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6711. Making Anti-Corruption Regulation Effective for the Private Sector

Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Transparency International
Abstract:
A comprehensive regulatory framework for the private sector is a prerequisite for a transparent, honest and just society: where regulation is weak, corruption risks grow strong. As the primary rule makers and enforcers, governments have a responsibility to ensure the effective regulation of markets, protection of citizens and enforcement of laws. Ultimately, an inadequate or unstable regulatory framework for the private sector — without the will, power or resources to enforce legislation — facilitates the marginalisation of stakeholder rights, distortion of markets and negligent or corrupt practices.
Topic:
Security, Corruption, Genocide, Markets, and Law
Political Geography:
Russia, United Kingdom, and Brazil

6712. Building Corporate Integrity Systems to Address Corruption Risks

Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Transparency International
Abstract:
Corporate integrity is often perceived to be the product of ethical leadership, strong compliance and effective regulations that prevent and sanction wrong-doing. While these elements are essential, each on their own is not sufficient to comprehensively and sustainably tackle the broad range of interrelated corruption risks that face companies.
Topic:
Corruption, Crime, International Trade and Finance, and Markets

6713. Countering Cartels to End Corruption and Protect the Consumer

Publication Date:
07-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Transparency International
Abstract:
Cartels are illegal and costly. They inflate prices for consumers, exact an economic toll on countries and undermine the integrity of companies. Cartels can form in any sector, ranging from health care and transport, to construction and telecommunications. They leave no industry untouched or consumer unburdened. When companies engage in collusion by conspiring to fix prices, markets become inefficient and consumers bear unjustified price hikes that can reach up to 100 per cent.
Topic:
Corruption, Economics, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Law

6714. Strengthening Corporate Governance to Combat Corruption

Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Transparency International
Abstract:
The collapse of global financial markets in September 2008 has ignited a debate on what caused their quick undoing. As captured in the comments of the OECD Secretary-General, there is a growing sentiment that poor corporate governance is one of the forces to blame. It allowed the transparency, accountability and integrity of companies to be compromised and for abuses to go unchecked, particularly on matters of corruption.
Topic:
Corruption, Genocide, Markets, and Financial Crisis

6715. Post-War and Post-Conflict Challenges for Development Cooperation

Author:
Sabine Kurtenbach
Publication Date:
05-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Institute for Development and Peace
Abstract:
Conflict and violence have become an important context for development cooperation during the last decade. Donors not only have to cope with the consequences of conflict in their day-to-day work on the ground, but also need to develop strategies in the fields of early warning and prevention, as well as instruments for conflict analysis and conflic-sensitive approaches for cooperation. At the same time, external actors have been important supporters for many peace processes aiming at the termination of armed conflicts and violence. When wars or armed conflicts end (or at least when violence on the ground decreases) the hope for sustainable peacebuilding grows. UN General Secretary Ban Ki Moon pointed out the importance of the immediate post-conflict/post-war period in a report to the Security Council on June 11, 2009: “The immediate post-conflict period offers a window of opportunity to provide basic security, deliver peace dividends, shore up and build confidence in the political process, and strengthen core national capacity to lead peacebuilding efforts.” This gives a first impression of the many challenges internal and external actors face; at the same time experiences on the ground show that liberal peacebuilding conceived as a profound transformation process is a difficult endeavour.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Political Violence, Development, War, and Armed Struggle
Political Geography:
United Nations

6716. The Foreign Policy of Iran: Ideology and pragmatism in the Islamic Republic

Author:
Katrine Barnekow Rasmussen
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
This is a brief English version of a Danish DIIS Report on the foreign policy of Iran. In the Report, Iran's foreign policy is investigated both ideologically and in respect of its pragmatic motivations.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, Foreign Policy, Islam, Oil, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:
United States, Iran, and Asia

6717. Are the northern sea routes really the shortest?

Author:
Svend Aage Christensen
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
We hear a lot about changes in the extension of the ice cover in the Arctic Ocean. Reading the headlines in the newspapers one gets the impression that the Arctic Ocean will soon be ice-free.
Topic:
Climate Change, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, Treaties and Agreements, and International Affairs

6718. Afghanistan: New U.S. Administration, New Directions

Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
Seven years after the U.S.-led intervention in Afghanistan the country is still at war against extremists and has developed few resilient institutions. A policy review by the Obama administration has reopened debate about how to defeat the forces of violent global jihadism – al-Qaeda and its Taliban protectors – in Afghanistan and in neighbouring Pakistan. In most cases, the ideas on offer – from declaring victory and pulling out, to negotiating with the insurgents, to organising regional conferences, to prioritising relationships with favoured individuals and allies over the development of strong democratic institutions – have been tried at least once in the past two decades, with no success: we know now what not to do.
Topic:
Political Violence, Islam, and War
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, and Central Asia

6719. North Caucasus Weekly - Volume X, Issue 9

Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:
In this issue: Six Policemen Killed in Ingushetia Bombing Kadyrov Faces Fresh Accusations of Ordering Hits Abroad Kadyrov Defends Honor Killings Kadyrov Again Invited Zakaev to Return to Chechnya Briefs Dokka Umarov Suffers Setback in Turkey By Mairbek Vatchagaev.
Topic:
Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:
Russia and Turkey

6720. The Future of the Chiang Mai Initiative: An Asian Monetary Fund?

Author:
C. Randall Henning
Publication Date:
02-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
In September 1997, at the outset of the last global financial crisis, the Japanese Ministry of Finance proposed the creation of an Asian Monetary Fund. Although this particular proposal was scuttled, the idea of a common regional fund on which East Asian governments might draw in times of financial turmoil survives. The region's disaffection from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), stemming from the 1997–98 crisis, sustains this idea and a desire on the part of individual countries to self-insure with large holdings of foreign exchange reserves. East Asian governments and central banks have created a set of bilateral swap arrangements (BSAs) dubbed the Chiang Mai Initiative (CMI) and are negotiating among themselves to build these BSAs into a more comprehensive facility. Some Asian officials hope that such a facility could underpin exchange rate cooperation and monetary integration in the region, although such proposals remain for the moment long-term visions.
Topic:
Economics, International Cooperation, International Trade and Finance, Regional Cooperation, and Financial Crisis
Political Geography:
Japan, Israel, and Asia