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51. Drought, Displacement and Livelihoods in Somalia/Somaliland: Time for Gender-Sensitive and Protection-Focused Approaches

Author:
Emma Fanning
Publication Date:
06-2018
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Thousands of Somali families were displaced to urban centres by the 2017 drought. Research by a group of NGOs indicates that they do not intend to return home anytime soon. It also shows how precarious and limited are the livelihood opportunities for displaced people in Somalia; how far people’s options are affected by gender; and how changing gender dynamics present further protection threats to both men and women. Comparing the findings for Somaliland with those for the rest of the country, the research underscores the importance of local dynamics for people’s opportunities and protection. Gaps were highlighted in the provision of basic services for women particularly. Local, state and federal authorities, donors, and humanitarian and development actors need to improve displaced people’s immediate access to safe, gender-sensitive basic services – and to develop plans for more durable solutions to displacement. As floods in April to June 2018 have forced more people to leave their homes, an immediate step up in the response is essential.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Displacement, NGOs, and Humanitarian Crisis
Political Geography:
Africa and Somalia

52. Whistleblowers for Change: The Social and Economic Costs and Benefits of Leaking and Whistleblowing

Publication Date:
11-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
The decision to be a whistleblower is not easy. Mental trauma, the risk of retaliation, the potential loss of employment or ostracization by work colleagues—not to mention the impact on one’s personal life—all weigh heavily on the individual who decides to speak out for the common good. But when potential whistleblowers feel too vulnerable to act, it's society itself which suffers. In this report, whistleblowers from eight European countries describe what they experienced after they took a stand. Additionally, civil society experts weigh in on how the EU can craft policies to better protect whistleblowers. The question of how to define whistleblowing—does it apply to sexual harassment, can NGOs be considered whistleblowers, and so on—is also explored. The report ultimately recommends an EU-wide directive on whistleblowing, which it argues would give whistleblowers the protection they need to step forward. The report also argues that a multi-level, multi-stakeholder approach would emphasize the value of whistleblowers and the crucial role they play in a healthy open society.
Topic:
Civil Society, Intelligence, NGOs, Transparency, Whistle Blowing, and Secrecy
Political Geography:
Europe

53. Pushing Back against Narrowing Space for Civil Society in Tunisia

Author:
Yara Shahin
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Abstract:
Civil society plays a vital role in society. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) connect citizens and governments, hold governments accountable, and advocate for citizens’ interests. After being widely celebrated in the 1990s, civil society across the world is now facing shrinking support and growing restrictions. Drivers behind these restrictions in Tunisia include professed concerns about terrorism, a dominant security agenda, and the shift within civil society from service delivery to advocacy, which can seem threatening to governments. Government restrictions most often target the social justice sector and obstruct the work of NGOs through legal restrictions, financial measures, and direct threats to civic actors. Recently, many governments have intensified accusations that civil society and its activists are anti-development, work against economic security, or are terrorist sympathizers or supporters. This paper explores the status of civic space in Tunisia and its development from the most repressive civic space in the Middle East and North Africa during Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s regime to an open civic space following the 2011 Arab Spring. It also highlights the various ways in which civil society has responded to the closing of civic space, especially as it pertains to pushing back against problematic laws through the formation of domestic coalitions.
Topic:
Civil Society, Space, NGOs, and Social Order
Political Geography:
Africa, Middle East, and Tunisia

54. nternational Organizations' Modes of Governance in Areas of Limited Statehood: The Case of Food Security

Author:
Leon Schettler, Angela Heucher, and Andrea Liese
Publication Date:
03-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Collaborative Research Center (SFB) 700
Abstract:
International organizations (IOs) are confronted with a twin challenge in areas of limited statehood (ALS). On the one hand, IOs are governmental organizations qua mandate. Their usual approach – providing a range of services to their members and working with or for a given state – may, however, either be blocked or prove unsustainable in ALS. On the other, ALS present numerous challenges to IO governance, ranging from insecurity to a lack of meta-governance. Yet, we know surprisingly little about how IOs operate in these contexts, and, in particular, which modes of governance they choose for which purposes. How can IOs attain the twin objectives of acting in accordance with their mandate, which gives primacy to governments, and responding to ALS-specific challenges in order to effectively provide food security? This paper addresses IOs’ choice of distinct modes of governance, ranging from bargaining to persuasion. It investigates how different types of IOs use and combine these modes in light of varying ALS-challenges. The empirical observations presented in this paper stem from interviews with IOs (ECHO, FAO, IDB, WFP, and the World Bank) at the level of headquarters and country offices (in Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Haiti, Niger, and Sierra Leone), as well as from organizational documents.
Topic:
Food, Governance, Food Security, NGOs, and Statehood
Political Geography:
Global Focus

55. Re-Thinking Global Climate Change: A Local Bottom-Up Perspective

Author:
Rafael Leal-Arcas
Publication Date:
09-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Abstract:
This article provides a timely and forward-thinking analysis regarding the transition to clean energy. It does so by offering a behavioral-economics analysis of prosumer-market factors. We argue that transitioning to clean energy cannot be achieved solely through top-down or bottom-up methods; rather, a symbiotic relationship between government or businesses creating opportunities and individual prosumers is key. The article puts an emphasis on the effectiveness of bottom-up factors like smart cities, NGOs, and ordinary citizens.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, NGOs, and Renewable Energy
Political Geography:
Global Focus

56. How International Oil Companies Could Assist the Republic of Cyprus to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals: A Conversation Starter

Author:
Andrea Tornaritis and Perrine Toledano
Publication Date:
10-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Abstract:
This policy paper is addressed to International Oil Companies (IOCs), public officials and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) involved in the natural gas industry in Cyprus. There is currently no conversation happening in Cyprus on how the oil and gas industry could help Cyprus achieve their Sustainable Development Goals. Therefore, this paper hopes to initiate a debate and conversation around this topic. It provides an overview of the ways in which IOCs operating in Cyprus could contribute towards the sustainable development of the natural gas industry and assist the Republic of Cyprus to achieve a number of their 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Topic:
Energy Policy, Oil, Natural Resources, Gas, Sustainable Development Goals, and NGOs
Political Geography:
Europe, Cyprus, and Mediterranean

57. Tunisia: Human Rights Organizations and the State

Author:
Hatem Chakroun
Publication Date:
05-2018
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
This paper seeks to describe and analyse in a contextual way how the relationship between human rights organizations and the State in Tunisia has evolved since independence. The establishment and consolidation of national State institutions after independence was the main obsession of the ruling political network in Tunisia. This dictated its antagonistic position and measures against pluralism and inclusion of various political groups, all of which had been once unified in the anticolonial struggle. After independence, this common objective disappeared and differences materialized regarding which political system and policies to adopt in order to building a modern nation-state in Tunisia. The consolidated regime of President Habib Bourguiba succeeded in imposing an authoritarian single-party political system, whose “legitimacy” rested on the anticolonial struggle, that controlled the state, to which all had to show loyalty. The autocratic political system continued after 1987 with the reign of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who presented a retooled authoritarian political vision. The human rights community represented by the Tunisian League for the Defence of Human Rights came under pressure as the State attempted to coerce it into adopting a tailored vision of human rights compatible with the logic of a dictatorship. Ben Ali regime had also set up a façade of commitment to human rights as expressed in various laws, about which he boasted on all occasions and political events with total disregard for systematic violations by repressive state bodies. After the fall of Ben Ali following a popular uprising that rejected repression and authoritarianism and expressed a popular longing for freedom and dignity, a new vision began to form of the relationship between the State and the human rights community in Tunisia. The starting point was very positive with long time human rights activists playing a central role in the process of establishing a vision for the new republic based on respect for the principles of human rights. However, the political contention among various political factions and higher state echelons, fuelled by varying ideologies and interests, has affected this relationship, which oscillated between harmony and dissonance.
Topic:
Human Rights, Social Movement, Protests, and NGOs
Political Geography:
Africa, North Africa, and Tunisia

58. Islamists and Rights Activists in Egypt: The Potential for Convergence

Author:
Heba Raoul Ezzat
Publication Date:
10-2018
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
Animosity has been the keyword in the relationship between Islamists and rights advocates for most of the past few years in Egypt. Islamists turned a blind eye to many crimes committed by the regime and its security agencies between 25 January 2011 and mid-2013. On the other hand, some rights advocates took part in mobilizing and supporting the opposition movement that led to the June 2013 demonstrations and the military seizing power. However, the killings, executions, and other egregious rights violations, then the direct confrontation between the regime and rights groups culminating in a more restrictive NGO law, led rights defenders to take a firmer position, by condemning the regime, and monitoring and documenting its violations. More Islamists are expected to see an opportunity in resorting to human rights advocacy. As such, this would mean accepting more cooperation, especially in terms of monitoring and documentation through various initiatives and institutions established after 2013. Led by a new generation of actors, will this cooperation be free from ideological conflicts? The paper seeks to review, in broad brushstrokes, the contours and important turning points of the relationship between the two groups of actors and outline a possible future trajectory.
Topic:
Human Rights, International Cooperation, Islam, NGOs, and Repression
Political Geography:
Africa, United Nations, North Africa, Egypt, and Mediterranean

59. GENDEREDNESS IN ENGOs: A COMPARATIVE INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM AND TURKEY

Author:
Rakibe Külcür
Publication Date:
10-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Alternative Politics
Institution:
Department of International Relations, Abant Izzet Baysal University, Turkey
Abstract:
This paper analyses the gendered organisational practices of Environmental Non-Governmental Organisations (ENGOs) in the United Kingdom (UK) and Turkey and the possible outcomes of these practices on gender compositions in senior roles. Since gender is an important element in organisations, it is expected to have implications for policies of ENGOs. The research on which this paper is based was undertaken as part of a Ph.D. which examined the gendered nature of ENGOs in Turkey and the UK. The research revealed how and why ENGOs are gendered especially in positions of power and influence. This is an important question because of pressure groups’ influence on environmental decision-making, and yet it has largely been neglected until now. This research revealed that while the ENGO sector is dominated by young single middle-class female employees, white, middle class men are in charge of the decision-making. It showed that the ENGOs reflect the rest of the society and its dominant patriarchal values. The research concluded that gender-biased working practices such as culture of long working hours, lack of formal recruitment and promotion procedures and short-term contract work relations limit career progression of women. This is due to the gendered roles and the traditional division of work in society (the gender division of labour), where triple workload of women remains invisible as a result of patriarchal and capitalist relations existing in both societies.
Topic:
Environment, Gender Issues, Women, Feminism, and NGOs
Political Geography:
United Kingdom, Europe, Turkey, and Asia

60. ACKNOWLEDGING THE FLEXIBILITIES OF THE TRIPS AGREEMENT: ENSURING THE RIGHT TO ACCESS TO MEDICINES OR A STRATEGY OF PASSIVE REVOLUTION?

Author:
Sevgi BALKAN-ŞAHİN
Publication Date:
10-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Alternative Politics
Institution:
Department of International Relations, Abant Izzet Baysal University, Turkey
Abstract:
The Doha Ministerial Declaration on the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement and Public Health adopted in November 2001 clarified the right to use the TRIPS flexibilities to promote public health. Examining the hegemonic struggle of opposing social forces from a neo-Gramscian perspective, the paper attributes this outcome to the strategy of trasformismo used by market-oriented social forces to legitimize the policies of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and prevent resistance against the market-driven TRIPS Agreement. It argues that although non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as Medecins Sans Frontieres, Third World Network, and Oxfam worked as a counter-hegemonic force to ensure the access of least developed countries to generic versions of patented drugs, flexibilities confirmed by the Doha Declaration can be seen more as a strategy of trasformismo to absorb counter-hegemonic ideas than the counter-hegemonic groups’ successful incorporation of the right to ensure public health into the TRIPS Agreement.
Topic:
Health, World Trade Organization, Hegemony, Health Care Policy, NGOs, and Public Health
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, Asia, and North America