Contenu du sommaire : Varia

The Economic Crisis in East Asia : Rebalancing Growth Without Income Hike ? This article analyses the impact of the international crisis in Asia. We show that the main channel of contagion was trade and not finance. We then question the nature of the recovery which is getting steam since the spring of 2009 thanks to the success of the Chinese stimulus plan. This recovery is not sustainable. Without an increase of the income labour share, there can be no rebalancing of growth in favour of the domestic market.

Civil Nuclear Energy in India : Economic Interests and Geopolitical Stakes Since 2008, India got rid of its nuclear embargo thanks to the decisive support of Washington, which considers New Delhi as an economic and strategic sustainable partner to contain the rise of China and stabilize South Asia. Although it is grateful to Washington, India doesn't feel itself a tributary of this country. On the one hand, its nuclear market is opened to all the actors of the area, such as the French Areva and the Russian Rosatom. On the other hand, New Delhi, which is aware that its development will remain dependent on oil and gas supplies, continues to negotiate with countries isolated by its Western partners, like Iran. Indeed, New Delhi maintains a diplomacy which can appear contradictory with the West, and thus reinforces its status of non-aligned ally of the United States.

Microcredit Crise in Andhra Pradesh (India) In Andhra Pradesh, last autumn was marked by a very strong rise in the proportion of loans not repaid by borrowers of microcredit. Nicaragua, Morocco, Bosnia Herzegovina and Pakistan in particular saw comparable events. Their main causes are analyzed : two digit growth in the number of borrowers, leading to a deterioration of the quality of their portfolio and of the relationship between customers and credit officers, decrease in the resources of the borrowers, pressure by political parties competing with institutions and the public authorities, and also the irresponsibility of certain microcredit institutions for which the rationale of accumulation or growth widely prevailed over the social aims.

Freedom Space as a Synthetic Measure of Sustainable Territorial Development By discussing the concept of development itself, authors propose two synthetic indexes relying on estimation of potential : Development Space Value and Development Space Creation Under the weak hypothesis that any successful development improves future possibilities, changes in potential are a good development measure. In their path, authors show how development space is tied with freedom : a shrink in it results mechanically in indexes fall. So, “sustainable” and “economic” become two sides of same piece rather than enemies. Reliable in simulations, the approach is to be tested in real conditions, to verify full data availability and to secure calculating methods.

The New Climate of Naturalists' Expeditions in Southern Countries. The Case of ‘Santo 2006' in Vanuatu During the preparation of the expedition Santo 2006, some tension appeared between certain members of the ni-Vanuatu administration and the French organizers of this huge expedition. In this paper, we analyze the relationships between sciences and societies revealed by the cultural politics of this country. The current international debates about bio-prospection along with the notion of Prior Informed Consent and the emergence of “a new indigenous question” constitute the complex background in which such tension becomes meaningful.

The Agrarian System, Past and Present : Revisiting a Concept Among the many concepts used in farming systems research, the agrarian system – système agraire – stands out. First utilized by geographers, it was subsequently reworked by agricultural economists. The objective of this article is to trace the evolution of this original concept, reflect on the difficulties inherent to its use, and examine its relevance to agricultural research. After exploring the origins of this concept, the author analyzes its components in terms of constituting sub-systems and the challenges associated with the agrarian system approach in terms of boundaries and scales of analysis. Next he discusses the similarities and differences between this approach and others that are more commonly used by non-francophones.

Toward Globalized Models of Development and Professional Identities in Agriculture ? Innovation Processes Around No-tillage in Argentina and France This article highlights, by a crossed analysis of no-tillage development processes in Argentina and France, the globalization of innovation systems and professional identities in agricultural grain production. It shows the proximity between devices linked to this technology's development in both countries, by underlining the implication of agrochemical and seed multinationals companies with farmers and lobbying organizations. The professional identities of the farmers concerned are also similar, revealing a feeling of membership in a unified definition of farming activity, based in particular on knowledge and soil conservation.

So Far Away, so Close : The Difficult Association Between Short Food Supply Chains and Fair Trade Based on the observation of four cases of promotion of local fair trade, the article describes the concrete operations by which the actors involved in fair trade and the actors involved in short food supply chains reflect on the convergence of their approaches and try to achieve joint actions. The article also shows that these associations between fair trade and short food supply chains are difficult to implement because of differences in their respective objectives and the relative autonomy of the social worlds of fair trade and short food supply chains.

Food Sovereignty : Agricultural Collective Action and Multiple Uses of a Transnational Concept This article analyzes the transnational agricultural collective action which has emerged in the name of food sovereignty, in Western Africa, since 2000. It proposes some thoughts about the role of transnational action in a multi-level governance context. The article begins by analyzing the conditions of the emergence of this notion on the international political scene. Based on the study of a transnational collective action on the one hand, and of the Senegalese case on the other, the article then states the hypothesis that the notion of food sovereignty is appropriated by different actors, at times of transnational mobilizations, in order to support national objectives. Thus, the emergence of food sovereignty participates in the politicization of food debates on the international political scene. This term has created some unexpected coalitions in aid of domestic objectives.

The Rise of Plant and Share Contracts in Ivory Coast : An Institutional Innovation in Autochthon/Migrant Relationships in the Smallholder Plantation Economy This paper helps understand the increasing popularity of a new type of contract in the smallholder plantation economy in Ivory Coast : the ‘Plant and Share' arrangement. This contract, based on a partnership between autochthons and migrants, provides evidence for the capacity for institutional innovation that has been apparent throughout the development of the smallholder plantation economy. It can be seen as a way of responding to the exhaustion of “internal frontier institutions” in regulating relations between autochthons and migrants, particularly in a socio-political context that seriously undermines the situation of those who are not autochthonous.

Reinforcing Street Children Capabilities : A Way to Fight Durably Aids in Democratic Republic of Congo The francophone bioethics center (CIBAF) in Kinshasa initiated in 2007 a research-action on the basis of reinforcement of capabilities in the struggle against HIV for street children in Kinshasa. We have adopted an alternative model of prevention allowing to better fight sexually transmissible disease in street children by a co-responsabilisation of actors of prevention. It relies on a pragmatic universalism articulating narratives and capabilities. This bottom up approach will be presented and discussed in its applications.