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6042. Citizen Oversight and India’s Right to Work Program: What Do the Social Auditors Say?
- Author:
- Suchi Pande and Rakesh R. Dubbudu
- Publication Date:
- 09-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Accountability Research Center (ARC), American University
- Abstract:
- Can citizens’ voices improve the performance of large-scale government anti-poverty programs? India’s national rural employment guarantee program (NREGA) has provided employment to over 50 million households since its launch in 2005. NREGA also includes a transparency and accountability process—social audits—that enables collective action for public oversight. State governments are responsible for facilitating social audits through local governments, or panchayats, to prevent fraud and abuse of NREGA funds. In practice, however, a majority of local governments either lack capacity or are captured by vested interests. So far, only two state governments have created social audit units with the autonomy needed to prevent capture by vested interests. The states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana established a neutral body—the Society for Social Audit Accountability and Transparency (SSAAT)—that is independent both of the state government administration and political patronage networks. Over the last decade, SSAAT has organized over 9,125 public hearings across these two states. This exploratory study was carried out in partnership with SSAAT-Telangana, and it is the first to examine the performance of the state-run social audits from the perspective of the staff facilitating the audit. This study is based on an anonymized web survey of over three hundred lower mid-level staff involved in facilitating social audits in Telangana (60 percent of SSAAT’s full time working staff), as well on ethnographic research and key informant interviews. We ask readers to consider a distinction between the questions that address staff perception of corruption (which can’t be verified) and their perception of NREGA processes like demand for work and timely wages (which can be verified with administrative data).
- Topic:
- Poverty, Labor Issues, Accountability, Oversight, and Civic Engagement
- Political Geography:
- South Asia and India
6043. From the Ground Up: Multi-Level Accountability Politics in Land Reform in the Philippines
- Author:
- Francis Isaac, Danilo Carranza, and Joy Aceron
- Publication Date:
- 12-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Accountability Research Center (ARC), American University
- Abstract:
- In 1988, the Philippines enacted a land redistribution policy known as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). After almost three decades of implementation, an estimated 13 percent of the land targeted for redistribution remains in the hands of powerful landlords. This paper investigates the contestation involved in the implementation of agrarian reform through the lens of multi-level accountability politics. The Philippines’ longstanding campaign for agrarian reform has been led mainly by peasant organizations with deep links to the democracy movement. Following the transition from martial law to electoral politics in 1986, a broad coalition was able to secure the legislation of meaningful agrarian reform. Yet landlord power and impunity have managed to slow reform implementation. For decades, the peasant movement has struggled to push the government to implement its own laws, which involves direct conflict with landlords and their allies in government. In contrast to much of the research literature on accountability initiatives, which focuses on public goods and service provision, this study addresses the more openly contested process of implementing redistributive reform. The case of the Peasant Movement of Bondoc Peninsula (Kilusang Magbubukid ng Bondoc Peninsula, KMBP) sheds light on the contest over implementing land reform in the Philippines. This study narrates the struggle of KMBP through the lens of vertical integration—how campaigns target different levels of governance (village, municipality, national, etc.) to achieve meaningful change. Using vertical integration, the paper uses a new mapping tool to identify the wide variety of actions taken by KMBP and its partners, the level of governance they have targeted, and the level of intensity in which they were pursued. The Bondoc peasant movement worked to persuade the government to carry out its own land reform commitments, leading to the transfer of 10,000 hectares of land from some of the biggest landlords in the area to 3,800 tillers. This study shows how peasant organizations built their campaign from the ground up, starting around particular villages and landholdings and then building coalitions operating at the municipal, district, and national levels. This has allowed peasants to exert pressure on different levels of government, at times aided by national-level civil society organizations and media coverage. In a novel approach, the paper also maps the similarly vertically integrated efforts of anti-accountability forces— those with a vested interest in blocking reform. Owners of large landholdings have responded with harassment, physical violence, vote buying and political maneuvering to undermine reform implementation. The conventional approach to the study of accountability initiatives either leaves out the opposition or treats it as a mere residual category. The approach developed here, by analyzing the opposition through a multi-level lens, brings the anti-accountability forces and their strategies into the framework. This mapping of anti-accountability forces reveals their power to be also vertically integrated. Landlord resistance to policy implementation has been especially intense at the village and municipal levels, but they have also undertaken lobbying at the national level. Their coalition-building strategy even includes unlikely alliances with Maoist rebels, when their interests align. In addition to spotlighting the central role of peasant mobilization in promoting redistributive policy implementation, this paper’s broader takeaway emphasizes the relevance of analyzing accountability initiatives through mapping the varied repertoires of both pro- and anti-accountability forces.
- Topic:
- Politics, Accountability, Mobilization, Land Reform, and Community Engagement
- Political Geography:
- Philippines and Asia-Pacific
6044. The Opioid Crisis in North America
- Author:
- Global Commission On Drug Policy
- Publication Date:
- 10-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Global Commission On Drug Policy
- Abstract:
- The opioid-driven public health crisis in North America has reached alarming proportions, contributing in 2016 to an estimated 64,000 deaths from drug overdoses in the US, and some 2,500 in Canada. The members of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, several of whom faced similar crises while occupying the highest levels of government in their own countries, share in this position paper their views and recommendations on how to mitigate this epidemic.
- Topic:
- Drugs, Public Health, Health Crisis, and Opioid Crisis
- Political Geography:
- Canada, North America, and United States of America
6045. What Do They Pay? Towards a Public Database to Account for the Economic Activities and Tax Contributions of Multinational Corporation
- Author:
- Alex Cobham, Jonathan Gray, and Richard Murphy
- Publication Date:
- 02-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- City Political Economy Research Centre (CITYPERC), University of London
- Abstract:
- This paper reviews the prospects for a global public database on the tax contributions and economic activities of multinational companies. It is divided into four main sections. Firstly, we present a set of user stories, questions, requirements, and scenarios of usage for a database. Secondly, we look at what kinds of information a public database could and should contain. Thirdly, we look at the opportunities and challenges of building a public database drawing on various existing information sources. Fourthly and finally, we suggest next steps for policy, advocacy, and technical work towards a public database.
- Topic:
- Economics, Multinational Corporations, and Corporate Tax
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
6046. A Singapore on the Thames? Post-Brexit Deregulation in the UK
- Author:
- Anastasia Nesvetailova, Ronen Palan, Stefano Pagliari, John Grahl, Richard Murphy, Izabella Kaminska, and Thomas Christiansen
- Publication Date:
- 01-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- City Political Economy Research Centre (CITYPERC), University of London
- Abstract:
- The so-called 'Singapore on the Thames' scenarios for post-Brexit UK tend to envisage a country that has abandoned the red tape of EU regulations, likely adopted a unilateral free trade approach and introduced a low taxation regime for the corporate sector. Technically, it is possible to make Britain into a low corporate tax jurisdiction. However, while the abolition of corporation tax would create an entirely tax-free environment for foreign shareholders in UK companies, this measure would end up increasing taxes on UK privately owned businesses. In the financial sector post-Brexit, the deregulated fintech industry is likely to evolve along the historical path of the unregulated Eurodollar markets, creating additional risks for financial stability, transparency and the reputation of the UK. In reality, two sets of political-economic factors will influence the UK's economic strategy post-Brexit: domestic alliances and the international policy context.
- Topic:
- Regulation, Brexit, and Deregulation
- Political Geography:
- United Kingdom and Europe
6047. Avoiding the Pitfalls of Prevent
- Author:
- Joana Cook
- Publication Date:
- 12-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS)
- Abstract:
- Prevent, one of four strands of the UK government’s counter-terrorism strategy, aims to ‘stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.’ Established in 2003, Prevent has included numerous initiatives that have specifically focused on women, for example in the context of mosque reformation and the inclusion of ‘moderate voices,’ or the creation of women’s stakeholder groups (NMWAG) to advise the government on prevention issues. Some of these have proved to be highly contentious, and have undergone numerous transformations, with some even calling for the termination of the Prevent program altogether. This paper will outline some specific Prevent, and related countering violent extremism (CVE), initiatives that have focused on women and highlight key criticisms of both the initiatives themselves, and the wider UK counter-terrorism and CVE agenda. By interrogating these, it aims to offer a case study of how lessons learned in the UK can inform policy in other contexts where women are being engaged to counter violent extremism.
- Topic:
- Counter-terrorism, Women, and Countering Violent Extremism
- Political Geography:
- United Kingdom
6048. Women and Transitional Justice
- Author:
- Peace and Security (GIWPS) Georgetown Institute for Women
- Publication Date:
- 08-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS)
- Abstract:
- This volume attempts to share some of the ideas outlined in a Bridging Theory and Practice Symposium on the topic of women and transitional justice. In the following pages, Jennifer Moore presents a useful framework for how to conduct qualitative research that focuses on the work of women-led, community-based organizations in Uganda, Sierra Leone, and Burundi, and in doing so helps construct a research model that can be adapted across contexts. Rebekka Friedman provides reflections on women’s experiences in culturally mediated grieving and recovery processes in northern Sri Lanka. Anna Applebaum and Briana Mawby discuss the opportunities and challenges to engendering transitional justice processes in Kenya after the 2007-2008 post-election violence, paying particular attention to the ongoing and yet-to-be fully implemented Restorative Justice Fund.
- Topic:
- Elections, Women, Transitional Justice, Violence, and Community-based Organizations
- Political Geography:
- Uganda, Kenya, Africa, Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone, and Burundi
6049. Women’s Economic Participation in Conflict-Affected and Fragile Settings
- Author:
- Peace and Security (GIWPS) Georgetown Institute for Women
- Publication Date:
- 08-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS)
- Abstract:
- Globally, women continue to face significant cultural, institutional, and structural barriers to meaningful economic participation. These challenges are intensified for women living in or coming from countries embroiled in conflict. Yet, we know that women’s economic empowerment strengthens women’s rights and grants them increased control over their own lives, allows them to better provide for their families, and contributes to the advancement of their communities and societies. When women are empowered economically, they are safer and less likely to fall victim to domestic violence and sexually transmitted diseases, their children are more likely to go to school and stay in school longer, their daughters marry at later ages, their families are healthier, more sustainable, and more stable. As research clearly shows, women’s increased participation in the economy confers universal benefits. However, failure to analyze and understand how women uniquely contribute to the political, social, and economic environment hampers these societies’ abilities to codify viable peace and promote lasting prosperity. The inaugural volume of the Institute’s Occasional Paper Series reflect the Institute’s recent thematic workshop on women’s economic participation in post-conflict and fragile settings held at Georgetown University in December 2015. As part of Bridging Theory and Practice, this recent symposium brought together leading practitioners and academics to problematize the varied ways women’s full economic participation in fragile settings can and does contribute to more viable peace and lasting prosperity, as well as the myriad political, cultural, and structural barriers that hamper the realization of women’s agency in such contexts. At the conference, practitioners and scholars compared cases from across the globe, gained valuable insights from successful approaches, and uncovered lessons on how to overcome remaining barriers. Presenters covered a range of issues within the field, from gendered resiliency programming during humanitarian crises to the security and developmental implications of women’s land tenure, from the economic status of Syrian refugee women to protecting spaces for women’s economic participation in post-conflict settings. There was also significant discussion on the data that is missing and still needed, particularly surrounding women’s economic participation in conflict-affected areas, how that research can be pursued in the future, and how integral these missing pieces are to fully understanding the economic challenges that women face during conflict, as well as the opportunities that arise out of these difficult times. While it would be impossible to detail the entirety of the thought-provoking discussions that occurred, this volume attempts to share some of the ideas outlined in that symposium. In the following pages, Ann Hudock identifies the key spaces women need safeguarded in fragile contexts if they are to unleash their economic potential. Subsequently, Karen Sherman and Sarah Williamson dive deeply into case studies on South Sudanese women and Syrian refugee women, respectively. Sherman elucidates the obstacles South Sudanese women face in achieving any semblance of economic stability, the methods they employ to overcome such obstacles, and the perils of not facilitating women’s full economic participation in this fragile setting. Williamson unpacks detailed data surrounding the limited employment and economic opportunities Syrian women enjoy both in Syria and across the larger Middle East and North Africa region as refugees. In doing so, she not only unveils the coping mechanisms families in crisis must deploy to meet the challenges of living in protracted crisis and how those mechanisms uniquely and adversely impact women and girls, but she also paints a way forward. Each article provides a rich and nuanced story of how women participate in the economies of war-torn and fragile states. In the end, we hope this volume gives policy makers, practitioners, and academics a unique understanding of and head start in the continued work to implement successful programming to economically empower women in post-conflict and fragile settings.
- Topic:
- Economics, Women, Refugees, Conflict, and Participation
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, North Africa, Syria, and South Sudan
6050. The Islamic State Narrative in Kosovo: Deconstructed one story at a time
- Author:
- Garentina Kraja
- Publication Date:
- 09-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Kosovar Centre for Security Studies (KCSS)
- Abstract:
- Since the first reports of Kosovo citizens joining the Islamic State, or the IS1 , emerged in 2012, Kosovo institutions and society continue to grapple with the push and pull factors that led some 300 of its citizens – one of the highest flow of foreign fighters per capita in Europe, while on basis of per capita Muslim population remains much lower2 - to join the IS in Syria and Iraq. To date, much effort has been put in dissecting and understanding the root causes of violent extremism in Kosovo. Several studies3 have consistently found a mix of tangible internal conditions – weak economy, political instability, poor education system and the rise of various Islamic nongovernmental organizations4 competing in Kosovo’s newly democratized public sphere, as well as a list of less stringent circumstances, such as issues of identity, belonging, purpose and social isolation or outright exclusion. Other studies have prescribed the emergence of this phenomenon in Kosovo to the work of faith-based Islamic organizations that promoted a pan-Muslim identity, galvanized by the wars in the Middle East.5 Given the potency of the IS propaganda to catalyze the radicalization process and its role in inspiring individuals to commit themselves to violent extremism, KCSS compiled this report with the aim to identify, deconstruct, analyze, contextualize and interpret the IS propaganda targeting Kosovo Albanians as well as to reveal the tools employed to spread this narrative among different audiences in Kosovo. Throughout the report, we define the IS narrative as a term that in the broader sense encompasses the terrorist organization’s worldview, its political and religious ideology and more specifically the way it is told to audiences in Kosovo. While the IS propaganda has become a “comprehensive brand”6 spanning several languages and contexts, this report focuses on how IS propaganda adapted its narrative to the local context in Kosovo. In Kosovo’s case, this report finds that the narrative, while laced with religious language and injected with Koranic verses, in essence speaks to local issues. It seeks to utilize local disgruntlement, past grievances as well as events pertaining to the 1998-1999 to mobilize its supporters in Kosovo.
- Topic:
- Violent Extremism, Radicalization, Islamic State, and Ideology
- Political Geography:
- Eastern Europe and Kosovo