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Begin New Search Topic Inequality Publication Year within 25 Years

201. The New Global Context for Development: The Unravelling of Progress in the LDCs

Author:
J. Brian Atwood
Publication Date:
03-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Institution:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Abstract:
Development professionals follow a few overriding admonitions. Two important ones are “do no harm” and “understand the local context.” A third traditional injunction has recently gained even more relevance: “Think globally and act locally.” Yet today, there is a growing need to “think globally and act globally.” Bilateral and multilateral donor agencies like USAID and the World Bank have appropriately focused their work at the national and subnational levels. Local ownership is still a valid principle of development. However, transna- tional issues and the global economic outlook are now overwhelming local development progress. Particularly in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), climate-related disasters, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the consequences of the war in Ukraine are quickly erasing development gains and exposing global inequality even more dramatically.
Topic:
Development, Foreign Aid, Inequality, Economy, and USAID
Political Geography:
Global Focus

202. Overcoming Barriers to Poverty Alleviation in the Arab Region

Author:
Khalid Abu-Ismail and Vladimir Hlasny
Publication Date:
03-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Institution:
Brown Journal of World Affairs
Abstract:
Many Arab countries have been living beyond their means. Following years of high spending without developing a solid revenue base or adequate emergency reserves, public debt levels have skyrocketed, and governments’ balance sheets have struggled to cope with waves of crises and their required responses. Private debt levels have also grown amid chronic economic stagnation, worsening cur- rent account deficits, and absent effective public assistance during recent crises.
Topic:
Poverty, Inequality, Economy, Protection, and Income
Political Geography:
Middle East, Arab Countries, and North Africa

203. On Just, Justice and Distributive Justice: A Critical and Comparative Discourse

Author:
Sooraj Kumar Maurya
Publication Date:
06-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Liberty and International Affairs
Institution:
Institute for Research and European Studies (IRES)
Abstract:
Despite being endlessly debated, a unanimous impetus on the nature of just, justice, and distributive justice appears entirely untouched to the desirable scientific certainty so far. Aristotle asserts treating’ equals equally and un-equals unequally’ but in proportion to their relevant differences. John Rawls says 'justice as fairness.' To both Aristotle and John Rawls, justice meant for the good and a willingness to act by the laws to ensure the highest good of society. Antecedently, both agree that justice is a master imperative for good human relationships and coexistence. However, despite the universal agreement, they differ in many fundamental respects. Aristotle denies the outbound distribution of an individual's rights as only the head of the family has the right to free speech in the family. But, Rawls distributes each right to the individual level. The paper attempts to discuss the similarities and dissimilarities in Aristotle's and John Rawls'ideas of just, justice and distributive justice. It has been argued that the aim of both philosophers was the same, i.e., to find out a theory of justice through which unity, harmony, virtue, and happiness can be attained to the fullest in a nation.
Topic:
Law, Inequality, Justice, and Legal Sector
Political Geography:
Global Focus

204. Social Housing 2.0

Author:
Gianpaolo Baiocchi and H. Jacob Carlson
Publication Date:
04-2022
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Center on International Cooperation (CIC)
Abstract:
The global housing crisis shows few signs of letting up. This report from Gianpaolo Baiocchi (Director of the Urban Democracy Lab, Professor of Individualized Studies and Sociology at NYU) and H. Jacob Carlson (postdoctoral research associate at S4 at Brown University) argues that the solutions can be found in "social housing." This report makes the case that social housing is desirable, viable, and achievable. The intractability of the global housing crisis requires new thinking and action, even if it draws on lessons that are quite old. As housing costs continue to skyrocket, policymakers and social movements have an opportunity to set their communities on a new path—one that guarantees a fundamental right to housing.
Topic:
Inequality, Crisis Management, and Housing
Political Geography:
Global Focus

205. Addressing Inequality and Exclusion in the Pandemic’s Aftermath

Author:
Paul von Chamier
Publication Date:
05-2022
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Center on International Cooperation (CIC)
Abstract:
During the first quarter of 2022, signs continued to emerge that suggest the most acute stage of the pandemic is slowly drawing towards its end. COVID-19, a black-swan event that disrupted the world, brought into sharp focus systemic issues surrounding inequality and exclusion that well predated 2020. Societies that experienced deeper societal inequities before the crisis ended up being more vulnerable to both the infection spread and the related economic recession.
Topic:
Public Opinion, Inequality, COVID-19, and Exclusion
Political Geography:
Global Focus

206. Regional Inequality and the Persistence of Poverty in Mozambique, Explained from the Perspective of the Vicious Circle of Poverty

Author:
Gilberto Libânio and Castigo José Castigo
Publication Date:
08-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Abstract:
To what extent have regional inequal-ities adversely affected the effectiveness of policies to combat poverty in Mozam-bique? To answer this question, the Vicious Circle of Poverty (VCP) perspec-tive is used to explain the persistence of poverty in the context of significant regional inequalities that characterize the economy of Mozambique, in the period 2001-2014. Therefore, the study aims to analyze how regional inequalities neg-atively affected policies to combat poverty in Mozambique and dictated their persistence and unequal incidence, using the VCP perspective. More specif-ically, it is intended to demonstrate the existence of unequal development or opportunities between regions and provinces, and to analyze how this dif-ference in development/opportunities influenced poverty reduction, finding its basis in the VCP.
Topic:
Development, Poverty, Inequality, and Economy
Political Geography:
Africa and Mozambique

207. COP26: Sustaining the Global Food System

Author:
Paul Teng
Publication Date:
11-2021
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:
COP26 has reinforced much of what is already known about the impact of climate change on food production. But few concrete steps are emerging from COP26 that can improve the livelihoods of producers of the bulk of the world’s food.
Topic:
Food, Global Markets, Food Security, and Inequality
Political Geography:
Global Focus

208. Migration and foreign aid: Drivers, desires and development

Author:
Ida Marie Savio Vammen, Lars Engberg-Pedersen, and Hans Lucht
Publication Date:
11-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
In the often heated European policy debates over migration, conflict, lack of development, population growth, and climate change are often described as the ‘root causes’ that make people seek refuge and a better life in Europe. However, recent research-based literature on the links between migration and development stands in stark contrast to such simplified assumptions. This new DIIS Working Paper explores the relationship between migration, development, and foreign aid. It builds on insights from both quantitative and qualitative studies focusing on Africa – especially West Africa – and is divided into three parts. It first examines the factors that underpin human mobility, then looks at contemporary African migration trajectories, and finally discusses how migration relates to foreign aid. The paper shows that irregular migration to Europe is limited and a result of economic progress, rather than poverty or conflict alone, thus making foreign aid an ineffective instrument to curb it. Furthermore, the paper argues that foreign aid initiatives often focus on externally defined root causes of migration and rarely attempt to understand locally determined drivers of migration. To better grasp how development policies and migration intersect, more in-depth research is needed.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Development, Migration, Foreign Aid, and Inequality
Political Geography:
Europe and Denmark

209. Assessing Potential Effects of Development Cooperation on Inequality

Author:
Mario Negre
Publication Date:
01-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
Abstract:
With inequality reduction now being officially and broadly recognised as a key development objective with its own Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 10), there is a need for simple, economical and quick methodologies with which to focus on this area and assess progress. This paper presents such a methodology, which allows a rough assessment of the potential impacts of development cooperation on income, consumption and wealth inequality. This is important, as a rigorous causal analysis of the contribution development cooperation makes to reducing a partner country’s inequality is complex and costly. First, the relative contribution of targeted development cooperation programmes and projects to the economies of partner countries tends to be small (though admittedly not in all cases). Second, a myriad of factors contribute to changes in inequality in any given country, and assessing the impact of all of them is a complex, imprecise, time-consuming and resource-intensive exercise.
Topic:
Development, International Cooperation, Inequality, and Sustainable Development Goals
Political Geography:
Global Focus

210. The Determinants and Welfare Implications of Labor Share

Author:
Sungbae An, Minsoo Han, Subin Kim, and Jinhee Lee
Publication Date:
03-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP)
Abstract:
The decline in labor share is recognized as a global phenomenon. Concerns have been raised that this trend will exacerbate the income inequality between business owners as capitalists and households as the labor suppliers, prompting a decline in household income and consumption, which are major driving forces for sustainable growth. Meanwhile, various policy measures have been introduced to raise the labor share, with the aim of correcting inequality and boosting growth. This study explores the determinants of labor share and analyzes the effects of these factors on the economy and social welfare, offering various interpretations and policy alternatives according to economic conditions.
Topic:
Labor Issues, Inequality, Economy, Business, and Welfare
Political Geography:
Asia and Korea

211. Economic Conditions and the Rise of Anti-Democratic Extremism

Author:
Benjamin Crost
Publication Date:
03-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Empirical Studies of Conflict Project (ESOC)
Abstract:
This paper provides evidence that adverse economic conditions contributed to the rise of anti-democratic extremism in the United States. A state-level analysis shows that increases in the unemployment rate during the Great Recession led to a large increase in the number of anti democratic extremist groups. The effect is concentrated in states with high pre-existing racial resentment, as proxied by racist web searches, and strongest for the male unemployment rate and the white unemployment rate. If unemployment had remained at its pre-recession level, the increase in anti-democratic groups between 2007 and 2010 could have been reduced by more than 60%.
Topic:
Economics, Democracy, Inequality, Far Right, Economic Inequality, and Political Extremism
Political Geography:
United States

212. “Baby Won't You Please Come Home:” Studying Ethnoracial Segregation Trends in New Orleans Pre and Post Hurricane Katrina

Author:
Nathan Babb
Publication Date:
05-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University
Abstract:
This paper explores the ethnoracial segregation trends of New Orleans, Louisiana between the years 2000, 2010, and 2018. It studies the effect of Hurricane Katrina—which struck in August 2005—on population figures and racial composition within two geographic units of study in Orleans parish: neighborhoods and census tract block groups. Since Hurricane Katrina, White residents have returned in larger numbers than Black residents, and particularly so in neighborhoods that were predominantly Black before the storm. In 2019, New Orleans had 100,000 fewer people than before the storm—nearly the same as the number of Black residents who have not returned. Using a Gibbs-Martin index, which measures racial diversity, the paper finds that decreases in population at the census block group level are associated with racial “diversifying.” This trend invites a conversation on the normative interpretations of racial heterogenization, its causes, and its consequences: who bears the costs of increased “diversity” and what is the historical backdrop it operates under?
Topic:
Race, Natural Disasters, Governance, Inequality, Domestic Policy, Disaster Management, and Segregation
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

213. South Africa: When Strong Institutions and Massive Inequalities Collide

Author:
Brian Levy, Alan Hirsch, Vinothan Naidoo, and Musa Nxele
Publication Date:
03-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
South Africa's economic and social imbalances can no longer be swept under the rug. The country has three choices: muddle through, endure another surge of ethnopopulism, or pursue inclusive development. South Africa was one of the 1990s iconic cases of democratization. Yet starting in the mid-2000s, the country began to experience a disruptive collision between its strong political institutions and massive economic inequality. The collision intensified across the 2010s, resulting in economic stagnation and increasing threats to institutional integrity. Understanding why this collision occurred and worsened over time is relevant not just for other middle-income countries but also many higher-income democracies wrestling with similar tensions between a declining tolerance for high or rising inequality and institutions that seemed strong in the past but find their legitimacy increasingly being questioned. Ideally, ideas, institutions, and growth all reinforce one another in a virtuous developmental spiral. Ideas offer hope by encouraging cooperation and the pursuit of opportunities for win-win gains. Institutions assure that the bargains underpinning cooperation will be monitored and enforced. Together, ideas and institutions provide credible commitment, which fuels economic growth. However, such a benign scenario does not reckon with the ways in which persistent high inequality, accompanied by unresolved tensions between the distribution of economic and political power, can both put pressure on institutions and quickly change hope into anger. The result can be a cascading set of pressures and an accelerating downward spiral. For the first fifteen years of democracy, South Africa enjoyed the advantages of both effective institutions and a shared willingness of stakeholders believed in the power of cooperation. This enabled the country to move beyond counterproductive conflict and pursue win-win outcomes. Growth began to accelerate, which created new opportunities for expanding the middle class. Increased fiscal space made it possible to broaden access to public services and to social grants, which reduced absolute poverty. There were, however, some stark limitations in what was achieved. Gains for the poorest did little to alter their difficult economic and social realities. Less than a quarter of the total population, including essentially all white South Africans, enjoyed a standard of living that was middle class or better. There was ample reason for the majority of South Africans to feel that, notwithstanding the promises of mutual benefit, the deck remained stacked against them. This increased the vulnerability of South Africa’s political settlement.
Topic:
Development, Inequality, and Institutions
Political Geography:
South Africa and Africa

214. Lebanon’s Political Economy: From Predatory to Self-Devouring

Author:
Lydia Assouad
Publication Date:
01-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
To survive its ongoing financial crisis, Lebanon needs a new economic system that addresses massive income inequality. Paired with political and institutional reform, tax reform can help. Over the past three decades, Lebanon’s ruling class—which comprises intertwined political and business elites—has run the country into the ground. To survive its ongoing accumulation of challenges, including the financial crisis that erupted in October 2019, Lebanon requires a revamped state backed by a new economic model with social justice at its core. Tax reform is central to such an endeavor—and to ensuring that the state has the means both to deliver basic services and to tackle poverty and inequality.
Topic:
Poverty, Inequality, Economic structure, Business, Social Justice, Tax Systems, and Elites
Political Geography:
Middle East and Lebanon

215. Do gendered laws matter for women’s economic empowerment?

Author:
Marie Hyland, Simeon Djankov, and Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg
Publication Date:
03-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
Abstract:
reater legal equality between men and women is associated with a narrower gender gap in opportunities and outcomes, fewer female workers in positions of vulnerable employment, and greater political representation for women. While legal equality is on average associated with better outcomes for women, the experience of individual countries may differ significantly from this average trend, depending on the countries’ stage of development (as proxied by per capita GDP). Case studies from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India, and Spain demonstrate this deviation. Especially in developing countries, legislative measures may not necessarily translate into actual empowerment, due mainly to deeply entrenched social norms, which render legal reforms ineffective. Women are more likely than men to be in vulnerable employment in low- and lower-middle-income economies but less likely than men to be in vulnerable employment in upper-middle- and high-income economies. Analysis of a 50-year panel of gendered laws in 190 countries reveals that country attributes that do not vary or change only slowly over time—such as a country’s legal origin, form of government, geographic characteristics, and dominant religion—explain a very large portion of the variation across countries. This finding suggests that the path to legal equality between men and women may be a long and arduous one. Nevertheless, the data also show that the past five decades have seen considerable progress toward legal gender equality. Gendered laws do evolve, suggesting a role for legal reforms in women’s economic empowerment.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Law, Women, Inequality, and Economy
Political Geography:
Africa, Europe, South Asia, India, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Spain

216. The changing nature of work and earnings inequality in China

Author:
Chunbing Xing
Publication Date:
06-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
This paper examines the evolution of China’s industrial and occupational structure in the last two decades and its impact on wage inequality. We find that non-routine cognitive and interpersonal tasks have increased, while routine cognitive tasks first increased and then declined. Occupation structural change is accompanying rising wage inequality. The wage premium for educated workers rose sharply in the 1990s and remained high thereafter. Occupations with high routine task intensity are associated with lower wages. While the return to education has become the largest contributor to wage inequality, routine task intensities have yet to play a significant role.
Topic:
Education, Labor Issues, Employment, Inequality, and Work Culture
Political Geography:
China and Asia

217. Exploring economic support networks amidst racial inequality in Namibia

Author:
Annalena Oppel
Publication Date:
06-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
Community or interpersonal support as a critical source of livelihood sustenance in the Global South can exhibit unequal dynamics. An understanding of these practices is primarily tied to the conceptual space of poverty or small communities. Less is known about how social support systems might respond to structural inequalities. I address this by exploring how support practices might be shaped by inequalities in the Namibian context. I draw on primary network data to assess inequality as a social dynamic within the space of support and evaluate whether providing worse-off others corresponds to former discriminatory practices under the apartheid regime. My results suggest that inequality has normalized a sense of support as necessity for black but not white Namibians. More broadly, by recognizing differences in group practices, I evidence that exploring support practices across structural inequalities can enhance insights on the social replication of inter- and intragroup-based inequalities.
Topic:
Economics, Race, Inequality, and Social Networks
Political Geography:
Africa and Namibia

218. A UN for All? UN Policy and Programming on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, and Sex Characteristics

Author:
Albert Trithart
Publication Date:
02-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Peace Institute (IPI)
Abstract:
Sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) have been on the UN’s agenda for more than twenty-five years. Many of the earliest developments took place in the UN human rights mechanisms and Human Rights Council. Increasingly, however, UN agencies, funds, and programs are also integrating SOGIESC into their policy and programming. This paper explores what these UN entities have been doing to respect, protect, promote, and fulfill the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) people. It looks at how the UN’s work on SOGIESC has intersected with its work on human rights, global public health, development, humanitarian affairs, peace and security, and gender. It also assesses what has been driving forward policy and programming on SOGIESC and the barriers that have held back further progress. The paper concludes with recommendations for the UN Secretariat, UN agencies, funds, and programs, supportive UN member states, and LGBTI activists across five areas: Building the human resources needed to institutionalize the UN’s work on SOGIESC; Making the UN a safe and accepting workplace for LGBTI people; Mainstreaming and coordinating work on SOGIESC; Strengthening partnerships between the UN and other actors; and Continuing to expand policy and programming on SOGIESC into new areas.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Human Rights, United Nations, Inequality, Sustainable Development Goals, LGBT+, Peace, and Transgender
Political Geography:
Global Focus

219. Gender Digital Equality Across ASEAN

Author:
Araba Sey
Publication Date:
02-2021
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)
Abstract:
This paper provides an overview of the participation of women in the digital economy across ASEAN. By using available data sources, it compares and analyses levels of women participation in digital economy related occupations and activities across different ASEAN Member States. Overall, the analysis shows that the gap between women and men is bigger with respect to more advanced metrics of access to the digital economy (including skills; entrepreneurship opportunities; access to science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and tech occupations) than for more basic access metrics. Access to digital economy related occupations and activities is particularly important for ASEAN, which is amongst the fastest growing digital economies in the world. The shift towards digital technologies during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is accelerating pre-pandemic trends and making it even more relevant to gain a better understanding of women participation in the digital economy. The paper concludes by providing an overview of policy initiatives in ASEAN Member States and details possible policy options.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Inequality, Digital Economy, Leadership, and Feminism
Political Geography:
Asia and Southeast Asia

220. COVID-19 and Socio-Economic Inequalities in Indonesia: A Subnational-level Analysis

Author:
Aloysius Gunadi Brata, Eusebius Pantja Pramudya, Esther Sri Astuti, Heffi Christya Rahayu, and Heronimus Heron
Publication Date:
04-2021
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)
Abstract:
This study examines if COVID-19 has worsened socio-economic inequalities across provinces in Indonesia, and if it has affected the spatial disparity in provincial-level socio-economic indicators. Secondary provincial-level data are used from BPS for March 2015 to March 2020. Results indicate that provinces with more COVID-19 cases tend to have increased inequality in urban areas, but inequality in rural areas decreases, as measured by the Gini Index. Also, provinces with many COVID-19 cases tend to have a decrease in their poverty headcount ratios. Thus, COVID-19 may have various implications on the spatial inequality of the Gini Index and poverty headcount ratio.
Topic:
Inequality, Pandemic, COVID-19, and Socioeconomics
Political Geography:
Indonesia, Asia, and Southeast Asia

221. Education for All? Assessing the Impact of Socio-economic Disparity on Learning Engagement During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Indonesia

Author:
Samuel Nursamsu, Winsu Harto Adiwijoyo, and Anissa Rahmawati
Publication Date:
10-2021
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)
Abstract:
This paper attempts to shed light on the impact of socio-economic disparity on learning engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. Utilising search intensity data from Google Trends, school data from Dapodik (Education Core Database), and socio-economic data from the National Socioeconomic Survey, we conduct descriptive analysis, an event study, and difference-in-difference estimations. First, school quality differs in terms of the regions’ development level, especially between western and eastern Indonesia. However, densely populated and well-developed areas generally have lower offline classroom availability. In addition, the quality of public schools is generally lower than private schools. Second, our estimation results show that only online-classroom related search intensity that increased significantly after school closures on 16 March 2020, not in self-learning related search intensity. Further the analysis shows that socio-economic disparity within provinces widens the gap in online learning engagement, albeit with weak evidence from per capita expenditure. Interestingly, provinces with a higher inequality and rural population tend to have higher self-learning related search intensity due to students’ necessity to compensate for low learning quality from schools. In addition, technology adoption does not seem to give much of an increase to online-classroom related search intensity but contributes to lower self-learning related search intensity due to increased academic distraction. Our study provides evidence for the Indonesian government to make more precise policy in improving learning quality during the pandemic.
Topic:
Education, Children, Inequality, Pandemic, COVID-19, Socioeconomics, and Public Schools
Political Geography:
Indonesia and Asia

222. Women Left Behind

Author:
Radhika Jain and Pascaline Dupas
Publication Date:
06-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Abstract:
Using administrative data on over 4 million hospital visits, we document striking gender disparities within a government health insurance program that entitles 46 million poor individuals to free hospital care in Rajasthan, India. Females account for only 33% of hospital visits among children and 43% among the elderly. These shares are lower for more expensive types of care, and far lower than sex differences in illness prevalence can explain. Almost two-thirds of non-childbirth spending is on males. We combine these data with patient survey, census, and electoral data to show that 1) the program is unable to fully offset the costs of care-seeking, which results in disparities in hospital utilization because some households are willing to allocate more resources to male than female health; 2) lowering costs does not reduce disparities, because males benefit as much as females do; and 3) long-term exposure to village-level female leaders reduces the gender gap in utilization, but effects are modest and limited to girls and young women. In the presence of gender bias, increasing access to and subsidizing social services may increase levels of female utilization but fail to address gender inequalities without actions that specifically target females.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Governance, Health Care Policy, Women, Inequality, and Health Insurance
Political Geography:
India and Asia

223. The Impact of Conflicts on Natural Resources – The Case of Sudanese Darfur Region

Author:
Nagmeldin Karamalla-Gaiballa
Publication Date:
01-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Polish Political Science Yearbook
Institution:
Polish Political Science Association (PPSA)
Abstract:
This research paper explores the impact of sociological perspectives on the relationship between natural resources and conflicts. From these theoretical perspectives, many fundamental sources of conflict over natural resources are identified and defined. This research takes the approach of a case study in which the researchers investigate and analyze the sources of conflict happening in the Darfur region of Sudan. This case study explores the demographic changes, economic development, and social inequality among some factors contributing to conflict over resources in this region. The research findings demonstrated that various factors play a vital role in the availability of natural resources, which is the main reason sides other reasons flaring conflict in the Darfur region in Sudan. These factors are related to climate change, destruction of ecosystems, immigration, demographic change, and political changes. Even though various factors could impact the conflict of resources in the Darfur region in Sudan, these researchers focused in this research paper on the sociological perspective only.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Natural Resources, Inequality, and Conflict
Political Geography:
Africa and Sudan

224. Reclaiming the Right to the City

Author:
Ian Klaus and Samuel Kling
Publication Date:
09-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Chicago Council on Global Affairs
Abstract:
In this report edited by Ian Klaus and Samuel Kling, a diverse set of experts examine the question of rights in, and to, the city in a wide and exciting array of geographies and contexts. Introduced by the French sociologist Henri Lefebvre in 1968, the concept of the right to the city has been the subject of a diverse set of treatments and interpretations from academics, activists, and policymakers in recent years. The intellectual history of the right to the city is at times direct—a radical protest movement in the heart of the city focused on political and economic inequality—and at times meandering: a gesturing, stylish flaneur sauntering through the cityscape. But COVID-19 and its associated crises offer the opportunity for clarity or new perspectives on the right to the city, thanks to the crises’ disorienting effects on the meanings and uses of urban space. City dwellers everywhere have experienced the pandemic in particularly spatial terms: it has altered where they go and how they travel, freighted certain places with danger, and targeted some neighborhoods over others. Overnight, outdoor spaces became critical public health infrastructure; bars and restaurants became disease vectors. The pandemic’s effects on work cleaved residents according to their ability to forgo the spatial ritual of the commute, with white-collar workers tending to stay home and most blue-collar and low-wage workers having to endure work on-site. The geography of the pandemic has exploited existing structures of inequality, with disease and death most widespread in neighborhoods with higher concentrations of poverty, overcrowded housing, and marginalized groups. The essays in this collection explore these issues in Chicago and the wider world, from China and South Africa to Latin America. The collection’s first section, “Space, Place, and Inequality,” addresses these questions on an urban scale, each focusing on an element of urban life. The collection’s second section, “Local, National, and Global Intersections,” further broadens the lens to interrogate the relationship among cities and nation states and regions, and to explore global trends in development, trade, and governance. Together, these essays offer perspectives from academics, activists, and policy professionals and public servants with the intention of generating interdisciplinary and international discussions. They highlight powerful inequities and contradictions in city life and also offer policy solutions.
Topic:
Infrastructure, Inequality, Urban, Cities, Geography, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Global Focus

225. Inequality, Lockdown, and COVID-19: Unequal Societies Struggle to Contain the Virus

Author:
Paul von Chamier
Publication Date:
04-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center on International Cooperation (CIC)
Abstract:
There is nothing equal about COVID-19. It is now well established that poor and underprivileged social groups have absorbed most of the pandemic’s negative impact. However, the connection between COVID-19 and inequality might run even deeper. During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, one additional point of the Gini coefficient correlated with a 1.34 percentage point higher rate of weekly new infections across countries. This difference in infection rates compounds like interest every week. This means that after twenty-one weeks of the pandemic, just one additional Gini å correlates with an approximately 1/3 higher overall number of cases in a country. More equal countries might enjoy an “equality dividend” that is associated with more shock resilience during the ongoing crisis. This new research from CIC sought to understand if pre-existing systemic inequities could be linked to higher COVID-19 infection rates, examining infection rates in 70 countries from mid-March 2020 through early August 2020, or what is widely seen as the first 21 weeks of the pandemic. It also studied these nations’ levels of inequality and other potential predictive variables: government efficiency (a measure indicating quality of public services and civil service capability), urban population share, share of the population over the age of 65, lockdown measures (calculated by stringency), and geographic mobility (a population’s physical movements as measured by Google’s COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports). The study tracked inequality by using the “Gini Coefficient,” a commonly used metric for measuring income inequality within nations--or, specifically, how far a country’s wealth or income distribution deviates from a completely equal distribution. Under this calculation, the higher the coefficient, the greater the income inequality within that country.
Topic:
Inequality, Resilience, COVID-19, Health Crisis, and Society
Political Geography:
Global Focus

226. Introducing the Mind-the-Gap Index: A tool to understand urban spatial inequality

Author:
Jeni Klugman and Matthew Moore
Publication Date:
05-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center on International Cooperation (CIC)
Abstract:
Where people live exerts a strong influence on multiple aspects of their well-being, including their access to economic opportunities, education, health and other services and to their security, as well as other goals envisioned in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In a world with high and growing levels of urbanization, policy makers are increasingly aware that the future of inequality depends largely on what happens in cities. There is also concern that rising spatial inequality can lead to social unrest, rioting, increased crime, and erode trust among separated societal groups. The World Bank estimates that half of the area that will be urbanized by 2050 has not yet been built, which implies major opportunities for the policies and decisions affecting cities to shape the world we live in. First, this paper synthesizes several research papers regarding what we already know–drawing on recent research from UNDESA and others–to outline the extent of spatial disparities, the ways that spatial inequality shapes today’s cities, and the key factors driving spatial disparities. Additionally, the paper introduces a new index designed to capture key dimensions of spatial inequality, along with analysis of results from three pilot applications in Addis Ababa, Jakarta, and Mexico City which highlights the importance of granular and up-to-date data, as well as the accumulating nature of disadvantage in poor neighborhoods.
Topic:
Inequality, Sustainable Development Goals, and Urban
Political Geography:
Indonesia, Ethiopia, and Mexico

227. Digital Equity as an Enabling Platform for Equality and Inclusion

Author:
Laura E. Bailey and Nanjala Nyabola
Publication Date:
06-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center on International Cooperation (CIC)
Abstract:
The global pandemic has laid bare the digital inequities across vertical (income) and horizontal (social, political, and identity) dimensions, while exposing the extent to which pre-pandemic approaches to bridging the digital divide have been dominated by economic considerations even while they are not universally treated as policy priorities. Access to digital is a product of both material investment and political will. Where there is no conscious effort to include marginalized communities into digitalization plans, these communities can be left behind. In countries where identity-based exclusion is routinely built into political behavior, there can be systematic patterns of exclusion of specific groups (e.g., the indigenous First Peoples of North America, the Roma of Europe, or the Somali of northeast Kenya). Many countries around the world have such communities, and any work to digitalize a country must be founded on politically and socially conscious efforts to include groups that may be left behind by historical marginalization. This brief reviews key aspects of the digital divide, with special attention to exclusion and inequality, emphasizing that poor connectivity isn’t just about wealth—it is also about inequality. This paper examines the following: That COVID-19 has shown how poor policymaking in digital access and use deepens the current inequalities in addition to creating new ones, Digital equity through recent thinking, research—and why it matters, and Experience with digital equity initiatives (pre- and post-pandemic). Finally, the authors provide key recommendations for potential digital policies and interventions that can advance equality and inclusion.
Topic:
Inequality, Digital Culture, COVID-19, and Exclusion
Political Geography:
South Asia and Latin America

228. Social Dialogue as a Tool to Fight Inequality & Recover After a Pandemic

Author:
Liv Tørres
Publication Date:
07-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center on International Cooperation (CIC)
Abstract:
Si vis pacem, cole justitiam” – “If you desire peace, cultivate justice,” is the motto enshrined in the foundations of the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) building in Geneva, established in 1919. World War I, the Russian Revolution, and the fear of communism that followed, had convinced world leaders that, “universal and lasting peace can be established only if it is based upon social justice,” as they stated in the 1919 Versailles Treaty. Widespread injustice, inequalities, and exclusion were the enemies of peace. Many would argue they are no less relevant today. Over the past 100 years, “social compacts” and “social dialogue” are frequently referenced all over the world as tools to achieve shared growth and prosperity, better working conditions, higher living standards, and higher productivity. Social dialogue is often seen as a miraculous recipe for sustainable development, decent work, and growth, especially in times of crisis or recovery. This was seen in South Africa, where institutions were established as part of the effort to rebuild after Apartheid. It has also occurred periodically in Latin America when social issues have become contentious. The concept was evoked in the U.S.’ New Deal of the 1930s following the economic “crash,” as well as in crisis-torn Scandinavia in the same decade. Now, social dialogue has emerged again among those who are now planning priorities for next decade in the face of massive challenges amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Liv Tørres considers the following questions in this paper: what actually is social dialogue and what value may it hold for post-pandemic management and recovery?
Topic:
Inequality, Peace, COVID-19, Injustice, and Dialogue
Political Geography:
South Africa and Africa

229. Shared Capital Initiatives – for Redistribution and Recognition

Author:
Sanjay Reddy
Publication Date:
07-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center on International Cooperation (CIC)
Abstract:
Shared capital, defined as a broadly distributed pattern of rights over productive assets, can be a powerful instrument to address economic and social inequalities. We argue that initiatives to bring about shared capital can foster both redistribution and recognition, and thereby bring about more inclusive and peaceful societies. Based on experience, we suggest moreover that they are feasible and can be advanced by suitable policies and actions—at local, national, and global levels. Shared capital can involve distribution of various rights of an asset, including those of use, control, income, and transfer. This paper considers nine cases which feature some experience of shared capital involving various kinds of rights being distributed and relate these to different kinds of assets. In almost every case, the state has an important role to play in facilitating the distribution of rights.
Topic:
Regulation, Inequality, Peace, Sustainability, Capital, Redistribution, and Inclusion
Political Geography:
Global Focus

230. From Rhetoric to Action: Delivering Equality & Inclusion

Author:
Faiza Shaheen, Sarah Cliffe, Liv Tørres, Paula Sevilla Núñez, Paul von Chamier, Amanda Lenhardt, Nendirmwa Noel, Alexander Bossakov, and Avner Cohen
Publication Date:
09-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center on International Cooperation (CIC)
Abstract:
The flagship report of the Pathfinders Grand Challenge on Inequality and Exclusion is about the solutions that will deliver equality and inclusion. It is the culmination of several years of research and mobilization undertaken by a unique partnership of ten countries, the United Nations, the World Bank, the OECD, Oxfam, and CIVICUS, along with numerous partners and international experts. The report constructs a bridge between the rhetoric of “build back better” and action: a bridge between promise and progress. The report draws on the lived experiences and desires of people across countries around the world. To understand citizens' concerns about inequalities, their policy priorities, and their desire for change, Pathfinders commissioned a public opinion survey in eight countries: Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico, Sierra Leone, South Korea, Sweden, Tunisia, and Uruguay. These opinion surveys show an immense preoccupation with societal divisions and a consensus that more needs to be done to address them. Additionally, it underlines the need for renewed social contracts between citizens, civil society, the private sector, and governments, as well as between high and low- and middle-income countries. These social contracts must be built to serve future generations, to guard against climate breakdown and pandemics while delivering respect, opportunity, and justice for all. The report should serve as a practical handbook for policymakers and influencers; as a source of possibility for the public; and, as a call to all political leaders to act.
Topic:
Civil Society, Government, Inequality, Research, Social Justice, Exclusion, and Equality
Political Geography:
Canada, South Korea, Uruguay, Sierra Leone, Sweden, Mexico, Tunisia, and Costa Rica

231. Employment Mobility and the Belated Emergence of the Black Middle Class

Author:
Joshua Weitz, William Lazonick, and Philip Moss
Publication Date:
01-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET)
Abstract:
As the Covid-19 pandemic takes its disproportionate toll on African Americans, the historical perspective in this working paper provides insight into the socioeconomic conditions under which President-elect Joe Biden’s campaign promise to “build back better” might actually begin to deliver the equal employment opportunity that was promised by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Far from becoming the Great Society that President Lyndon Johnson promised, the United States has devolved into a greedy society in which economic inequality has run rampant, leaving most African Americans behind. In this installment of our “Fifty Years After” project, we sketch a long-term historical perspective on the Black employment experience from the last decades of the nineteenth century into the 1970s. We follow the transition from the cotton economy of the post-slavery South to the migration that accelerated during World War I as large numbers of Blacks sought employment in mass-production industries in Northern cities such as Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Chicago. For the interwar decades, we focus in particular on the Black employment experience in the Detroit automobile industry. During World War II, especially under pressure from President Roosevelt’s Fair Employment Practices Committee, Blacks experienced tangible upward employment mobility, only to see much of it disappear with demobilization. In the 1960s and into the 1970s, however, supported by the Civil Rights Act and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Blacks made significant advances in employment opportunity, especially by moving up the blue-collar occupational hierarchy into semiskilled and skilled unionized jobs. These employment gains for Blacks occurred within a specific historical context that included a) strong demand for blue-collar and clerical labor in the U.S. mass-production industries, which still dominated in global competition; b) the unquestioned employment norm within major U.S. business corporations of a career with one company, supported at the blue-collar level by massproduction unions that had become accepted institutions in the U.S. business system; c) the upward intergenerational mobility of white households from blue-collar employment requiring no more than a high-school education to white-collar employment requiring a higher education, creating space for Blacks to fill the blue-collar void; and d) a relative absence of an influx of immigrants as labor-market competition to Black employment. As we will document in the remaining papers in this series, from the 1980s these conditions changed dramatically, resulting in erosion of the blue-collar gains that Blacks had achieved in the 1960s and 1970s as the Great Society promise of equal employment opportunity for all Americans disappeared.
Topic:
Government, History, Employment, Inequality, Mobility, Unions, Middle Class, New Deal, African Americans, and Great Migration
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

232. Local David Versus Global Goliath: Populist Parties and the Decline of Progressive Politics in Italy

Author:
Matteo Cavallaro
Publication Date:
01-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET)
Abstract:
This paper analyzes the role of local spending, particularly on social welfare, and local inequality as factors in the Italian political crisis following the adoption in 2011 of more radical national austerity measures. We employ two different methods. First, we develop an original database of municipal budgets. There we show that even the lowest level of social welfare spending, that offered by Italian municipalities, though also hit by austerity, was still able to moderate this national shock. We test three operationalizations of local spending: aggregate current expenditures, aggregate current expenditures on social services, and current expenditures disaggregated by function. We show that municipal current expenditures, particularly on social spending, significantly affected the post-2011 share of votes for the progressive coalition. The results also show that social spending, especially on education, significantly moderated the combined effect of national austerity and the economic crisis on voting for populist radical right parties, while no significant results appeared for populist parties in general. Local inequality appears to significantly enhance vote shares of populist radical right parties and populist parties in general. We caution that, although significant, the effect is not strong: that local policy and economic conditions can moderate national shocks but cannot reverse them. The second analysis relies on survey data to ascertain the individual-level mechanisms behind the role of local welfare. The paper argues that local economic inputs influence voters’ position on non-economic issues. Our results, however, do not identify any significant individual-level channel of transmission, be it cultural or economic.
Topic:
Politics, Elections, Inequality, Populism, and Austerity
Political Geography:
Europe and Italy

233. Artificial Intelligence, Globalization, and Strategies for Economic Development

Author:
Anton Korinek and Joseph E. Stiglitz
Publication Date:
02-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET)
Abstract:
Progress in artificial intelligence and related forms of automation technologies threatens to reverse the gains that developing countries and emerging markets have experienced from integrating into the world economy over the past half century, aggravating poverty and inequality. The new technologies have the tendency to be labor-saving, resource-saving, and to give rise to winner-takes-all dynamics that advantage developed countries. We analyze the economic forces behind these developments and describe economic policies that would mitigate the adverse effects on developing and emerging economies while leveraging the potential gains from technological advances. We also describe reforms to our global system of economic governance that would share the benefits of AI more widely with developing countries.
Topic:
Development, Globalization, Science and Technology, Inequality, Artificial Intelligence, and Redistribution
Political Geography:
Global Focus

234. Covid-19 Effects on Peace and Conflict Dynamics: The Need for Prevention Prevails

Author:
Katariina Mustasilta
Publication Date:
05-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA)
Abstract:
Armed conflicts around the world have continued largely unabated, irrespective of the global pandemic. Despite influencing conflict-affected contexts, the pandemic has not (thus far) been a gamechanger regarding conflicts. Both non-state and state actors have tried to seize opportunities stemming from the pandemic measures for their own benefit. This, along with changes in the footprint of peacebuilding efforts, has threatened human security. In the long term, socioeconomic repercussions of the pandemic pose the gravest threats to peace. The socioeconomic fallout can induce conflict by undermining the social contract and social cohesion, particularly in contexts with conflict legacies, deep inequalities, and high external economic dependencies. The EU has multiple tools that it can deploy in its external action to mitigate the conflict-inducing repercussions of the pandemic. Taking preventive action requires a long-term perspective, even amidst the unfolding crisis.
Topic:
Inequality, Conflict, Peace, Public Health, Pandemic, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Global Focus

235. Sustainable Development of Chitral: A CPEC Perspective

Author:
Asif Ali and Khalid Manzoor Butt
Publication Date:
01-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
South Asian Studies
Institution:
Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
Abstract:
The vision of sustainable growth of any community or region cannot be materialized unless provided with equitable socio-economic opportunities with environmentally friendly conditions. In the mountains of Hindukush, Chitral has remained significantly important from a geographic and strategic perspective. The piece of land in the extreme north of Pakistan is blessed with numerous natural resources and it is also a gateway to Central Asia. This valley is surrounded by rugged mountains, due to neglect and lack of land connection with the main country it has been deprived of the required development. The construction of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), an alternative passage through Chitral will bring economic opportunities through investment in different sectors. With the materialization of the CPEC route, the potential in the valley will be explored and utilized for the betterment of the country in the broader spectrum and the local economy will strengthen as well. The opening of this trade route will not only change the economic landscape of the valley but will change the sociology of the area. This mega venture along with economic opportunities will also generate challenges for the indigenous community. Expected opportunities will attract more businessmen and investors from outside. This migration process will open the door to social transformation along with challenges not only from an economic perspective but an indigenous cultural heritage of the society will be endangered. Only an inclusive and integrated development stratagem with the involvement and support of all stakeholders will lead to the sustainable economic growth of the valley. Further, the people-centric development approach will bring economic opportunities for the people, otherwise, there will be more challenges than opportunities. This research work has been conducted to investigate the expected challenges threatening sustainable growth of the community and region. Furthermore, it suggests policy guidelines based on empirical evidence for curtailing those challenges.
Topic:
Development, Energy Policy, Inequality, Green Technology, Renewable Energy, and Sustainability
Political Geography:
Pakistan, China, and Asia

236. Stemming the Insurrection in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado

Author:
International Crisis Group
Publication Date:
06-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
Deadly conflict in Mozambique’s ruby- and natural gas-rich northernmost coastal province feeds on a mix of colonial-era tensions, inequality and Islamist militancy. To tame the insurrection, Maputo needs to use force, with bespoke assistance from outside partners, and to carefully address underlying grievances.
Topic:
Natural Resources, Inequality, Conflict, Humanitarian Crisis, and Insurrection
Political Geography:
Africa and Mozambique

237. The Pandemic Strikes: Responding to Colombia’s Mass Protests

Author:
International Crisis Group
Publication Date:
07-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
In Colombia’s history of protest, the 2021 mobilisations against inequality and police brutality stand out for their breadth and intensity. Unrest has quieted for now but could soon return. The government should urgently reform the security sector while working to narrow the country’s socio-economic chasms.
Topic:
Governance, Inequality, Protests, Pandemic, COVID-19, and Social Order
Political Geography:
Colombia and South America

238. Brexit and Beyond: economy

Author:
UK in a Changing Europe
Publication Date:
03-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
UK in a Changing Europe, King's College London
Abstract:
Brexit is done. The formal negotiations are over — even though the Trade and Cooperation Agreement paves the way to many further negotiations between the UK and the EU. Our understanding of what Brexit does mean in practice is just beginning. This mini report is for those who want to dig deep on Brexit and its consequences for the economy, from its impact upon inequality, employment, and public finances, to future prospects for British trade outside of the EU.
Topic:
European Union, Employment, Inequality, Economy, Brexit, Trade, and Public Finance
Political Geography:
United Kingdom and Europe

239. The Pandemic Strikes: Responding to Colombia’s Mass Protests

Author:
International Crisis Group
Publication Date:
07-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
In Colombia’s history of protest, the 2021 mobilisations against inequality and police brutality stand out for their breadth and intensity. Unrest has quieted for now but could soon return. The government should urgently reform the security sector while working to narrow the country’s socio-economic chasms.
Topic:
Inequality, State Violence, Protests, and Police Brutality
Political Geography:
Colombia and South America

240. Stemming the Insurrection in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado

Author:
International Crisis Group
Publication Date:
06-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
Deadly conflict in Mozambique’s ruby- and natural gas-rich northernmost coastal province feeds on a mix of colonial-era tensions, inequality and Islamist militancy. To tame the insurrection, Maputo needs to use force, with bespoke assistance from outside partners, and to carefully address underlying grievances.
Topic:
Energy Policy, Natural Resources, Inequality, and Insurrection
Political Geography:
Africa and Mozambique

241. Unpacking Gender Gaps and Data Gaps in Public Sector Employment and Pay

Author:
Ugonma Nwankwo, Megan O'Donnell, and Charles Kenny
Publication Date:
04-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development (CGD)
Abstract:
We look at available sources to ask (i) Where is data available on employment and wages allowing for comparisons between women and men, and the public and private sectors? (ii) How do women’s employment, compensation, and seniority compare with men’s in the public and private sectors? (iii) How do gender gaps vary by countries’ income level, education levels, and other factors? What are the policy implications of the data we analyze? (iv) Which countries’ efforts can be modeled by others, and how else can global gender gaps in employment and compensation be narrowed? We suggest the Open Government Partnership as a promising platform through which governments can commit to increased transparency around disaggregated employment and wage data, in turn improving policy decision-making aimed at closing gender gaps (or those rooted in other forms of inequality and discrimination).
Topic:
Labor Issues, Women, Inequality, Feminism, Data, and Gender
Political Geography:
Global Focus

242. Promoting Women’s Economic Empowerment in the COVID-19 Context

Author:
Megan O'Donnell, Mayra Buvinic, Charles Kenny, Shelby Bourgault, and George Yang
Publication Date:
04-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Global Development (CGD)
Abstract:
As donor institutions and governments seek to provide relief and support recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and global recession, CGD’s COVID-19 Gender and Development Initiative aims to ensure that their policy and investment decisions equitably benefit women and girls. We seek to support decision-makers in understanding the gendered impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic; assess health, economic, and social policy response measures with a gender lens; and propose evidence-based solutions for an inclusive recovery. Recognizing that the dialogue to date has largely emphasized challenges facing women and girls in high-income settings, our analysis centers on women and girls in low- and middle-income countries. In this policy brief, we summarize the findings of a CGD working paper, Promoting Women’s Economic Empowerment in the COVID-19 Context. We explore the impacts of the crisis on women’s economic opportunities and outcomes, document the extent to which governments and donors are taking action to respond to these impacts, and make recommendations for how decision-makers can elevate women’s economic empowerment as a priority in response and recovery efforts. Specifically, we examine the impact of the COVID-19 global recession on women’s work and employment in low- and middle-income countries, including entrepreneurship, wage and salaried work, work in subsistence and commercial agriculture, and unpaid housework and care work.
Topic:
Economics, Women, Inequality, Pandemic, COVID-19, and Gender
Political Geography:
Global Focus

243. The Gendered Dimensions of Social Protection in the COVID-19 Context

Author:
Megan O'Donnell, Mayra Buvinic, Shelby Bourgault, and Brian Webster
Publication Date:
04-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Global Development (CGD)
Abstract:
As donor institutions and governments seek to provide relief and support recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and global recession, CGD’s COVID-19 Gender and Development Initiative aims to ensure that their policy and investment decisions equitably benefit women and girls. We seek to support decision-makers in understanding the gendered impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic; assess health, economic, and social policy response measures with a gender lens; and propose evidence-based solutions for an inclusive recovery. Recognizing that the dialogue to date has largely emphasized challenges facing women and girls in high-income settings, our analysis centers on women and girls in low- and middle-income countries. In this policy brief, we summarize the findings of a CGD working paper, The Gendered Dimensions of Social Protection in the COVID-19 Context. We explore the role of social protection, with an emphasis on social assistance policies and programs, in addressing increasing poverty, food insecurity, unpaid care work, and gender-based violence—all exacerbated by the onset of the crisis and associated containment measures. We document these trends and how they disproportionately impact women and girls, as well as the extent to which governments and donors are integrating a gender lens into their social protection efforts and make recommendations to ensure that future efforts effectively reach and benefit women and girls.
Topic:
Women, Inequality, Pandemic, COVID-19, and Gender
Political Geography:
Global Focus

244. Nigerian Confraternities To Conquer The World

Author:
Corentin Cohen
Publication Date:
12-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales (CERI)
Abstract:
While the Nigerian brotherhoods have become increasingly prominent in the media given the criminal threat they are said to represent, they have not been the subject of any field research in Nigeria or Europe. This media coverage is fueling a growing confusion between the legal and police categorizations that are used to define these brotherhoods and the pan-African practices and discourses of solidarity and emancipation that they promote. The socio-historical approach developed in this study makes it possible to put into perspective the global expansion of confraternities since the 2000s. It offers another perspective on the role of these secret societies and their inclusion in political economies and different territories. In Europe, the Nigerian confraternities are first and foremost social institutions for the youth and the diasporas. They ensure the reproduction of the power of traditional and political elites abroad by capturing incomes linked to migration (remittances), and therefore play a key role in the production of a form of globalization of Nigerian society from below. They participate in the establishment of moral and social institutions from the south of Nigeria in Europe. Behind a discourse of empowerment and solidarity, the confraternities are thus a transnational network which perpetuates a conservative order, a social hierarchy and the inequalities which they help to naturalize.
Topic:
Globalization, Diaspora, Inequality, transnationalism, and Pan-Africanism
Political Geography:
Africa and Nigeria

245. SVRI Knowledge Exchange: The Power of Language and its use in the BGV field

Author:
Elizabeth Louis
Publication Date:
01-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI)
Abstract:
This Knowledge Exchange focuses on language with the understanding that it’s a tool of communication, an exchange of perspectives, and can be a sacred form of expression. Language and terms have been reclaimed by individuals and groups to ensure that their narratives are authentically voiced and portrayed appropriately. The writers recognize that this piece is written in English and it brings in a bias in the ways we communicate information. Language bias can be defined as words or phrases that may make certain individuals or groups feel excluded or underrepresented. In our own awareness of the importance of meaning through language, we must not forget that continuous efforts must be made to decolonize language. To rid language of colonial influence that has shaped the lens we use in our gender- based violence work. The writers intend for this piece to be disseminated to a wide audience of practitioners, researchers, advocates, survivors, and those with lived experiences of violence driven by gender inequality to reflect and discuss the ways language is used and its implications. We strive to attain language justice that focuses on equity, shared power, and inclusion of voices that have been misrepresented or undervalued in the field of GBV. It is our hope that dialogues, critical analysis, and renewed commitment to intentionally unpack, revise, and retrieve all forms, dialects or translations gives rise to language that is wholesome, validates and honours within diverse beloved communities.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Communications, Inequality, and Language
Political Geography:
Global Focus

246. The Future of Mass Atrocities and Atrocity Prevention: Report from the 2020 Sudikoff Interdisciplinary Seminar on Genocide Prevention

Author:
Lawerence Woocher and Jonathan Strauss
Publication Date:
02-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Abstract:
This report compiles essays from several leading experts who participated in the seminar series. We asked them to reflect on one or more key themes and offer recommendations for research and/or policy initiatives that could help current and future leaders address mass atrocities. The collection of essays reflects the breadth and diversity of issues that are likely to affect mass atrocities and their prevention over the next decade. Reflecting on changes in the distribution of political power and weakening anti-atrocity norms, Scott Straus identifies four significant challenges for the atrocity prevention agenda. Dara Kay Cohen highlights an often-neglected factor--sex and gender inequalities-- and argues that it is likely to worsen over the next decade in ways that will exacerbate risks of mass atrocities. Roudabeh Kishi discusses how monitoring and early warning initiatives must adapt to changes in the information environment and the changing nature of atrocities. Dismas Nkunda focuses on how COVID-19 has affected civil society efforts to address mass atrocities. Finally, Jennifer Welsh discusses war crimes, “extreme atrocity,” and political barriers to effective prevention—three key issues for the prevention of mass atrocities over the coming decade.
Topic:
Civil Society, Politics, War Crimes, Inequality, Norms, Atrocities, COVID-19, and Gender
Political Geography:
Global Focus

247. COVID-19 and the Exacerbation of Gender Inequality: How the Pandemic Disproportionately Affected Women around the World

Author:
Jennifer Dikler
Publication Date:
12-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP)
Abstract:
The gender wage gap, or the idea that women have historically and consistently earned less than men, has been widely studied and accepted over the past few decades. This gender wage gap exists globally and serves as a powerful indicator of the gender inequality experienced by women. As of 2019, according to data amassed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), South Korea’s gender wage gap among full-time employees is the largest among the countries that make up the OECD, coming in at 32.5%. Japan was second at 32.5%, followed by Mexico, the United States, and Canada at 18.8%, 18.5%, and 17.6%, respectively. Notably, in countries with higher levels of racial diversity, the gender wage gap is usually significantly exacerbated for women of color. Despite narrowing in recent years, the gender wage gap is extremely stubborn, and very much existent, as is the general global gender inequality that it reflects. In the past 18 months, the world's population and the global economy have been significantly upended by the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus has affected virtually every country in the world, especially nations with fewer resources to help combat its spread. Studies are also beginning to confirm that COVID-19 has had a disproportionate economic effect on women in many countries, amplifying the gender inequality that persisted in the global economy even prior to the pandemic. For example, as outlined in a study published by McKinsey in July 2020, “Women make up 39 percent of global employment but account for 54 percent of overall [COVID-19- related] job losses” (Madgavkar et al. 2020). However, the widening of the gender gap during the pandemic has been far from universal, with some countries seeing the opposite results. This brief seeks to provide an initial exploration, specifically highlighting how variably the pandemic has affected the United States, South Korea, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, the Honduras, Australia, the United Kingdom and Germany. When it comes to global gender equality, where progress is so essential and yet so slow, it is extremely important to explore the economic setbacks created by the pandemic. If not addressed properly, these setbacks might not only slow the fight toward gender equality, but could also slow down the global economy.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Women, Inequality, Economy, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Global Focus

248. Politicians' neighbourhoods: Where do they live and does it matter?

Author:
Olle Folke, Linna Martén, Johanna Rickne, and Matz Dahlberg
Publication Date:
04-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Nottingham Interdisciplinary Centre for Economic and Political Research (NICEP)
Abstract:
This paper studies the political economy of local politicians' neighborhoods. We use detailed population-wide data on the location of politicians’ and citizens' homes and their socioeconomic traits. We combine this information with neighborhood-level data on building permits and proposals to close schools. A descriptive analysis uncovers that politicians live in neighborhoods with more socio-economically advantaged people and more of their own party’s voters. Next, we analyze whether having politicians in a neighborhood reduces the likelihood that local public "bads'' are placed there. This analysis compares home neighborhoods for politicians with different degrees of political power (ruling majority or opposition) and where power was won in a close election. We find negative effects on approved building permits for multifamily homes and proposals to close schools. This result is most likely explained by undue favoritism. We conclude that local politicians live in advantaged neighborhoods that they shield from local public bads.
Topic:
Political Economy, Inequality, Geography, and Politicians
Political Geography:
Global Focus

249. The Future of Work: Between Technology and Inequality

Author:
Dania El Akkawi
Publication Date:
02-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Cairo Review of Global Affairs
Institution:
School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, American University in Cairo
Abstract:
While the future is foggy in light of the pandemic, the importance of technology is real and certain, and the creation of new jobs will pave the way for new global work arrangements.
Topic:
Science and Technology, Labor Issues, Inequality, Work Culture, and Workforce
Political Geography:
Global Focus

250. Africa is Climbing the Prosperity Ladder but Some Rungs are Broken

Author:
Musaazi Namiti
Publication Date:
08-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Cairo Review of Global Affairs
Institution:
School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, American University in Cairo
Abstract:
Africa is a continent with six of the world’s ten fastest-growing economies, but can it overcome its major challenges?
Topic:
Economics, Inequality, Economic Growth, and Prosperity
Political Geography:
Africa