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402. Could the G-20 Become Coherent on Climate?
- Author:
- Gwynne Taraska and Henry Kellison
- Publication Date:
- 08-2016
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for American Progress - CAP
- Abstract:
- The G-20—a forum of 20 of the world’s largest economies—has a record of ambivalence on the topic of climate change. One case in point is the disconnect between the group’s efforts to address climate risks and its efforts to reduce the shortfall in global infrastructure investment. On one hand, the G-20 is aware that investing in projects that are high-carbon or vulnerable to the physical effects of rising temperatures carries risks that could have a destabilizing influence on the global economy. On the other hand, the G-20 is seeking to narrow the infrastructure gap in the absence of a guiding principle that infrastructure investments must be climate-compatible. Members of the G-20 Argentina Australia Brazil Canada China European Union France Germany India Indonesia Italy Japan Korea Mexico Russia Saudi Arabia South Africa Turkey United Kingdom United States In September 2016, world leaders will convene for the G-20 summit in Hangzhou, China. One focus of the climate agenda will be ensuring that the Paris Agreement takes effect in the near term. Negotiated by more than 190 nations and finalized in December 2015, the agreement set many collective goals, including limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels and ensuring that global financial flows are compatible with low-greenhouse gas development.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, and International Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Russia, United States, Japan, China, United Kingdom, Indonesia, Turkey, India, South Korea, France, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Italy, and Mexico
403. Wandering decarbonization: the BRIC countries as conservative climate powers
- Author:
- Eduardo Viola and Larissa Basso
- Publication Date:
- 12-2016
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional (RBPI)
- Institution:
- Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI)
- Abstract:
- This article discusses the role of China, Russia, India and Brazil in the climate regime. It describes the trajectory of their emissions, of their domestic policies and of their international commitments, and argues that, despite their responsibility in causing the problem, they have been conservative forces in the climate regime.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Politics, BRIC, and Decarbonization
- Political Geography:
- Russia, China, India, and Brazil
404. Economic Policy Reforms in South Asia: An Overview and the Remaining Agenda
- Author:
- Pradumna B. Rana and Wai-Mun Chia
- Publication Date:
- 03-2015
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS)
- Abstract:
- In the past few years, the pace of economic growth in South Asia has slowed considerably for two reasons: unfavourable global economic environment and the slowing pace of economic reforms that once were the key drivers of the region’s dynamic economic performance and resilience. This paper focuses on the latter and following Rana (2011) and Rana and Hamid (1995), it argues that South Asian countries have not sequenced their reforms properly. The first round of reforms in South Asia that began in the 1980s and the early 1990s focused on macroeconomic reforms — monetary, fiscal, and exchange rate management, as well as reducing rigid government controls — which led to private sector driven economic growth. These should have been followed by the more microeconomic reforms — sectoral and the so-called “second generation” reforms to strengthen governance and institutions — to sustain the higher growth levels. But they were not and reforms ran out of steam because of, among others, lack of law and order, and corruption in the public sector. This paper finds a significant “governance gap” in South Asia that refers to how South Asia lags behind East Asia in terms of various governance indicators and how within South Asia some countries are ahead of others. The paper argues that in order to revive economic growth, South Asian countries must implement microeconomic reforms: it identifies the remaining policy agenda for each South Asian country. However, implementation of microeconomic reforms poses a difficult challenge as they require a wider consensus and political support and have a longer term focus. The recent election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India with a strong mandate for economic reform provides an environment of “cautious optimism” for all of South Asia.
- Topic:
- Governance, Reform, Global Political Economy, and Economic Development
- Political Geography:
- South Asia, India, and Asia
405. Kashmir and the India-Pakistan Composite Dialogue Process
- Author:
- Sumona Dasgupta
- Publication Date:
- 05-2015
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS)
- Abstract:
- This paper explores how the contentious issue of Kashmir has been framed in the India- Pakistan composite dialogue which aims at building a peace process between the two nuclear armed countries locked in an adversarial relationship for over six decades. Through an item by item analysis of the eight heads of the composite dialogue, it demonstrates that barring one item, the script of Kashmir — its land, resources, livelihoods and security — runs through all of them in some form or another. Yet this top- down composite dialogue conducted by the political leadership of India and Pakistan has yielded no tangible results in resolving any of the issues around Kashmir. It is time for a new imaginative peace-building paradigm to be given a chance where the people of Kashmir, in all their diversity, are recognised as legitimate stakeholders in an inclusive dialogic process. The paper suggests that intra-Kashmir people-to-people dialogues, both within Indian-administered Kashmir and between Indian and Pakistan administered Kashmir, be allowed to acquire a meaning and momentum of their own and advocates consultative mechanisms to allow community voices and narratives to percolate into and inform the official Indo-Pakistan composite dialogue. A more people centric peace process in Kashmir is an idea whose time has come.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Military Strategy, Conflict, and Peace
- Political Geography:
- Pakistan, India, Asia, and Kashmir
406. Making Waves: Aiding India's Next-Generation Aircraft Carrier
- Author:
- Ashley J. Tellis
- Publication Date:
- 04-2015
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Abstract:
- The United States and India have agreed to form a working group to explore the joint development of India's next-generation aircraft carrier. While the Indian Navy has already begun design work, wide-ranging cooperation with the United States has enormous potential and offers India the opportunity to acquire the most capable warship possible. Such collaboration would increase the Indian Navy's combat power and would resonate throughout the Asian continent to India's strategic advantage. The most valuable U.S. contributions are likely to materialize in the fight, possibly in the move, and hopefully in the integrate functions.
- Topic:
- Military Affairs and Asia
- Political Geography:
- United States, India, and Asia
407. Mines and Minerals Bill: Disempowering the community
- Author:
- Himanshu Upadhyaya
- Publication Date:
- 03-2015
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- For over five years now, the central government has been in the process of framing and enacting a new legislation to develop and regulate India's mines and minerals. However, in a short span of less than two months, the NDA government promulgated an Ordinance, introduced and passed a new version of a Bill in both the houses of Parliament. The Bill provides a legal framework to regulate the mining sector. A host of unaddressed concerns in the Bill question the government's intent of protecting the interests of the indigenous populations.
- Political Geography:
- India
408. Understanding the Indian Voter
- Author:
- Milan Vaishnav
- Publication Date:
- 06-2015
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Abstract:
- The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) historic victory in India’s 2014 general election prompted declarations of a watershed in the behavior of the Indian voter. Upon closer inspection, the reality is more nuanced. On some parameters, such as voting based on economic and ethnic considerations, there were indeed discernible changes. However, the empirical evidence suggests these shifts were well under way before 2014. In other areas—namely, support for regional parties, dynastic politicians, and candidates associated with criminal activity—contemporary voters demonstrated much greater continuity with the past.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Demographics, Ethnic Conflict, Political Economy, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- South Asia and India
409. Taxes: Price of Civilization or Tribute to Leviathan?
- Author:
- Lant Pritchett and Yamini Aiyar
- Publication Date:
- 08-2015
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- There are two dominant narratives about taxation. In one, taxes are the “price we pay for a civilized society” (Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.). In this view taxes are not a necessary evil (as in the pairing of “death and taxes” as inevitable) but a positive good: more taxes buy more “civilization.” The other view is that taxes are “tribute to Leviathan”—a pure involuntary extraction from those engaged in economic production to those who control coercive power producing no reciprocal benefit. In this view taxes are a bane of the civilized. We consider the question of taxes as price versus tribute for contemporary India.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Economics, Governance, and Budget
- Political Geography:
- India
410. A Tale of Two Villages: Kinship Networks and Political Preference Change in Rural India
- Author:
- Neelanjan Sircar
- Publication Date:
- 09-2015
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- This paper develops a theory on how voters form and change political preferences in democratic developing world contexts. In the developing world, where state institutions are often weak, voters tend to be more focused on the competence and capacity of parties and candidates to deliver benefits. Such information may be difficult to ascertain, so voters must glean information from how candidates conduct themselves during the electoral campaign. Voters use kinship networks to develop more accurate preferences by collectively reasoning through newly available information on candidates. In order to demonstrate these claims, this study analyzes data collected on political preferences and kinship networks in two villages just before and after the campaign period during the 2011 Assembly election in the Indian state of West Bengal. The paper finds very strong kinship network effects on changes in issue preferences and vote choice over the course of the campaign and explains the results through qualitative work and a series of network autoregressive statistical models. In sum, this paper demonstrates how voters develop independent preferences and implement political change, even in low information contexts with weak human capital.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Politics, Self Determination, and Elections
- Political Geography:
- India