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2. Ensuring Stable and Peaceful Societies: Memo to H.E. John W. Ashe, President of the General Assembly
- Author:
- David Steven
- Publication Date:
- 04-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- You asked me, as an independent expert, to contribute to the General Assembly Thematic Debate on 'Ensuring Stable and Peaceful Societies.' Since receiving your request, I have completed a review of the deliberations of the Open Working Group on this issue and of other relevant contributions to the post-2015 development agenda. I have also consulted informally with representatives of member states, UN agencies, and other stakeholders. While I have found widespread support for the need to foster peaceful, non-violent, and inclusive societies, there is some disagreement as to how this objective can be achieved within the context of the post-2015 development agenda. Rather than repeat material contained in existing reports on stable and peaceful societies, I thought it would be more useful to offer some reflections on the sources of agreement between member states, and the potential to move towards consensus in areas where they disagree. This will, I hope, help all those participating in the thematic debate respond to your challenge to identify concrete ways in which peace and stability can underpin an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable future.
- Topic:
- Development, Peacekeeping, and Border Control
- Political Geography:
- United Nations
3. If Not Now, When? Ending Violence Against the World's Children
- Author:
- David Steven
- Publication Date:
- 10-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- The world faces old and new security challenges that are more complex than our multilateral and national institutions are currently capable of managing. International cooperation is ever more necessary in meeting these challenges. The NYU Center on International Cooperation (CIC) works to enhance international responses to conflict, insecurity, and scarcity through applied research and direct engagement with multilateral institutions and the wider policy community.
- Topic:
- Development, Human Rights, Human Welfare, and Children
4. The Laboratory of Development: The Impact of Social Policies on Children in Latin America and the Caribbean
- Author:
- David Steven and Alejandra Kubitschek Bujones
- Publication Date:
- 05-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- In October 2013, Ambassadors from the Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries in the United Nations (GRULAC), their key negotiators from respective capitals, civil society representatives, and UN System agencies from the region held a retreat on the Post-2015 Agenda.
- Topic:
- Development and Human Welfare
- Political Geography:
- United Nations, Latin America, Caribbean, and North America
5. Beyond the Millennium Development Goals Agreeing to a Post-2015 Development Framework
- Author:
- Alex Evans and David Steven
- Publication Date:
- 04-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- This paper provides an overview of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and their expected status in 2012; describes the background to, and options for, a post-2015 framework; and discusses how governments can best navigate the political challenges of agreeing to a new set of development goals.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Development, Foreign Aid, and Foreign Direct Investment
- Political Geography:
- China
6. Resources, risk and resilience: scarcity and climate change in Ethiopia
- Author:
- Alex Evans
- Publication Date:
- 08-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- Ethiopia's resource scarcity context presents a daunting challenge, but also a significant opportunity. The country's current scarcity context includes: Low agricultural yields and farm sizes: Even if farm productivity were to increase by a factor of three, the average farm would still not produce enough food for a family of five. With 83% of Ethiopia's people directly dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods, the country has a major food security challenge; 7.5 million people depend on food safety nets. Major exposure to drought: Ethiopia has erratic rainfall, and acutely limited water storage capacity: the country has only 43m3 of reservoir storage per person, compared to 750m3 in South Africa and 6,150m3 in North America. Levels of irrigation are also low: the World Bank estimates that only 5% of irrigable land in Ethiopia is actually irrigated. Limited access to energy: Ethiopia's total primary energy supply is less than 60% of the African average, and only just over a fifth of the global average. The country depends on waste and biomass for 90 of its energy needs – leading to consequences including deforestation, and soil degradation as a result of biomass not being returned to the soil. High dependence on imported oil and food: Ethiopia currently imports all of its liquid fuels and a significant proportion of its food. This creates major exposure to global commodity price volatility, with the attendant risk of balance of payments problems, inflation and outright supply interruptions.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Climate Change, Development, Economics, Poverty, Natural Resources, and Food
- Political Geography:
- Africa, South Africa, North America, and Ethiopia
7. Rising Democracies and the Arab Awakening: Implications for Global Democracy and Human Rights
- Author:
- Ted Piccone and Emily Alinikoff
- Publication Date:
- 01-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- As the emerging global order takes shape, debate is growing more intense around the trajectory of the rising powers and what their ascendency to positions of regional and international influence means for the United States, its traditional allies, and global governance more broadly. Commentary about these rising powers— often referred to in a generic way as the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) but actually encompassing a dozen or so countries largely represented in the G-20—ranges from alarmist to sanguine. Pessimists argue that China, with its impressive economic growth and increasingly global reach, is well-positioned to challenge the United States' role of global superpower and to weaken the commitment of other rising powers, and various international organizations, to liberal values. More optimistic analysts insist that the rise of middle powers, most of which are democracies of varying stripes, bodes well for the world: millions are being lifted out of poverty, rule of law is taking hold and the international system is bound to be a more inclusive, representative one.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Development, Economics, Globalization, Human Rights, International Trade and Finance, Markets, Poverty, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- Russia, United States, China, India, South Africa, Brazil, and Arabia
8. The Paradox of Proximity: India's approach to fragility in the neighbourhood
- Author:
- Nitin Pai
- Publication Date:
- 04-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- The risks posed by fragile states have moved to the centre-stage of Western security consciousness only in recent years, fundamentally as the result of globalisation and precipitously due to the 9/11 attacks on the United States. The threats posed by fragile states to the Western countries are palpable and proximate-for instance, in the form of terrorist plots, influx of refugees and organised crime-but the origins of the threats are relatively remote. Western policymakers and publics, therefore, enjoy a certain geographical and temporal insulation, not only allowing for detached analysis but also allowing a broader range of policy options.
- Topic:
- Security, Foreign Policy, Political Violence, Development, International Affairs, and Fragile/Failed State
- Political Geography:
- United States, South Asia, and India
9. Engagement on Development and Security: New Actors, New Debates
- Author:
- Jake Sherman, Megan M. Gleason (ed), W.P.S. Sidhu (ed), and Bruce Jones (ed)
- Publication Date:
- 09-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- In the past several years, key governments and multilateral institutions have devoted considerable effort to the task of more effectively integrating development and security policy responses to the related challenges of countries affected by conflict, post-conflict peacebuilding, and conflict prevention. The looming deadline of the Millennium Development Goals, has focused attention on this important nexus and the near impossibility of crisis-and conflict-affected states achieving these goals unless development and security is more effectively integrated. Despite progress on several fronts, including at the United Nations and at the international financial institutions, developing policy for effective development and security engagement remains a challenge in both conceptual and operational terms – not least because discussion of political, security, economic, and humanitarian issues traditionally has occurred in different multilateral fora, among different sets of stakeholders.
- Topic:
- Security, Development, Economics, Humanitarian Aid, International Trade and Finance, and United Nations
10. Making Rio 2012 work: Setting the stage for global economic, social and ecological renewal
- Author:
- Alex Evans and David Steven
- Publication Date:
- 06-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- The Rio 2012 summit on sustainable development is now one year away. Over two decades since the 1992 'Earth Summit', sustainable development has not materialized: as global GDP has risen, so have greenhouse gas emissions, species loss and environmental degradation.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Development, Economics, Environment, Foreign Aid, and Foreign Direct Investment
- Political Geography:
- Latin America
11. Development in the Shadow of Violence: A Knowledge Agenda for Policy
- Author:
- Kaysie Brown, Bruce Jones, and Molly Elgin-Cossart
- Publication Date:
- 11-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- Fragile states are beset and defined by recurring cycles of violence, and violence feeds their chronic underdevelopment. Violent and impoverished countries have poverty rates that are, on average, 20 points higher than their impoverished but peaceful counterparts.
- Topic:
- Political Violence, Civil Society, Crime, Development, Terrorism, and Fragile/Failed State
12. The Afghan National Development Strategy: The Right Plan at the Wrong Time?
- Author:
- Jake Sherman
- Publication Date:
- 02-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- In 2005, the Government of Afghanistan initiated a process leading to the formulation of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS). The ANDS was formally launched at the International Conference in Support of Afghanistan in Paris on June 12, 2008. According to the Paris Conference Declaration, the strategy will be the “roadmap for joint action [by donors and the Afghan government] over the next five years and sets our shared priorities.”
- Topic:
- Security, Civil Society, Development, and War
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan
13. Building a New Afghanistan: The Value of Success, the Cost of Failure
- Author:
- Barnett Rubin, Abby Stoddard, Humayun Hamidzada, and Adib Farhadi
- Publication Date:
- 03-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- On March 31, 2004, representatives of national governments and international organizations will meet in Berlin to renew their collective commitment to rebuild Afghanistan and ensure its future stability and development. The government of Afghanistan has thus far met all the deadlines and benchmarks required of it under the Bonn Agreement of December 5, 2001, and Afghanistan's international partners have made generous and at times risky contributions to that effort, including sacrificing the lives of some of their citizens.
- Topic:
- Development, Government, and Humanitarian Aid
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, Asia, and Berlin
14. Through the Fog of Peace Building: Evaluating the Reconstruction of Afghanistan
- Author:
- Barnett Rubin, Abby Stoddard, and Humayan Hamidzada
- Publication Date:
- 06-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- A year and a half after the defeat of the Taliban, anger is rising in Afghanistan at the slow pace of reconstruction. Success in reconstruction means meeting goals, not fulfilling pledges or being generous. The overriding goal is enabling Afghans to build a country that contributes to, rather than threatens, their own and global security. As the government of Afghanistan becomes better organized and articulates both this goal and what is needed to reach it more clearly, it has become evident that donors underestimated the amount of assistance required. Initial pledges fell short even of underestimates of the needs and were far less than in other comparable cases. Initial disbursements, which in past cases have always exceeded subsequent ones, came relatively quickly and nearly met pledges, as donors have highlighted (see figure 1). But most of these disbursements went for emergency humanitarian needs, not reconstruction. Implementation of those reconstruction projects that have been funded has been exceedingly slow, leaving little to show on the ground. As of May 2003, donors reported that in 17 months they had completed reconstruction projects with a total expenditure of only $191 million, out of $2.1 billion pledged to reconstruction for the first twelve months. Furthermore, according to Afghan government figures, only 16 percent of the total disbursements (including for humanitarian purposes) had passed through channels controlled by the struggling Afghan government and had thus failed to build that government's capacity or legitimacy. The pervasive insecurity outside of Kabul prevented implementation of major projects and sapped the public's confidence in the new authorities. Failure to strengthen the government and provide security will doom the reconstruction effort even if contributions increase. The government has articulated an ambitious policy framework for reconstruction and asked for both reconstruction and security assistance. Success is possible, and at a modest cost. Failure by the US and other major states to respond will doom Afghanistan, the region, and the world to a repetition of anarchy that gave birth to the Taliban and refuge to al-Qaida.
- Topic:
- Development, International Cooperation, and Peace Studies
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, United States, Asia, and Taliban
15. The Politics of Center-Periphery Relations in Afghanistan
- Author:
- Barnett Rubin and Helena Malikyar
- Publication Date:
- 03-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- The relationship of the central government of Afghanistan to the other units of government is in many ways a proxy for the relationship of state to society. It would not be so if the state were more institutionalized and in control of the territory and population of the country. But the current situation, where the direct administrative control of the government is largely limited to the capital city and environs, and in which the government relies on international support (“foreign” support to its opponents) to exercise that control, has precedents in other eras of Afghan history.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Development, and Government
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and Asia
16. Center-periphery Relations in the Afghan State: Current Practices, Future Prospects
- Author:
- Barnett Rubin and Helena Malikyar
- Publication Date:
- 12-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- After decades of violence during which Afghanistan's weak institutions broke down even further, the Bonn agreement of December 5, 2001, provided elements of a road map for rebuilding governance and security in the common interest of the people of Afghanistan and the rest of the international community. The agreement provided a timetable for key political benchmarks to be met by the interim and transitional Afghan governments, such as the convening of the Emergency Loya Jirga, the appointment of the constitutional commission, the adoption of the constitution by another Loya Jirga, and general elections by June 2004.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Development, and Government
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and Asia
17. Regional Burden-Sharing for Humanitarian Action
- Author:
- David O'Brien
- Publication Date:
- 04-1999
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- The emergence of an international humanitarian system, the codification of international humanitarian law and the corresponding creation of supportive organizations, is arguably one of the most welcomed forms of multilateralism in the 20th century. At the close of this century, billions of dollars are raised annually by the UN system to alleviate the suffering caused by natural disasters and war but this financial support is declining and increasingly unable to meet humanitarian needs. This declining resource base, along with a search to diversify sources of funding and the recognition that some emergencies receive adequate attention while others do not, raises question for the need for new burden-sharing arrangements.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Security, Development, Ethnic Conflict, International Cooperation, International Organization, and United Nations
- Political Geography:
- Africa