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551. Institutional Reform of State Agencies in the Arab Region: Educated but Unemployed: The Challenge Facing Egypt’s Youth

Author:
Adel Abdel Ghafar
Publication Date:
10-2017
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
The state was the subject of political and political economic analysis in general in the post-independence period. This was also the case in the Arab region, where new states emerged with cumbersome civil bureaucracies and large military and security apparatus, and with huge powers to control the management and direction of (natural and human) economic resources. It was as if the burden of economic and social modernization had been placed on those newly independent States in the face of traditional societies lacking the social classes capable of advancing modernization, be they bourgeois or national proletariat. Despite the decline of the development models of the state by the seventies, the Arab state has continued to be the focus of analysis of development and modernization with the flow of oil money and the emergence of rentierism in most, if not all, the Arab countries, whether direct producers of oil or receivers of oil through secondary flows. This has placed emphasis on the importance of the state as a holder of wealth and as a source of distribution for different social strata.
Topic:
Education and Reform
Political Geography:
Egypt

552. Toward a Unified Theory of Economic Reform

Author:
Shen Jim HuangNan, Liu XiaoJie, and Jun Zhang
Publication Date:
10-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
School of Oriental and African Studies - University of London
Abstract:
The dichotomy in the economics of transition literature with regard to the reform speed (Gradualist vs Radical Approach) and reform strategy (incremental reform vs structural reform) fails to capture the essence of the transitional process of a transitional economy that was ever under the control of planned economic system. In this paper, we construct a system dynamics model to provide a unified theoretical framework to illustrate that reform speed and reform strategy are inherently intertwined. We propose 4 optimal reforming combinations between reform speed and reform strategy to track the transitional trajectories of different transitional economies since 1980s. These 4 optimal reforming combinations are: (1) Incremental reform in radical speed. (2) Incremental reform in gradualist speed. (3) Structural reform in radical speed. (4) Structural reform in gradualist speed. In this paper, we demonstrate that a transitional economy would adopt one of the aforementioned 4 optimal reforming combination if and only if it minimizes the reforming cost incurred during the shock period of radical reform as well as the dual track period of gradualist reforms. Several factors in our model affecting these 4 optimal reforming combinations are also discussed. These factors include the spillover effect (both vertical and horizontal) of a newly established reforming promotion sector on other old sectors in a transitional economy, the endogenous reform damping coefficient determined by one transitional economy‟s initial conditions and the reform damping coefficient determined by the dual track system during the gradualist reform process.
Topic:
Economics, Reform, Economic structure, and Transition
Political Geography:
Global Focus

553. American Elections and the Global (Dis)order

Author:
Ali Resul Usul
Publication Date:
01-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
All Azimuth: A Journal of Foreign Policy and Peace
Institution:
Center for Foreign Policy and Peace Research
Abstract:
Donald Trump’s unexpected victory in the presidential elections came as a great shock to liberal internationalist circles in the US and abroad. Whether Trump will string the liberal order that the US has largely created is without a plain answer. It is clear, though, that there is already significant erosion in the basic architect of global order. Detritions to the fabric of global order can be observed with respect to four interrelated developments: the exacerbation of security challenges due to proliferation and diversification of the regional and global destabilizing actors, the reversal of democratic and liberal values in the West, rise of illiberal democracies and competitive authoritarianism elsewhere, and finally, a UN system mired with serious shortcomings in representation, capacity and legitimacy. The international society must address this erosion of global order and the first step in that regard is coming to terms with the fact that “the world is bigger than five” not only in terms of the re-alignment of major powers, but also of the distribution of power along state/non-state spectrum.
Topic:
United Nations, Hegemony, Reform, Populism, International Order, and Presidential Elections
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

554. The Power of a Transitional Justice Approach to Education

Author:
Lynn Davies
Publication Date:
03-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ)
Abstract:
Transitional justice approaches in education are distinctive, potent, and impactful, and, while tremendously challenging, they can shift education from being part of the problem to being part of the transition to a more peaceful society. In the massive literature on the topic of peacebuilding (and peacebuilding education), definitions vary, but usually, following John Galtung’s work, a fundamental diff erence is drawn between “negative peace,” or the absence of war or violence, and “positive peace,” or the removal of the root causes of violence and the pursuit of structural changes that address social injustice as a means to achieve sustainable peace. Clearly, the notion of “building” implies a process, not an end. Peace is not something to be achieved but a dynamic situation with elements that contribute to making violent conflict less likely, both now and in the future. Within this context, transitional justice underlines the dimension of redress. Transitional justice, understood as “the full range of processes and mechanisms associated with a society’s attempts to come to terms with a legacy of large-scale past abuses, in order to ensure accountability, serve justice and achieve reconciliation,” presupposes that in order to build a lasting peace, violations of human rights must be first recognized and redressed. Such redress would, for many, include trying to compensate for past injustices related to exclusion from social and political goods, including exclusion from education and the right to learn. The distinctiveness of transitional justice within a peacebuilding process can be highlighted in several dimensions, each with key educational implications. First is the question of the large scale of past human rights violations in such contexts. Transitional justice initiatives do not necessarily relate to criminal offences committed by individuals or small groups but to systemic, sustained violence that adversely affects the rights of large groups of people and harms their lives. These actions include violence carried out (or permitted) by the state, which should otherwise be responsible for the protection of its citizens. Achieving justice in such circumstances goes beyond the “normal” mechanisms of criminal law, extending its definition to include war crimes and crimes against humanity. Th e legacies of past state-sponsored human rights abuses are complex and multidimensional; addressing them has expanded the notion of justice from “regular” trials to include other mechanisms, such as truth commissions and memory initiatives, reparations programs, and the reform of the judiciary, army, and police. Accordingly, transitional justice processes involve novel institutions with complex mandates, rules, and procedures, which may make them technically difficult to understand in many societies in which they operate. For these processes to be legitimatized and lead to their intended effects, they may require some form of public education programs. Formal education institutions can also play a fundamental role in helping learners to understand transitional justice mechanisms and why they are, or were, necessary. The second distinctiveness is the term transitional itself. Coined in the mid 1980s, the term transitional justice refers to the processes by which regimes attempt to move—or transition—from conflict, authoritarianism or oppression characterized by systematic violations of norms to more well-established democratic legal regimes, which can protect against such occurrences in the future. But the effort carries huge costs and dangers to the existing regime. As Pablo de Greiff has claimed, “There is no transitional country that can legitimately claim great successes in the field.” No country has undergone a transition that has prosecuted every perpetrator or has, through truth telling or other means, disclosed the fate of every victim or thoroughly identified the structures that made the violations possible. Yet de Greiff highlights the crucial function that transitional justice processes play in helping to draw a line between a past in which rights were not respected and a future in which rights matter, a challenge and a function that the ordinary justice system does not face. Transitional, then, does not qualify the word justice but really means “justice in times of transition.” Transitional justice is, therefore, a stage in the search for justice, and education should be seen as very much part of this dynamic search. A third—and central—distinctiveness of transitional justice is that it is constantly past- and forward-looking. Indeed, a basic presupposition of transitional justice is that addressing the past is a way of building a future that is recognizably better. As Clara Ramírez-Barat points out, transitional justice measures play a key symbolic role: establishing a break with the past by (re)affirming that certain norms and values that support them matter. The other option—to do nothing—does not create a space where victims, perpetrators, and bystanders can learn to live together. Th is form of “corrective” justice is seen as different from justice meted out in response to specific infractions of the law and to some other forms of justice, like distributive justice (although this can indeed form part of a future social contract). The aim is the forging of a rights-based culture, which requires wide knowledge of rights and their implications. It means interrupting cycles of revenge and violence and understanding how hatred amplifies. This leads to the fourth distinctiveness of transitional justice: the importance of its truth-seeking, or acknowledgment, component. Truth is the first victim of any repressive regime. As David Guinn argues, under repressive systems, “Reality is distorted, as moral norms are turned upside down and replaced by the corrupted vision of the culture of the regime.” It could be said that education is in part always a search for truth and the acknowledgment of the implications of such truth; although, of course, whose version of “truth” prevails should always be in question. In terms of acknowledgment, truth seeking includes the necessary identification of real people in the conflict—that is, the victims and the perpetrators as well as the bystanders. This recognition is also intergenerational, as children learn from their parents and grandparents. Admittedly, there are issues involved for education in such attempts at identifi cation and public naming of violations and perpetrators, particularly with regard to individuals and families. But identification also extends to governments. It relates to what is constituted as a war crime or a crime against humanity and who is responsible for it. In the identification of responsibility for harm committed we start to see important but controversial issues for educators. The final distinctiveness, linked to the first, is the fundamental public dimension of transitional justice: the idea of a new social contract. The implications of justice processes for civil society stretch forward into the “democratic regeneration of the social web” itself, which conflict and its enduring legacies have affected. New narratives emerge from the media, educational institutions, and cultural activities and agents as well as from civil society organizations. Ramírez-Barat holds that transitional justice processes are usually accompanied by an eruption of creative activities. But strengthening the public space requires the population’s capacity to assess accurate information as well as platforms to exercise freedom of expression and association under conditions of equality and inclusiveness. Education is deeply implicated in the achievement of these requirements and skills.
Topic:
Education, Reconstruction, Reform, Transitional Justice, Institutions, and Youth Engagement
Political Geography:
Global Focus

555. No Legacy for Transitional Justice Efforts Without Education

Author:
Elizabeth A. Cole
Publication Date:
03-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ)
Abstract:
This paper explores a third, quite broad area of interaction between transitional justice and education—what is known in the transitional justice field as outreach. Given the complex challenges that transitional justice faces as a politically difficult process, practitioners must be aware of the limit to which education, especially formal education, can be a collaborator in transitional justice processes. They cannot afford to understand education merely as a tool, nor should their hopes for education as a solution to many of transitional justice’s outreach challenges be unrealistically high. Education as a fi eld has a distinct normative value and a social function that places it on par with, not subordinate to, transitional justice and similar projects to promote justice and human rights. It also faces constant challenges and limitations, particularly in many of the often resource-poor contexts where transitional justice works today. Only by recognizing these limitations can transitional justice assess and share the power of education for the goals it aims to achieve.
Topic:
Education, Reform, Transitional Justice, Institutions, Outreach, Truth and Reconciliation, and Youth Engagement
Political Geography:
Global Focus

556. Justice Mosaics: How Context Shapes Transitional Justice in Fractured Societies - Report

Author:
Roger Duthie
Publication Date:
05-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ)
Abstract:
The contexts in which societies attempt to address legacies of massive human rights violations—by confronting impunity, seeking effective redress, and preventing recurrence—are integral to the concept of transitional justice. Such contexts can vary widely: they can include ongoing conflicts, post-authoritarian transitions, post-conflict transitions, and post-transitional periods. They can also differ in terms of institutional and political fragility as well as levels of economic and social development. Broad policy objectives in such contexts can range from rule-of-law promotion to conflict resolution, peacebuilding, vindication and protection of human rights, democratization, development, and social change. As the term suggests, however, the contexts in which societies undertake transitional justice processes are usually to some degree transitional. This is important because transitions create opportunities for addressing past injustice, while at the same time they retain continuities with the past that pose constraints or obstacles for doing so. The fact that context varies is important because the broader context affects the objectives of transitional justice efforts as well as the processes through which they develop, which in turn affect the specific responses that are most appropriate and feasible in each setting. Here processes refer to the different ways in which ideas and movements develop, promote, and coalesce in demands for accountability, acknowledgment, and reform in the aftermath of massive human rights violations.
Topic:
Reform, Criminal Justice, Institutions, Justice, Reparations, Gender, Truth and Reconciliation, and Youth Engagement
Political Geography:
Africa, Europe, Middle East, Asia, South America, and North Africa

557. The Limits of Labor Legislation Reforms: Rigidity, Growth, and Employment in Brazil

Author:
Jean Francois Mayer
Publication Date:
04-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
The literature addressing market dynamics typically assumes that reforming labor legislation has a direct impact on economic perfor- mance, the configuration of labor markets, and the strength of labor organizations. Within this literature one prevalent school of thought advocates flexibilizing labor laws as the key to creating economic pros- perity, enhancing labor productivity, increasing formal sector employ- ment, and successfully fighting poverty and socioeconomic inequality. I test these assumptions by analyzing the case of Brazil between 1995 and 2010. My findings suggest that reforms seeking to flexibilize the Brazilian labor code do not significantly change the country’s labor market or economy. I propose that transformations in international economic con- texts as well as differing policy orientations of successive Brazilian feder- al governments may hold more explanatory power in accounting for labor market changes during this time period.
Topic:
Labor Issues, Reform, Employment, and Legislation
Political Geography:
Brazil, South America, and Latin America

558. The Constitutional Reform and the Position of Ethnic Minorites in the Republic of Armenia

Author:
Francesco Trupia
Publication Date:
10-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Liberty and International Affairs
Institution:
Institute for Research and European Studies (IRES)
Abstract:
This article aims to examine the ethnic minorities’ state of affairs in light of the constitutional reforms in Armenia since President Serzh Sargsyan decided to open the consultations with the parliamentary factions in November 2005. Policy-makers and representatives on behalf of ethnic minority groups have been taking relevantly place at the recent wave of democratic protests throughout the process of constitutional reforms in order to entrench a more stable multiparty system, an independent judiciary, new balances between State and civic society. Hence, what is the reason to endorse those tiny ethnic groups such as wealth of minority rights and political recognition? Why have ethnic Armenian minority groups not had objections or particular regrets in the constitutional reform processes? In turn, may this high level of internal recognition of ethnic minority groups foster assistance to Armenian minorities and protect Armenian heritage into the de facto entities of the South Caucasus?
Topic:
Religion, Minorities, Reform, Constitution, Ethnicity, and Freedom of Expression
Political Geography:
Armenia

559. Agrarian reform and the difficult road to peace in the Philippine countryside

Author:
Danilo Carranza
Publication Date:
09-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution
Abstract:
Agrarian reform and conflict in the rural areas of the Philippines are closely intertwined. The weak government implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Programme, inherent loopholes in the law, strong landowner resistance, weak farmers’ organisations, and the continuing espousal by the New People’s Army of its own agrarian revolution combine to make the government’s agrarian reform programme only partially successful in breaking up land monopolies. This is why poverty is still pronounced in many rural areas. The rise of an agrarian reform movement has significantly contributed to the partial success of the government’s agrarian reform programme. But the government has not been able to tap the full potential of this movement to push for faster and more meaningful agrarian reform. The agrarian reform dynamics between pro- and anti-agrarian reform actors create social tensions that often lead to violence, of which land-rights claimants are often the victims. This is exacerbated and in many ways encouraged by the government’s failure to fulfil its obligation to protect the basic human rights of land-rights claimants. This report outlines the pace and direction of agrarian reform in the Philippines and its role in fighting poverty and promoting peace in rural areas. It emphasises the importance of reform-oriented peasant movements and more effective government implementation to the success of agrarian reform. The report also asserts the need for the government and the armed left to respect human rights and international humanitarian law in promoting the full participation of land-rights claimants in shaping and crafting public policy around land rights.
Topic:
Agriculture, Poverty, Reform, and Peace
Political Geography:
Asia and Philippines

560. We Are More Than We Have Become: John Wesley’s Call to Holiness and Service

Author:
Sandra L. Steiner Ball
Publication Date:
02-2016
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues
Abstract:
In this lecture, the first woman bishop of the United Methodist Church’s West Virginia Conference, Sandra Steiner Ball, addresses JohnWesley’s desire to reform the Church and to move women and men from a passive connection with the Divine, to an active, relational, and accountable life of holiness and service to God. This subject is relevant for today as it was in the 18th Century.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Religion, Reform, and Christianity
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America