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211. Virtuality, Perception and Reality in Myanmar's Democratic Reform

Author:
Victoria Christensen
Publication Date:
08-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
Since the summer of 2011, the country of Myanmar has been experiencing rapid democratic reform. Headlines lauding these positive changes have become common-place in the international media. However, experts and academics who have been involved in the decade-long campaign to bring peace and democracy to Myanmar remain divided over how sincere these changes are. Some accuse the Government of carrying out “window-dressing” reforms to please the Western governments and enable the lifting of sanctions. They argue that the Government has a vested interest in maintaining the reins of power and that there is no incentive to make true democratic reforms. During a speech in Oslo in June 2012, Aung San Suu Kyi, the Myanmarese Pro-democracy leader described the recent reforms as positive but warned against blind faith in the process and pointed out the main challenges that remain unresolved – namely the ethnic issues and the ongoing imprisonment of political prisoners.
Topic:
Democratization, Human Rights, Political Economy, Governance, and Reform
Political Geography:
Geneva, United States, China, Tehran, Korea, and Southeast Asia

212. Breathing Life into Freedom of Information Laws: The Challenges of Implementation in the Democratizing World

Author:
Craig L. LaMay, Robert J. Freeman, and Richard N. Winfield
Publication Date:
09-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:
This report is intended to be a practical, useful guide for stakeholders in national and local governments, the media, civil society, and business to making freedom of information laws work. The authors' particular emphasis is on the role public officials and journalists must play in effectively breathing life into these laws, giving meaning to their democratic intent and legal guarantees.
Topic:
Democratization, Non-Governmental Organization, Communications, Mass Media, Governance, and Law

213. Latin Amerika'da Sosyal Demokrat Eğilimler

Author:
Yunus Emre
Publication Date:
08-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Political Trends Center
Abstract:
The 2000s saw a new orientation through left including social democracy in Latin American countries. This orientation was the direct result of the failure of the neo-liberal globalization project. This paper seeks to reveal social democratic trends in Latin America. For this purpose the rise of the Latin American left and basic trends were revealed and developments in Uruguay, Brazil, Chile and Argentina were examined.
Topic:
Democratization, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, Politics, and Governance
Political Geography:
Brazil, Argentina, Latin America, and Chile

214. Kadının Güçlendirilmesi ve İstihdam

Author:
Özge Zihnioğlu
Publication Date:
06-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Political Trends Center
Abstract:
Women's employment is a recurrent theme in the agenda of policy-makers not only because it is a key aspect of women's empowerment, but also due to its contribution to development. This working paper focuses on the trends in women's participation in the labour force globally, regionally and in Turkey. For this purpose, this paper comparatively examines progress achieved in women's employment in different regions of the world and in Turkey within the framework of Untied Nation's Millennium Development Goal 3. In doing so, this paper provides a brief overview of the initiatives undertaken and problems faced in promoting women's employment, in particular in the non-agricultural sectors.
Topic:
Democratization, Development, Gender Issues, Globalization, Human Rights, and Labor Issues

215. Avrupa'da Seçmen Davranışı: Bölgesel Farklılıkların Önemi

Author:
Nazlı Çağın Bilgili
Publication Date:
03-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Political Trends Center
Abstract:
Elections are central elements of democratic systems as they provide the public with the opportunity – with some restrictions established by legal arrangements such as quotas – to make their voices heard. In other words, it is through election results that we learn a great deal about the social and political circumstances in a country. This paper follows the electoral trends in European countries since the beginning of the 1990s as far as the data makes it possible. In order to create a comprehensive analysis, turnout rates, voter preferences and other major determinants shaping preferences – whether influential economic or identity factors – are considered. Europe is defined, in this research, as all of the EU member states, making a highly complicated and heterogeneous collection. As the trends in these different countries can be expected to diverge, a regional comparison between Western, Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe is provided so that the similar and different electoral trends in these regions are presented clearly.
Topic:
Democratization, Economics, Political Economy, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe

216. Sistem ve Yolsuzluk: Fransa ve Türkiye

Author:
Ali Murat Aydın
Publication Date:
02-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Political Trends Center
Abstract:
What is corruption? Is it a plague on the modern state that should be avoided? Or is it a necessary engine oil which turns the turbines of a stopped-up bureaucracy? In the most basic denotation, corruption is the abusing of a public power by a public actor for the interest of an individual or a group in return for private interest. Governments are always confronted with difficulties in fighting corruption. The reason is the diversity of perception against corruption in each society. This research aims to compare the models of corruption in Turkish and French bureaucracy. When we consider the direct relation in structuring between the traditional Turkish bureaucracy and French bureaucracy, we can more simply understand the collateral relation of these two countries in their models of corruption. The most important problem confronted about corruption in Turkey and in France is the unlimited financing of political parties without a legal circumscription. In fighting against corruption, the two countries each have to exponentially unite their anti-corruption institutions in a single superior administration. This will lead to an advancement in efficiency in the fight against corruption. It should be kept in mind that, the ethic is not a divine or a holy concept. It's a public term. If we look at the problem from an ideal perspective, we have to obstruct the erosion of ethical values in the democratic systems in the name of efficiency and the market.
Topic:
Corruption, Crime, Democratization, Development, Islam, and Political Economy
Political Geography:
Middle East

217. SOSYAL DEMOKRASİ KÜRESEL ÇEVRE İÇİN BİR SİYASAL ALTERNATİF OLABİLİR Mİ?

Author:
Yunus Emre and Çağla Gül Çağla Gül
Publication Date:
01-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Political Trends Center
Abstract:
Social democracy was born as a reaction to the social problems created by capitalist modernization in the nineteenth century. It had a central role in the making of the modern European societies. During the twentieth century, it had immense organizational successes and election victories transforming political relationships in those societies. In the 1970s, orientation towards social democracy increased within many of the countries in the global periphery. Today, social democracy prevails as an influential and successful political and social power system in these periphery countries. This paper seeks to answer whether social democracy should continue to be a model for other countries in the periphery.
Topic:
Democratization, Economics, Political Economy, and Governance
Political Geography:
Europe

218. Contingent Democrats in Action: Organized Labor and Regime Change in the Republic of Niger

Author:
Sebastian Elischer
Publication Date:
08-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
The effects of organized labor on regime change in developing countries are not clear‐cut. Optimists argue that union agitation is conducive to both democratic transition and consolidation processes. Pessimists hold that unions will support any regime that is conducive to their demands. Accordingly, unions may support regime transitions; however, once their economic interests are under threat, they will jeopardize the subsequent consolidation process. Systematic studies on the effects of organized labor on regime change in sub‐ Saharan Africa are sparse and largely confined to the (pre)transition phase. This article examines the role of organized labor in Niger between 1990 and 2010. Given the high number of regime breakdowns during the period, a longitudinal study of Nigerien labor enables a critical examination of motives and actions of organized labor toward different regime types. In contrast to other recent findings on African unionism, the article confirms the pessimistic view.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, Development, Regime Change, and Labor Issues
Political Geography:
Africa

219. Ceasefires sans peace process in Myanmar: The Shan State Army, 1989–2011

Author:
Tin Maung Maung Than and Samara Yawnghwe
Publication Date:
09-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS)
Abstract:
Resolving the enduring internal conflict between the central state and the ethnic nationalities in Myanmar is at the heart of the continued development of the country as a whole. However, a solution may require flexibility when it comes to defining the territorial integrity of the country and its national identity. The 1962 coup, which implemented a policy of unification through a centralised authority backed by military force, has had long-lasting consequences in the form of fragmentation and disunity that have tended to be framed as 'rebellion' or 'insurgency' by the central government. The problem of how to turn ceasefires into a successful and genuine peace process is one that Myanmar urgently faces today.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Democratization, Development, Ethnic Conflict, and Human Rights
Political Geography:
Southeast Asia and Myanmar

220. The European Citizens'Initiative: Next Big Thing or New False Good Idea ?

Author:
Franklin Dehousse
Publication Date:
07-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
EGMONT - The Royal Institute for International Relations
Abstract:
One innovative element of the Lisbon Treaty was the creation of a European Citizens' Initiative (ECI). At the time, this was sometimes hailed as a fundamental change in the European institutional system. A few years after the entry into force of the Treaty, however, much less is heard about this “first truly transnational instrument of modern direct democracy”, this “revolution in disguise”, this “very innovative and symbolic” provision5. This could seem surprising at first sight. Since the entry into force of the Treaty, the implementation of this provision has been remarkably rapid. Meanwhile, new arguments have risen concerning the lack of democratic legitimacy of the European Union, and the lack of connection between the European institutions and the citizens.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, Regional Cooperation, Treaties and Agreements, and Governance
Political Geography:
Europe