Finding an effective alternative to coca production has been a goal of almost every Bolivian and American administration since the 1970's and a goal of various international institutions around the world as well. What appears to be a solution is the application of an Alternative Development program, which consists of the creation of an economic and social environment in which households can attain an acceptable standard of living, without the need for drug (coca) crop cultivation. It means that throughout the application of this program, peasants who have been growing coca leaves should eradicate those crops and start growing alternative crops such as fruits, vegetables, coffee, etc. It is expected in Bolivia that these alternative crops are profitable enough to compete in international markets, providing Bolivian agricultural exporters with a sustainable economic alternative; otherwise peasants will go back to the production of this sacred leaf. This thesis will analyze some of the challenges encountered by the Alternative Development program in Bolivia. / Master of Arts

Approved for public release; distribution unlimited / This thesis examines the role of alternative development in the Colombian and U.S. governments' counter drug strategies. Both governments include alternative development as a part of their policies, but provide limited funding to the programs when compared to the funding for forced eradication and security measures. Existing policies have produced reductions in drug cultivation in many areas and the Colombian government has made gains in security throughout the country, particularly the remote rural regions. These gains make conditions in Colombia suitable for large-scale alternative development supported by increased funding. Both governments are addressing components of successful alternative development programs, but funding disparities are hindering the effectiveness of the programs. While the international and European communities are staunch supporters of alternative development, the funding provided by them has been limited in scope because of disagreement with the U.S.-backed eradication policies. The U.S. and Colombian governments in conjunction with the international community must focus more on alternative development in order to consolidate the recent gains in democratic security. / Lieutenant, United States Navy

This study is focused in a Guatemalan small village, Loma Linda, and on the local association ASODILL that is working for sustainable agriculture and alternative employment possibilities.   Many rural areas throughout the world, including Guatemala, have been exposed to neglect by the government, political exclusion, and socioeconomic inequalities. The civil war that roared in Guatemala from 1960 to 1996 left behind psychological suffering, mistrust for the government, socioeconomic weakening and infrastructural destruction. Currently Guatemala suffers from rural poverty, environmental destruction and from an unaccountable state prioritizing economic before an environmentally sound alternative development. Presently, pesticides are encouraged by the Guatemalan government and sold below the market price.  The pesticides are, however, destroying the soil and decreasing soil fertility to the point that it turns unusable for agriculture. There have been records of farmers protesting demanding change: requiring the government to halt environmental damaging actions and financial assistance for sustainable agriculture. I am examining if the local association, ASODILL, has contributed to a social, political and economic empowerment through their main objectives of sustainable agriculture and increasing employment alternatives Loma Linda. John Friedmanns Empowerment theory is the main helping device for understanding the empowerment effects of ASODILL in the village better. Ethnography as interpersonal method enabled me to construct a view on how the village has generally changed through the association, by participatory observation and interviews. The conclusion suggests that the association, through its work for sustainable development, has contributed to a social empowerment. This is mainly because Loma Linda already has the necessary prerequisites. With a stable social infrastructure ASODILLs external networking and expansion made the association grow which included them in a wider political community that aims for similar objective and thereby are politically empowered. The association has not yet achieved any economic empowerment.  If a long-term empowerment is to be achieved the Guatemalan government must start to take the farmers political demand seriously or there is a risk that the local prosperity will not be long lasted.

This Thesis is an exploration into social change strategies in Appalachia that are alternative to conventional economic development practices and discourses. Drawing from original interviews with social justice activists in central and eastern Kentucky, I document a diversity of subversive discourses circulating in Appalachia, and I delineate models alternative to development that are driving action in several different communities. Through what one of my interviewees described as Appalachian ingenuity,1 individuals are enacting extremely hopeful and imaginative projects, and they are conjuring unique formulations that contribute to academic theories on alternative economies, capitalocentrism, neoliberalism, postmodern economics, anti-development, post-development, and spatial strategies of resistance and liberation.

In this contribution to the history of theory, the author reconsiders the impact of the Latin American dependency paradigm on Europe. The analysis does not deal with the reception of the Latin American dependency school itself, the focus lies on elements of this school as they were used to explain the European situation in the 1970s and 1980s. For that purpose, it delineates research networks and their analyses of core-periphery relations in Europe. All these networks had a critical attitude towards the old development paradigm. Some called it development "from above" or "to the outside". A new paradigm was to include strategic elements of a "selective spatial closure" and "self-reliance". For many, the European integration process played an important role in their estimates of future developments. Much of this analysis still seems relevant and topical today. The author considers it fruitful to take up the research agenda of the "European dependency school", to re-define it and adapt it to altered contemporary circumstances.

Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2015-07-02T12:32:26Z No. of bitstreams: 1 JosemarLorenzetti.pdf: 1207665 bytes, checksum: cdc148ecd292ba9381e8d6110c6c5442 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-02T12:32:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 JosemarLorenzetti.pdf: 1207665 bytes, checksum: cdc148ecd292ba9381e8d6110c6c5442 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Nenhuma / Esta dissertação trata das potencialidades locais que são ou podem vir a ser utilizadas para o desenvolvimento da Economia Solidária, tendo em vista o contexto da região de Sinop, no norte do Estado de Mato Grosso. Na busca de alternativas e a fim de superar as dificuldades e limites do modelo econômico instaurado neste espaço, apresentamos sua trajetória históricosocial e econômica, desde a colonização da década de 1970, e as potencialidades do discurso hegemônico que então nele se consolidaram. Ao delinearmos as diferenças entre os modelos de economia capitalista e solidária, com um trabalho bibliográfico e de campo, por meio de questionários e entrevistas, identificamos evidências de potencialidades da região de Sinop, válidas como lastro de um modelo alternativo de desenvolvimento, tais como a existência de setores da economia adaptáveis a modelos associativos e a disposição para o trabalho coletivo. Ao refletirmos sobre as diferentes potencialidades encontradas no contexto da pesquisa, finalizamos o trabalho com a abordagem do contributo da educação, especialmente das instituições formais, que possuem um importante papel na consolidação de modelos alternativos. / This dissertation deals with local potentialities in which are or may come to be used for the development of solidarity economy, in view of the context of the region of Sinop, in the north of the State of Mato Grosso. In search of alternatives and with the aim to overcome difficulties and limitations of the economic model established in this space, we present its economic and social-historical path, since the colonization in the 1970s decade and the potentialities of hegemonic discourse that then they were consolidated. We delineate the differences between the models of capitalist and solidarity economy, with a bibliographical and field work, through questionnaires and interviews, we identify evidences of potentialities of the region of Sinop, valid as indicative of an alternative model of development, such as the existence of sectors of economy adaptable to associative models and the willingness for a cooperative work. We think over the different potentialities encountered in the context of the research, we concluded the work with an approach of the contribution of education, especially to formal institutions that have an important role in the consolidation of alternative models.

The present article demonstrates the historical bases previous to the success of alternative development in the region San Martín. It shows that anti-drug policy was unable to successfully function during the 1980s due to an absence of basic security conditions in the region. The ar- ticle’s main objective consists in presenting how the state managed to meet said security condi- tions. Thus, this article is divided into two periods of analysis. First, it focuses on the time period from 1980 to 1989 and shows how generalized state repression resulted counterproductive in the region because of strong subversive forces. Second, it presents the time period from 1989 to 1995 and demonstrates how the exercise of sequential period of focalized repression facilitated an environment to fight against drug trafficking. In this way, the focalized strategy and sequence permitted the state to resume security conditions that in a post-boom and post-conflict situation permitted the implementation of alternative development programs. / El presente artículo muestra las bases históricas previas al éxito del desarrollo alternativo en la región San Martín. Se muestra que la política antidrogas no pudo llevarse a cabo exito- samente durante la década de los ochenta debido a la ausencia de condiciones de seguridad mínimas en la región. De esta manera, el principal objetivo del artículo consiste en presentar cómo el Estado logró alcanzar dichas condiciones de seguridad. Para ello, la investigación se divide analíticamente en dos períodos. El primero se extiende de 1980 a 1989 y muestra cómo la ‘represión generalizada’ del Estado resultó contraproducente en la región debido a la presencia subversiva. El segundo parte de 1989 y se extiende hasta 1995 y muestra cómo, al ejercer una ‘represión focalizada’, de carácter secuencial primero en la subversión se facilitó el terreno para después luchar contra el narcotráfico. De esta manera, esta estrategia focalizada y secuencial permitió retomar las condiciones de seguridad que, en una situación post-boom y post-conflicto,facilitaron la implementación de los programas de desarrollo alternativo.

How do transitions to sustainability emerge? Save Rosia Montana Campaign is a representative socio-environmental movement, that cancelled an open-cast gold mining project in the urban-village of Rosia Montana, Romania. After almost 20 years of conflict with the mining project initiators, the people that oppose mining are now struggling for implementing tourism as an alternative development of the place, that could allow the possibility of sustainable development. The research aims to assess the extent that Rosia Montana represents an example of an environmental conflict that generates change towards sustainable development. The paper reconstructs the history of conflict around Rosia Montana by using the theoretical framework of ecological distribution conflict, while it's investigating the outcomes that this struggle produced. By revealing the visions of sustainable development and the challenges experienced by the opposition to mining, we can understand the notion of alternatives in conflict. The alternatives to development from Rosia Montana are questioning conventional perceptions of development and democracy, while requesting social transformation for meeting their needs and enhancing their quality of life.

Contrary to the predictions made by classical modernization theory that ethnic traditions and religion would die out, they have proved to be surprisingly resilient throughout the world. In contemporary times various revitalization movements have been on the rise and from Africa to Asia scholars have been debating what seems to be a growing attention to tradition and culture. This thesis, based on empirical material from a minor field study in Vanuatu, will elaborate upon revivalist tendencies in a small island country. The purpose of the thesis is to examine expressions of revival of tradition, their causes and their possible implications for the country and its inhabitants. Modernization theory and the contesting paradigm of Alternative development create the foundation of the work while Globalization and the notion of Neotraditionalism are used as further theoretical points of reference. The thesis main findings are that tradition is used as a political strategy in Vanuatu and that a present neotraditional ideology offers both opportunities and pitfalls to the future development of the country. Based on the understanding gained from the field study, the message of this thesis lies in the importance of keeping an open mind when discussing development.

The purpose of this study was to identify and analyze cause of disempowerment for the population of Palestine. The design of the research took the shape of a descriptive case study and the method used to fulfill the purpose was a qualitative text analysis. The material used for the study derives from various books and research journals on the Israeli-Palestine conflict, but most of all observational reports from international organizations. The theory used is a multi-dimensional one and is Friedmann’s (dis)empowerment model where five mechanisms; defensible life space, surplus time, knowledge and skills, instruments of work and livelihood and financial resources have been used as the analytical framework. The conclusion of the study is that there are several factors causing disempowerment following the analysis or the theoretical mechanisms respectively. These are connected to armed hostilities between Israel and Gaza, settlement expansions in the West Bank and the occupational status of Palestine. Supported by the material analyzed, these infringements need to cease combined with exterior help in order for the situation to markedly improve.