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1231. Decaf empowerment? Post-Washington Consensus development policy, fair trade and Kenya's coffee industry

Author:
Zoë Pflaeger
Publication Date:
07-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of International Relations and Development
Institution:
Central and East European International Studies Association
Abstract:
There has been much debate surrounding the shift in development policy towards the Post-Washington Consensus and its associated Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers. This article seeks to engage critically with and further this literature by considering the concept of empowerment and its role within this consensus through an examination of development policy aimed at farmer empowerment in Kenya. This is investigated with a focus upon coffee producers in the context of Kenya's coffee reforms and the restructuring of the global coffee industry. While acknowledging the limitations of the dominant approach, exacerbated in the African context due to a problematic interpretation of the African state, it is argued that analyses of empowerment should also consider the opportunities for its re-politicisation. Drawing upon Gramscian thought, this article suggests that fair trade initiatives have the potential to offer an alternative approach to farmer empowerment more capable of challenging the concentration of power among roasters and buyers that has taken place within the coffee industry.
Topic:
Development
Political Geography:
Kenya, Africa, and Washington

1232. Multi-actor Approaches to Total Sanitation in Africa

Author:
Kei Otsuki, Weena Gera, and David Mungai
Publication Date:
12-2013
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
Since the 2000s, African cities have witnessed a series of interventions to improve water and sanitation. This policy brief outlines key lessons learned from the intervention experience, drawing on the UNU research project Multi-level Urban Governance for Total Sanitation (2011-2013) under the Education for Sustainable Development in Africa (ESDA) Project. It highlights the importance of multi-actor approaches for promoting: (1) an institutional framework to coordinate civil society organizations, community-based organizations, and the state agencies across levels; (2) policy recognition of water and sanitation as socially embedded infrastructure with gendered dimensions; and (3) the relevance of scientific research and university education to ongoing policy interventions.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, Health, and Infrastructure
Political Geography:
Africa

1233. Democratic Trajectories in Africa: Unravelling the Impact of Foreign Aid

Author:
Danielle Resnick
Publication Date:
10-2013
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
When, why and how has foreign aid facilitated, or hindered, democracy in recipient countries? Focusing on sub-Saharan Africa, this policy brief examines the impact of foreign aid on supporting transitions from one-party to multi-party regimes, preventing democratic breakdown and the erosion of civil liberties, enhancing vertical and horizontal accountability, and enabling competitive political party systems. Particular attention is given to the trade-offs and complementarities between different types of foreign aid, namely democracy assistance and economic development aid. Select policy recommendations are offered to improve aid effectiveness at bolstering democratic trajectories within the region.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, Development, Economics, Human Rights, Political Economy, and Foreign Aid
Political Geography:
Africa

1234. The Somali Question

Author:
Mwaura Samora
Publication Date:
09-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
NAIROBI—Throngs of traders haggle and jostle for goods along busy streets, constantly interrupted by the hooting of matatus, local public transport vehicles, and the shouting of pushcart drivers, known as mkokotenis. This neighborhood is no place for the squeamish. The matatus and the mkokotenis make their way through deep, water-filled potholes, splashing thick, dark liquid onto crowded sidewalks. Like the badly damaged roads, the sewage system in Nairobi's Eastleigh district was built by British colonists in the 1920s to service a few hundred working-class Africans and Indians, but now it must bear the waste of over 100,000 residents. Today raw sewage oozes out of thousands of household pipes that have ruptured after decades of neglect. The dark green sludge mixes with runoff in the streets to form a foul porridge of human excrement.
Political Geography:
Africa, India, Somalia, and Nairobi

1235. Fools' Gold

Author:
Jonathan Ewing
Publication Date:
06-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
KINSHASA, Congo—Joachim Andersson owned and operated a string of failed businesses before he founded Mineral Invest and began mining for gold in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. During the 1980s, Andersson worked as a pastry chef at an all-night café in a Stockholm suburb. It was the kind of place frequented by taxi drivers and prostitutes. Stolen goods were fenced in the café, and Andersson learned about precious metals. During the 1990s, he began dealing in minerals from Africa, and he was sentenced to five years in prison for tax evasion relating to importing gold.
Political Geography:
Africa and Democratic Republic of the Congo

1236. Rethinking Ivory: Why Trade in Tusks Won't Go Away

Author:
John Frederick Walker
Publication Date:
06-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
TSAVO WEST, Kenya—Two years ago, in what was billed as a defiant message to elephant poachers, Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki arrived by helicopter at a dusty airstrip in Tsavo West National Park to set fire to five tons of seized contraband ivory.
Political Geography:
Kenya and Africa

1237. The Big Question: How should borders be drawn?

Author:
Bonnie Glaser, Tsuneo Akaha, Aarthi Rao, Ruairi Nolan, Peter Taylor, Howard Eissenstat, Eun- Ju Kim, Anssi Paasi, Henk van Houtum, and Richard Schofield
Publication Date:
03-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
Boundaries define nations. Across Europe and Asia, through Africa and Latin America, old frontiers are being challenged. The primacy of the state is under increased scrutiny as the telecommunications revolution erases once impermeable divides. We have asked our panel of global experts how borders should be drawn on land, on sea, and in the blogosphere.
Topic:
Demographics, Science and Technology, International Affairs, Communications, and Border Control
Political Geography:
Africa, Europe, Asia, and Latin America

1238. Africa Capacity Indicators 2013: Capacity Development For Natural Resource Management

Publication Date:
01-2013
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)
Abstract:
This year's Report, the third in a series, focuses on an issue of great importance to Africa: natural resource management. The Report is holistic, yet focused on what African countries need to do individually and collectively to achieve effective management and good governance of the continent's vast natural resource wealth. The discussion covers both renewable and non-renewable endowments, with specific focus on forests, land, water, solid minerals, and petroleum resources. The Report offers analysis of the critical perspectives and contemporary academic and policy debates on the natural resource value chain, including emerging issues such as climate change and green economy. Pragmatic approaches based on original problem solving in different contexts are also presented in each chapter of the Report. To keep the emphasis relevant to the 2012 Africa Capacity Indicators Report, , this Capacity Development for Agricultural Transformation and Food Security volume gives particular attention to issues of capacity development and policy choices for “green growth.” The Report, in essence, links the natural resource management discussion with the themes of the two previous ACI Reports (ACIR2011, on state fragility, and ACIR2012, on agricultural transformation and food security).
Topic:
Development, Natural Resources, Economic growth, Capacity, and Human Resources
Political Geography:
Africa

1239. Financing Water in Africa

Author:
Kate Bayliss
Publication Date:
08-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
School of Oriental and African Studies - University of London
Abstract:
Despite repeated policy initiatives from donors and governments, the human and economic cost of continued lack of access to safe water and sanitation in sub‐Saharan Africa remains high. This paper shows that a radical reorientation of policy is needed to achieve a significant increase in investment finance in order to raise access levels. Rather than continuing to pursue policies that have failed for the past two decades, such as bringing in the private sector and raising prices to cost recovery levels, attention needs to shift to wider aspects of domestic revenue mobilization to support public investment.
Topic:
Privatization, Water, Inequality, Investment, and Private Sector
Political Geography:
Africa

1240. After Qaddafi: Building Peace in Libya

Author:
Muzaffer Ercan Yilmaz
Publication Date:
12-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Bilgi
Institution:
Değişim Yayınları
Abstract:
After the overthrown of Qaddafi, Libya has a historic opportunity to become a democratic country in the Western sense if peace building process is successfully completed in the country in the post-conflict period. This article aims to outline the basic steps of the peace building process, involving transitional justice, forming a representative government, strengthening security, making a new constitution, economic reconstruction, and national reconciliation, in that order. The study also emphasizes that since post-conflict situations usually require outside help due to institutional weaknesses, as well as limited human and financial resources, the assistance of the international community to Libya is crucial in the process of peace building.
Topic:
Civil War, Social Movement, Arab Spring, Peace, and State Building
Political Geography:
Africa and Libya