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1981. ANTI-CORRUPTION SUMMIT PLEDGES AND OGP NATIONAL ACTION PLANS: HOW DO THEY STACK UP?

Author:
Jameela Raymond and José María Marín
Publication Date:
12-2016
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Transparency International
Abstract:
At the Anti-Corruption Summit held in London in May 2016, 42 governments made more than 600 commitments across a range of issues. From anti-money laundering regulation to open data to public sector integrity, ambitious ideas for tackling corruption were central to the Summit.1 Transparency International evaluated the commitments made at the Summit and found many to be significantly new (generated by the summit), ambitious (strong steps in the context of the country they are coming from) and concrete (actionable and measurable). But without any formal mechanism in place for follow up, the commitments are at risk of being forgotten or left behind. Open Government Partnership Action Plans have offered a key means of implementing and monitoring Anti-Corruption Summit pledges. In fact, the Anti-Corruption Summit communiqué2 states:
Topic:
Corruption
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1982. Food Security in Jordan

Author:
Awni Taimeh
Publication Date:
09-2016
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Strategic Studies (CSS)
Abstract:
Food security is very vital and a complex issue that depends on many interrelated and dynamic factors. Its complexity is attributed to the strong connectivity of the global, re- gional and national drivers and their interactions. Moreover, the boundaries between the global, region, and national levels, and their impacts are not strict. The growing world population and the disproportional expansion of land resources to feed the growing number of people gives the national food security an international dimension with great pressure on countries with poor resilient economy and their ability to coup with the risk associated with these global dynamics.
Topic:
Food Security
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1983. Infrastructure, Attitude and Weather: Today's Threats to Supply Chain Security

Author:
Stephen Blank
Publication Date:
06-2016
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Canadian Global Affairs Institute (CGAI)
Abstract:
The global economy can be viewed today as a myriad of border-crossing supply chain networks of production, supply, distribution and marketing systems. Given the enormous value embodied in these systems, and an environment increasingly characterized by uncertainty and vulnerability, it is not surprising that concern about supply chain security has intensified. Concern takes many forms. For example, how supply chains might be used as vehicles for criminal activity (smuggling, trafficking of narcotics and importing counterfeit goods) or acts of terrorism (radio-active materials, bombs, even nukes in containers). Technology-based threats to supply chains, such as cybercrimes, data breaches and IT failures, now appear more frequently in the literature on supply chain security. These threats could result in substantial disruption to supply chains and damage to companies and their customers. But larger storms are brewing, whose menace to supply chain security is greater still – and where actions to protect supply chains move more slowly. These include the continued deterioration of transportation infrastructure, a new posture on trade which views supply chains as threats to jobs and wages, and the impact of climate change. These threats do not lie off in the distant future; they are threats of today and tomorrow.
Topic:
International Political Economy, International Security, and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1984. Capital Flows to Emerging Market Economies: Feast or Famine Forever?

Author:
Malcolm D. Knight
Publication Date:
03-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
The past 20 years have witnessed a profound change in the types of non-resident investors who provide funding to emerging market economies (EMEs) and the nancial instruments through which emerging market (EM) corporations borrow from abroad. Until the beginning of the new millennium, private capital ows to EMEs were mainly intermediated by large global banks, and EMEs were subjected to massive volatility in their external payments balances, exchange rates and domestic nancial systems. But since the early 2000s the role of bank- intermediated credit has declined, as the base of investors willing to take on exposure to EM corporate debt has become much larger and more diverse. These structural changes have encouraged a vast growth in ows of funds, not only from the mature economies to EMEs as a group, but also among EMEs themselves.
Topic:
International Political Economy and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1985. Education 3.0 and Internet Governance: A New Global Alliance for Children and Young People’s Sustainable Digital Development

Author:
Divina Frau-Meigs and Lee Hibbard
Publication Date:
03-2016
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
Children and young people are increasingly reliant on the Internet for their everyday lives. They communicate, share and collaborate online; use it to learn and play; and recognize its importance for their adult working lives. Considering their increasing access, agency and autonomy in using content and services, their protection as a vulnerable group needs to be coupled with their education as emerging citizens to ensure they develop a healthy and positive relationship regarding the Internet. Their general well-being, participation in society and prospects of employment greatly depend on media and information literacy (MIL) as the new set of basic skills for the twenty- rst century, where computational thinking interfaces with the rich and diverse “cultures of information” (news, data, documents, codes and so on). This paper examines education and its digital transition, mindful of the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. It discusses a variety of perspectives and trends, arguing that the future of education should be part of the global debate on Internet governance. It posits that Internet governance offers a new form of legitimacy for children and young people to go beyond their current “protected” status. Active participation in Internet governance can empower them to become actors in policy deliberations. This can be achieved by developing a “frontier” eld integrating existing Internet studies with MIL, rede ned to comprise Internet governance principles, protocols and processes. This new eld can be integrated into the school curriculum as a key discipline. Such a digital transition from education 2.0 (where information and communication technology [ICT] are support tools) to education 3.0 (where MIL and Internet governance are the new basics) can provide children with competencies for cooperation, creativity and social innovation. It can also nurture their human rights and understanding of shared values, which, in turn, will help to build more inclusive societies. As a global resource managed in the public interest, the Internet depends not only on policy makers and decision makers, but also on education leaders, on the adults around children and, most importantly, on children themselves. Mindful of children’s cognitive development, cultural differences in the conceptualization of childhood and children’s exposure to all sorts of materials and resources online, this paper explores the mutually reinforcing opportunities for both children and the multi-stakeholder Internet community through their alliances in education and Internet governance.
Topic:
Education
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1986. Risks of a Selective Approach to Investor-State Arbitration

Author:
Hugo Perezcano
Publication Date:
04-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
Investor-state arbitration (ISA) has been a controversial topic and a source of criticism and debate for quite some time. Yet, it continues to be a standard feature of modern international investment agreements (IIAs). While opposition to ISA has traditionally come from certain sectors of civil society, there appears to be a growing discomfort now among states as well. Some critics suggest that ISA is unnecessary and should be left out of IIAs altogether. Others argue that it may be needed in IIAs between developed nations that are mostly capital exporters, on the one hand, and developing countries that require foreign capital to promote development, on the other, but that it is unwarranted in IIAs that developed countries enter into among themselves. They reason that developed countries have robust legal frameworks and institutions, including responsive judiciaries, that adequately protect private investment and, therefore, ISA can safely be omitted from such IIAs without any detriment to foreign investors or their investments. This paper addresses some of the aws in the arguments that have been advanced in support of this position, as well as some of its implications, especially the reaction that might be expected from developing countries if developed countries were to back away from ISA in their dealings with other developed nations but continue to demand its inclusion in their agreements with developing countries.
Topic:
International Political Economy and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1987. The Evolution of Bonding Technology, Creditor Committees and the IMF

Author:
James A. Haley
Publication Date:
04-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
This paper reviews a range of issues associated with proposals for creditor engagement clauses (CECs) in sovereign bond contracts. CECs have moved onto the international policy agenda in the wake of the recent introduction of model “second-generation” collective action clauses (CACs) designed to address problems highlighted by the protracted litigation between Argentina and its holdout creditors. Speci cally, the new CACs should limit the ability of holdout creditors to impede restructurings acceptable to a supermajority of creditors and address the problematic interpretation of pari passu language that has plagued the Argentina debt restructuring. However, the introduction of these clauses, building on the foundation laid a decade ago by Mexico’s innovation of rst-generation CACs, has led some observers to express concerns that the sovereign debt restructuring playing eld has become “tilted” to the bene t of sovereign borrowers. Recent contractual innovations should be balanced, these experts contend, with CECs requiring sovereign issuers to convene and negotiate with creditor committees.
Topic:
International Security and Digital Economy
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1988. Patents and Internet Standards

Author:
Jorge L Contreras
Publication Date:
04-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
In recent years, high-pro le lawsuits involving standards- essential patents (SEPs) have made headlines in the United States, Europe and Asia, leading to a heated public debate regarding the role and impact of patents covering key interoperability standards. Enforcement agencies around the world have investigated and prosecuted alleged violations of competition law and private licensing commitments in connection with SEPs. Yet, while the debate has focused broadly on standardization and patents in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector, commentators have paid little attention to differences among technology layers within ICT. A review of case statistics shows that patent ling and assertion activity is substantially lower for Internet- related standards than for standards relating to telecommunications and other computing technologies. This paper analyzes historical and social factors that may have contributed to this divergence, focusing on the two principal Internet standards bodies: the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). It offers a counternarrative to the dominant account portraying standards and SEPs as necessarily fraught with litigation and thereby in need of radical systemic change. Instead, it shows how standards policies that de-emphasize patent monetization have led to lower levels of disputes and litigation. It concludes by placing recent discussions of patenting and standards within the broader context of openness in network technologies and urges both industry participants and policy makers to look to the success of Internet standardization in a patent-light environment when considering the adoption of future rules and policies.
Topic:
Science and Technology, International Security, and Information Age
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1989. Is There a Future for International Monetary Cooperation?

Author:
James M. Boughton
Publication Date:
04-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
Economic con ict between nation-states has been a major concern throughout the past century and will continue to threaten progress for the foreseeable future. The language evolves, but the issues persist. The “beggar-thy-neighbour” policies and “competitive devaluations” that aggravated the Great Depression of the 1930s have become the “currency wars” of the twenty- rst century. De ning the problem, however, is easy compared with the task of solving it. A central recurring question is whether policy makers can — and should — cooperate and try to coordinate their policies in an effort to alleviate con icts and improve outcomes.
Topic:
International Cooperation, International Political Economy, and International Development
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1990. Definitional Issues in the Sustainability Analysis Framework: A Proposal

Author:
Martin Guzman
Publication Date:
05-2016
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
It is e cient that insolvent debtors restructure their liabilities. A timely and e cient process of debt restructuring is in the best interest of the aggregate. Conversely, delaying the restoration of debt sustainability may aggravate the economic situation of the debtor. is is ine cient: the prolongation of a recession decreases the amount of resources to be shared by the debtor and its creditors. e costs can be enormous for societies, as deep depressions are usually accompanied by high and persistent unemployment (generally unevenly distributed among the di erent cohorts and segments of the labour force), inequality and poverty.
Topic:
International Political Economy and Sustainable Development Goals
Political Geography:
Global Focus