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242. Can the West Save Africa?
- Author:
- William Easterly
- Publication Date:
- 10-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- The last few years have seen unprecedented attention to an attempt by Western governments to rapidly develop Africa. British Prime Minister Tony Blair called at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2005 for "a big, big push forward" in Africa to end poverty, financed by an increase in foreign aid. Tony Blair commissioned a Report on Africa, which released its findings in March 2005, likewise calling for a "big push." Gordon Brown and Tony Blair put the cause of ending poverty in Africa at the top of the agenda of the G-8 Summit in Gleneagles, Scotland in July 2005. In the 2005 summit at Gleneagles, Scotland, the G-8 agreed to double foreign aid to Africa, from $25 billion a year to $50 billion to finance the big push, as well as to forgive the African aid loans contracted during previous attempts at a "big push." Two years later, Germany again made Africa an important item on the agenda of the G-8 summit it hosted in Heiligendamm in June 2007. There, the G-8 again reiterated the promises made in 2005. Japan pledged to double its own aid to Africa in May 2008 over the next five years. Most recently, the G8 Summit in Japan in July 2008 agreed: "We are firmly committed to working to fulfill our commitments on Official Development Assistance made at Gleneagles, and reaffirmed at Heiligendamm, including increasing...ODA to Africa by US$ 25 billion a year by 2010."
- Topic:
- Development and Emerging Markets
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Japan, United Kingdom, and Germany
243. Shifting Financial Flows to Low-Income Countries: From Official Aid to Private Finance?
- Author:
- Lotte Thomsen
- Publication Date:
- 10-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
- Abstract:
- Within the last decades, the share of government aid in overall external financial flows to developing countries has decreased. It is estimated that between 75 and 85% of all current financial flows to developing countries derive from a variety of private sources, including remittances, investment, commercial loans and charity, compared to some 65% in 1990 (see also Jones, 2007). Similarly, it has been estimated that total private flows reached 647 billion USD in 2006, which is roughly four times their level in the 1980s. This may imply a diminished or different role for official financing from 'traditional' donors, at least in relative terms (Dorsey et al, 2008; Steer, 2008). Yet, it has been pointed out (Steer, 2008) that the size, impact and relation of private financial flows to public flows are not fully understood, not least because monitoring systems in many developing countries are rudimentary, and e.g. FDI widely underestimated. Simultaneously with this increase in private finance to developing countries, the number of both private and public aid sources, including bilateral donor channels, multilateral organizations, funds and programmes, have been growing so that they now are higher in number than the number of developing countries they are created to assist (IDA, 2007).
- Topic:
- Development, Emerging Markets, Government, and Non-Governmental Organization
244. Economic Integration and Incipient Democracy
- Author:
- Philip I. Levy
- Publication Date:
- 03-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
- Abstract:
- Contrary to the common approach in the literature, the economic and other forces that push countries toward democratization are continuous rather than discrete. This paper argues that failure to account for the latent variable of "incipient democracy" can bias estimates of democracy's determinants. The paper presents a new avenue by which economic integration can foster democracy, one that focuses on the means for democratization rather than the motive. This strengthening of civil society is identified as a necessary component of economic integration with modern distributed production, though we would not expect to see it in autocracies dependent on natural resource trade. The arguments are applied to the case of China.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Development, Economics, and Emerging Markets
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
245. What if the United States Sneezed and Latin America Didn't Catch a Cold?
- Author:
- Megan Davy
- Publication Date:
- 05-2008
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
- Abstract:
- Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) economies, usually susceptible to international financial turmoil, are especially vulnerable to even minor tremors in U.S. markets. Regional policymakers and entrepreneurs, therefore, have been closely watching the current U.S. subprime credit crisis. Here is the good news: all signs point to relatively minor symptoms in LAC countries—despite a rocky financial history during the 1980s and 1990s—thanks in large part to reforms undertaken in response to previous financial crises, as well as continued high commodity prices that will likely buoy export markets. Although the economic downturn in the United States and other global markets will likely expose lingering weaknesses in the region's economy, this latest crisis can provide an impetus to complete the unfinished business of building more modern, resilient economies.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, and Emerging Markets
- Political Geography:
- United States, South America, Latin America, and Central America
246. The Role and Development of Technology-Intensive Suppliers in Resource-Based Economies: A Literature Review
- Author:
- Carlos Torres Fuchslocher
- Publication Date:
- 11-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- German Institute of Global and Area Studies
- Abstract:
- Although primary industries are important to developing countries, they have been largely unable to contribute to rapid growth. Systematically strengthening the development of local technology-intensive suppliers (t-suppliers), however, may contribute to both reinforcing the industrial base and supporting the competitiveness of primary production. Indeed, the development of t-suppliers has been common in those resource-based economies which achieved a high level of development (Scandinavia, Canada, Australia). This paper explores the role of t-suppliers in natural resource-based economies. It outlines a theoretical framework for the analysis of the factors which foster or constrain their development and defines areas for an effective promotion of t-suppliers. The proposed model of analysis distinguishes between factors influencing the development of t-suppliers on the level of the main industry (MI), the level of supplier firms or firm-level and the level of external determinants with special reference to industrial policy factors.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, and Third World
- Political Geography:
- Canada, Australia, and Scandinavia
247. Signing Away The Future: How trade and investment agreements between rich and poor countries undermine development
- Publication Date:
- 03-2007
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- The quiet advance of trade and investment agreements between rich and poor countries threatens to deny developing countries a favourable foothold in the global economy. Powerful countries, led by the USA and the European Union (EU), are pursuing regional and bilateral free trade agreements with unprecedented vigour. This is happening without the fanfare of global summitry and international press coverage. Around 25 developing countries have now signed free trade agreements with developed countries, and more than 100 are engaged in negotiations. An average of two bilateral investment treaties are signed every week. Virtually no country, however poor, has been left out.
- Topic:
- Emerging Markets and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- United States and Europe
248. Slipping into Obscurity? Crisis and Reform at the IMF
- Author:
- Bessma Momani and Eric Helleiner
- Publication Date:
- 02-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)
- Abstract:
- Top policymakers worry today that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) risks 'slipping into obscurity'. What explains the IMF's declining influence? Two significant developments have been the declining demand for IMF loans from middle-income borrowers, and the emergence of a more critical view towards the institution from US policymakers in recent years. In this new political context, a range of reform proposals has been put forward by Fund management, key shareholders, and the concerned policy community with the goal of restoring and preserving the IMF's significance. Advocates of change have focused particular attention on the need for process-oriented reforms that would change the nature of IMF governance as a means of restoring its legitimacy among many member governments. Also prominent have been more outcome-oriented reforms that propose various changes in IMF activities and performance. Are-invigorated IMF is unlikely to emerge from the current situation without the implementation of governance-related reforms.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Economics, Emerging Markets, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- United States
249. Telesur : Estrategia geopolítica con fines integracionistas
- Author:
- Andrés Cañizález and Jairo Lugo
- Publication Date:
- 10-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
- Abstract:
- This article discusses the project of Telesur in the context of regional integration in Latin America and geopolitical confrontation with the US. The article considers the way in which confrontation between President Hugo Chávez's administration and the United States has made geopolitics a fundamental part of this telecommunications project. It discusses the validity of comparing Telesur to other broadcasters such as Al-Jazeera and EuroNews. Although is still too soon to provide an assessment of the viability of the channel, it is already possible to foresee that it will face in the near future a series of challenges that will reshape its nature and that of its audiences.
- Topic:
- Emerging Markets, International Cooperation, and Regional Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Latin America
250. What's in it for Labour? Private social standards in the cut flower industries of Kenya and Tanzania
- Author:
- Lone Riisgaard
- Publication Date:
- 08-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
- Abstract:
- Export of cut flowers from East Africa to Europe is an example of how tightened quality regulations and increasing concern with social and environmental issues have created a highly codified industry. For producers participating in value chains driven by large retailers, adopting social and environmental standards is a requirement and specificities are dictated by the buyers. In this paper focus is on private social standards and the opportunities and challenges they pose for labour organizations, especially trade unions. By incorporating the concept of labour agency, global value chain analysis is widened to encompass not just industrial development but also labour development.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Economics, and Emerging Markets
- Political Geography:
- Kenya, Africa, Tanzania, and East Africa