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50101. The Future of Bilateral Aid in Africa: Size, Flow, Conditionalities and Relative Importance in Countries Budget

Author:
Kristina Svensson
Publication Date:
04-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)
Abstract:
The publication addresses the growing frustration with lack of aid effectiveness that has set in motion a slow but visible transformation of the way in which development cooperation is being pursued, as embodied in the Millennium Declaration, the Paris Declaration of 2005 on Aid Effectiveness, and the International Health Partnership. Donors' programs are increasingly result- based, with greater emphasis on national to achieve its goal of assisting newly ownership and leadership, real donor harmonization and alignment with the development strategies of partner governments. There is also increased focus within the donor community on the interactions between economic and democratic development. As a result, development actors have become more enlightened about the importance of accountable, representative and transparent government institutions. At the same time, organizations that promote democracy have learned that a government's failure to deliver visible results can undermine democratic reforms
Topic:
Development, Bilateral Relations, Foreign Aid, Reform, and Democracy
Political Geography:
Africa

50102. Counter-Cyclical Economic Policy

Author:
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:
The effects of the recent economic crisis have stretched policy frameworks in many OECD countries close to breaking point. Recent work by the OECD has examined how policies have interacted with the economic cycle over time and during the recent crisis. The main policy lessons are as follows: • Policy-makers should take into account uncertainties about the functioning of the economy, the nature of economic shocks or the effects of policy and take their decisions accordingly. • Policy in various areas will have to build in greater safety margins and to be more prudent during upswings. • Appropriate fiscal rules can help prepare fiscal policy for the next downturn by leading to swifter consolidation during the upturn. • The monetary and financial policy framework needs to achieve a better articulation between economic and financial stability. • Financial policy needs to strengthen micro-prudential regulation, regulatory interventions may need to target emerging credit-driven bubbles and macro-prudential policies should address systemic risks. • There may be a case for monetary policy leaning against the wind, if asset prices are driven by a credit boom and financial regulation is judged to be insufficiently robust. • Changes to structural policy settings can improve the resilience of the economy to shocks and affect the degree of leverage households and firms take on.
Topic:
Economics, Fiscal Policy, Economic Stability, and Economic Crisis
Political Geography:
Global Focus

50103. The Impact of Structural Reforms on Current Account Imbalance

Author:
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:
Global current account imbalances widened markedly in the years preceding the global economic crisis. Although the crisis brought some reversal to this trend, imbalances remain large in many countries. New empirical analysis by the OECD has examined the potential contribution of structural reforms to reducing current account imbalances. The analysis shows that structural reforms aimed at boosting economic growth can have more or less persistent side effects on current accounts. These arise because structural policies influence saving and investment of households, firms and governments. In turn, the economy-wide gap between saving and investment equals the current account balance. Specifically, the following policy lessons emerge from the analysis:  More developed social welfare systems would reduce the need for precautionary saving among households, which would moderate current account surpluses in external surplus countries.  Pension reforms that increase the retirement age and thus the length of the working life would also reduce household saving and thereby reduce current account surpluses. Pension reforms that lead to cuts in replacement rates would have the opposite effect.  Financial market reforms that raise the sophistication or depth of financial markets may relax borrowing constraints in emerging economies, thus contributing to a fall in the saving rate. The associated weakening of the current account position might be reinforced if the reforms also boost investment.  Reforming competition-unfriendly product market regulation could encourage capital spending and thereby contribute to reduce imbalances in surplus countries.  Some policy settings introduce distortions that encourage consumption, such as tax deductibility of interest payments on mortgages in the absence of taxation of imputed rent. Reform in this area might help increase household saving and thereby improve a country’s current account position. Overall, for the policies investigated, surplus countries appear to have more scope for structural reforms that would both enhance economic growth and reduce external imbalances. A scenario analysis indicates that if Japan, Germany and China were to liberalise their product markets and China also increased public health spending and continued to liberalise its financial markets, global imbalances could decline by around one-fifth relative to a baseline scenario. Moreover, since external deficit countries tend to have larger fiscal consolidation needs than surplus countries, fiscal tightening should also contribute to reduce external imbalances over the coming decade.
Topic:
Markets, Reform, Welfare, and Economic Crisis
Political Geography:
Global Focus

50104. Convergence in European Policy Making: What do Article 15 (FCNM) and the EU Regional Policy Have in Common?

Author:
Tove H. Malloy
Publication Date:
12-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues
Abstract:
Minority protection is expanding its focus from protection-only to protectionand-empowerment, or from a politics of identity to a politics of identity related interests. To most, minority protection means the idea that there are compelling reasons why members of ethnic, cultural, national, racial and linguistic minorities require certain special protection rights in order not to suffer assimilation, suppression or persecution. However, in the European context, minority protection has also come to mean a right to attain a decent life. A decent life means a good life. The notion of the good life is of course essentially contested. The problem of protecting the right to a good life is not therefore what is a good life? – but how do minorities achieve and enjoy what they consider a good life?
Topic:
Regional Cooperation, Minorities, European Union, Identity, and Protected People
Political Geography:
Europe

50105. National Minorities in the 21st Century Europe: New Discourses, New Narratives?

Author:
Tove H. Malloy
Publication Date:
12-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues
Abstract:
For centuries national minorities in Europe have lived in the shadow of the historical events of the 19th and the 20t h centuries. Whether for humanitarian reasons or to protect the identity of national minorities, major European treaties settling inter-state wars have had to address minority issues to secure the peace. For this reason, national minorities have frequently been seen not only as obstacles to nation and state building but also as anomalies in international relations.1 At times labelled as troublemakers and war mongers, national minorities have seldom been afforded ethical standing in the writing of Europe’s history.2 While the settlement after the First World War might be called an ‘honourable’ settlement, the settlement after the Second World War basically erased some national minorities from the European map. The integration discourses of the 21st Century seem to bring changes to this scenario.
Topic:
Nationalism, Minorities, Ethnicity, and Regionalism
Political Geography:
Europe

50106. U.S. Military Aid to Central Asia 1999-2009: Security Priorities Trump Human Rights and Diplomacy

Publication Date:
10-2010
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
Commissioned by the Open Society Foundations Central Eurasia Project, U.S. Military Aid to Central Asia, 1999-2009: Security Priorities Trump Human Rights and Diplomacy analyzes U.S. military and police aid to Central Asian countries pre- and post-9/11. The research shows that the Pentagon established many new military and assistance programs, and that such programs contain six times the funds that are earmarked for the promotion of rule of law, democratic governance, and respect for human rights. The paper's findings suggest that the U.S. military has acquired an oversized impact on U.S. foreign policy toward Central Asia.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Foreign Aid, Military Affairs, and Budget
Political Geography:
Central Eurasia

50107. The Education of Migrant Children: An NGO Guide to EU Policies and Actions

Publication Date:
11-2010
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
Rising migration into Europe is now the largest factor of population growth among most EU member states. This trend is manifested in the area of education, where pupils of migrant origin comprise up to half or more of the total number of students in some schools. In these very diverse student bodies, there are higher-than-average rates of academic underachievement and early dropout, which are directly linked to problems of social marginalization, failure to integrate, and future unemployment. The education of migrant children and youth is, therefore, now viewed not only as an economic issue, but also most importantly as a political and human rights issue. As a result, education has become a key instrument in long-term integration and social inclusion strategies, and consequently a key policy area for the EU. This guide is intended as a tool for better understanding EU policies, responsibilities, and funding mechanisms related to the education of migrant children and youth within existing EU agendas on human rights, equal treatment, antidiscrimination, integration, social inclusion, and education and training.
Topic:
Education, Children, European Union, Youth, Unemployment, and Marginalization
Political Geography:
Europe

50108. European Neighbourhood Policy: Implementation of the Objectives of the EU-Georgia Action Plan

Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
Third in a series prepared by the Open Society Georgia Foundation, this report assesses implementation of the EU-Georgia Action Plan by experts from Georgian nongovernmental organizations. The report identifies and analyzes the problems that hampered the implementation of Georgia's international obligations in 2008-2009 in the following areas: development of a free institutional environment for the efficient functioning of media organizations; measures to improve the business and investment climate, stimulate economic growth, reduce poverty, ensure social equality, facilitate sustainable development, and harmonize economic legislation and administrative regulations; reinforcement of parliamentary oversight as a way to establish good management practices in the field of national security and defence and implement democratic control of armed forces, and expansion of EU-Georgia cooperation in battling common challenges.
Topic:
International Political Economy, Regional Cooperation, European Union, Regional Integration, and Regional Economy
Political Geography:
Europe and Georgia

50109. A Timeline of U.S. Military Aid Cooperation with Uzbekistan

Publication Date:
10-2010
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
"A Timeline of U.S. Military Aid Cooperation with Uzbekistan" tracks U.S.-Uzbek military cooperation from July 1994 to January 2010. Published by the Open Society Foundations, the paper serves as an appendix to the first paper in this series, "U.S. Military Aid to Central Asia 1999-2009: Security Priorities Trump Human Rights and Diplomacy."
Topic:
Diplomacy, Human Rights, Foreign Aid, and Military Affairs
Political Geography:
United States and Uzbekistan

50110. The Trust Deficit: The Impact of Local Perceptions on Policy in Afghanistan

Publication Date:
10-2010
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
This report from the Open Society Foundations highlights the erosion of Afghan confidence in international forces due to civilian casualties, wrongful and abusive detention operations, deteriorating security, and a lack of accountability. This distrust reflects a growing divide between the perceptions of the Western public and policymakers and those of Afghan citizens about the intentions and accomplishments of international forces in Afghanistan. The Trust Deficit: The Impact of Local Perceptions on Policy in Afghanistan recommends that the international community urgently address the underlying policies that are feeding these negative perceptions.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, War, International Security, Military Affairs, Military Intervention, War on Terror, Civilians, and Casualties
Political Geography:
Afghanistan