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2461. Adjustment Options and Strategies in the Context of Agricultural Policy Reform and Trade Liberalisation

Author:
Osamu Kubota
Publication Date:
08-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:
Reforming agricultural policies by reducing distorting support improves economic efficiency as a whole through a better allocation of resources. This implies that adjustment may have adverse effects on some agricultural households and other people engaged in the sector, in particular in the short term. There may also be negative impacts on upstream and downstream sectors and on regional economies that rely on commodities whose prices and production levels fall with reductions in support and protection. Despite pressures to reform to meet multilateral and bilateral trade commitments and to respond to budgetary constraints, these adverse impacts are a major reason why governments find it difficult to make progress in policy reform.
Topic:
Agriculture, Reform, Trade Liberalization, and Trade
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2462. Financing Water Supply and Sanitation Sector in EECCA Countries, including Progress in Achieving Water-Related Millennium Development Goals (MDGS)

Author:
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
Publication Date:
11-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:
At their meeting in Almaty in October 2000, EECCA Ministers of Environment, Finance, and Economy, Ministers and senior representatives from several OECD countries, as well as senior officials from International Financial Institutions (IFI), International Organisations, non-governmental organisations, and the private sector, recognised the critical condition of the urban water supply and sanitation sector in EECCA and endorsed "Guiding Principles for the Reform of the Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Sector in the NIS". Participants requested the EAP Task Force to assess progress in implementing these Guiding Principles for review at a major conference of stakeholders that took place in 2005 in Yerevan, Armenia. This paper is an update of a report that was prepared for the Ministerial meeting in Yerevan, drawing on more recent data, and responds to the Ministers' request to prepare such a paper for the Environment for Europe Conference in 2007.
Topic:
Water, Millennium Development Goals, NGOs, and Sanitation
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2463. Enhancing the Implementation of United Nations Security Council Sanctions

Author:
Fourth Freedom Forum
Publication Date:
04-2007
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Fourth Freedom Forum
Abstract:
Sanctions are a powerful expression of the collective voice and the collective will of the international community. As such, their symbolic impact is undeniable. Their practical impact has been demonstrated in several cases where sanctions have helped to prod conflicting parties towards compromise.
Topic:
United Nations, Sanctions, Conflict, International Community, and UN Security Council
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2464. Why Do Islamist Groups Become Transnational and Violent?

Author:
Quinn Mecham
Publication Date:
08-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
MIT Center for International Studies
Abstract:
Since al-Qaeda’s rise to prominence as the most commonly rec- ognized Islamist group worldwide, Islamist movements are increasingly viewed as violent, transnational organizations. Most Islamist groups, however, are actually non-violent and focused on the domestic audience of their home countries. They can become both violent and transnational as their domestic contexts and incentives change, however. The reasons that Islamist movements move from non-violence to violence, and from national to transna- tional strategies, have far-reaching implications for the way we deal with Islamist groups and are critical for policymakers to under- stand.
Topic:
Terrorism, Violent Extremism, Al Qaeda, transnationalism, and Militant Islam
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2465. Deterring Cyber War: A U.S.-Led Cybersecurity Summit

Author:
Andy Johnson and Kyle Spector
Publication Date:
10-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Third Way
Abstract:
Every day, U.S. military and civilian networks are probed thousands of times for cyber weaknesses. As a result of the mounting threat, there is a growing consensus that international action is required to reduce the threat of cyber war. The U.S. should take the lead in deterring cyber war by hosting a cybersecurity summit—a key first step to building an international cyber accord
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Diplomacy, International Cooperation, and Cybersecurity
Political Geography:
United States, North America, and Global Focus

2466. Security Matters

Author:
Centre for European Security Studies
Publication Date:
01-2006
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Centre for European Security Studies
Abstract:
In the Starlink programme, sponsored by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, CESS is developing training courses on democratic governance in the security sector. These are tried out in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, and come in three types. One focuses on the defence sector, another on law enforcement, and the third on intelligence
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2467. Public-Private Partnerships for Development: A Handbook for Business

Author:
Suezan C. Lee
Publication Date:
07-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Conference Board
Abstract:
CED partnered with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) on this handbook, published in 2006, which is designed to help businesses operating in developing countries understand how to build public-private partnerships that will benefit their host country populations and the participating firms.
Topic:
International Trade and Finance, Partnerships, Business, Public Sector, Economic Development, and Private Sector
Political Geography:
Global Focus and United States of America

2468. Reducing Global Poverty: Encouraging Private Investment in Infrastructure

Author:
Research and Policy Committee of the Committee for Economic Development
Publication Date:
07-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Conference Board
Abstract:
This paper builds on some of the findings and recommendations of the 2002 CED policy statement, A Shared Future: Reducing Global Poverty, which broadly examined the phenomenon known as globalization and offered a blueprint for how best to harness economic integration and political cooperation between developed and developing countries towards enhancing economic growth and combating global poverty. Encouraging Private Investment in Infrastructure evaluates various options for public-private partnerships and provides brief analyses of several successful projects in order to identify best practices.
Topic:
Globalization, Poverty, Infrastructure, and Investment
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2469. Bulgaria in NATO and the EU: Implications for the Regional Foreign and Security Policy of the Country

Author:
Plamen Pantev
Publication Date:
01-2005
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Institute for Security and International Studies (ISIS)
Abstract:
The study includes three main interrelated issues, reflecting Bulgaria’s approaches and interests in preserving and developing a particular set of partnerships in South East Europe with the purpose of continuing the trend of the region’s modernisation in the fields of economy, infrastructure, technology, society and politics: first, the balancing between the special pragmatic relations of the United States with Bulgaria, and the EU integration of the country and the region; second, reaching a higher quality of NATO and EU memberships as a vehicle of pushing ahead the processes of regional emancipation, and, third, the specific regional consequences of the country’s membership in NATO and soon – in the EU
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2470. The Democracy Makers: Human Rights and the Politics of Global Order

Author:
Nicolas Guilhot
Publication Date:
04-2005
Content Type:
Book
Institution:
Columbia University Press
Abstract:
Has the international movement for democracy and human rights gone from being a weapon against power to part of the arsenal of power itself? Nicolas Guilhot explores this question in his penetrating look at how the U.S. government, the World Bank, political scientists, NGOs, think tanks, and various international organizations have appropriated the movement for democracy and human rights to export neoliberal policies throughout the world. His work charts the various symbolic, ideological, and political meanings that have developed around human rights and democracy movements. Guilhot suggests that these shifting meanings reflect the transformation of a progressive, emancipatory movement into an industry dominated by “experts” ensconced in positions of power. Guilhot’s story begins in the 1950s when U.S. foreign policy experts promoted human rights and democracy as part of a “democratic international” to fight the spread of communism. Later, the unlikely convergence of anti-Stalinist leftists and the nascent neoconservative movement found a place in the Reagan administration. These “State Department Socialists,” as they were known, created policies and organizations that provided financial and technical expertise to democratic movements and also supported authoritarian, anti-communist regimes, particularly in Latin America. Guilhot traces the intellectual and social trajectories of key academics, policymakers, and institutions, including Seymour M. Lipset, Jeane Kirkpatrick, the “Chicago Boys,” influenced by Milton Friedman, the National Endowment for Democracy, and the Ford Foundation. He examines the ways in which various individuals, or “double agents,” were able to occupy pivotal positions at the junction of academe, national, and international institutions, and activist movements. He also pays particular attention to the role of the social sciences in transforming the old anti-communist crusades into respectable international organizations that promoted progressive and democratic ideals, but did not threaten the strategic and economic goals of Western governments and businesses. Guilhot’s purpose is not to disqualify democracy promotion as a conspiratorial activity. Rather he offers new perspectives on the roles of various transnational human rights institutions and the policies they promote. Ultimately, his work proposes a new model for understanding the international politics of legitimate democratic order and the relation between popular resistance to globalization and the “Washington Consensus.”
Topic:
International Relations, Globalization, Human Rights, and Democracy
Political Geography:
Global Focus
Publication Identifier:
9780231504195
Publication Identifier Type:
ISBN