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331. How Perks for Delegates Can Influence Peace Process Outcomes

Author:
Thomas Kwasi Tieku
Publication Date:
04-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
This paper examines the impacts that luxurious perks for delegates, such as paid daily allowances, have on peace talks. Drawing on the Burundian peace processes held in Arusha in Tanzania and the Seventh Round of the Inter-Sudanese Peace Talks held in Abuja in Nigeria, shows that perks can unintentionally prolong peace talks. For some of the delegates, staying free of charge in five-star hotels and receiving the equivalent of five months' pay in one week of per diems made continued talks more attractive than achieving peace. The generous incentives seduced the conflicting parties away from whatever interest they might have had in actually reaching an agreement, encouraged delegates to create procedural barriers where none had previously existed, and promoted fragmentation among the rebel groups at the negotiating table. Though the paper uses contemporary African case studies to illustrate the argument, this issue transcends the African continent, as perks are a long-established diplomatic practice. To deal effectively with the unintended problems they create requires fundamental cultural and attitudinal changes in most international organizations.
Topic:
Corruption, Diplomacy, International Organization, Peace Studies, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Africa, Tanzania, and Nigeria

332. UN Peacekeeping: 20 Years of Reform

Author:
Louise Fréchette
Publication Date:
04-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
Peacekeeping is as old as the United Nations (UN). For many decades, it consisted essentially of the interposition of lightly armed troops to act as neutral observers of a truce or a peace agreement. The end of the Cold War opened a new chapter in the history of peacekeeping. Peacekeeping operations have expanded dramatically in the last two decades and are now multidimensional, with complex mandates in increasingly difficult, and often dangerous, environments.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Security, Cold War, Treaties and Agreements, United Nations, and Peacekeeping

333. Unleashing the Nuclear Watchdog: Strengthening and Reform of the IAEA

Author:
Trevor Findlay
Publication Date:
06-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
The IAEA is the principal multilateral organization mandated by the international community to deal with nuclear issues. Established in 1957 and based in Vienna, it is essentially the nucleus around which all other parts of the global nuclear governance system revolve. The IAEA has attributes and roles that cannot be matched by other organizations, groups of states or individual states, no matter how powerful or influential: It is a standing, multilateral organization, with near universal membership and a science and technology orientation. Its nuclear safeguards system and associated verification activity, including in the service of the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and nuclear weapon-free zones, is unparalleled.
Topic:
International Cooperation, Natural Disasters, Governance, and Nuclear Power

334. A Flop and a Debacle: Inside the IMF's Global Rebalancing Acts

Author:
Paul Blustein
Publication Date:
06-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
Cooperation among major countries to shrink global imbalances in trade and capital flows is highly desirable for the sake of promoting a sustainable recovery from the financial crisis that erupted in 2008. The story that unfolds in this paper does not bode well for such cooperation. It is a detailed account of the initiatives, led by the IMF, to address imbalances prior to the 2008 global financial crisis.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, and International Monetary Fund
Political Geography:
China

335. Perspectives on the G20: The Los Cabos Summit and Beyond

Author:
James A. Haley
Publication Date:
06-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
The G20 leaders meeting in Los Cabos confront a number of challenges. Most prominent among these is the state of the global economy, which remains dangerously unbalanced, and in which the balance of risks is clearly weighted on the downside. These risks emanate from several sources.
Topic:
Economics, International Cooperation, International Organization, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Financial Crisis
Political Geography:
China

336. Lessons for UN Electoral Certification from the 2010 Disputed Presidential Poll in Côte d'Ivoire

Author:
Lori-Anne Théroux-Bénoni
Publication Date:
06-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
After the November runoff of the 2010 presidential elections in Côte d'Ivoire, the country's Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) announced that in the preliminary results, Alassane Ouattara, candidate of the Rassemblement des Républicains, had won. The Constitutional Council cancelled the results from several northern electoral areas favourable to Ouattara, however, and declared Laurent Gbagbo, the incumbent president who ran for La Majorité Présidentielle, the winner.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Democratization, United Nations, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Africa

337. From Private Security to Public Good: Regulating the Private Security Industry in Haiti

Author:
Geoff Burt
Publication Date:
06-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
Haiti, like many countries, relies heavily on private security companies to protect people and property. However, while the private security industry has a vital role to play in stabilizing the country, it has long functioned without effective government oversight. Haiti's security sector reform (SSR) process has begun to address this shortcoming. The paper analyzes the current state of the private security industry in Haiti and the legal framework under which it operates, and makes recommendations for how a reformed legal and regulatory regime can guide the next phase of its development, based on interviews with owners and agents of private security companies, industry associations, senior Haitian police personnel, United Nations (UN) planners and parliamentary leaders. The paper concludes that genuine consultation and partnership between the government, industry and civil society is required, if SSR programs in Haiti and elsewhere are to successfully marshal private resources towards the public good.
Topic:
Security, Civil Society, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Caribbean and Haiti

338. How Global Watchdogs Missed a World of Trouble

Author:
Paul Blustein
Publication Date:
07-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
This paper provides the first detailed look inside the operations of the Financial Stability Forum (FSF), a little- known and secretive institution created shortly after the emerging-market crises of the late 1990s. Although other institutions have come under intense scrutiny and criticism since the eruption of the global financial crisis in 2007, the FSF has gotten much less attention than it deserves. Its primary aim was to coordinate efforts in preventing and mitigating future crises, and its members included top- ranking officials from the finance ministries, central banks and regulatory agencies of the world's richest countries. Moreover, the FSF's successor body, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) — whose name reflects the two bodies' many similarities — was established at a summit of world leaders in April 2009, amid solemn promises that the leaders were putting in place the mechanisms necessary to ensure the safety and soundness of the global financial system.
Topic:
Security, Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, Globalization, Global Recession, Financial Crisis, and Governance

339. Responding to Disaster: Neglected Dimensions of Preparedness and their Consequences

Author:
David A. Welch and Andrew S. Thompson
Publication Date:
07-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
The international community has become adept at responding to disasters. When a disaster hits — whether natural or as the consequence of human activity — humanitarian relief can be on the ground almost anywhere in the world in less than 24 hours. The international community has developed an elaborate network to respond to catastrophes involving the collaboration of international agencies, humanitarian relief organizations, national governments and concerned individuals. The collective ability to help save lives quickly is unprecedented in human history; the problem remains, however, that one never knows in advance where disaster will strike, what the immediate needs of those affected will be or what conditions the first responders will confront. Given these uncertainties, how can disaster-response planners best position themselves to take action?
Topic:
Government, Humanitarian Aid, International Cooperation, Non-Governmental Organization, and Natural Disasters

340. Promoting Reconciliation through Exhuming and Identifying Victims in the 1994 Rwandan Genocide

Author:
Erin Jessee
Publication Date:
07-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
In the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which an estimated 800,000 Tutsi civilians were killed, the ICTR commissioned a series of mass grave exhumations in Kigali and Kibuye. These exhumations were conducted by PHR, a Boston-based nongovernmental organization (NGO). Its mandate was to provide scientifically rigorous evidence that revealed the criminal nature of specific massacres in Kigali and Kibuye, as well as the statistical elements of the crimes, including the sex, ethnicity, age, and cause and manner of death for the individual victims (Haglund, 1997: 1; Haglund and Kirschner, 1997: ii).
Topic:
Political Violence, Genocide, Human Rights, and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
Africa