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501. Alliance Reborn: An Atlantic Compact for the 21st Century

Author:
Hans Binnendijk, Julianne Smith, Daniel Hamilton, Charles Barry, Stephen Flanagan, and James Townsend
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Atlantic Council
Abstract:
We have an open but fleeting moment to forge a more effective Atlantic partnership. We must seize it now. European and North American allies have allowed their relations to become discordant, yet the times demand vigor and unity. Courageous decisions need to be taken to breathe new life and relevance into the Atlantic partnership, which must be recast to tackle a diverse range of serious challenges at home and abroad.
Topic:
International Cooperation, Border Control, and Reform
Political Geography:
Europe, North America, and Atlantic Ocean

502. Beyond Closing Guantanamo: Rebuilding a Transatlantic Partnership in International Law

Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Atlantic Council
Abstract:
As the administration of Barack Obama begins, the role of the United States in the international legal system will come under great scrutiny. The United States will seek to strengthen its relations and enhance cooperation with its traditional allies. In doing so, it should work to restore the confidence of those allies that the United States will work with them to strengthen the international legal system and international institutions and resume its historical role of leadership in this task. Announcing its intention to close the Guantanamo detention camp is a significant step in the right direction, but only a first step.
Topic:
Security, International Law, Torture, Governance, Prisons/Penal Systems, and Reform
Political Geography:
United States

503. State-building and the rule of law: lessons from Afghanistan?

Author:
Sari Kouvo
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
NATO Defense College
Abstract:
This paper provides an analysis of the ongoing stabilization and state-building process in Afghanistan with a focus on rule of law. It has two aims: first, to situate rule of law reform within the framework of the broader stabilization and state-building effort in Afghanistan. Second, to analyze if and how the internationally-supported and implemented strategies for rule of law reform are contributing to the promotion of rule of law in Afghanistan.
Topic:
International Cooperation, Governance, and Reform
Political Geography:
Afghanistan

504. Strengthening National Defense: Countering Encroachment through Military-Community Collaboration

Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The National Academy of Public Administration
Abstract:
Maintaining the ability of military installations and ranges to carry out their missions is vital to the preservation of national security. However, the nation's military forces face serious training and readiness challenges that have the potential to reduce mission readiness and adversely impact national security. Encroachment-including incompatible civilian development near military facilities and the expansion of military operations into civilian areas-is increasingly reducing the military's ability to train its fighting forces and execute its missions.
Topic:
Defense Policy and Reform

505. Governance Challenges and the Financial Crisis: Seven Key Questions

Author:
Terry F. Buss and Lois Fu
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The National Academy of Public Administration
Abstract:
We are in the midst of a global economic crisis. The federal government has responded on an unprecedented scale and scope, with injections of trillions into financial markets, infusions of cash to troubled industries, state and local governments, and people in need. Government is employing tools in ways never befo re considered and inventing new tools, in the hope of stabilizing the economy and spurring economic recovery.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, Financial Crisis, Governance, and Reform

506. China's Transition to a Knowledge Economy (pdf)

Author:
Sangaralingam Ramesh
Publication Date:
02-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
School of Oriental and African Studies - University of London
Abstract:
The Coastal regions of China have benefited more from reform policies associated with China’s research and educational sectors. These reforms were put in place to ensure that the results of knowledge creation activities from universities and research institutes ‘spilled over’ into the entrepreneurial economy. Human Capital is important to any knowledge activity whether creation or transfer. The development of Human Capital is through education .This factor may ultimately be responsible for long term growth by technological innovation .In this context it is necessary to discuss the two dominant schools of thought regarding economic growth before considering other aspects of knowledge spillovers.
Topic:
Science and Technology, Reform, Capitalism, Human Capital, and Innovation
Political Geography:
China and Asia

507. Kyrgyzstan: The Challenge of Judicial Reform

Publication Date:
04-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
Kyrgyzstan's judiciary is failing to act as a neutral arbiter of political disputes or as a fair channel for economic arbitration. It requires significant reform to gain the trust of the public and to assert its role as an independent branch of government. A failure to achieve reform would make it impossible to develop a pluralistic and stable political system over the long term and also undermine attempts to tackle widespread corruption and encourage development. Unless the government allows greater self-governance for lawyers and independence for judges, no amount of education or piecemeal reforms will create an effective system.
Topic:
Corruption, Government, and Reform
Political Geography:
Asia and Kyrgyzstan

508. Reforming Pakistan's Police

Publication Date:
07-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
After decades of misuse and neglect, Pakistan's police force is incapable of combating crime, upholding the law or protecting citizens and the state against militant violence. With an elected government taking over power after more than eight years of military rule, the importance of reforming this dysfunctional force has assumed new importance. Elected representatives will be held accountable if citizens continue to see the police, the public face of government, as brutal and corrupt. The democratic transition could also falter if deteriorating security gives the military a new opportunity to intervene, using, as it has in the past, the pretext of national security to justify derailing the democratic process on the grounds of good governance. Major reforms and reallocation of resources are required to create an effective and accountable police service.
Topic:
Government and Reform
Political Geography:
Pakistan

509. Markets and Manu: Economic Reforms and Its Impact on Caste in India

Author:
Chandra Bhan Prasad
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for the Advanced Study of India
Abstract:
In this paper, I study the impact of economic reforms in India, and its impact on the centuries-old caste order. Specifically, I argue that capitalism, like caste, is a social order and therefore uniquely qualified to subvert and destroy the caste system from the inside, as opposed to the State, which is a political order and intervenes in the caste society from the outside. The fourfold caste system in India, as preached by Manu and practised for millennia thereafter, is based on the twin principles of blood purity and occupational purity, whereas Dalits, or the untouchables, are left outside of the caste system. We surveyed the backgrounds of the employees of multinational fast-food outlet in a large mall in eastern Delhi, the capital of India, the housekeeping staff and a few street food joints just outside of the mall. We find that the new capitalist economy, with an emphasis on wealth creation, is disrupting the caste system wherein a large number of the workers at the fast food outlet are upper castes, as in the housekeeping department, effectively destroying occupational purity.
Topic:
Reform
Political Geography:
India

510. Democratic Reform and Injustice in Latin America: The Citizenship Gap Between Law and Society

Author:
Alison Brysk
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Abstract:
Latin America is a paradoxical world leader. In the twentieth century, Latin America led the struggle for democracy—and now, Latin America leads in unjust societies that cannot fulfill the promise of universal human rights despite elections and theoretical rule of law. The “citizenship gap” between developed formal entitlements and distorted life conditions, including massive personal insecurity, is greater than in any other region. While Latin America receives the highest scores on electoral democracy and political participation in the developing world, the region has the worst record on effective rule of law, crime, and corruption except for grossly impoverished Africa and South Asia. Latin America's experience demonstrates how the rule of law can be systematically undermined by private and transnational displacement of power, as well as incomplete democratization of state institutions. The persistence of injustice demonstrates the interdependence of democratic processes in the public sphere and democratization of social relations.
Topic:
Security, Human Rights, Developing World, and Reform
Political Geography:
Africa, South Asia, and Latin America