Comments

Thanks Marianne, I have to say I thought the US boss a bit one dimensional too. But like you I could see the type he was a vessel for. Terence

Terence, great review, thanks. I've almost finished this book having seen it reviewed on a couple of North American aid blogs - it seems to be doing the rounds. I nearly didn't make it through the first couple of chapters because the narrator seemed so out of breath, something you observed too. But I developed sympathy for Mary-Anne and Jon in particular, and then was hooked. I find the author's sermons highly instructive - this is surprising because I can't imagine this device working in any other genre. It is clunky but what he has to say is insightful and, well, true. So I think the cynical tone of the narrator is to some extent softened by the heart evident in most of the characters. The Yankee boss is a bit stereotyped I think and yet gives us a neat picture of how aid and ego are often chained to each other. I think the book offers an important insight into the experience of the development/aid worker trying to reconcile priorities that are often competing and even contradictory. That stuff is really hard and in my view under-examined, despite the bearing it has on the effectiveness of aid. Nice to see this review on the Devpolicy Blog.

Nice post, Stephen. I agree with your points. It seems to me that some aspects of the GPI are not really directly relevant for current well-being. For example, most of the damage from CO2 emissions is likely to occur in the future, so it is hard to see how this affects current well-being. (CO2 emissions are more relevant for a measure of "sustainability".) If the (cumulative) cost of CO2 emissions is excluded from the US GPI calculation, US GPI per capita has actually increased rapidly.

Dear Shahar I read your article in exactly the same way as Graham, but now you seem to be changing your argument by seeming to say that the political stability that RAMSI has engendered has allowed the heinous logging to take place. What do you want? RAMSI has many faults but promoting logging is not one of them. We must place the reasons for the excessive logging where they lie and not use RAMSI as the whipping boy for corrupt Solomon Islanders. The RAMSI target is too easy. Bob Macfarlane

Stephen, Jonathan Again, well done. We are an interesting industry often characterised as being highly scrutinised (rightly so) though at times this seems perception rather than fact-based commentary. As has been previously commented, including in some of your Blog writings, Australia continues to invest strongly in development, and importantly with a focus on doing good development - something that I think Australians should be proud of. This, however, does not mean we should sit back and assume perfection is at play. It should open in all of us an interest in understanding and contributing to the debate where we can. IDC Australia is pleased to have supported you in the review of the survey instrument before its release. Like you we hope the data is rich and opinions drawn from far and wide. Great initiative and I look forward to the findings. MEL DUNN Chair, IDC Australia

I'm not a fan of GPI, but it seems you are presupposing the answer here. I don't think Costanza et al. doubt that many dimensions of welfare have improved over time. They just argue that the other factors outweigh those.

What is, however, required at the national level, and also at the regional level is the implementation of Laws and Bills passed on the floor of Parliament and other reforms in the existing policy making institutions and regulations to support the commitment towards, not only national and regional integration, but most importantly enhancing and empowering affected women and children from family/domestic violence and sexual abuse in PNG.

Among the political upheavals, domestic violence, sorcery and witchcraft-related killings, corruption and other societal ills are a concern constraining the development of the country. Domestic violence and abuse within the context of marriage and the family is a growing and recognised problem for women whether in the home or elsewhere, physical or psychological violence against women is something that can happen to any woman, regardless of her age, ethnicity or wealth. Violence against women is a serious, widespread problem in PNG and is a significant human rights issue. Children who are violent or engage in abusive behaviours are not simply suffering from teenage trouble or worry. Handling the situation can be difficult, especially when many risk factors can aggravate their behaviours. Conducting research in this area will provide new knowledge and educational approaches to the importance of what Atkinson (2002) termed as ‘educaring’ and ‘healing processes to help psychologically traumatised mothers and children.

Tess, I cannot agree more with your comments.

Thanks for this post Andrew, it raises some significant issues. Your commentary illustrates very clearly that legislative moves which are ostensibly about strengthening parties as a means of contributing to political stability in practice turn out to be about enhancing the power of the government at the expense f the opposition and as we have seen recently in PNG this also reduces the ability of the legislature to act as an effective check on the executive. This leaves the opposition with little room to move and we have already seen the results of that in Belden Namah resorting to the avenues that are left to him: the media and the courts. Moreover, the pre-eminence of the executive makes it even less likely that proposed legislation will receive appropriate attention on the floor of the house. Parliamentary debate has never been strong and is likely to deteriorate in both quantity and quality in circumstances such as these. OLIPPAC contained provisions relating to party regulation but it would appear they were not enforced, just as the rules intended to prevent floor-crossing were flouted without sanction during the period in which OLIPPAC operated. Setting up the apparatus for party registration with a view to reducing the number of parties and imposing discipline on those that remain could be expensive but I feel that the main stumbling block would be one of political unpopularity.

I think I'm not alone in saying that some of the recent presentations at various Devpolicy events by Ume Wainetti, Cathy Rimbau and Kamalini Lokuge about FSV in Lae have been very moving. FSV in PNG is a horrifying problem of such a huge scale, but when you hear about the determination of those working in the field on this issue there seems to be real hope for change. The CMC seems like such a practical approach to improve support for survivors and to build on the pre-existing resources and services in the community. I look forward to following its progress.

Dear Graham, Thanks for taking the time to reply. I think that had you read my piece carefully you would've noted that I certainly do NOT argue that the expansion in logging was intentional on RAMSI's part. I simply argue that RAMSI has permitted logging to expand by providing conditions conducive to this. I also argue that this expansion in logging facilitated support for RAMSI by local elites. I elaborate this issue here: Hameiri, Shahar, ‘Mitigating the Risk to Primitive Accumulation: State-Building and the Logging Boom in Solomon Islands’, Journal of Contemporary Asia 42, no. 3 (2012), pp. 406-25. Regarding the 1990s crisis, have a look at this: Hameiri, Shahar. 2007. "The trouble with RAMSI: reexamining the roots of conflict in Solomon Islands." The Contemporary Pacific 19(2):409-41. Best, Shahar