Number of results to display per page
Search Results
12. Europe Must Play a Part in Filling the Power Vacuum in the Sahel
- Author:
- Rasmus Alenius Boserup and Luis Martinez
- Publication Date:
- 12-2017
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Experiencing the consequences of an unstable Sahel, the EU and its member states will sooner or later be forced to fill the security and stability void left behind by the weakness of the states in the Sahel and the lack of willingness of North and East Africa’s regional powers to become involved.
- Topic:
- Humanitarian Aid, International Affairs, and Foreign Aid
- Political Geography:
- Africa
13. Turkey-Africa Relations: Spotlight on Somalia
- Author:
- Michael Asiedu
- Publication Date:
- 11-2017
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Global Political Trends Center
- Abstract:
- On 30 September, 2017, the Turkish government opened its largest military base abroad in the Somalian capital of Mogadishu. The ceremony was attended by the Turkish Military Chief of Staff, Hulusi Akar. This policy update gives an overview of the significance of the military base and Turkey’s continuous engagements in Africa.
- Topic:
- Government, Humanitarian Aid, and Bilateral Relations
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Turkey, and Somalia
14. Becoming Urban Humanitarians: Engaging Local Government to Protect Displaced People
- Author:
- Loren Landau, Caroline Wanjiku-Kihato, Jean Pierre Misago, and Benjamin Edwards
- Publication Date:
- 09-2016
- Content Type:
- Research Paper
- Institution:
- Urban Institute
- Abstract:
- People displaced into urban areas due to war, persecution, or climatic crisis have claimed an increasingly prominent position in humanitarian operations and research. Through an examination of three African municipalities currently hosting displaced persons we study the cognitive, financial, and political incentives that work for and against a proactive response to displacement. We find that in cities where deprivation is widespread, effective engagement with municipal authorities demands a shift in approach. Rather than appeals to domestic or international protection principles, effective engagement with local authorities requires recognizing local authorities’ interests and incentives to develop strategies to align protection concerns with local political economic factors.
- Topic:
- Economics, Humanitarian Aid, Displacement, Urban, and Cities
- Political Geography:
- Uganda, Kenya, Africa, and South Africa
15. Increasing Anti-Malaria Bednets Uptake Using Information and Distribution Strategies: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Senegal
- Author:
- Jacopo Bonan, Philippe LeMay-Boucher, Douglas Scott, and Michel Tenikue
- Publication Date:
- 05-2015
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Kellogg Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- This paper studies the effects of information about malaria and of bednet distribution strategies on the demand for anti-malaria bednets, using a randomized experiment in the city of Thiès in Senegal. We offer two orthogonal treatments to a random sample of households. The first is a sale treatment and consists of 1) an offer to purchase on the spot a bednet at a subsidized price or 2) an offer to purchase a bednet at the same subsidized price with a voucher valid for seven days. The second is an information treatment that consists of a ten-minute information session on malaria-related issues. We find that information has no significant effect on the demand for bednets and that receiving a voucher increases purchasing by 20%. Our results suggest that selling bednets at a subsidized price and allowing for some flexibility with a short period of seven days increases purchase compared to the on-the-spot sale approach.
- Topic:
- Health, Human Welfare, Humanitarian Aid, and Health Care Policy
- Political Geography:
- Africa
16. Enhancing U.S. Support for Peace Operations in Africa
- Author:
- Paul D. Williams
- Publication Date:
- 05-2015
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- The number of UN peacekeepers is at a record high, with nearly 110,000 uniformed deployed "blue helmets" worldwide, most of them in Africa. But the status quo is "untenable," warns Paul D. Williams, author and associate professor of international affairs at George Washington University, in a new Council Special Report, Enhancing U.S. Support for Peace Operations in Africa. Unrealistic mandates, unsustainable supplies of personnel, hostile host governments, and mission creep have undermined peace operations, Williams writes. "Given the growing interest in fostering a stable and prosperous Africa, the United States should wield its political influence to address these challenges."
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Humanitarian Aid, War, Fragile/Failed State, and Peacekeeping
- Political Geography:
- Africa
17. Toward a European Migration and Mobility Union
- Author:
- Jacob Funk Kirkegaard
- Publication Date:
- 12-2015
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- After surviving its worst economic downturn since the Great Depression and the near collapse of its common currency, Europe is now engulfed by hundreds of thousands of desperate migrants and refugees from the Middle East and Africa. It needs new and permanent migration institutions and resources not only to accommodate the influx of refugees but also to set up a new border control system throughout the region. These demands pose a challenge for European policymaking as serious as the euro crisis of the last five years. Kirkegaard proposes a migration and mobility union, to be implemented gradually, with the goal of comprehensively reforming European migration policy.
- Topic:
- Human Welfare, Humanitarian Aid, Migration, Governance, and Refugees
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Europe, and Middle East
18. Transformative Tools for Malaria Elimination
- Author:
- PATH Malaria Center of Excellence
- Publication Date:
- 12-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- Over the past 15 years, malaria has gained increased attention and action from the public health community, with researchers, global and national funders, and, most importantly, national governments and communities in endemic areas. Renewed efforts to fight the disease have resulted in an unprecedented 50 percent reduction in malaria deaths in African children since 2000. This progress has been achieved in large part because effective, efficient, and affordable tools emerged as a result of earlier investments in research and development.
- Topic:
- Health, Human Welfare, Humanitarian Aid, International Cooperation, and Infectious Diseases
- Political Geography:
- Africa
19. Why Europe must stop outsourcing its security
- Author:
- Richard Gowan and Nick Witney
- Publication Date:
- 12-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- The EU claims to be in the business of “crisis management” – ready if need be to make “robust” military interventions to control conflict, especially in its neighbourhood. In practice, it now prefers to “outsource” such interventions to others, notably the United Nations and African Union (AU), limiting itself to supporting roles. This is not just shabby; it also saps Europe's influence in a world in which European interests and values are increasingly contested. And it places too great a burden on organisations such as the UN and AU. Unless the EU rediscovers a willingness to bear the costs and risks of military operations to control conflict, Europe can expect everintensifying refugee pressure on its southern borders. Although military force will not help in Ukraine or the turmoil of the Middle East, the EU could make a big difference if it were prepared to do more in crisis management in Africa. The EU could contribute to or complement UN or AU efforts in a variety of ways. Responding to the crisis in UN peacekeeping, Ban Kimoon has ordered a review. New EU High Representative Federica Mogherini should do the same, involving outside experts in a stock-take of international efforts to control conflict to Europe's south and commissioning specific proposals to get the EU back to playing a properly responsible security role.
- Topic:
- Human Welfare, Humanitarian Aid, United Nations, and Refugee Issues
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Europe, Ukraine, and Middle East
20. How should Uganda grow?
- Author:
- Ricardo Hausmann, Brad Cunningham, John Matovu, Rosie Osire, and Kelly Wyett
- Publication Date:
- 01-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
- Abstract:
- ncome per capita in Uganda has doubled in the last 20 years. This remarkable performance has been buoyed by significant aid flows and large external imbalances. Economic growth has been concentrated in non-tradable activities leading to growing external imbalances and a growing gap between rural and urban incomes. Future growth will depend on achieving sufficient export dynamism. In addition, growth faces a number of other challenges: low urbanization rate, rapid rural population growth and high dependency ratios. However, both the dependency ratio and fertility rates have begun to decline recently. Rural areas are also severely overcrowded with low-productivity subsistence agriculture as a pervasive form of production. Commercial agriculture has great possibilities to increase output, but as the sector improves its access to capital, inputs and technology it will shed jobs rather than create them. These challenges combined tell us that future growth in Uganda will require a rapid rate of export growth and economic diversification. The country faces the prospect of an oil boom of uncertain size and timing. It could represent an important stepping stone to achieve external sustainability, expanded income and infrastructure and a greater internal market. However, as with all oil booms, the challenges include avoiding the Dutch disease, managing the inevitable volatility in oil incomes and avoiding inefficient specialization in oil. Policies that set targets for the non-oil deficit could help manage some of these effects, but a conscious strategy to diversify would still be needed. The best strategy is therefore to use the additional oil revenue and accompanying investments to promote a diversification strategy that is sustainable. To determine how to encourage such a transformation, we draw on a new line of research that demonstrates how development seldom implies producing more of the same. Instead, as countries grow, they tend to move into new industries, while they also increase productivity in existing sectors. In this report, we analyze what those new industries might be for Uganda. To do so, we first look to those products which balance the desire to increase the diversification and complexity of production, while not over-stretching existing capabilities. These include mostly agricultural inputs, such as agrochemicals and food processing. In addition, Uganda should concurrently develop more complex industries, such as construction materials, that are reasonably within reach of current capabilities and will be in great demand in the context of an oil boom. Here, the fact that Uganda is landlocked and faces high import costs will provide natural protection to the expanding demand in Uganda and neighboring countries. We conclude with a discussion of the government policies that will support Uganda in developing new tradable industries.
- Topic:
- Development, Humanitarian Aid, Science and Technology, and Economic growth
- Political Geography:
- Uganda and Africa