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6412. As Mitzna Chooses, Labor's Prospects Recede
- Author:
- David Makovsky
- Publication Date:
- 01-2003
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
- Abstract:
- Earlier this week, Israel's Labor Party leader Amram Mitzna announced that he would not look to resume a broad coalition government with the Likud Party following the country's upcoming January 28 election, a crucial decision that dropped Labor from 24 to 20 seats (according to today's Yediot Aharonot poll) and that may have sealed the election for Likud. Mitzna's decision halted Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's slide of the last several weeks in the wake of a vote-buying scandal that imperiled his electoral bloc's grip on a Knesset majority.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution
- Political Geography:
- United States, Middle East, and Arab Countries
6413. In Israeli Right-Left Divide, Center May Hold the Balance of Power
- Author:
- David Makovsky
- Publication Date:
- 01-2003
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
- Abstract:
- The slide in the polls of Ariel Sharon's Likud Party over the last six weeks has been rather dramatic, transforming the character of the campaign from an expected Sharon landslide into a closer contest. In Thursday's Yediot Ahronot-Dahaf poll, Likud dropped from 40 to 28 seats in the 120-member Knesset, while Amram Mitzna's Labor Party edged up to 24 seats from 22. Sharon's losses stem directly from the swirl of Likud election corruption allegations, beginning with low-level charges of vote buying — illegal activity that may have helped catapult Sharon's son Omri onto the parliamentary list. The latest charges, denied by Sharon, surround a $1.5 million loan that the prime minister borrowed from a South African businessman friend, Cyril Kern, to pay back illegal campaign contributions in 1999. Sharon still clings to the hope that his denials will halt his party's slide downward, while Mitzna is finding new hope in the prospect that a drop in support for Likud will lead voters to take a second look at his candidacy.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution
- Political Geography:
- United States, Middle East, Israel, and Arab Countries
6414. The Economic Integration of Immigrants in the United States: Lessons for Policy
- Author:
- George J. Borjas
- Publication Date:
- 12-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- The most important economic feature of immigration to the United States in the post-1965 period has been a significant deterioration in the economic performance of successive immigrant waves. The policy reaction to this trend would obviously differ if the entry wage disadvantage disappeared quickly, as the immigrants assimilated in the American economy and acquired skills and information valuable in the American labour market. This paper examines the determinants of economic assimilation, and discusses how the experience of earlier immigrant waves can provide valuable information about the assimilation process the new immigrants will likely experience.
- Topic:
- Economics and Migration
- Political Geography:
- United States and America
6415. Illegal Immigration, Human Trafficking, and Organized Crime
- Author:
- Raimo Väyrynen
- Publication Date:
- 10-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- It is important to make a careful distinction between illegal immigration, human smuggling, and human trafficking which are nested, but yet different concepts. This distinction is relevant because these different categories of the illegal movement of people across borders have quite different legal and political consequences. Human smuggling and trafficking have become a world-wide industry that 'employs' every year millions of people and leads to the annual turnover of billions of dollars. Many of the routes and enclaves used by the smugglers have become institutionalized; for instance, from Mexico and Central America to the United States, from West Asia through Greece and Turkey to Western Europe, and within East and Southeast Asia. More often than not flourishing smuggling routes are made possible by weak legislation, lax border controls, corrupted police officers, and the power of the organized crime. Naturally, poverty and warfare contribute to the rising tide of migration, both legal and illegal.
- Topic:
- Environment and Human Welfare
- Political Geography:
- United States, Europe, Turkey, East Asia, Greece, Asia, Latin America, Central America, North America, Mexico, Southeast Asia, Western Europe, and West Asia
6416. Conversion at Stepnogorsk: What the Future Holds for Former Bioweapons Facilities
- Author:
- Sonia Ben Ouagrham and Kathleen M. Vogel
- Publication Date:
- 02-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Judith Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies
- Abstract:
- This study examines the ongoing efforts to convert a former biological weapons (BW) facility in Stepnogorsk, Kazakhstan. The facility, known in the Soviet period as the Stepnogorsk Scientific and Experimental Production Base (SNOPB), was the USSR's largest mobilization facility dedicated to the production and weaponization of anthrax bacteria. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Kazakh government has demonstrated its commitment to nonproliferation and international security by opening and providing full transparency into the facility. The Kazakh government has issued mandates for a number of restructuring changes and conversion efforts at the facility. Subsequent U.S. and international assistance have played key roles in dis- mantling the facility and redirecting its personnel to peaceful purposes. Yet, the continuing economic and political instability in Kazakhstan maintains concerns regarding the threat of proliferation involving former BW personnel from the facility.
- Topic:
- Security, Economics, Government, Peace Studies, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
- Political Geography:
- United States, Kazakhstan, and Soviet Union
6417. Health Insurance Coverage of Children in Mixed-Status Immigrant Families
- Author:
- Randy Capps, Genevieve M. Kenney, and Michael E. Fix
- Publication Date:
- 11-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Urban Institute
- Abstract:
- Public health insurance coverage increased—and rates of uninsurance decreased—between 1999 and 2002 among two groups of low-income, U.S. citizen children: those with parents who are native or naturalized U.S. citizens and those with at least one immigrant parent who is not a U.S. citizen (referred to as mixed-status families). The improvements followed efforts on the part of the states and the federal government to expand coverage of children under Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and the introduction of policies directed at improving Medicaid and SCHIP access for immigrant and non-English-speaking families. Nonetheless, more than one in five citizen children in low-income mixed-status families remained uninsured in 2002—a rate 74 percent higher than that of children with citizen parents.
- Topic:
- Health, Human Welfare, Migration, and Poverty
- Political Geography:
- United States
6418. Children of Immigrants Show Slight Reductions in Poverty, Hardship
- Author:
- Michael E. Fix, Randy Capps, and Jane Reardon-Anderson
- Publication Date:
- 11-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Urban Institute
- Abstract:
- The share of U.S. children under age 18 with an immigrant parent or parents increased between 1999 and 2002. Poverty among these children fell slightly during the same period, and the shares with health insurance and access to a usual source of health care rose. However, most other measures of economic well-being did not change significantly between 1999 and 2002, and children of immigrants continued to face greater hardship than children of native parents.
- Topic:
- Economics, Human Welfare, and Migration
- Political Geography:
- United States
6419. A Profile of The Foreign-Born in Lowell, Massachusetts
- Author:
- Katherine Lotspeich, Michael Fix, Dan Perez-Lopez, and Jason Ost
- Publication Date:
- 10-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Urban Institute
- Abstract:
- The Building the New American Community demonstration project is an experiment in refugee and immigrant integration in which the cities of Lowell, Massachusetts; Nashville, Tennessee; and Portland, Oregon formed coalitions to identify integration challenges in their com m unities and address them collaboratively. These cities were assisted by a national team of policy analysts, advocates, and researchers from the Nation al Conference of State Legislatures, the National Immigration Forum, the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center, The Urban Institute, and the Migration Policy Institute.
- Topic:
- Demographics, Human Welfare, and Migration
- Political Geography:
- United States
6420. Immigrants and TANF: A Look at Immigrant Welfare Recipients in Three Cities
- Author:
- Karen C. Tumlin and Wendy Zimmermann
- Publication Date:
- 10-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Urban Institute
- Abstract:
- The federal welfare reform act of 1996 (the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, or PRWORA) dramatically revamped the welfare system, turning it into a block grant program run by the states, imposing new, stricter work requirements and setting a five-year lifetime limit on benefit receipt. For immigrants the law did all that and much more. In a major departure from previous policy, the law sharply curtailed noncitizens' eligibility for welfare and other major federal benefits.
- Topic:
- Government, Human Welfare, and Migration
- Political Geography:
- United States