Recently I had an interesting conversation on Ecology Economics, Environmental Economics and Free Market Environmentalism but like a lot of good things it came to a crashing end. I find the people at ET to be much more open minded as well as informed which I hope can lead to some fruitful discussions here.
Let me start with a link to The Prize in Economics 2009 - Press Release for the award given to Elinor Ostrom.

There seems to be a lot of talk around her about PIIGS as in the thread already started called: PIIGS to the Slaughter, by Richard Lyon which I have not begun to even start on the thread, but I wish to present another perspective... Instead of trying to correct all the disparancies in the HTML versions I only include the introduction as Lyon suggested. Full post at: PIIGS and a Spurious Correlation.

In this post I want to discuss some of the important issues the European Union is facing. Many of these problems have come to the surface with the mounting fiscal crisis in Greece and more broadly the PIIGS. PIIGS stand for the countries of Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain. The Economist magazine provides some basic facts about each countries debt and what steps have been taken to address the issues at FACTBOX-Eurozone's embattled fringe PIIGS economies which includes a link to the following chart.
{Continued at:Rutherfordian-Economics: PIIGS and a Spurious Correlation.}

I know that many of the Diaries here are long and complex, but hopefully this diary is just to get some ideas on a question that the bloggers here might be able to help with. The question is posed in the following manner:

"Male bias in macro-economics is not only bad for women; it is also bad for the prospects of setting in train a process of sustainable development." (Elson, 1991)

Discuss this statement in the context of the effects of structural adjustment policies on the role of women in the development process.
...
[what do the articles] reveal about the respective roles of women and men in employment and in the household.

Here are the list of "sources" to begin with, but there is no restrictions on source of information to answer the question:

Boserup, Ester (1970) Women's Role in Economic Development, London: George Allen &
Unwin.

Boserup, Ester (1991) `Economic Change and the Roles of Women' in Tinker (ed.)
Op.cit.

Elson, Diane (1991) `Male Bias in Macroeconomics: The case of structural adjustment'
in Elson (ed.)Male Bias in the Development Process, Manchester University Press,
1991.

Evans, Alison (1991) `Gender Issues in Rural Household Economics', IDS Bulletin, Vol
22, No 1.

Moser, C. (1993) `Gender roles, the family and the household', Chapter 2 from Rationale
for Gender Planning in the Third World, pp 29-34, London: Routledge.

I know most of the list of sources are not available on-line so a couple of links of note that is related to the concepts are here and hopefully maybe others might have some links that might help answer the question:
ENGENDERING MACROECONOMIC POLICY AND BUDGETS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT  by Diane Elson

Caroline O.N. Moser, "Gender Planning in the Third World: Meeting Practical and Strategic Gender Needs", World Development, Vol. 17, No. 11, pp. 1799-1825, 1989.

In this seminal article the author proposes a gender roles framework for gender planning that leads to a differentiation of needs. The argument is based conceptually on the identification of the triple role of women and makes the distinction between practical and strategic needs articulated here for the first time. Welfare and efficiency approaches to low income and Third World Women are critiqued from a gender planning perspective and emphasis placed on the need for shifting policy towards an anti-poverty, equity and empowerment approach.

Caroline O.N. Moser, Gender Planning and Development: Theory, Practice & Training, Routledge: London and New York, 1993.

Gender planning is defined as a new and transformative planning tradition, one that seeks to empower women. The need for differentiation of gender roles and needs in society is considered the conceptual basis for gender planning and constitutes the basis for a critique of existing development policy and practice. Institutionalization of gender planning and operational procedures for implementing gender policies, programmes and projects are central subjects for consideration. The distinction between a technical planning methodology to meet women's practical needs and a 'political' methodology to meet women's strategic needs informs much of the discussion including the outlines for gender training methodology.

What do you think?

Well, since I got your attention, let me start with a couple of problems wrapped up in the article:Namibia: Policy to Create a Water Scarcity?

Ever since the government has started its reform of the rural water supply, water has become a scarce commodity, says Mukuya. Under the colonial South African administration, water was free for people in the communal areas. It was one of the many mechanisms the apartheid regime put in place to control the rural population.

Now communities are organised in Water Point Associations (WPAs), governed by committees, tasked with regulating and collecting the levies for the water supply, explains Mukuya, while he tightens the tap to make sure not a drop is lost.

"The government has stopped buying fuel for the pumps as part of the reform programme. They still come in to fix the pump when it breaks, but that will also stop eventually."

It is meant to lead to a paradigm shift. "Under the South Africans, water was used in a completely ecologically unsustainable manner", says Dr. Thomas Falk, author of a soon to be published study on the impact of the decentralisation of the rural water supply that affects one million Namibians.

Sorry if this is not completely polished, but I wanted to see if there was anything I may be missing or some other areas of research I should look at...

Explain and discuss the principles of monetary unions in the light of European experience.

The first step in creating a monetary union is the setup of a currency bloc which is defined as when the currencies of all the countries are united by fixed exchange rates. This is hard to do at first so `Snakes' are usually set up that maintain the exchange rates within bands usually defined as a percent change.  In addition member countries attempt to follow compatible macroeconomic policies through policy coordination. This was used by most Western European countries during the 1970's.
Eventually a single currency can replace the individual ones, and this arrangement becomes a monetary union. This system though must have coordinated monetary and fiscal policies encompassing all members. And in the system one state usually assumes the leadership role and as the key currency within the system (trading currency). For the EU experience it was the German State (especially in monetary policy) that members attempted to follow and the Deutschemark was the key currency during the process.

This seems to be a tempest in a teapot, but wanted to see what others here think about the situations with the Kuwaiti Dinar and maybe more broadly in the GCC union.
Kuwait abandons US dollar currency peg

Kuwait on Sunday removed its currency peg to the US dollar, throwing plans for a Gulf currency union by 2010 into doubt and raising the prospect that other oil-producing states might abandon long-held dollar pegs.

...

I was not sure the best place to post this xpost from Africa...Part II. The first part I tried it under Special Focus .

Well let me lead off with some articles/links for Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe, the land of dying children

Suffer the little children is a phrase never far from your mind in today's Zimbabwe. The horde of painfully thin street children milling around you at traffic lights is almost the least of it: in a population now down to 11m or less there are an estimated 1.3m orphans.

Go to one of the overflowing cemeteries in Bulawayo or Beit Bridge and you are struck by the long lines of tiny graves for babies and toddlers. (From this Link)

Although I really could care less if Mugabe keeps his piece of paper or not. Not like it will help him get a job or something. But does provide some information about his past that should be of interest.
Let Mugabe keep honorary degrees

The next link from Human Rights Watch, I have not even skimmed it yet, but worthy of posting here.
"You Will Be Thoroughly Beaten"
The Brutal Suppression of Dissent in Zimbabwe

China and Zimbabwe cement ties

The government said the China-funded 424 tractors and 50 lorries would replace machinery destroyed during the seizure of white-owned farms to resettle landless blacks.

Agricultural production has fallen drastically in the country, largely due to lack of equipment, funding and technical expertise on the newly seized farms.

Zimbabwe to deregister NGOs

Zimbabwe has deregistered all non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and told them to submit new applications.

Ministers told state radio on Tuesday that this would allow the government to weed out organisations that were "agents of imperialism".

Harare was taking action against NGOs because some were using relief activities as a cover for a campaign to overthrow the government, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, the minister of information and publicity, told the radio station.

"Pro-opposition and Western organisations masquerading as relief agencies continue to mushroom, and the government has annulled the registration of all NGOs in order to screen out agents of imperialism from organisations working to uplift the wellbeing of the poor," Ndlovu was quoted as saying.

Mugabe Gets Ready to Eat Cake While Fellow Zimbabweans Can't Find Bread on Shelves
No did not make that up, and sorry behind premium section.

Zimbabwe's tobacco farmers in price stand-off

ZIMBABWE'S annual opening of the tobacco auction floors hangs in the balance after Agriculture Minister Rugare Gumbo failed to get government approval for the new prices on Monday.

CIO at it again
Nope not a mistake, the Central Intelligence Organization (of Zimbabwe).

Lots of good information from this site also, just a preview.
Coalition

Repression intensifies in Zimbabwe: ZINASU, PTUZ, WOZA and media crackdown

Meanwhile, Zimbabwean journalist Peter Moyo, a producer with South African TV state E-TV, was arrested in Mutare on 5 February, spending a night in police cells along with cameraman William Gumbo and his cousin Trymore Zvidzai. They were allegedly covering a story on illegal diamond mining and dealings in the area. Moyo and his team were charged with being unaccredited journalists - in Zimbabwe all journalists have to be accredited with the government.

Note link will go bad after a while.

The next three links are to the additional Military Command for the USA under the name AFRICOM.
Getting AFRICOM Right

The answer to the congressman (and others) is found in the much-maligned 2002 National Security Strategy of the United States of America which declared that "weak states...can pose a great danger to our national interests as strong states. Poverty does not make poor people into terrorists and murderers. Yet poverty, weak institutions, and corruption can make weak states vulnerable to terrorist networks and drug cartels within their borders." In Africa, the document went on to assert: "Promise and opportunity sit side by side with disease, war, and desperate poverty. This threatens both a core value of the United States - preserving human dignity - and our strategic priority - combating terror. American interests and American principles, therefore, lead in the same direction: we will work with others for an African continent that lives in liberty, peace, and growing prosperity."

US, Kenya discuss new military unit for Africa

"AFRICOM is intended to give the US a more focused approach to US security and developmental programs on the continent. At present, three different US regional command headquarters maintain relationships with countries in Africa," it said.

Globalism with Combat Boots

The last link (editorial) then leads us into a revoking attack on actions by the USA in Somalia. I disagree with nearly all of it and could easily take a couple of posts just to break it down, but to be balanced I include it here:
Where the Dead Rot in the Streets: Bush's Terror War in Somalia Rages On
Lots of links to news stories also in this piece.

But then why does all Geopolitical/Geo-strategic issues just revolve around the USA and the collective Navel gazing associated with that.
The first link is to a Freedomist blog.
A Moment of Opportunity: China, Darfur, and the 2008 Olympics

China, on a domestic and international cleaning binge, is seeking to cleanse its status and reputation by the time it begins hosting the Olympics in 2008 to appear as a developed nation in a first-world prom dress. While this may appear as a farcical whitewash operation by a totalitarian regime, it presents an opportunity for the international community to take concrete steps in resolving the Darfur crisis.

Again it has plenty of good links at the bottom of the post.

The below article could definitely learn a thing or two about political correctness.
China feels rising cost of interests in Africa

A deadly attack by rebels on a Chinese-run oil field in Ethiopia that left more than 70 dead is the latest example of the human and political cost of China's growing energy interests in Africa.

Tuesday's attack by rebel gunmen on the facility left 65 Ethiopians dead as well as nine workers from China, making it the deadliest in a recent spate of killings and kidnappings aimed at Chinese firms in Africa.

So reaction seems appropriate:
China deplores Ethiopia attack

China has condemned an attack on a Chinese oil company site in Ethiopia that killed 74 people, including nine Chinese.

So China gets a majority of oil produced on the east African Coast while the USA gets a majority produced on the West Coast. But we are trying to prevent genocide in all of Africa. If we were only concerned about "Our" oil then it seems we would have initiated the change in Military Commands.

And just so people know that I am not too serious of a guy then watch Qadhafi clip 1421 as he explains:
extinction of Jews, "Leeza" controlling them Arabs, Israetine and breaking ties with the ARabs/solidarity with African states...
And check out how in clip 1430 a crazy man calls Reagen crazy and "North Africa in its entirety is Shiite".

"We have turned towards peace, because America has turned toward peace with us."
What we gave with our right hand we took back with our left. (laughter, applause)

Links of interest:
Social Tolerance Allows Bonobos To Outperform Chimpanzees On A Cooperative Task

Tanzanian coffee farmers go green

Now that I have been visiting European Tribune and have enjoyed my time here, I thought I would introduce myself and my friend Loganthor.

We met at Thom Hartmann's Forum. As you can see from my posts and diary I have a strong interest in economics, especially in developing economies and international trade.

Loganthor tends to be more interested in the courts and laws (UET) as well the Israeli/Palestinian/Lebanon/ME conflicts.

While we both tend to be conservative in our views, we will look at many points of view including experimenting with presenting the opposite of our normal views. We also do not like or identify with some of the labels to identify conservatives like Neoconservative, Neoliberalism etc. I tend to be more libertarian but reject isolationism of the USA by all sides of the debate.

We also are willing to study the issue in depth, that we find lacking in Thom's Forum as well as other forums and boards. Honestly I am not sure if this format is best for what I am looking for but may have the most informed and educated as I have seen. On Thoms some threads can get as many as 3783 posts (Abortion) or 1000 posts and run  more than a year.

I really like the various news clips that are presented in the European Salon forum.
Well I came across "Creeping dunes threaten African nation", and it has been something that I was interested a little while ago and had this to say at my blog:
In Niger, Trees and Crops Turn Back the Desert

From the diaries - whataboutbob

This is a continuation of my last post about Niger and the surrounding countries. The article "Creeping dunes threaten African nation" prompted me to repost it here.

The title link is a backup copy of the title link from: In Niger Trees and Crops Turn Back the Desert. In this post there is a lot of ground to cover and as such I hopefully will keep my comments short for each article.

When joining a community such as European Tribune, I like to see how I can benefit from the collective mind and experiences.

I presently have a membership to Blockbuster Movies.

And thus I now have an opportunity to check out some foreign films (non-USA). So far I have watched:
Good Bye Lenin
The Battle of Algiers
No Man's Land
And of course earlier some Akira Kurosawa films starting with Ran.

So I wanted to see if anyone has some suggestions for the best foreign films to watch on any category except horror.

Or any films that people would like to talk about...

As my first post I wanted to open a forum for a discussion about democracies and some theories in regard to Polyarchy.

In modern political science, the term Polyarchy (Greek: poly many, arkhe rule)[1] was introduced by Robert A. Dahl, now emeritus professor at Yale University, to describe a form of government that was first implemented in the United States and gradually adopted by many other countries. According to Dahl, the fundamental democratic principle is that, when it comes to binding collective decisions, each person in a political community is entitled to have his interests be given equal consideration. A polyarchy is a nation-state that has certain procedures that are necessary conditions for following the democratic principle.[1][2]

Definitions
Dahl's original theory of Polyarchal Democracy is in his 1956 book, A Preface to Democratic Theory. His theory evolved over the decades, and the description in later writings is somewhat different.

So I wanted to ask first whether the EU governments are also Polyarchy.