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192. The New ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights: Toothless Tiger or Tentative First Step?
- Author:
- Michelle Staggs Kelsall
- Publication Date:
- 09-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- East-West Center
- Abstract:
- In late 2008 the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) committed to creating a human rights body, which emerged as the Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (ICHR), the terms of reference (TOR) for which have since been adopted. Although the TOR for the commission currently outlines a primarily advisory rather than an enforcement role, the very existence of the ICHR has the potential to act as a trigger to further discussion on human rights issues in member states and open avenues for further action. To take maximum advantage of this opportunity to further the human rights agenda in ASEAN member states, it is essential that critical early decisions are made carefully so as to leave the most latitude for future action. While some observers are concerned that the ICHR lacks teeth, the fact that all ten ASEAN governments have agreed to implement a human rights commission is remarkable and is an essential first step toward ASEAN's stated goal of respecting and protecting human rights.
- Topic:
- Human Rights, Human Welfare, International Organization, and Regional Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Israel, Asia, and Southeast Asia
193. Reframing Global Environmental Governance: Results of a CIGI/CIS Collaboration
- Author:
- Jennifer Clapp, Steven Bernstein, and Matt Hoffmann
- Publication Date:
- 12-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for International Governance Innovation
- Abstract:
- Global environmental governance is undergoing significant change. There is a growing recognition that the traditional state-centric intergovernmental model of addressing global environmental problems is insufficient in the face of increasingly complex and overlapping environmental issues. There are serious questions about the ability or willingness of states, individually and collectively, to respond to the most pressing environmental challenges. The erosion of confidence in and the dominance of a state-centric governance model has simultaneously resulted from and provoked significant innovation. While there is growing discussion of institutional reform at the international level including reform to the United Nations Environment Programme and the creation of a new global organization to address these problems, there is also a fragmentation of governance processes to other jurisdictional levels and actors. Corporations, social and environmental organizations, private-public partnerships, substate governments, and even local communities have already begun to conceive and implement governance initiatives to address global environmental problems. This paper reflects upon these innovative institutional dynamics and assesses their prospects to produce effective, legitimate, and equitable outcomes. It concludes with a series of questions to guide future analysis and to better understand the prospects for improving the practice of global environmental governance.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Environment, International Cooperation, International Organization, and Governance
194. AIDS, Access to Medicines, and the Different Roles of the Brazilian and South African Governments in Global Health Governance
- Author:
- Christian von Soest, Jan Peter Wogart, Gilberto Calcagnotto, and Wolfgang Hein
- Publication Date:
- 09-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- German Institute of Global and Area Studies
- Abstract:
- The present article illustrates how the main actors in global health governance (GHG)—governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), intergovernmental organizations (IOs), and transnational pharmaceutical companies (TNPCs)—have been interacting and, as a result, modifying the global health architecture in general and AIDS treatment in particular. Using the concept of “power types” (Keohane/Martin) and “interfaces” (Norman Long), the authors examine the conflicts among major GHG actors that have arisen surrounding the limited access to medicines for fighting HIV/AIDS basically as a result of the Agreement on Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), in force since 1995. They then analyze the efforts of Brazil and South Africa to obtain fast and low-cost access to antiretroviral medication against AIDS. They conclude that while policy makers in the two countries have used different approaches to tackle the AIDS problem, they have been able, with the support of NGOs, to modify TRIPS and change some WTO rules at the global level along legal interfaces. At the national level the results of the fight against AIDS have been encouraging for Brazil, but not for South Africa, where authorities denied the challenge for a prolonged period of time. The authors see the different outcomes as a consequence of Brazil's ability to combine discoursive, legal, administrative, and resource-based interfaces.
- Topic:
- Health, International Organization, and Non-Governmental Organization
- Political Geography:
- Africa, South Africa, Brazil, and South America
195. Iran Says “No”—Now What?
- Author:
- George Perkovich
- Publication Date:
- 09-2008
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Abstract:
- Neither Iran nor the United States can achieve all it wants in the current nuclear standoff. Iran has demonstrated its unwillingness to comply with IAEA and UN Security Council demands to cease its enrichment activities or to negotiate seriously toward that end. The United States and other interlocutors should offer Iran a last chance to negotiate a suspension of its enrichment program until the IAEA can resolve outstanding issues in return for substantial incentives. If that package were rejected, the P-5 plus Germany should withdraw the incentives and commit to maintaining sanctions as long as Iran does not comply with IAEA demands. Simultaneously, the U.S. should take force “off the table” as long as Iran is not newly found to be seeking nuclear weapons or committing aggression.
- Topic:
- International Cooperation, International Organization, and Nuclear Weapons
- Political Geography:
- United States, Iran, and Middle East
196. In Pursuit of Sustainable Peace: The Seven Deadly Sins of Mediation
- Author:
- Lakhdar Brahimi and Salman Ahmed
- Publication Date:
- 05-2008
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Center on International Cooperation
- Abstract:
- One of the most important roles played by the civilian leadership of a peace operation is to help the parties to a conflict resolve their fundamental political differences through dialogue and compromise, rather than through violence. This role can be described in various ways: diplomatic efforts, mediation, peace-making, political facilitation, political process management or, simply, as the “political role” of the operation. It is an extremely difficult undertaking by any name, where success is difficult to achieve, but mistakes come easily. Some of these mistakes can have fatal consequences for the peace process in which the operation is embedded, and are referred to here as “the seven deadly sins.” These are: ignorance; arrogance; partiality; impotence; haste; inflexibility; and false promises.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, International Organization, and Peace Studies
197. Briefings for business: Business and the Millennium Development Goals
- Publication Date:
- 08-2008
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- “The challenge facing the international community in getting countries on track to achieve the MDGs is considerable, even more so in the face of the global challenges of inequality, climate change and impending insecurity. Global companies have a role to play: their first and most important contribution must be to minimise the negative and maximise the positive impacts of their core business operations on human development.”
- Topic:
- Development, International Cooperation, International Organization, Non-Governmental Organization, and United Nations
198. Square pegs in round holes: How the Farm Bill squanders chances for a pro-development trade deal
- Publication Date:
- 07-2008
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- When trade ministers from 35 countries gather in Geneva at the World Trade Organization [WTO] for what is being billed yet again as a last-ditch attempt to forge a Doha trade deal, they will be forced to meet an unwelcome guest: the 2008 US Farm Bill. With a host of newly bolstered subsidies that will hurt farmers in developing countries, as well as higher farm payment rates, squeezing the new Farm Bill into the 'boxes' defined under existing WTO obligations will be a remarkable trick. That speaks poorly about the willingness of the US to accept new disciplines on agricultural subsidies, and demonstrates that the US Congress is unwilling - thus far - to take the necessary steps for a new trade agreement that would prioritize development.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, International Organization, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and World Trade Organization
- Political Geography:
- Geneva and United States
199. China, Japan and the Quest for Leadership in East Asia
- Author:
- Dirk Nabers
- Publication Date:
- 02-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- German Institute of Global and Area Studies
- Abstract:
- The leadership of powerful states in processes of regional institutionalization is a significant, though still widely ignored topic in the field of International Relations (IR). This study asks about the theoretical conditions of effective leadership in international institution- building, using China's and Japan's roles in East Asian regionalism as an empirical test case. It addresses the question of what actually happens when states perform the role of leader. Specifically, it focuses on the process of negotiating leadership claims, and different hypotheses are presented as to the requirements of effective leadership in international affairs. The findings point to the fact that leadership is effective and sustainable when foreign elites acknowledge the leader's vision of international order and internalize it as their own. Leadership roles are often disputed and are constituted of shared ideas about self, other, and the world, relying on the intersubjective internalization of ideas, norms, and identities.
- Topic:
- International Relations, International Organization, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Israel and East Asia
200. Reform of Quota and Voting Shares in the International Monetary Fund: "Nothing" Is Temporarily Preferable to an Inadequate "Something"
- Author:
- Ralph C. Bryant
- Publication Date:
- 01-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- A prosperous, stable world economy is in the self interest of every nation—large or small, rich or poor. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a worldwide intergovernmental institution that can facilitate that prosperity and stability. Because every nation has a stake, each should participate in the IMF's governance and operations. The value to each nation of an effective IMF increases as the world economy and financial system become more integrated.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, International Organization, and International Political Economy