principle used was so simple that it made me feel that science close to nature is smooth and appealing at the same time.
Daily proceedings of a production process is also guided by the streams and principles of science that are embedded in nature itself. Often, we from the city, through our cosmopolitan, speculative and interventionist nature make the working principles complicated which are simple in the lap of the gift of nature.
We met farmers with different levels of landholding starting from 2 acres to 20 acres of land. They told us what are the crops they are growing. Crops grown are mostly rice, wheat and also in some places people have moved towards mixed farming and growing potato, flowers, cauliflowers along with rice and wheat. Most of the farmers are well off and own consumer goods like freeze, car, motorcycle. They are living in their “Pacca” ancestral houses also and getting engaged in businesses and often managing their living through sale of milk and dairy products.
Farmers lease out land and also employ labourers in their fields at wages that are determined in the panchayat/gram sabhas. There is no intervention of the panchayat in the daily farming activities. Farmers have freedom in taking their own decisions and manage farming in their own ways. There is participation of female members as well as from Schedule Cast in the Panchayat though a sense of male domination in the decision making of households, farming was felt.
The reason why I am iterating these facts are because sustainability which has the domains of social, economic and governance were addressed in a mixed way as found through the field visits. These villages in Punjab are doing well in terms of their economic, governance indicators. Gender balance also started coming in the local level governance units because of government introduced policy of woman participation at the Panchayat. However in terms of land entitlements, there is a bias. Most of the land entitlements are in the name of the male members of the family. Women are married at an early age and so the land is always in the name of a male member which is passed on to them through an ancestral lineage. So there is a scope of gender empowerment in the village society of Punjab.
The best part of the villages is that they are well connected to highway through roads running in between the rice, wheat and farming fields. This reduces the transportation cost of taking the produce from the farmer field to the nearby mandis. Good road infrastructure immediately thereby has a curtailing effect on the dominance of middlemen between the farmers and mandis. Most of the farmers are taking their produce to the Mandis by themselves which reassured our above intuition. The farmers are also realizing good declared prices of the government for their agricultural produce that they are carrying to the Mandis.
The farmers also stated about their good health condition and satisfaction, happiness regarding the school and health care services that are very nearby to their houses. Many of the healthcare provisions are coming from private health care centres which are nearby to these villages.
However in one of the domains of sustainability viz. environment, some lacunae could be found. Most of the farmers expressed about the reduction in the water levels every year which is enhancing their motorized drilling costs. On an average there has been a drop of 2 feet water level every year. In some villages the water has gone down to 40 feet below the ground.
Some of the farmers with low land holding also suggested the expenses for motorized drilling have gone up substantially due to fall in the water level. Many times, they are not able to match this rise in expenses through the income from sale of agricultural crops and livestock products. This is a need of concern for future.
But there were brighter pictures that were offered to us in this “Road to Sustainability”of us through the Indica. We travelled as far as Wagah Border and went to a place called “Attari”. On way we stopped in the “Golden Temple” and “Jalianwalabagh”. What I liked about “Golden Temple” was the absence of any security checking in the religious place. In today’s violent terrorism stricken world, security checks often shout at us about lack of trust, faith that over the years we as human beings have bestowed on humanity. But an absence of it in the “Golden Temple” made me feel happy and enjoy a sense of freedom generated from the positive spirits of humanity. The “Sangeet” and the spirit added to the serenity in the mind and helped in an emotional upliftment while we visited “Golden Temple”. Just very near to this, Jalianwalabagh reminded us of brutal forces that jeopardized the social terrains of sustainability and humanity way back during our freedom struggle. We did not stop in the lanes of history for long and moved on towards the Wagah border where more facts addressing sustainability was waiting for us.
We saw the first international station of India viz. Attari where the train from Pakistan comes and enters the Indian territory. Luck was on our side and we actually saw a train with passengers from Pakistan. They waved hands to us and we also did that in return to that. Gradually we moved near the barricaded nomans land that doesnot belong to India and Pakistan. The flag of our neighbouring country was flying in front of me and I was not able to accept that some metres ahead it was a different country although it seemed to me the same in all respects. Trucks from Pakistan were unloading salt and the ones from India were unloading vegetables. I was convinced with the fact that this exchange is so crucial for the sustainability of both the nations. The emotional vibrations of the people waving hands from the train made the feelings stronger. Parallely, it raised the conflicts of the various identities within me. The self within me was not ready to accept that there is a different nation out there in the other side of the boundary which is so similar to the geographical features of this side of the boundary. Whereas the national, external identities, objects outside was continuously saying that another nation exists. I was thinking how a balance has to be created within the two even to bring in sustainability in the thinking process of the humanity. While I was lost in this, the conscious mind realized that we have to come back to Jalandhar to catch hold of our train. The travelogue pages ended over there.
This travel opened many doors, questions and brought in answers also in the working areas of sustainability. The only pinch of salt was that I got those answers through the mechanism of travelling in an exosomatic, mechanized transport – “Tata Indica” but not in a bullock cart. May be the answer for future sustainability models lie in this balancing of exosomatic, mechanized dependence of human race along with the essential gifts of nature.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, Health Services and Sustainability
Most of the googled news item of 17th February, 2011 showed vigorously about the snippets of Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between India and Japan that aims to reach a trade target of $25 billion by 2014. As a glancing reader of the news item, my eyes however got stuck in one detailing fact of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. It mentioned that as a part of this CEPA, India and Japan would establish a social security agreement for Indian qualified nurses and Japanese certified care workers. The question sparkled – “Will that mean more Indian qualified nurses will go to Japan and serve them and more certified care workers from Japan will come here”? This did not stop here as the next question which arose was – “How qualification of the nurses are defined and recognized by Japan and how India recognizes the certification of Japanese careworkers”? Another question came and then it stopped – “Who gives these certifications and recognitions and how”?
Immediately the geek identity within me was searching for an essential linkage between this CEPA and sustainability. An important aspect of sustainability of any human race is the quality of health. Better quality of living should make people happy and it caters to the social dimensions of sustainability or sustainable development. A social security agreement as a part of CEPA should therefore have an overarching objective of addressing the health, quality of life dimensions of the people of the two countries who have signed the agreement. At this juncture, the important question to ask is does a social security agreement like the one I mentioned here allow a better and equitable type of health services between the two nations. If it does, all people in the two countries should get access to larger and better quality health service through this exchange of skills and human beings between the signing nations. This should therefore enhance the social living standards and can improve upon the societal indicators of sustainability and sustainable development in the two signing countries.
But in reality the connections as reflected above doesnot work so smoothly. So a signing of a security deal might not necessarily imply that all the people of India who really need the skilled service of Japanese care workers for a better quality of living would get an access to that. Different kinds of domestic regulatory barriers can hinder the access of the people to the skilled service of the care workers. A mere signing of a deal might not guarantee that the care workers can actually come and start working in the hospitals, health care centres of India. To do that, they might have to get some certificates through some exams that need to be recognized by the hospitals and health care centres of India. Mutual recognition between the two countries need to be put in place. So an absence of this mutual recognition can in reality lead to an absence of Japanese care workers in the hospitals, health care centres. So signing of a security agreement will not necessarily imply that care from skilled Japanese care workers is exchanged between India and Japan and provided to the people who need them in India. Typically, it has been seen that owing to strong domestic regulatory barriers in the health sector of U.K, exchange of nurses from Phillippines, doctors from developing countries have faced hindrances. The strong domestic regulatory and protectionist measures in the health service sector of U.K. have impeded smooth transfer of Phillippine nurses to hospitals in U.K. Often visa issuance, work permits, high cost of living have been a problem too. So even if a deal or agreement is signed a realization of the exchange of skill transfer from one country to another in health service might not happen. This thereby stops people to get access to a better quality health care skill that could have enhanced their quality of living and had enhanced the overall sustainability and development of the society at large.
Similar situation can arise between India and Japan also if the domestic regulations of India, Japan are not congenial to create an exchange of skills, health care in between the two nations through actual realization of the people working in the health sector of the signing countries. To ensure social sustainability of two signing countries through an improvement of health of the people by means of exchange of human skills, it is essential to also fine tune, modify the domestic regulations so that the people of the two countries finally get an access to better quality health care.
The next question is who in the two countries get access to the better quality health care once the smooth exchange of that starts happening out of this social security agreement. If the skill in health care segment that is exchanged is concentrated in certain hospitals, health care centres that are accessible only to the wealthy middle, upper middle and rich income classes then it still doesnot address the social sustainability dimensions of the two signing nations. The domestic health sector governance have to be adjusted and modified to ensure that the skills in health care which are exchanged are accessible to major sections of the society to improve the health standards and overall quality of living of the society. The equity question will become very important to the address social sustainability dimension once real trade, market access of health services start happening.
So there is a strong role of regulation, domestic governance that ensures first of all that after signing of the agreement an exchange of health care actually happens. Once that happens, governance mechanisms within the signing countries have to ensure that they are well distributed in all sections of the society to cater to the needs of social sustainability of the people of the two countries. Transparent, well governed, efficiently functioning domestic institutions will come into picture to ensure that distribution.
So in a nutshell, trade in services between two nations of CEPA through exchange of natural persons can play a major role in sustainability of two nations by raising the health and quality of living standards of the people of signing nations of a CEPA. But that can only happen with the able support of domestic regulations, institutions, governance mechanisms. The future ahead of us will raise more questions and also answer many questions arising from the confluence and convergent areas of trade in services between CEPA partners and social sustainability of the people of partnering countries.
Immediately the geek identity within me was searching for an essential linkage between this CEPA and sustainability. An important aspect of sustainability of any human race is the quality of health. Better quality of living should make people happy and it caters to the social dimensions of sustainability or sustainable development. A social security agreement as a part of CEPA should therefore have an overarching objective of addressing the health, quality of life dimensions of the people of the two countries who have signed the agreement. At this juncture, the important question to ask is does a social security agreement like the one I mentioned here allow a better and equitable type of health services between the two nations. If it does, all people in the two countries should get access to larger and better quality health service through this exchange of skills and human beings between the signing nations. This should therefore enhance the social living standards and can improve upon the societal indicators of sustainability and sustainable development in the two signing countries.
But in reality the connections as reflected above doesnot work so smoothly. So a signing of a security deal might not necessarily imply that all the people of India who really need the skilled service of Japanese care workers for a better quality of living would get an access to that. Different kinds of domestic regulatory barriers can hinder the access of the people to the skilled service of the care workers. A mere signing of a deal might not guarantee that the care workers can actually come and start working in the hospitals, health care centres of India. To do that, they might have to get some certificates through some exams that need to be recognized by the hospitals and health care centres of India. Mutual recognition between the two countries need to be put in place. So an absence of this mutual recognition can in reality lead to an absence of Japanese care workers in the hospitals, health care centres. So signing of a security agreement will not necessarily imply that care from skilled Japanese care workers is exchanged between India and Japan and provided to the people who need them in India. Typically, it has been seen that owing to strong domestic regulatory barriers in the health sector of U.K, exchange of nurses from Phillippines, doctors from developing countries have faced hindrances. The strong domestic regulatory and protectionist measures in the health service sector of U.K. have impeded smooth transfer of Phillippine nurses to hospitals in U.K. Often visa issuance, work permits, high cost of living have been a problem too. So even if a deal or agreement is signed a realization of the exchange of skill transfer from one country to another in health service might not happen. This thereby stops people to get access to a better quality health care skill that could have enhanced their quality of living and had enhanced the overall sustainability and development of the society at large.
Similar situation can arise between India and Japan also if the domestic regulations of India, Japan are not congenial to create an exchange of skills, health care in between the two nations through actual realization of the people working in the health sector of the signing countries. To ensure social sustainability of two signing countries through an improvement of health of the people by means of exchange of human skills, it is essential to also fine tune, modify the domestic regulations so that the people of the two countries finally get an access to better quality health care.
The next question is who in the two countries get access to the better quality health care once the smooth exchange of that starts happening out of this social security agreement. If the skill in health care segment that is exchanged is concentrated in certain hospitals, health care centres that are accessible only to the wealthy middle, upper middle and rich income classes then it still doesnot address the social sustainability dimensions of the two signing nations. The domestic health sector governance have to be adjusted and modified to ensure that the skills in health care which are exchanged are accessible to major sections of the society to improve the health standards and overall quality of living of the society. The equity question will become very important to the address social sustainability dimension once real trade, market access of health services start happening.
So there is a strong role of regulation, domestic governance that ensures first of all that after signing of the agreement an exchange of health care actually happens. Once that happens, governance mechanisms within the signing countries have to ensure that they are well distributed in all sections of the society to cater to the needs of social sustainability of the people of the two countries. Transparent, well governed, efficiently functioning domestic institutions will come into picture to ensure that distribution.
So in a nutshell, trade in services between two nations of CEPA through exchange of natural persons can play a major role in sustainability of two nations by raising the health and quality of living standards of the people of signing nations of a CEPA. But that can only happen with the able support of domestic regulations, institutions, governance mechanisms. The future ahead of us will raise more questions and also answer many questions arising from the confluence and convergent areas of trade in services between CEPA partners and social sustainability of the people of partnering countries.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
South South Cooperation and Democracy, Development, Society: Some Generic Thoughts
Our time in the current years is already observing a shift in the dominance of nations towards countries of South like India and China. South South Cooperation has achieved a new meaning in the context of this shift in the dominance towards Southern Countries. Additionally, countries of Europe have been going through sovereign debt crisis. This has added to the woes of North North cooperation.
Growing protectionism in U.S driven by the financial crisis has acted as a barrier in determining a smooth transition to North South Cooperation. With this premise the importance of South South Cooperation has increased. This article would not however dwell on these dimensions of South South Cooperation. This short note would rather explore theoretical generic question of whether cooperation of South South nature is driven by the state and nature of democratization of the two states that get involved in cooperation.
So the basic question that we explore in this note is – Does the nature, state of democratization of two states in a South South cooperation guarantee or ascertain the degree, extent and sustainability of cooperation?
In order to get an answer to this question we have to first search through the extensive literature on democratization. Dahl (1998) suggests that democratization as a subject has been widely researched. Geddes (1999) provides extensive literature for Latin America on nature of democracy. However Collier, Levitsky (1997), Geddes (1999), Kitschelt (1992), Remmer (1996) provides us with literature on how and why democracies sustain and how quality of a democracy determines that longevity. Literature validates that quality and longevity of democracy of a country to a large extent is being determined by the level of economic development.
Economic development has also a considerable effect on the sustainability of democracy (Przeworski & Limongi, 1997). Sustainability of democracy is ensured by higher levels of economic development along with other factors like degree of socioeconomic equality. So two countries which can be at the same levels of development can forge a larger beneficial spillovers from cooperation. South South Cooperation between countries at similar levels of development thus might work if we try to bridge this theory of democracy to nature of South South Cooperation.
Additionally, two countries can be at different levels of democratization levels but still cooperation can emerge with a vision of complementary partnership. In terms of South South Cooperation the level of democratisation in two partnering countries might not always be a key factor.
However the level of democratization and stable political environment in two countries can help in forging of the cooperation measures. According to Fish (1998), Kopstein &Reilly (1999), economic reform is one of the best indicators of democratization. In this regard, one needs to see how various countries of South are performing in terms of sustainability, longevity of democracy.
Rich post socialist countries have performed better in terms of sustainability of democracy whereas countries like Albania, Kyrgyztan have been moving away. Sustainability of democratization is guaranteed by economic growth and reforms that can reduce the authoritarian structure of the ruling party. Also with higher economic growth often the accountability of people of the nation can increase with the implementation of necessary domestic reform measures. Public pressure for accountability of the government, larger civil society participation and increased levels of education are some of the outcomes that incur with the advent of economic reforms which leads to larger transparency and democratization on the path of increasing democratization. The moot question is whether occurrence of such conditions in two countries forging a South South Cooperation facilitate the chance and nature of longevity of the nature of cooperation.
Any cooperation measure which aims to promote development, can benefit the public at large by creating more transparent accountable structures that can sustain the degree of cooperation. The same principle will hold good for South South Cooperation measures.
If there is a chance of economic reform that can happen as a spillover of South South cooperation, then such cooperation measures could be used to create democratization in the countries that get engaged in those measures. Performance of south south cooperation in terms of its sustainability can actually increase if those measures create more stable democratization process as an outcome of cooperation.
If the two nations can discount the fact that such democratization process can start as an outcome of the cooperation, then there is a larger change that they will forge such cooperation provided that the two countries are not being guided by authoritarian government and governance principles.
However whether such democratization will happen or not also depends on the political leadership which is at the centre stage of South South cooperation measures. The value system instilled by the political leaders in the implementation measures of South South cooperation policies will guide the nature of democratization as an outcome of the South South Cooperation measures.
Democratization process can be understood through a short and long term view. The one which has emerged in southern Europe or in East of Africa is more of a long term nature whereas the one which has emerged in Latin America, Europe is of a short term nature (Di Palma, 1990).
The reason behind this different duration of democracy and its effect on economic reform can happen owing to a following reason. In a country which has achieved a new democracy, people are more sensitive and if they expect that there are chances of loosing out from economic reform process in the new democracy then the tensions can increase between a new democracy and economic reform. Precisely this then guides how long a democracy will stay in a country. Two countries in South South Cooperation on same levels of economic development can forge a stronger partnership. But the strength of the partnership will also depend on how internally the people of the countries are managing the tensions between the trade offs of economic reform, democracy and the fears of loosing out from such economic reform process. This can only happen if the domestic governance structures, institutions of the two countries are not able to give confidence to the people of the nation. The degree of confidence giving by the state to the people in turn also depends on the positioning of the democracy and at what point of democracy the two countries are standing out. If the democracy is well rooted to the social origins of the people then the fragility and negativity of the tensions between the people from loosening out from a growing democracy, economic reform process can go down. This can instill larger strength to the nature of democratic functioning of the nations, which thereby can also help in forging in South South Cooperation measures of the two partnering countries.
Historical dynamism and relationship guides this process that can also thereby act as a contributory factor in determining the South South Cooperation relationship of the two countries. The nature of the relationship within the countries and people of the countries also determine the cooperation relationship. One can find linkages between this proposition and Moores work on social origins of democracy . Social origins of democracy will also depend on how people, civil societies are functioning in a democratic state and whether the state is connected to the people through civil society groups. Such connection can go up through reduction in concentration of bureaucratic and aggregated forms of representation. Robust civil society participation, transparent institutional functioning, larger societal disaggregated linkages across the people of the society existing in the nations forging South South Cooperation can pave a way towards stronger social origins of democracy in partnering countries of South South Cooperation.
Growing protectionism in U.S driven by the financial crisis has acted as a barrier in determining a smooth transition to North South Cooperation. With this premise the importance of South South Cooperation has increased. This article would not however dwell on these dimensions of South South Cooperation. This short note would rather explore theoretical generic question of whether cooperation of South South nature is driven by the state and nature of democratization of the two states that get involved in cooperation.
So the basic question that we explore in this note is – Does the nature, state of democratization of two states in a South South cooperation guarantee or ascertain the degree, extent and sustainability of cooperation?
In order to get an answer to this question we have to first search through the extensive literature on democratization. Dahl (1998) suggests that democratization as a subject has been widely researched. Geddes (1999) provides extensive literature for Latin America on nature of democracy. However Collier, Levitsky (1997), Geddes (1999), Kitschelt (1992), Remmer (1996) provides us with literature on how and why democracies sustain and how quality of a democracy determines that longevity. Literature validates that quality and longevity of democracy of a country to a large extent is being determined by the level of economic development.
Economic development has also a considerable effect on the sustainability of democracy (Przeworski & Limongi, 1997). Sustainability of democracy is ensured by higher levels of economic development along with other factors like degree of socioeconomic equality. So two countries which can be at the same levels of development can forge a larger beneficial spillovers from cooperation. South South Cooperation between countries at similar levels of development thus might work if we try to bridge this theory of democracy to nature of South South Cooperation.
Additionally, two countries can be at different levels of democratization levels but still cooperation can emerge with a vision of complementary partnership. In terms of South South Cooperation the level of democratisation in two partnering countries might not always be a key factor.
However the level of democratization and stable political environment in two countries can help in forging of the cooperation measures. According to Fish (1998), Kopstein &Reilly (1999), economic reform is one of the best indicators of democratization. In this regard, one needs to see how various countries of South are performing in terms of sustainability, longevity of democracy.
Rich post socialist countries have performed better in terms of sustainability of democracy whereas countries like Albania, Kyrgyztan have been moving away. Sustainability of democratization is guaranteed by economic growth and reforms that can reduce the authoritarian structure of the ruling party. Also with higher economic growth often the accountability of people of the nation can increase with the implementation of necessary domestic reform measures. Public pressure for accountability of the government, larger civil society participation and increased levels of education are some of the outcomes that incur with the advent of economic reforms which leads to larger transparency and democratization on the path of increasing democratization. The moot question is whether occurrence of such conditions in two countries forging a South South Cooperation facilitate the chance and nature of longevity of the nature of cooperation.
Any cooperation measure which aims to promote development, can benefit the public at large by creating more transparent accountable structures that can sustain the degree of cooperation. The same principle will hold good for South South Cooperation measures.
If there is a chance of economic reform that can happen as a spillover of South South cooperation, then such cooperation measures could be used to create democratization in the countries that get engaged in those measures. Performance of south south cooperation in terms of its sustainability can actually increase if those measures create more stable democratization process as an outcome of cooperation.
If the two nations can discount the fact that such democratization process can start as an outcome of the cooperation, then there is a larger change that they will forge such cooperation provided that the two countries are not being guided by authoritarian government and governance principles.
However whether such democratization will happen or not also depends on the political leadership which is at the centre stage of South South cooperation measures. The value system instilled by the political leaders in the implementation measures of South South cooperation policies will guide the nature of democratization as an outcome of the South South Cooperation measures.
Democratization process can be understood through a short and long term view. The one which has emerged in southern Europe or in East of Africa is more of a long term nature whereas the one which has emerged in Latin America, Europe is of a short term nature (Di Palma, 1990).
The reason behind this different duration of democracy and its effect on economic reform can happen owing to a following reason. In a country which has achieved a new democracy, people are more sensitive and if they expect that there are chances of loosing out from economic reform process in the new democracy then the tensions can increase between a new democracy and economic reform. Precisely this then guides how long a democracy will stay in a country. Two countries in South South Cooperation on same levels of economic development can forge a stronger partnership. But the strength of the partnership will also depend on how internally the people of the countries are managing the tensions between the trade offs of economic reform, democracy and the fears of loosing out from such economic reform process. This can only happen if the domestic governance structures, institutions of the two countries are not able to give confidence to the people of the nation. The degree of confidence giving by the state to the people in turn also depends on the positioning of the democracy and at what point of democracy the two countries are standing out. If the democracy is well rooted to the social origins of the people then the fragility and negativity of the tensions between the people from loosening out from a growing democracy, economic reform process can go down. This can instill larger strength to the nature of democratic functioning of the nations, which thereby can also help in forging in South South Cooperation measures of the two partnering countries.
Historical dynamism and relationship guides this process that can also thereby act as a contributory factor in determining the South South Cooperation relationship of the two countries. The nature of the relationship within the countries and people of the countries also determine the cooperation relationship. One can find linkages between this proposition and Moores work on social origins of democracy . Social origins of democracy will also depend on how people, civil societies are functioning in a democratic state and whether the state is connected to the people through civil society groups. Such connection can go up through reduction in concentration of bureaucratic and aggregated forms of representation. Robust civil society participation, transparent institutional functioning, larger societal disaggregated linkages across the people of the society existing in the nations forging South South Cooperation can pave a way towards stronger social origins of democracy in partnering countries of South South Cooperation.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
ETHNICITY AND NUMBER CRUNCHING: WHAT NUMBERS DONOT SAY!
The wish to write this article came while reading through a book titled “Islam in Religion and Politics: Perspectives from South Asia” edited by Asim Ray. The chapter on ethnicity issues in Pakistan and the corresponding repercussions on ethnic conflicts of Pakistan enthused me to think through the concept of ethnic fractionalization. A part of the reason behind this enthusiasm is from the drive to explore the causality that explains the mystery of human beings staying together or not staying together. This is one of the most mysterious aspects of life which are often not guided by any natural laws. As a human being I have most of the time felt confused, or dialectic about this mystery. Whenever that confusion has come I have tried to read something dealing with the anthropocentricity of human civilization.
It is from that state, I thought to start reading behavioural science, political science literature dealing with human conflicts, bondings and ethnicity one year back. Those readings have nurtured the growth of this write up the initiation of which happened with a preliminary googling that revealed an index called “Ethno Linguistic Fragmentation Index/ Ethno Nationalist Exclusion Index”.
This index is a simple extended version of market concentration index which shows the likelihood whether two people chosen at random will be from different ethnic groups. It is an extended form of simple Herfindahl concentration index.
The closer the value of the index to 1 the larger is ethnic fractionalization. The index value for some of the countries that suffered from conflicts generated from resource curse challenges is close to 1.
However, according to some literature[1] ethno linguistic fragmentation index is not able to capture the multidimensional aspects of ethnic fractionalisation. So a better way to address that is through an index of ethno nationalist exclusion which brings out state centric differences in ethnic fractionalization in a country.
This kind of index has been applied in studying the ethnic fractionalization in many resource rich countries where conflicts have arisen in resource abundant areas.
But the numbers do not reveal and get into the intricacies of several factors (including the cultural and emotional ones) that play a critical role in creating ethnic fractionalization and corresponding conflicts. Also often the numbers don’t talk about the human element that is very important in guiding the implications of ethnic fractionalization.
The next sections of this article entails some of the factors that explains ethnic fractionalization starting with some definitional aspects of ethnic fractionalization.
1 Ethnic fractionalization
In order to address the issue of ethnic fractionalization the concept of ethnic divide has to be pondered and understood first. An ethnic divide could originate between people and communities, groups due to their lineage to various religions, caste, culture, language and rule by which they are governed.
With respect to the definitional aspects of “Ethnic Fractionalization”, Horowitz[2] has defined ethnic fractionalization on the basis of indicators like appearance, religion, language and any combination of these ones.
Max Weber suggested that ethnicity is defined by belief structures in a community or in a group with a common descent that is demarcated by tribe, race, casts, religion, language, and[3] nationality. Different theories[4] exist that tries to explain how an ethnic fractionalization in a community could lead to conflicts. These theories include - the primordial sociality; clash of cultures; ethnic security dilemma ; mobilization of ethnic groups[5]. Each of these theories tries to explain how differences in ethnicity causes conflict in a particular situation.
According to primordial sociality theory[6], a human being sees any bondage with a particular ethnicity in a collective way and perceives the bondage to be given from outside in a coercive way. The clash of culture suggests that ethnic fractionalization emanates from belonging of human beings to different civilization origins[7]. Ethnic security dilemma arises when human beings from some ethnic groups suddenly are in a situation when they have to protect themselves for their own survival because of a certain adverse event say like an oil spillage affecting communities. In such a situation, human beings from one group of ethnic origin in the presence of other ethnic groups goes through a philosophical, introspecting discourse driving them to think that each community should protect themselves and their ethnic community first as they visualize the human beings from other groups, ethnicity in a competitive frame of mind.
Ethnic fractionalization is a kind of variable that arises out of social construction. Such social construction is often developed to push forward the political goals of institutions and other identities that could contribute to ethnic fractionalization for short term political gains. All these factors create differences in ethnicity and belief structures amongst people.
Governance of conflicts arising from such belief structures have to analyze how such costs can affect belief structures of the people of different ethnicities leading to conflicts. Political economy of governance institutions driven by people of different ethnicities could also exacerbate such feuds. Often religion also can also contribute in shaping up ethnicity.
1.1 Religion
Religion has played a prominent role in creating ethnic fractionalization in some select countries. Tensions and mistrust could often arise owing to a difference in the lineage of the people to different religions. Many intra community conflicts in countries have resulted owing to mistrust that has an origination in the different belief structures arising from belonging to various religions.
Many of these people have belonging to various religious institutions to which they belong before Christianity and Islam spread in these countries. In these countries the social process and the legal regimes did not facilitate a mix of the two different ethnic identities arising from different religious structures.
In addition to religion, institutions also play a role in the ethnic fractionalization.
1.2 Institutions
Strong government and political institutions with a welfare philosophy for people of all groups and an objective of ethnic fractionalization reduction might have been able to tackle problem. Powell (1982) shows that an association exists between ethnic fractionalization and instability of institutions. Powell suggests that in a region with an increase in ethnic fractionalization, the propensity of instability in the institution goes up.
Once that instability goes up, chances of reduction of ethnic fractionalization goes down. Also role of formal institutions play a key role towards enhancement of fractionalization.
But other than formal, informal institutions also have a strong role to play towards ethnic fractionalization. Informal institutional structures play a key role in binding and hindering the transmission of ethnic heterogeneity to potential conflicts. Such informal institutional structures have also helped in cross ethnic tie ups through a structure called “cousinage”. Cousinage has happened because of historical alliances of families between various ethnic groups through the basis of patronyms. This cousinage has facilitated social interactions between various ethnic groups and has played a key role in binding them together.
To illustrate cousinage, one could say that somebody in a community group in Mali, belonging to Keita surname could easily interact with another person with a surname of Coulibaly[8] even if they have not interacted earlier. Cross ethnic interactions bounded by informal institutional structures have prevailed in these countries and helped in maintaining strong bondage between human beings.
Also transethnicity play a key role towards determination of conflicts. Studies done by Easterly and Levine (1997)[9], Posner (2004)[10] suggest that the effects of these transethnicities on socio economic variables of the communities have been adverse leading to larger ethnic fractionalization.
Larger ethnic fractionalization could lead to a delay in creation of public goods dealing with health service, education and infrastructure[11] owing to large transaction cost that could arise due to ethnic fractionalization.
To eradicate this condition, larger effective institutional intervention for governance is required. In the presence of ethnic clouting and rent seeking in governance positions, quality of infrastructure service provision could go down.
However as a contrast, the picture has been very optimistic in some African countries. For example in countries like Malawi, Namibia institutions have worked well.
In Malawi, groups belonging to Chewa, Nyanja, and Tumbuka language are the largest. But inspite of that no dominance of groups has happened. Similarly in Namibia, although the ethnicity belonging to Ovambo is the dominant segment of the population, the other ethnic groups are given importance in terms of their representation in the institutions. Dominance of groups have been eradicated to bring in effective institutional intervention.
Some other explanatory factors
Inter community factors of fractionalization is frequently influenced by the nature of ethnic competition. According to Dion Douglas (1997)[12] ethnic competition gives rise to germination of ethnic conflicts. In a drive for competition, lower trust levels are developed that impinges communities of various ethnicities from forming social networks[13].
Such social networks could happen through larger inter ethnic cultural exchanges, frequent social gatherings and bondage between the groups. One of the essential requirements for such bondage requires creation of a value system of respect for each others ethnic customs, rights, rituals.
Often absence of such a value system hinders creation of a space for social networking. This is further facilitated by the drive of each ethnicity giving larger space to their own culture, customs without providing sufficient space to the other ethnic culture and customs. Such an action is also often incentivised by a drive to have monetary and control of power that could maximize the ethnic capital[14].
Therefore, each ethnic group in the process of maximizing ethnic capital becomes narrowed in their own ethnicity and reduces overall social capital that leads to a larger fractionalization.
Cultural factors[15] that create fractionalization amongst ethnic communities include the differences in language, living style, day to day actions[16] and their affinity to various ethnic cultural preferences by birth. Mostly between the ethnic tribes there is a pattern of sticking to the cultural heritages that any generation has imbibed from earlier generation by birth. This affinity to a lineage by birth could often act as a hindrance towards cultural homogenization of various ethnicities and can lead to fractionalization. It is felt that creation of platforms for cross cultural exchange at regular intervals across various ethnic community domains could be one of the ways to bridge the differences in the cultural attributes of the communities. This could therefore pave a long way towards reduction of ethnic fractionalization.
Demographic and institutional factors are also posed to contribute to ethnic fractionalization process. Failed institutions are being thought to be one of the key factors towards ethnic fractionalization.
According to Sambanis and Elbadawi, (2000)[17], too much of diversity in ethnic groups necessarily won’t allow to create conflict if the institutions are working well as they won’t allow groups to cohesively create a conflict.
According to them when an ethnic group has a larger dominance to the extent of 60% of the population then it has sufficient power to create conflicts. But below that extent, with the existence of many ethnicities if the institutions are functioning well then even with the presence of ethnic fractionalization, conflicts could be checked.
Conclusion
Ethnic fractionalization within and between communities could act as a mechanism to facilitate, enhance the distrust and could contribute towards larger distress and dissent which therefore raises the degree and chance of a conflict. Such distrust could arise because of various intra community and inter community sociological constructs. Additionally, historical, institutional, cultural factors would also play a critical role in the formation, extent and persistence of the distrust.
There is a critical role of governance oversights, efficient functioning of institutions, homogenous wellfaristic polity with a larger holistic accommodative social welfare goals that could reduce such distrust and conflict. Participatory decision making at the community level, effective and efficient democracy with equal weightage to all ethnicity are some of the ways by which these community conflicts could be addressed.
While doing that policies have to be streamlined and those policies have to consider how each of the indicators affecting ethnic fractionalization is influenced through policy actions. The formulation of such a policy would involve dedicated participation from all groups, ethnicities and stakeholders.
References
Abubakar, D. (2001). “Ethnic Identity, Democratization, and the Future of the African State: Lessons from Nigeria”. Ethnicity and Recent Democratic Experiments in Africa, African Issues, 29(1/2):31-36.
Anthony D. Smith, Contemporary Sociology, Vol. 16, No. 6 (Nov., 1987), pp. 774-775 , Published by: American Sociological Association
Dion, D. (1997). “Competition and Ethnic conflict: Artifactual?” Journal of Conflict Resolution, 41(5): 638-648.
Easterly, W. (2001). “Can Institutions Resolve Ethnic conflict?” Economic Development and Cultural Change, 49(4): 687-706.
Elbadawi, I., & Sambanis, N. (2000). “Why are There So Many Civil Wars in Africa? Understanding and Preventing Violent Conflict”. Journal of African Economies, 9(3): 244-269.
Ethnic Minorities and the Clash of Civilizations: A Quantitative Analysis of Huntington's Thesis, JONATHAN FOX , British Journal of Political Science (2002), 32:3:415-434 Cambridge University Press, Copyright © 2002 Cambridge University Presshttp://www.iss.co.za/Books/Angola/6Malaquias.pdf last accessed on Dec 15, 2009, Ethnicity and conflict in Angola: prospects for reconciliation, Assis Malaquias
Fearon, James D. (2003). “Ethnic Structure and Cultural Diversity by Country.” Journal of Economic Growth 8 (June): 195-222.http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/polisci/wgape/papers/5_Bannon.pdf last accessed on Dec 19, 2009, Working Paper No. 44, SOURCES OF ETHNIC IDENTIFICATION IN AFRICA, by Alicia Bannon, Edward Miguel, and Daniel N. Posner
Goodin, Robert E. and Charles Tilly, eds. 2006. Oxford Handbook of Contextual Political Analysis. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
Goodwin, Jeff. (2001). No Other Way Out: States and Revolutionary Movements, 1945-1991. New York and Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Horowitz, Donald L. 1985. Ethnic Groups in Conflict. Berkeley: University of California Press.
http://www.cmi.no/publications/publication/?2340=socio-economic-effects-of-gold-mining-in-mali last accessed on Dec 14 2009
James Fearon and David Laitin, “Ethnicity, Insurgency and Civil War,” American Political Science Review 97, 1 (February 2003):75-90
Martin, Hans-Peter and Harald Schumann. 1998. The Global Trap: Globalization and the Assault on Democracy and Prosperity. London and New York: Zed
Nordic Journal of African Studies 15(1): 42–52 (2006) The Security Dilemma and Conflict in Cote d’Ivoire, MATTHEW KIRWIN, Michigan State University, USA
O’Neal, John R. and Russett B. (1999b) ‘The Kantian Peace: The Pacific Benefits of Democracy, Interdependence, and International Organizations, 1885-1992’, World Politics 52: 1-37.
Oladimeji Aborisade and Robert J. Mundt (1999). Politics in Nigeria, New York: Longman Publishers http://www.jsd-africa.com/Jsda/Fallwinter2000/articlespdf/ARC-Development%20in%20Nigeria.pdf last accessed on Dec 15, 2009, Development in Nigeria: A Political and Economic Challeng, Emmanuel O. Oritsejafor
Race, Ethnicity, and the Weberian Legacy, JOHN STONE, American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 38, No. 3, 391-406 (1995)
Sambanis, Nicholas. 2001. “Do Ethnic and Nonethnic Civil Wars Have the Same Causes?” Journal of Conflict Resolution, 45:259-282.
Socio-Economic Effects of Gold Mining in Mali, A Study of the Sadiola and MorilaMining Operations, Eyolf Jul-Larsen, Bréhima Kassibo, Siri Lange, Ingrid SamsetR 2006: CHR. Michelsen Institute
Socio-Economic Effects of Gold Mining in Mali, A Study of the Sadiola and MorilaMining Operations, Eyolf Jul-Larsen, Bréhima Kassibo, Siri Lange, Ingrid SamsetR 2006: CHR. Michelsen Institute,pg30http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/198-natural-resources/48504-a-humanitarian-disaster-in-the-making-along-the-chad-cameroon-oil-pipeline.html last accessed on 14th December, 2009
Socio-Economic Effects of Gold Mining in Mali, A Study of the Sadiola and MorilaMining Operations, Eyolf Jul-Larsen, Bréhima Kassibo, Siri Lange, Ingrid SamsetR 2006: CHR. Michelsen Institute
[1] Institutional obstacles to African economic development: State, ethnicity, and customJournal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Volume 71, Issue 3, September 2009, Pages 669-689Jean-Philippe Platteau
[2] Horowitz, Donald L. 1985. Ethnic Groups in Conflict. Berkeley: University of California Press.
[3] Race, Ethnicity, and the Weberian Legacy, JOHN STONE, American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 38, No. 3, 391-406 (1995)
[4] Yinger, J. Milton. 1985. “Ethnicity.” Annual Review of Sociology 11:151-80.
[5] Sambanis, Nicholas. 2001. “Do Ethnic and Nonethnic Civil Wars Have the Same Causes?” Journal of Conflict Resolution, 45:259-282.12 Anthony D. Smith, Contemporary Sociology, Vol. 16, No. 6 (Nov., 1987), pp. 774-775, Published by: American Sociological Association
[7] Ethnic Minorities and the Clash of Civilizations: A Quantitative Analysis of Huntington's Thesis, JONATHAN FOX , British Journal of Political Science (2002), 32:3:415-434 Cambridge University Press, Copyright © 2002 Cambridge University Press
[8] Cross-Cutting Cleavages and Ethnic Voting:
Results from an Experiment in Mali, Thad Dunning1 and Lauren Harrison2, Yale Universityhttp://web.mit.edu/polisci/research/wip/Dunning%20and%20Harrison_102608.pdf last accessed 5th Jan, 2009
[9] Easterly, William, and Ross Levine. 1997. “Africa’s Growth Tragedy: Policies and Ethnic
Divisions.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 112(November): 1203-50.
[10] Posner, Daniel. 2004. “Measuring Ethnic Fractionalization in Africa.” American Journal of
Political Science 48(October): 849-63.
[11] Alesina, Alberto, and E. La Ferrara. 2005. “Ethnic Diversity and Economic Performance.”
Journal of Economic Literature 43(September): 762-800.
[12] Dion, D. (1997). “Competition and Ethnic conflict: Artifactual?” Journal of Conflict Resolution, 41(5): 638-648.
[13] Easterly, W. (2001). “Can Institutions Resolve Ethnic conflict?” Economic Development and Cultural Change, 49(4): 687-706.
[14] Ethnic capital could be seen as a capital that gives returns to future generations of a particular ethnicity. Such ethnic capital is formed by investments made in an ethnic environment by parents for their future generation. Source - http://ideas.repec.org/a/tpr/qjecon/v107y1992i1p123-50.html last accessed on Dec 24, 2009
[15] Fearon, James D. 2003. “Ethnic Structure and Cultural Diversity by Country.” Journal of Economic Growth 8 (June): 195-222.
[16] http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/polisci/wgape/papers/5_Bannon.pdf last accessed on Dec 19, 2009, Working Paper No. 44, SOURCES OF ETHNIC IDENTIFICATION IN AFRICA, by Alicia Bannon, Edward Miguel, and Daniel N. Posner
[17] Elbadawi, I., & Sambanis, N. (2000). “Why are There So Many Civil Wars in Africa? Understanding and Preventing Violent Conflict”. Journal of African Economies, 9(3): 244-269.
It is from that state, I thought to start reading behavioural science, political science literature dealing with human conflicts, bondings and ethnicity one year back. Those readings have nurtured the growth of this write up the initiation of which happened with a preliminary googling that revealed an index called “Ethno Linguistic Fragmentation Index/ Ethno Nationalist Exclusion Index”.
This index is a simple extended version of market concentration index which shows the likelihood whether two people chosen at random will be from different ethnic groups. It is an extended form of simple Herfindahl concentration index.
The closer the value of the index to 1 the larger is ethnic fractionalization. The index value for some of the countries that suffered from conflicts generated from resource curse challenges is close to 1.
However, according to some literature[1] ethno linguistic fragmentation index is not able to capture the multidimensional aspects of ethnic fractionalisation. So a better way to address that is through an index of ethno nationalist exclusion which brings out state centric differences in ethnic fractionalization in a country.
This kind of index has been applied in studying the ethnic fractionalization in many resource rich countries where conflicts have arisen in resource abundant areas.
But the numbers do not reveal and get into the intricacies of several factors (including the cultural and emotional ones) that play a critical role in creating ethnic fractionalization and corresponding conflicts. Also often the numbers don’t talk about the human element that is very important in guiding the implications of ethnic fractionalization.
The next sections of this article entails some of the factors that explains ethnic fractionalization starting with some definitional aspects of ethnic fractionalization.
1 Ethnic fractionalization
In order to address the issue of ethnic fractionalization the concept of ethnic divide has to be pondered and understood first. An ethnic divide could originate between people and communities, groups due to their lineage to various religions, caste, culture, language and rule by which they are governed.
With respect to the definitional aspects of “Ethnic Fractionalization”, Horowitz[2] has defined ethnic fractionalization on the basis of indicators like appearance, religion, language and any combination of these ones.
Max Weber suggested that ethnicity is defined by belief structures in a community or in a group with a common descent that is demarcated by tribe, race, casts, religion, language, and[3] nationality. Different theories[4] exist that tries to explain how an ethnic fractionalization in a community could lead to conflicts. These theories include - the primordial sociality; clash of cultures; ethnic security dilemma ; mobilization of ethnic groups[5]. Each of these theories tries to explain how differences in ethnicity causes conflict in a particular situation.
According to primordial sociality theory[6], a human being sees any bondage with a particular ethnicity in a collective way and perceives the bondage to be given from outside in a coercive way. The clash of culture suggests that ethnic fractionalization emanates from belonging of human beings to different civilization origins[7]. Ethnic security dilemma arises when human beings from some ethnic groups suddenly are in a situation when they have to protect themselves for their own survival because of a certain adverse event say like an oil spillage affecting communities. In such a situation, human beings from one group of ethnic origin in the presence of other ethnic groups goes through a philosophical, introspecting discourse driving them to think that each community should protect themselves and their ethnic community first as they visualize the human beings from other groups, ethnicity in a competitive frame of mind.
Ethnic fractionalization is a kind of variable that arises out of social construction. Such social construction is often developed to push forward the political goals of institutions and other identities that could contribute to ethnic fractionalization for short term political gains. All these factors create differences in ethnicity and belief structures amongst people.
Governance of conflicts arising from such belief structures have to analyze how such costs can affect belief structures of the people of different ethnicities leading to conflicts. Political economy of governance institutions driven by people of different ethnicities could also exacerbate such feuds. Often religion also can also contribute in shaping up ethnicity.
1.1 Religion
Religion has played a prominent role in creating ethnic fractionalization in some select countries. Tensions and mistrust could often arise owing to a difference in the lineage of the people to different religions. Many intra community conflicts in countries have resulted owing to mistrust that has an origination in the different belief structures arising from belonging to various religions.
Many of these people have belonging to various religious institutions to which they belong before Christianity and Islam spread in these countries. In these countries the social process and the legal regimes did not facilitate a mix of the two different ethnic identities arising from different religious structures.
In addition to religion, institutions also play a role in the ethnic fractionalization.
1.2 Institutions
Strong government and political institutions with a welfare philosophy for people of all groups and an objective of ethnic fractionalization reduction might have been able to tackle problem. Powell (1982) shows that an association exists between ethnic fractionalization and instability of institutions. Powell suggests that in a region with an increase in ethnic fractionalization, the propensity of instability in the institution goes up.
Once that instability goes up, chances of reduction of ethnic fractionalization goes down. Also role of formal institutions play a key role towards enhancement of fractionalization.
But other than formal, informal institutions also have a strong role to play towards ethnic fractionalization. Informal institutional structures play a key role in binding and hindering the transmission of ethnic heterogeneity to potential conflicts. Such informal institutional structures have also helped in cross ethnic tie ups through a structure called “cousinage”. Cousinage has happened because of historical alliances of families between various ethnic groups through the basis of patronyms. This cousinage has facilitated social interactions between various ethnic groups and has played a key role in binding them together.
To illustrate cousinage, one could say that somebody in a community group in Mali, belonging to Keita surname could easily interact with another person with a surname of Coulibaly[8] even if they have not interacted earlier. Cross ethnic interactions bounded by informal institutional structures have prevailed in these countries and helped in maintaining strong bondage between human beings.
Also transethnicity play a key role towards determination of conflicts. Studies done by Easterly and Levine (1997)[9], Posner (2004)[10] suggest that the effects of these transethnicities on socio economic variables of the communities have been adverse leading to larger ethnic fractionalization.
Larger ethnic fractionalization could lead to a delay in creation of public goods dealing with health service, education and infrastructure[11] owing to large transaction cost that could arise due to ethnic fractionalization.
To eradicate this condition, larger effective institutional intervention for governance is required. In the presence of ethnic clouting and rent seeking in governance positions, quality of infrastructure service provision could go down.
However as a contrast, the picture has been very optimistic in some African countries. For example in countries like Malawi, Namibia institutions have worked well.
In Malawi, groups belonging to Chewa, Nyanja, and Tumbuka language are the largest. But inspite of that no dominance of groups has happened. Similarly in Namibia, although the ethnicity belonging to Ovambo is the dominant segment of the population, the other ethnic groups are given importance in terms of their representation in the institutions. Dominance of groups have been eradicated to bring in effective institutional intervention.
Some other explanatory factors
Inter community factors of fractionalization is frequently influenced by the nature of ethnic competition. According to Dion Douglas (1997)[12] ethnic competition gives rise to germination of ethnic conflicts. In a drive for competition, lower trust levels are developed that impinges communities of various ethnicities from forming social networks[13].
Such social networks could happen through larger inter ethnic cultural exchanges, frequent social gatherings and bondage between the groups. One of the essential requirements for such bondage requires creation of a value system of respect for each others ethnic customs, rights, rituals.
Often absence of such a value system hinders creation of a space for social networking. This is further facilitated by the drive of each ethnicity giving larger space to their own culture, customs without providing sufficient space to the other ethnic culture and customs. Such an action is also often incentivised by a drive to have monetary and control of power that could maximize the ethnic capital[14].
Therefore, each ethnic group in the process of maximizing ethnic capital becomes narrowed in their own ethnicity and reduces overall social capital that leads to a larger fractionalization.
Cultural factors[15] that create fractionalization amongst ethnic communities include the differences in language, living style, day to day actions[16] and their affinity to various ethnic cultural preferences by birth. Mostly between the ethnic tribes there is a pattern of sticking to the cultural heritages that any generation has imbibed from earlier generation by birth. This affinity to a lineage by birth could often act as a hindrance towards cultural homogenization of various ethnicities and can lead to fractionalization. It is felt that creation of platforms for cross cultural exchange at regular intervals across various ethnic community domains could be one of the ways to bridge the differences in the cultural attributes of the communities. This could therefore pave a long way towards reduction of ethnic fractionalization.
Demographic and institutional factors are also posed to contribute to ethnic fractionalization process. Failed institutions are being thought to be one of the key factors towards ethnic fractionalization.
According to Sambanis and Elbadawi, (2000)[17], too much of diversity in ethnic groups necessarily won’t allow to create conflict if the institutions are working well as they won’t allow groups to cohesively create a conflict.
According to them when an ethnic group has a larger dominance to the extent of 60% of the population then it has sufficient power to create conflicts. But below that extent, with the existence of many ethnicities if the institutions are functioning well then even with the presence of ethnic fractionalization, conflicts could be checked.
Conclusion
Ethnic fractionalization within and between communities could act as a mechanism to facilitate, enhance the distrust and could contribute towards larger distress and dissent which therefore raises the degree and chance of a conflict. Such distrust could arise because of various intra community and inter community sociological constructs. Additionally, historical, institutional, cultural factors would also play a critical role in the formation, extent and persistence of the distrust.
There is a critical role of governance oversights, efficient functioning of institutions, homogenous wellfaristic polity with a larger holistic accommodative social welfare goals that could reduce such distrust and conflict. Participatory decision making at the community level, effective and efficient democracy with equal weightage to all ethnicity are some of the ways by which these community conflicts could be addressed.
While doing that policies have to be streamlined and those policies have to consider how each of the indicators affecting ethnic fractionalization is influenced through policy actions. The formulation of such a policy would involve dedicated participation from all groups, ethnicities and stakeholders.
References
Abubakar, D. (2001). “Ethnic Identity, Democratization, and the Future of the African State: Lessons from Nigeria”. Ethnicity and Recent Democratic Experiments in Africa, African Issues, 29(1/2):31-36.
Anthony D. Smith, Contemporary Sociology, Vol. 16, No. 6 (Nov., 1987), pp. 774-775 , Published by: American Sociological Association
Dion, D. (1997). “Competition and Ethnic conflict: Artifactual?” Journal of Conflict Resolution, 41(5): 638-648.
Easterly, W. (2001). “Can Institutions Resolve Ethnic conflict?” Economic Development and Cultural Change, 49(4): 687-706.
Elbadawi, I., & Sambanis, N. (2000). “Why are There So Many Civil Wars in Africa? Understanding and Preventing Violent Conflict”. Journal of African Economies, 9(3): 244-269.
Ethnic Minorities and the Clash of Civilizations: A Quantitative Analysis of Huntington's Thesis, JONATHAN FOX , British Journal of Political Science (2002), 32:3:415-434 Cambridge University Press, Copyright © 2002 Cambridge University Presshttp://www.iss.co.za/Books/Angola/6Malaquias.pdf last accessed on Dec 15, 2009, Ethnicity and conflict in Angola: prospects for reconciliation, Assis Malaquias
Fearon, James D. (2003). “Ethnic Structure and Cultural Diversity by Country.” Journal of Economic Growth 8 (June): 195-222.http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/polisci/wgape/papers/5_Bannon.pdf last accessed on Dec 19, 2009, Working Paper No. 44, SOURCES OF ETHNIC IDENTIFICATION IN AFRICA, by Alicia Bannon, Edward Miguel, and Daniel N. Posner
Goodin, Robert E. and Charles Tilly, eds. 2006. Oxford Handbook of Contextual Political Analysis. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
Goodwin, Jeff. (2001). No Other Way Out: States and Revolutionary Movements, 1945-1991. New York and Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Horowitz, Donald L. 1985. Ethnic Groups in Conflict. Berkeley: University of California Press.
http://www.cmi.no/publications/publication/?2340=socio-economic-effects-of-gold-mining-in-mali last accessed on Dec 14 2009
James Fearon and David Laitin, “Ethnicity, Insurgency and Civil War,” American Political Science Review 97, 1 (February 2003):75-90
Martin, Hans-Peter and Harald Schumann. 1998. The Global Trap: Globalization and the Assault on Democracy and Prosperity. London and New York: Zed
Nordic Journal of African Studies 15(1): 42–52 (2006) The Security Dilemma and Conflict in Cote d’Ivoire, MATTHEW KIRWIN, Michigan State University, USA
O’Neal, John R. and Russett B. (1999b) ‘The Kantian Peace: The Pacific Benefits of Democracy, Interdependence, and International Organizations, 1885-1992’, World Politics 52: 1-37.
Oladimeji Aborisade and Robert J. Mundt (1999). Politics in Nigeria, New York: Longman Publishers http://www.jsd-africa.com/Jsda/Fallwinter2000/articlespdf/ARC-Development%20in%20Nigeria.pdf last accessed on Dec 15, 2009, Development in Nigeria: A Political and Economic Challeng, Emmanuel O. Oritsejafor
Race, Ethnicity, and the Weberian Legacy, JOHN STONE, American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 38, No. 3, 391-406 (1995)
Sambanis, Nicholas. 2001. “Do Ethnic and Nonethnic Civil Wars Have the Same Causes?” Journal of Conflict Resolution, 45:259-282.
Socio-Economic Effects of Gold Mining in Mali, A Study of the Sadiola and MorilaMining Operations, Eyolf Jul-Larsen, Bréhima Kassibo, Siri Lange, Ingrid SamsetR 2006: CHR. Michelsen Institute
Socio-Economic Effects of Gold Mining in Mali, A Study of the Sadiola and MorilaMining Operations, Eyolf Jul-Larsen, Bréhima Kassibo, Siri Lange, Ingrid SamsetR 2006: CHR. Michelsen Institute,pg30http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/198-natural-resources/48504-a-humanitarian-disaster-in-the-making-along-the-chad-cameroon-oil-pipeline.html last accessed on 14th December, 2009
Socio-Economic Effects of Gold Mining in Mali, A Study of the Sadiola and MorilaMining Operations, Eyolf Jul-Larsen, Bréhima Kassibo, Siri Lange, Ingrid SamsetR 2006: CHR. Michelsen Institute
[1] Institutional obstacles to African economic development: State, ethnicity, and customJournal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Volume 71, Issue 3, September 2009, Pages 669-689Jean-Philippe Platteau
[2] Horowitz, Donald L. 1985. Ethnic Groups in Conflict. Berkeley: University of California Press.
[3] Race, Ethnicity, and the Weberian Legacy, JOHN STONE, American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 38, No. 3, 391-406 (1995)
[4] Yinger, J. Milton. 1985. “Ethnicity.” Annual Review of Sociology 11:151-80.
[5] Sambanis, Nicholas. 2001. “Do Ethnic and Nonethnic Civil Wars Have the Same Causes?” Journal of Conflict Resolution, 45:259-282.12 Anthony D. Smith, Contemporary Sociology, Vol. 16, No. 6 (Nov., 1987), pp. 774-775, Published by: American Sociological Association
[7] Ethnic Minorities and the Clash of Civilizations: A Quantitative Analysis of Huntington's Thesis, JONATHAN FOX , British Journal of Political Science (2002), 32:3:415-434 Cambridge University Press, Copyright © 2002 Cambridge University Press
[8] Cross-Cutting Cleavages and Ethnic Voting:
Results from an Experiment in Mali, Thad Dunning1 and Lauren Harrison2, Yale Universityhttp://web.mit.edu/polisci/research/wip/Dunning%20and%20Harrison_102608.pdf last accessed 5th Jan, 2009
[9] Easterly, William, and Ross Levine. 1997. “Africa’s Growth Tragedy: Policies and Ethnic
Divisions.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 112(November): 1203-50.
[10] Posner, Daniel. 2004. “Measuring Ethnic Fractionalization in Africa.” American Journal of
Political Science 48(October): 849-63.
[11] Alesina, Alberto, and E. La Ferrara. 2005. “Ethnic Diversity and Economic Performance.”
Journal of Economic Literature 43(September): 762-800.
[12] Dion, D. (1997). “Competition and Ethnic conflict: Artifactual?” Journal of Conflict Resolution, 41(5): 638-648.
[13] Easterly, W. (2001). “Can Institutions Resolve Ethnic conflict?” Economic Development and Cultural Change, 49(4): 687-706.
[14] Ethnic capital could be seen as a capital that gives returns to future generations of a particular ethnicity. Such ethnic capital is formed by investments made in an ethnic environment by parents for their future generation. Source - http://ideas.repec.org/a/tpr/qjecon/v107y1992i1p123-50.html last accessed on Dec 24, 2009
[15] Fearon, James D. 2003. “Ethnic Structure and Cultural Diversity by Country.” Journal of Economic Growth 8 (June): 195-222.
[16] http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/polisci/wgape/papers/5_Bannon.pdf last accessed on Dec 19, 2009, Working Paper No. 44, SOURCES OF ETHNIC IDENTIFICATION IN AFRICA, by Alicia Bannon, Edward Miguel, and Daniel N. Posner
[17] Elbadawi, I., & Sambanis, N. (2000). “Why are There So Many Civil Wars in Africa? Understanding and Preventing Violent Conflict”. Journal of African Economies, 9(3): 244-269.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
CENSORSHIP, DRAFT CINEMATOGRAPH BILL 2010: OBSERVATIONS
Draft cinematograph bill of 2010 in a very tacit way brings out an emerging tendency of growing state control on freedom of expressions in the art medium. Regulation of expressions in cinema has been done through censorship in India and this censorship has followed the guidelines of “Cinematograph Act” of 1952.
Before any Indian movie starts we see a certification titled Central Board of Film Certificate. Any film is released to public after it has been certified by the regulatory body giving CBFC certification. Central Board of Film Censorship became Central Board of Film Certificate in 1982 following an amendment in the Cinematograph Act of 1952.
The important question is who governs the CBFC and who controls the medium of expression through art form in India. As of now the industry participation in this board deciding film certification is less and often there is a political lineage that governs dictum, decision making of CBFC.
Political lineage indirectly allows a larger state domination in the board. The logic which is given for a state control is that, film is an important medium of expression and can influence the society. So any content in such a powerful medium should have a social responsibility and must contribute to the welfare of the society. Thus state has an obligation to control the expression form in cinema.
But often a large state participation can reduce and create claustrophobic environment for a creator in this powerful expression of art i.e. cinema. Too much state intervention in the decision making board can act as a hindering factor towards new forms of experimentation in cinema. The question is - what should be the regulatory structure of this board that governs the state of the forms of expressions in Indian cinema.
We need to ask questions on how and on what principles decision making is done in the board. Also what should be the structure of the governance mechanisms of the board so that it balances the needs of the movie maker, state and the Indian society. Many times the interests can be conflictual.
So one needs to determine how the fine balancing thread line could be created which balances all the needs. An independent nature of the governance board is essential to create thriving ground for innovative experimentation in Indian cinema. Institutional structures, their nature of functioning also has a key role to play in determining what kind of new art forms are created. Participation by all actors of the sector in the decision making of the board is key towards achieving it.
Decision making and regulation of art through certification needs to have a clear cut vision and logical basis. For instance the draft Cinematograph Bill 2010 mentions of U,12+,15+. There is a need to debate what are the age limits (and on what basis they are done) one needs to define for certain forms of expressions in a cinema. Such decisions are also influenced by the state of our society and how we all and our younger generation are evolving as human beings over time. It is also influenced by how Indian society is at its roots. At the same time the cinema also gives back its impulses back towards the formation of a particular type of a society.
-
It is very important to have a regulatory board, institutional structure that takes account of all these finer nuances of the interaction between cinema and society and vice versa in making their decisions. At the same time it should also take care of the agents who play a key role in producing the art form by giving them the breathing space. It is a very sensitive decision making that cannot be left only to the realms of state and certain political lineages. Such decision making has to be supported by Advisory Bodies and Steering Committee guiding the decision making body. The advisory body and steering committee should comprise of sociologist, anthropologist, all experts from film industry thereby bringing a transdisciplinarity in the decision making.
In today’s highly connected digital world, censorship often gets nullified by spread of the censored expressions through other digital medium. The decision making body also has to take account of that. Thus it appears that film censorship and its nature is an intricate subject that needs inputs from various experts. The draft cinematograph bill 2010 has atleast been able to trigger these thoughts in our minds.
Before any Indian movie starts we see a certification titled Central Board of Film Certificate. Any film is released to public after it has been certified by the regulatory body giving CBFC certification. Central Board of Film Censorship became Central Board of Film Certificate in 1982 following an amendment in the Cinematograph Act of 1952.
The important question is who governs the CBFC and who controls the medium of expression through art form in India. As of now the industry participation in this board deciding film certification is less and often there is a political lineage that governs dictum, decision making of CBFC.
Political lineage indirectly allows a larger state domination in the board. The logic which is given for a state control is that, film is an important medium of expression and can influence the society. So any content in such a powerful medium should have a social responsibility and must contribute to the welfare of the society. Thus state has an obligation to control the expression form in cinema.
But often a large state participation can reduce and create claustrophobic environment for a creator in this powerful expression of art i.e. cinema. Too much state intervention in the decision making board can act as a hindering factor towards new forms of experimentation in cinema. The question is - what should be the regulatory structure of this board that governs the state of the forms of expressions in Indian cinema.
We need to ask questions on how and on what principles decision making is done in the board. Also what should be the structure of the governance mechanisms of the board so that it balances the needs of the movie maker, state and the Indian society. Many times the interests can be conflictual.
So one needs to determine how the fine balancing thread line could be created which balances all the needs. An independent nature of the governance board is essential to create thriving ground for innovative experimentation in Indian cinema. Institutional structures, their nature of functioning also has a key role to play in determining what kind of new art forms are created. Participation by all actors of the sector in the decision making of the board is key towards achieving it.
Decision making and regulation of art through certification needs to have a clear cut vision and logical basis. For instance the draft Cinematograph Bill 2010 mentions of U,12+,15+. There is a need to debate what are the age limits (and on what basis they are done) one needs to define for certain forms of expressions in a cinema. Such decisions are also influenced by the state of our society and how we all and our younger generation are evolving as human beings over time. It is also influenced by how Indian society is at its roots. At the same time the cinema also gives back its impulses back towards the formation of a particular type of a society.
-
It is very important to have a regulatory board, institutional structure that takes account of all these finer nuances of the interaction between cinema and society and vice versa in making their decisions. At the same time it should also take care of the agents who play a key role in producing the art form by giving them the breathing space. It is a very sensitive decision making that cannot be left only to the realms of state and certain political lineages. Such decision making has to be supported by Advisory Bodies and Steering Committee guiding the decision making body. The advisory body and steering committee should comprise of sociologist, anthropologist, all experts from film industry thereby bringing a transdisciplinarity in the decision making.
In today’s highly connected digital world, censorship often gets nullified by spread of the censored expressions through other digital medium. The decision making body also has to take account of that. Thus it appears that film censorship and its nature is an intricate subject that needs inputs from various experts. The draft cinematograph bill 2010 has atleast been able to trigger these thoughts in our minds.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
WHEN MONEY SUPPLY THEORY INTRIGUES INTO READING HABITS
As a student of social science, we in our bachelor days learnt about money supply theory. The lectures, book chapters on macroeconomics dealing with money supply theory use to shout and tell us that money has three basic values – a) Use , b) Precautionary and c) Speculative. In the bachelor days to understand all this we had to compute equations, draw graphs, vacate pages after pages solving series of equations. But as a student I had failed at that point of time to understand what does these con cepts mean in terms of practice. The time, I am referring to was from 1999 – 2002 and may be even beyond 2002. But the realization of how these three values mentioned in money supply intrigues into our daily reading habits, bread and butter arrived only few days back in 2010.
It took 11 long years to realize this. In these 11 years the theory on money supply defining these three values have not changed. Money if we see otherwise is just a printed raw material which generates a value when it helps us to consume certain things (goods, services), or is being stored, saved to act as an insurance for our uncertain discounted future (precautionary value) or is being invested in illiquid assets (bonds, papers, debentures or any other investment assets) to earn more monetary return (which is the value generated from speculation being done with this paper raw material) in future. In our daily life, we all are playing around and using money by tinkering around with these three values and roles of money as a raw material to generate these set of three values.
But these three roles and values are also there in our daily reading which provides us bread, butter, living. We are actually also tinkering around with the three values that are generated from our reading habits.
Lets now get into a little bit detailing of how these three values viz. use, precautionary, speculative are generated from reading.
If we see reading as an exercise that provides us with set of information, then we as readers try to use those information through application in various areas and try to consume our living by earning money from use of information. So use value of reading habits is the money or value of goods, services that are generated, consumed by using the information that comes from our reading habits. Money, goods, service consumption is an outcome of our reading habits and generates an use value.
Precautionary value of reading is the extra reading that we do and keep on searching, exploring all around as a precaution to generate new ideas which brings recognition, money and helps us to consume goods, service and goodwill of reputation. Thus the extra reading that we do as a precaution since we are uncertain of the shelf life of any new idea generates a precautionary value. But the set of information gathered from a precautionary reading might not always be used or be invested.
When a part of this precautionary reading is invested in developing some new thoughts, ideas, applications, knowledge it generates a speculative value. This is because there is an element of speculation in this part of the precautionary reading as a reader. As researchers, we might like to invest in some of the precautionary readings which we think can generate some values for us in future. So in terms of reading habits, precautionary value of reading generates speculative value. So as a portfolio manager if we get series of information from reading habits, we intend to divide and manage those set of information into different compartments that can subsequently raise three types of value for us – viz. Use, Precautionary, Speculative.
There are so many things to explore in money supply theory that can have wide range of applications across sectors where various issues could be seen through the logical lenses of money supply theory.
For me, as a student of social science after reading the subject of economics for 11 years, things are becoming a little clear in terms of the wide range potential of transdisciplinary, multidisciplinary applications of various economic theories that we have read during our bachelor days.
I think we have not yet learnt it as we have many time not practiced unlearning it. May be because of that many areas are still blur and not clear. But the search has just begun after 11 years and I am sure we all together will join together in this searching journey. Till then, I look forward to comments, insights from all friends, wellwishers, colleagues to get more clarity in my thoughts in this journey.
It took 11 long years to realize this. In these 11 years the theory on money supply defining these three values have not changed. Money if we see otherwise is just a printed raw material which generates a value when it helps us to consume certain things (goods, services), or is being stored, saved to act as an insurance for our uncertain discounted future (precautionary value) or is being invested in illiquid assets (bonds, papers, debentures or any other investment assets) to earn more monetary return (which is the value generated from speculation being done with this paper raw material) in future. In our daily life, we all are playing around and using money by tinkering around with these three values and roles of money as a raw material to generate these set of three values.
But these three roles and values are also there in our daily reading which provides us bread, butter, living. We are actually also tinkering around with the three values that are generated from our reading habits.
Lets now get into a little bit detailing of how these three values viz. use, precautionary, speculative are generated from reading.
If we see reading as an exercise that provides us with set of information, then we as readers try to use those information through application in various areas and try to consume our living by earning money from use of information. So use value of reading habits is the money or value of goods, services that are generated, consumed by using the information that comes from our reading habits. Money, goods, service consumption is an outcome of our reading habits and generates an use value.
Precautionary value of reading is the extra reading that we do and keep on searching, exploring all around as a precaution to generate new ideas which brings recognition, money and helps us to consume goods, service and goodwill of reputation. Thus the extra reading that we do as a precaution since we are uncertain of the shelf life of any new idea generates a precautionary value. But the set of information gathered from a precautionary reading might not always be used or be invested.
When a part of this precautionary reading is invested in developing some new thoughts, ideas, applications, knowledge it generates a speculative value. This is because there is an element of speculation in this part of the precautionary reading as a reader. As researchers, we might like to invest in some of the precautionary readings which we think can generate some values for us in future. So in terms of reading habits, precautionary value of reading generates speculative value. So as a portfolio manager if we get series of information from reading habits, we intend to divide and manage those set of information into different compartments that can subsequently raise three types of value for us – viz. Use, Precautionary, Speculative.
There are so many things to explore in money supply theory that can have wide range of applications across sectors where various issues could be seen through the logical lenses of money supply theory.
For me, as a student of social science after reading the subject of economics for 11 years, things are becoming a little clear in terms of the wide range potential of transdisciplinary, multidisciplinary applications of various economic theories that we have read during our bachelor days.
I think we have not yet learnt it as we have many time not practiced unlearning it. May be because of that many areas are still blur and not clear. But the search has just begun after 11 years and I am sure we all together will join together in this searching journey. Till then, I look forward to comments, insights from all friends, wellwishers, colleagues to get more clarity in my thoughts in this journey.
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