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821. Eritrea's Economy: Ideology and Opportunity

Author:
Seth Kaplan
Publication Date:
12-2016
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Atlantic Council
Abstract:
Eritrea is often in the news for all the wrong reasons: its high rates of migration to Europe (it has sent more refugees to Europe in recent years than any other African nation), its conflicts with neighboring Ethiopia and Djibouti, and controversy over its mandatory and indefinite national service conscription program. Human rights activists, in particular, have long singled out the country for criticism, calling it “the North Korea of Africa.” The inappropriateness of that comparison is increasingly recognized—but misunderstandings about the nature of the Eritrean regime continue to abound.
Topic:
Migration and Refugee Crisis
Political Geography:
Africa, Europe, and Eritrea

822. A Measured US Strategy for the New Africa

Author:
J. Peter Pham
Publication Date:
12-2016
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Atlantic Council
Abstract:
Turmoil in traditional geopolitical hotspots—Europe, Russia, the Levant, and Asia—has distracted the United States from the numerous opportunities and challenges across the Atlantic in Africa. Over the last decade, Africa has celebrated economic growth and new levels of political and economic engagement with the United States. But the continent faces many challenges to its continued economic development, security, and governance. In this latest Atlantic Council Strategy Paper, Atlantic Council Vice President and Africa Center Director Dr. J. Peter Pham persuasively argues that the United States needs to modernize its relations with a changing Africa to best engage a new range of actors and circumstances.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, International Trade and Finance, and Geopolitics
Political Geography:
Africa and America

823. Water Management in the Nile Basin: A Fragmented but Effective Cooperative Regime

Author:
Bart Hilhorst
Publication Date:
12-2016
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Center for International and Regional Studies: CIRS
Abstract:
Ongoing expansions of hydro-infrastructure in the Nile basin, combined with infrastructure completed in the past decade, are increasing the capacity to regulate the Nile as well as the benefits accrued to the Nile waters. No longer reliant on funding from the World Bank and Western donors alone, Nile water development is accelerating in a number of upstream riparian states. Hence, the river Nile upstream of the Aswan High Dam is gradually being transformed from a natural to a regulated river. Hydro-infrastructure projects represent a strong driver for issue-based cooperation among the most affected riparians, but it is noted that the basin- wide perspective is not considered in these ad hoc arrangements. This paper describes the emerging cooperative regime in the Nile basin and analyzes its effectiveness. It presents an inventory of where cooperation among Nile riparians is needed, and discusses the required level of cooperation. It looks at the benefits of cooperation that are not related to a specific geographic area. The paper then identifies four distinct sub-basins that have substantial autonomy in managing their water resources. It concludes that the emerging cooperative setup is logical and for now quite effective, and does not lock in arrangements that may prove inconsistent—at a later point in time—with the overall objective of reasonable and equitable use of the Nile waters by each riparian state. Hence, the emerging cooperative regime arguably represents a positive step in the evolution from a basin without cooperation to a basin managed to optimize the use of the Nile waters for the benefit of its people.
Topic:
Environment and Climate Finance
Political Geography:
Africa and Egypt

824. A primary exploration on cyber security governance in Africa

Author:
XIAO Yingying and YUAN Zhengqing
Publication Date:
07-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Abstract:
The internet history in Africa is short, but this new technology is spreading fast on the continent. Along with this, cybercrime in Africa is becoming increasingly rampant, while the relevant legal institutions and law enforcement capacity are lagging behind, with public and private cyber security awareness being relatively weak. In recent years, African countries start accelerating the design of institutional framework concerning cyber security governance. Besides e-transaction and cybercrime, personal data protection is also part of Africa’s cyber security governance, which is the result of the “impartment“ from Western developed countries and the active advocacy from NGOs. Whether at the national level, sub-regional organization level, the African Union level or NGO level, those Western developed countries and western-dominated international organizations have played a role in the institutional design of African cyber security governance, some of which referred to or even copied the original designs of the Western countries. This may lead to the African continent being “recolonized” in cyberspace, with no autonomous decision-making power in global cyber security governance. Besides, from design to implementation, African countries still have a long way to go, and whether the institutions based on the western experience are suitable for the culture and ideas of the African countries, remains to be tested with practice.
Topic:
International Relations and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Africa and China

825. Islamist Extremism in East Africa

Author:
Abdisaid Ali
Publication Date:
08-2016
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Africa Center for Strategic Studies
Abstract:
The growth of Salafist ideology in East Africa has challenged long established norms of tolerance and interfaith cooperation in the region. This is an outcome of a combination of external and internal factors. This includes a decades-long effort by religious foundations in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states to promulgate ultraconservative interpretations of Islam throughout East Africa’s mosques, madrassas, and Muslim youth and cultural centers. Rooted within a particular Arab cultural identity, this ideology has fostered more exclusive and polarizing religious relations in the region, which has contributed to an increase in violent attacks. These tensions have been amplified by socioeconomic differences and often heavy-handed government responses that are perceived to punish entire communities for the actions of a few. Redressing these challenges will require sustained strategies to rebuild tolerance and solidarity domestically as well as curb the external influence of extremist ideology and actors.
Topic:
Islam, Religion, Violent Extremism, and Global Security
Political Geography:
Africa

826. Bridging Theory and Practice: A Life in the Field

Author:
Meg Murphy
Publication Date:
03-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
During the turmoil in Uganda after the fall of repressive leader Idi Amin Dada, political scientist Robert Bates was in the field. At the time, he was widely known for his astute public policy analysis of agricultural decline in Africa. His war zone experience led to the great concern of the latter part of his career—the study of political violence. Now one of his books on the subject, When Things Fell Apart: State Failure in Late-Century Africa, is being published by the Cambridge University Press. It was selected for the Canto Classics series, which features the most influential titles over the past half-century. With the inclusion, Bates joins intellects such as literary critic C.S. Lewis, Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger, and British anthropologist Jack Goody. For Bates, the Eaton Professor of the Science of Government and professor of African and African American studies at Harvard and a Faculty Associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, a deep commitment to fieldwork has been paramount. On his office door there’s a picture of Bates, long white beard and Panama hat, looking, as he does, like a restless scholar ready to set out on expedition.
Topic:
Agriculture, Violence, political warfare, and Socioeconomics
Political Geography:
Kenya, Africa, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Ghana

827. he World That Awaits President-Elect Trump

Author:
Michelle Nicholasen
Publication Date:
11-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
During the 2016 primaries, Donald Trump claimed he had more foreign policy experience than any of the GOP contenders. In fact, he has traveled widely to meet with presidents, prime ministers, financiers, and developers over the past decade as part of his highly profitable business of licensing the Trump name to large real estate developments around the world. On the campaign trail, Trump’s provocative statements about foreign policy have become part of the public record. From pressuring NAFTA members to bombing ISIS, his pledges have caused a stir in the arena of foreign relations. Publicly, candidate Trump threatened to close borders to Mexicans, slap tariffs on Chinese goods, restrict Muslims in the United States, among other vows. Without a record of public service to draw on, it is difficult to know how these declarations might translate into a Trump foreign policy. To understand what lies ahead for the new president, the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs asked its Faculty Associates in international relations to comment on the challenges and opportunities that await in five regions of the world: Africa, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Latin America, Europe, and China.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Elections, ISIS, and NAFTA
Political Geography:
Africa, United States, China, Europe, Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and North America

828. Building Capacity for Domestic Resource Mobilization: The Role of Development Partners

Publication Date:
12-2016
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)
Abstract:
Africa’s ability to deliver on the ambitious post-2015 Agenda (also called the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals) and the African Union Agenda 2063 largely depends on the availability of adequate financial resources. But the funding sources for development programs have been neither stable nor predictable, particularly after the global financial crisis in 2008. It has become clear that while donor financing remains important, overreliance on donor funding will not sustainably drive the success of the two continental agendas, hence the need to focus on other development finance options such as domestic resource mobilization.1 If new sources of financing are not in place, Africa’s growth and industrialization strategies are likely to suffer an early setback. Agenda 2063 recommends that countries strengthen domestic resource mobilization, build continental capital markets and financial institutions, and reverse illicit financial flows for Africa to be self-reliant and finance its own development.
Topic:
Development, Natural Resources, Economic growth, Capacity, Economic Development, and Human Resources
Political Geography:
Africa

829. Building Capacity for Domestic Resource Mobilization: Role of the Private Sector

Publication Date:
12-2016
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)
Abstract:
Success in implementing Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals depends largely on the availability and adequacy of resources. Africa realizes that industrialization is the way to go, as outlined in the two continental development plans, but it is inevitable that resources to fund these programs must be mobilized domestically. Domestic resource mobilization (DRM)1 was recognized as one of the six leading sources of finance for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but many African countries did not fully achieve the MDGs due to overreliance on donor funding. One part of DRM is generating taxes and savings, which implies that governments and the private sector have key roles in this process. Specifically, the private sector should mobilize private savings, expand its productive investments, conduct responsible business by not engaging in tax avoidance and illicit financial flows, and ensuring corporate social responsibility. The 2015 Africa Capacity Report (ACR 2015) identifies the private sector as very important in partnering and cooperating with governments and other key stakeholders to maximize tax revenues and promote savings and investment. This policy brief puts forward possible interventions for the private sector to enhance domestic resource mobilization in Africa
Topic:
Development, Natural Resources, Capacity, Private Sector, and Human Resources
Political Geography:
Africa

830. Building Capacity for Domestic Resource Mobilization: The Role of the Government

Publication Date:
10-2016
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)
Abstract:
Africa adopted an industrialization strategy, and committed to implement Agenda 2063 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), all of which require adequate funding. Given that no African country fully achieved all the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) largely due to funding constraints, domestic resource mobilization is therefore a very critical issue. Domestic resource mobilization is defined as the generation of savings from domestic resources and their allocation to economically and socially productive investments as well as accounting for such allocation. Africa has the capacity to adequately fund its development programmes from its own pool of resources (The Africa Capacity Report, 2015). Thus African governments are responsible for ensuring that national and continental development programmes are fully implemented, hence should mobilize sufficient resources to fund them. The public sector achieves this mandate through taxation and other forms of public revenue generation. In ensuring sustainable mobilization of domestic resources including curbing of illicit financial flows1, accountable governments are necessary.
Topic:
Development, Government, Public Sector, Capacity, and Industrialization
Political Geography:
Africa