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191. The Chain of Harm: Designing Evidence-based, Locally Led Information Integrity Programming

Author:
Lisa Reppell and Brittany Hamzy
Publication Date:
01-2024
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES)
Abstract:
The Chain of Harm is a framework that breaks down the challenges of disinformation, misinformation, and dangerous speech (DMDS) into five interrelated stages (actor, message, mode of dissemination, interpreter, and risk). Each stage describes a discrete intervention point to disrupt the ultimate manifestation of harm. This five-stage approach supports the design of multi-layered programming that more effectively promotes healthy information environments around moments of critical social and civic importance, with particular emphasis on designing programming that is responsive to the different experiences of diverse populations.
Topic:
Elections, Cybersecurity, Disinformation, and Misinformation
Political Geography:
Global Focus

192. Understanding and Interrupting Authoritarian Collaboration

Author:
Christina Cottiero and Cassandra Emmons
Publication Date:
05-2024
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES)
Abstract:
For many decades, autocrats have been considered less cooperative than democrats in international politics. While researchers endeavored to learn how international democratic practices spread through political, economic, and social networks, little attention was paid to autocratic collaboration tendencies. However, growing bodies of evidence from human rights and democracy support to international security and international development demonstrate that authoritarian regimes are collaborating through formal organizations and informal channels to stabilize or entrench their rule, disrupt democratic civil society, and even extend the reach of repressive institutions beyond state boundaries. Autocrats face common threats, including: pro-democracy groups and dissenters at home; stigmatization and illegitimacy of their authoritarian governance tactics abroad; conditionalities on critically needed aid or loans that prioritize democratic governance structures and policies; and evolving and increased security threats. In response, authoritarian regimes are sharing information; working to legitimate (or de-stigmatize) repressive practices; supporting one another as they weather shocks and crises resulting from international integration (economic or political); and even lending resources for co-opting and managing critical constituencies. These and other tactics allow them to entrench authoritarian practices. To enable the democracy support community to effectively bolster democratic resilience in the face of growing authoritarianism, we must better understand these practices. This paper provides an overview of modern authoritarian collaboration, analyzing its purposes and methods. It goes on to consider implications for international order and suggests that democracy defenders challenge pernicious authoritarian collaboration, for instance by leveraging their own transnational networks to disrupt authoritarian collaboration on surveillance and repression; provide compelling counter-narratives and debunk disinformation through effective civic education campaigns; and international standard setting and rule enforcement that cuts off authoritarian actors from financial and other resources.
Topic:
Authoritarianism, Resilience, Collaboration, Autocracy, and Democratic Backsliding
Political Geography:
Global Focus

193. Trust and Remuneration for Elected Representatives

Author:
Cassandra Emmons, Jordan Shipley, and Silja Paasilinna
Publication Date:
08-2024
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES)
Abstract:
The rise of the Aragalaya (“The Struggle” in Sinhala) protest movement in Sri Lanka, triggered by the government’s defaulting on its debts in April 2022, highlighted the public’s belief that some of its elected officials are untrustworthy and corrupt. Demand for reforms is high; a supermajority of survey respondents in Sri Lanka in 2023 agreed that enforcing anti-corruption mechanisms equally across political parties (76 percent) and having an impartial judiciary (79 percent) and strong institutions with politically neutral or independent structures (72 percent) would increase their confidence in elected officials. Similar dissatisfaction with elected representatives and demand for reform and accountability can be observed in many countries that have been reeling from overall dissatisfaction with and, in some places, abandonment of, democracy. In hopes of building more resilient democracies that are bolstered by democratic trust, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) undertook this research project. It compares the formal and informal remuneration that elected officials receive in Ecuador, Nepal, New Zealand, and Sri Lanka. This comparative research identifies 16 categories of benefits given to and restrictions placed on elected officials. These serve as a menu of options for others. The research also uncovers two ongoing challenges in rebuilding trust in elected officials via remuneration reform: constituents’ perceptions that officials receive more financial compensation than they actually do, and officials’ receipt of informal benefits. This research leads us to make five recommendations to countries considering remuneration reform or reflecting on their current practices: Ensure reasonable remuneration that is responsive to economic and other pressures. Keep the public informed about remuneration practices and, importantly, any changes to them. Require asset and income disclosure to increase transparency around officials’ earnings. Limit benefits extended to officials’ family members and prohibit nepotism. Limit unnecessary international travel and manage perceptions of abuse. Countries that strive to incorporate these reforms into their legal frameworks or common practices may help build a virtuous cycle of remuneration for and earned trust in elected officials. Improved trust may ultimately contribute to stronger, more resilient democracies.
Topic:
Corruption, Reform, Elections, Accountability, and Remuneration
Political Geography:
South Asia, Sri Lanka, and Global Focus

194. Great Powers, Climate Change, and Global Environmental Responsibilities

Author:
Sezen Kaya-Sönmez
Publication Date:
08-2024
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
International Relations Council of Turkey (UİK-IRCT)
Abstract:
The increasing deleterious effects of climate change have led to the emergence of multilateral environmental regimes and different understandings of responsibilities. Great Powers, Climate Change, and Global Environmental Responsibilities, edited by Robert Falkner and Barry Buzan, is an excellent book covering case-based examples of special environmental responsibilities. It aims to close the gap between International Relations (IR) theories on great powers and Global Environmental Politics (GEP) to illuminate the definition of environmental great power, differences in global environmental responsibilities, and the role of great powers regarding global environmental issues, particularly climate change. Buzan and Falkner argue that climate change is a global threat to international society that requires great powers to assume special responsibilities. Hence, this book seeks to bring together IR approaches to the study of great power and Great Power Management (GPM) to explain how great powers acquire legitimacy to justify their unequal status by accepting special rights and responsibilities as an institution of international society and how GEP perspectives shape the roles played by major powers (p. 6). The research questions of this study are as follows: (1) What are the features of environmental great powers? (2) Do environmental powers accept special responsibilities to combat climate change that correspond with their positions in global environmental politics? and (3) Have great powers securitized climate change, that is have they evaluated it as an issue that is related to maintaining international order and conserving stability in international society? The main argument of the book is that great powers have not developed a common understanding of their environmental responsibilities because they do not evaluate climate change as a systemic threat to the international system. Furthermore, whether it is a developed or developing country, the interests of great powers have blocked the securitization of environmental issues.
Topic:
International Relations, Climate Change, Environment, and Great Powers
Political Geography:
Global Focus

195. Political Challenges and Current Threats of Internet Fragmentation

Author:
Vladimer Svanadze
Publication Date:
04-2024
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Georgian Foundation for Strategic International Studies -GFSIS
Abstract:
The positive process of rapid development of the Internet and Internet technologies is accompanied by certain risks that pose a threat to the unity and security of the global Internet network, its stability and sustainable growth. Although the unity, security, and stable development of the global Internet are important issues acknowledged by countries within the United Nations framework, some nations persist in creating a national-level Internet policy. This policy aims to control both domestic and external users of the Internet space, seeking to gain an advantage at the international level in using the Internet space as a tool of enforcement. This approach contributes to the fragmentation of the Internet into distinct parts, posing obstacles to its unity and stability. The article aims to demonstrate the political influence of individual countries on Internet fragmentation and, consequently, the potential threats such fragmentation poses to the unity, security, and stable development of the global Internet. To begin, when addressing the unity, security, and stability of the global Internet network, it is essential to reference the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) convened by the Secretary-General of the United Nations. This forum was preceded by the adoption of the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society in 2005, which played a pivotal role in shaping the discourse. The agenda notably defined the term “Internet governance” and acknowledged the collaborative involvement of stakeholders in various capacities. Specifically, the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society states, “Internet governance is the development and application by governments, the private sector, and civil society of their roles, common principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures, and programs that shape the evolution and use of the Internet” (Tunis Agenda for the Information Society, 2005).
Topic:
Development, Science and Technology, Governance, and Internet
Political Geography:
Global Focus

196. Engaging Gender Equality in the Economic-Productive Sphere

Author:
Beatriz Muriel and Daniel Romero
Publication Date:
02-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for Advanced Development Studies (INESAD)
Abstract:
This study reviews the conceptual framework of the economic-productive sphere and of gender equality, the aim of which is to establish theoretical-practical lines allowing progress in engaging these two spheres. In this context, equality in opportunities and in rights can be harmonized, though equality of “responsibilities, resources and retribution” by gender are more difficult to reconcile. Also, women’s (economic) empowerment – seen as a way of promoting gender equality – possesses a degree of relation with the theory of growth and wellbeing when an individual has the role of consumer, for which “capabilities” are needed for selecting valuable “functionings”. However, when such a woman takes on the role of worker, producer or businesswoman, her seeking of a high level of economic-productive performance does not imply that she is empowered, nor does the latter imply the former; though there may be a positive correlation between the two. On this basis, economic-productive interventions may harmonize with equality of opportunities by gender.
Topic:
Economic Growth, Equality, Empowerment, Gender, and Well-Being
Political Geography:
Global Focus

197. Solving the Double Climate Migration Paradox

Author:
Kira Vinke and Mechthild Becker
Publication Date:
08-2024
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP)
Abstract:
Human interference with the environment is fundamentally – and rapidly – reshaping geographies. Therefore, the question of where people will be able to live in safety and prosperity needs reconciling with these diametrically opposed trends: the continued use of fossil fuels, migration deterrence, and labor shortages. PDF Cover of PDF version of DGAP Commentary No. 4 application/pdf206.84 KB Share Discourses on migration and asylum-related issues have become increasingly contested in Western democracies. Anti-migrant rhetoric continues to gain momentum, particularly ahead of elections. This trend could be observed around the 2024 European elections when voters throughout the EU made migration a top priority in their decision-making. Similarly, in the United States, immigration on the southern border has become a deeply contested issue in the upcoming presidential election. “The migrant” has arguably become the scapegoat for economic and social problems in contemporary politics. The UK’s norm-defeating and dysfunctional asylum deal with Rwanda, now terminated, is just one example of how politics feeds such discriminatory narratives. While migration issues have received extensive media coverage and become increasingly politicized, a growing driver of migration has slipped down the list of political priorities: climate change.
Topic:
Climate Change, Migration, Economy, Migration Policy, and Climate Refugees
Political Geography:
Global Focus

198. Can Multinationals Withstand Growing Trade Barriers?

Author:
Mahdi Ghodsi, Michael Landesmann, and Nina Vujanović
Publication Date:
01-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW)
Abstract:
Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are increasingly dealing with challenges shaped by the new geopolitical and trade environments. Besides traditional tariffs, exporting firms need to comply with regulatory non-tariff measures (NTMs) in the form of technical barriers to trade (TBTs) and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures. Although trade costs associated with these policy measures affect all firms, implications could be multifaceted for multinationals that base their international activities on exporting and importing and are important for the formation of global supply chains. Applying Poisson pseudo maximum likelihood to the unique Orbis dataset of firms on multinational subsidiaries, we show that NTMs pose a greater challenge to MNEs’ subsidiaries’ activity and performance than tariffs do. High-tech manufacturing subsidiaries of foreign MNEs are particularly vulnerable to these NTMs, as they suffer higher regulatory losses. However, multinational affiliates that have higher productivity, those with full foreign ownership representation, those that are embedded within a larger international network of subsidiaries, and those that are located in trading partners with deep preferential trade agreements can turn these trade challenges to their advantage. Our results have important implications for policy makers regulating trade in goods.
Topic:
International Trade and Finance, Foreign Direct Investment, Multinational Corporations, Tariffs, and Supply Chains
Political Geography:
Global Focus

199. Assessing the Impact of New Technologies on Wages and Labour Income Shares

Author:
Antea Barišić, Mahdi Ghodsi, and Robert Stehrer
Publication Date:
01-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW)
Abstract:
This paper advances the literature on the impacts of new technologies on labour markets, focusing on wage and labour income shares. Using a dataset from 32 countries and 38 industries, we analyse the effects of new technologies – proxied by patents, information and communication technology (ICT) capital usage, and robot intensity – on average wages and labour income shares over time. Our results indicate a positive correlation between patents and wage levels along with a minor negative impact on labour income shares, suggesting that technology rents are not fully passed on to labour. Robot intensity is positively associated with labour income shares, while ICT capital has an insignificant effect. These effects persist over time and are reinforced by global value chain (GVC) linkages. Our conclusions align with recent research indicating that new technologies have a generally limited impact on wages and labour income shares.
Topic:
Science and Technology, Labor Issues, Investment, Global Value Chains, Robotics, and Income
Political Geography:
Global Focus

200. Technological Push and Pull Factors of Bilateral Migration

Author:
Antea Barišić, Mahdi Ghodsi, and Michael Landesmann
Publication Date:
02-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW)
Abstract:
This paper explores the complex interplay between technology adoption, specifically robotisation and digitalisation, and international migration within the EU and other advanced economies, including Australia, the UK, Japan, Norway and the US, over the period 2001-2019. Utilising a gravity model approach grounded in neoclassical migration theory, the study analyses how technological advancements influence migration flows. It examines two key technological variables: the extent of digitalisation, represented by ICT capital per person employed, and the adoption of industrial robots, measured by the stock of robots per thousand workers. The research uniquely integrates these technological factors into migration analysis, considering both push and pull effects. Additionally, it accounts for various other migration determinants such as macroeconomic conditions, demography and policy factors. The findings reveal insightful dynamics about the relationships between technological progress, labour market conditions and migration patterns, contributing significantly to the current literature and informing future migration policies and the impact of technology adoption.
Topic:
Migration, Labor Issues, Innovation, Robotics, Migrant Workers, and Digitalization
Political Geography:
Global Focus