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361. Global Best Practices: Income and Asset Disclosure Requirement for Judges: Lessons Learned from Eastern Europe and Latin America

Author:
Keith Henderson, Sandra Elena, and Procop Buruiana
Publication Date:
04-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
In recent years, countries around the world have signed on to various governmental and non- governmental international and regional instruments designed to fight corruption at all levels of the State. Income and asset disclosure laws and policies have emerged as important mechanisms to promote probity and accountability in the fight against corruption. While these requirements were first imposed on the executive branch, they now are accepted as applying to members of the legislative and judicial branches as well. Income and asset disclosure, if properly designed and effectively applied, can also be an invaluable tool to strengthen judicial accountability, judicial independence and public trust in the judiciary and the Rule of Law. This paper provides a comparative overview of financial transparency for judges by testing the legal framework and practice in six Eastern European and Latin American countries against a set of core international best practices that have recently emerged.
Topic:
International Relations and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Eastern Europe, South America, and Latin America

362. Economic Survey of Turkey, 2004

Publication Date:
10-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:
Turkey is at a crossroads. After hitting the most severe crisis of its recent history in 2000-2001, the economy bounced back and is now among the fastest growing economies in the OECD. A new institutional framework for monetary and fiscal policies as well as for product, labour and financial markets, infrastructure industries, and agricultural support opened a window of opportunity to escape from the three traps of low confidence, weak governance and high informality which underpinned the boom and bust cycle of the past and to embark durably on a higher growth path. Success will depend on fully implementing and completing the new policy framework.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Political Economy
Political Geography:
Turkey and Eastern Europe

363. Economic Survey of Portugal, 2004

Publication Date:
09-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:
Convergence of the Portuguese economy toward the more advanced OECD economies seems to have halted in recent years, leaving a significant gap in per capita incomes. The proximate cause is low labour productivity, as employment rates across the board are substantially higher than the EU average. Nor is there a shortage of capital goods in aggregate. But capital equipment in the business sector is not always efficiently used or allocated, and new technologies are not readily adopted. Furthermore, the Portuguese labour force – even its younger members – have had less formal education than workers in other EU countries, including among the new entrants from Central and Eastern Europe, and workers in Portugal also have less access to training than in many other countries. Traditional Portuguese low value-added highly labourintensive products now face increasing competition from developing countries and from the new EU entrants.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:
Europe and Eastern Europe

364. Performance Indicators for the Monitoring and Evaluation of SALW Control Programmes

Publication Date:
11-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
South Eastern Europe Clearinghouse for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons
Abstract:
The trend is for SALW control (and DDR) programmes to become more integrated into national socio-economic development, therefore programme evaluation and the use of performance indicators are important to; 1) monitor the impact of a programme during its implementation; 2) provide management information during the implementation of a project; 3) verify that the programme is making progress towards achieving its objectives; and 4) to satisfy donors, governments and other stakeholders.
Topic:
Arms Control and Proliferation, Civil Society, and Economics
Political Geography:
Eastern Europe

365. Media Operations during SALW Control Interventions

Publication Date:
08-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
South Eastern Europe Clearinghouse for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons
Abstract:
In contemporary societies the mass media plays a crucial role in forming public opinion. The ability to reach into homes across great distances gives the media a unique power to communicate. Consequently, mastering the art of media relations is a pre-requisite for reaching large target audiences. Handled well, the mass media, (or at least sections of it), can be an important tool to support the implementation of a well-run project by furthering communication objectives. Alternatively, when neglected or mishandled, the media can severely undermine a project. By dealing with the media in a coordinated and planned manner a SALW Control intervention project can: Raise the project profile. Increase awareness and understanding of the project among target groups. Win support for the project's goals and objectives. Demonstrate its accountability to key stakeholders.
Topic:
Arms Control and Proliferation, Civil Society, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Eastern Europe

366. Foreign Policy-Making in the Clinton Administration: Reassessing Bosnia and the "Turning Point" of 1995

Author:
Séastien Barthe and Charles-Philippe David
Publication Date:
12-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Raoul Dandurand Chair of Strategic and Diplomatic Studies, Université du Québec à Montréal
Abstract:
The conflict that ravaged Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995 was one of the central international problems that the Clinton White House had to face during its first term. The “issue from hell”, as Warren Christopher famously dubbed it in 19933, was emblematic of the Clinton administration's failure, during the period of January 1993 to late summer 1995, to formulate foreign policies that could produce the results desired by the policy-makers in the West Wing.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and Development
Political Geography:
United States, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Eastern Europe

367. "Foreign Policy Is Not What I Came Here to Do" Dissecting Clinton's Foreign Policy-Making: A First Cut

Author:
Séastien Barthe and Charles-Philippe David
Publication Date:
12-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Raoul Dandurand Chair of Strategic and Diplomatic Studies, Université du Québec à Montréal
Abstract:
Some presidents fit a pattern. But though Clinton does bear comparison with some of his predecessors, he combines elements of several types and defies (for now) definitive categorization.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and Development
Political Geography:
United States and Eastern Europe

368. Turkey at the Threshold: Europe's Decision and U.S. Interests

Author:
Frances G. Burwell, William Drozdiak, Richard R. Burt, Donald K. Bandler, Eric Melby, and Morton I. Abramowitz
Publication Date:
08-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Atlantic Council
Abstract:
In December 2004, the European Union will decide whether to begin negotiations ultimately leading to Turkey's membership. This will be a crucial decision not only for the European Union and Turkey, but also for the United States and transatlantic relations. For strategic reasons, the United States has long been a strong advocate of Turkish accession to the EU, in the belief that membership is in the long-term interests of all the parties. But if the decision in December is to be positive, the EU must first determine that Turkey has met the “Copenhagen criteria,” and the EU must also reconcile its concerns about Turkey's impact on European social integration and governance. The United States can contribute to a positive decision by pursuing an active but differentiated approach.
Topic:
International Cooperation
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, Turkey, and Eastern Europe

369. Labour Markets and Employment Development in South East Europe

Author:
Hermine Vidovic
Publication Date:
01-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Austrian National Defence Academy
Abstract:
In contrast to the Central European transition countries, the economies of South East Europe (SEE) have been facing complex and interrelated political and economic problems. The dis solution of Yugoslavia combined with market losses, war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, sanctions finally culminating in the Kosovo conflict were the main causes of political and economic instability in the whole region. Taking into account these factors, output recovery has been much slower in SEE than in the Central European countries. Measured in purchasing power standards, Croatia is the best per former in the region, with its GDP at about 38% of the EU average. Next comes Bulgaria (32%), whereas the respective values f or Serbia and Montenegro and Albania range between 15-17%. Looking at the economic performance in the 1990-2002 period, Croatia and Romania reached almost 94% of their pre-transitional level in 2002, followed by Bulgaria and Macedonia (about 88% each). Serbia and Montenegro, the worst-affected, reached only about half of what it was in 1990. The cumulative output decline there was one of the largest among all the Central and East European countries.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Development, and Sanctions
Political Geography:
United States, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, Kosovo, Serbia, Bulgaria, Albania, Croatia, and Montenegro

370. Capital, Labor, and the Prospects of the European Social Model in the East

Author:
Dorothee Bohle and Bela Greskovitz
Publication Date:
05-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
Abstract:
During the past decade of European economic integration vastly worse standards have emerged in work conditions, industrial relations, and social welfare in Eastern Europe than in the West. Area scholars explain this divide by labor weakness caused by the ideological legacy of communism, and do not problematize the impact of transnational capital. In contrast, this essay argues that the reason why the European social model has not traveled to the East is that its socio-economic foundations, the industrial building blocks of the historical compromise between capital and labor, have not traveled either. In the West, the compromise had been rooted in capital-intensive consumer durables industries, such as car-manufacturing, and their suppliers. These sectors brought together organized and vocal labor with businesses willing to accommodate workers' demands, because for them labor had been less a problem as a cost-factor and more important as factor of demand. However, the main driving force of the eastward expansion of European capital has been the relocation of labor-intensive activities where business relies on sweating masses of workers, whose importance as consumers is marginal, and who are weak in the workplace and the marketplace. With this general conceptualization of how the emerging new European division of labor constrains the social aspects of East European market societies as a background, the essay studies the cases of Hungarian electronics and Slovak car industries in order to better understand how particular features of various leading sectors mediate the general pattern.
Topic:
Economics, Government, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:
Europe and Eastern Europe