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1842. The Carter Center News Spring 2009
- Publication Date:
- 04-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Carter Center
- Abstract:
- Last November, The Carter Center was one of the sponsors of a major health initiative in Ethiopia, in which some 5 million people were treated for trachoma and tested (and treated, when needed) for malaria in a one-week campaign. You might wonder how many staff members The Carter Center sent from Atlanta headquarters to Ethiopia to handle this unprecedented, labor-intensive effort, called Maltra week. We sent one person.
- Topic:
- Health and Poverty
- Political Geography:
- Africa, United States, and Ethiopia
1843. The Broader Horn:Peacekeeping in a Strategic Vacuum
- Author:
- A. Sarjoh Bah
- Publication Date:
- 03-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- The deployment of peacekeepers is increasingly becoming a reflex solution to crises, often in the absence of viable political agreements. The cluster of peace operations in the Broader Horn of Africa – stretching from Central African Republic and Chad, through Sudan, to Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia – epitomizes both practices. Moreover, though the conflicts in the region are deeply inter-linked, the peace operations there are not, nor do they form part of a broader regional strategy. Lack of a regional strategy compounds pre-existing problems of weak commitment and slow implementation. The results have been unsurprisingly poor, at great human cost.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Peace Studies, and Post Colonialism
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Eritrea
1844. Strengthening Security Sector Governance in West Africa
- Author:
- Jake Sherman
- Publication Date:
- 03-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- The Center for International Cooperation's Security Sector Reform project, funded by the Royal Government of Norway, undertook a comparative study of legislative oversight of security sector reform (SSR) in West Africa during 2008.
- Topic:
- Security, Civil War, and Democratization
- Political Geography:
- Africa
1845. Africa's New Human Rights Court: Whistling in the Wind?
- Author:
- Sonya Sceats
- Publication Date:
- 03-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Chatham House
- Abstract:
- Human rights abuses on a massive scale continue to afflict the lives of millions of people across the continent of Africa. As in other parts of the world, the obstacles in pursuing justice are currently insurmountable for most victims. Against this troubling backdrop, the African Union (AU) has decided to add a human rights section to its new court which has been agreed upon but not yet set up. This court is called the African Court of Justice and Human Rights. In the meantime, another pan-African human rights court, the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, has recently opened in Arusha, Tanzania. This court will be wound down to make way for the African Court of Justice and Human Rights but is expected to operate for the next few years at least. These two courts represent the third instalment in efforts since the Second World War to create regional human rights courts. Because they have broad powers to enforce socio-economic rights and the collective rights of peoples, they may be setting an example for new developments around the world. This briefing paper focuses on the African Court of Justice and Human Rights, but it also explains key features of the interim African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights. It addresses questions including: Can victims of human rights abuses bring cases? Will the Court be able to try African heads of state? Will governments comply with judgments?
- Topic:
- Human Rights, Human Welfare, and Torture
- Political Geography:
- Africa
1846. North Africa: The Hidden Risks to Regional Stability
- Author:
- Claire Spencer
- Publication Date:
- 04-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Chatham House
- Abstract:
- North Africa may not be as stable as it looks: socio-economic and political pressures are fracturing the consensus between governments and governed and may overtake terrorism and criminality as the region's main destabilizing forces. With political leadership in the region effectively a lifelong position, the growth of authoritarianism is undermining the prospects for achieving political and economic liberalization. Despite the worsening global economic climate, a window of opportunity exists to accelerate socially sensitive and productive domestic investment and open space for greater autonomous political and economic development. Success depends on renegotiating the social contracts on which North Africa's states are based. A broadening of participation, above all through the extension of legal employment, targeted investment on education, health and skills, and the establishment of independent legal and regulatory frameworks, will go some way towards addressing socio-economic stresses. A change in the political environment, however, requires a re-evaluation of how the region's security climate is seen from outside, with adjustments in the kind of support given to regional governments by its key international partners, the European Union and the United States.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Security, Islam, and International Security
- Political Geography:
- Africa, United States, and Arabia
1847. Good Governance. Ein universelles Leitbild von Staatlichkeit und Entwicklung?
- Author:
- Franz Nuscheler
- Publication Date:
- 01-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute for Development and Peace
- Abstract:
- The World Bank blamed a „crisis of governance“ for the increasingly challenged success of international development cooperation, in particular in Sub‐Sahara Africa. After development cooperation got rid of the burden of the Cold War the international donor community consequently made Good Governance (i.e. rule of law, respect for basic human rights, fighting corruption) a precondition for effective development cooperation. At the same time economic and development theory underwent a change of paradigm beyond the neoliberal Washington Consensus taking up the insight of institutional economics: Institutions matter. Good Governance became the universal model for efficient government and development. This normative model was not spared ideological criticism, because it was suspected of paving, the way for Western concepts of „Good Governance” by means of external subsidies and political conditionalities. What proved to be much more difficult were the problems with promoting the establishment of democratic structures from outside, especially in fragile states.
- Topic:
- Cold War, Globalization, Government, International Cooperation, and International Organization
- Political Geography:
- Africa
1848. Die Intervention der Vereinten Nationen in Somalia. Eine Analyse der Entscheidungsprozesse im Sicherheitsrat für die Resolution 794
- Author:
- Nils Goede
- Publication Date:
- 01-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute for Development and Peace
- Abstract:
- The report analyses the decision-making processes in the security council of the United Nations, which led to the adoption of the Somalia-Resolution 794 on 3 December 1992. For the analysis of the decision-making process the Multiple-Streams approach is employed. This concept regards decision opportunities as ambiguous stimuli concerning information, goals and measuring criteria. Hence, decisions are frequently neither rationally justified, nor are they connected with a certain problem in a linear manner. The organisation is constantly confronted with a high number of problems and policy options. Under time pressure the organisation has to decide which problems and which policy options are going to be placed on the agenda and with regard to which issues a decision is needed. During decision-making processes options and problems are often reconciled into an only artificial accord. The analysis leads to the conclusion that the adoption of resolution 794 came about due to the dynamics of the US presidential election and the constant commitment of UN Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali rather than due to the situation in Somalia.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, International Trade and Finance, Treaties and Agreements, and United Nations
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Somalia
1849. West Africa: Governance and Security in a Changing Region
- Author:
- Abdel-Fatau Musah
- Publication Date:
- 02-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Peace Institute
- Abstract:
- This paper addresses the challenges to human and regional security in the territory covered by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). It examines causal factors and their effects, profiles the actors shaping the security environment, and describes the nature and impacts of their interventions. Finally, it projects possible future scenarios based on the current security dynamics. The paper examines the geopolitical environment of West Africa, with emphasis on the strategic importance of the region and the vulnerabilities emanating from its location. Within this context, it discusses the roles of local, regional, and international actors in the evolving regional security architecture, sifting through their actions, motivations, and interventions. It analyzes the attempts by national, regional, and international institutions to transform the security environment, highlighting their roles, strengths, and weaknesses; and it projects various security scenarios, proposing policy options to meet the challenges that these scenarios present.
- Topic:
- Security, Development, Government, and Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- Africa
1850. Zimbabwe: Benchmarks to Recovery
- Author:
- James D. McGee
- Publication Date:
- 04-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Institution:
- Council of American Ambassadors
- Abstract:
- For years analysts have been predicting that Zimbabwe had reached rock bottom and that a turn-around was imminent. For years they have been wrong, and Robert Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party have maintained political control while simultaneously destroying Zimbabwe's once thriving economy. The question now is whether the postelection violence and hyper-inflation of 2008 finally marked the turning point for Zimbabwe, and if the new unity government can begin to bring Zimbabwe out of its decade-long collapse.
- Topic:
- Government
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Zimbabwe