Search

Begin New Search Topic Civil Society Political Geography Asia

21. Conducting Elections in the World's Largest Plural Society

Author:
S. Y. Quraishi
Publication Date:
03-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for the Advanced Study of India
Abstract:
DR. RICHARD JOHNSTON: Welcome everyone to the welcome lecture from S. Y. Quraishi to the Comparing Elections and Electoral Systems in North America and India Conference. My name is Richard Johnston. By a vote of three to one, I was chosen as the person to do the introduction so I was not present at the time the vote was taken, but I am actually very pleased to be asked to do this. Just so you know, my current affiliation is the University of BC, but I am a former Penn person. It doesn't feel very former at the moment, I'll say, which is very pleasant. Anyway, my task is not to talk about me, but to introduce S. Y. Quraishi, the Chief Commissioner for Elections for India. I can't underscore how big a deal it is for us to have Dr. Quraishi here. The position is recognized in the Constitution of India. It is an enormously important role. This is the largest election task in the world. Not only does the Elections Commission take care of the Parliamentary elections, Lok Sabha elections, but also Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections, and elections in several states. So Dr. Quraishi is responsible for organization of elections, certainly to a Canadian, on an unimaginable scale. He is the seventeenth Chief Commissioner. He has been so since the third of July last year and served on the Commission for four years before that.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, and Government
Political Geography:
Asia

22. Minding the Money: Governance of climate change adaptation finance in Nepal

Author:
Katie Wiseman and Raju Pandit Chhetri
Publication Date:
05-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Climate change is an urgent concern in Nepal. In recent years, the country has faced more than its fair share of extreme weather patterns. Increases in temperature extremes, more intense rainfall, drier winters and delays in summer monsoons have become quite common and are expected to get worse. In fact, a recent Climate Change Vulnerability Index, calculating susceptibility to impacts of climate change over the next 30 years, places Nepal 4th out of 170 countries. This report examines the national situation of climate change adaptation policy and programming, highlighting key areas of progress, weakness and challenges. The report notes that current initiatives have yet to deliver benefit to the marginalized and vulnerable communities in the country - the very groups that need it most. Based on the findings, the report presents a set of recommendations for the Government, donor community and civil society.
Topic:
Civil Society, Climate Change, Environment, Poverty, and Foreign Aid
Political Geography:
Asia and Nepal

23. News on the Go: How Mobile Devices Are Changing the World's Information Ecosystem

Author:
Dale Peskin
Publication Date:
09-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:
The connected society reached a milestone at the end of 2010: More than 4 billion people paid for mobile phone service. That's six of every 10 people on the planet. During a period of unprecedented technological innovation, the spread of a decades-old technology may seem like an obvious achievement. That is until you consider that the hand-held device has become the hub for thousands of innovations that are changing the way the world communicates.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, Education, Science and Technology, and Mass Media
Political Geography:
Africa, Eurasia, and Asia

24. Executive Accountability in Southeast Asia: The Role of Legislatures in New Democracies and Under Electoral Authoritarianism

Author:
William Case
Publication Date:
01-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
East-West Center
Abstract:
In an influential study, Fish and Kroenig argue that "overarching institutional designs" (i.e., presidential, parliamentary, and dual systems) tell us less about the prospects of a new democracy than does the particular strength of the legislature. Specifically, executives are best checked where legislatures are powerful, generating horizontal accountability. In addition, ordinary citizens are better informed by the robust party systems that strong legislatures support, fostering vertical accountability. In comparing Freedom House scores with their Parliamentary Powers Index (PPI), Fish and Kroenig show clear correlations, leading them to conclude that democracies are made strong by legislatures that are empowered. In this monograph, this thesis is tested in five country cases in Southeast Asia: the Philippines and Indonesia, both new democracies, and Malaysia, Cambodia, and Singapore, cases of electoral authoritarianism. Analysis uncovers that in the new democracies, though their legislatures may be rated as powerful, members are geared less to checking the executive than to sharing in state patronage. In addition, although the legislature is evaluated as weak under electoral authoritarianism, it features an opposition that, with little access to patronage, remains committed to exposing executive abuses. What is more, when the executive operates a regime type that lacks the full legitimacy gained through general elections, he or she grows more receptive to at least mild legislative scrutiny. Contrary to Fish and Kroenig, then, this study concludes that the executive is held more accountable by legislatures under electoral authoritarianism than in new democracies. But rather than leading to a transition to democratic politics, this accountability strengthens authoritarian rule.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, Development, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:
Malaysia, Asia, Cambodia, and Singapore

25. Myanmar's Post-Election Landscape

Publication Date:
03-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
The November 2010 elections in Myanmar were not free and fair and the country has not escaped authoritarian rule. Predictably, in such a tightly controlled poll, the regime's own Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) won a landslide victory leaving the military elite still in control. Together with the quarter of legislative seats reserved for soldiers, this means there will be little political space for opposition members in parliament. The new government that has been formed, and which will assume power in the coming weeks, also reflects the continued dominance of the old order with the president and one of the two vice presidents drawn from its ranks and a number of cabinet ministers recycled.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, and Human Rights
Political Geography:
South Asia, Asia, and Myanmar

26. Report on Regional Consultation on The Responsibility to Protect

Publication Date:
04-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS)
Abstract:
Five years have passed since the signing of the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document, when United Nations (UN) member states agreed to the Responsibility to Protect (RtoP). Contained in paragraph 138 of the World Summit Outcome Document is a commitment by states to prevent four specific types of mass atrocities – ethnic cleansing, genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. It was a significant commitment outlining sovereignty as responsibility. ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) member states were part of this historic signing, recalling incidents of mass atrocities in their own region, such as in Cambodia and East Timor. Since the 2005 World Summit, there have been numerous regional developments, within Southeast Asia, in the areas of conflict prevention, early warning mechanisms and protection frameworks for its populations, such as the recent establishment of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) and the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC). However, there has been little discussion on what traction exists and how to operationalise RtoP in the region. In addition, there have been few avenues in Southeast Asia, for policymakers, civil society members, academics and the media to collectively discuss how RtoP is viewed in the region, how it can be better promoted and whether there are any lessons to be learned from past experiences in the region.
Topic:
Security, Civil Society, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Asia

27. China versus the Washington Consensus: The Anomaly for World Bank Advocacy Research (pdf)

Author:
Dic Lo
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
School of Oriental and African Studies - University of London
Abstract:
The Chinese experience of economic transformation has presented a serious challenge to the Washington Consensus. Since the mid-1990s, institutions upholding the Washington Consensus have mostly excluded the Chinese experience – because of its conspicuous anomaly – in their attempts to interpret worldwide transition and development in line with their policy doctrines. Yet, China did in fact rigorously implement the policy doctrines in the years 1993-1997, but only to result in severe social and economic problems. Since 1998, in the face of the problems and because of increasingly social resistance to the mainstream policies, China has progressively turned to focus on “constructing a harmonious society”. This turn represents a quest for a model of social and economic development that deviates fundamentally from the Washington Consensus.
Topic:
Civil Society, Economics, World Bank, and Social Policy
Political Geography:
China and Asia

28. Health-Care Reform in Georgia: A Civil-Society Perspective

Author:
Tobias Hauschild and Esmé Berkhout
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
This report aims to identify key challenges arising from reform of the health-care system in Georgia, especially in primary health care, and to present some possible strategies to address them. It will be a useful reference document for Oxfam, our partners, and all those concerned with improving the provision of health care in Georgia.
Topic:
Civil Society, Health, and Reform
Political Geography:
Eastern Europe, Asia, and Georgia

29. Local Election Disputes in Indonesia: The Case of North Maluku

Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
The election for governor in Indonesia's North Maluku province was one of the most bitterly contested since direct elections for local government heads were introduced in 2005. Held in November 2007, it remains in dispute more than a year later, although a winner has been named and inaugurated. At one point it seemed as if violence between the two sides could escalate into serious communal conflict, in an area where thousands had died in religious violence a decade earlier. By early 2009, however, it looked as though Indonesia's democratic institutions would be resilient enough to cope with an election gone wrong, and the dispute would be quietly resolved in the Constitutional Court. The Court's decision is expected in early February. The dispute that many thought could trigger further turmoil may prove instead to be a minor wrangle in Indonesia's largely successful effort to choose local government leaders by direct popular vote.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Civil Society, Democratization, and Government
Political Geography:
Indonesia and Asia

30. Final Report: April 9, 2009 Legislative Elections in Indonesia

Publication Date:
08-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Carter Center
Abstract:
The April 9, 2009, legislative elections in Indonesia marked the beginning of the third set of national elections since a return to democratic rule following the end of the New Order of former President Soeharto and the first based on an open-list system. This was the world's largest centrally administered, single-day election, with more than 171 million names on the voter register and approximately 519,000 polling stations. Thirty-eight political parties contested nearly 19,000 seats in national, provincial, and district assemblies, while an additional six local parties competed for seats in Aceh province.
Topic:
Civil Society and Democratization
Political Geography:
South Asia, Indonesia, and Asia