Savannas Sciences

For someone with a training in social anthropology or sociology a title 'Psycho-social influences on food choice: implications for dietary change' immediately looks a bit odd. The title may seem obvious and perfectly straightforward to some, and in certain respects it is. However, others who look at it from another disciplinary point of view will hesitate; it does not get things quite right. So what I have tried to do in this short paper is describe the sociological attitude which gives rise to this hesitation.

This article examines five common misunderstandings about case-study research: (a) theoretical knowledge is more valuable than practical knowledge; (b) one cannot generalize from a single case, therefore, the single-case study cannot contribute to scientific development; (c) the case study is most useful for generating hypotheses, whereas other methods are more suitable for hypotheses testing and theory building; (d) the case study contains a bias toward verification; and (e) it is often difficult to summarize specific case studies. This article explains and corrects these misunderstandings one by one and concludes with the Kuhnian insight that a scientific discipline without a large number of thoroughly executed case studies is a discipline without systematic production of exemplars, and a discipline without exemplars is an ineffective one. Social science may be strengthened by the execution of a greater number of good case studies.

The market gardening practices of Sydney’s culturally diverse inhabitants have long been neglected in the plans for growth of this aspiring global city. Yet, in providing fresh food for the city and local employment, practices such as market gardens arguably contribute not only to Sydney’s globalizing demographic and cultural fabric, but also to the city’s environmental sustainability. Encroaching urbanization, however, currently threatens over 50 percent of the migrant-run market gardens on Sydney’s peri-urban fringe suggesting that the current planning vision neglects this productive aspect of the city.

Phronetic organizational research is an approach to the study of management and organizations focusing on ethics and power. It is based on a contemporary interpretation of the Aristotelian concept phronesis, usually as ‘prudence’. Phronesis is the ability to think and act in relation to values, to deliberate about ‘things that are good or bad for humans’ in the words of Aristotle (1976:1140a24–b12). Phronetic organizational research effectively provides answers to the following four value-rational questions, for specific problematics in management and organization studies: 1. Where are we going with this specific management problematic? 2. Who gains and who loses, and by which mechanisms of power? 3. Is this development desirable? 4. What, if anything, should we do about it?

The Aalborg Project may be interpreted as a metaphor of modern politics, modern administration and planning, and of modernity itself. The basic idea of the project was comprehensive, coherent, and innovative, and it was based on rational and democratic argument. During implementation, however, when idea met reality, the play of Machiavellian princes, Nietzschean will to power, and Foucauldian rationality-as-rationalization resulted in the fragmentation of the project.

At the same time that case studies are widely used and have produced canonical texts, it may be observed that the case study as a methodology is generally held in low regard, or is simply ignored, within the academy. For example, only 2 of the 30 top-ranked U.S. graduate programs in political science require a dedicated graduate course in case study or qualitative methods, and a full third of these programs do not even offer such a course. In contrast, all of the top 30 programs offer courses in quantitative methods and almost all of them require training in such methods, often several courses. In identifying this paradox of the case study’s wide use and low regard, Gerring rightly remarks that the case study survives in a “curious methodological limbo,” and that the reason is that the method is poorly understood. In what follows, we will try to resolve Gerring’s paradox and help case study research gain wider use and acceptance.

In this paper we argue that the use of the communicative theory of Jürgen Habermas in planning theory is problematic because it hampers an understanding of how power shapes planning. We posit an alternative approach based on the power analytics of Michel Foucault which focuses on ‘what is actually done’, as opposed to Habermas’s focus on ‘what should be done’. We discuss how the Foucauldian stance problematises planning, asking difficult questions about the treatment of legitimacy, rationality, knowledge and spatiality. We conclude that Foucault offers a type of analytic planning theory which offers better prospects than does Habermas for those interested in understanding and bringing about democratic social change through planning.

This article presents the theoretical and methodological considerations behind a research method which the author calls ‘phronetic planning research’. Such research sets out to answer four questions of power and values for specific instances of planning: (1) Where are we going with planning? (2) Who gains and who loses, and by which mechanisms of power? (3) Is this development desirable? (4) What, if anything, should we do about it? A central task of phronetic planning research is to provide concrete examples and detailed narratives of the ways in which power and values work in planning and with what consequences to whom, and to suggest how relations of power and values could be changed to work with other consequences. Insofar as planning situations become clear, they are clarified by detailed stories of who is doing what to whom. Clarifications of that kind are a principal concern for phronetic planning research and provide the main link to praxis.

Back cover text: If the new fin de siècle marks a recurrence of the real, Bent Flyvbjerg’s Rationality and Power epitomizes that development and sets new standards for social and political inquiry. The Danish town of Aalborg is to Flyvbjerg what Florence was to Machiavelli: a laboratory for understanding the real workings of power, and for grasping what they mean to our more general concerns of social and political organization. Politics, administration, and planning are examined in ways that allow  a rare, in-depth understanding. The reader witnesses, firsthand, the classic and endless drama which defines what modernity and democracy are and can be.

This article provides an answer to what has been called the biggest problem in theorizing and understanding planning: the ambivalence about power found among planning researchers, theorists, and students. The author narrates how he came to work with issues of power and gives an example of how the methodology he developed for power studies—phronetic planning research—may be employed in practice. Phronetic planning research follows the tradition of power studies running from Machiavelli and Nietzsche to Michel Foucault and Pierre Bourdieu. It focuses on four value-rational questions: (1) Where are we going with planning? (2) Who gains and who loses, and by which mechanisms of power? (3) Is this development desirable? (4) What should be done? These questions are exemplified for a specific instance of Scandinavian urban planning. The author finds that the questions, and their answers, make a difference to planning in practice. They make planning research matter.

Niccolò Machiavelli, the founder of modern political and administrative thought, made clear that an understanding of politics requires distinguishing between formal politics and what later, with Ludwig von Rochau, would become known as Realpolitik. No such distinction has been employed in the study of rationality. Yet I will argue that distinguishing between formal rationality and real rationality is as important for the understanding of rationality and planning as the distinction between formal politics and Realpolitik has been for understanding politics.

The purpose of the present chapter is to demonstrate how social scientists may engage with mass media to have their research impact public deliberation, policy and practice. Communicating research to practice is part and parcel of applied phronesis and not something external to it. Even in Aristotle's original definition of phronesis, laid down more than two millennia ago, the knowledge–action relationship is clear. A defining characteristic of phronesis is, in Aristotle's words, that it is ‘reason capable of action’ (The Nicomachean Ethics, 1976: Bk VI, 1140a24–1140b12). Phronetic research results (‘reason’) are therefore results only to the extent they have an impact on practice (‘action’). In public affairs, reason is made capable of action by effectively having reason enter the public sphere and public deliberation. It is reason times exposure in the public sphere that matters, not reason alone. Today, mass media dominate the public sphere in liberal democracies. The relationship of research with media therefore needs to be reflected. However, to my knowledge no study exists that describes in detail this aspect of phronetic research. Even in social science as a whole, studies of how scholars work with mass media to secure public impact of their research seem rare (Bagdikian 2004; McCombs 2004; Bryant and Oliver 2009). This, then, is the purpose of the present chapter: to begin to close this gap in our knowledge of social science and phronesis. Because the field is underexplored, it was found to be prudent to start with a phenomenological case study. The study shows how a group of phronetic social scientists, including the author, engaged with media, including world-leading titles such as The New York Times, in order to place their research results on the public agenda and initiate change in their chosen field of interest: megaproject policy and management.

Taken together, the works of Jurgen Habermas and Michel Foucault highlight an essential tension in modernity. This is the tension between the normative and the real, between what should be done and what is actually done. Understanding this tension is crucial to understanding modern democracy, what it is and what it could be. It has been argued that an effective way of making democracy stronger is to strengthen civil society. This article contains a comparative analysis of the central ideas of Habermas and Foucault as they pertain to the question of democracy and civil society. More specifically, the discourse ethics of Habermas is contrasted with the power analytics and ethics of Foucault evaluating their usefulness for those interested in understanding, and bringing about, democratic social change.

If we want to empower and re-enchant organization research, we need to do three things. First, we must drop all pretence, however indirect, at emulating the success of the natural sciences in producing cumulative and predictive theory, for their approach simply  does not work in organization research or any of  the social sciences (for the full argument, see Flyvbjerg 2001). Second, we must address problems that matter to groups in the local, national, and global communities in which we live, and we must do it in ways that matter; we must focus on issues of context, values, and power, as advocated by great social scientists from Aristotle and Machiavelli  to Max Weber and Pierre Bourdieu. Finally, we must effectively and dialogically communicate the results of our research to our fellow citizens and carefully listen to their feedback. If we do this – focus on specific values and interests in the context of particular power relations – we may successfully transform organization research into an activity performed in public for organizational publics, sometimes to clarify, sometimes to intervene, sometimes to generate new perspectives, and always to serve as eyes and ears in ongoing efforts to understand the present and to deliberate about the future. We may, in short, arrive at organization research that matters.

Vaclav Havel observed that a strong civil society is a crucial condition of strong democracy. Empowering civil society is a central concern for the project of democracy, just as the question of how best to think about such empowerment is important to social and political theory. But what is ‘civil society’? A search for clear definitions in the relevant literature is in vain. Not because the concept lacks definitions; rather the definitions are too multiple and varied to bring clarity. Most writers on civil society agree, however, that civil society has an institutional core constituted by voluntary associations outside the sphere of the state and the economy. Such associations range from, for example, churches, cultural associations, sport clubs and debating societies to independent media, academies, groups of concerned citizens, grass-roots initiatives and organizations of gender, race and sexuality, all the way to occupational associations, political parties and labour unions (Habermas 1992a: 453).

The term ‘phronetic social science’ was coined in Making Social Science Matter (Flyvbjerg 2001). However, as pointed out in that volume and by Schram (2006), phronetic social science existed well before this particular articulation of the concept, but it was just not organized, recognized or named as such. Rather, it occurred here and there as scholars had adopted phronesis-like methods for their own purposes. The present title is the first organized volume of empirical–practical work in phronetic social science. Before Making Social Science Matter, phronesis, as a critical term of Aristotelian philosophy, had been theorized and its continuing importance as a key concept in Western thought had been convincingly argued by distinguished philosophers like Hans Georg Gadamer, Hannah Arendt, Alasdair MacIntyre and Richard J. Bernstein, among others. But no one had developed the theory and philosophy of phronesis into a practical methodology that could be applied by researchers interested in actually practising a phronetic social science. Making Social Science Matter developed such a methodology. Its implications were discussed and developed further in Making Political Science Matter (Schram and Caterino 2006). After these two theoretical–methodological contributions, it was evident that an important next step in demonstrating the usefulness of phronetic social science would be to illustrate, with concrete examples, how applied phronesis works in practical, empirical social science research. The contributions on applied phronesis contained in the present volume make clear that this next step has now been taken.

This study was carried out to determine the role rural women play in the attainment of household food security in Ghana. Data were obtained from both primary and secondary sources. A total of 100 women farmers were selected through a simple random sampling approach. Frequency distribution tables, percentages and pictograms were used to summarize and organize the field data. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)'s Household Food Security Scale was used to determine the food security status of respondent households and Chi-square test of independence was employed to examine the relationship between household food security and selected roles played by women at the household level. Roles women-farmers played on-and off-farm were categorized into three general roles namely: producers of food (which involves the cultivation of basic food staples), traders of food commodities and other off-farm income earning activities; and home management, which includes preserving, processing and preparing food and provision of child care and other household chores. Evidence from the study showed that majority (56%) of households interviewed were food insecure with about 22% of them being food insecure with hunger and 6% experiencing severe food insecurity. The study showed that household food security in the study area significantly depended on backyard gardening by women, the number of crops cultivated by women, farm income obtained by women and income generated from off-farm activities by women. The study, therefore, recommended that diversification in the roles of women at the household level should be encouraged to improve household food security.

There is ferment in the social sciences. After years of sustained effort to build a science of society modelled on the natural sciences, that project, long treated with suspicion by some, is now openly being rethought. A critical intervention in this period of reflection was Making Social Science Matter (MSSM) by Bent Flyvbjerg, published in 2001. In that book Flyvbjerg challenged the very idea of social science as a science modelled on the natural sciences. Flyvbjerg argued that, as the social sciences study human interactions that involve human consciousness, volition, power and reflexivity, attempts to build generalizable, predictive models such as those for the natural world are misplaced and even futile.

When I first became interested in in-depth case-study research, I was trying to understand how power and rationality shape each other and form the urban environments in which we live (Flyvbjerg, 1998). It was clear to me that in order to understand a complex issue like this, in-depth case-study research was necessary. It was equally clear, however, that my teachers and colleagues kept dissuading me from employing this particular research methodology.

This article asks how planning scholarship may effectively gain impact in planning practice through media exposure. In liberal democracies, the public sphere is dominated by mass media. Therefore, working with such media is a prerequisite for effective public impact of planning research. Using the example of megaproject planning, it is illustrated how so-called “phronetic planning research,” which explicitly incorporates in its methodology active and strategic collaboration with media, may be helpful in generating change in planning practice via the public sphere. Main lessons learned are as follows: (1) working with mass media is an extremely cost-effective way to increase the impact of planning scholarship on practice; (2) recent developments in information technology and social media have made impact via mass media even more effective; (3) research on “tension points,” that is, points of potential conflict, are particularly interesting to media and the public, and are especially likely to generate change in practice; and (4) tension points bite back; planning researchers should be prepared for, but not afraid of, this.

Ph.D. proposal to be undertaken between 2012 and 2015 in the University of Louvain (Belgium) on the Governance of the Global Food System and the unavoidable transition from oil-based agriculture to sustainable, agro-ecological and resilient food production

""I have been engaged in field research from 1996 to the present on San Roque Multipurpose Dam Project which was funded by Japanese Official Aid Money . It was very difficult to conduct general academic research because of strong intervention of government  and even dangers to us, researcher and NGO supporters. Under such a limited condition, we struggle to gather data which development agency especially Japanese aid agency, Japan Bank of International Cooperation(JBIC) could not deny failure of local people care like insufficient livelihood program, ignorance of legal process, strong harassment to the opposition movement.
The data and analysis
1)Chronological Event Data including negotiation between NGO and development agencies in both Japan and the Philippines
2)Livelihood Changes of affected local people before and after dam, not only on supposedly affected people in the project but also on excluded but seriously affected people like gold panners living outside compensation area
3)Local Patronage Structure and relationship with national politician
4)Network Analysis why NGO network could not work well in early stage but could work in late stage

Savanna ecosystems are dominated by two distinct plant life forms, grasses and trees, but the interactions between them are poorly understood. Here, we quantified the effects of isolated savanna trees on grass biomass as a function of distance from the base of the tree and tree height, across a precipitation gradient in the Kruger National Park, South Africa. Our results suggest that mean annual precipitation (MAP) mediates the nature of tree-grass interactions in these ecosystems, with the impact of trees on grass biomass shifting qualitatively between 550 and 737 mm MAP. Tree effects on grass biomass were facilitative in drier sites (MAP#550 mm), with higher grass biomass observed beneath tree canopies than outside. In contrast, at the wettest site (MAP = 737 mm), grass biomass did not differ significantly beneath and outside tree canopies. Within this overall precipitation-driven pattern, tree height had positive effect on sub-canopy grass biomass at some sites, but these effects were weak and not consistent across the rainfall gradient. For a more synthetic understanding of tree-grass interactions in savannas, future studies should focus on isolating the different mechanisms by which trees influence grass biomass, both positively and negatively, and elucidate how their relative strengths change over broad environmental gradients. . Box and whisker box plots of tree heights in the different study sites (a). The solid line is the median, and the boxes are defined by the upper and lower quartile (25 th and 75 th percentiles). The whiskers extend up to 1.5 times the inter-quartile range of the data. The figure indicates that distribution of tree heights was not uneven between study sites. Relationship between average canopy diameter (m) and tree height (m) across all sampled trees (b). Average canopy diameter is the mean of canopy diameters measured along two perpendicular axes. Regression results indicate a tight relationship between canopy diameter and tree height, with taller trees having proportionally larger canopies regardless of species identities (adjusted R 2 = 53.8%, p,0.0001. CI: 95% confidence interval, PI: 95% predicted interval).

Because New Guinea is little known to the world at large, I have prepared a brief profile of the island, together with some snippets of personal experience from my time as an academic in Papua New Guinea. More detailed information is readily available from Internet search engines.

With a point of departure in the concept "uncomfortable knowledge," this article presents a case study of how the American Planning Association (APA) deals with such knowledge. APA was found to actively suppress publicity of malpractice concerns and bad planning in order to sustain a boosterish image of planning. In the process, APA appeared to disregard and violate APA's own Code of Ethics. APA justified its actions with a need to protect APA members' interests, seen as preventing planning and planners from being presented in public in a bad light. The current article argues that it is in members' interest to have malpractice critiqued and reduced, and that this best happens by exposing malpractice, not by denying or diverting attention from it as APA did in this case. Professions, organizations, and societies that stifle critique tend to degenerate and become socially and politically irrelevant "zombie institutions." The article asks whether such degeneration has set in for APA and planning. Finally, it is concluded that more debate about APA's ethics and actions is needed for improving planning practice. Nine key questions are presented to constructively stimulate such debate.

This is 'grey' literature not widely available elsewhere. This paper is a report on an evaluation we did for the United Nations Drug Control Program (UNDCP, now known as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) in northern Thailand. The UNDCP was closing its office in northern Thailand (mission accomplished! Thailand is developed!), so we were contracted to do an assessment of the Highland (or Integrated) Development Programs that had become the standard for upland development. We focused on a method developed by Dr. Tan-Kim-Wong for the Sam Muen Highland Development Project using 3-D maps as a tool for opening up communication among villagers and forestry officials in land use planning for watershed protection. This was one of the earliest (if not the first) use of participatory mapping. On that grounds alone, this report of the method is important. Dr. Tan-Kim-Wong has, sadly, passed away, and so we will never have a more polished overview of the results of her method.

Savannas are globally important ecosystems of great significance to human economies. In these biomes, which are characterized by the co-dominance of trees and grasses, woody cover is a chief determinant of ecosystem properties1–3. The availability of resources (water, nutrients) and disturbance regimes (fire, herbivory) are thought to be important in regulating woody cover1,2,4,5, but perceptions differ on which of these are the primary drivers of savanna structure. Here we show, using data from 854 sites across Africa, that maximum woody cover in savannas receiving a mean annual precipitation (MAP) of less than ,650 mm is constrained by, and increases linearly with, MAP. These arid and semi-arid savannas may be considered ‘stable’ systems in which water constrains woody cover and permits grasses to coexist, while fire, herbivory and soil properties interact to reduce woody cover below the MAP-controlled upper bound. Above a MAP of ,650mm, savannas are ‘unstable’ systems in which MAP is sufficient for woody canopy closure, and disturbances (fire, herbivory) are required for the coexistence of trees and grass. These results provide insights into the nature of African savannas and suggest that future changes in precipitation6 may considerably affect their distribution and dynamics.

Saving tropical forests as a global warming countermeasure has become one of the environmental movement's most divisive issues. Divisions are just as sharp as the better-known ones between government positions. While the debate is often couched in scientific terms and with appeals to high universal principles, the positions of the different partisans to the debate are better understood in terms of hidden agendas, conscious or not. In the case of European governments, which oppose inclusion of forests in the Kyoto Protocol's clean development mechanism, the exclusion of forests would lead to improvement of industrial competitiveness as compared to the US. In the case of Brazil, opposition to including avoided deforestation fits with conspiracy theories regarding internationalization of the Amazon. For European and European-dominated non-governmental organizations (NGOs), opposition to forests is best explained as an opportunistic blow at US consumption culture, which is reviled for reasons largely unrelated to climate change. From the point of view of Brazilian NGOs concerned with maintaining Amazonian forest, these alternative agendas are side issues that, attractive as they might be, do not merit throwing away a major opportunity for obtaining monetary flows for forest maintenance. More carbon can be maintained in the forests than the amount of carbon credit granted. In this way, even if the carbon in the forests is temporary, at some point a net benefit exists for the climate from having the forest project instead of a smaller reduction in fossil-fuel emissions. Proposals for ton-year accounting and for temporary credits effectively deal with issues, such as carbon permanence to make the climatic benefits of avoided deforestation real, allowing both a gain for climate and the maintenance of biodiversity and other values through carbon mitigation activities. The importance of tropical deforestation in global greenhouse gas emissions means that agreement will eventually have to be reached on how to account for the benefits of avoided deforestation and incorporate them into mitigation activities. This will continue to be the case regardless of the course of negotiations in the coming months in the wake of the March 2001 announcement by US president George W. Bush of his desire to renege on US commitments under the Protocol.

This paper aims to analyze, through the public policy approach, "Agro, Ingreso Seguro" -AIS-, key component of the Colombian agricultural policy of the late 2000s. Through this approach it is seen that AIS responded to real social problems and it was based on a set of guidelines used worldwide. Although the design and implementation of the program suffered from certain problems, the result indicators point it out as a relative success. AIS generated positive impacts on the competitiveness of the agricultural sector; no further progress in terms of employment and rural development were found.

Este trabajo analiza, a través del enfoque de políticas públicas, el programa "Agro, Ingreso Seguro" -AIS-, eje clave de la política agropecuaria colombiana de finales de la década del 2000. Desde dicho enfoque se puede observar que AIS respondía a problemas sociales reales y seguía un conjunto de lineamientos de amplio uso en todo el mundo. Aunque el diseño e implementación del Programa adoleció de ciertos problemas, los indicadores de resultados señalan al programa como un éxito relativo. AIS habría generado impactos positivos en la competitividad del sector agropecuario, sin lograr mayores avances en términos de empleo y desarrollo rural.

This is 'grey' literature not widely available elsewhere. This paper is a report on an evaluation we did for the United Nations Drug Control Program (UNDCP, now known as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) in northern Thailand. The UNDCP was closing its office in northern Thailand (mission accomplished! Thailand is developed!), so we were contracted to do an assessment of the Highland (or Integrated) Development Programs that had become the standard for upland development. We focused on a method developed by Dr. Tan-Kim-Wong for the Sam Muen Highland Development Project using 3-D maps as a tool for opening up communication among villagers and forestry officials in land use planning for watershed protection. This was one of the earliest (if not the first) use of participatory mapping. On that grounds alone, this report of the method is important. Dr. Tan-Kim-Wong has, sadly, passed away, and so we will never have a more polished overview of the results of her method.

Consumption choices and behaviour of households influence well-being and demand for food products. For healthy eating and well-being households make choices such that the recommended daily calories are met. Such household choices are generally informed by a Food Guide (FG). Evidence suggests that households' daily calorie intake may differ significantly from that suggested by their FG. In this paper, the extent to which Vietnamese households' consumption choices follow the US FGP guidelines is examined Factors that determine the number of FGP food items and food groups, chosen by households in Vietnam, are identified. Data from the Vietnamese Living Standards Survey (VLSS), for the periods 1992/93, 1997/98, 2002 and 2004 are used. In addition, household consumption choices are analysed using a binary logit frameworks. Six food groups, namely: breads, cereals, rice and pasta (F1), fruits (F2), vegetables (F3), meats, poultry, dry beans, eggs and nuts (F4); milk and milk products (F5); and, fats, oils), drinks, sweets and cakes (F6), are considered. Preliminary results suggest that the demographic and regional characteristics determine the number of FGP food groups chosen, and the number of food items consumed by Vietnamese households over the period 1992-2004. The observed changes in food group choices over the four survey periods have implications for calorie intake and expenditure poverty, malnourishment, income and wealth generation in Vietnam.

For healthy eating and well-being households make choices such that the recommended daily calories are met. Such household choices are generally informed by a Food Guide (FG). Evidence suggests that households' daily calorie intake may differ significantly from that suggested by their FG. In this paper, the extent to which Vietnamese households' consumption choices follow the US FGP guidelines is examined Factors that determine the number of FGP food items and food groups, chosen by households in Vietnam, are identified. Data from the Vietnamese Living Standards Survey (VLSS), for the periods 1992/93, 1997/98, 2002 and 2004 are used. In addition, household consumption choices are analysed using a binary logit frameworks. Six food groups, namely: breads, cereals, rice and pasta (F1), fruits (F2), vegetables (F3), meats, poultry, dry beans, eggs and nuts (F4); milk and milk products (F5); and, fats, oils), drinks, sweets and cakes (F6), are considered. Preliminary results suggest that the demographic and regional characteristics determine the number of FGP food groups chosen, and the number of food items consumed by Vietnamese households over the period 1992-2004. The observed changes in food group choices over the four survey periods have implications for calorie intake and expenditure poverty, malnourishment, income and wealth generation in Vietnam.

Back cover text: Making Social Science Matter presents an exciting new approach to social science, including theoretical argument, methodological guidelines, and examples of practical application. Why has social science failed in attempts to emulate natural science and produce normal theory? Bent Flyvbjerg argues that the strength of social science is in its rich, reflexive analysis of values and power, essential to the social and economic development of any society. Richly informed, powerfully argued, and clearly written, this book provides essential reading for all those in the social and behavioral sciences.

“Hacktivism”? Online media and social media as instruments of climate communication by civil society actors  (FJ SB 2/2012, pp. 70-79)

Climate change and climate policy are not immediately perceptible by many people; they learn about these topics through the media. Online media and social media take an increasingly important part in this. Especially for NGOs, who often lack in resources, the cost-effectiveness and variety of communication possibilities offered by online and social media makes them central instruments for mobilising public opinion. The article provides an overview of the internet strategies of climate-focused NGOs. It distinguishes between three patterns of communication: information strategies through which environmental and climate NGOs present themselves, their goals and activities; activation strategies geared towards moving sympathisers to support and decision-makers to change their stance; and networking strategies by which NGOs link to one another or with activists at grassroots level. It becomes clear that climate NGOs employ a vast palette of different strategies, but many restrain themselves to mere information strategies, thereby neglecting more persuasive and mobilising methods of online communication, for example in social media.

This article addresses three main issues. First, it argues that David Laitin, in a misguided critique of Bent Flyvbjerg’s book Making Social Science Matter for being a surrogate manifesto for Perestroika, misrepresents the book in the extreme. Second, the article argues that Laitin’s claim that political science may become normal, predictive science in the natural science sense is unfounded; the claim is a dead end that perestroikans try to get beyond. Finally, the article proposes that political scientists substitute phronesis for episteme and thereby avoid the trap of emulating natural science. By doing so, political scientists may arrive at social science that is strong where natural science is weak: in the reflexive analysis and discussion of values and interests aimed at praxis, which is the prerequisite for an enlightened political, economic, and cultural development in any society.

The NGO Factor in Africa breaks new ground in understanding the role of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Africa. The book historicizes NGOs using the Rockefeller Foundation as a case study, looking at its tripartite paradoxical roles as an agent of colonialism, globalization and development/underdevelopment. It deploys interdisciplinary devices to show how the RF projects have engaged in marginalization, patronage and 'othering' of African values and customs and the ensuing controversies. Using globalization, postmodern and postcolonial theories the book deconstructs the long-held myths about NGO inviolability, and opens ground for understanding their strengths. It interrogates sites of contestation, apprehension and possibilities that the RF has produced. Using RF projects, it looks at structures of hegemony, race, power, class and gender that the RF has created. The book illustrates the extent to which the RF has been instrumental in spreading capitalism, imperialism in economic, political, cultural and social realms through globalization. It desists from the grand narrative approach that has dominated African history in the past but instead gives agency and voice to those that have previously been marginalized.

La quema de vegetación es una práctica frecuente en las sabanas de Trachypogon para eliminar los pastos secos y favorecer la producción de follaje con mayor valor nutritivo para el ganado. La quema de vegetación también ha sido considerada un factor fundamental para explicar el origen y mantenimiento de los ecosistemas de sabanas, en virtud de los cambios que produce en la composición florística y en el ciclaje de nutrimentos. Con el fin de determinar el efecto de la quema y el pastoreo sobre la calidad del suelo se estudiaron los cambios en características físicas, químicas y biológicas seleccionadas en muestras de suelos superficiales (0-15 cm) de un área bajo quema y pastoreo y otra protegida en donde no se practicó este manejo durante 25 años. Los resultados mostraron que en las sabanas protegidas de la quema y el pastoreo la fertilidad del suelo es mayor, debido a un pH menos ácido y más altos contenidos de materia orgánica, bases cambiables, fósforo orgánico y total, y nitrógeno total, así como una menor compactación y mayor capacidad para almacenar agua. Adicionalmente, se observó una mayor actividad microbiológica debido al mayor contenido de C y N microbiano. Palabras clave adicionales: Fuego, calidad del suelo, biomasa microbiana, actividad fosfatásica ABSTRACT Physical, chemical and biological changes in the soil of a savanna protected from burning and cattle raising for twenty five years Burning of vegetation is a frequent management in Trachypogon savannas to eliminate dry pastures and stimulate the production of foliages with higher nutritional content. Burning of vegetation has also been considered a key factor to explain the origin and maintenance of savanna ecosystems, due to the changes produced on floristic composition and nutrient cycling. In order to determine the effects of fires and cattle raising on soil quality, we studied the changes in the top soil (0-15 cm) on selected physical, chemical and microbiological characteristics in an area under burning and cattle raising, and in another protected during 25 years. The results showed that in protected savannas soil fertility is higher due to less acid pH and higher contents of organic matter, exchangeable bases, organic and total phosphorus, and nitrogen, along with lower compaction and higher water holding capacity. Additionally, a higher microbiological activity due to a higher microbial C and N was observed.

The Trachypogon savannas are one of the most widespread ecosystems of northern Southamerica. They are characterized by the dominance of a herbaceous layer of graminae and cyperacea on acidic soils of low natural fertility. The most common use of those savannas are the extensive cattle raising and for this reason the burning of the vegetation allows to renew forage production in order to increase its nutritional content. The present study assessed the effect of burning on phosphorus cycling, one of the essential bioelements controlling primary production on this savannas. The results showed that approximately 1.1 kg P ha -1 is lost due to ash dispersion to the atmosphere, and this amount is not restituted by precipitation (0.5 kg P ha -1 año -1 ). On the other hand, a comparison between P content in soils indicates a higher concentration in savannas protected during 32 years of burning and grazing. The data also suggest that in absence of fire and under conditions of low cattle density (0.2 animal unit ha -1 ), the phosphorus balance will reach a steady state.