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1032. Negotiating Political Spaces: Social and Environmental Activism in the Chinese Countryside
- Author:
- Maria Bondes
- Publication Date:
- 07-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- German Institute of Global and Area Studies
- Abstract:
- The proliferation of social organizations in China has engendered a lively debate about how to conceptualize these social forces. This paper argues that such a conceptualization should take into account the role that both the party-state and social actors attribute to social organizations. With an empirical case study from the western Chinese countryside, this paper explores how social organizations both adapt to the restrictive authoritarian framework and negotiate the spaces opening up to society in the realms of environmental and social politics. The study shows that while the party-state understands organizations as consultants and partners in service provision, they have a deviating self-image from the Western concepts of “NGO” and “civil society” that are becoming increasingly relevant as frames of reference. While their practices remain within the limits imposed by the authoritarian framework, they impact policy formulation, local political participation, and the formation of social networks according to their own self-image as members of a budding Chinese civil society.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Environment, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- China
1033. The Great Ocean Conveyor: Discovering the Trigger for Abrupt Climate Change by Wallace S. Broecker
- Author:
- Patrick J. Michaels
- Publication Date:
- 06-2011
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Cato Journal
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- This interesting book is an in-depth guide to workings of the mind of one of history's great environmental scientists, Wallace (Wally) Broecker, of Columbia University. It is strongly recommended for anyone interested in climate change policy. However, it is not an easy read. Despite the somewhat turgid text—and myriad, excruciating, and sometimes unexplained concepts and details—there are several important lessons. The most important of these is that what modern man would think of as dramatic climate change is the rule, not the exception, and we only partially understand, within broad limits, why our climate is so inherently unstable.
- Topic:
- Environment
1034. Ask the Experts: The New Brazil and The Changing Hemisphere
- Author:
- Kevin P. Gallagher, Arturo Sarukhan, Anne-Marie Slaughter, and Kurt G. Weyland
- Publication Date:
- 06-2011
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Americas Quarterly
- Institution:
- Council of the Americas
- Abstract:
- Do traditional models of international relations apply in Latin America?
- Topic:
- International Relations, Economics, Environment, and Government
- Political Geography:
- Brazil, Latin America, and Mexico
1035. Climate Change Adaptation and Conflict in Nigeria
- Author:
- Aaron Sayne
- Publication Date:
- 06-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- United States Institute of Peace
- Abstract:
- Nigeria's climate is likely to see growing shifts in temperature, rainfall, storms, and sea levels throughout the twenty-first century. Poor adaptive responses to these shifts could help fuel violent conflict in some areas of the country. A basic causal mechanism links climate change with violence in Nigeria. Under it, poor responses to climatic shifts create shortages of resources such as land and water. Shortages are followed by negative secondary impacts, such as more sickness, hunger, and joblessness. Poor responses to these, in turn, open the door to conflict. Drawing lines of causation between climate change and conflict in specific areas of Nigeria calls for caution, however, particularly as the scientific, social, economic, and political implications of the country's changing climate are still poorly understood. President Goodluck Jonathan's government needs to initiate a serious program of research and policy discussion before taking major adaptive steps. Government and private actors also need to ensure that particular adaptive responses do not themselves fuel violence but actively help build peace. Successful adaptation measures will be crosscutting in design and impact, based on inclusive planning and implementation, steer clear of political patronage traps, and confront political and scientific uncertainty. Solid engagement on the part of the Nigerian federal government is key to achieving the best outcomes, even if most adaptation is done privately. Thus far, official responses have been weak. Along with better information and discussion, Nigeria needs a main federal oversight body to coordinate research and policy, larger roles for sister agencies, and an implementation plan. The country also needs and deserves the help of more developed nations in the form of both adaptation funding and technical assistance.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Corruption, Environment, Poverty, and Natural Resources
- Political Geography:
- Nigeria
1036. Who Drives Change? Comparing the Evolution of Domestic Climate Governance in India and South Africa
- Author:
- Babette Never
- Publication Date:
- 08-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- German Institute of Global and Area Studies
- Abstract:
- This paper compares and contrasts the nature and scope of change in the domestic climate governance of India and South Africa between 2007 and 2010. It uses an actor-centered approach to analyze the drivers of change. An exploratory test of fit shows that the concept of "communities of practice" captures the trends and actor relations well for the South African case, while more simple networks could be identified in India. Using data from an expert survey and from semi-structured interviews, this paper finds that both countries have generally not yet surpassed the level of second-order change, or double-loop learning. Differences exist for more specific parts of climate governance. Three resulting hypotheses give conditions for the development of either communities of practice or of networks, as conceptualized in formal network analysis. They target (1) the number of participating actors, (2) the size of the scientific landscape and the degree of competition among scientists, and (3) the centrality of a governmental actor with a certain knowledge and attitude within a network.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Environment, Science and Technology, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- Africa, South Asia, India, and South Africa
1037. Family Planning and U.S. Foreign Policy: Ensuring U.S. Leadership for Healthy Families and Communities and Prosperous, Stable Societies
- Author:
- Isobel Coleman and Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
- Publication Date:
- 04-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- Global demographic and health trends affect a wide range of vital U.S. foreign policy interests. These interests include the desire to promote healthy, productive families and communities, more prosperous and stable societies, resource and food security, and environmental sustainability. International family planning is one intervention that can advance all these interests in a cost-effective manner. Investments in international family planning can significantly improve maternal, infant, and child health and avert unintended pregnancies and abortions. Studies have shown that meeting the unmet need for family planning could reduce maternal deaths by approximately 35 percent, reduce abortion in developing countries by 70 percent, and reduce infant mortality by 10 to 20 percent.
- Topic:
- Security, Foreign Policy, Development, Economics, Environment, and Health
- Political Geography:
- United States
1038. Forests, Food and Fuel: REDD+ and Indonesia's Land-use Conundrum
- Author:
- J. Jackson Ewing
- Publication Date:
- 08-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS)
- Abstract:
- Indonesia faces pronounced land-use challenges. The sprawling archipelagic state must deal with the legacies of short-sighted land conversions, the need to pursue foreign investment, capital growth and employment generation through profitable land intensive industries, and the rising food demands of a growing and increasingly urban population. Moreover, Indonesia must pursue these already daunting objectives without overly compromising its endowment of forest resources; which provide a range of valuable services both domestically and internationally. This paper explores the intersection of these issues and comments upon some of the most pressing challenges inherent to maintaining food security, protecting the essential services that forest ecosystems provide, and remaining open to capital-producing industries that are land intensive. The paper takes as its point of entry the movement of the Reduced Emissions through Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) programme into Indonesia's land-use calculus.
- Topic:
- Environment, Natural Resources, Food, Foreign Direct Investment, and Developing World
- Political Geography:
- Indonesia and Southeast Asia
1039. World Bank (ABCs of the IFIs Brief)
- Author:
- Jenny Ottenhoff
- Publication Date:
- 09-2011
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development (CGD)
- Abstract:
- The World Bank is a multilateral financial institution that provides financial and technical assistance for development in low- and middle-income countries. Finance is allocated through low-interest loans and grants for a range of development sectors such as health and education, infrastructure, public administration, financial and private-sector development, agriculture, and environmental and natural resource management.
- Topic:
- Development, Education, Environment, Health, Foreign Aid, Infrastructure, and World Bank
- Political Geography:
- Pakistan, Indonesia, and India
1040. A Race to the Top: Oil Gas Exploration in the Canadian Arctic
- Author:
- Michael Kuzik
- Publication Date:
- 05-2011
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
- Institution:
- Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
- Abstract:
- Economic forces will ultimately determine the destiny of the Canadian Arctic, not displays of military force. Economic opportunity will prove far more cost effective and longer lasting than increasing the visibility, or even effectiveness, of Canada's military in the Arctic. Some observers expect the mounting evidence of a treasure trove of hydrocarbons on land and under the sea in Canada's Arctic to act as the economic catalyst. However crude oil and natural gas exploitation in Canada's North is fraught with a myriad of challenges. This paper will shed light on the harsh climactic, economic and political realities of oil and gas exploration and development in the Canadian Arctic. Climatic conditions, even in the wake of evidence of climate change, will still be extreme as will the distances and the topography. First and foremost the economics have to make sense; a profit has to be available to entice the capital needed for developing the north's vast hydrocarbon potential. Additionally, the political realities include pollution mitigation and outstanding native land claims.
- Topic:
- Economics and Environment
- Political Geography:
- Canada