Narrative Fortresses: Crisis Narratives And Conflict In The Conservation Of Mount Gorongosa, Mozambique

A single narrative about the Gorongosa Restoration Project (GRP) in Mozambique circulates widely in the popular media. This story characterises the project as an innovative intervention into an ecological crisis situation. The narrative hails the project\u27s aim to use profits from tourism to address the goals of both human development and conservation of biodiversity, and portrays the park project as widely embraced by long-term residents. This representation helps the project attract broad acclaim, donor funding, and socially conscious visitors, yet it obscures the early emergence of unified opposition to the project\u27s interventions among long-term residents of Gorongosa Mountain. This article draws on ethnographic research conducted on Gorongosa Mountain between 2006 and 2008 to examine the project\u27s early activities there. I examine two crisis narratives that led to entrenched conflict between park-based actors and mountain residents. Focusing on the emergence and solidification of divergent narratives-narrative fortresses-about the extension of the park\u27s activities to Gorongosa Mountain offers insight into the powerful role of crisis narratives in producing and maintaining conflict, leading to outcomes counter to the desires of conservationists. Ultimately, the article points to ways in which narratives of environmental crisis work against aspirations of partnership and collaboration with resident populations in conservation and development schemes

Optimal piecewise constant solutions of the linear regulator problem

Optimal piecewise constant solutions of linear regulator proble

Les études stratégiques, défense d’une discipline

For some time now, within the sub-discipline of studies on security, a passionate debate has been opposing the supporters of research on peace and the theoreticians of strategic studies. This often emotional and controversial debate interferes considerably with the emergence of a truly scientific approach to the study of conflicts. It is from such an angle that this article reviews this dissension in strategic studies. It aims to assess and to criticize those arguments which dispute the legitimacy of the strategic approach in international relations. It is suggested that the factitious conflict between "pacifists" and "strategists" can and must be overcome in order for this sub-discipline to be recognised at truly university level

Poverty and Employment in Timber-Dependent Counties

One of the most controversial aspects of federal and state policies aimed at protecting old-growth ecosystems has been the potential impact of job losses on local economies. A fundamental question for historically timber-dependent communities is whether these policies will result in local economic stagnation and enduring pockets of poverty. In this paper, we examine the long-run impact of changes in timber-related employment on other types of employment and participation in major federal poverty programs. We use monthly, multi-county time series data to estimate a vector autoregressive model of the experience of northern California counties during the 1980s and 1990s. We find that employment base multiplier effects of timber employment on other types of employment in each county are small, and state economic conditions rather than local employment conditions are the principal driver behind local poverty.

Le maintien de la paix et les Conservateurs : une nouvelle approche?

Selon certains observateurs, il ne semble pas exister une grande originalité dans les premières politiques conservatrices en matière de sécurité internationale. Mais qu'en est-il vraiment pour le maintien de la paix, domaine par excellence de l'improvisation, de la réaction a posteriori pour tout gouvernement de moyenne puissance, mais plus encore pour tout gouvernement canadien qui se fait une gloire d'y participer ? Malgré l'importance des événements qui se produisent au début des années 1990, il faut éviter de percevoir le maintien de la paix canadien comme une simple caisse de résonance des événements internationaux. La politique du gouvernement canadien en matière de maintien de la paix ne constitue pas, en ce sens, une simple réponse passive aux demandes des Nations Unies, mais est en fait soumise à deux pôles d'attraction: la culture politique intérieure et les pressions exercées par le contexte international. Dans cette perspective, on devrait s'attendre à ce que le premier mandat du gouvernement Mulroney illustre la continuité de la politique canadienne alors que le second mandat serait plutôt caractérisé par une mutation fondamentale du contexte et de la pratique du maintien de la paix.According to some observers, the initial security policies of the Mulroney government were not very original. Is this also true of Mulroney's approach to peacekeeping ? Peacekeeping is traditionally a domain characterized by improvisation and after the fact reactions to international events by all middle power government especially by Canadian governments that consider their participation in these missions as a point of honour. It would be a mistake, though, to view peacekeeping as a mere echo of the important international events of the 1990s. Canadian peacekeeping policy constitutes more than simply a passive response to United Nations requests. It is, in fact, influenced by two poles : the domestic political culture and pressures from the international context. Seen in this light, the Mulroney Government's first mandate reflects continuity of Canadian peacemaking policies, while the second mandate was characterized by a fundamental mutation of the context and practice of Canadian peacekeeping