Search results

Timor-Leste is a small, island country situated between South East Asia, Australia, and the Pacific, where it shares a unique mix of climates from all three neighboring regions (Kirono, 2010). The country achieved independence in 2002 having suffered over 400 years of colonialism and foreign occupation, first by the Portuguese and then by the Indonesians (Sandlund et al., 2001). The post-referendum troubles in 1999 left Timor-Leste with seriously damaged infrastructure and relatively little economic activity (Hill, 2001). However, since 1999, the country has made significant steps forward and despite some upheaval in 2006 has significantly developed in terms of infrastructure and economic activity. Nonetheless, Timor-Leste, as a Small Island Developing State (SIDS) also has a number of other vulnerabilities and challenges to contend with including its mountainous region, relative isolation, dependence upon agriculture, and high levels of unemployment. Timor-Leste has a land mass of 14,874km² with a population of approximately 1 million, which is rapidly increasing (Government of Timor-Leste, 2010). The country is dominated by the central Mountain range of Ramelau with as much as 44% of Timor-Leste's land having a slope of more than 40% and over 70% of the country's population dependent upon agriculture for their livelihood (Sandlund et al., 2001).

Tourism development is often seen as a tool to empower rural and peripheral communities. Problems can arise if there is an imbalance in the power relationship between local communities and external actors promoting development, including investors and Non Government Organisations (NGOs). This chapter examines the issues of leadership and power related to a hotel project operated by a private company in a small rural town in Timor-Leste. While there was initially substantial support for the project, the private company leading the project failed to adequately engage with community leaders creating feeling of loss of authority. Moreover, the members of the community who were not directly associated with the project felt that there was a gap between promises made to the community and the actual outcomes.

The emergence of intrastate conflicts has not only laid bare the limitations of ‘liberal peace’ strategies but has also raised questions on the utility of such ‘top-down’ strategies in societies that use traditional methods for conflict resolution and transformation. Such limitations in liberal peace strategies have also generated interest in the utility of traditional conflict resolution and transformation methods, especially in the Global South. Using Volker Boege's framework of traditional conflict transformation and employing case studies from Papua New Guinea (PNG), Rwanda and Timor-Leste, this chapter argues why traditional methods of conflict resolution and transformation still bear relevance in societies where culture and custom play an important role in social harmony and peace. By discussing these cases and using the lessons learnt from their discussion, the chapter concludes that even with their apparent utility and use in ‘hybrid’ models of peace, such traditional methods should be employed with care and after understanding of various social, cultural and historical variables.

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore to what extent global disparities in the wealth and poverty of nations can be explained by the evolved human diversity measured by the average intelligence of nations (national IQ).

Design/methodology/approach – It is hypothesized that nations with a higher average intelligence are able to produce better living conditions for their members than nations with a lower average intelligence. The hypothesis is tested by empirical evidence of national IQs measuring the average intelligence of nations and by indicators of per capita income, poverty, and human development measuring the wealth of nations from different perspectives. The study covers 187 contemporary countries.

Findings – The results of correlation analysis support the hypothesis. The correlation between national IQ and per capita income is 0.506, between national IQ and Population below $2 a day % it is −0.733, and between national IQ and human development it is 0.830. Regression analysis was used to illustrate the relationship between national IQ and income and human development at the level of single countries.

Practical implications – Because significant parts of global disparities in the wealth and poverty of nations can be traced to evolved human diversity measured by national IQ, human chances to remove or even to decrease those disparities are quite limited. We should learn to accept the inevitable social consequences of the evolved human diversity.

Originality/value – This study provides for social scientists a new perspective to explore the problems of global inequalities in human conditions.

This research aims to determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the social and macroeconomic conditions of East Nusa Tenggara Province (ENT) and formulate strategies, policies, and programs for post-COVID-19 economic recovery. The study used two approaches, namely quantitative and qualitative approaches, where quantitative was used to determine the impact of COVID-19 on the macroeconomic variables of ENT. Meanwhile, a qualitative approach is used to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on social conditions and then formulate strategies, policies, and programs to overcome the economy after COVID-19. To help researchers analyze conditions and formulate strategies and policies using SWOT and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) analysis, then create a model for the economic development of ENT after COVID-19. The results of this study are the economic growth of ENT from the business sector, namely the accommodation, food and drink sector, then the wholesale and retail trade sector, followed by the transportation and warehousing sectors. Meanwhile, the sectors that experienced significant growth were information and communication. In the social aspect, poverty and unemployment rates have increased. Economic development strategies and policies are improving the quality of telecommunications networks in tourism areas, economic digitization, providing internet facilities, and free learning tools for underprivileged students. Collaboration between academics, government, leaders, business actors, and the media for economic development through social enterprises is needed. The impact of this research is to contribute to economic development after COVID-19 in ENT.

This chapter reviews and compares Southeast Asia country practices on global, regional, and local practices for disaster risk assessment (DRA). DRA research and practices include and create a disaster risk management (DRM) solution. There are 11 countries in Southeast Asia, but only 10 countries are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), except Timor-Leste. The key objective of ASEAN’s formation is cooperation in economic growth, social, regional peace and cultural development, disaster management cooperation, and humanitarian assistance at the regional level. The DRM system practiced in ASEAN member countries is discussed in this chapter. Furthermore, the system and findings of DRAs are also addressed. Globally, two DRA structures are discussed and compared, namely Index of Risk Management (INFORM) and World Risk Index (WRI). In addition, regional vulnerability assessment guidelines for regional and national levels are discussed. However, several selected studies and practices such as the Indonesian Risk Index (InaRISK) are being discussed at the local level. Overall, there is space for improvement of coordination in terms of data and technology sharing for DRM, especially for assessment. The finding of this review highlighted the complexity of DRA at the global and regional levels and encouraging community DRA among the ASEAN members.

In this chapter, increasing education civil society organization (CSO) and coalition participation in education and development policy processes is interpreted from the perspective of network governance theories. In 2015 “deadline” year for the Education for All and the Millennium Development Goals, I consider their significance and influences within the decolonizing and reorienting “policyscapes” that govern the region and/or sub-region that is variously known as Oceania and the Pacific. The chapter is based on continuing research begun in 2007 into education policy processes at multiple discursive and geographical levels of activity, with a focus on the Southeast Asia and the Pacific, and Melanesian sub-regions. A critical educational policy approach is taken, specifically drawn from the application of methods of Critical Discourse Analysis based in critical development and postcolonial theories. These analytical strategies are particularly salient in mapping and understanding how education policy actors, some “new,” have moved toward and through inclusive and protective regionalism(s). These had developed prior to and during the past quarter of a century of significant changes to governments, governing and governance in the Pacific, Oceania, and well beyond.

A country’s performance in health attainment refers to both its achievement (level) and its improvement (evolution) in the health domain. Studies on performance generally measure health attainment using the average health level of the population and quantify health improvement employing the change in attainment over time. However, this approach is flawed because the change in attainment does not satisfy good properties, on the one hand, and because health attainment should not only account for the average health level but also for disparities in health in the population, on the other hand. We propose a solution to the first limitation by following the lead of Kakwani (1993), who uses achievement and improvement measures which are based on attainment measures and which satisfy important properties. For the second limitation, we extend the work of Kakwani and propose new definitions of attainment that account for the average health level but also for health inequalities in the population. Specifically, we focus on overall and social health inequalities and on the health of the poor. By including these new attainment variables into Kakwani’s indices, we generate new classes of achievement and improvement indices. Using data on 11 low- and middle-income Asian countries in the twenty-first century, we highlight that child and maternal health have generally improved in recent decades, due to both an increase in the average health level and a decrease in inequalities.