Development NGOs, semiclientelism, and the state in the Philippines: from “crossover” to double-crossed

Civil-society participation continues to be a considerable focus of debate surrounding politics and public-policy making at international and national scales, especially in the developing world. Important examples of such processes have occurred in the Philippines. The Philippine polity is widely regarded as embodying a culture of clan-based politics entailing considerable relationships of clientelism and semiclientelism. Yet there is also considerable evidence of widespread civil-society activism. This paper examines how politically left-of-center development nongovernment organizations (NGOs) and people’s organizations (POs) have attempted to “cross over” to state positions in order to implement social and economic reforms. Select engagement by key personnel from the NGO sphere has often been premised on the notion that it was aimed at transforming these features of Philippine politics. Engagement with two recent and (claimed to be) reforming governments has not led to positive outcomes. The Philippine experience, for the most part, is an expression of the problematic assumptions that have tended to inform the debate over civil society and state interaction in many developing-country contexts. Such conceptions have been inserted into an all-encompassing notion of democratic transition, whereby political and economic liberalization are supposed to emerge in synergy, with civil society acting as a form of “stabilizer” compensating for and complementing the role of the state. Given the predominance of such weak states as the Philippines in the developing world, it is important to consider what the impacts of development NGOs participation may be. Most important, what may be the impacts of such forms of participation in a society and polity characterized by entrenched clientelist relationships? Contrasting a Gramscian analysis with Putnam-inspired conceptions of civil society that underpin the transition model, the paper argues that far from being a conditioning force on the state, civil society is itself a sphere where clientelism and semiclientelism predominate. So powerful are these forces, that arguably well-intentioned NGO personnel who previously adopted a critical stance toward neo-clientelism ultimately become absorbed by these relationships.

An exploratory evaluation of the family meal intervention for adolescent anorexia nervosa

Although weight restoration is a crucial factor in the recovery of anorexia nervosa (AN), there is scarce evidence regarding which components of treatment promote it. In this paper, the author reports on an effort to utilize research methods in her own practice, with the goal of evaluating if the family meal intervention (FMI) had a positive effect on increasing weight gain or on improving other general outcome measures. Twenty-three AN adolescents aged 12-20 years were randomly assigned to two forms of outpatient family therapy (with [FTFM] and without [FT]) using the FMI, and treated for a 6-month duration. Their outcome was compared at the end of treatment (EOT) and at a 6-month posttreatment follow-up (FU). The main outcome measure was weight recovery; secondary outcome measures were the Morgan Russell Global Assessment Schedule (MRHAS), amenorrhea, general psychological symptoms, and eating disorder symptoms. The majority of the patients in both groups improved significantly at EOT, and these changes were sustained through FU. Given its primarily clinical nature, findings of this investigation project preclude any conclusion. Although the FMI did not appear to convey specific benefits in causing weight gain, clinical observation suggests the value of a flexible stance in implementation of the FMI for the severely undernourished patient with greater psychopathology.

Equity considerations for open educational resources in the glocalization of education

Open educational resources (OER) have become new buzzwords in the glocalization of education. While OER are often espoused as enabling educational equity, the reality is not always the case. Looking only at the positives of new educational methods can mask perpetuating challenges, which makes the open aspect of OER a misnomer. Taking an alternative stance, this article critically evaluates the broader notion of OER through the lens of equity. It contends that while equity reasons often underpin the provision of OER, challenges continue to be experienced by some in accessing open digital materials for learning. This article explores some of these issues and argues that equity considerations are fundamental in OER design.

Effects of entrepreneurial and environmental sustainability orientations on firm performance: a study of small businesses in the Philippines

Why do small businesses in developing countries embrace sustainable business practices and what are the effects on their performance? We address these questions by drawing on the natural-resource based view of the firm to argue that the environmental sustainability orientation of small businesses can be explained by their entrepreneurial orientation. Our study of 197 small businesses in the Philippines shows that an entrepreneurial strategic orientation enables them to develop a more proactive stance toward environmental sustainability practices which lead to superior firm performance. The implications of the findings for future research and for public policy for small businesses are also discussed.

Developing an approach to assess the influence of integrating disaster risk reduction practices into infrastructure reconstruction on socio-economic development

Purpose: Disasters provide physical, social, economic, political and environmental development windows of opportunity particularly through housing and infrastructure reconstruction. The reconstruction process should not be neglected due to the opportunistic nature of facilitating innovation in development. In this respect, post-disaster "infrastructure" reconstruction plays a critical role in development discourse and is often essential to sustain recovery after major disasters. However, reconstruction following a natural disaster is a complicated problem involving social, economic, cultural, environmental, psychological, and technological aspects. There are significant development benefits of well-developed "Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Strategies" and, for many reasons, the concept of DRR can be more easily promoted following a disaster. In this respect, a research study was conducted to investigate the effects of integrating DRR strategies into infrastructure reconstruction on enhancing the socio-economic development process from a qualitative stance. The purpose of this paper is to document part of this research study; it proposes an approach that can be used to assess the influence of the application of the DRR concept into infrastructure reconstruction on socio-economic development. Design/methodology/approach: The research methodology included a critical literature review. Findings: This paper suggests that the best way to assess the influence of integrating DRR strategies practices into infrastructure reconstruction on socio-economic development is to assess the level of impact that DRR strategies has on overcoming various factors that form vulnerabilities. Having assessed this, the next step is to assess the influence of overcoming the factors that form vulnerabilities on achieving performance targets of socio-economic development. Originality/value: This paper primarily presents a framework for the concept of socio-economic development and a modelled classification of DRR practices.

Using Butler to understand the multiplicity and variability of policy reception

Understanding how teachers make sense of education policy is important. We argue that an exploration of teacher reactions to policy requires an engagement with theory focused on the formation of ‘the subject’ since this form of theorisation addresses the creation of a seemingly coherent identity and attitude while acknowledging variation across different places and people. In this paper, we propose the utility of Butlerian ideas because of the focus on subjectivity that her work entails and the account she gives for social norms regulating people’s actions and attitudes. We use Butler’s stance on how ‘cultural intelligibility’ is formed to account for the complex, messy and sometimes contradictory ‘take up’ of curriculum policy by 10 teachers at a secondary school case study in Queensland, Australia. We use the phrase ‘policy reception’ to signify a particular theoretical line of thought we are forming with our application of Butlerian theory to the analysis of teacher attitudes toward curriculum policy, and to distinguish it from ‘policy interpretation’, ‘policy translation’ and ‘policy enactment’.