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642. Public Sector Modernisation: Changing Organisational Structures
- Publication Date:
- 09-2004
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
- Abstract:
- Governments have always changed their structures to respond to new priorities in a changing society, or to improve the management of existing ones. They have also taken advantage of new capacities and better governance in society in general to put some of the functions previously performed in the core public service at arm's length, or even to privatise or contract them out.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Civil Society, Economics, and Government
643. Internationalisation of Higher Education
- Publication Date:
- 08-2004
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
- Abstract:
- Higher education has become increasingly international in the past decade as more and more students choose to study abroad, enrol in foreign educational programmes and institutions in their home country, or simply use the Internet to take courses at colleges or universities in other countries. This growth is the result of several different, but not mutually exclusive, driving forces: a desire to promote mutual understanding; the migration of skilled workers in a globalised economy; the desire of the institutions to generate additional revenues; or the need to build a more educated workforce in the home countries, generally as emerging economies.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Civil Society, Education, and Government
644. Economic Survey of the Russian Federation, 2004
- Publication Date:
- 07-2004
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
- Abstract:
- The major economic challenge facing Russia is the achievement of long-term, sustainable growth that would allow for a relatively rapid convergence between living standards in Russia and the OECD economies. The nature of this challenge is largely determined by Russia\'s economic structure. At present, Russia\'s economy is highly dependent on the export of a limited range of natural resources, chiefly hydrocarbons and metals. This presents policymakers with a number of specific problems. In particular, resource dependence makes the Russian economy especially vulnerable to external shocks. It is therefore difficult to overstate the importance of prudent macroeconomic policies, especially as the budget relies heavily on resource taxes and is thus influenced by volatile energy prices. Hence, exemplary fiscal discipline, in particular, is crucial to reducing Russia\'s vulnerability to commodity-price cycles. Yet while resource dependence brings with it certain macroeconomic risks, economic performance will continue to depend to a great extent on the performance of resource-exporting sectors for the foreseeable future. This makes reform of the natural gas sector an urgent priority. In the absence of substantial reform, the gas industry, which is critical to both exports and the domestic economy, could well stagnate or decline.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Development, and Economics
- Political Geography:
- Russia
645. To Give or Not to Give: The Crisis of Confidence in Charities
- Author:
- Paul C. Light
- Publication Date:
- 12-2003
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- Public confidence is essential to America's 1.5 million charitable organizations and the 11 million Americans they employ. Confidence clearly affects the public's willingness to donate time and money, shapes the political and regulatory environment that governs charitable organizations, and has at least some influence on morale within the charitable workforce.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Foreign Policy, Government, and Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- America
646. Building Intelligence to Fight Terrorism
- Author:
- James B. Steinberg, Mary Graham, and Andrew Eggers
- Publication Date:
- 09-2003
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- The Bush administration has begun to revise cold war rules governing national security information in order to counter terrorist threats to the United States. The president's homeland security plan calls for new intelligence efforts to protect the nation's borders, defend against threats within the United States, minimize infrastructure vulnerabilities, and improve emergency responses. Congress has given the new Department of Homeland Security responsibility for coordinating these strategies and assuring that accurate and complete information gets to those who need it.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Government
- Political Geography:
- United States
647. Addressing the Threat of Weapons of Mass Destruction: A moment of opportunity for the EU?
- Author:
- Ian Anthony
- Publication Date:
- 04-2003
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- EastWest Institute
- Abstract:
- A free market that controlled the number and type of arms available to states and to non-state actors on the basis of their financial means and technological capacity would breed insecurity and stimulate un-necessary military spending. Rules are needed to regulate military capacities, but questions abound. What kinds of rules are needed? How should these rules be applied? As is the case with the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), these rules could apply equally to all parties, and be universal and uniform in their application.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Human Welfare, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
- Political Geography:
- Europe
648. Work In Progress: Introducing the UNU Inter-Linkages Initiative: Focusing on the Implementation of Sustainable Development
- Author:
- Jerry Velasque and Uli Piest
- Publication Date:
- 05-2003
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- Embedded in the United Nations University's Environment and Sustainable Development Programme (ESD), the Inter-linkages Initiative is an innovative approach to managing sustainable development. Based on the recognition that environmental management is strongly related to human behaviour at all levels of natural and human interaction, it promotes greater connectivity between ecosystems and societal performance. On a practical level, the inter-linkages initiative is based on the assumption that improving the implementation of existing environmental mechanisms does not necessarily require new instruments but, rather, a greater level of coherence among the tools already available. In this regard, Interlinkages represents a time- and cost-effective approach to strengthening the existing systems of managing sustainable development.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Development, International Cooperation, and United Nations
649. Toward a More Secure America: Grounding U.S. Policies in Global Realities
- Author:
- David Cortright, Alistair Millar, George A. Lopez, and Linda M. Gerber
- Publication Date:
- 10-2003
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Fourth Freedom Forum
- Abstract:
- This policy brief grew out of discussions with a team of former national security and foreign policy officials held at the Washington office of the Fourth Freedom Forum in the summer of 2003. The brief was written by the staff of the Fourth Freedom Forum and the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, who are solely responsible for the report's specific content. The authors incorporated numerous comments and suggestions from the policy advisers. The policy advisers listed below endorse the general thrust of this report and generally agree with the findings presented. Each participant may not, however, be in full agreement with every specific point and detail. The policy advisers listed extend their endorsement as individuals, not as representatives of any organization.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Foreign Policy, Peace Studies, and Terrorism
- Political Geography:
- United States, America, and Washington
650. China Brief, Sars: Spreading Unrest
- Author:
- Willy Lam, William R. Hawkins, Harvey Stockwin, and Li Thian-hok
- Publication Date:
- 05-2003
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Jamestown Foundation
- Abstract:
- The spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome—the SARS virus—throughout China is a phenomenon that had previously been denied by authorities and had gone unreported. But the penetration of the disease is now being admitted publicly, and efforts to combat it have begun. While the immediate epidemic in Beijing appears to be in decline, the fear remains that the spread of SARS within China will still be difficult—and maybe impossible—to control, let alone to eliminate. World Health Organization (WHO) officials admit that what happens in China will “make or break” the course of the epidemic. China's neighbors, and particularly Hong Kong, worry that a failure to curtail the virus will inevitably result in a fresh round of crossborder infection, further intensifying the already grave economic impact of SARS on the region. At worst, a sustained epidemic could bring China's opening-up to the outside world to a screeching halt.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Government, and Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- China, Israel, Beijing, and Hong Kong
651. China Brief, Taiwan's presidential countdown: what does it mean for the united states?
- Author:
- Willy Lam, Arnold Zeitlin, John Tkacik, and Jonathan Mirsky
- Publication Date:
- 05-2003
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Jamestown Foundation
- Abstract:
- Could Taiwan's voters elect a pro-unification candidate in 2004? Can the challenger, Kuomintang chairman Lien Chan, put together an electoral consensus of ethnic mainlanders, Hakkas and ethnic Taiwanese investors in China that will begin the process of moving Taiwan into the embrace of the People's Republic of China? The polls indicate it could be a fifty-fifty proposition, especially if the campaign's focus is the economy—not national identity. Washington should begin to consider its substantial strategic stake in Taiwan, and rethink the message that its diplomats in Taipei are sending Taiwan's public.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Government, and Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- China and Israel
652. China Brief, New Disease, New Leaders, Same Old Regime
- Author:
- Willy Lam, Harvey Stockwin, Gordon G. Chang, and Richard D. Fisher
- Publication Date:
- 04-2003
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Jamestown Foundation
- Abstract:
- An epidemic, spread by official deception and indifference, is afflicting the Chinese people. What does this disease mean for the People's Republic of China?
- Topic:
- International Relations, Government, and Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- China and Israel
653. China Brief, Beijing studies the U.S. war in Iraq
- Author:
- Willy Lam, Gordon G. Chang, Richard D. Fisher, and Wangchuk Meston
- Publication Date:
- 04-2003
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Jamestown Foundation
- Abstract:
- Chinese strategic and military experts are scrutinizing the U.S. war in Iraq, and for several reasons. First, if American and British forces become bogged down in their effort to liquidate the regime of Saddam Hussein, then it is much less likely that Washington will soon target other rogue regimes with weapons of mass destruction, such as North Korea, a Chinese ally.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Government, and Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- China, Iraq, America, Washington, Israel, and North Korea
654. China Brief, National People's Congress: Popularity and power
- Author:
- Willy Lam, Harvey Stockwin, Gordon G. Chang, and M. D. Nalapat
- Publication Date:
- 03-2003
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Jamestown Foundation
- Abstract:
- Newly elected President Hu Jintao and his allies should take heart from the results of the recently concluded First Session of the Tenth National People's Congress (NPC).
- Topic:
- International Relations, Government, and Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- China and Israel
655. China Brief, Osama bin Laden in China
- Author:
- Willy Lam, Ahmad Lutfi, Gordon G. Chang, and Richard D. Jr. Fisher
- Publication Date:
- 03-2003
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Jamestown Foundation
- Abstract:
- Beijing often downplays the size of its Xinjiang problem for fear of exposing the difficulties it faces containing the “cancer of terrorism.” Since September 11, 2001, Beijing has been forced to reverse this policy due to repeated terrorist attacks. The most recent of these took place on February 25, 2003, when two bombs ripped through two of Beijing's most prestigious universities. The blasts shattered Beijing's long-held claim that it has been winning its war on terror.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Government, and Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- China, Israel, and Beijing
656. China Brief, Beijing: blockade buster?
- Author:
- Willy Lam, Gordon G. Chang, William C. Triplett, and Dr. Gulshan Dietl
- Publication Date:
- 02-2003
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Jamestown Foundation
- Abstract:
- Will Kim Jong Il just slam down the phone on China's president, Jiang Zemin? That's what Beijing wants us to think. “If Kim tells Jiang he is going to test a nuclear weapon unless Jiang gives him more aid, what do we do? We give him more aid. We don't have a choice,” says one Chinese analyst who has dealt with Pyongyang. “We have some influence, but we don't have the kind of relationship where we can tell Kim what to do. If we tell him to do something, he doesn't listen. If we threaten him, he listens even less. If Jiang called him, he might hang up.”
- Topic:
- International Relations, Government, and Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- China and Israel
657. China Brief, China's 7-percent solution
- Author:
- James E. Auer, Willy Lam, Gordon G. Chang, Richard D. Fisher, and Holmes Liao
- Publication Date:
- 01-2003
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Jamestown Foundation
- Abstract:
- “If we didn't have China I would be suicidal,” chief Morgan Stanley economist Stephen Roach said this month. “It's the only bright spot in the world economy.” And bright spot it is: Beijing announced that its gross domestic product grew 8 percent last year. The rate is so good that some are wondering whether the People's Republic can become the new engine for world growth.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Government, and Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- China and Israel
658. China Brief, Xu Wenli, into American exile
- Author:
- Robyn Lim, Willy Lam, Jonathan Mirsky, and Thomas Woodrow
- Publication Date:
- 01-2003
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Jamestown Foundation
- Abstract:
- On Christmas Eve the Chinese government released Xu Wenli, the founder of the country's tiny Democratic Party, into American exile. Xu has spent sixteen of the last twenty-one years behind bars. The most interesting comments on this event came from John Kamm, who for years has had no equal for occasionally persuading the Chinese government to free its political “enemies”.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Government, and Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- China, America, and Israel
659. Odious Debt
- Author:
- Michael Kremer and Seema Jayachandran
- Publication Date:
- 07-2002
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- When the international community wants to put pressure on a government that suppresses democracy and human rights, a common approach is to impose economic sanctions. Traditional sanctions, however, are often criticized as either ineffective or inhumane. The targeted government can find ways to evade them, and the sanctions may hurt rather than help the people in the country. For example, when trade sanctions are deployed, smugglers and even some national governments will likely flout them, enticed by profits boosted by the sanction itself. When trade sanctions are not evaded, the loss of national income can impoverish citizens. This policy brief proposes a new form of sanction that avoids these shortcomings and hence could be a valuable addition to the toolkit of sanctions available to the international community and national governments.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Economics, and Political Economy
660. Rebalancing United States-China Relations
- Author:
- Michael Swaine and Minxin Pei
- Publication Date:
- 02-2002
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Abstract:
- President George W. Bush's visit to China, Japan, and South Korea in February 2002 highlights the vital importance of the Asia-Pacific region to the United States. His stop in China will be especially significant. He will arrive in Beijing on precisely the 30th anniversary of Richard Nixon's historic journey to China, and at a time of notable—if limited—improvement in relations between China and the United States after one of periodic harsh rhetoric and tense confrontation.
- Topic:
- International Relations and Diplomacy
- Political Geography:
- United States, Japan, China, and Asia