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862. Designing the Post-2015 Development Goals
- Author:
- Barry Carin
- Publication Date:
- 05-2013
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Centre for International Governance Innovation
- Abstract:
- The United Nations produced the Millennium Declaration in September 2000, recognizing a collective responsibility to work toward “a more peaceful, prosperous and just world.” The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) reaffirmed this vision and launched an ambitious global partnership for development. The MDGs set specific targets for 2015, using numerical indicators to measure progress. The United Nations is now formulating post-2015 goals to succeed the current MDGs. What should government authorities call for during the process of establishing these new goals to ensure they reflect national priorities, can be measured and are achievable, not purely aspirational?
- Topic:
- Development and United Nations
863. The Impact of China‐Africa Investment Relations: The Case of Madagascar
- Author:
- Jean Razafindravonona, Eric Rakotomanana, and Jimmy Rajaobelina
- Publication Date:
- 07-2013
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- African Economic Research Consortium (AERC)
- Abstract:
- The rapid and spectacular expansion of the Chinese economy in the recent past is, for African countries, an opportunity to take advantage of not only in terms of strengthening the South-South cooperation, but also of developing African economies. It is thus important to define the channels through which African countries would do so. It is with this goal in mind that the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) initiated the research project on the impact of the economic relation between China and sub-Saharan African countries.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, International Political Economy, International Trade and Finance, Foreign Direct Investment, Global Political Economy, and Macroeconomics
- Political Geography:
- Africa, China, Asia, and Madagascar
864. Is Poverty a binding constraint on Agricultural Growth in Rural Malawi?
- Author:
- Mirriam Muhome‐Matita and Ephraim Wadonda Chirwa
- Publication Date:
- 07-2013
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- African Economic Research Consortium (AERC)
- Abstract:
- Agriculture remains the most important sector in sub‐Saharan Africa and is a dominant form of livelihood for a majority of the population that resides in the rural areas. In Malawi, agriculture accounts for 35 percent of GDP and generates more than 80 percent of foreign exchange. In addition, agriculture is the most important occupation for 71 percent of the rural population in which crop production accounts for 74 percent of all rural incomes. However, agriculture has failed to get Africa out of poverty, and most countries are experiencing low agricultural growth, rapid population growth, weak foreign exchange earnings and high transaction costs (World Bank, 2008). In Malawi, for a long time, economic growth has been erratic (see figure 1) with huge swings and poverty has remained high. For instance, the annual growth rates in per capita gross domestic product averaged ‐2.1 percent in the 1980‐84 period, ‐2.7 percent in 1990‐94 period, 3.8 percent in 1995‐99 and ‐0.2 percent in the 2000‐05 period.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Development, Economics, Political Economy, Poverty, GDP, Inequality, Economic growth, and Macroeconomics
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Malawi
865. Ending corruption to ensure basic education for all
- Publication Date:
- 10-2013
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Transparency International
- Abstract:
- Universal primary education is one of the eight pledges of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that are set to be met by 2015. Since the goals have been adopted, corruption and governance deficits have undermined their achievement. In the case of education, progress has been mixed and there are wide disparities among groups. The number of students staying in the education system through primary school has reached 90 per cent. Yet, enrollment rates have seen a declining trend, and poor governance and corruption have been pointed to as among the culprits.
- Topic:
- Corruption, Development, Education, and Governance
866. 2015 and beyond: The governance solution for development
- Author:
- Craig Fagan and Santhosh Srinivasan
- Publication Date:
- 09-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Transparency International
- Abstract:
- There are fewer than 1000 days remaining until the 2015 deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Based on current progress, many will not be achieved. For Transparency International, a critical reason for the lack of success is weak governance and the corruption that follows.
- Topic:
- Corruption, Development, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- United Nations
867. Stabilizing Afghanistan: Proposals for Improving Security, Governance, and Aid/Economic Development
- Author:
- Tobias Ellwood
- Publication Date:
- 04-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Atlantic Council
- Abstract:
- Afghanistan's future remains bleak. After a painful decade, all must now admit that Plan A (as outlined in the Bonn Accord1 and confirmed in the Afghan constitution has yet to create the necessary foundations for stability. Much of the international community privately acknowledges the gloomy outlook and now seeks a decent interval of stability after 2014 to distance itself from the responsibility for what might happen next as global attention turns to the jihadist threat in the Sahel region of Africa.
- Topic:
- Security, Development, Economics, International Cooperation, Governance, and Reform
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and Africa
868. The Security of Cities: Ecology and Conflict on an Urbanizing Planet
- Author:
- Peter Engelke
- Publication Date:
- 11-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Atlantic Council
- Abstract:
- Humankind recently crossed a historic threshold: over half of all human beings now live in cities. In contrast to most of human history, cities have become the default condition for human habitation almost everywhere on earth. Urbanization is proceeding rapidly and at unprecedented scales in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. These regions are poised to join Latin America, Europe, North America, and Australia as having more people living in cities than in rural areas. Between 2010 and 2050, the world's urban population is expected to grow by 3 billion people—a figure roughly equal to the world's total population in 1950—with the great majority living in developing-world cities.3 Our species, in other words, is already an urban one and will become even more so throughout this century.
- Topic:
- Demographics, Development, Environment, Natural Resources, Urbanization, and Developing World
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Europe, Middle East, Asia, Latin America, Australia, and North America
869. The Europe We Would Like to Inherit: Toward a Visionary New Pragmatism
- Author:
- Dustin Dehez, Muddassar Ahmed, Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed, Spela Kranjc, and Ivo Sobral
- Publication Date:
- 07-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Atlantic Council
- Abstract:
- Europe urgently needs to move forward on a number of crucial reforms simultaneously. To face the challenges of the recession, we need better economic integration. The crisis of the Euro zone is not only a debt crisis. What Europe is facing is a multitude of different crises, of which the debt crises in Greece, Cyprus, Spain, and Italy are only a small part. All European countries have accumulated huge debts, their social security models are facing an inevitable demographic challenge of enormous proportions. The conventional crisis management response—austerity—has failed to create a foundation for future economic stability. To survive, Europe needs to rethink the very foundations of its economic policies for a population that is older and a Europe more fractured. Europe needs to open itself up to immigration, foster regulation and integration of financial markets, overhaul social security structures set up decades ago, galvanize productive investment in new post-carbon industries that will create jobs and spur technological innovation, and invest in a security sector that is capable of projecting stability.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Development, Economics, Politics, and Reform
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Greece, Spain, Italy, and Cyprus
870. Decaf empowerment? Post-Washington Consensus development policy, fair trade and Kenya's coffee industry
- Author:
- Zoë Pflaeger
- Publication Date:
- 07-2013
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of International Relations and Development
- Institution:
- Central and East European International Studies Association
- Abstract:
- There has been much debate surrounding the shift in development policy towards the Post-Washington Consensus and its associated Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers. This article seeks to engage critically with and further this literature by considering the concept of empowerment and its role within this consensus through an examination of development policy aimed at farmer empowerment in Kenya. This is investigated with a focus upon coffee producers in the context of Kenya's coffee reforms and the restructuring of the global coffee industry. While acknowledging the limitations of the dominant approach, exacerbated in the African context due to a problematic interpretation of the African state, it is argued that analyses of empowerment should also consider the opportunities for its re-politicisation. Drawing upon Gramscian thought, this article suggests that fair trade initiatives have the potential to offer an alternative approach to farmer empowerment more capable of challenging the concentration of power among roasters and buyers that has taken place within the coffee industry.
- Topic:
- Development
- Political Geography:
- Kenya, Africa, and Washington