Publications
For submission of articles or Working Papers to CEsA, please send an email to:
comunicacao@cesa.iseg.ulisboa.pt
Brief Paper 4/1999: A emergência da identidade “Raça” no contexto das empresas europeias em África
Abstract:
Transnational Connections” is the significant title of a book by the Swedish anthropologist Ulf Hannerz (1996), whose analysis focuses on the problem of the multiple intercultural encounters which globalisation provides, namely at the business level. The internationalisation of the Portuguese economy suffered a significant delay and “missed the opportunity” to follow the classic rules which governed the internationalisation of the North American economy, from the post-war period, and of the European economy in the 60s and 70s. At that time, a company internationalised by choice, as soon as it had a solid base in its home country, and it was mainly important for it to obtain economic, financial and legal information on the target investment country. The globalisation of markets, a process that had already begun at the end of the 1960s, but which has greatly accelerated in the last decade, especially since the fall of the so-called World Socialist System, has also introduced innovations at this level. Nowadays, companies are often obliged to internationalise themselves or risk disappearing and the value of information and knowledge has grown exponentially (Santos, 1997; Costa; 1997). It is no longer enough to obtain general data on the various eligible markets, it is necessary to have in-depth knowledge of variables that go far beyond the cost of factors or the rules of repatriation of capital, because today, in the face of the standardisation of technologies and the ease of reproduction of processes, competitiveness is ensured by originality and this depends heavily on the human factor, especially in contexts where capital is not abundant. A emergência da identidade “Raça” no contexto das empresas europeias em África (The emergence of the “Race” identity in the context of European companies in Africa) was prepared for a paper on race at the CEsA 1999 Seminar: The problematic of development – history and current contributions from a transdisciplinary perspective, Conference on Strategic Identities for Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: gender and race, 23rd June 1999.
Quotation:
Calapez, Ana Célia. 1999. “A emergência da identidade “Raça” no contexto das empresas europeias em África”. Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão – CEsA Brief papers nº 4-1999
Brief Paper 3/1999: Identidades Estratégicas para o Desenvolvimento na África Subsahariana: O género
Abstract:
In the current context of globalisation, the African continent is seriously marginalised, which makes it necessary to reflect on development problems in order to question and identify analytical instruments capable of dealing with the complex dynamics of identities and processes that are currently interacting in African I-markets. The process of globalisation has made visible realities, ways of being and acting which until recently were only vaguely recognised in restricted contexts or even ignored through indifference. The emergence of phenomena with a global dimension, such as environmental threats or major pandemics, has given renewed importance to diversity, both biological and cultural, not only because diversity itself is the basis of life, but because in the face of global threats, action must also be global and based on cooperation. This situation calls for the need to develop a more open way of managing difference, taking advantage of it rather than seeing it as an obstacle. If we consider that one of the major barriers to global action are the difficulties of communication between different systems, which act and think differently and even assign different meanings to the same actions and identical reasoning, then we have to introduce variables in our work that help to make some of these disparities intelligible and thus reduce the noise and improve or even provide communication. In this context, interculturality becomes compulsory and enables a joint approach to identity phenomena apparently as disparate as gender and race, because in both cases we are dealing with groups that have historically assumed a peripheral role and a vulnerable position in terms of the correlation of forces with other dominant groups, sharing biological specificities and specific patterns of behaviour and meaning attribution. Identidades Estratégicas para o Desenvolvimento na África Subsahariana: O género (Strategic identities for development in Sub-Saharan Africa: gender) was presented at the 1st Portugal – China Congress organised by the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro in Vila Real, 19-23 April 1999.
Quotation:
Grassi, Marzia. 1999. “Identidades estratégicas para o desenvolvimento na África Subsahariana : o género”. Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão – CEsA Brief papers nº 3-1999.
Brief Paper 2/1999: A China: Um risco para o sistema financeiro internacional?
Abstract:
The much publicized bankruptcy of G1T1C (Guangdong International Trust and Investment Corporation) in October 1998 coincided with a period of extraordinary turmoil in international financial markets. It was the first time that a financial institution in the R.P. of China, which – it was admitted – enjoyed an implicit guarantee from the Chinese authorities, was allowed to “fall”. This bankruptcy caused relatively significant losses (not yet fully quantified) in Western financial institutions creditors of GITIC. On the other hand, at the same time, the pressure on the dollar and the Hong Kong stock market was taking on extreme proportions, leading the authorities of that PRC Special Administrative Region to similarly extreme responses. Due to these facts, there was no lack of those who considered that China could be the next and decisive episode in the emergence of a situation of financial crash that would eventually extend to the world scale. This perception is, however, devoid of any real foundation. The characteristics of China’s economic and financial system (the result of the development process pursued, which is markedly different from any other situation) give rise to a very specific international financial insertion and exposure, which can hardly constitute a threat to stability of the same, unlike what happened in Southeast Asia, South Korea, Russia or Brazil. China: Um Risco para o Sistema Financeiro Internacional? was presented at the 1st Portugal – China Congress organised by the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro in Vila Real, 19-23 April 1999.
Quotation:
Quintaneiro, Luís. 1999. China: Um Risco para o Sistema Financeiro Internacional? Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão – CEsA Brief papers nº 2-1999
Brief Paper 1/1999: Condicionantes Culturais e Históricas das Reformas Económicas Pós-crise Asiática: O caso da Coreia do Sul
Abstract:
In Condicionantes Culturais e Históricas das Reformas Económicas Pós-crise Asiática: O caso da Coreia do Sul, we focus on Confucianism (a philosophy still prevailing in Korea) and its influence in the management of companies. It is believed that this philosophy, together with historical conditions, has influenced certain economic practices in the country in recent times, with special emphasis on the period of the Asian economic crisis. An attempt is also made to investigate the limits of the current reforms dictated by the IMF on the basis of cultural issues. It also focuses on the relationship between Koreans and foreigners. Finally, it is believed that these factors have to be taken into consideration in a broader analysis of prospects and trends in the Korean economy. It is believed that in an economic or financial analysis of the Korean (and Asian) crisis, its consequences and the outcome of reforms it is indispensable to take into account cultural and historical factors and social specificities. Confucianism is the most influential of these features. Some points of its influence on economic decision-making are reviewed. Certain Confucian features are believed to act as catalysts for economic recovery, and should not be completely dismissed as anachronistic. Korea could become a model of development, combining, in an original way, such divine variables as Confucianism, globalisation and economic liberalisation, on condition that a certain rigour in administration is introduced. Finally, I am convinced that a Confucian society is not incompatible with economic and democratic development in an increasingly global environment.
Quotation:
Mota, Bernardo. 1999. “Condicionantes culturais e históricas das reformas económicas pós-crise asiática : o caso da Coreia do Sul”. Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão – CEsA Brief papers nº 1-1999
Brief Paper 1/1998: Construccíón Democrática y Gobernabilidad en Africa
Abstract:
African political players are today faced with a double challenge: building democratic regimes and, at the same time, equipping them with governments capable of managing the transformations necessary for development. A close look at this phenomenon reveals that democracy building has generally privileged the electoral dimension of the process rather than the underlying social and political dynamics. Moreover, the adoption of Western democratic standards has generated a certain determinism based on the belief in a linear evolution of African societies towards a model of universal democracy. In this sense, it seems necessary to make a clear distinction between democratic principles and the universality of the model. Accepting the existence of a series of democratic principles of unequivocal validity does not, of course, imply the affirmation of the validity of a model applicable to all societies. Confusion between these two dimensions seems to be at the root of certain tensions, such as that between indigenous forms of political participation and those adopted by constitutional and legislative texts based on Western sources. On the basis of the African democratic experiences of this decade, it is interesting to question the validity of the so-called “Western model” for Africa. Communication at the CESA 1997 Seminar: The Problematic of Development – History and a Transdiciplinary Perspective, Conference Construção Democrática e Contributos Actuais numa Governance em África (Democratic Construction and Current Contributions to Governance in Africa), 23 May 1997.
Quotation:
Comunicação no Seminário CEsA 1997: A Problemática do Desenvolvimento – Historicidade e Contributos Actuais numa Óptica Transdiciplinar, Conferência “Construção Democrática e ‘Governance’ em África”, 23 de Maio de 1997.
Brief Paper 7/1998: Identités Communautaires et Diversités Culturelles en Europe: Une chance de dynamisation pour la coopération avec le Sud
Abstract:
In Identités Communautaires et Diversités Culturelles en Europe: Une chance de dynamisation pour la coopération avec le Sud we talk about how the fall of the Berlin Wall allowed some rather hasty observers to believe in the arrival of an era of universal values, democracy and market through the free circulation of people and ideas. However, the gravity of the crises that have occurred since then in Yugoslavia, the Gulf and several African countries show, on the contrary, a resurgence of the phenomena of identity withdrawal, misunderstanding and aggression towards the other. In a number of African countries, civil war situations with the resulting economic and social destructuring may even transform these countries into veritable white zones on the map of trade and international relations. Moreover, the presumption and contempt with which Westerners, including Europeans, refuse to admit that their analyses and perspectives represent only one point of view among others, provoke in the countries of the South and of the periphery, exacerbated reactionary behaviours that often contribute to further aggravate the lack of understanding between Europe and other regions of the South. The new world media order, in covering the crises in the countries of the South, often touches the sensibilities not only of the populations of these countries, but also of their citizens who have emigrated to our countries, who, for the most part, feel humiliated, scorned and feel a great lack of understanding of the attitude of the countries and populations of the North. This causes the resurgence of all the old disputes, including psychopathological disputes, between ethnicities, religions and communities of different origins.
Quotation:
Carvalho, José Sequeira. 1998. “Identités communautaires et diversités culturelles en Europe : une chance de dynamisation pour la coopération avec le Sud”. Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão – CEsA Brief papers nº 7-1998.
Brief Paper 6/1998: O Papel das Autoridades Tradicionais na Transição para a Democracia em Moçambique
Abstract:
The study of the role of traditional authorities in social processes in Africa, namely in the processes of democratic transition, is today a consensual issue among Africanists, and there are numerous works on the subject. However, this theme has been relatively neglected in what concerns the PALOPs, especially at the level of scientific studies. In the case of Mozambique, the debate started to gain some importance as from 1994, mainly due to the municipal elections, which as we know have not yet taken place (scheduled for 30 June). However, the debate has not taken on a scientific character, and fieldwork on the subject is still very scarce. I will talk about this subject a little later. In my case, the interest in the theme comes from the time of fieldwork, carried out in Búzi District, Sofala Province, in 1994, among Ndau populations. This work, entitled “Processes of Social Transformation in the Rural Universe of Post-Colonial Mozambique. The Case of Búzi”, intended to analyse the main social dynamics that occurred in the district after independence. In studying this process it was inevitable that some social categories would come to occupy a significant place, namely the traditional authorities, in view of the social and political place they held, and hold, in rural societies. I will return to these issues later. It is now convenient to dwell for a moment on a certain general theoretical framework given to the question of traditional authorities in Africa. Communication presented at the CESA 1998 Seminar: A Problemática do Desenvolvimento – Historicidade e Contributos Actuais numa Óptica Transdiciplinar (The Problem of Development – History and Current Contributions from a Transdisciplinary Perspective), Conference O Papel das Autoridades Tradicionais na Transição para a Democracia em Moçambique (The Role of Traditional Authorities in the Transition to Democracy in Mozambique), 14th May 1998.
Quotation:
Florêncio, Fernando. 1998. “O papel das autoridades tradicionais na transição para a democracia em Moçambique”. Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão – CEsA Brief papers nº 6-1998.
Brief Paper 5/1998: A Questão da Origem dos Angolares de São Tomé
Abstract:
We intend to make a dispassionate and impartial interpretation, free of any nationalist charge, of this chapter in the history of São Tomé. There are at least three different hypotheses about the origin of the Angolares. The oldest and most widespread says that the Angolares are descendants of the survivors of a slave ship from Angola that sank off the southern coast of the island in the mid-sixteenth century. The second hypothesis states that the Angolares were already present when the Portuguese arrived, since they are descendants of a Bantu people with great maritime skills who came to São Tomé with their own canoes. According to the third hypothesis, the Angolares are neither descendants of castaways, nor are they an indigenous population of the island; rather, they must be descendants of Cimarrones, runaway slaves from the first sugar cane plantations after the 16th century. Before dealing consecutively with the three hypotheses, we would like to present some data about the Angolares. Paper presented at the 1998 CESA Seminar: A Problemática do Desenvolvimento – Historicidade e Contributos Actuais numa Óptica Transdiciplinar (The Problem of Development – History and Current Contributions from a Transdisciplinary Perspective), Conference on A Questão da Origem dos Angolares em São Tomé (The Question of the Origin of the Angolares in São Tomé), 19 May 1998.
Quotation:
Seibert, Gerhard. 1998. “A questão da origem dos Angolares de São Tomé”. Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão – CEsA Brief papers nº 5-1998.
Brief Paper 4/1998: Acordo de Cooperação Cambial entre Portugal e Cabo Verde
Abstract:
An Exchange Cooperation Agreement was recently signed between the Republics of Portugal and Cape Verde. This agreement, which had been under negotiation for some time, was presented by the two signatory countries as a corollary to the exemplary nature of Luso-Cape Verde relations, especially in the area of economic and financial cooperation, and as an instrument for strengthening bilateral economic ties, especially as regards the intensification of trade and investment flows. But it is also an important milestone in the framework of the CPLP, in the sense that its results may come to enhance other bilateral or multilateral agreements. The Agreement, signed in March this year, will only come into force within a maximum of three months from the date it is signed, by which time the Exchange Cooperation Agreement Commission, the entity responsible for defining and reviewing the operating conditions, as well as for managing the Agreement, should already be performing its duties. If the specific operating conditions are not yet known, which does not allow a more concrete analysis of its virtualities, however, the characteristics which define its philosophy may be identified in the text of the Agreement itself. A summary of Acordo de cooperação cambial entre Portugal e Cabo Verde (Agreement on Exchange Rate Co-operation between Portugal and Cape Verde), entitled Moeda une Portugal e Cabo Verde (Currency unites Portugal and Cape Verde), was published in Informação Lusófona (UCCLA), no. 6, April 1998, p. 2.
Quotation:
Estêvão, João. 1998. “Acordo de cooperação cambial entre Portugal e Cabo Verde”. Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão – CEsA Brief papers nº 4-1998.
Brief Paper 3/1998: Desenvolvimento Humano Revisitado
Abstract:
Every year since it was first published in 1990, the Human Development Report presents the evolution of research and experience in this field. It also seeks to quantify the level of human development by constructing a synthesis indicator – the Human Development Index (HDI) – which is now an important tool for analysis. When it was introduced, it represented a new proposal to measure the socio-economic progress of a country and an important alternative to the GNP. The HDI, itself a dynamic concept, is made up of three basic elements which seek to quantify essentially qualitative achievements: longevity is measured by life expectancy at birth; knowledge is measured by combining adult literacy (weighting 2/3) and joint schooling rates (1/3); standard of living is measured by real GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power parities. However, the HDI analyses the average conditions of the population in a country and does not therefore reflect distributional asymmetries. A first version of Desenvolvimento humano revisitado was prepared for Projecfo ED/96/02 Decentralised Cooperation, Fight against Exclusion and Human Development in Portugal, Italy and Belgium, an EC project being prepared by three European NGOs: ACEP – Portugal, Ricerca e Coopcrazione – Italy and ITECO – Belgium.
Quotation:
Ferreira, Catarina. 1998. “Desenvolvimento humano revisitado”. Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão – CEsA Brief papers nº 3-1998.
