Labelling in development policy: Essays in honour of bernard schaffer edited by G. Wood London, Sage, 1985, 178 pp.
| Author | Margaret Hardiman |
| Date | 01 January 1987 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.4230070111 |
| Published date | 01 January 1987 |
Book
Reviews
1
11
About one quarter
of
the book consists
of
‘basic studies’, going back to economic
principles and to
a
survey
of
the world economic situation by Professor Scheel, the former
Federal German Minister. The rest is evenly divided between topics relevant to all types
of
CO-
operative, such
as
‘vertical organization building’ and study groups on particular types
of
co-
operative, such
as
credit
or
consumer.
The unifying theme holds the papers together well. Most are relevant to the tension between
the apparent need to organize on
a
large scale in order to compete in the modem world, and
the wish to ensure that the ‘business capabilities
of
co-operative members can have
a
fair
go
at
finding new solutions’.
A strength
of
the book is that it uses experience from the First, Second, and Third worlds to
illuminate the theme, and attempts to draw lessons relevant to all three. There are helpful
parallels between the effect on member motivation
of
co-operative mergers and federal
structures
in
Europe, and the effect
of
government domination
of
co-operatives
in
many
Third World countries.
Themes
of
universal relevance are developed. For example:
(a) ’The classical idea
of
long-term predictable political-economic structure ought to be
shelved.
.
. .
It is now
a
question
of
being forearmed
for
new, unknown, future
surprises.’
(b) ’Decentralized decision centres reduce the detrimental effects
of
wrong decisions.’
(c) In self-help organizations it is ‘important to ensure that people do not simply discuss
things, but also act’.
The book is not nearly
so
good at linking theory to practice. Papers such
as
those by
Professor Muenkner
or
Graf Scheel, which could directly help someone working with co-
operatives to solve real problems, are specially welcome because they are rare.
Perhaps the second half
of
the title-starting from the words ‘A complete guide
. .
.’
was
added by the publisher to boost sales.
It
bears little relation to the contents. It is impossible to
be ‘complete’ on this theme, but
a
book without serious treatment
of,
for
example, extension
methods
or
accounting systems does not even qualify as
a
brave attempt. A ‘guide’ should be
written in
a
style that the practitioner can more quickly understand, and its price should be
kept down by omitting
50
pages
of
footnotes.
Universities and colleges interested
in
co-operatives should take note
of
the first part
of
the
title and buy this book
for
their libraries. Practitioners should not be misled by the second
half
of
the title, but those who like speculating about the background to their job may still
enjoy the book.
PETER
YEO
International Co-operative Training Centre, Co-operative College
LABELLING
IN
DEVELOPMENT POLICY:
ESSAYS
IN HONOUR OF BERNARD SCHAFFER
Edited
by
G.
Wood
London, Sage,
1985, 178
pp.
This tribute to Bernard Schaffer, who died on
10
May
1984,
was first published as an issue
of
Development and Change, volume
16,
number
3.
Geoff Wood, who edited this collection
of
articles, was, at the time
of
Bernard’s death, collaborating with him on this ‘labelling
project’, and the first article, ‘The politics of development policy labelling’, had already been
discussed in draft.
Bernard would have been delighted with the liveliness of the contributions to this volume.
His great intellectual strength lay in his power to debunk slipshod thinking. The dominant
theme in his work was concern with public policy as
a
political process,
a
concern which not
only related to the content of policy, but also
to
the agenda
of
policy discussions. Labelling
was
‘a
way
of
referring
to the process by which policy agendas are established, and more
To continue reading
Request your trial