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53311. Monitoring Minority Protection in EU Member States

Publication Date:
07-2003
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
These documents, prepared by the EU Accession Monitoring Program of the Open Society Institute, assess the state of minority protection in 10 Central and Eastern European states seeking full membership in the European Union and in five current member states. The reports examine candidate states' implementation of their minority protection or integration programmes, and each state's laws, institutions, and practices relating to minority protection of Roma or Muslims.
Topic:
Islam, Law, Minorities, European Union, Civil Rights, Institutions, Political Rights, and Freedom of Religion
Political Geography:
Europe and Eastern Europe

53312. Caspian Oil Windfalls: Who Will Benefit?

Author:
Svetlana Tsalik
Publication Date:
05-2003
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
Caspian Oil Windfalls: Who Will Benefit?, a publication from the Central Eurasia Project's Caspian Revenue Watch, calls for greater accountability, transparency, and public oversight in the oil and natural gas industries of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. It urges foreign oil companies, their home governments, and international financial institutions to promote good governance and democracy in both countries to ensure that petroleum revenues generate social prosperity and stable governments. Written by Svetlana Tsalik, director of the Caspian Revenue Watch, the report also offers recommendations based on in-depth analysis of natural resource funds in other nations as well as models of citizen oversight. The foreword was written by Joseph E. Stiglitz, the former chief economist of the
Topic:
Oil, Natural Resources, Accountability, Public Policy, Transparency, and Fossil Fuels
Political Geography:
Caspian Sea and Central Eurasia

53313. Keeping Secrets: America and Iraq’s Public Finances

Publication Date:
10-2003
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
Keeping Secrets, a report from the Open Society Iraq Revenue Watch project, concludes that Iraq’s public finances have so far fallen short of international standards of accountability. The report was released on the eve of an international donors’ conference for Iraq in Madrid, scheduled for October 23–24. It calls for greater transparency in the management of the Development Fund for Iraq (DFI), the central repository for U.S. reconstruction assistance as well as Iraqi oil and gas revenues. The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA)—the U.S.-established governing agency in Iraq—has delayed the establishment of a crucial oversight body and refused to disclose basic information about large purchase contracts and DFI expenditures, the report says. Keeping Secrets calls on the CPA to reverse these trends and offers a set of recommendations, including increased Iraqi involvement in the DFI, more substantial oversight authority for the United Nations’ International Advisory and Monitoring Board, and better public access to information.
Topic:
Finance, Accountability, Public Sector, Fiscal Policy, Transparency, and Public Spending
Political Geography:
United States and Iraq

53314. Iraq’s Reconstruction Contracts: Telecommunications

Publication Date:
09-2003
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
In late July 2003, Iraq’s Coalition Provisional Authority announced a tender to provide wireless telecommunications services for two years to Iraq. Expanding telephone access is a critical step toward improving Iraqis’ lives. Telecommunications contracts also provide lucrative opportunities for providers. If the United States is to succeed in its goal of building a capable and transparent public administration in Iraq, it is important that Iraqis are included in the contracting process and that the terms of the tender are not designed to preference U.S. companies. This report from the Iraq Revenue Watch project of the Open Society Central Eurasia Project describes some concerns with the mobile phone tender, and provides recommendations on how to improve the transparency and inclusiveness of subsequent tenders.
Topic:
Communications, Iraq War, and Revenue Management
Political Geography:
Iraq

53315. Control, Cooperation, Expertise: Civilians and the Military in Bulgarian Defence Planning Experience

Author:
Todor Tagarev
Publication Date:
04-2003
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Institute for Security and International Studies (ISIS)
Abstract:
In February 1998 the Council of Ministers (the Cabinet of the Bulgarian Government) with its Decree # 44 approved the ‘Plan for Organisational Development and the Structure of the Armed Forces till the Year 2010’, known as Plan-2010. Only twenty months later, with the exactly same ministers as members of the Cabinet and no changes in the senior military leadership of the Bulgarian Armed Forces, the Government approved radically different plans for defence reform, known as Plan-2004. This paper explains the seemingly abrupt change in the Bulgarian defence policy since the spring of 1998 with the introduction of a rigorous, albeit at the time rudimentary, defence planning process, solid civilian participation and strict oversight of every stage of the process. Our main thesis is that adequate defence reform plans, and developments in defence in general, result from a defence planning process based on goal-oriented interaction between expert civilians and the military and rigorous political—that is also civilian—control over defence policy. The institutionalisation of such defence planning process presumes relevant normative and organisational changes, as well as adequate qualification of the personnel involved. It may be further facilitated by implementation of information systems and decision support tools. Ultimately, however, the institutionalisation requires organisational culture that not only tolerates, but also encourages differences in opinion and rationality, while promoting cooperative decision- making and individual responsibility for planning and plans implementation.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Military Affairs, and Civilians
Political Geography:
Europe, Eastern Europe, and Bulgaria

53316. Bulgaria’s Role and Prospects In The Black Sea Region: Implications Of Nato and Eu Enlargement

Author:
Plamen Plantev
Publication Date:
12-2003
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Institute for Security and International Studies (ISIS)
Abstract:
In the evolving situation of EU and NATO eastward enlargement within a dramatically changed global security environment Bulgaria’s role and prospects are shaped by powerful yet hard to organise and realise in practice interests: First, the interest of serving as a reliable boundary state of both EU and NATO while projecting the image and influence of a trustworthy bridge, linking a stable and well established region of EU and NATO states with countries of a still shaky though bearing positive economic opportunities area. With the support of EU and NATO Bulgaria is in a position to mobilise its potential to serve these uneasy jobs. Second, the interest not to be pushed or even just to be left in the position to choose between the EU and NATO as well as between the EU and the leading NATO country – the United States. Bulgaria’s perceptions of the world – from the point of view of EU and US interaction, is a place, calling for cooperation in approaching and solving the hard issues of the globe and not for trying to counter-balance the Americans. Any other reading of the EU/US relationship by Bulgaria would practically dilute and even dissolve the country’s chances to play an effective and forward targeted boundary and bridge roles. Third, the interest to project to the contending for EU and NATO membership countries in the Balkans and in the Black Sea area the lesson Bulgaria has learnt in the accession years, that joining the two institutions is not an issue of geopolitical bargaining, but one of mostly meeting standard conditions that would lead to social and economic progress of the aspirants themselves and make them compatible with the other members of the Union and the Alliance.
Topic:
NATO, European Union, and Geopolitics
Political Geography:
Europe, Eastern Europe, Bulgaria, and Black Sea

53317. Promoting U.S. Economic Growth and Security Through Expanding World Trade: A Call for Bold American Leadership

Author:
Research and Policy Committee of the Committee for Economic Development
Publication Date:
06-2003
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The Conference Board
Abstract:
This report presents a leadership vision of a strong and open global trading system, and urges the United States and its trading partners to adopt vital policy reforms, including delinking agricultural subsidies from prices and production while opening agricultural markets everywhere, and eliminating all tariffs and non-tariff barriers in both manufacturing and services.
Topic:
Security, International Trade and Finance, Leadership, Economy, and Economic Growth
Political Geography:
North America, Global Focus, and United States of America

53318. Reducing Global Poverty: The Role of Women in Development

Author:
Research and Policy Committee of the Committee for Economic Development
Publication Date:
07-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Conference Board
Abstract:
In the developing world, women generally face greater difficulty than men in securing necessary resources and basic services—education, health, and nutritional services, physical and financial capital, and land—that would make them more productive and allow them to earn higher incomes. In this report, CED calls attention to the role women play in developing countries. This update expands on that recommendation and goes further to suggest specifically that U.S.-based businesses should support the equal status of women in all of their practices and programs in developing countries. They also should support U.S. ratification of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
Topic:
Development, Poverty, United Nations, Women, and Economic Development
Political Geography:
Global Focus

53319. Reducing Global Poverty: Engaging the Global Enterprise

Author:
Research and Policy Committee of the Committee for Economic Development
Publication Date:
07-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Conference Board
Abstract:
This report is the first update to the 2002 CED report A Shared Future: Reducing Global Poverty. In this report, CED recommends that U.S.-based enterprises strive to maintain the same high standards of corporate engagement in all countries in which they operate, making no distinction between operations in the United States and abroad, yet recognizing that specific actions need to take into account national customs and traditions.
Topic:
Poverty, Business, Economic Policy, and Economic Development
Political Geography:
Global Focus

53320. Political Institutions and Economic Growth in Africa

Author:
Janvier D. Nkurunziza and Robert H. Bates
Publication Date:
03-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
In this paper we (a) review the literature on the so-called "African dummy"; (b) describe the system GMM method of estimation, by which Hoeffler (2002) shows the "Africa dummy" to be an artifact of the application of inappropriate estimation techniques; and (c) employ this technique to measure the impact of political variables - measures of stability, regime type, and violence - on economic growth in Africa.
Topic:
Development, Political Economy, Economic Growth, and Institutions
Political Geography:
Africa