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832. The New Basle Capital Accord and Developing Countries: Issues, Implications and Policy Proposals
- Author:
- Stephany Griffith-Jones and Stephen Spratt
- Publication Date:
- 03-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- This paper argues that, if implemented in its current form, the new Basle Capital Accord will adversely effect developing sovereigns, corporates and banks wishing to borrow in international markets. This impact will result from the major banks' lending patterns being altered by the adoption of internal ratings based approaches, leading to a significant reduction of bank, and/or a sharp increase in the cost of international borrowing for many developing countries. Greater use of banks' internal risk management systems is also inherently pro-cyclical and therefore likely to amplify the economic cycle, thus increasing both the frequency and scale of crises.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Development, and Treaties and Agreements
833. Good Fences Make Good Neighbours?: A Comparison of Consociational and Integrative Conflict Regulation Strategies in Post-Dayton Bosnia
- Author:
- Nina Fallentin Caspersen
- Publication Date:
- 07-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Based on conflict regulation in post-Dayton Bosnia, it will in this paper be analysed whether an integrative or a consociational approach is more effective in fostering stability following an ethnic war. I will compare the effectiveness of the approaches in fostering stability in post-Dayton Bosnia, and from this analysis seek to identify the empirical conditions that affect the effectiveness of the approaches and hence the conditions under which they should be prescribed. Whereas the ethnic groups in Lijphart's consociational approach constitute the basic units on which the political structure is built, Horowitz contends in his integrative approach that political structures must transcend the ethnic divisions, they must obliterate the divide. The Dayton Agreement that ended the war in Bosnia contains elements of both approaches and the balance between them has been changing in the course of its implementation. The case, therefore, constitutes a very suitable case for an empirical test. I will argue that due to the depth of divisions, the numerical balance between the groups, and the maximalist objectives of the parties, the consociational model has been more effective in fostering stability in Bosnia. Presently, a change to an integrative structure seems premature, but a mix of the approaches has been demonstrated to be able to foster moderation and the way forward could be a continued incremental change of the balance of this mix.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Ethnic Conflict, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Bosnia
834. The Demographic and Political Imperatives for Improving Crown-Maori Relations in Aotearoa-New Zealand
- Author:
- Harry A. Jr. Kersey
- Publication Date:
- 11-2002
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- East-West Center
- Abstract:
- Nearly a decade has passed since the United Nations declared International Year of the World's Indigenous People. Yet issues of social and economic marginalization, inequality, cultural survival, and change related to indigenous peoples continue to challenge the global community. In Aotearoa-New Zealand the Pakeha (Caucasian) settler population for many decades dominated the political landscape, leaving little voice for the nation's indige-nous Maori people struggling for greater rights. Today, however, the growing Maori population makes New Zealand the only First World country in which the indigenous people's movement for self-determination is sufficiently large to promise the possibility of major societal transformations. Over the past quarter century, regardless of which political party or coalition held power, escalating Maori demographic trends and increased political activism have encouraged the Crown to address Maori concerns and grievances.ii Today, with one out of four children under the age of five a Maori, the government has little option but to negotiate with a growing indigenous community.
- Topic:
- Human Rights, Politics, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- Australia/Pacific and New Zealand
835. Power and Wealth Sharing: Make or Break Time in Sudan's Peace Process
- Publication Date:
- 12-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- The latest phase of the negotiations in Machakos, Kenya closed on 18 November 2002 with the signing of an important new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on power sharing and an extension of the earlier MOU on cessation of hostilities and unimpeded aid access. Significant progress was made during this phase. The Khartoum government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) are slowly, painstakingly elaborating the structures of governance and wealth sharing arrangements through intense haggling – for example, what proportion of seats southerners will have in the legislative bodies and the oil revenues that will go to a Southern Reconstruction Fund.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Civil War, Ethnic Conflict, International Cooperation, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- Kenya, Sudan, and North Africa
836. Salvaging Somalia's Chance For Peace
- Publication Date:
- 12-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- On 27 October 2002, Somali political leaders gathered in the Kenyan town of Eldoret signed a new declaration that envisages an end to the protracted crisis in their country. After more than a decade as the only country in the world totally devoid of a functioning central government and no less than twenty unsuccessful national-level peace initiatives since 1991, the Eldoret Declaration has raised hopes that resolution of the Somali crisis may now be within reach.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Civil War, International Cooperation, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- Kenya, North Africa, and Somalia
837. Rwanda at the End of the Transition: A Necessary Political Liberalisation
- Publication Date:
- 11-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- Nine years after the 1994 genocide, Rwanda has reached another crossroads. The transition period defined by the Arusha Accords will be concluded in less than a year by a constitutional referendum and by multi-party elections which should symbolize the successful democratisation of the country. Today, however, there are multiple restrictions on political and civil liberty and no sign of any guarantee, or even indication, in the outline of the constitutional plan that the political opposition will be able to participate in these elections on an equal footing with the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), in power since 1994.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Security, Ethnic Conflict, Politics, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Rwanda
838. Ending Starvation as a Weapon of War in Sudan
- Publication Date:
- 11-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- Warring parties and international aid providers in Sudan have an historic opportunity to bring to an end what is perhaps the most extreme and long-running example in the world of using access to humanitarian aid as an instrument of war. A mid- December meeting between the UN and Sudan's warring parties – the Technical Committee for Humanitarian Assistance (TCHA) – provides an unparalleled vehicle to build on recent short-term agreements and to once and for all remove the institutional barriers to unimpeded access for humanitarian agencies. Such an opportunity may not arise again, so it is imperative that mediators, the UN Security Council, and interested governments provide concentrated and immediate support for this objective.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Civil War, Ethnic Conflict, Human Welfare, International Cooperation, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- Sudan, United Nations, and North Africa
839. Zimbabwe: The Politics of National Liberation and International Division
- Publication Date:
- 10-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- Despite the rising humanitarian costs of the crisis in Zimbabwe, the international community remains deeply divided about its response, allowing President Mugabe to believe that he can exploit the policy fissure between – broadly – the West and Africa. The foreign media's emphasis on the plight of white commercial farmers plays into the regime's liberation rhetoric, reinforcing the erroneous but widespread belief in Africa that the West is concerned about Zimbabwe only because white property interests have been harmed. What is happening in Zimbabwe and the lack of a continental response have damaged perceptions of Africa in the wider international community, weakening in the process the promising but still embryonic New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and the African Union (AU).
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Civil War, International Cooperation, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Zimbabwe
840. Sudan's Best Chance for Peace: How Not to Lose It
- Publication Date:
- 09-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- On 1 September 2002, two weeks into the second phase of the peace negotiations in Machakos, Kenya, the Sudanese government suspended its participation in the talks being brokered by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD). This followed the capture, after a series of battles, of the southeastern Sudanese town of Torit by the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLA).
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Civil War, Ethnic Conflict, International Cooperation, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- Kenya, Sudan, and North Africa