Academic literature on the topic 'Society for the Reform of Colonial Government'

In transforming modernization in developing countries and regions, the primary problem is social integration, and the key to integration is land reform. This paper uses the process tracking method to explore the land reform in Taiwan after the war. In terms of initial conditions, Taiwan belongs to the agricultural society. After the war, it got rid of Japan's colonial rule and then embarked on the authoritarian development modeled by the Chiang Kai-shek government. The Kuomintang regime in Taiwan began to institutionalize as early as the mainland period. After returning to Taiwan, the government can maintain high independence and establish a systematic communication channel with the grassroots society, with the landlord as the leading class. In the reform process, the Kuomintang regime had a strong ability to act and promote cooperation between landlords and finally achieved a more thorough land reform. Therefore, for developing countries, because the situation they are facing is different from that of the previously developed countries, having solid political authority and further improving the level of institutionalization on this basis is an essential condition for successful land reform.

AbstractThe regulation of the extractives sector in Zimbabwe has recently come under scrutiny due to the uncertain social, economic and political environment. Zimbabwe's mining sector was under colonial legislation for a long time and that legislation has recently been reviewed. Existing extractives sector laws do not adequately promote transparency and accountability, an issue recognized by stakeholders throughout the mining sector. The advent of the new constitution and law reform processes indicates Zimbabwe's intention to incorporate good governance, transparency and accountability provisions in the mining sector. State driven reforms have been inspired by global and local civil society initiatives. Analysis shows that, for various reasons, the government does not readily embrace such initiatives, which are important drivers of official policy and legal reforms. Zimbabwean environmental civil society groups have been exceptional in this regard.

Abstract Increased legal access and the devolution of natural resource administration are generally seen as sources of power for local communities and their institutions. However, beyond this widely held expectation, the politics of land reform suggest that legal recognition of rights and devolution is not the only issue with implications for communal tenure reforms. Misconceptions about communal tenure, which are rooted in history, and their appropriation by local elites in the processes of communal tenure reform are characteristic of both colonial and post-colonial governments in Kenya. Although typically articulated and promulgated to enhance political representation and to devolve control over resources to the local level, unresolved issues in the reform process have worked to undermine the legitimacy of communal land rights in contemporary Kenyan society. A case study of the post-2010 community land legislation process demonstrates the continuing relevance of historically conditioned political and ideological representations of communal tenure built during the colonial period and reproduced in policy in independent Kenya. This paper offers reflections on the centrality of sustained communal tenure misconceptions, fetishization of formal governance institutions, and the institutional and power configurations that primarily benefit powerful stakeholders as sources of the current breakdown in the implementation of community land law.

This article aims to investigate the way the French government has utilized the restitution of African colonial artefacts to reshape its postcolonial identity. The decision to return African artefacts to their country of origin is studied from a national perspective, shedding light on the postcolonial evolution of the French society, and from an international perspective, placing this decision within the structure of international relations. This article demonstrates that the restitution of African colonial artefacts is part of a political strategy aimed at addressing the national and international criticisms directed towards the French government without having to implement the structural reforms necessary to truly resolve them.

Modern transitional period of Korea after experiencing Colonial Modernity needs to be approached from a multifaceted perspective. In the midst of rapid social mobility, the continuation of tradition and modernization coexisted, and the traditional ruling order was not dismantled, but rather preserved and strengthened in certain areas. In Korea, the caste system as an institution was abolished by the Gabo reform, but its influence remained strong during the colonial period. A typical example is how the Confucians sought to differentiate themselves under Japanese occupation by renewing seowon, participating in hyanggyo, publishing genealogy. Meanwhile, the Japanese colonial community was led by a group called the local magnate, who were able to establish a reputation and pose as magnate through their activities in various organizations organized by the Government-General of Korea. The Government-General of Korea wanted to incorporate hyanggyo and seodang into the system as a supplement to socialization and general education. Hyanggyo served as a hub for local Confucians under the strict control of the Government-General of Korea. The Government-General of Korea also wanted to use the hyanggyo's properties to carry out edification work, believing that despite the hyanggyo's declining status in society, the social control of the hyanggyo and Confucians remained effective. Seodang, a traditional educational institution, was to be partially incorporated into the modern school system. In the case of seowon, however, was marginalized and peripheralized. Local clan sought to maintain their influence in the community by establishing their status as yangban(兩班) family through seowon, which led to the restoration and establishment of seowon. However, the role and influence of seowon was greatly diminished during the Japanese colonial period, in part due to the weak economic base. In the case of Oksan Seowon, a representative seowon in the Yeongnam area, tried to find a way to solve its debt problems by placing its land in trust.

Trade unions (TUs) in Tanganyika (later Tanzania) were relatively vibrant during the colonial period despite the ruthlessness of the colonial government. However, such vibrancy declined after independence despite the re-introduction of pluralist politics in the 1990s, which was expected to open more space for civil society organisations. Basing on Tanzania Teachers’ Union (TTU), this paper seeks to shed light on the factors for the decline of TUs’ collective action in the country. It explores the main benchmarks of the TTU evolution. Further, this paper analyses the factors that contributed to the decline of the trade union’s collective action in Tanzania. Moreover, the paper recommends how TTUs can reform and act strategically. This paper is informed and guided by the Gramscian hegemony and counter-hegemony discourses. The study, adopted qualitative methods of data collection/generation particularly interviews, focus group discussion and documentary review. The study has shown that TTU lower-level organisations lack autonomy from the employer, thus unable to effectively mobilise members for collective action. Yet, the existing labour regimes derail TUs’ activism. The study recommends that TUs, including TTU, need to strive for labour law reforms, which among other things, will allow for their independent organisations and autonomy from government bureaucracy.

Although development studies of the Nigerian society has been done from various time frames and perspectives in order to ascertain the level of economic attainment, scant scholarly attention has been given to a wholesome historical appraisal of the Nigerian state from pre-colonial to post-colonial periods. The reason for this tendency is not unrelated to the enormity of issues and happenstances which characterized such a lengthy scope of study. However, given the necessity of an in-depth audit, it has become overly important to attempt/endeavor into a research that can offer a precise, meaningful and valuable guide for developmental indices in a country with such vast economic resources and diverse ethnic population. In fulfilment of this objective, the study adopted a Mixed Method Research (MMR) design involving elements of qualitative and quantitative research approaches. Although the work is qualitative dominant in historical research methodology, elements of quantitative drives was derived from an earlier research-wellbeing for Nigeria (Fig. 1) which corroborated findings from the oral interviews and the secondary sources from journals, library search, books and other literature. Additionally, recourse was made to Growth, Trade and Dependency Development theoretical framework of analysis which guided the validation of the findings. Findings of the work revealed that the Nigerian state has been enveloped in developmental crises for several decades, consequent upon ethnic and cultural pluralism, improper economic planning and productivity and corruption. The work concluded that, for Nigeria to attain meaningful socio-economic development, more resolute measures of the management of its resources and diversity should be put in place through good governance. The work recommended that the federal government should design and put in place people-oriented reform programs to promote social enhancement, economic empowerment at both rural and urban areas of the country and eradication of poverty.

AbstractThis article examines the nature of political opposition in the Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR) to give us an understanding of its role in and approach to political reform in the territory. It explores the emergence of the pro-democracy opposition in Macao since the end of the colonial era and the self-perception of pro-democratic opposition groups in the MSAR regime, and argues that the majority of opposition groups perceive themselves as ‘loyal’ opponents to the current regime. The groups aim at checking the authorities in the scope of the constitution as loyal constituents. Their assumption of this role is the result of several environmental factors, including a relatively weak civil society, a lack of resources and a pro-government media.

Background of the study: This research belongs to the literature study since it is carried out by exploring information and documentation relating to archiving regulationsPurpose: This study aims to analyze the development of archiving regulations in Indonesia from time to time.Method: Analyzing data using descriptive analysis methods.Findings: The results showed that the development of archiving regulations in Indonesia showed a positive trend, as this was shown by the issuance of several regulations relating to archival issues from the Dutch colonial era and the independence of Indonesia in 1945 up until the issuance of Law No. 43 of 2009 during the reform era recently.Conclusion: All archiving laws or regulations are basically for the existence of archives and archives very important for society, government and the Indonesian Nation.

Since Indonesia's independence in 1945, the nation has undergone profound economic transformations. The Indonesian economy has evolved significantly, shaped by factors like politics, society, and globalization. Employing a descriptive qualitative approach, this research gathers data from interviews, field notes, personal documents, and official records. Its qualitative nature aims to provide a detailed understanding of the phenomenon studied. The study examines centralization and decentralization concepts, tracing the historical shift from a centralized economy under Dutch colonialism to a decentralized system post-independence. The decentralization process, initiated during the reform era in 1998, aimed to distribute authority from the central government to regional authorities. This shift has impacted Indonesia's economic landscape, transitioning from a Jakarta-centric focus to a more regionally inclusive approach. During colonial rule, the Dutch managed Indonesia's economy centrally to serve their interests.

This thesis focuses on the period between 1895-1936 and examines how the British colonial administration (through the agency of the Church Missionary Society (CMS)) used formal education as a tool to subjugate and create what was considered as an obedient Kenyan-African workforce. It argues that a tenuous but mutually beneficial relationship developed between the colonial government and CMS. This relationship was driven by an evolving colonial mindset, geared towards notions of European supremacy, and which ultimately came at the great expense of the educational and civil rights of Kenyan-Africans. In the period prior to World War One, educational policies were endorsed by the colonial administration to maintain control over and segregate Kenyan-Africans from Europeans. By pressuring the CMS through controlled grants-in-aid, the colonial government was able to source a steady supply of vocationally trained workers for White settler farms. The theoretical framework of “knowledge transfer" is also used to examine these colonial interventions, allowing for a trace and comparison of educational and religious praxis across colonial borders, especially between India and Kenya. In the period following the Great War, the continued subjugation of Kenyan-Africans led to a growing resentment towards colonial rule and CMS pursuits, and inadvertently increased their desire for an advanced, English based, academic education. To suppress these educational and political desires, the colonial government consistently sought the support of the metropole through the use of favourable rhetoric. This support facilitated the introduction of more rigid educational policies, designed along racial, religious, and tribal lines. These early government and missionary contests eventually ignited what became the early struggles for Kenyan independence.

Two recent developments dominate the political economy of Sub Saharan Africa -- the adoption of economic structural adjustment reforms and the emergence of pressures for the democratization of the political process. Economic reform measures have spawned civil society, made up of anti-authoritarian, anti-statist, non-governmental organizations, that demand political liberalization. This study is an attempt to analyze, theoretically and quantitatively, the unanticipated association between these developments. Democratic institutions inherited by Sub Saharan Africa at independence were subverted either through military coups or by the abuse and misuse of the institutions by an inordinately ambitious political elite. Thus, about a decade into independence more than three quarters of the sub continent virtually came under authoritarian rule. Contemporaneously there was a decline in the economies of these countries, forcing them to borrow from international financial institutions, in order to offset their balance of payment difficulties. By the mid-1980s most of Sub Saharan Africa had also instituted structural adjustment programs. Using a pooled cross-sectional time series model of analysis, data gathered from Sub Saharan African countries are analysed to test the explanatory power of the three extant contending theories of development: classical, dependency, and neoliberal. Then, most importantly, the analysis examines the relationship between structural adjustment, the development of civil society, and democratization. Overall, the results indicate that the institutional structures generated by, and the political millieu created by structural adjustment are conducive for the evolution of civil society and for its activities for democracy. This political opportunity, however, is also found to be dependent on the level of restructuring involved. The more the political system is restructured, the more the freedom of political participation by civil society, and the higher the level of democratization. The study found a very weak relationship between structural adjustment and economic growth, thereby calling into question many current economic policies. It further demonstrated that no one single theory had the advantages over others in explaining the dynamics of both political and economic development in Sub Saharan Africa and, by extension, in other developing countries.

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2004.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: South Africa's history led to an unequal distribution in land ownership, which is not conducive to democratic consolidation. Land refortn is the means to address this problem. However, land reform, part of the larger process of transformation, is a potentially dangerous process: it can have negative implications on the rule of law. The objective of this study is to provide an analysis of the dynamic relationship between land reform, the rule of law and transformation in South Africa, within the debate on democratic consolidation. One can distinguish two paradigms regarding democracy: the liberal paradigm and the liberationist paradigm. These two paradigms have divergent views on the way land reform and transformation should be implemented, and what the goal of these two processes is. The liberal paradigm would seem to be more favourable for democratic consolidation, while the liberationist paradigm is a breeding ground for populist transformation. Furthermore, the negotiated constitutional settlement has left land reform with an ambiguity. On the one hand the constitution forces the govemment to address land reform, but on the other hand it firmly entrenches the private property rights by enforcing the 'willing buyer, willing seller' principle, which makes the process more costly and time consuming. The main hypothesis of this study is: Demographic indicators (race, party affiliation and provincial setting) influence support or rejection of the land reform policies of the South African govemment. Tbe dependent variable is 'support or rejection of the government's land reform policies'. Support for the govemment's land reform policies is indicative of the liberal paradigm and rejection of the govemment's policies is indicative of the liberationist paradigm. It is found that the majority of South Africans reject the govemment's land reform policies. However, strong divisions are evident. Respondents differ along racial, party affiliation and provincial lines. Thus, the liberationist paradigm dominates, but the liberal paradigm has a strong presence, creating an ideologically divided society. This means that the legitimacy of South Africa's land reform project, as well as the legitimacy of the constitution, is under stress. This does not bode well for democratic consolidation, as the rule of law is under severe threat. Thus, one can conclude that land reform is not going to make a positive contribution to the consolidation of South Africa's democracy, if a substantial financial injection is not found to increase the efficiency of the process.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Suid-Afrika se geskiedenis het aanleiding gegee tot 'n ongelyke verspreiding van grondeienaarskap. Dit is nie gunstig vir demokratiese konsolidasie nie. Grondhervorming IS die mamer waarmee die probleem aangespreek kan word. Grondhervorming, deel van die groter proses van transformasie, is egter 'n potensieel gevaarlike proses: dit kan negatiewe implikasies vir regsoewereiniteit hê. Die doel van hierdie tesis is om 'n analise van die dinamiese wisselwerking tussen grondhervorming, regsoewereiniteit en transformasie te verskaf, binne die debat oor demokratiese konsolidasie. Daar kan aangaande demokrasie tussen twee paradigmas onderskei word: die liberale paradigma en die bevrydings (liberationist) paradigma. Hierdie twee paradigmas het teenstrydige perspektiewe oor die manier waarop grondhervorming, sowel as transformasie, geïmplementeer behoort te word, sowel as wat die doel van hierdie twee prosesse is. Die liberale paradigma is meer geskik vir demokratiese konsolidasie, terwyl die bevrydings paradigma 'n teelaarde vir populistiese transformasie is. Verder het die onderhandelde grondwetlike skikking grondhervorming in 'n teenstrydigheid geplaas. Aan die een kant vereis die grondwet dat die regering grondhervorming moet aanspreek, maar aan die anderkant bied dit 'n ferm onderskraging van private eiedomsreg deur op die 'gewillige koper, gewillige verkoper' beginsel aan te dring. Dit maak die grondhervormings proses langer en duurder. Die hoof hipotese van die studie is: Demografiese indikatore (ras, partyaffiliasie en provinsie) beïnvloed ondersteuning of verwerpmg van die regering se grondhervormingsbeleid. Die afhanklike veranderlike IS 'ondersteuning of verwerping van die regering se grondhervormingsbeleid '. Ondersteuning van die regering se grondhervormingsbeleid dui op die liberale paradigma, en die verwerping daarvan dui op die bevrydings paradigma. Daar word bevind dat die meerderheid Suid-Afrikaners die regenng se Respondente verskil volgens ras, partyaffiliasie en provinsie. Dus, die bevrydings paradigma domineer, maar die liberale paradigma het ook 'n sterk teenwoordigheid. Dit sorg vir 'n ideologies verdeelde samelewing. Dit beteken dat die legitimiteit van Suid-Afrika se grondhervormings projek, sowel as die legitimiteit van die grondwet, in gedrang is. Dit is nie 'n goeie teken vir demokratiese konsolidasie nie, aangesien dit regsoewereiniteit in die gedrang bring. Daarom kan daar tot die gevolg gekom word dat grondhervorming nie 'n positiewe bydrae ten opsigte van die konsolidasie van Suid-Afrikaanse demokrasie sal maak nie, tensy daar 'n beduidende finansiële inspuiting gevind kan word.

This empirical work and base has been to analyze the new high school reform that the Swedish government introduced as a statement 2008/09:199 about: Higher demand and quality within the high school. This statement became legal through the government vote in spring 2010. But above all it is the investigation (SOU 2008:27) that is the central piece for these new examination changes for high school students that will come into effect 1 of July 2011. The purpose and questions asked in this analyze has been if the reform takes its base in a modernistic (traditional) way or a late modern scientific perspective. And also to find out how these new quality amendments in the investigation makes visible about the high school and what the purpose are about the changes.   When scientific theories in these analyze is placed against the reform, the result shows that the modernization process reflects more of a late modern aspect, which constantly reappraise in a changeable society. The ambition with the reform is to meet the reflexivity of the individual mind. The collaboration between the consumer and school principals, high demanding adaption to working life and explicit examination goals for the students emphasizes the demand on quality. The students can be signified as dynamic market products, more adaptable and linked to a thinking entrepreneur. This will be the primary mission for the high school. The result also shows that the adaption and individualism is two sides of the coin, and that is what this reform tries to capitalize on. In spite of a more regulated and explicit demand on education – it’s the individual reflexivity of an entrepreneur with more options that has to see and understand the dynamic possibilities that calls on the open market.

Ethnographic collections in western museums such as the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) carry many meanings, but by definition, they represent an intercultural encounter. This history of this encounter is often lost, overlooked, or obscured, and yet it has bearing on how the objects in the collection have been interpreted and understood. This thesis uncovers the hidden history of one particular collection in the RAMM and examines the multiple meanings that have been attributed to the objects in the collection over time. The Richard Dennett Collection was made in Africa in the years when European powers began to colonise the Congo basin. Richard Edward Dennett (1857-1921) worked as a trader in the Lower Congo between 1879 and 1902. The collection was accessioned by the RAMM in 1889. The research contextualises the collection by making a close analysis of primary source material which was produced by the collector and by his contemporaries, and includes publications, correspondence, photographs and illustrations which have been studied in museums and archives in Europe and North America. Dennett was personally involved with key events in the colonial history of this part of Africa but he also studied the indigenous BaKongo community, recording his observations about their political and material culture. As a result he became involved in the institutions of anthropology and folklore in Britain which were attempting to explain, classify and interpret such cultures. Through examining Dennett’s history this research has been able to explore the Congo context, the indigenous society, and those European institutions which collected and interpreted BaKongo collections. The research has added considerably to the museum’s knowledge about this collection and its collector, and the study responds to the practical imperative implicit in a Collaborative Doctoral Project, by proposing a small temporary exhibition in the RAMM to explore these histories and meanings. In making this proposal the research considers the current curatorial debate concerning responsible approaches to colonial collections, and assesses some of the strategies that are being employed in museums today.

This dissertation examines the political origins of Loyalism in New York City between 1768 and 1778. Anchored by an analysis of political mobilization, this dissertation is structured into two parts. Part I has two chapters. Using a variety of private and public sources, the first chapter analyses how 9,338 mostly white male Loyalists in New York City and the counties of Kings, Queens, Suffolk and Westchester were mobilized. Chapter 1 argues that elites and British forces played a fundamental role in the broad-based mobilization of Loyalists in the province of New York. It also recognises that colonists signed Loyalist documents for many different reasons. The second chapter of Part I is a large-scale prosopographical analysis of the 9,338 identified Loyalists. This analysis was based on a diverse range of sources. This analysis shows that a majority of the province’s Loyalist population were artisans aged between 22 and 56 years of age. Part II of this dissertation examines political mobilization in New York City between 1768 and 1775. In three chapters, Part II illustrates how elite and non-elite white male New Yorkers coalesced into two distinct groups. Chapter 3 concentrates on the emergence of the DeLanceys as a political force in New York, Chapter 4 on their mobilization and coalescence into ‘the Friends to Liberty and Trade’, or ‘the Club’, and Chapter 5 examines the political origins of what became Loyalism by studying the social networks of three members of ‘the Club’. By incorporating an interdisciplinary methodology, Part II illustrates that members of ‘the Club’ developed ties with one another that transcended their political origins. It argues that the partisanship of New York City led members of ‘the Club’ to adopt inward-looking characteristics that affected who they interacted with on an everyday basis. A large proportion of ‘the Club’’s members became Loyalists in the American Revolution. This dissertation argues that it was the partisanship that they developed during the late 1760s and early 1770s that defined their allegiance.

Appréhender la foi des laïcs napolitains au XVIe siècle est une entreprise ardue tant en raison des difficultés matérielles d’accès aux sources, que de leur discontinuité temporelle, qui rendent difficile toute reconstruction historique systématique fondée sur la longue durée, ou l’étude de séries homogènes de sources. Malgré cette réalité, les difficultés matérielles ont été contournées par des dépouillements systématiques de fonds d’une grande diversité, tant des archives archidiocésaines ou d’État de Naples,que de la Curie généralice de la Compagnie de Jésus, et que celles du Saint-Siège, tout en recourant à une méthodologie qualitative.Les caractères singuliers d’une piété laïque et urbaine ont d’abord été privilégiés, puis l’analyse s’est attachée, dans la capitale du vice-royaume d’Espagne, aux relations entre laïcs et ecclésiastiques avant et après le concile de Trente. En effet, l’approche diachronique choisie se concentre sur le “siècle de transition” de l’histoire de l’Église catholique moderne, celui du XVIe siècle.Émergent de cette thèse la reconstruction de multiples identités religieuses de laïcs et d’ecclésiastiques napolitains, comme leur manière d’appréhender la religion et l’Église catholique, grâce aux précieux éléments fournis par l’examen des visites pastorales tridentines, ou de celui plus ou moins répressif des procès-verbaux des tribunaux archidiocésains et de “l’Inquisition napolitaine” du Saint Office. Les Napolitains sont ainsi peu enclins à l’application des normes tridentines, alimentant un contexte de tension sociale grandissant, et de criminalisation religieuse. En témoignent également des sources singulières pour l’histoire de la sensibilité religieuse, en l'occurence les procès-verbaux des veilles d’exécutions capitales de laïcs, dressés par les “greffiers” de la Compagnie des Bianchi della Giustizia.Face à cette situation, des stratégies sont mises en œuvre par la Curie généralice et les responsables du Collège jésuite napolitain, afin de réformer la vie religieuse, très contrastée au regard également des sources de la Curie de l’archidiocèse. Enfin, laïcs et clercs font bien souvent cause commune face aux tentatives de réformes romaines, ce qui ne diffère guère d’une grande partie des villes de l’Europe catholique.Le tableau présenté dans cette thèse fait apparaître une religion citadine encore “très médiévale”, -selon toute vraisemblance enracinée dans un héritage byzantin-, témoignant des fortes résistances locales laïques et ecclésiastiques, rendant très laborieuse l’introduction du nouveau modèle de vie chrétienne dans la capitale du royaume de Naples jusqu’à la réforme de 1598 du cardinal et archevêque Alfonso Gesualdo
Understanding Neapolitan lay people’s faith in the sixteenth century is an arduous undertaking, both because of the material difficulties of accessing sources and because of their temporal discontinuity, which makes it difficult to carry out any historical systematic reconstruction based on the long term, orto study homogeneous series of sources. In spite of this reality, material difficulties have been overcome by systematically examining a wide variety of collections, both from the archdiocesan and state archivesof Naples, the General Curia (Curia Generalice) of the Society of Jesus, and the Holy See, using aqualitative methodology.The particular characteristics of a lay and urban piety were first privileged, then the analysis focused on the relations between laymen and ecclesiastics in the capital of the vice-kingdom of Spain before and after the Council of Trent. In fact, the diachronic approach chosen focuses on the "transitional century"of the history of the modern Catholic Church, that of the 16th century.From this thesis emerges the reconstruction of multiple religious identities of Neapolitan laymen and clergymen, as well as their way of apprehending religion and the Catholic Church, thanks to the precious elements provided by the examination of the Tridentine pastoral visits, or of the more or less repressive one of the minutes of the archdiocesan tribunals and of the "Neapolitan Inquisition" of the Holy Office.Thus, Neapolitans were reluctant to apply the Tridentine norms, increasing a context of growing social tension and religious criminalisation. This is also demonstrated by the essential sources for the historyof religious sensitivity, in this case the minutes of the vigil of capital executions of laymen, drawn up by the "clerks" of the Company of the Bianchi della Giustizia. Faced with this situation, strategies were implemented by the General Curia and those in charge of the Neapolitan Jesuit College, in order toreform religious life, which was very contrasted according to the sources of the Curia of the archdiocesetoo. Finally, laymen and clerics often made common cause in the face of attempts at Roman reform,which was not that different from most Catholic European cities.This thesis shows a city religion that is still "very medieval", - in all likelihood rooted in a Byzantine heritage -, testifying to strong local lay and ecclesiastical resistance, making the introduction of the new model of Christian life very laborious in the capital of the Kingdom of Naples until the 1598’s reformof Cardinal and Archbishop Alfonso Gesualdo

AbstractTo grant more plausibility to the theoretical argument, Martin-Russu includes a second case study in her empirical analysis: an inquiry into Romania’s nature conservation reform and the framework regulating the protection of environmentally significant habitats and species. The evaluation of the legislative performance of the Romanian political elite in the field of nature conservation shows a questionable use of procedures, but this time coupled with a far higher level of responsibility and responsivity to societal concerns.The chapter reveals a reality at odds with the expectation that limited capacities lead to non-compliance; it shows how the lack of institutional capacities led, through the involvement of civil society actors, to a gradual improvement of EU-driven reforms. Martin-Russu provides a detailed account of how the expansion of protected areas in preparation for EU membership generated an increased need for their effective management, which translated into a legislative solution that allowed civil society organizations and the scientific community to assume responsibility for the administration of protected areas on an equal footing with the government. This, Martin-Russu argues, allowed citizens to pursue their interests through the actions and reactions of civil society, promoting the latter’s growth and gradually strengthening its voice.

AbstractLand policy is one of the issues that affects the lives of millions of people in Ethiopia. The main purpose of this chapter is to explore how the policy has become instrumental for state land commercialisation after the 1991 regime change when the guerrilla fighter group—the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF)—took power by overthrowing the military dictatorial government. Based on the data gathered from various sources, the chapter argues that the government has implemented different land policies, all of which were used to strengthen state power over land ownership. This state land monopolisation assisted the government to commercialise land by developing state-sponsored institutions that have been catalysing the process of land transaction in favour of large-scale commercial farming. At the beginning of its coming to power, the EPRDF-led government promised to overhaul the land policy of the country with the objective to ensure fair access to land for the citizens. In the meantime, however, all the legal frameworks were directed towards the strengthening of state power over land. This state domination over land ownership brought about several unintended outcomes, such as corruption and unfair access to the land, which, in turn, resulted in mistrust between the state and society.

AbstractThis study sheds light on recent land law (land tenure) reform in Rwanda by examining its close and complex relations with state-building. By prioritising land law reform and receiving strong support from external funding agencies, the post-civil warRwanda became the first African country to complete land registration throughout its territory. Land law reform should be considered a part of the radical interventions in rural areas frequently implemented by the Rwandan Patriotic Front-led government and, therefore, has been closely connected to its aspiration to reinforce the existent political order. The government has utilised reform and external financial support for this purpose. However, despite the success of the one-time land registration, Rwanda has encountered serious difficulties in institutionalising sustainable registering systems since transactions of land have been recorded only in exceptional cases. Additionally, it suggests that the government does not have a strong incentive to collect accurate information about properties in rural areas. The widening gap between recorded information and the real situation may affect land administration, which is of tremendous importance to Rwanda and, thus, possibly undermine state control over society.

AbstractWhen the African National Congress (ANC) assumed governmental powers in South Africa in 1994, it needed to confront the enormous educational disparities created by apartheid and colonial rule. However, remaining true to the ideals of the democratic struggle while also following neoliberal prescriptions of fiscal austerity presented a massive contradiction. To appease anxious white middle-class parents and offer new opportunities to its non-white constituency, the new government adopted the language of communitarianism, popular throughout the Anglophone world. The concept of community-run schools served to reconcile the contradictory demands of economic neoliberalism and political deracialisation. However, the poor and overwhelmingly non-white population was effectively still excluded from the elite, formerly white schools.

AbstractThe media in Malaysia have long been controlled by censorship laws, and media bias has long been identified as a key hindrance to progressive discussion in the public sphere, as the government traditionally controls the media. The former Pakatan Harapan (PH) government made media reform promises in their election manifesto, which covered the repeal of laws deemed oppressive and a threat to free speech, and importantly, the support for self-regulation mechanisms through a media council. The Malaysian Media Council (MMC) was formed in December 2019 with 17 pro-tem committee members. Yet, the future of media reform is uncertain because systemic barriers remain. Besides the continued existence of censorship laws, some media organisations retain patronage by political parties and different sectors of society have distinct expectations of policy outcomes. Moreover, the fate of media reform is unclear after the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government came to power in late February 2020. This chapter employs a content analysis of press releases and news articles, supplemented by participant observation, to explore the legitimation of media reform. It first provides an overview of progress on media reform, and then analyses the challenges and barriers faced by members of the MMC and activists who fight for media reform. This chapter suggests that Malaysia is expected to continue to witness policies that limit media freedom rather than those that pursue media reform.

AbstractMozambique's 1997 Land Law was praised by international donors and the country’s own civil society for its democratic and open drafting process. The process included public hearings throughout the country and the recognition of customary law. However, once it became operational, there were many instances of so-called land grabbing. This chapter argues that the reason for this lies in the political operation of the law rather than in the technicalities of its application. This chapter aims to explore the political dynamics in Mozambique that distort the implementation of the Land Law of 1997. The land law in Mozambique was developed with the technical support of international donors, and the government of Mozambique followed these external trends in the expectation of receiving financial support and private investment while it also reflected the axis of conflictin Mozambique's domestic politics. The case studies show that the operation of land law has resulted in the emergence of party-political oppositional axes in rural areas. These facts suggest that the specific political environment strongly influences the process of law-making and implementation. Mozambique's political environment is an obstacle to achieving the law's original objectives of establishing rights to land resources and social stability.

AbstractThe mythical representation of the colonized by the colonizer cannot happen without engaging in fabrications and falsehoods. While accounting for the contentions made by the Francophone postcolonial thinkers on the issue of projection, this chapter builds a new postcolonial theory called the Indian Postcolonial Theory that is applied to show that the contentions of James Mill on Ancient India, Hindus, and Hinduism were a complete fabrication. They were rooted in the socio-political conditions James Mill wanted to transform in his domestic context. When Mill wrote about the Hindu Brahmins and Kshatriyas, he essentially was speaking about the English clergy and aristocrats. He described the Hindu form of governance, laws, and taxation structure in light of the Utilitarian reform of the British socio-political conditions he vehemently sought and clamored for. Mill emptied all the filth that he thought existed in British society onto the Hindu society to create its representation. By putting Mill’s writings in the History next to his writings for the British domestic context, we show as clearly as daylight the nature and degree of Mill’s projections and fabrications on Ancient India, Hinduism, and the Hindu people.

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the origins of the credit economy in the United States. The British American colonial credit economy must be understood as part of the broader financial revolution of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. There were many facets to the eighteenth-century economy: from the politics of empire, to the revolution in government finance, to the Atlantic slave trade, to legal reforms related to land. One pivotal moment was Parliament's Stamp Act of 1765, which many historians view as the act that triggered the American Revolution. The book suggests that the legal commodification of land and slaves as collateral and the creation of legal institutions for recording property titles and foreclosing on mortgages and debts were important underpinnings of the future capitalist society.

Declaring in the late 1950s that Sydney City was in much need of a car free civic square, Professor Denis Winston, Australia’s first chair in town and country planning at the University of Sydney, was echoing a commonly held view on how to reconfigure the city for a modern-day citizen. Queen’s Square, at the intersection of Macquarie Street and Hyde Park, first conceived in 1810 by Governor Lachlan Macquarie, remained incomplete until 1978 when it was developed as a pedestrian only plaza by the NSW Government Architect under a different set of urban intentions. By relocating the traffic bound statue of Queen Victoria (1888) onto the plaza and demolishing the old Supreme Court complex (1827), so that nearby St James’ Church (1824) could becoming freestanding alongside a new multi-storey Commonwealth Supreme Court building (1975), by the Sydney-based practise of McConnel Smith and Johnson, the civic and social ambition of this pedestrian space was assured. Now somewhat overlooked in the history of Sydney’s modern civic spaces, the adjustment in the design of this square during the 1960s translated the reformed urban design agenda communicated in CIAM 8, the heart of the city (1952), a post-war treatise developed and promoted by the international architect and polemicist, Josep Lluis Sert. This paper examines the completion of Queen’s Square in 1978. Along with the symbolic role of the project, that is, to provide a plaza as a social instrument in humanising the modern-day city, this project also acknowledged the city’s colonial settlement monuments beside a new law court complex; and in a curious twist in fate, involving curtailing the extent of the proposed plaza so that the colonial Supreme Court was retained, the completion of Queen’s Square became ultra – civic.

This paper examines two high-profile commemorative spaces in Namibia’s national capital, Windhoek, designed and constructed by North Korean state-owned enterprise Mansudae Overseas Projects. These commemorative projects illustrate the complex and evolving intersections between public art, architecture and urban form in this post-colonial context. They show how sites designed around heritage and collective identity intersect with urban space’s physical development and everyday use. The projects also illustrate the intersecting histories of three aesthetic lineages: German, South African and North Korean. This paper will show how these commemorative spaces embody North Korean urban space ideas while also developing new national symbols, historical narratives and identities within Windhoek’s urban landscape as part of independent Namibia’s nation-building. The monument’s ‘Socialist Realist’ aesthetic signals a conscious departure from the colonial and apartheid eras by the now-independent Namibian government. This paper extends prior research focused on the symbolism of Mansudae’s monumental schemes by analysing these monuments’ design, placement, public reception and use within Windhoek as they relate to the city’s overall development since Namibia’s independence in 1990. By documenting the form, location and decision-making processes for the Mansudae-designed memorials in Windhoek and historical changes in their spatial and political context, the paper explores the interaction between North Korean political ideology and design approaches and Namibia’s democratic ambitions for city-making. The paper’s mapping analysis spatially compares the sculptural, architectural and urban design strategies of Mansudae’s additions to Windhoek’s City Crown (2010-14) to Pyongyang’s Mansu Hill Grand Monument (1972-2011), and Windhoek’s Heroes’ Acre (2002) to Mansudae’s earlier National Martyrs Cemetery outside Pyongyang (1975-85).

We define nation-building as a process which leads to the formation of countries in which the citizens feel a sufficient amount of commonality of interests, goals and preferences so that they do not wish to separate from each other. It can also be said that nation-building is a process in which the government, the state or a group of elites act with the aim of creating national unity and reducing divisions in society. In this regard, groups and ethnicities come together to form a national identity. Nation and nation-building are two modern phenomena and the elements of the nation-building process, which are patriotic unity, citizenship, collective identity, equal opportunities for all citizens and a common language, are the foundations of the formation of a modern state. In this research and theoretically, the concept of nation-building and its constituent elements and the importance of this process for the Kurdistan region are discussed. The main question in this research is the question of the national existence of the Kurd. Is there a nation in the Kurdistan region? If so, how? If not, why not? Should nation-building or state-building be a priority for the Kurds in the Kurdistan region?

This paper examines a range of grassroots protest memorials erected over the past 60 years within public spaces in the capital cities of three ‘Asian Tigers’: Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea. These cities grew quickly as their polities rapidly democratized in the 1980s after long periods of foreign and local authoritarian rule. The paper explores the complex relationships between these memorials and their various urban settings, and how these reflect the wider evolution of political authority, social history and values in each host territory. Drawing on documentary research, interviews, discourse analysis and site analysis of over 20 projects, the paper examines two key aspects of the planning and design of grassroots memorials in Taipei, Hong Kong and Seoul. Firstly, it discusses how these memorials’ designs communicate and critique the struggles of civil society against the cities’ authoritarian rulers. Secondly, it analyses the kinds of sites where these grassroots memorials have been erected, which contrast with the cities’ more prominent, government-endorsed commemorative sites. The paper identifies key formal types, commonalities and differences, and historical changes in the ways that citizens in each capital city have developed a post-colonial, post-authoritarian representation of local history through protest memorials in urban spaces.

This paper is based on archival research done for a larger project looking at the impact of emergent transnational networks in Asia on the work of New South Wales architects. During the period of the Cultural Revolution in China (1966-1976), the neighbouring territories of Macau and Hong Kong served as centres of resistance, where an expatriate population interested in traditional Asian arts and culture would find growing support and patronage amongst the elite intellectual class. This brought influential international actors in the fields of journalism, filmmaking, art and architecture to the region, including a number of Australian architects. This paper traces the history of one such Australian émigré, Alan Gilbert, who arrived in Macau in 1963 just before the Cultural Revolution and continued to work as a professional filmmaker and photojournalist documenting the revolution. In 1967 he joined the influential design practice of Dale and Patricia Keller (DKA) in Hong Kong, where he met his future wife Sarah Lo. By the mid 1970s both Alan Gilbert and Sarah Lo had left to start their own design practice under Alan Gilbert and Associates (AGA) and Innerspace Design. The paper particularly explores their engagement with ‘reform-era’ China in the late 1970s and early 1980s when they secured one of the first and largest commissions awarded to a foreign design firm by the Chinese government to redesign a series of nine state- run hotels, two of which, the Minzu and Xiyuan Hotels in Beijing, are discussed here.

The purpose of the study is to analyze the economic reform process of socialist economy and give them theoretical estimate over the past 20 years; to reflect the political, economic and social readiness of society to reforms; to point on the process of substitution of economic reform by political power struggle. The reforms had to initiated by economic sphere was held by government that consisted from the same political entity that was in Soviet period. The research methodology based on the principle of complexity and systemic, that reflects effects of historical, economic, social, cultural and educational factors of social development, the mentality of society, the scientific and theoretical level of labor on the processes of economic reform. The lack of experience in market economy pointed on largely insufficient knowledge of processes of market economy that developed economies had passed. The results of the study is identifying the opportunities for proper theoretical approach to the reform process, giving recommendations to society and the government to select real, positive economic policies that will contribute to the development and extending of modern economic outlook in the social environment.

"Electronic government" is a system for organizing and developing a system of effective interaction between the state and civil society, openness of the activities of state bodies, increasing their responsibility in the information space. The article analyzes the experience of creation and stages of development of the "Electronic government" system in Uzbekistan and the Republic of Korea. It was found that the implementation of the concept of "electronic government" is closely related to the reform of public administration and includes a number of integral aspects.

The issue of accountability is one of the most important foundations of a healthy society that seeks to build a generation that is committed to its national and moral responsibilities. And that any defect in the accounting system in a society will negatively affect the credibility of the law and the individual's loyalty to his society because it will properly regulate the relationship between the law and its actual application, Accountability has a role in all areas of life, including tax, where the importance of accounting converges with the importance of taxes since ancient times, because tax is a legitimate right of the state, society and citizen. This importance of accounting lies in the integrity of the procedures followed in collecting funds correctly by the employees working to collect them in accordance with the established tax laws and regulations, and accordingly, cadres must be armed with knowledge and full knowledge of the laws, regulations and accounting methods. Hence the importance of research by providing accounting programs for employees working in this field to help them and raise their efficiency. The first topic of the study showed the concept of government accounting, its most important functions and characteristics, while the second topic included the external tax system environment, which was represented by tax legislation in Iraq, taxpayers, the level of tax awareness, informants, supporting administrations, the tax judiciary, the accounting profession, technological progress, General budget statements, the media, and the constitution. The third topic showed the practical aspect through hypothesis testing. The fourth topic came with the most important conclusions, which is that the taxpayer has the right to choose the appropriate measurement method provided that it is not changed from year to year except with the approval of the tax administration, meaning that the accepted measurement procedures are tax-acceptable unless such a procedure is prohibited or specified a method in its own right. Measurement methods. We also recommend that in order to calculate the tax profit, amendments must be made to its financial legislation and instructions

The issue of accountability is one of the most important foundations of a healthy society that seeks to build a generation that is committed to its national and moral responsibilities. And that any defect in the accounting system in a society will negatively affect the credibility of the law and the individual's loyalty to his society because it will properly regulate the relationship between the law and its actual application, Accountability has a role in all areas of life, including tax, where the importance of accounting converges with the importance of taxes since ancient times, because tax is a legitimate right of the state, society and citizen. This importance of accounting lies in the integrity of the procedures followed in collecting funds correctly by the employees working to collect them in accordance with the established tax laws and regulations, and accordingly, cadres must be armed with knowledge and full knowledge of the laws, regulations and accounting methods. Hence the importance of research by providing accounting programs for employees working in this field to help them and raise their efficiency. The first topic of the study showed the concept of government accounting, its most important functions and characteristics, while the second topic included the external tax system environment, which was represented by tax legislation in Iraq, taxpayers, the level of tax awareness, informants, supporting administrations, the tax judiciary, the accounting profession, technological progress, General budget statements, the media, and the constitution. The third topic showed the practical aspect through hypothesis testing. The fourth topic came with the most important conclusions, which is that the taxpayer has the right to choose the appropriate measurement method provided that it is not changed from year to year except with the approval of the tax administration, meaning that the accepted measurement procedures are tax-acceptable unless such a procedure is prohibited or specified a method in its own right. Measurement methods. We also recommend that in order to calculate the tax profit, amendments must be made to its financial legislation and instructions

The future of structural reforms in Latin America is under discussion. The purpose of this document is to synthesize the facts and opinions that underlie this debate. The first section shows that although the reform process has not ground to a halt, it has been incomplete and uneven, both across countries and different areas of reform. The greatest progress has been made in reforming the trade and financial sectors. In terms of tax reform and privatization, the record has been mixed across countries. The most modest progress has been made in the area of labor code reform. The second section analyzes the status of public opinion of the reform process. Disillusionment with the reforms has been growing, particularly among the middle class. This disapproval, rather than reflecting concerns about the state of the economy or the degree of progress of the reforms, stems from the corruption that has tainted the privatization process in some countries. The third section reviews the effects of the reforms. Their impact on growth seems to have been positive, albeit temporary, but the effects on employment and income distribution have varied in different areas of reform and according to the particular context in each country. Specifically, the effectiveness of reforms has depended heavily on the quality of public institutions. The fourth section summarizes the main proposals to expand or reorient the reform agenda in the region. One set of proposals suggests broadening the Washington Consensus with more active policies aimed at addressing the need for greater economic stability, social integration and equitable income distribution. Another set of proposals, guided by a more encompassing view of the goals of development, emphasizes the interaction among civil society, the private sector, and the government. Finally, a more radical vision proposes a new national and international institutional architecture that would limit the role of markets and mitigate the effects of globalization.

Digital identification systems unlock tremendous benefits from digital government initiatives. However, governments across the globe, including in Latin America and the Caribbean, have been slow to implement them in the face of constantly changing technologies. This report describes the results of a novel process--the building of future scenarios--aimed at helping governments advance reform in the face of technological and other uncertainties. The Innovation in Citizen Services Division and Knowledge Innovation and Communication Sector of the Inter-American Development Bank proposed these future scenarios to improve strategic decision making and encourage an open discussion on the future of digital identification systems from a non-traditional point of view. The results of this and future scenario-building exercises should spark innovative ideas that allow governments, public and private sector organizations, civil society, and citizens at large to re-think their role in the digital identification ecosystem in the next 10 years.

The new elite in post-1991 independent Moldova gradually captured state institutions, while internal drivers of reforms have generally been weak. Civil society has had limited effectiveness; and the media is largely dominated by political and business circles (BTI, 2022). The Moldovan diaspora has emerged in recent years, however, as a powerful driver of reform. In addition, new political parties and politicians have in recent years focused on common social and economic problems, rather than exploiting identity and geopolitical cleavages. These two developments played a crucial role in the transformative changes in the presidential and parliamentary elections in 2020 and 2021, respectively.1 The new Moldovan leadership has experienced many challenges, however, in achieving justice and anti-corruption reforms—the primary components of their electoral platform—due to the persistence of rent-seeking and corruption in the justice sector (Minzarari, 2022). This rapid review examines literature—primarily academic and non-governmental organisation (NGO)-based—in relation to the political settlement of Moldova. It provides an overview of the political settlement framework and the political history of Moldova. It then draws on the literature to explore aspects of the social foundation and the power configuration in Moldova; and implications for governance and inclusive development. The report concludes with recommendations for government, domestic reformers, Moldovan society, and donors for improving inclusive governance and development in Moldova, identified throughout the literature. This report does not cover political settlement in relation to Transnistria.

There is a widespread perception that taxing in sub-Saharan Africa has been and remains fraught with problems or government failure. This is not generally true. For more than a century, colonial administrations and independent states have steadily developed the capacity to routinely collect more substantial revenues than one might expect in a low-income region. The two main historical dimensions of this collection capacity were (a) powerful, centralized bureaucracies focused on achieving revenue collection targets and (b) large, taxable international trade sectors. In recent decades, those centralized bureaucracies have to some extent been reformed such that in structure and procedure they resemble more closely tax administrations in OECD countries. More strikingly, nearly all states have adopted VAT and found it to be a very powerful revenue collection instrument. However, the tax share of GDP has been broadly constant for several decades, and it will be hard to increase it. It is difficult for African governments to effectively tax transnational corporations, especially in the mining and energy sectors, which are of growing importance. Tax administrations continue to approach richer Africans with a light touch, and to exaggerate the potential for taxing small-scale (‘informal’) enterprises. The revenue operations of sub-national governments are often opaque. Ordinary people often pay large sums in ‘informal taxes’ that are generally regressive in impact. And the standard direction of travel in the reform of tax policy and administration is not appropriate to those large areas, especially in the Sahel, that are afflicted by internal and cross-border armed conflicts.

“Sustainable prosperity” denotes an economy that generates stable and equitable growth for a large and growing middle class. From the 1940s into the 1970s, the United States appeared to be on a trajectory of sustainable prosperity, especially for white-male members of the U.S. labor force. Since the 1980s, however, an increasing proportion of the U.S labor force has experienced unstable employment and inequitable income, while growing numbers of the business firms upon which they rely for employment have generated anemic productivity growth. Stable and equitable growth requires innovative enterprise. The essence of innovative enterprise is investment in productive capabilities that can generate higher-quality, lower-cost goods and services than those previously available. The innovative enterprise tends to be a business firm—a unit of strategic control that, by selling products, must make profits over time to survive. In a modern society, however, business firms are not alone in making investments in the productive capabilities required to generate innovative goods and services. Household units and government agencies also make investments in productive capabilities upon which business firms rely for their own investment activities. When they work in a harmonious fashion, these three types of organizations—household units, government agencies, and business firms—constitute “the investment triad.” The Biden administration’s Build Back Better agenda to restore sustainable prosperity in the United States focuses on investment in productive capabilities by two of the three types of organizations in the triad: government agencies, implementing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and household units, implementing the yet-to-be-passed American Families Act. Absent, however, is a policy agenda to encourage and enable investment in innovation by business firms. This gaping lacuna is particularly problematic because many of the largest industrial corporations in the United States place a far higher priority on distributing the contents of the corporate treasury to shareholders in the form of cash dividends and stock buybacks for the sake of higher stock yields than on investing in the productive capabilities of their workforces for the sake of innovation. Based on analyzes of the “financialization” of major U.S. business corporations, I argue that, unless Build Back Better includes an effective policy agenda to encourage and enable corporate investment in innovation, the Biden administration’s program for attaining stable and equitable growth will fail. Drawing on the experience of the U.S. economy over the past seven decades, I summarize how the United States moved toward stable and equitable growth from the late 1940s through the 1970s under a “retain-and-reinvest” resource-allocation regime at major U.S. business firms. Companies retained a substantial portion of their profits to reinvest in productive capabilities, including those of career employees. In contrast, since the early 1980s, under a “downsize-and-distribute” corporate resource-allocation regime, unstable employment, inequitable income, and sagging productivity have characterized the U.S. economy. In transition from retain-and-reinvest to downsize-and-distribute, many of the largest, most powerful corporations have adopted a “dominate-and-distribute” resource-allocation regime: Based on the innovative capabilities that they have previously developed, these companies dominate market segments of their industries but prioritize shareholders in corporate resource allocation. The practice of open-market share repurchases—aka stock buybacks—at major U.S. business corporations has been central to the dominate-and-distribute and downsize-and-distribute regimes. Since the mid-1980s, stock buybacks have become the prime mode for the legalized looting of the business corporation. I call this looting process “predatory value extraction” and contend that it is the fundamental cause of the increasing concentration of income among the richest household units and the erosion of middle-class employment opportunities for most other Americans. I conclude the paper by outlining a policy framework that could stop the looting of the business corporation and put in place social institutions that support sustainable prosperity. The agenda includes a ban on stock buybacks done as open-market repurchases, radical changes in incentives for senior corporate executives, representation of workers and taxpayers as directors on corporate boards, reform of the tax system to reward innovation and penalize financialization, and, guided by the investment-triad framework, government programs to support “collective and cumulative careers” of members of the U.S. labor force. Sustained investment in human capabilities by the investment triad, including business firms, would make it possible for an ever-increasing portion of the U.S. labor force to engage in the productive careers that underpin upward socioeconomic mobility, which would be manifested by a growing, robust, and hopeful American middle class.

Banco de la República is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2023. This is a very significant anniversary and one that provides an opportunity to highlight the contribution the Bank has made to the country’s development. Its track record as guarantor of monetary stability has established it as the one independent state institution that generates the greatest confidence among Colombians due to its transparency, management capabilities, and effective compliance with the central banking and cultural responsibilities entrusted to it by the Constitution and the Law. On a date as important as this, the Board of Directors of Banco de la República (BDBR) pays tribute to the generations of governors and officers whose commitment and dedication have contributed to the growth of this institution.1 Banco de la República’s mandate was confirmed in the National Constitutional Assembly of 1991 where the citizens had the opportunity to elect the seventy people who would have the task of drafting a new constitution. The leaders of the three political movements with the most votes were elected as chairs to the Assembly, and this tripartite presidency reflected the plurality and the need for consensus among the different political groups to move the reform forward. Among the issues considered, the National Constitutional Assembly gave special importance to monetary stability. That is why they decided to include central banking and to provide Banco de la República with the necessary autonomy to use the instruments for which they are responsible without interference from other authorities. The constituent members understood that ensuring price stability is a state duty and that the entity responsible for this task must be enshrined in the Constitution and have the technical capability and institutional autonomy necessary to adopt the decisions they deem appropriate to achieve this fundamental objective in coordination with the general economic policy. In particular, Article 373 established that “the State, through Banco de la República, shall ensure the maintenance of the purchasing power of the currency,” a provision that coincided with the central banking system adopted by countries that have been successful in controlling inflation. In 1999, in Ruling 481, the Constitutional Court stated that “the duty to maintain the purchasing power of the currency applies to not only the monetary, credit, and exchange authority, i.e., the Board of Banco de la República, but also those who have responsibilities in the formulation and implementation of the general economic policy of the country” and that “the basic constitutional purpose of Banco de la República is the protection of a sound currency. However, this authority must take the other economic objectives of state intervention such as full employment into consideration in their decisions since these functions must be coordinated with the general economic policy.” The reforms to Banco de la República agreed upon in the Constitutional Assembly of 1991 and in Act 31/1992 can be summarized in the following aspects: i) the Bank was assigned a specific mandate: to maintain the purchasing power of the currency in coordination with the general economic policy; ii) the BDBR was designatedas the monetary, foreign exchange, and credit authority; iii) the Bank and its Board of Directors were granted a significant degree of independence from the government; iv) the Bank was prohibited from granting credit to the private sector except in the case of the financial sector; v) established that in order to grant credit to the government, the unanimous vote of its Board of Directors was required except in the case of open market transactions; vi) determined that the legislature may, in no case, order credit quotas in favor of the State or individuals; vii) Congress was appointed, on behalf of society, as the main addressee of the Bank’s reporting exercise; and viii) the responsibility for inspection, surveillance, and control over Banco de la República was delegated to the President of the Republic. The members of the National Constitutional Assembly clearly understood that the benefits of low and stable inflation extend to the whole of society and contribute mto the smooth functioning of the economic system. Among the most important of these is that low inflation promotes the efficient use of productive resources by allowing relative prices to better guide the allocation of resources since this promotes economic growth and increases the welfare of the population. Likewise, low inflation reduces uncertainty about the expected return on investment and future asset prices. This increases the confidence of economic agents, facilitates long-term financing, and stimulates investment. Since the low-income population is unable to protect itself from inflation by diversifying its assets, and a high proportion of its income is concentrated in the purchase of food and other basic goods that are generally the most affected by inflationary shocks, low inflation avoids arbitrary redistribution of income and wealth.2 Moreover, low inflation facilitates wage negotiations, creates a good labor climate, and reduces the volatility of employment levels. Finally, low inflation helps to make the tax system more transparent and equitable by avoiding the distortions that inflation introduces into the value of assets and income that make up the tax base. From the monetary authority’s point of view, one of the most relevant benefits of low inflation is the credibility that economic agents acquire in inflation targeting, which turns it into an effective nominal anchor on price levels. Upon receiving its mandate, and using its autonomy, Banco de la República began to announce specific annual inflation targets as of 1992. Although the proposed inflation targets were not met precisely during this first stage, a downward trend in inflation was achieved that took it from 32.4% in 1990 to 16.7% in 1998. At that time, the exchange rate was kept within a band. This limited the effectiveness of monetary policy, which simultaneously sought to meet an inflation target and an exchange rate target. The Asian crisis spread to emerging economies and significantly affected the Colombian economy. The exchange rate came under strong pressure to depreciate as access to foreign financing was cut off under conditions of a high foreign imbalance. This, together with the lack of exchange rate flexibility, prevented a countercyclical monetary policy and led to a 4.2% contraction in GDP that year. In this context of economic slowdown, annual inflation fell to 9.2% at the end of 1999, thus falling below the 15% target set for that year. This episode fully revealed how costly it could be, in terms of economic activity, to have inflation and exchange rate targets simultaneously. Towards the end of 1999, Banco de la República announced the adoption of a new monetary policy regime called the Inflation Targeting Plan. This regime, known internationally as ‘Inflation Targeting,’ has been gaining increasing acceptance in developed countries, having been adopted in 1991 by New Zealand, Canada, and England, among others, and has achieved significant advances in the management of inflation without incurring costs in terms of economic activity. In Latin America, Brazil and Chile also adopted it in 1999. In the case of Colombia, the last remaining requirement to be fulfilled in order to adopt said policy was exchange rate flexibility. This was realized around September 1999, when the BDBR decided to abandon the exchange-rate bands to allow the exchange rate to be freely determined in the market.Consistent with the constitutional mandate, the fundamental objective of this new policy approach was “the achievement of an inflation target that contributes to maintaining output growth around its potential.”3 This potential capacity was understood as the GDP growth that the economy can obtain if it fully utilizes its productive resources. To meet this objective, monetary policy must of necessity play a countercyclical role in the economy. This is because when economic activity is below its potential and there are idle resources, the monetary authority can reduce the interest rate in the absence of inflationary pressure to stimulate the economy and, when output exceeds its potential capacity, raise it. This policy principle, which is immersed in the models for guiding the monetary policy stance, makes the following two objectives fully compatible in the medium term: meeting the inflation target and achieving a level of economic activity that is consistent with its productive capacity. To achieve this purpose, the inflation targeting system uses the money market interest rate (at which the central bank supplies primary liquidity to commercial banks) as the primary policy instrument. This replaced the quantity of money as an intermediate monetary policy target that Banco de la República, like several other central banks, had used for a long time. In the case of Colombia, the objective of the new monetary policy approach implied, in practical terms, that the recovery of the economy after the 1999 contraction should be achieved while complying with the decreasing inflation targets established by the BDBR. The accomplishment of this purpose was remarkable. In the first half of the first decade of the 2000s, economic activity recovered significantly and reached a growth rate of 6.8% in 2006. Meanwhile, inflation gradually declined in line with inflation targets. That was how the inflation rate went from 9.2% in 1999 to 4.5% in 2006, thus meeting the inflation target established for that year while GDP reached its potential level. After this balance was achieved in 2006, inflation rebounded to 5.7% in 2007, above the 4.0% target for that year due to the fact that the 7.5% GDP growth exceeded the potential capacity of the economy.4 After proving the effectiveness of the inflation targeting system in its first years of operation, this policy regime continued to consolidate as the BDBR and the technical staff gained experience in its management and state-of-the-art economic models were incorporated to diagnose the present and future state of the economy and to assess the persistence of inflation deviations and expectations with respect to the inflation target. Beginning in 2010, the BDBR established the long-term 3.0% annual inflation target, which remains in effect today. Lower inflation has contributed to making the macroeconomic environment more stable, and this has favored sustained economic growth, financial stability, capital market development, and the functioning of payment systems. As a result, reductions in the inflationary risk premia and lower TES and credit interest rates were achieved. At the same time, the duration of public domestic debt increased significantly going from 2.27 years in December 2002 to 5.86 years in December 2022, and financial deepening, measured as the level of the portfolio as a percentage of GDP, went from around 20% in the mid-1990s to values above 45% in recent years in a healthy context for credit institutions.Having been granted autonomy by the Constitution to fulfill the mandate of preserving the purchasing power of the currency, the tangible achievements made by Banco de la República in managing inflation together with the significant benefits derived from the process of bringing inflation to its long-term target, make the BDBR’s current challenge to return inflation to the 3.0% target even more demanding and pressing. As is well known, starting in 2021, and especially in 2022, inflation in Colombia once again became a serious economic problem with high welfare costs. The inflationary phenomenon has not been exclusive to Colombia and many other developed and emerging countries have seen their inflation rates move away from the targets proposed by their central banks.5 The reasons for this phenomenon have been analyzed in recent Reports to Congress, and this new edition delves deeper into the subject with updated information. The solid institutional and technical base that supports the inflation targeting approach under which the monetary policy strategy operates gives the BDBR the necessary elements to face this difficult challenge with confidence. In this regard, the BDBR reiterated its commitment to the 3.0% inflation target in its November 25 communiqué and expects it to be reached by the end of 2024.6 Monetary policy will continue to focus on meeting this objective while ensuring the sustainability of economic activity, as mandated by the Constitution. Analyst surveys done in March showed a significant increase (from 32.3% in January to 48.5% in March) in the percentage of responses placing inflation expectations two years or more ahead in a range between 3.0% and 4.0%. This is a clear indication of the recovery of credibility in the medium-term inflation target and is consistent with the BDBR’s announcement made in November 2022. The moderation of the upward trend in inflation seen in January, and especially in February, will help to reinforce this revision of inflation expectations and will help to meet the proposed targets. After reaching 5.6% at the end of 2021, inflation maintained an upward trend throughout 2022 due to inflationary pressures from both external sources, associated with the aftermath of the pandemic and the consequences of the war in Ukraine, and domestic sources, resulting from: strengthening of local demand; price indexation processes stimulated by the increase in inflation expectations; the impact on food production caused by the mid-2021 strike; and the pass-through of depreciation to prices. The 10% increase in the minimum wage in 2021 and the 16% increase in 2022, both of which exceeded the actual inflation and the increase in productivity, accentuated the indexation processes by establishing a high nominal adjustment benchmark. Thus, total inflation went to 13.1% by the end of 2022. The annual change in food prices, which went from 17.2% to 27.8% between those two years, was the most influential factor in the surge in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Another segment that contributed significantly to price increases was regulated products, which saw the annual change go from 7.1% in December 2021 to 11.8% by the end of 2022. The measure of core inflation excluding food and regulated items, in turn, went from 2.5% to 9.5% between the end of 2021 and the end of 2022. The substantial increase in core inflation shows that inflationary pressure has spread to most of the items in the household basket, which is characteristic of inflationary processes with generalized price indexation as is the case in Colombia. Monetary policy began to react early to this inflationary pressure. Thus, starting with its September 2021 session, the BDBR began a progressive change in the monetary policy stance moving away from the historical low of a 1.75% policy rate that had intended to stimulate the recovery of the economy. This adjustment process continued without interruption throughout 2022 and into the beginning of 2023 when the monetary policy rate reached 12.75% last January, thus accumulating an increase of 11 percentage points (pp). The public and the markets have been surprised that inflation continued to rise despite significant interest rate increases. However, as the BDBR has explained in its various communiqués, monetary policy works with a lag. Just as in 2022 economic activity recovered to a level above the pre-pandemic level, driven, along with other factors, by the monetary stimulus granted during the pandemic period and subsequent months, so too the effects of the current restrictive monetary policy will gradually take effect. This will allow us to expect the inflation rate to converge to 3.0% by the end of 2024 as is the BDBR’s purpose.Inflation results for January and February of this year showed declining marginal increases (13 bp and 3 bp respectively) compared to the change seen in December (59 bp). This suggests that a turning point in the inflation trend is approaching. In other Latin American countries such as Chile, Brazil, Perú, and Mexico, inflation has peaked and has begun to decline slowly, albeit with some ups and downs. It is to be expected that a similar process will take place in Colombia in the coming months. The expected decline in inflation in 2023 will be due, along with other factors, to lower cost pressure from abroad as a result of the gradual normalization of supply chains, the overcoming of supply shocks caused by the weather, and road blockades in previous years. This will be reflected in lower adjustments in food prices, as has already been seen in the first two months of the year and, of course, the lagged effect of monetary policy. The process of inflation convergence to the target will be gradual and will extend beyond 2023. This process will be facilitated if devaluation pressure is reversed. To this end, it is essential to continue consolidating fiscal sustainability and avoid messages on different public policy fronts that generate uncertainty and distrust. 1 This Report to Congress includes Box 1, which summarizes the trajectory of Banco de la República over the past 100 years. In addition, under the Bank’s auspices, several books that delve into various aspects of the history of this institution have been published in recent years. See, for example: Historia del Banco de la República 1923-2015; Tres banqueros centrales; Junta Directiva del Banco de la República: grandes episodios en 30 años de historia; Banco de la República: 90 años de la banca central en Colombia. 2 This is why lower inflation has been reflected in a reduction of income inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient that went from 58.7 in 1998 to 51.3 in the year prior to the pandemic. 3 See Gómez Javier, Uribe José Darío, Vargas Hernando (2002). “The Implementation of Inflation Targeting in Colombia”. Borradores de Economía, No. 202, March, available at: https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/handle/20.500.12134/5220 4 See López-Enciso Enrique A.; Vargas-Herrera Hernando and Rodríguez-Niño Norberto (2016). “The inflation targeting strategy in Colombia. An historical view.” Borradores de Economía, No. 952. https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/handle/20.500.12134/6263 5 According to the IMF, the percentage change in consumer prices between 2021 and 2022 went from 3.1% to 7.3% for advanced economies, and from 5.9% to 9.9% for emerging market and developing economies. 6 https://www.banrep.gov.co/es/noticias/junta-directiva-banco-republica-reitera-meta-inflacion-3

This brief provides a rundown of the significant role civil society organizations (CSO) in the Philippines play in working alongside government to help cut poverty, promote human rights, and support inclusive economic growth. It analyzes the roots of CSOs during the Philippines’ colonial era, outlines their ongoing work to monitor graft, and shows how they tackle environmental and social issues. It assesses the funding challenges as well as the legal and regulatory enabling environment for CSOs, and details how they work closely with ADB and other development partners to improve the lives of poor and marginalized people.