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221. Complex global governance and domestic policies: four pathways of influence

Author:
Steven Bernstein and Benjamin Cashore
Publication Date:
05-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
In the immediate aftermath of the first (1992) Rio Summit, a surge of optimism about multilateral environmental treaties led to a burst of scholarship on 'regime' compliance and effectiveness. Until then, the literature on international regimes —which had already dominated the study of international institutions for a decade—had largely focused on explaining their rise, maintenance/stability and fall, or debating their importance vis-à-vis formal organizations on the one hand or broad structural features of the system on the other. Environmental regimes became an especially fruitful laboratory for exploring questions of compliance and effectiveness because the newer generation of treaties—in areas such as protection of endangered species, regulation of chemicals or emissions, or protection of biodiversity—was notably and increasingly focused on attempts to influence domestic practices, policies and policy-making processes rather than simply to constrain or modify the external behaviour of states.
Topic:
Regime Change

222. The changing fortunes of differential treatment in the evolution of international environmental law

Author:
Lavanya Rajamani
Publication Date:
05-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
The past century has borne witness to unprecedented advances in science, technology and prosperity. While these advances have indubitably improved the lives of many, they have also left in their wake an ever-expanding web of patterns of natural resource use and abuse by which few in either the developed or developing world are untouched. Unless these patterns of resource use and abuse are checked, the burdens placed on generations to follow will be both incalculable and unconscionable. As these concerns began to trouble the consciences of sovereign powers, global environmental issues began to feature in the international discourse. From the 1970s, when these issues first made their appearance on the international stage, international law relating to the environment has developed in leaps and bounds. Over the past four decades there has been a rapid expansion in the use of international law in the service of the environment. In a world of unequal states that differ widely both in their contributions to global environmental degradation and in their capacities to respond to it, such widespread resort to international law has proved possible primarily owing to the tailored use in multilateral environ - mental agreements of differential treatment in favour of developing countries.

223. Stormy waters: Britain, the Falkland Islands and UK–Argentine relations

Author:
Klaus Dodds
Publication Date:
07-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
On 18 January 2012 the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, updated the House of Commons about his government's position on the Falkland Islands: The absolutely vital point is that we are clear that the future of the Falkland Islands is a matter for the people themselves. As long as they want to remain part of the United Kingdom and be British, they should be able to do so. That is absolutely key. I am determined to make sure that our defences and everything else are in order, which is why the National Security Council discussed the issue yesterday. The key point is that we support the Falkland Islanders' right to self-determination. I would argue that what the Argentinians have said recently is far more like colonialism, as these people want to remain British and the Argentinians want them to do something else.
Political Geography:
Britain and United Kingdom

224. Politics and the London 2012 Olympics: the (in)security Games

Author:
Barrie Houlihan and Richard Giulianotti
Publication Date:
07-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
Concerns with security and risk have been prominent themes at the modern Olympic Games since at least the 1960s. However, a heightened perception of insecurity and risk has emerged as the leitmotiv of the Olympic Games in recent years, especially since 2001. Insecurity became the dominant discourse of the 2012 Games when the announcement in July 2005 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that London had been selected as the host city was over shadowed by the '7/7' terrorist attacks on the London transport system the following day. The hosting by London of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012 brings into sharp relief two significant developments: first, the consolidation of the Olympic Games as a significant arena for national and global politics; and second, the extent to which cities have re-emerged as major targets for hostile attack.
Political Geography:
China, Taiwan, and London

225. The African National Congress centenary: a long and difficult journey

Author:
Raymond Suttner
Publication Date:
07-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
The current political pre-eminence of the African National Congress in South Africa was not inevitable. The ANC was often overshadowed by other organizations and there were moments in its history when it nearly collapsed. Sometimes it was 'more of an onlooker than an active participant in events'. It came into being, as the South African Native National Congress (SANNC), in 1912, at a time of realignment within both the white and the conquered black communities. In the aftermath of their victory over the Boers in the South African War (1899-1902), the British were anxious to set about reconciling their former enemies to British rule. This included allowing former Boer territories to continue denying franchise and other rights to Africans, thus disappointing the hopes raised by British under - takings to the black population during the war years. For Africans, this 'betrayal' signified that extension of the Cape franchise, which at that time did not discriminate on racial grounds, to the rest of South Africa was unlikely. Indeed, when the Act of Union of 1910 transferred sovereignty to the white population even the Cape franchise was open to elimination through constitutional change—and in course of time it was indeed abolished.
Political Geography:
Africa, United Kingdom, and South Africa

226. Lost in translation: why Nigeria's police don't implement democratic reforms

Author:
Alice Hills
Publication Date:
07-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
The transfer of western norms and practices to police forces in West Africa is a substantial part of a billion-dollar business. Out of the US$452 million the Obama administration requested for law enforcement and narcotics control in Africa during the financial year 2010, US$8 million was allocated to United States officials and contractors for police training, infrastructure and equipment in Liberia alone, while between 2002 and 2009 the United Kingdom channelled some £37 million to reforming or improving the security and justice sector of Nigeria, a key anchor state for UK policies in sub-Saharan Africa (hereafter Africa).
Topic:
Infrastructure
Political Geography:
Africa, United States, United Kingdom, Liberia, and Nigeria

227. Greed and grievance in civil war

Author:
David Keen
Publication Date:
07-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
My initial idea for this article was to revisit the thorny question of whether 'greed' or 'grievance' can be regarded as the most important cause of civil war, contrasting in particular the approaches taken by Frances Stewart (who has often been seen as a proponent of the 'grievance' thesis) and Paul Collier (who has often been linked with the 'greed' argument).

228. India's rise in Africa

Author:
Ian Taylor
Publication Date:
07-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
The holding of the second Africa–India Forum summit in Addis Ababa in May 2011 highlighted the burgeoning political and economic ties between New Delhi and the African continent. It also reflected the growing significance of interest in Africa on the part of a diverse group of developing nations, of which China and India are perhaps the most noteworthy. China's increasing involvement in Africa has been well analysed and discussed; India's connections with the continent have by comparison been relatively overlooked. Yet the increasing salience of India's interest in Africa has important implications, representing a further diversification of Africa's international relations away from 'traditional' North–South linkages and arguably contributing to a greater range of options for the continent. In the light of these considerations, this article seeks to provide an insight into some of the main implications of the growing Indian relationship with Africa.
Political Geography:
Africa, China, India, and New Delhi

229. Economic statecraft in China's new overseas special economic zones: soft power, business or resource security?

Author:
Deborah Bräutigam and Tang Xiaoyang
Publication Date:
07-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
China's rapid expansion of economic and political ties with other developing countries has aroused deep concern in the West and Japan. Much of this apprehension focuses on China's search for natural resources and its 'no-political-strings-attached' stance on official finance. Yet despite the popular unease provoked by China's growing outward engagement, scholars have done relatively little research on the Chinese government's strategic employment of its economic instruments overseas.
Political Geography:
Japan and China

230. Asia's role in twenty-first-century global economic governance

Author:
Srinivasa Madhur
Publication Date:
07-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
The basic foundations of today's framework for global economic governance were laid in the years immediately after the Second World War, with the establishment of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)—later the World Bank (WB)—and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the precursor to today's World Trade Organization (WTO). In those postwar years, much of Asia was in dire poverty and Asia's share in the world economy had fallen to its lowest level for centuries. Reflecting the balance of economic power of the time, Asian countries did not play a significant role in either designing the institutional architecture or setting the agenda for global economic governance.
Political Geography:
Asia