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301. Making Cooperation Attractive: Post-referendum Relations between Egypt and the Sudan

Author:
Øystein Rolandsen and Jacob Høigilt
Publication Date:
01-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution
Abstract:
The Sudan has gone through two harrowing civil wars since its independence in 1956. Foreign interference and assistance prolonged these, but external involvement has also been vital in Sudanese peace processes. This was the case with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the Government of the Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), the main rebel group, which was signed on 9 January 2005. The peace process that culminated in that agreement was led and hosted by the neighbouring countries through the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), with support from further afield, in particular the United States, United Kingdom, South Africa and Norway. These countries have now intensified their involvement in discussions of post-CPA arrangements. The CPA process will have momentous consequences also for Egypt, as thus for Sudanese-Egyptian relations. It is therefore important that Egypt have a clear policy towards, and a constructive engagement in, deliberations over the Sudan's future.
Topic:
Civil War, Democratization, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:
Africa, United States, United Kingdom, Sudan, and Egypt

302. A Generalized Fact and Model of Long-Run Economic Growth: Kaldor Fact as a Special Case

Author:
Daniel Danxia Xie
Publication Date:
02-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
This paper provides new evidence on the long-run relationship between economic growth and labor's share in national income, based on a comprehensive panel data set for 123 countries from 1950 to 2004. Xie's primary finding is that labor's share follows a cubic relationship with real GDP per capita over the long process of development. At the beginning of the modern economic growth process, the share of labor in national income first decreases until an initial threshold is reached. After that, labor's share keeps increasing until the country's GDP per capita reaches a second threshold before falling again. Xie argues that these dynamics apply not only to the less developed countries in the postwar years, but also to the advanced countries like the United States and the United Kingdom during their early economic take-offs, starting in the late 18th and 19th century, respectively. Finally, he proposes a two-sector constant elasticity of substitution (CES)-type growth model and simulate the model to replicate and explain the possible mechanism behind such a nonlinear pattern of movements in labor's share.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, Labor Issues, and Monetary Policy
Political Geography:
United States and United Kingdom

303. Franco-British military cooperation: a new engine for European defence?

Author:
Ben Jones
Publication Date:
02-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Union Institute for Security Studies
Abstract:
The St. Malo Agreement on European Defence Cooperation of 1998 set out a new approach to defence cooperation in pursuit of a new goal – an autonomous European military capability. By contrast, the Franco-British cooperation launched in November 2010 by Prime Minister Cameron and President Sarkozy is once again a new approach, but it is one that seeks to sustain the status quo – in support of sovereign foreign and defence policies.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Arms Control and Proliferation, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:
United Kingdom, Europe, and France

304. Kunibert Raffer, Debt Management for Development. Protection of the Poor and the Millennium Development Goals (Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2010).

Author:
Martino Bianchi
Publication Date:
02-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Central European University Political Science Journal
Institution:
Central European University
Abstract:
The ambiguous behavior of international financial institutions and western government faced with southern and poor countries is a highly discussed topic by social science academics, but it is also quite fashionable in newspapers, in political debate and even in films and narrative books. Less than ten years ago, Joseph Stiglitz's Globalization and its discontents was a best seller all over the world, a unique event for a text written by a Nobel Prize winner in Economics. Debt management for development will probably not achieve the same popularity but nevertheless it gives us new and considerable insights. While Stiglitz's contribution was more focused on the impact of the Washington Consensus over poor countries' policies, this contribution is more specifically focused on the inefficiencies created by the mismanagement of high sovereign debt levels.Still, both authors share the idea that international financial institutions are more likely to be counted within the problems rather than with the solutions.
Political Geography:
United Kingdom

305. Coping with Destitution: Survival and livelihood strategies of refused asylum seekers living in the UK

Author:
Heaven Crawley, Joanne Hemmings, and Neil Price
Publication Date:
02-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
UK asylum policy has increasingly restricted asylum seekers' access to welfare support, both while their application is being processed and if they are refused. Over recent years, there have been growing concerns about the scale and impact of destitution among refused asylum seekers. It is estimated that 283,500 refused asylum seekers we re living in the UK in 2005, and this number seems likely to have increased (NAO 2005). Existing evidence suggests that many asylum seekers have been destitute for more than six months and a significant proportion for more than two years. This strongly indicates that refused asylum seekers are prepared to face long periods of destitution in the UK rather than returning to their country of origin.
Topic:
Human Rights, Migration, and Immigration
Political Geography:
United Kingdom

306. The Best Defense?

Author:
Abraham D. Sofaer
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Foreign Affairs
Institution:
Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:
After 9/11, U.S. President George W. Bush announced his determination to do whatever was necessary to prevent future terrorist attacks against the United States. Following the lead of several countries that had recently come to similar conclusions after their own bitter experiences -- including India, Israel, Japan, Russia, Spain, and the United Kingdom -- the United States tightened its immigration laws; increased the protection of its borders, ports, and infrastructure; criminalized providing "material support" for terrorist groups; and tore down the wall between the intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies, which had crippled counterterrorist efforts for decades. Washington did not authorize preventive detention, as other countries had, but it used other measures to hold persons against whom criminal charges could not be brought -- thereby preventing terrorist attacks. The U.S. government also led or joined various international efforts aimed at warding off new dangers, such as the Proliferation Security Initiative, through which over 70 states cooperate to interdict the movement of nuclear materials across international borders. But the Bush administration's call for preventive action went further: it endorsed using force against states that supported terrorism or failed to prevent it. This was a particularly controversial position, since using (or threatening to use) preventive force across international borders is generally considered to be a violation of international law: the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and most international legal authorities currently construe the United Nations Charter as prohibiting any use of force not sanctioned by the UN Security Council, with the exception of actions taken in self-defense against an actual or imminent state-sponsored "armed attack."
Topic:
Security and United Nations
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Japan, United Kingdom, Washington, Israel, and Spain

307. Is the recovery sustainable in the US and Europe?

Publication Date:
02-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Oxford Economics
Abstract:
Following the worst recession since the 1930s, the US, UK and Eurozone economies have all now returned to positive growth. With the boost from policy stimulus and the inventory cycle peaking, however, this raises questions about the sustainability of the current rebound. The analysis presented here suggests that the recoveries in both the US and Europe will be relatively muted compared to recent historical experience. The US is likely to be the growth leader, reflecting the more dynamic nature of its economy and financial sector. A key uncertainty relates to how labour markets will perform during the recovery phase. To date, the rise in US unemployment been particularly severe when compared to the experience of Europe. In light of the sharp falls in European productivity, we expect employment gains in Europe to be more muted in the recovery phase than in the US. The performance of residential real estate markets also remains important. Home prices in the US are now close to fair value by most metrics, suggesting that the correction in prices is likely to be bottoming out. In Europe, only Spain and Ireland appear to be in the midst of substantial housing market corrections. Commercial real estate markets are also facing ongoing corrections in many countries. While conditions in the US and Eurozone may deteriorate further, commercial property values appear to be stabilising in the UK following earlier sharp declines. The ability of the banking sector to finance the economic recoveries in the US and Europe remains a key risk to the growth outlook. As the process of absorbing credit losses and rebuilding capital is likely to be protracted, the normalisation of lending standards is likely to take longer than following recent recessions. This is a particular concern for the Eurozone, where bank funding is more important for companies. Whether domestic demand in the US and Europe recovers will also depend on whether private sector deleveraging has further to run. The destruction of household net wealth in the US suggests that the personal savings rate has further to rise, whereas there no longer appears to be a pressing need for households in the UK and Eurozone to consolidate their balance sheets. In contrast, non-financial corporations in the US are in a stronger financial position than their European peers, having not increased debt levels as rapidly during the credit boom. Risks around public finances have received the most attention in recent weeks. In particular, the adjustments underway in Greece pose a risk of potential contagion from sovereign credit risk that could threaten growth on both sides of the Atlantic.
Topic:
Economics, Markets, and Financial Crisis
Political Geography:
United States, United Kingdom, and Europe

308. A Gender Perspective on 21st Century Welfare Reform

Author:
Janet Veitch
Publication Date:
10-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
This response to the Coalition Government's proposals on working age benefits and tax credits in its consultation paper, 21st-Century Welfare, takes a gender lens to the reforms. It is written in the context of Oxfam's work against poverty in the UK and its longstanding concern with the poverty and inequality of women. The response below follows the same structure as the consultation document.
Topic:
Development, Gender Issues, and Poverty
Political Geography:
United Kingdom

309. David Vine. Island of Shame. The Secret History of the U.S. Military Base on Diego Garcia

Author:
Ebrahim Afsah
Publication Date:
02-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
Almost in the middle of the Indian Ocean lies the Chagos Archipelago, a place which visually comes fairly close to the image most people have of paradise. Unfortunately for its inhabitants, the islands are also very conveniently located, a fact which led the United States and United Kingdom to expel these people from their apparent paradise into abject destitution in order to turn the place into one of the world's most important military bases. Vine's book is the best account of this sordid tale so far.
Political Geography:
United States and United Kingdom

310. Samantha Currie. Migration, Work and Citizenship in the Enlarged European Union

Author:
Dimitry Kochenov
Publication Date:
02-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
Michael Gazzaniga's brilliant study of neuropsychology of split-brain patients was based on the analysis of the condition of a tiny sample of subjects. Some aphasia studies produce convincing results working with two or three subjects: more are simply difficult to find. It is generally accepted, however, that in order to reach sound conclusions a representative sample of subjects is usually needed. Samantha Currie's book, claiming to be 'of a socio-legal nature' (at 4) uses a sample of 44 Poles working in the UK (at 211) to back 'socio-legal research' on the condition of half a billion European citizens, should one judge the book by what is on the cover. Constant references to the 'empirical data generated for the research which forms the basis of this book' (at 38), i.e. references to the 44 interviews conducted, sound like misplaced irony when used to agree with the findings based on infinitely more substantial samples, like UK Government statistics including 715,000 registrations (at 69).
Political Geography:
United Kingdom and Europe