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52. The art of making friends. How the Chinese Communist Party seduces political parties in Latin America
- Author:
- Juan Pablo Cardenal
- Publication Date:
- 02-2021
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Center for the Opening and Development of Latin America (CADAL)
- Abstract:
- In April 2020, a few weeks after COVID-19 began to wreak havoc across the length and breadth of the globe, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) hurriedly pressed parties from around the world to make a joint statement promoting international cooperation against the pandemic.1 Behind its constructive rhetoric, the ten-point note drafted by the CCP displayed its true purpose. On the one hand, it emphasized both China’s “open, transparent and responsible attitude” and the assistance offered by the Asiatic country in the form of “medical supplies to the affected countries.”2 On the other, it rejected “stigmatization” and “discriminatory comments and practices” an implicit reference to the international criticism that the Chinese communist regime was already receiving for covering-up the virus.
- Topic:
- International Cooperation, Transparency, Political Parties, COVID-19, and Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
- Political Geography:
- China and Latin America
53. Saving the Census: Assessing Willingness to Participate in the Census
- Author:
- Stephanie DeMora and Melissa Michelson
- Publication Date:
- 01-2021
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- California Journal of Politics and Policy
- Institution:
- Institute of Governmental Studies, UC Berkeley
- Abstract:
- The decennial U.S. Census is intended to generate an accurate count of the population for use in allocating seats in the House of Representatives and distributing federal funds. However, individuals are less likely to complete the Census if they have privacy and confidentiality concerns. Previous research conducted on behalf of the U.S. government found that reassurances of confidentiality increased participation but not for items asking for sensitive information. In March 2018, the Trump administration announced its intention to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, raising concerns that the citizenship question might reduce participation among members of mixed-status households. In October and November 2018, while a legal challenge to the question was pending, we worked with three partner organizations within a faith-based non-profit community network to explore how best to encourage participation in the 2020 Census in hard-to-count populations in Southern California. Using a randomized field experiment with messages delivered using face-to-face canvassers, we find limited evidence that reassurances from the community organization about the confidentiality of information provided to the Census Bureau increased intent to participate in communities.
- Topic:
- Governance, Population, Census, Representation, Transparency, and Participation
- Political Geography:
- North America and United States of America
54. National Security vs. Accountability: Striking the Right Balance
- Author:
- Redion Qirjazi
- Publication Date:
- 04-2021
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM)
- Abstract:
- Information classification is an important mechanism that governments use to keep citizens safe and protect national interests. However, when classification regimes produce excessive secrecy, they can both interfere with democratic governance and counterproductively jeopardize national security. As such, on the one hand, ‘overclassification’ can lead to reduced oversight, transparency, and accountability in the security sector, while on the other, prevent security agencies from sharing information rapidly and detect security threats in due time. Unfortunately, in the case of Albania, there still remains a disproportionate emphasis on the need to safeguard national secrets versus the right of citizens to be informed on decisions made on their behalf. Hence, as it is for every other public institution, this policy brief calls for security sector agencies to pursue a balanced approach to secrecy: one that strikes the right compromise between protecting national security and delivering good governance by ensuring transparency and accountability.
- Topic:
- Government, National Security, Accountability, Transparency, Classification, and Information Technology
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Albania
55. Tying Their Hands? How Petroleum Contract Terms May Limit Governments’ Climate Policy Flexibility
- Author:
- Nicola Woodroffe
- Publication Date:
- 09-2021
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Natural Resource Governance Institute
- Abstract:
- The pathway to net-zero emissions will be a fraught one for many petroleum-dependent countries. Radical policy action is necessary to decarbonize the global economy , with significant economic implications for countries dependent on oil and gas revenues. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned that global warming will exceed 1.5 and even 2 degrees Celsius without deep emissions cuts. At the same time, the International Energy Agency has proposed a freeze on new development approvals for oil and gas fields from 2021 if we are to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Current and emerging producers may want to go beyond merely reacting to foreign governments’ or international oil companies’ evolving climate policies – they may seek to proactively decarbonize and build climate resilience in their own petroleum sectors. Yet the long-term contracts governments sign with companies for petroleum exploration and production may significantly limit this flexibility for decades. Have producer countries begun to modify petroleum contract terms in response to climate change and energy transition risks? To explore this, the author of this briefing reviewed 34 contracts and model contracts from 11 countries, signed or issued since the Paris Agreement. This review focused on stabilization, arbitration, and force majeure clauses. The contracts reviewed do not yet indicate a shift in these clauses to respond to climate change risks, and the need for government flexibility to take climate policy action. Producer governments should reconsider traditional contract clauses and assess and adapt their petroleum sector legal framework to address energy transition and climate change risks.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Energy Policy, Government, and Transparency
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
56. Reinvigorating South Asian Nuclear Transparency and Confidence-building Measures
- Author:
- Lora Saalman
- Publication Date:
- 09-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
- Abstract:
- This SIPRI Insights paper explores a series of nuclear transparency and confidence-building measures (CBMs) proposed by military, nuclear, political and regional experts from China, India, Pakistan, Russia and the United States to address nuclear challenges in South Asia. It categorizes these bilateral, trilateral and multilateral measures into doctrinal dialogues and joint threat assessment exercises; communication lines, pre-notification and de-alerting; and development and employment of strategic technologies. The paper then provides a spectrum of viability across which it identifies proposals with the greatest potential, moderate potential and the least potential for reinvigorating nuclear transparency measures and CBMs in South Asia.
- Topic:
- Nuclear Weapons, Disarmament, Nonproliferation, and Transparency
- Political Geography:
- Pakistan, Russia, China, South Asia, India, and United States of America
57. A New Estimate of China’s Military Expenditure
- Author:
- Nan Tian and Fei Su
- Publication Date:
- 01-2021
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
- Abstract:
- China publishes a national defence budget each year. In 2019 it reached 1.2 trillion yuan (US$175 billion). However, this figure does not account for all of China’s military spending. To provide a more accurate representation of China’s spending, SIPRI’s estimate—based on an analysis made in 1999—includes other items in addition to the official defence budget. Given China’s accelerating military modernization and reforms in recent years, the existing estimate of China’s military spending deserves a reassessment. This SIPRI report provides a comprehensive new analysis of the financial resources China dedicates to military purposes. Using publicly available sources in both English and Chinese, the report presents a new estimate of Chinese military expenditure. The new estimate—1660 billion yuan ($240 billion) in 2019—is around 142 billion yuan ($21 billion) less than the old SIPRI estimate. Although the new approach to estimating Chinese military expenditure improves on the old method, limited public transparency in budgeting on specific categories is still a cause of concern. Future research should focus on publicly available Chinese-language sources as there is still scope to improve the precision of the new estimate.
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, Military Spending, and Transparency
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
58. A Just Response to Beijing’s COVID-19 Abuses
- Author:
- David Asher, Miles M. Yu, David Feith, Matthew Zweig, and Thomas DiNanno
- Publication Date:
- 06-2021
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Hudson Institute
- Abstract:
- Nearly 18 months after word of a deadly new virus began leaking out of Wuhan, China, the Chinese government’s response remains fundamentally hostile to international cooperation and transparency. Despite hundreds of offers of assistance, polite diplomatic entreaties, and demands for access to data by governments and health authorities across the globe, the world still knows far too little about COVID-19’s origin. As in a Dali painting, the clocks have melted but time has not stood still. China’s initial silencing and censoring of its doctors and scientists, followed by misinformation about COVID-19’s dangers—especially denials concerning the virus’s ability to be spread human-to-human, invisibly and asymptomatically—helped cost the world trillions of dollars and millions of lives. Whether one believes COVID-19 originated in a zoonotic host, a bat cave, a frozen food shipment, or a Wuhan lab’s dangerous “dual-use” research supporting undeclared bioweapons programs, the world needs answers from the Chinese Communist Party. These are answers Beijing won’t provide unless it faces a high price for refusing. For the good of public health and international security, the Biden administration and the Congress can unite in a coordinated, long-term response.
- Topic:
- Security, Health, Research, Transparency, Public Health, and COVID-19
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
59. Public Administration in the era of Covid-19: Policy Responses and Reforms underway
- Author:
- Manto Lampropoulou
- Publication Date:
- 06-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP)
- Abstract:
- Covid-19 has caused an unprecedented shock to the state apparatus and has triggered major reforms in the administrative system of Greece. Policy responses to the pandemic have brought about several positive changes towards the modernization and de-bureaucratization of public administration. However, the pace and scale of change vary significantly. The pandemic has acted as a strong driver for the digital transformation of the public sector and the strengthening of e-government policies. Numerous administrative procedures were streamlined, digitalized and simplified, working conditions have become more flexible and several improvements have taken place in service delivery and state-citizen relations. The observed centralisation of decision-making and the often use of fast-track procedures have raised questions of democratic control, transparency and the rule of law, while the emergency measureshave been criticized for the threats they pose for the protection of citizens’ rights, individual liberties and personal data. A key challenge remains the integration the emergency measures of the covid-19 policy agenda into a longer-term programme of administrative reform in the post-covid era.
- Topic:
- Reform, Democracy, Rule of Law, Public Policy, Transparency, COVID-19, and Digital Policy
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Greece
60. Oil or Nothing: Dealing with South Sudan’s Bleeding Finances
- Author:
- International Crisis Group
- Publication Date:
- 10-2021
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- Upon South Sudan’s independence in 2011, many hoped the country’s oil wealth would help build the state and lift citizens out of poverty. Instead, politicians have shunted these revenues toward patronage and personal enrichment, feeding internal conflict. Transparency and accountability are badly needed.
- Topic:
- Oil, Poverty, Natural Resources, Accountability, and Transparency
- Political Geography:
- Africa and South Sudan