Academic literature on the topic 'Privatization – Social aspects – Zambia'

Subject. As Russia integrates into the world economy, it needs foreign investment, including the large-scale privatization of public property, especially in the banking sector. In the mean time, the process is coupled with positive effects, posing threats to the national security. Objectives. The study identifies and evaluates possible challenges and threats to the economic and food security, military capabilities and social tensions at the micro- and macrolevels, since the challenges and threats are associated with adverse effects of the privatization of the Russian credit institutions. Methods. The study is based on the dialectical method, systems approach, interpretation of empirical data and facts through charts and graphic representation. Results. I describe credit institutions with the prevalence of the State ownership, point out and analyze their economic and social role in the Russian economy. I reviewed foreign privatization practices in banking, including adverse effects on the economy. The article enlists potential threats to the national security that includes the sensitive data leakage, external governance of national processes, criminalization of administrative agencies, destructive activities of non-residents and failure to achieve economic results desired for the federal budget. I prepared and substantiate proposals on the privatization of banks, including the limit of stock portfolio, which can be sold without a detriment to the national security. Conclusions and Relevance. The prevailing shareholding of the State in the capital of some banks is importance for the stewardship of economic and social processes nationwide. The privatization should not entail the loss of the national sovereignty.

RésuméCet article traite de certains aspects du système de santé canadien qui secouent la cohésion sociale. Le plus populaire de tous les programmes sociaux, le système de santé, est régi par cinq principes définis dans laLoi canadienne de la santé. Chacun en soi et comme ensemble, ces principes contribuent à la cohésion sociale. Le système universel est cependant sous attaque de la part de différentes élites qui souhaitent privatiser certains éléments et dont la stratégie principale est appelée ici privatisation à la dérobée. Le texte aborde la rupture de la cohésion sociale par la privatisation de manière générale mais aussi en analysant le cas des centres communautaires ontariens d'accès aux soins qui sous-traitent, à travers la province, des fonds publics à des agences de soins à domicile qu'ils soient à buts lucratifs ou non.

The ACA shifted U.S. health policy from centering on principles of actuarial fairness toward social solidarity. Yet four legal fixtures of the health care system have prevented the achievement of social solidarity: federalism, fiscal pluralism, privatization, and individualism. Future reforms must confront these fixtures to realize social solidarity in health care, American-style.

Abstract: The educational system of Argentina has undergone a process of decentralization along with a steady growth in private schools enrolment. This complex process is usually subsumed under the general concept of ‘privatization’. We have considered it necessary to provide a deeper understanding of the multiple dimensions this process of privatization encompasses. In this article we intend to analyze and reflect upon the transformations of the Argentine educational system and to understand the specific levels and aspects where privatization has taken place. We note that the public and the private sectors seem to have experienced divergent trajectories with compromising effects in terms of equity and social cohesion. We argue that the uneasy coexistence of a deregulated independent private sector and a hyperregulated public sector is the result of a partial and inadequate implementation of a public-private partnership scheme.

This paper focuses on the comparison of corporate social responsibility in mining industry. It compares specific territorial areas of two different countries – one of them country that could be called as semi-periphery or even core country and the second one a periphery country. The first one is Czech Republic (Northern Bohemia area) and the second one is Zambia (Copperbelt area). CSR activities in Copperbelt have played primarily an ameliorative role in the context of significant social disruption and uncertainty in the wake of privatization. Some experts say there are still important gaps between mining companies’ CSR activities, on the one hand, and accountability and fairness, on the other. The CSR concept is relatively new in the Czech Republic – but more and more discussed and interesting for many firms. The Czech company “Severočeské doly” was one of the finalists of the national round of the competition “The European Corporate (Social) Responsibility Award” in 2007. The aim of this paper is to find the opportunities the companies working in this industry use, and how the system of CSR is developed. It analysis the areas they concentrate on in their CSR activities and compares it with theoretical concept. The comparison is based on secondary data as well as on personal experience of visiting both of these areas and companies.

Even though the West, or Global North, initiates extensive development policymaking and project activity on the African continent, this study argues that one source of major frustration between different parties entrusted to do the work arises from cognitive differences in their worldviews. These differences affect people's actions and have theological ramifications involving how we all understand meaning and reality. The study employs a case method analyzed through the lens of Alfred Schutz's sociology of knowledge theories and augmented by insights from African scholars to look at basic perceptual differences between Zambians and expatriates working on the Copperbelt Province's mines. After exploring how participants in the study interpreted various experiences, this study concludes that Zambians and expatriates were essentially living in "parallel universes" of meaning regardless of their apparently shared activities and objectives. The study further argues that viewpoints expressed by Zambian participants can be extrapolated into powerful lessons for members of civil society who are concerned about international development and the environment. Such teaching elements could especially help reshape how Americans and other Westerners understand ourselves in relation to physical creation and the cosmos as well as to those from radically different cultures. Lessons learned from the Zambian perspective could also help reinvigorate Western theological thinking, providing much needed critiques of discourses that currently dominate international development policymaking and planning and that determine value principally according to economic strategies and fulfillment of efficient, measurable objectives.
Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2007.

This study aimed to explore the gender imbalances that exist in access to education and participation in schooling of the female orphans and vulnerable children, and also how this relates to the continuing feminisation of the HIV and AIDS pandemic in Zambia. The study was based on the premise that the girl child is disadvantaged in this area, and the HIV and AIDS pandemic in worsening the situation for female orphans and vulnerable children.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2000.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This assignment seeks to explore the role of privatisation in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) to South Africa and Zambia. In doing this, literature review method based on primary and secondary documentary sources have been utilised. In order to attract FDI, the study revealed that it is necessary to get the policy environment right. Creating an investor-friendly environment which promises good return on investment in line with the international "regulatory" framework - the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA) requirements - is therefore significantly important. The World Bank regards Zambia's privatisation programme as the model for Africa. South Africa finds itself in a contradictory position. On the one hand it is the leading economic power in Africa, while on the other hand it still lags behind in terms of restructuring its parastatals. Privatisation programme in South Africa has been very slow. However, the government and other stakeholders, particularly in 1997, have been trying to get privatisation off the ground. The conclusion is that both South Africa and Zambia succeeded in attracting FDI through their processes of privatisation. In both countries major FDI inflows have been an outcome of privatisation. FDI is important for creating employment, debt reduction, empowerment, transfer of technology and managerial skills. However, these countries follow different approaches to privatisation. Due to the slow privatisation pace in South Africa, it is recommended that South Africa learn from Zambia's approach and experience. This would enable South Africa to fully explore some of the benefits of privatisation.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie opdrag ondersoek die rol van privatisering in die trek van direkte buitelandse beleggings (DBB) in Suid-Afrika en Zambie. Ten einde hierdie doelstelling te kon bereik is 'n literere oorsig van primere en sekondere bronne gedoen. Hierdie studie het bevind dat 'n gunstige beleidsomgewing DBB sal trek. Die skep van 'n beleggings-vriendelike omgewing wat goeie dividende beloof en in Iyn is met die internasionale "regulerende" raamwerk - die Wereldbank se International Finance Corporation (IFC), Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) en World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA) - se vereistes is van kardinale belang. Die Wereld Bank beskou Zambie se privatiseringsprogram as die model program vir Afrika. Suid-Afrika bevind haarself in 'n teenstrydige posisie. Aan die een kant is sy Afrika se voorste ekonomiese moondheid, en aan die anderkant is die programme om haar staatsondernemings te herstruktureer nog in hul kinderskoene. Privatiseringsprogramme in Suid Afrika het tot dusver baie stadig verloop. In 1997 het die regering en ander belanghebbende partye egter privatisering van die grond af probeer kry. Die konklusie is dat beide Suid-Afrika en Zambie daarin geslaag het om DBB te lok met hul privatiseringsprogramme. In beide lande was groot DBB die uitkoms van privatisering. DBB is belangrik om werk te skep, skuld vereffening, bemagtiging, en die oordrag van tegnologie en bestuursvaardighede. Hierdie lande volg egter verskillende benaderings tot die privatiseringsproses. Vanwee die stadige privatiseringsproses in Suid Afrika word die voorstel gemaak dat Suid-Afrika by Zambie leer in hul benadering en ervaring. Dit sal Suid-Afrika toelaat om al die voordele van privatisering te ontdek.

This study investigates the impact of the Times of Zambia gender policy on journalistic practices. The policy was formulated to address issues of representation of women both in news coverage and at an institutional level. In spite of the implementation of the editorial gender policy, no change in gendered representation is evident. As a media practitioner and a Zambian woman concerned with social justice, I set out to investigate the impact of this policy on journalistic practices. The study is informed by a Cultural Studies approach to media studies, specifically drawing on the 'circuit of culture' (du Guy et ai, 1997) and focused on two specific 'moments', namely representation and production. Data was collected using two qualitative methods, namely document analysis and semi-structured in-depth interviews. The document analysis established that this policy is informed by a liberal feminist approach to media and identified the weaknesses in its formulation. The subsequent semi-structured in-depth interviews probed the practices and perceptions of male and female journalists and editors in relation to the degree of change in gendered representation in the news. This study finds that the editorial gender policy at the Times of Zambia has not had any significant impact on the journalistic practices and it probed the reason for this lack of effectiveness. It argues that this can be partially attributed to the orientation of the policy within a liberal feminist paradigm which neglects the internal and external factors that influence the representation of women and men in news production. Further, this position ignores the societal structures and power relations which impact, albeit unintentional, on the treatment of news. Inter-organisational factors such as profit maximisation, political interference, the use of news values and news beats are identified as leading to the exclusion of representations of women in hard news. At an intra-organisational level, lack of importance attached to the policy by senior staff and their attitudes to news production in general have meant that the policy was not enacted or ensured in any meaningful way. The study also established that the patriarchal values that characterise Zambian society influence journalists ' and editors' treatment of news, thus making the implementation of the policy ineffective.
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This study investigates Zambians’ construction of identities based on their following of the English soccer premier league. The study seeks to understand how Zambian supporters of this league construct their identities based on their encounter with foreign teams/players and how they appropriate the meanings obtained through such viewing in their daily lives. The study is informed by the theories of fandom. Using an ethnographic critique of the media imperialism thesis, the study attempts to explore the meanings that the fans of the English soccer league in urban Lusaka make of the mediated soccer games, while in and outside the viewing spaces – the bars – where the games are ritually watched in groups. Based on the qualitative methods of focus group discussions, individual in-depth interviews and observations, the study probes the phenomenon of the consumption of English premier league football in countries abroad, focusing specifically on the experiences of fans in Lusaka, Zambia. Observation of this phenomenon in Lusaka reveals that fans find pleasure in the tactics that the teams in the league display, the professionalism of the players, goal scoring and self-empowerment for the few women supporters. This study probes these issues in greater depth. The foremost conclusion of the research is that it neither completely rejects nor accepts the media imperialism thesis. Instead, meanings should be understood within the context of the lived experience and reality of the fans.

Thesis (DTh (Practical Theology and Missiology))--Stellenbosch University, 2008.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This work is about a missiological praxis for the creation of 'Circles of Hope' as an entry point for faith based organisations and, particularly, local churches in Zambia for an effective battle in the fight against HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus). The HIV pandemic is one of the worst tragedies to have befallen humankind in the 21st century. Lost to many people is the fact that it does not affect all regions of the globe equally. Figures show that over 70% of PLWHA (people living with HIV) are in sub Saharan-Africa while most affected are young and therefore, in theory, energetic. With an overall HIV prevalence rate of 16% and a life expectancy of 34 years, HIV has severely impacted the lives of Zambians across the country. Stigma remains one of the most significant challenges in Zambia across the prevention-to-care continuum. The wider environment of these effects and statistics has provided for us the wider contextual situation. The Church in Zambia and, indeed, in the entire sub-Saharan African region cannot afford to hide its head in the sand anymore. The impact of HIV is being felt at all levels of society. This has posed a threat to economic progress and human development by attacking the most economically productive age group and reversing gains in life expectancy and child survival. The increasing burden on health budgets has stretched national and community resources to the limit, leaving no room for complacency or pretence about the magnitude of the problem. Since some members of the Church are positively infected, we can safely say of the Church: the body of Christ has HIV. HIV is a national disaster. It cannot be managed without mobilising all the sectors within a nation. The Church in Zambia needs to make HIV prevention a matter of compelling priority. The Church is an instrument for the missional praxis of the triune God. Theology in this work is not so much a scientific endeavour that begins and ends with analysing contexts and texts, rather it is an imaginative way of finding new answers to the new situation brought about by the presence of HIV (Hendriks, 2004: 30). In this work the researcher contends that measures are required to develop strong theological reflections and education which would result in the establishment of Circles of Hope in all local congregations. These Circles of Hope would act as a fountain for promoting behavioural change, support action for safer sexual behaviour, and combat stigmatisation and discrimination against people with known HIV infection. There must be appropriate theological reflections that touch on the work of the reign of God. A relevant HIV theology will necessarily involve the laity, will watch out for fundamentalist views, will be biblical in nature and will draw from Trinitarian understanding. The basis of moving from a theology of punishment to that of care, truth, freedom, justice and peace is the theology of community and companionship. This reflection is an attempt to have constructive interpretation of the present realities brought about by a time of HIV. One can only discern God‘s will for the present situation through critical and sensitive leadership in order to bring about genuine healing. The role of the local church and networking activities are essential commodities to realise a vision of a Zambia that is HIV competent. This then is the new ministerial strategy being spearheaded by the 'Circles of Hope' programme of the Council of Churches in Zambia. It is a challenge for Zambian churches.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die navorsing handel oor ʼn missiologiese begronde praksis vir die skepping van 'Kringe van Hoop' as 'n beginpunt vir geloofsgebaseerde organisasies en spesifiek die plaaslike kerk in Zambië in hulle stryd teen MIV (Menslike Immuniteits Virus). Die MIV pandemie is een van die ergste tragedies wat die mensdom in die 21ste eeu getref het. Wat baie mense nie altyd besef nie, is dat dit nie oral in die wêreld dieselfde impak het nie. Statistiek wys daarop dat meer as 70% van alle MIV positiewe mense Suid van die Sahara woon. Die meerderheid van die geïnfekteerdes is jonk met baie potensiaal. 16% van die bevolking in Zambië is MIV positief en het 'n lewensverwagting van 34 jaar. Die uitwerking hiervan raak die land en al sy mense. Naas voorkoming en versorging bly een van die grootste uitdagings wat die gemeenskap in Zambië moet aanspreek stigmatisering. Die groter konteks Suid van die Sahara vorm die agtergrond van elke land se spesifieke probleme. Ook Zambië en met name die kerk in Zambië sal die feite in die oë moet kyk. Die pandemie is 'n bedreiging vir ekonomiese vooruitgang en menslike ontwikkeling omdat dit die ekonomies mees produktiewe ouderdomsgroep afmaai, lewensverwagting verlaag en kindersterftes laat toeneem. Die toenemende las op die gesondheidsbegroting het die nasionale en gemeenskapshulpbronne grootliks uitgeput. Die omvang van die probleem kan op geen manier meer ontken en negeer word nie. Aangesien baie lidmate MIV positief is, kan 'n mens goedskiks verklaar dat die liggaam van Christus MIV het. Dit is ʼn nasionale tragedie. Die pandemie kan nie bestry word sonder dat al die sektore van die samelewing daarteen gemobiliseer is nie. Die kerk in Zambië moet die voorkoming van MIV as 'n uiters noodsaaklike prioriteit beskou. Die Kerk is 'n instrument vir die missionêre praksis van die drie-enige God. Die navorsing beskou teologie nie as 'n wetenskaplike onderneming wat bloot handel oor 'n analise van kontekste en tekste nie. Teologie is iets waarin jy handelend en verbeeldingryk toetree tot die aanspreek van 'n veelbewoë situasie en antwoorde probeer vind op die probleme (Hendriks, 2004: 30). Die navorsing werk met die hipotese dat die probleem vanuit 'n teologiese hoek benader moet word sodat teologiese beginsels die praktykteorie van Kringe van Hoop in plaaslike gemeentes sal onderskraag. Die studie voorsien dat die Kringe van Hoop die hoof dryfveer sal wees wat gedragsverandering sal bevorder, veiliger seksuele gedrag sal aanmoedig, en die stryd teen die stigmatisering en diskriminasie sal voer. Gepaste teologiese refleksie oor die heerskappy van God is noodsaaklik. 'n Revelante HIV teologie sal gewone lidmate insluit, sal bedag wees op fundamentalistiese sieninge, sal bybels wees en sal gebaseer wees op ʼn trinitariese godsbegrip. Die teologiese basis vir die wegbeweeg van 'n teologie van straf/oordeel na een van versorging, waarheid, vryheid, geregtigheid en vrede, is geleë in gemeenskap en kameraadskap. Hierdie refleksie is 'n poging om in 'n tyd van HIV 'n konstruktiewe interpretasie te gee van die huidige realiteite. Kritiese en sensitiewe leierskap behoort in die huidige situasie te poog om God se wil te soek om die gebrokenheid van 'n MIV siek gemeenskap aan te spreek. Die rol van die plaaslike kerk en netwerkingsaktiwiteite is onontbeerlik vir die realisering van die visie van ʼn Zambië sonder MIV. Die 'Kringe van Hoop'-program van die Zambiese Raad van Kerke is 'n bedieningstrategie wat die MIV pandemie wil aanspreek en wat die kerk in Zambië uitdaag om mee te doen.

This chapter seeks to show how the society of the digital swarm we live in has changed the way individuals behave to the point that we have become Homo digitalis. These changes occur with information privatization, meaning that not only are we passive consumers, but we are also producers and issuers of digital communication. The overarching argument of this reflection is the disappearance of the “reality principle” in the political, economic, and social spheres. This text highlights that the loss of the reality principle is the effect of microblogging as a digital practice, the uses of which can either impoverish the space of people's experience to undermine the public space or achieve the mobilization of citizens against of the censorship of the traditional means of communication by authoritarian political regimes, such as the case of the Arab Spring in 2011.

This chapter deals with economic justice and Rawls' difference principle. Macronism is not a uniquely French phenomenon. Like Thatcherism and Reaganism, it reflects a consensus between the winners of globalization and the economic order of a post-Cold-War world. The small-mean class, comprised of the working classes as well as the lower-middle class that largely form the movement of the gilets jaunes, has been sacrificed at the altar of austerity, privatization and the retreat of the state from social services. The particular brand of liberal-libertarianism being promoted by Macron is reminiscent of the worst aspects of Rawls and Nozick — with small amounts of wealth redistribution justifying large inequalities, and a laissez-faire economic model for those at the very top. A new social contract is desperately needed, one that gives economic concerns their proper weight and addresses the need for justice and solidarity discussed in this chapter.

The concept of automation was first seeded worldwide by Industrial Revolution. Liberalization and privatization has contributed much in the welcome of updated and upgraded technology in India. World Wide Web being the core connector of earth rightly supports Mc Luhan's concept of the ‘Global Village'. ICT- Information and Communication Technology is an initiative cum phenomenon that is taken on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in order to build a bridge between the two sections of the society (technology haves and have nots) so that it is accessible to all. e-Governance, e-Health and e-Commerce are some of its applications. India has witnessed a number of successful E- Projects. Nonetheless, the argument of social exclusion, questions on technology support communication and information dissemination is still on. The article intends to throw light on various aspects keeping in line with the ICT projects in India, the type of ICT usage and a comparison between the already established communication models.

The concept of automation was first seeded worldwide by Industrial Revolution. Liberalization and privatization has contributed much in the welcome of updated and upgraded technology in India. World Wide Web being the core connector of earth rightly supports Mc Luhan's concept of the ‘Global Village'. ICT- Information and Communication Technology is an initiative cum phenomenon that is taken on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in order to build a bridge between the two sections of the society (technology haves and have nots) so that it is accessible to all. e-Governance, e-Health and e-Commerce are some of its applications. India has witnessed a number of successful E- Projects. Nonetheless, the argument of social exclusion, questions on technology support communication and information dissemination is still on. The article intends to throw light on various aspects keeping in line with the ICT projects in India, the type of ICT usage and a comparison between the already established communication models.

This chapter applies a feminist political ecology lens to episodes of climate change-related water insecurity in three Southeast Asian peri-urban area sites affected by flooding, water shortages, and pollution induced by long dry spells and heavy precipitation. It presents highlights from a 3-year research project that examined the everyday lives of women as they “deal with water” in the context of increasing water pollution, water scarcity, and flooding compounded by neoliberal socioeconomic conditions. These accounts illustrate how in water- and climate-change contexts, the neoliberal logics of privatization, commercialization, and reified separation between “the natural” and “the social” engage closely with emotions and intersectional gender subjectivities. The use of a feminist political ecology lens offers more holistic and grounded ways of probing into people’s experiences of climate-related water insecurity and stresses, aspects of which are often missed: gendered violence, hierarchies of place, affect, and insecurity in everyday life.

<em>Abstract</em>.—By the 1990s, widespread fisheries restructuring triggered by the implementation of the individual transferable quota (ITQ) system and market-derived impacts of globalization had occurred in most aspects of the Icelandic fishery sector. The consequences of privatization of fishery resources have transformed management in regulating access to the resource, processing, corporate ideology, and the reproduction of labor. Economic rationality, marketability, efficiency, and managerial innovations in effect are both the mantra and imperative accompanying concentration and consolidation. Social and environmental costs are widely observable in many coastal communities that were the former lifeblood of the Icelandic economy. This chapter presents an account of the policy implications of cutbacks in Atlantic cod <em>Gadus morhua </em>allocations and discusses their effect on coastal communities around Iceland. It will focus on the response of fishery companies to a changed structural environment, as well as their role in shaping the new sector with special emphasis on the economic rationale of leading seafood companies. In this context, this chapter explores the impact of the transformation in the fisheries sector on effects of the ITQ system on stocks; on fishing and fishers; on the processing sector; on labor, particularly that of women; and on communities.

The influence of organizational factors on the success of informatics interventions in healthcare has been clearly demonstrated. This health specific research, informed by a larger body of evidence emerging from interdisciplinary organizational, psychological and sociological research, has confirmed the view that organizational factors can be the decisive factor in the success of an intervention (Lorenzi et al, 1997). However it remains rare for organizational factors to be explicitly addressed in the implementation process. As such their contribution to the success or failure of informatics applications is not properly understood. This has implications for future interventions. Applications which were not utilized or did not perform adequately in a particular setting may be dismissed, while other, less appropriate systems may be adopted because organizational factors influenced their success. Explicit study of the role of organizational factors on the implementation of health informatics interventions is necessary to develop an understanding of their influence in the healthcare context. Healthcare organizations tend to be highly task oriented, labor intensive and dependent on interdisciplinary teamwork, so the influence of organizational factors within them may differ considerably from the business settings in which they have traditionally been studied (Chau, 2001). Health organisations are also increasingly underresourced due to the global downturn in government social spending, health sector privatization and aging populations. It is these characteristics which necessitate rapid uptake of informatics applications, capable of automating aspects of healthcare provision and reducing labor intensity (Coiera, 2004). From a technical perspective, rapid and fundamental transformation of the healthcare sector through informatics is achievable. However, without a clear understanding of, and ability to manage organizational factors it is unlikely that informatics applications will realize their potential in the health sector. This short review provides an overview of the key organizational factors influencing the success of informatics interventions. It begins by positioning informatics interventions in the broader context of organizational change, before discussing the current understanding of selected factors.

A moving map of the progress of neoliberalization on the world stage since 1970 would be hard to construct. To begin with, most states that have taken the neoliberal turn have done so only partially–– the introduction of greater flexibility into labour markets here, a deregulation of financial operations and embrace of monetarism there, a move towards privatization of state-owned sectors somewhere else. Wholesale changes in the wake of crises (such as the collapse of the Soviet Union) can be followed by slow reversals as the unpalatable aspects of neoliberalism become more evident. And in the struggle to restore or establish a distinctive upper-class power all manner of twists and turns occur as political powers change hands and as the instruments of influence are weakened here or strengthened there. Any moving map would therefore feature turbulent currents of uneven geographical development that need to be tracked in order to understand how local transformations relate to broader trends. Competition between territories (states, regions, or cities) as to who had the best model for economic development or the best business climate was relatively insignificant in the 1950s and 1960s. Competition of this sort heightened in the more fluid and open systems of trading relations established after 1970. The general progress of neoliberalization has therefore been increasingly impelled through mechanisms of uneven geographical developments. Successful states or regions put pressure on everyone else to follow their lead. Leapfrogging innovations put this or that state (Japan, Germany, Taiwan, the US, or China), region (Silicon Valley, Bavaria, Third Italy, Bangalore, the Pearl River delta, or Botswana), or even city (Boston, San Francisco, Shanghai, or Munich) in the vanguard of capital accumulation. But the competitive advantages all too often prove ephemeral, introducing an extraordinary volatility into global capitalism. Yet it is also true that powerful impulses of neoliberalization have emanated, and even been orchestrated, from a few major epicentres. Clearly, the UK and the US led the way. But in neither country was the turn unproblematic. While Thatcher could successfully privatize social housing and the public utilities, core public services such as the national health-care system and public education remained largely immune.