Tourism Market Trends 2002: Africa (Tourism Market Trends)

Book Description

In the 1970s and 1980s the countries of Latin America dealt with their similar debt problems in very different ways--ranging from militantly market-oriented approaches to massive state intervention in their economies--while their political systems headed toward either democracy or authoritarianism. Applying the tools of modern political economy to a developing-country context, Jeffry Frieden analyzes the different patterns of national economic and political behavior that arose in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Venezuela. This book will be useful to those interested in comparative politics, international studies, development studies, and political economy more generally. "Jeffry Frieden weaves together a powerful theoretical framework with comparative case studies of the region's five largest debtor states. The result is the most insightful analysis to date of how the interplay between politics and economics in post-war Latin America set the stage for the dramatic events of the 1980s."--Carol Wise, Center for Politics and Policy, Claremont Graduate School

Customer Reviews:

"Modern Political Economy" in Latin America.......2001-06-05

Frieden's "Debt, Development and Democracy" is a rational-choice analysis of economic group interests (the "demand side" of political economy) in Latin America that seeks to explain widely differing political and economic outcomes in five countries who faced nearly identical external economic conditions. By holding the external financial environment (foreign lending) constant across the five cases, Frieden can explain two kinds of divergent outcomes (economic policy and political change) through his independent variable: the political interaction of economic interest groups acting rationally vis-a-vis the state to maximize their interests.

Frieden's argument rests on the assumption that foreign loans were liked a pie to be divided. When the pie was large, during the lending spree of 1965-1982, economic interest groups in each of the five countries determined the distribution of the pie based on their political competition for capital. Since these groups were acting to maximize their economic interests, Frieden analyzes these interests in order to explain their impact on the first dependent variable: economic policy during the borrowing period. He finds that the most significant factor determining interests was the nature of national labor-capital relations. In the three cases where labor-capital relations were calm (Mexico, Venezuela and Brazil) various "sectors" of the economy squabbled over the pie, resulting in interventionist economic policy and political cleavages that cut across the labor-capital divide. The winners in this battle for government largesse were the economic sectors that were strongest in two key areas: asset specificity and concentrated organization. But in the two cases where labor-capital relations were contentious, (Argentina and Chile) Frieden shows that capitalists across all sectors recognized their common interest and refrained from sectoral squabbling by forcing the state to eschew interventionism and protect the business climate by liberalizing markets.

After 1982, when the pie began to shrink, it was the nature of these established interest group/state relationships that determined Frieden's second dependent variable: each country's political response to the financial crisis. In the 3 sectoral countries, plus Argentina (where class conflict had subsided and sectoral cleavages therefore rose to prominence), the politically powerful sectors realized their common interest by joining forces to overthrow the regime or government (or the "policy orientation" in the case of one-party Mexico) that could no longer protect their economic interests. But in Chile, where class conflict still seethed, Frieden argues that the entire business community made a rational choice to maintain its pro-regime stance, feeling that they had more to fear from a resurgence of the left than they did from the government's inability to meet their economic demands. This explains the fact that Chile is the book's only case where authoritarianism survived the debt crisis.

Frieden offers two kinds of evidence to test his theory: quantitative and qualitative. The qualitative evidence, showing the behavior of interest groups vis-a-vis the state, is made up of interviews with key players in each of the five countries, plus numerous citations from other studies, both historical and contemporary, that ostensibly use qualitative data. The quantitative data is primarily made up of statistics on Frieden's key antecedent condition, foreign lending (to illustrate the similar nature of debt conditions across the five cases) and also his economic dependent variable: well-organized and asset-specific sectors pushing for state intervention in the economy (to illustrate the fact that sectoral economies spent their foreign loans in statist ways, while the two other cases spent their money in more "liberal" ways). Fewer statistics are needed for Frieden's political dependent variable, political change after the debt crisis, since most observers would agree that Chile changed much less than the other cases (although some would say that Frieden's "policy orientation" variable in Mexico is meaningless, since the PRI never lost its grip on power. But if Frieden were to admit that Mexico did not experience political change after the debt crisis, then his argument would be falsified).

Frieden makes it easy to assess the logical completeness of his rational choice argument by himself bringing up possible alternative theoretical interpretations of his data. While this is an admirable attempt at fair and open social science, it also gives us easy access to the deficiencies of his approach. Frieden himself admits that the behavior of interest groups cannot account for all changes in political economy, but then goes on to assert that "trends toward or away from democracy are largely a function of political actors' evaluation of which institutional arrangement will best serve their interests, not of structural characteristics of developing societies" (137). While this is a bold statement, it robs all other variables (international economic conditions, institutions, the state, ideology, strategic interaction, etc.) of too much of their explanatory power. To argue that economic interest groups alone can determine the nature of economic policy and the extent of political change is an overstatement of their individual capabilities, and Frieden probably knows it. Rational choice assumes too much omnipotence on the part of particular groups and individuals, and too much power to act in their collective interests. Nonetheless, Frieden's explanation is parsimonious, and sheds much light on heretofore ignored factors in the development/democracy relationship.

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Latin American Debt in the 1990s: Lessons from the Past and Forecasts for the Future

Manufacturer: Praeger Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Policy & Current Events | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Development & Growth | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Economic Policy & Development | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
International | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Macroeconomics | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Public Finance | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Debt & Deficits | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Non-US Legal Systems | Perspectives on Law | Law | Subjects | Books
Democracy | Political Doctrines | Political Science | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0275939030

Book Description

This book examines the interrelationship between the external debt problem and the consolidation of democracy in Latin America in the 1990s. It considers the interplay of actors, including creditor governments, international financial institutions, debtor countries, commercial banks, and multinational corporations, and environment in the new decade, focusing on whether or not Latin America's political regimes can strengthen and democratize their respective economies while continuing to guarantee the country's democratic politics. The foreign debt problem casts an especially long shadow on the Latin American democracies. While important in its own right, understanding the Latin American experience is also essential in light of changes in Eastern Europe. Despite many obvious cultural differences and historical experiences, there are many parellels between the two regions--democratization at a time of economic crisis and of heavy external debt. This important new book underscores the lessons of the Latin American experience, making it essential reading for anyone concerned with the global economy.

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DEBT and Democracy in Latin America
Barbara et al (ed) Stallings
Manufacturer: Westview
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O657VC

Debt and democracy in Latin America: A partnership for growth and security (The 1987 Albert H. Blumenthal memorial lecture)

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Debt and democracy in Latin America: A partnership for growth and security (The 1987 Albert H. Blumenthal memorial lecture)
Bill Bradley
Manufacturer: Dept. of Political Science, Hunter College of the City University of New York
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | International | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

As with peanuts and potato chips, this book is addictive. Once you start reading it, it is hard to stop. Containing 500 bumper stickers, it is one of, if not the, largest collections of bumper stickers ever published. Most of the bumper stickers in the book are funny,.yet many are serious, expressing the drivers' views on serious national issues. Funny or serious, they make great entertainment. The book also includes four pages of games to entertain the kids on the road. Bumper stickers not only appeal to one of the largest audiences of any entertainment medium, they are also the most personal. By spending only a few cents, anyone can have the satisfaction entertaining, or expressing their views to, a large and continuing audience.

Product Description

Too Much Too Soon is the definitive story of the most outrageous glam rock band of them all - The New York Dolls. The Dolls, peddling trans-gender pusturing and incendiary rock 'n' roll, were dumped by the record business after making just two albums. But their influence lived on when Malcolm McLaren injected the last of the Dolls' life blood into The Sex Pistols and changed pop forever. From punk to grunge, practically every new sensation in the contemporary rock scene has been a delayed reaction to The New York Dolls. Too Much Too Soon celebrates all the glorious sleaze and excess of the Dolls's brief auto-destruct career through interviews with the survivors, including band members, managers, roadies, groupies and hangers-on. the result is the ultimate saga of unrepentant rock 'n' roll debauchery. This new edition of Too Much Too Soon takes the story up to the Doll's reunion for Morrissey's Meltdown in 2004 - and tragic death of Arthur Kane shortly afterwards.

Customer Reviews:

Good enough, but............2007-01-07

I bought this coupled with the newer Dolls bio, "Trash! The Complete New York Dolls", and found "Too Much Too Soon" is more personal than "Trash...". It's prob'ly because the author Nina Antonia is a Johnny Thunders fanatic. Being personal can be good in a way that it is very deteiled about a small but funny episode like JT puked in the airport in front of the press in France, but can be bad to be too emotional about the band, which makes the whole book invalidate. Chlonologically, this book covers members' childhood until Jerry Nolan's death, while "Trash...." covers until 2004 reunion and beyond. I enjoyed reading it, but I prob'ly have to give "Trash...." more credit since it covers longer period, and Jerry Nolan and Arthur Kane more than this book does.

SEX DRUGS SEX DRUGS SEX DRUGS rock 'n roll..........2006-03-11

Nina Antonia has obviously done her research on the amazing torrent of attitude and style that was the New York Dolls. I had read Please Kill Me by Legs McNeil prior, which had been a primary influence in my intrest in the history of the Dolls. While in some regards his oral history is more complete, I still found a lot of enriching information in Antonia's book, including some really cool insights to the background behind some of the lyrics. Also, I learned a lot more about Arthur Kane and David Jo then McNeil had offered. I was a little surprised that Johnny Thunder's "official biographer" didn't have a heavier Johnny focus (besides, I know I'm not the only one who thinks he was the coolest Doll), but I then, I guess she'd have a harder time selling "In Cold Blood" if she gave Johnny's whole story here.

"The Dolls never knew how and when to stop.".......2006-02-28

Nina Antonia's book "The New York Dolls: Too Much Too Soon" examines the career of the New York Dolls from the band members' childhoods to the demise of the Dolls in 1975. Antonia covers the record deals, the tours, the pittance they were paid, the "rent parties", the relationships, the groupies, and this all adds up to an analysis of their ultimate failure. This amazingly "incident prone" band "had their moment, but their moment didn't happen." Between 1971-1975, the Dolls crossed all conceivable boundaries. They "unleashed the infant furies that would grow to become punk," and "trashed sexual boundaries, savaged glitter and set new standards for rock 'n' roll excess."

This highly readable, highly entertaining book should please both the fans and the curious. Antonia tracks the mess the Dolls left in their wake--the unpaid bills, the trashed hotel rooms, the death of Billy Murcia, and the decline of Johnny Thunders. The text is packed with interviews and quotes, and generous glimpses of other big names in the entertainment industry including: Malcolm McLaren, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, "professional shape shifter" David Bowie, Jackie Curtis, Jayne County, Alice Cooper, Kiss, Andy Warhol, Cyrinda Foxe-Tyler, and Aerosmith.

The author toys with the theory that Aerosmith was promoted while the Dolls were deliberately "held back", and indeed it's difficult to understand some of the (mis) management decisions made for the band. The author has a nice sense of humour that appears throughout the book--Shadow Morton, for example, is described as "older and weirder" when he was selected as the producer for the band's all-important second album--"Too Much Too Soon." In another section, Antonia describes Sabel Starr's winter in New York without Johnny Thunders. Starr "all but starved while her man was away" and according to the author, she "might have slipped through the cracks in the sidewalk, leaving only a pair of high heeled wedgies for posterity."

McLaren's role is examined in some detail, and his management of the Dolls is put into perspective. As Sylvain states, the disastrous concert at the Little Hippodrome, engineered by McLaren and following a communist theme, "kamikazed" the band. The author seems to take McLaren's political themes as some sort of marketing device, and thus overlooks McLaren's involvement with the Situationists. However, while the author leaves some threads unexplored, nonetheless "Too Much Too Soon" is a great inside look at the band and its implosion--displacedhuman

New York Dolls: uncovered and uncensored!.......2005-06-25

Too Much, Too Soon is an excellent read about one of the most influential bands of the early seventies. The band only released two albums but they made a deep mark in the pre-punk era and started the first New York punk movement.
The band had many tragedies (the death of Billy Murcia, the orignal drummer) and has been snake bitten repeatedly.
Drugs (Alcohol, Pills, Speed and Heroin) and malaise doomed this band. Only the front man and lead singer David Johansen has managed to remain unscathed whilst
heartbreak has taken Johnny Thunders, Jerry Nolan and most recentally Arthur Kane. All this and more can be found in this brilliant bio (and one of my sources for information).

Highly recommended.

excellent read.......2005-04-09

The New York Dolls were pioneers of the punk movement stemming in the early 70's and this book comprehensively chronicles their provocative, inebriated stent as a band. Nina Antonia is very detailed in the roots of the band, from the members' childhood and influences, up to their split after a turbulent tour of Florida. I found the book very interesting and attention-grabbing, and I learned a lot of stuff I did not know before. This edition also includes some nice classic photos of the Dolls. A reccomended read for any fan of the band.

Book Description

The mass media make it possible for fame to be enhanced and transformed posthumously. What does it mean to fans when a celebrity dies, and how can death change the way that celebrities are perceived and celebrated? How do we mourn and remember? What can different forms of communication reveal about the role of media in our lives?

Through a provocative look at the lives and legacy of popular musicians from Elvis to Tupac and from Louis Prima to John Lennon, Afterlife as Afterimage analyzes the process of posthumous fame to give us new insights into the consequences of mediation, and it illuminates the complex nature of fandom, community formation, and identity construction.

Book Description

“Intuit-approved and loaded with secrets, Quicken Press books provide you with recipes for financial success.” --Scott Cook, Co-founder, Intuit, Inc.

The only official guide to QuickBooks 2004, this information-packed resource teaches users of all levels how to manage their finances for business or home.

Customer Reviews:

helpful.......2007-07-06

I find this book helpful just when I'm about to tear my hair out! It's usually at that point when I remember that I have it. Sometimes I feel the author assumes you know a little more than you do, so you have to go back and track down the subtle steps that take you to the end goal, but overall it has been very informative. Instructions are clear, and I love the "tips" and "warnings" in the margins - they have helped me avoid what could have been some pretty hairy un-fixable mistakes.

Good overall resource but has some drawbacks.......2005-01-16

I decided that January 1, 2005 was a good time to start using Quickbooks Pro for my small business. I'd been using MYOB FirstEdge, but found it was rather limited in some areas. Whenever I think about starting to use new software, I browse around on Amazon for a good book on the package in question. This book stood out as probably a good resource and I was not far wrong. However, I have a couple of complaints. Firstly, the author's instructions on how to enter beginning balances is vague at best. Secondly, her discussion of complex issues such as how to set up Quickbooks for sales tax recording and reporting, is somewhat lacking. The book that came with the software actually does a better job at explaining Quickbooks' rather quirky method of sales tax accounting.

By all means buy this book. It has some really helpful material and is worth the purchase price. But don't pre-suppose that this book is ALL you will need in order to start using Quickbooks efficiently.

Comprehensive Treatise on QuickBooks Pro 2004.......2004-07-30

Ms. Ivens writes clearly, properly, and intelligently on QuickBooks software. The screen shots are legible, unlike those in some other computer books. The index is detailed, and thus useful. I counted only two typos in the 572 pages.

My company, Transpower Corporation (a commercial and custom software manufacturing and systems engineering company in metropolitan Philadelphia), did its first QuickBooks installation in 1999. I purchased Kathy's book QuickBooks 6.0--The Offical Guide; this helped to make the installation go smoothly. It's been five years since, and QuickBooks has changed considerably. So I purchased both of Kathy's current titles, QuickBooks 2004--The Offical Guide, and Running QuickBooks 2004 Premier Editions. Both are excellent and I recommend them to all computer consultants operating in the small business space, which QuickBooks has taken over by storm. (Unfortunately, QuickBooks is not so applicable to medium or larger businesses because 1) there is a five user limit for Pro/Premiere editions and a ten user limit for the Enterprise edition, 2) it does not work with Windows Terminal Server, and 3) it allows only seven custom fields). After reading both books, I've come to the conclusion that for most small businesses the Premiere editions (with their specialization) make more sense than the less expensive Pro edition.

Kathy provides many useful tips in her books. They go way beyond what is supplied in the manuals shipped with the software.

Help pages online - not a guide!.......2004-07-27

I agree with the guy who said it's not a guide. Don't buy if you are confused by Quickbooks interface and plan to learn how to use it properly from financial point of view. To get the guide, simply print out the help pages.

Reference Book Only - Don't buy to learn to use Quickbooks!.......2004-06-06

I bought this book to learn how to use QuickBooks properly after my accountant noticed a few major issues with how I tracked things in my company file. I found this book worthless for a beginner trying to learn how to use the product. Also, it doesn't seem to provide significantly more detail than QuickBooks online help. The only thing I've used it for so far is learning a good account naming scheme...

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Quickbooks 2004 the Official Guide
Kathy Ivens
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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