Caminho possível para o desenvolvimento do RN: a utopia do Polo Gás Sal

La présente étude sur la modernisation économique qui s est opérée dans le Rio Grande do Norte, constitue un débat concernant les tentatives de faire aboutir un projet de développement industriel fondé sur l exploitation des matières premières locales telles que le sel, le calcaire, les eaux mères et le pétrole, entre les années 70 et 90 du XXe siècle. Elle cherche à montrer, à partir de l observation de l action planifiée de l État national et régional, soutenu par le capital international et par les groupes économiques et politiques locaux, comment on a tenté d implanter, dans des conjonctures économiques distinctes, une industrie d intrants de base moyennant la création de deux pôles de développement : le Pólo Químico Industrial (1974) et le Pólo Gás Sal (1996). Elle est centrée sur l analyse des actions orientées vers la concrétisation de ces pôles, et prendra pour objet les politiques de développement émanant de l État national, en particulier celles qui relevaient du II PND et qui visaient, au cours des années 70, à l implantation d une industrie décentralisée dans la région Nordeste ; les règles fixées par le Plano Nacional de Desestatizações, destinées à promouvoir les privatisations des entreprises publiques brésiliennes, lesquelles ont rendu possible la vente d Alcanorte au groupe industriel commandé par Fragoso Pires, et les politiques définies par l État national et régional, rassemblées sous le titre de « guerre fiscale » afin d attirer des capitaux internationaux susceptibles de rendre viable le Pólo Gás Sal. Il y est démontré que l État a coordonné un ensemble d actions dans les domaines de l infrastructure et des exonérations fiscales et financières, dans le but d accélérer la transition d une économie primaire et exportatrice vers une économie moderne, industrialisée. Et que le concours simultané de forces économiques et sociales particulièrement expressives le capital national et international, les élites locales n a pas suffi pour promouvoir la modernisation industrielle escomptée des secteurs chimique et pétrochimique. Parmi les différentes raisons qui ont contribué à un tel échec, on peut mentionner : l absence d une accumulation interne préalable de capital ; la dépendance de l économie locale par rapport à la technologie et au capital des groupes économiques internationaux ; l inconsistance des stratégies de développement relevant de la politique qui caractérisait la « guerre fiscale », et la fragilité de la représentation politique locale

Government initiative and start-up firms’ eco-innovation : A case study through the ecological modernisation lens

Government programs to finance small firms or start-ups have attracted a little empirical attention. From an economical perspective, the effect of government grants is evaluated by a measure of innovation or firm productivity. Yet, this paper takes a different approach from economical view aiming to address the research question “How do start ups firms view the relationship between government grants and their co-efficient innovation effort?” Semi-structured interviews with grant recipients (start-up business owners revealed that the grants assist firms to leverage their resource limitations but at the same time the grants also act as a major roadblock for their product development success.

Understanding the organic chain : The framework of the interaction between the actors in organic chains in relation to ecological modernisation of food production

The sustainability of food production has increasingly attracted the attention of consumers, farmers, food and retailing companies, and politicians. One manifestation of such attention is the growing interest in organic foods. Organic agriculture has the potential to enhance the ecological modernisation of food production by implementing the organic method as a preventative innovation that simultaneously produces environmental and economic benefits. However, in addition to the challenges to organic farming, the small market share of organic products in many countries today and Finland in particular risks undermining the achievement of such benefits. The problems identified as hindrances to the increased consumption of organic food are the poor availability, limited variety and high prices of organic products, the complicated buying decisions and the difficulties in delivering the intangible value of organic foods. Small volumes and sporadic markets, high costs, lack of market information, as well as poor supply reliability are obstacles to increasing the volume of organic production and processing. These problems shift the focus from a single actor to the entire supply chain and require solutions that involve more interaction among the actors within the organic chain. As an entity, the organic food chain has received very little scholarly attention. Researchers have mainly approached the organic chain from the perspective of a single actor, or they have described its structure rather than the interaction between the actors. Consequently, interaction among the primary actors in organic chains, i.e. farmers, manufacturers, retailers and consumers, has largely gone unexamined. The purpose of this study is to shed light on the interaction of the primary actors within a whole organic chain in relation to the ecological modernisation of food production. This information is organised into a conceptual framework to help illuminate this complex field. This thesis integrates the theories and concepts of three approaches: food system studies, supply chain management and ecological modernisation. Through a case study, a conceptual system framework will be developed and applied to a real life-situation. The thesis is supported by research published in four articles. All examine the same organic chains through case studies, but each approaches the problem from a different, complementary perspective. The findings indicated that regardless of the coherent values emphasising responsibility, the organic chains were loosely integrated to operate as a system. The focus was on product flow, leaving other aspects of value creation largely aside. Communication with consumers was rare, and none of the actors had taken a leading role in enhancing the market for organic products. Such a situation presents unsuitable conditions for ecological modernisation of food production through organic food and calls for contributions from stakeholders other than those directly involved in the product chain. The findings inspired a revision of the original conceptual framework. The revised framework, the three-layer framework , distinguishes the different layers of interaction. By gradually enlarging the chain orientation the different but interrelated layers become visible. A framework is thus provided for further research and for understanding practical implications of the performance of organic food chains. The revised framework provides both an ideal model for organic chains in relation to ecological modernisation and demonstrates a situation consistent with the empirical evidence.

La pêche industrielle des poissons démersaux en Côte d'Ivoire. Généralités, localisation, homogéneité relative des zones de pêche ivoiriennes

This paper describes the fishery of Côte d'Ivoire and its evolution to the present day. The location of fishing off Côte d'Ivoire is specified for each area and each type of trawler. A comparison of productivity between the different areas shows disparities that allow to make clearer the repartition of effort of all types of trawlers in each area. The Côte d'Ivoire continental shelf is populated with demersal stocks of homogeneous densities.

The politics of hazard: imminent critique and deconstruction of ecological modernisation in Ireland

This dissertation sets out to provide immanent critique and deconstruction of ecological modernisation or ecomodernism.It does so, from a critical social theory approach, in order to correctly address the essential issues at the heart of the environmental crisis that ecomodernism purports to address. This critical approach argues that the solution to the environmental crisis can only be concretely achieved by recognising its root cause as being foremost the issue of material interaction between classes in society, and not simply between society and nature in any structurally meaningful way. Based on a metaphysic of false dualism, ecological modernisation attributes a materiality of exchange value relations to issues of society, while simultaneously offering a non- material ontology to issues of nature. Thus ecomodernism serves asymmetrical relations of power whereby, as a polysemic policy discourse, it serves the material interests of those who have the power to impose abstract interpretations on the materiality of actual phenomena. The research of this dissertation is conducted by the critical evaluation of the empirical data from two exemplary Irish case studies. Discovery of the causal processes of the various public issues in the case studies and thereafter the revelation of the meaning structures under- pinning such causal processes, is a theoretically- driven task requiring analysis of those social practices found in the cognitive, cultural and structural constitutions respectively of actors, mediations and systems.Therefore, the imminent critique of the case study paradigms serves as a research strategy for comprehending Ireland’s nature- society relations as influenced essentially by a systems (techno- corporatist) ecomodernist discourse. Moreover, the deconstruction of this systems ideological discourse serves not only to demonstrate how weak ecomodernism practically undermines its declared ecological objectives, but also indicates how such objectives intervene as systemic contradictions at the cultural heart of Ireland’s late modernisation.

Reflexive Modernisation and Social Work in Ireland: A Response to Powell

The aim of this article is respond to some of the issues addressed by Powell (1998). It focuses on his consideration of the role and task of social work within a changing society. I argue that, before postulations about the future role of social work in Ireland can be made, consideration of its current nature and the form of its discourses are necessary. I then go on to critique Powell's analysis of social work in the context of concepts such as empowerment, participation and prevention and argue that, by failing to consider the necessarily regulatory and centralized nature of much of Irish social work currently, such an analysis remains merely rhetorical. Powell's reference to the Irish Association of Social Workers' Code of Ethics (1995) as evidence of social work entering a period of reflexive modernity is also examined. The article concludes with a call for a move away from utopian speculation within Irish social work discourse towards a more realistic and constructive analysis of both the future potential and the limitations of Irish social work, given its spatial and discursive constraints.

Afterword::Innovation, Ecological Modernisation and the ‘Post-Conflict’ Policy Agenda

Perhaps the weakest dimension of the ‘triple bottom line’ understanding of
sustainable development has been the ‘economic’ dimension. Much of the thinking
about the appropriate ‘political economy’ to underpin sustainable development has
been either utopian (as in some ‘environmental’ political views) or ‘business as usual’ approaches. Rejecting both of these utopian and realist views, it is clear from the papers presented here and the conference debates that something like ‘ecological modernisation’ is the preferred conceptualisation of ‘sustainable development’ within policy circles in Northern Ireland, the UK and other European states.