1984: Volume 15
Volume 15 Number 4 October 1984
Edited by: John Oxenham
Research into the several dimensions of education is well established as one of the branches of social science. Cross-national research in these areas is similarly well established, as the recent Fifth World Congress of Comparative and International Education Societies bore out. With the procedure of much of such research there appears to be no issue of principle. Americans, Germans, Swedes, Russians and Japanese study each other with mutual encouragement. Until two decades ago much the same seemed to be true of all nations. Indians were at liberty to study British education, Ghanaians could doubtless look at Brazil, if they were so inclined, and Zambians and Tanzanians could examine the Chinese experiences.
1985: Volume 16
Volume 16 Number 1 January 1985
Edited by: David Evans and Raphie Kaplinsky
By late October 1929 the Wall Street stock-market had crashed, announcing to an astonished world that the post-World War ¡ recovery was not quite as robust as many public figures had appeared to behave.
This accepted view that all was well in the US economy had persisted right through the years of portent; indeed as late as mid-September 1929 the Wall Street Journal proclaimed that 'price movements in the main body of stocks yesterday continued to display the characteristics of a major advance temporarily halted for technical readjustment'.' At this time of uncertainty in global economic performance in the l980s, it is therefore appropriate to exercise caution in prognostications of future growth. Public figures, for perfectly obvious reasons, have a vested interest in allaying public concern and massaging indicators of profound structural disturbance in economic and political systems. So how are we to interpret the significance of current assessments when we are often assured - as in the late 1920s that economic recovery, whether short, medium or long run, is around the corner?
To what extent is slowdown and unemployment a sign of major structural disequilibria? Views on this matter are divided along a wide continuum, perhaps reflecting the degree of incorporation of individual observers in the wider social process. In this Bulletin we offer a range of views on the topic - broad church, involving different levels of discourse, and drawing alternative policy prescriptions.
The canvas is the world political economy which can be roughly divided into three parts - the industrial market economies. Eastern European non-market economies, and the developing countries. For simplicity, we will often refer to these groups as West. East and South. This Bulletin focuses heavily on an analysis of West,
Volume 16 Number 2 May 1995
Edited by: John Holmes and Colin Leys
The articles published in this issue are a selection - in a considerably shortened form - of the papers presented to a workshop held at Queen's University, Kingston, in May 1984, on the theme of 'Development in the 1980s: Canada in the Western Hemisphere'. The workshop was organised by the Queen's Programme of Studies in National and International Development, and it aimed to explore the implications of the current restructuring of the world economy for development in the Americas.
Volume 16 Number 3 July 1985
Edited by: Caroline Allison and Reg Green
IDS has been involved in study, research, teaching and advising on sub-Saharan African development since its inception over two decades ago. Some IDS Fellows' experience in Africa goes back a quarter of a century. In the late 1970s most IDS members working in Africa were optimistic. Problems, mistakes and areas of uncertainty were clear, but the general impression was one of growing knowledge, more and - perhaps - more equitable development. SSA as a whole had apparently weathered the 1973-75 global economic shocks fairly speedily and appeared (as GDP figures later confirmed) to be doing better over 1976-79 than in any previous four-year period. Some countries were exceptions, and in 1979-80 IDS members tended to see the signs of an overall reversal of trend in the context of specific countries. Growing doubts were increased in the autumn of 1981 by the appearance of the World Bank's Accelerated Development Report.
Volume 16 Number 4 October 1985
Edited by: Robin Luckham
Recession has coincided with a marked acceleration in the global arms race. After a period of decline (both in constant price values and relative to GNP) the military spending of the major Western powers, especially the United States, has increased sharply (Table 1). Trends in the socialist bloc are less easy to discern because of' the absence of reliable official figures, though most sources are in agreement that steady increases have occurred in the Soviet Union [SIPRI 1985: 2511 contrasting with the more cyclical behaviour of the United States. The deployment in Europe of Soviet SS2O and American Cruise and Pershing missiles has gone ahead. Having broken down altogether at the end of 1983, negotiations concerning nuclear weapons have (since January 1985) resumed; though for the present they remain little more than 'talks about talks', being stalled over the United States' Strategic Defence Initiative for defence against ballistic missiles ('Star Wars'). Meanwhile there has been no sign of a resumption of the talks between the two superpowers concerning the limitation of conventional arms transfers to developing countries or of those about military restraints in the Indian Ocean, broken off in the late 1970s.
