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1481. Russia in the Asia-Pacific: Between Integration and Geopolitics

Author:
Paul Richardson
Publication Date:
02-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
East-West Center
Abstract:
For the first time in its history, Russia this year assumed the leadership of a major Asia- Pacific forum—APEC. In September the organization's annual summit will be held in Vladivostok and through this congress Russia hopes to demonstrate to the world, and its own citizens, that the country is once again a power in both Europe and Asia. It is a bold vision, which is bound to Russia's national development strategy and Great Power aspirations. As one Russian diplomat told this author, if Russia really becomes involved in Asia it could change the country and also the world.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Development, International Affairs, and Power Politics
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Asia, and Australia/Pacific

1482. Bahrain and the global balance of power after the Arab Spring

Author:
Lars Erslev Andersen
Publication Date:
06-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The global balance of power is changing, and the role of the US as the only superpower is being challenged by emerging new powers and a still more powerful China. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Persian Gulf. This Working Paper by DIIS researcher Lars Erslev Andersen argues that if we are fully to understand the developments in the Persian Gulf we need to analyze the Persian Gulf as a regional security complex in its own right. The argument is developed empirically with reference to the case of Bahrain.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, International Trade and Finance, International Affairs, and Power Politics
Political Geography:
United States, China, Middle East, Arabia, and Bahrain

1483. Joseph A. Camilleri and Jim Falk, World in Transition: Evolving Governance across a Stressed Planet (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2009)

Author:
Emilian Kavalski
Publication Date:
04-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Central European University Political Science Journal
Institution:
Central European University
Abstract:
The need to develop sustainable and resilient governance mechanisms has plagued scholars, policy-makers and publics for several decades. Traditionally, such frameworks for coordinated decision-making have been associated with the problem of war. Yet in recent years both the recognition of and the proliferation of complex challenges emerging from the interconnectedness between local and transnational realities, between markets, migration, trafficking, and social movements, and between pandemics, a looming energy crisis, and climate change have tested the ability to comprehend and address convincingly their turbulence. Such risks have disturbed not only the assumption of a predictable model of world politics, but equally importantly they have also unsettled the accepted ways in which international affairs have been explained and understood. In this respect, the study of global governance seems to have been undergoing an intense and oftentimes troubled reflection on the validity and relevance of its theories, methods, and propositions. At the same time, the proliferation of a diverse set of new (or previously overlooked) issues on the political stage has urged such reconsiderations of the study of politics to promptly produce explanatory frameworks that can offer germane responses to the emerging challenges.
Topic:
War and International Affairs

1484. Saving Mothers, Giving Life: Attainable or Aspirational?

Author:
Janet Fleischman
Publication Date:
06-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:
Each day, nearly 800 women die around the world from complications in pregnancy or childbirth. That's one woman losing her life, every 100 seconds, every day. And while, from 1990 to 2010, global maternal mortality rates declined by roughly 47%, from about 546,000 to 287,000, the regional disparities are enormous: 85% of all maternal deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia—and more than half of these occur in sub-Saharan Africa. These deaths are largely preventable with interventions and training to address complications such as hemorrhage, infection, and obstructed labor, and more broadly with increased access to reproductive health services.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Health, International Affairs, Foreign Aid, and Health Care Policy
Political Geography:
Africa, United States, and South Asia

1485. The Video Revolution

Author:
Jane Sasseen
Publication Date:
08-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:
The Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA), at the National Endowment for Democracy, works to strengthen the support, raise the visibility, and improve the effectiveness of independent media development throughout the world. The Center provides information, builds networks, conducts research, and highlights the indispensable role independent media play in the creation and development of sustainable democracies. An important aspect of CIMA's work is to research ways to attract additional U.S. private sector interest in and support for international media development. The Center was one of the of the main nongovernmental organizers of World Press Freedom Day 2011 in Washington, DC.
Topic:
Development, Science and Technology, International Affairs, Communications, and Mass Media
Political Geography:
United States and Washington

1486. Financial Development and Economic Growth in the Mediterranean Associated Countries

Author:
Adolfo Barajas and Seyed Reza Yousefi
Publication Date:
09-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
IEMed/EuroMeSCo
Abstract:
Slow growth in the Mediterranean Associated Countries (MEDA) over the past three decades can be partly traced to underperformance by the financial sector. Several countries in the region lack financial depth, and the region as a whole has not fully benefited from the level of banking intermediation on offer, signaling a “quality gap.” Policy should therefore aim to enhance banking competition by removing entry barriers and improving credit information, reduce the role of state banks, further the process of financial reform, and provide a financial infrastructure conducive to bank and financial market development. Moreover, quality of intermediation appears to be related to access, and MEDA countries have also underachieved in terms of providing access to financial services to large segments of the population, in particular, to small and medium-sized enterprises. Efforts to widen access should also lead to improvements in quality and, ultimately, higher longrun growth.
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Mediterranean

1487. Economic Agendas of Islamic Actors

Author:
Javier Albarracín and Paula Cusi
Publication Date:
09-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
IEMed/EuroMeSCo
Abstract:
The IEMed held a conference on the 3rd and 4th July 2012 in Barcelona, under the title “Emerging New Economic Policy Makers in the Arab Mediterranean: Economic Agendas of Islamic Actors”. The aim of the conference was to engage Islamic economic actors, and get to know their economic proposals better. Members of the Islamic parties of Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt attended, as well as bankers, businessmen and representatives of Islamic economic associations from the region. Experts were also invited from institutions such as the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Commission, the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Central Bank of Spain, and so on. The seminar was split into three parts. The first part analyzed at a national level the economic challenges and necessary reforms in Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. The other two sessions were dedicated to Islamic finance and banking, followed by an analysis of the economic cooperation in the Euro-Mediterranean region and among international Islamic actors.
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Spain

1488. Euro-Mediterranean Higher Education Area: Enhancing Quality, Promoting Mobility and Employability

Author:
Nick Harris and Javier Albarracín
Publication Date:
09-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
IEMed/EuroMeSCo
Abstract:
This paper results from a European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed)/National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation of Spain (ANECA) Conference held in Barcelona 23rd May 2011 on enhancing quality, promoting mobility and employability across the Euro-Mediterranean Higher Education Area. At a time when there is considerable change and uncertainty in almost all parts of the Euro-Med region, the conference discussions ranged across the nature and purposes of higher education, particularly in relation to employability and employment, and the benefits of and barriers to mobility for both students and academic staff. It also sought to identify the most effective ways in which the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) could contribute to further developments in higher education, bearing in mind the diversities and uncertainties that currently exist at social, political, and economic levels as well as in educations terms
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Mediterranean

1489. Inflection Point: The Australian Defence Force after Afghanistan

Author:
Alan Dupont
Publication Date:
03-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
In every era there are inflection points which require long-established institutions to re-evaluate their goals, strategy, structure and resource allocations to ensure their future health and relevance. The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is no exception.
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Australia

1490. The 2012 National Elections in Papua New Guinea: Averting Violence

Author:
Scott Flower
Publication Date:
03-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
The 2012 general elections in Papua New Guinea are likely to be marred by violence. The increased financial bounty at stake, the enhanced value of political office, the proliferation of weapons, and pressures on PNG’s Electoral Commission, Defence Force and police combine to highlight security concerns around the elections, particularly in the Highlands provinces.
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Papua New Guinea