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431. Opportunities and Pitfalls in the Migration-Development Nexus: Somaliland and Beyond

Author:
Ninna Nyberg Sorensen
Publication Date:
12-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Against the background of increased human mobility over the last three decades, resurgent interest in the migration-development nexus has stimulated new lines of academic inquiry and pushed policy considerations in new directions. This paper outlines current discussions around the links between migration, development and conflict. It also considers the complex nature of 'mixed flows', the difficulties in distinguishing between forced/political and voluntary/economic migration, and the links to development from these various–and often overlapping–types of flows. The paper uses migration from Somalia/Somaliland as the main example. This case–like the cases of most other sending countries–is of course specific. Still lessons can be drawn that are useful in other contexts, and may provide a basis for constructive discussion of potential opportunities in the current migration and international cooperation regimes.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Development, and Migration
Political Geography:
Africa

432. Marginality or Provinciality: Pskov and Ivangorod at the Intersection of Russia's Transborder Relations

Author:
Andrey Makarychev
Publication Date:
10-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
My intention in this paper is to analyze the state of trans-border relationship between Russia, on the one hand, and Latvia and Estonia, on the other, in terms of interplay between central and non-central actors. Two basic concepts–that ones of marginality and provinciality–will be used as points of departure and compared with each other. Each of these concepts develops its own narrative and a discursive strategy. In some instances, these narratives may smoothly complement each other; and yet in other occurrences, they conflict in a manner that fuels "a battle of the story".
Topic:
International Relations and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Russia, Eastern Europe, Estonia, and Latvia

433. Russian Conservatism in the Putin Presidency

Author:
Sergei Prozorov
Publication Date:
10-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The article seeks to map the emergent discursive field of conservatism in Russian politics in the context of the reshapement of the political space in the Putin presidency. In the course of Putin's first presidential term 'conservatism' became a privileged mode of political selfidentification in the Russian discourse, functioning as the nodal point of the hegemonic project of the Presidency. Yet, in accordance with the Foucauldian understanding of discourse as a system of dispersion, the article demonstrates the way the conservative discourse is internally fractured into two antagonistic strands, identified by their practitioners as liberal and left conservatisms. While the liberal-conservative orientation supports and sustains the depoliticising project of the Putin presidency, which orders and stabilises the effects of the anti-communist revolution, left conservatism functions in the modality of radical opposition to the Putinian hegemony, thereby contributing to the pluralisation of political space in contemporary Russia. In the present Russian political constellation 'conservatism' is therefore less a name for a stable hegemonic configuration than a designator of the field of political struggle over the very identity of postcommunist Russia. The article concludes with a critical discussion of the relation the two strands of Russian conservatism establish to the period of the 1990s as the 'moment of the political' in the Russian postcommunist transformation.
Topic:
Democratization, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Asia

434. Access to ARV Treatment - Aid, Trade and Governance in Uganda

Author:
Lisa Ann Richey and Stine Jessen Haakonsson
Publication Date:
10-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Access to antiretroviral medicines (ARVs) for AIDS treatment creates a field binding local and global governance. Local modalities of AIDS treatment are governed by the context of global trade through the implementation of patents on medicines in the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and within the context of global aid through development assistance. While industrialized countries, on the one hand, set aside donations to fight AIDS in developing countries, on the other hand, the same countries use the WTO to prevent developing countries from accessing cheap medicines. Uganda's success in reducing HIV prevalence is unique among African states, and it is considered the most promising candidate for effectively "scaling up" ARV treatment on the basis of its history of dealing with the pandemic. Yet, despite the many interventions addressing HIV/AIDS and dramatic price reductions of ARVs, only a minority of the infected population is currently receiving treatment, and promises of universal coverage for all who need it seem unrealistic. Our paper examines how the disconnect between international and national priorities on the one hand, and between aid and trade on the other, are currently affecting access to ARVs in Uganda. In spite of the political discourse of equality in treatment, the realities of funding suggest the difficult choices will be made from the level of policy to that of individual. Thus, global governance of trade and of aid will both shape and rely on individuals in charge of "implementation" which must be examined outside the sanitizing context of development discourse. We introduce our use of governance in this paper, and then discuss the global governance of aid to AIDS and global governance of trade and AIDS. The second half of the paper examines the Ugandan case study beginning with a political background and examination of aids policy, followed by the history of ARV provision and advocacy for ARVs, a discussion of the national health system and then aid initiatives and trade of ARVs in Uganda. Finally, we draw preliminary conclusions from our case on the conflicts between global and local governance of trade and aid to AIDS.
Topic:
Development, Human Welfare, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Uganda and Africa

435. Taxpayer's Rights and Obligations: Analysis of Implementation and Enforcement Mechanisms in Uganda

Author:
Emmanuel Kasimbazi
Publication Date:
10-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This study uses Income Tax and Graduated Personal Tax to illustrate how taxpayers' rights and obligations are enforced. Existing literature on tax reform points to the fact that consideration of the rights and obligations of the taxpayers is central to the overall tax reform strategy. In fact, reform processes that do not effectively consider the rights of taxpayers will alienate and create discontent among the citizens. In the last few years, Uganda has taken keen steps to effectively reform its tax legal regime.
Topic:
Democratization, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:
Uganda and Africa

436. The EU's Security Policy Towards the Mediterranean: An (Im)possible Combination of Export of European Political Values and Anti-terror Measures?

Author:
Ulla Holm
Publication Date:
10-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The Southern part of the Mediterranean has been put high on the EU-security agenda after 9/11. The Working paper makes the argument that the EU-politics towards its Arab Mediterranean neighbours are staggering between a status quo oriented politics and a politics of export of democracy. The tension is seen as an expression of two conceptualizations of the Mediterranean and the uneasy combination of four contradicting concepts on the relationship between the Mediterranean and the EU. The first conceptualization is about the Mediterranean as a cultural cradle of great civilizations. The other one is about the Mediterranean as a conflict-ridden zone. These conceptualizations are interlinked in the discourses on how to export security to the South and which kind of security the EU has to promote. The inter-linkage between the two conceptualization of the Mediterranean is furthermore linked up to two oppositional representations of the EU: the EU as an exporter of democracy and the EU as being a model to copy but not an empire-builder. This results in the following dilemmas caused by the oppositional relationship between four concepts: Respect for cultural diversity and export of political shared values. Respect for Arab sovereignty and export of European political values. The opposition between the four concepts is sharpened by Islamic terrorism which underlines the uneasy 'marriage' of the four concepts.
Topic:
Economics and Sovereignty
Political Geography:
Europe and Arabia

437. Migrant Transfers as a Development Tool: The Case of Morocco

Author:
Nina Nyberg Sørensen
Publication Date:
10-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
In 2003, the Global Development Finance Annual Report took formal notice of remittances as an important source of external development finance for the first time, listing Morocco as the 4th largest remittance recipient among developing countries. This paper examines the positive and negative results of remittances on Moroccan development, as well as of other migration-driven social changes. It offers a brief historical background to Moroccan migration and examines more closely Moroccan emigration to the EU from the early 1960s. Remittance practices are discussed, as is the issue of return migration. The paper concludes by discussing prospects for general development in the country and summarizing policy options in the field.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Migration
Political Geography:
Europe and Morocco

438. The Development Dimension of Migrant Transfers

Author:
Nina Nyberg Sørensen
Publication Date:
10-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The current appreciation of remittances as a development tool is recent and several questions on how best to capture their development impact remain. This working paper addresses some of the fundamental questions pertaining to the role of remittances in the migrationdevelopment nexus. Apart from offering a conceptual tool for understanding of the importance of remittances for developing countries, the paper gives a global overview of various types of remittance flows, the dynamics of such flows and their possible developmental impact on developing countries, including those experiencing conflicts. The paper concludes by offering some ideas on how appropriate policy measures could contribute to making remittances into an effective development tool.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Migration
Political Geography:
Europe

439. Migrant Transfers as a Development Tool: The Case of Somaliland

Author:
Peter Hansen
Publication Date:
10-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This paper examines the relationship between migration and development in the contest of Somaliland, where an estimated 25-40 per cent of the population receive regular remittances from abroad. The importance of remittances to the local economy and the impact of diaspora activities on local development are the main focus of the paper. In distinguishing four main waves of migration the paper presents a short history of the formation of the Somali diaspora. The paper also estimates the volume, importance and social distribution of individual and collective remittances to Somaliland. Finally the paper gives an overview of the functioning financial institutions in Somaliland and identifies the challenges ahead for an economy that is heavily dependent on remittances.
Topic:
Development, Human Welfare, and Migration
Political Geography:
Africa and Somalia

440. Conflicting Motivations: The Private Sector and International Conflict

Author:
Luke A. Patey
Publication Date:
09-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Since the end of the Cold War, the world has been witness to a drastic increase in the number and magnitude of inter- and intra-state wars. These conflicts have predominately taken place within developing and underdeveloped countries and have led to substantial human, economic, and political costs at both local and international levels. The United Nations, along with international financial institutions and the global civil society, has recognized the need for curbing the violence and preventing further outbreaks. However, the political breadth and financial capacities of these organizations cannot ensure sufficient socio-economic recovery through peace-building operations alone. A more progressive approach is required. Responsible and committed engagement from private sector actors can provide a thrust towards reducing poverty in war-torn societies. Over the long term, the private sector in conjunction with international and non-governmental organizations can accelerate the process of postconflict reconstruction and encourage lasting peace through economic prosperity.
Topic:
Economics, Politics, Third World, and United Nations