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81. Policy Experimentation, Redistribution and Voting Rules

Author:
Vincent Anesi and T. Renee Bowen
Publication Date:
08-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Nottingham Interdisciplinary Centre for Economic and Political Research (NICEP)
Abstract:
We study conditions under which optimal policy experimentation can be implemented by a committee. We consider a dynamic bargaining game in which committee members choose to implement either a risky reform or a safe alternative with known returns each period. We find that when no redistribution is allowed the unique equilibrium outcome is generically inefficient. When committee members are allowed to redistribute resources (even arbitrarily small amounts), there always exists an equilibrium that supports optimal experimentation for any voting rule with no veto players. With veto players, however, optimal policy experimentation is possible only with a sufficient amount of redistribution. We conclude that veto rights are more of an obstacle to optimal policy experimentation than constraints on redistribution.
Topic:
Politics, Reform, Voting, and Redistribution
Political Geography:
Global Focus

82. Strengthening defence research as part of higher military education for future security challenges

Author:
Nebojsa Nikolic
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Security and Defence Quarterly
Institution:
War Studies University
Abstract:
This paper evaluates the potential for defence research to contribute to the long-term development of higher military education. Motivation for the paper emerged from recent organisational changes at the Ministry of Defence by which the Strategic Research Institute (SRI), joined the University of Defence (UoD). Both institutions, SRI and UoD, are obligated and dedicated towards respecting and implementing national strategies, laws and norms related to scientific research and education as well as towards fulfi llment of prescribed accreditation standards for academic education and scientific research. The main idea here is to evaluate a scientific research approach conducted by the SRI, through the lens of the guiding principles for development of academic studies which are declared in the national strategy for education development. A few of the questions we tried to answer were: how relevant are the research topics?; who needs research results?; how should the research process be conducted?; and what about the quality of research results? Development of scientific research connections, higher education and practical needs of the military organisation are very important for all three domains, particularly for future security challenges. Military research organisations, along with the higher education component, have to be capable of perceiving future security challenges, conducting scientific research and offering some proposals based on scientific methodology. However, in the selection of the research topics, they have to respect the views, needs and priorities of other organisational entities which are part of the military organisation.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Education, Reform, and Military
Political Geography:
Global Focus

83. Drug Policy and the Sustainable Development Agenda

Author:
Global Commission On Drug Policy
Publication Date:
10-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Commission On Drug Policy
Abstract:
The Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030 are meant to be a transformational agenda to eradicate poverty, achieve gender equity or save the planet through their implementation. This implementation, based on coherent public policies, is still lacking at the national, regional and international levels. This is most visible in drug policy, where voices from health, human rights and science call for reform, while most countries continue to privilege ideology through law-enforcement and militarization. The members of the Global Commission on Drug Policy draw from their experience at the highest policy and political levels to provide an analysis of how - beyond powerful words and slogans - sustainable development is impeded by drug control while providing a single, forceful recommendation to address this situation.
Topic:
Reform, Sustainable Development Goals, Public Policy, and Drugs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

84. Reducing Sexual Abuse and Exploitation in UN Peacekeeping Missions: Reforming Data Collection to Inform Action

Author:
Anjali Dayal and Sophie Huvé
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS)
Abstract:
Sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) by United Nations (UN) peacekeepers is a critical issue. The UN has had a zero-tolerance policy in place since 2003 and has made data on SEA allegations in peace operations publicly available since 2007. This data reveals that peacekeeping missions with civilian protection mandates account for over 95 percent of reported allegations, while missions without such mandates account for under 5 percent. However, gaps and inconsistencies in data collection, reporting, and interpretation make it difficult to draw conclusions from the data alone. We need substantial context and case-specific knowledge to fully interpret the reported numbers. This policy brief makes recommendations to the UN on how to improve data collection and clarify reporting mechanisms, and calls for extensive external investigation to explain the variation in reported cases of SEA.
Topic:
United Nations, Peacekeeping, Reform, Sexual Violence, Data, and Exploitation
Political Geography:
Global Focus

85. After Liberal Hegemony: The Advent of a Multiplex World Order

Author:
Amitav Acharya
Publication Date:
09-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
“The dominance of a single great power,” wrote American scholar Robert Keohane in his widely acclaimed book After Hegemony, “may contribute to order in world politics, in particular circumstances, but it is not a sufficient condition and there is little reason to believe that it is necessary.”1 This proposition has never been put to a greater test as it is now. Since the election of Donald J. Trump as U.S. president in November 2016 there has been a vast outpouring of anxiety over the future of the liberal world order.2 But the myths, limitations, and decline of this order have been anticipated and forewarned for some time, even though its proponents have not acknowledged it. The “first myth” about the U.S.-led liberal hegemonic order, as I have written elsewhere, is “how far it extended for much of its history, especially during the Cold War period.” I pointed out that “the Soviet bloc, China, India, Indonesia, and a good part of the ‘third world’ were outside of it . . . . Despite the exalted claims about its power, legitimacy, and public goods functions, that order was little more than the US-UK-West Europe-Australasian configuration.”3 Noting that the liberal order was hardly benign for many countries in the developing world, I argued that it should be seen as a limited international order, rather than an inclusive global order. Joseph S. Nye, one of the staunchest champions of the liberal order, made a similar point when he wrote in the January/February 2017 issue of Foreign Affairs that the liberal order “was largely limited to a group of like-minded states centered on the Atlantic littoral” and “did not include many large countries such as China, India, and the Soviet bloc states, and . . . did not always have benign effects on nonmembers.”4 The liberal order did expand and strengthen with the economic reforms in China and India, and with the end of the cold war. And while the champions of that order celebrated its expansion, they still generally assumed that the main challenge to it would come from the rising powers, led by China. Their assumptions notwithstanding, precisely at a time when many of these powers today are not doing all that well, the liberal order appears to be imploding. Trump’s victory and Brexit suggest that the current challenge to the liberal order is as much, if not more, from within as from without. Precisely at a time when many of the rising powers are not doing all that well, the liberal order appears to be imploding. The domestic challenges to the liberal order led by Trump and his supporters could be overstated, however. After all, Hillary Clinton won a majority of the popular vote, and the Brexit referendum only passed by a slim margin. More importantly, however, the crisis of the liberal order has deeper roots, owing to long-term and structural changes in the global economy and politics. As such, Trump’s ascent to power is a consequence—not a cause—of the decline of the liberal order, especially of its failure to address the concerns of domestic constituents left behind by the global power shift. Given these factors, Trump is unlikely to reverse the decline of the liberal order even if he wanted to. Instead, he may well push it over the precipice. In what follows, I first describe the foundations of the liberal order, and show that the ground on which it was built has been eroding for some time, though Trump’s rhetoric and policies are also damaging. Next, I argue that for now the rising powers are not in a position to overturn the current order completely, and in fact they may wish to preserve some elements of it in the near and medium term. I describe a “multiplex world” in which elements of the liberal order survive, but are subsumed in a complex of multiple, crosscutting international orders. Finally, I offer some suggestions on how scholars and policymakers can manage the transition to such a multiplex world.
Topic:
International Cooperation, Hegemony, Reform, and Liberal Order
Political Geography:
Global Focus

86. Research Project on Reserve System Practices

Author:
Philipp H. Fluri and Valentyn Badrack
Publication Date:
05-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Razumkov Centre
Abstract:
У цьому виданні пропонується Дослідження 1, виконане Женевським центром демокра- тичного контролю над збройними силами, яке зосереджується на розгляді сучасних варіан- тів обґрунтуваннями доцільності призову. Хоча кожен з них повинен розглядатися окремо, але вони можуть запропонувати корисні уроки для країн, які стикаються зі схожими пробле- мами приймаючи системні рішення щодо реформ у галузі оборони і безпеки.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Governance, Armed Forces, and Reform
Political Geography:
Ukraine and Global Focus

87. Why We Urgently Need Water Policy Reforms

Author:
Mark Rosegrant and Claudia Ringler
Publication Date:
10-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
Abstract:
Growing water scarcity and degradation pose rapidly growing challenges to global food security and human well-being. Policymakers contending with these problems face many obstacles, including the increasing cost of developing new water through constructing storage, conveyance and treatment infrastructure, including for desalination of sea water. Other obstacles include the growing degradation of soils in irrigated areas, expanding groundwater depletion, rapidly growing water pollution, and the overall deterioration of freshwater ecosystems. Unless important policy reforms are undertaken today, water scarcity and pollution will adversely affect most, if not all, livelihoods in the coming decades.
Topic:
Environment, Natural Resources, Water, Infrastructure, Reform, and Pollution
Political Geography:
Global Focus

88. Guide pour les Femmes sur la Réforme du Secteur de la Sécurité: Programme de Formation

Author:
Kathrin Quesada, Megan Bastick, Heather Huhtanen, Carrie O'Neill, and Kristin Valasek
Publication Date:
01-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
This Training Curriculum builds the knowledge and skills of women from civil society to participate in security sector reform (SSR), and conduct advocacy related to the security sector. It is a companion to A Women’s Guide to Security Sector Reform, published in 2013 by DCAF and Inclusive Security. The curriculum is aimed at experienced facilitators and trainers who design workshops and trainings for women and civil society organizations wishing to engage in SSR processes. The Training Curriculum addresses the concepts of security, the security sector, SSR, gender and gender equality, and the links between them. It builds skills for planning, research, coalition building, developing recommendations, and advocacy around the security sector, as well as monitoring and evaluating those efforts. Given that women are often excluded from SSR processes, the curriculum serves as a tool to train and support women and CSOs of all types to participate in dialogue and decision-making to create a security sector that is more effective, accountable and inclusive. The Training Curriculum includes 17 modules that are practical, field-tested, and grounded in adult learning methodologies. They include case studies, exercises, videos, and role plays to make the material accessible to a range of learning styles and knowledge levels. Sample agendas and training guidance are included in the Introduction and each module can be adapted to suit specific training needs.
Topic:
Security, Civil Society, Gender Issues, Reform, Inequality, and Training
Political Geography:
Geneva and Global Focus

89. Toward a Unified Theory of Economic Reform

Author:
Shen Jim HuangNan, Liu XiaoJie, and Jun Zhang
Publication Date:
10-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
School of Oriental and African Studies - University of London
Abstract:
The dichotomy in the economics of transition literature with regard to the reform speed (Gradualist vs Radical Approach) and reform strategy (incremental reform vs structural reform) fails to capture the essence of the transitional process of a transitional economy that was ever under the control of planned economic system. In this paper, we construct a system dynamics model to provide a unified theoretical framework to illustrate that reform speed and reform strategy are inherently intertwined. We propose 4 optimal reforming combinations between reform speed and reform strategy to track the transitional trajectories of different transitional economies since 1980s. These 4 optimal reforming combinations are: (1) Incremental reform in radical speed. (2) Incremental reform in gradualist speed. (3) Structural reform in radical speed. (4) Structural reform in gradualist speed. In this paper, we demonstrate that a transitional economy would adopt one of the aforementioned 4 optimal reforming combination if and only if it minimizes the reforming cost incurred during the shock period of radical reform as well as the dual track period of gradualist reforms. Several factors in our model affecting these 4 optimal reforming combinations are also discussed. These factors include the spillover effect (both vertical and horizontal) of a newly established reforming promotion sector on other old sectors in a transitional economy, the endogenous reform damping coefficient determined by one transitional economy‟s initial conditions and the reform damping coefficient determined by the dual track system during the gradualist reform process.
Topic:
Economics, Reform, Economic structure, and Transition
Political Geography:
Global Focus

90. The Power of a Transitional Justice Approach to Education

Author:
Lynn Davies
Publication Date:
03-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ)
Abstract:
Transitional justice approaches in education are distinctive, potent, and impactful, and, while tremendously challenging, they can shift education from being part of the problem to being part of the transition to a more peaceful society. In the massive literature on the topic of peacebuilding (and peacebuilding education), definitions vary, but usually, following John Galtung’s work, a fundamental diff erence is drawn between “negative peace,” or the absence of war or violence, and “positive peace,” or the removal of the root causes of violence and the pursuit of structural changes that address social injustice as a means to achieve sustainable peace. Clearly, the notion of “building” implies a process, not an end. Peace is not something to be achieved but a dynamic situation with elements that contribute to making violent conflict less likely, both now and in the future. Within this context, transitional justice underlines the dimension of redress. Transitional justice, understood as “the full range of processes and mechanisms associated with a society’s attempts to come to terms with a legacy of large-scale past abuses, in order to ensure accountability, serve justice and achieve reconciliation,” presupposes that in order to build a lasting peace, violations of human rights must be first recognized and redressed. Such redress would, for many, include trying to compensate for past injustices related to exclusion from social and political goods, including exclusion from education and the right to learn. The distinctiveness of transitional justice within a peacebuilding process can be highlighted in several dimensions, each with key educational implications. First is the question of the large scale of past human rights violations in such contexts. Transitional justice initiatives do not necessarily relate to criminal offences committed by individuals or small groups but to systemic, sustained violence that adversely affects the rights of large groups of people and harms their lives. These actions include violence carried out (or permitted) by the state, which should otherwise be responsible for the protection of its citizens. Achieving justice in such circumstances goes beyond the “normal” mechanisms of criminal law, extending its definition to include war crimes and crimes against humanity. Th e legacies of past state-sponsored human rights abuses are complex and multidimensional; addressing them has expanded the notion of justice from “regular” trials to include other mechanisms, such as truth commissions and memory initiatives, reparations programs, and the reform of the judiciary, army, and police. Accordingly, transitional justice processes involve novel institutions with complex mandates, rules, and procedures, which may make them technically difficult to understand in many societies in which they operate. For these processes to be legitimatized and lead to their intended effects, they may require some form of public education programs. Formal education institutions can also play a fundamental role in helping learners to understand transitional justice mechanisms and why they are, or were, necessary. The second distinctiveness is the term transitional itself. Coined in the mid 1980s, the term transitional justice refers to the processes by which regimes attempt to move—or transition—from conflict, authoritarianism or oppression characterized by systematic violations of norms to more well-established democratic legal regimes, which can protect against such occurrences in the future. But the effort carries huge costs and dangers to the existing regime. As Pablo de Greiff has claimed, “There is no transitional country that can legitimately claim great successes in the field.” No country has undergone a transition that has prosecuted every perpetrator or has, through truth telling or other means, disclosed the fate of every victim or thoroughly identified the structures that made the violations possible. Yet de Greiff highlights the crucial function that transitional justice processes play in helping to draw a line between a past in which rights were not respected and a future in which rights matter, a challenge and a function that the ordinary justice system does not face. Transitional, then, does not qualify the word justice but really means “justice in times of transition.” Transitional justice is, therefore, a stage in the search for justice, and education should be seen as very much part of this dynamic search. A third—and central—distinctiveness of transitional justice is that it is constantly past- and forward-looking. Indeed, a basic presupposition of transitional justice is that addressing the past is a way of building a future that is recognizably better. As Clara Ramírez-Barat points out, transitional justice measures play a key symbolic role: establishing a break with the past by (re)affirming that certain norms and values that support them matter. The other option—to do nothing—does not create a space where victims, perpetrators, and bystanders can learn to live together. Th is form of “corrective” justice is seen as different from justice meted out in response to specific infractions of the law and to some other forms of justice, like distributive justice (although this can indeed form part of a future social contract). The aim is the forging of a rights-based culture, which requires wide knowledge of rights and their implications. It means interrupting cycles of revenge and violence and understanding how hatred amplifies. This leads to the fourth distinctiveness of transitional justice: the importance of its truth-seeking, or acknowledgment, component. Truth is the first victim of any repressive regime. As David Guinn argues, under repressive systems, “Reality is distorted, as moral norms are turned upside down and replaced by the corrupted vision of the culture of the regime.” It could be said that education is in part always a search for truth and the acknowledgment of the implications of such truth; although, of course, whose version of “truth” prevails should always be in question. In terms of acknowledgment, truth seeking includes the necessary identification of real people in the conflict—that is, the victims and the perpetrators as well as the bystanders. This recognition is also intergenerational, as children learn from their parents and grandparents. Admittedly, there are issues involved for education in such attempts at identifi cation and public naming of violations and perpetrators, particularly with regard to individuals and families. But identification also extends to governments. It relates to what is constituted as a war crime or a crime against humanity and who is responsible for it. In the identification of responsibility for harm committed we start to see important but controversial issues for educators. The final distinctiveness, linked to the first, is the fundamental public dimension of transitional justice: the idea of a new social contract. The implications of justice processes for civil society stretch forward into the “democratic regeneration of the social web” itself, which conflict and its enduring legacies have affected. New narratives emerge from the media, educational institutions, and cultural activities and agents as well as from civil society organizations. Ramírez-Barat holds that transitional justice processes are usually accompanied by an eruption of creative activities. But strengthening the public space requires the population’s capacity to assess accurate information as well as platforms to exercise freedom of expression and association under conditions of equality and inclusiveness. Education is deeply implicated in the achievement of these requirements and skills.
Topic:
Education, Reconstruction, Reform, Transitional Justice, Institutions, and Youth Engagement
Political Geography:
Global Focus