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21. Supporting Political Stability by Strengthening Local Government: Decentralization in Ukraine

Author:
Lily Salloum Lindegaard and Neil Anthony Webster
Publication Date:
11-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
The government that followed the 2014 Maidan revolution in Ukraine has pushed a decentralisation agenda. After decades of Soviet style top-down governance, the status and role of local governments – hromadas – has been pushed to the fore. If implemented successfully, it could increase local development and political engagement, ultimately contributing to increased political stability in Ukraine and Europe. Yet the significance of decentralization reforms is often lost in the noise surrounding Crimea, the secessionist conflict in the east, and the political power struggles in Kiev. For legal reasons, the current decentralisation process is ‘voluntary’, with local communities having to agree to the changes. This has introduced unintended challenges, but also a bottom-up political dynamic to the process. At the same time, uncertainty and opposition to decentralisation reforms remain, perhaps understandable given a rapidly shifting political and legal landscape, the diverse political and personal interests involved, and the fear of political fragmentation that could benefit Russia. Denmark is one of several EU countries supporting the reform process. This DIIS Report focuses in on the processes unfolding in local communities and political arenas, affecting peoples’ lives, their hopes, and their relationship to the state from local to national level.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, Defense Policy, Development, Fragile States, and Peace
Political Geography:
Europe, Ukraine, Eastern Europe, and Denmark

22. Stepping up Synergies of the Danish Comprehensive Approach: The Peace and Stabilization Fund

Author:
Jessica Larsen and Christine Nissen
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
The Danish Peace and Stabilisation Fund is a prime example of how to combine civilian and military instruments to address conflicts in fragile states. However, there is still room for stepping up synergies of the military-civilian balance in Denmark’s comprehensive conflict management. Recommendations ■ Increase the frequency of formal feedback between the field and the strategic level of the PSF to avoid loss of knowledge. ■ Synergies between civilian and military instruments should take place through complimentary-but-separate interventions. ■ Take PSF instruments into account when planning Denmark’s broader engagement in conflicts to ensure a more comprehensive security policy effort.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, Defense Policy, Democratization, Development, Non State Actors, Fragile States, Violence, Peace, Police, and Justice
Political Geography:
Europe and Denmark

23. Give Corruption a Chance

Author:
Vivek S. Sharma
Publication Date:
11-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The National Interest
Abstract:
CORRUPTION, MORE often than not, seems to resemble a plague. Afghanistan, where the CIA and British intelligence (in competition with the Iranians) have quite literally been handing over duffel bags stuffed full with taxpayer money to Prime Minister Hamid Karzai and his associates, is perhaps the most prominent example of its invasiveness and hardiness. Nothing seems to be able to eradicate it. Immunization efforts fail. Mutations occur. The only course seems to be to attempt to adapt to it. For despite the efforts expended by several American presidents on behalf of Karzai's administration, the United States has no surer way of ensuring influence and access to Karzai and his advisers than through direct cash payments into a slush fund designed to purchase the loyalty of important and powerful personages within the Afghan government. The bankruptcy of the Western strategy in Afghanistan could hardly be expressed in more vivid terms. Such failures in Afghanistan, not to mention Iraq, have occurred while the broader (and noncoercive) dimensions of "state building" or more generally "development" have also paid less-than-stellar returns. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the project of implanting "good" institutions in non-Western societies, whether through conquest (as in Iraq and Afghanistan) or through consensual, noncoercive means (as in Cambodia), has turned out to be a thankless task.
Topic:
Corruption and Development
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, and Denmark

24. Democracy, Markets & Transparency 2009

Author:
Gabriel C. Salvia and Hernán Alberro
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for the Opening and Development of Latin America (CADAL)
Abstract:
Leaders of development - The analysis of the cases of New Zealand and Denmark, heading the ranking for third consecutive year, indicates that there are powerful theoretical reasons to think that open economies, liberal democratic regimes and transparent public sectors go together.
Topic:
Development, Markets, Democracy, Economy, and Transparency
Political Geography:
Denmark, New Zealand, and Oceania

25. Defence R&D: Lessons from NATO Allies

Author:
Tomas Jermalavicius
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
International Centre for Defence and Security - ICDS
Abstract:
Defence research and development (R&D) is a field of strategic significance in developing modern defence organisations as well as the entire national security sector. In knowledge-based societies, pursuit of state-of-the-art military capabilities, organisational innovation in the armed forces, sensible long-term management of security threats and risks or deeper integration with allies go hand in hand with investments in scientific research and effective use of their results. The importance of this field is well acknowledged by NATO, which continuously calls its member states to devote at least 2% of their defence budgets to R&D programmes. So, today’s choices made in the national defence R&D strategy will have an impact on Estonia’s security and defence as well as its credibility within the Alliance 10-20 years down the road. The ICDS has completed a small study on general trends in this sector and on how several small NATO allies – Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands – think and go about their defence R&D, which will hopefully serve as a source of new ideas and will stimulate a debate on the merits and shortcomings of the approach adopted by Estonia.
Topic:
NATO, Development, National Security, Science and Technology, and Research
Political Geography:
Europe, Norway, Estonia, Denmark, and Netherlands

26. The Negotiated Nordic Labor Markets: From Bust to Boom

Author:
Jon Erik Dølvik
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
Abstract:
This paper provides an overview of the negotiated Nordic labor market regimes and their various paths of adjustment from bust to boom in recent decades. Developed in small, open economies, the Nordic labor regimes are often associated with strong centralized agreements and associations, high union density, and extensive worker representation, which have been embedded in social models based on close interaction between working life policies, the welfare state and macroeconomic policies. In leaner forms these features have undoubtedly contributed to the high Nordic levels of mobility, equality and employment in recent years (“flexicurity”), but an often overlooked part of the story is the increased scope for product market competition and the supply-side reforms undertaken in the Nordic countries since the crises in the 1980-90s. Another distinction of the revitalized Nordic models is the growing importance of management-union negotiations and dialogue at the company level. A key argument in this paper is thus that the capacity for negotiated flexibility and adjustment in Nordic labor markets has been critically reliant on the multilevel, single-channel pattern of articulation between centralized coordination and decentralized negotiations linking restructuring, training, productivity and pay issues.
Topic:
Development, Government, and Markets
Political Geography:
Europe, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Iceland

27. Danish Foreign Policy Yearbook 2007

Author:
Nanna Hvidt and Hans Mouritzen
Publication Date:
05-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
This is an outline of Danish foreign policy 2006 provided by the Permanent Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Throughout 2006, developments caused by globalisation posed huge challenges to Denmark. The cartoons crisis and the conflict in Lebanon were the most obvious ones. Confronted with these challenges, Denmark managed to pursue a pro-active foreign policy. Interrelated issues such as energy security, climate change, failed states and weapons of mass destruction became increasingly important. These issues must be addressed with different instruments ranging from diplomacy and multilateral cooperation to trade policy and development cooperation. They illustrate the need for new tools in foreign policy such as public diplomacy, which has gained further importance in the globalised and network-based system of international relations. In addition, the need for horizontal coordination has increased. The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a major globalisation study in 2006, recommending how Denmark can cope with the challenges of globalisation.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:
Europe and Denmark

28. PRTs in Afghanistan: Successful but not Sufficient

Author:
Peter Viggo Jakobsen
Publication Date:
04-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
The report analyses the contributions made by the provincial reconstruction teams (PRTs) on the ground in Afghanistan. It concludes that the PRTs are successful because they have helped to extend the authority of the Afghan government beyond Kabul, facilitated reconstruction and dampened violence. At the same time, it is equally clear that they cannot address the underlying causes of insecurity in Afghanistan. The PRTs only make sense as part of an overall strategy in which they serve to buy time while other instruments are employed to tackle the military threat posed by the Taliban and Al Qaida; the infighting between the warlords; the increased lawlessness and banditry; and the booming opium poppy cultivation and the drug trade. A comprehensive strategy that couples the deployment of more PRTs by NATO with determined action against these causes of instability is therefore required. Future PRTs should be based on the UK PRT model, which is generally considered the most successful. To heighten its profile in Afghanistan, Denmark should consider establishing a PRT of its own or contributing to the establishment of a joint Nordic PRT.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, NATO, and Development
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United Kingdom, Middle East, and Denmark

29. Indigenous peoples, gender and natural resource management

Author:
Cæcilie Mikkelsen
Publication Date:
02-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
It is generally assumed that both gender and ethnicity are decisive factors in natural resource management and that changes in access to natural resources have differing effects on men and women and on indigenous and non-indigenous peoples. The issues of ethnicity and gender are, however, rarely explored together in relation to natural resource management. The present paper seeks to provide an overview of the present state of research dealing with indigenous peoples, gender and natural resource management. It examines the position of indigenous women in 'women and environment' literature and the aspect of gender in literature dealing with indigenous peoples natural resource management. It reviews empirical literature specifically dealing with indigenous women's use and knowledge of natural resources, and the relationship between modernization, natural resource degradation and indigenous gender relations. The paper concludes that gender is indeed a relevant factor for understanding indigenous peoples' natural resource management and therefore also critical to consider in relation to planned development and conservation. However, the question of gender equality and equity in relation to indigenous peoples' natural resource management must be situated within the context of continued ethnic discrimination and indigenous peoples struggle for self determination.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, Gender Issues, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:
Denmark

30. Economic Survey of Denmark, 2005

Publication Date:
02-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:
Denmark has been near the top of the OECD's income rankings for many years. It has the most equal income distribution among member countries, partly because of its comprehensive welfare state. Given an ageing population, the key economic challenge is to maintain growth in living standards while preserving the welfare system. To achieve this, Denmark will need to raise labour supply and productivity growth. If they do not improve from here, the growth rate of per capita GDP will be dragged down to just ½ per cent per annum within a couple of decades.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Europe and Denmark