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51. Combating illicit financial flows from poor countries. Estimating the possible gains

Author:
Jakob Vestergaard and Martin Højland
Publication Date:
11-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
If the UN Millennium Development Goals are to be reached by 2015, development aid needs to be tripled – which is most unlikely. Instead, countries should unite in a concerted multilateral effort to combat illicit financial flows: for every dollar poor countries receive in development assistance, more than eight dollars are illegally transferred back to rich countries, most of it in order avoid local taxation. Effectively combating these illicit financial flows would generate more financial resources for development than foreign aid is likely to ever do – and help build a sustainable tax base in developing countries for the benefit of future development efforts.
Topic:
Corruption, Crime, and Economics
Political Geography:
United States, United Kingdom, Europe, London, Belgium, Switzerland, Ireland, and Luxembourg

52. The Mozambican PRSP Initiative: Moorings, usage and future

Author:
Lars Buur and Obede Suarte Baloi
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This paper analyses the seemingly uncontroversial public life of the PRSP approach in Mozambique and suggests that it embodies much of the Frelimo government's thinking about development since independence, though obviously 'packaged' to fit international donor discourses as they continually change. The PRSP is therefore not an outright 'imposition' on the Frelimo government or necessarily a 'challenge' to its sovereignty, as it is often argued. In general we argue that the PRSP became over time a broad 'consensus document' because it came to potentially incorporate 'all' stakeholders needs and wishes. We argue that after the political turbulence of the 1980s and 1990s with privatisation and structural adjustments, the PRSP allowed for different elite groups to find common ground with regard to ideological and party-preserving concerns, as social and market-economic trade-offs could now be legitimately accommodated.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Foreign Aid
Political Geography:
Africa

53. Privatization of Land and Indigenous Communities in Latin America: Tenure Security or Social Security?

Author:
Søren Hvalkof
Publication Date:
09-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This working paper summarizes the discussions and findings of a recent study of the impacts of contemporary land privatization processes and individual titling programs affecting indigenous communities in Latin America, with particular emphasis on indigenous economies and production systems. The study was informed by case studies from Peru, Bolivia and Honduras and Mexico, with the main focus on the indigenous peasant societies of the highlands, where individualization schemes apply. The neoliberal policies of the 1990s promoted market based legal and administrative reforms, with a strong emphasis on developing a dynamic land market that would eventually have an impact on indigenous communal land tenure systems, whether they were the direct target or not. From the present study it can be seen that there are significant contradictions between indigenous communal land arrangements and tenure systems, and the market-based land and agricultural policy reforms being promoted by the multilateral donor agencies. In the conventional economic development discourse land tenure security is considered a prerequisite for economic growth. The study shows, however, that in relation to indigenous communities the question of tenure security is much more complex and closely related to the security of social reproduction, safeguarding of communal control and of the communal decision-making authority. It shows that privatization and individualization of land tenure per se has not generated the expected results.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:
Latin America

54. (How) does aid Work? A Literature Review of Aid Effectiveness Welfare Studies

Author:
Tina Maria Jensen
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Despite several decades of development aid, economists generally agree that on average, most developing countries have experienced no or only little economic growth: while a limited number of countries particularly in South East Asia have experienced a rather significant growth, most African countries have had very limited or in some cases even negative economic growth. Only two of the 47 Sub-Saharan African countries, Botswana and Equatorial Guinea – both low in population – have reached annual growth rates of 7% over the last 15 years, while only nine countries have managed a growth rate above 2%. Moreover, 21 of the African countries have experienced negative growth, while on a global scale, just five countries have reached an annual growth rate of 7 % or more over a 15 year period (1985-2000) (Clemens et al. 2004:9-10).
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:
Africa and Southeast Asia

55. Between Bureaucracy and the People: A Political History of Informality

Author:
Keith Hart
Publication Date:
11-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
I explore here the dialectic of formal and informal economy in the context of 'development' discourse over the last four decades. It would not be hard, in post-colonial Africa for example, to conceive of this dialectic as a war waged by the bureaucracy on the people, allowing informal economic practices to be portrayed as a kind of democratic resistance. Yet, however much we might endorse the political value of self-organized economic activities, there are tasks of large-scale co-ordination for which bureaucracy is well-suited; and the institution's origins were closely linked to aspirations for political equality, even if historical experience has undermined that expectation. So the task is not only to find practical ways of harnessing the complementary potential of bureaucracy and informality, but also to advance thinking about their dialectical movement.
Topic:
Economics, Globalization, and Political Economy
Political Geography:
Africa

56. 'Cast the Net Wider': How a Vision of Global Halal Markets is Overcoming Network Envy

Author:
Johan Fischer
Publication Date:
11-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This paper explores Malaysia's bid to become the world leader in rapidly expanding halal (lawful or permitted) markets on a global scale. Over the last three decades, a powerful state nationalism has emerged, represented by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the dominant political party in Malaysia. The state has effectively certified standardised and bureaucratised Malaysian halal production, trade and consumption. Now, the vision is to export this model, and for that purpose the network as a strategic metaphor is being evoked to signify connectedness and prescriptions of organisation vis-à-vis more deep-rooted networks. Building on empirical material from research in Malaysia and Britain, I shall show how networks are understood and practised in a metaphorical sense.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Nationalism
Political Geography:
Britain, Malaysia, and Asia

57. A Strategic Framework and Toolbox for Action Research with Small Producers in Value Chains

Author:
Lone Riisgaard, Simon Bolwig, Stefano Ponte, Frank Matose, Andries du Toit, and Niels Halberg
Publication Date:
07-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The paper presents a strategic and practical guide for how to design and implement action research in value chains in a way that integrates poverty, environmental and gender concerns. The focus is on small producers in developing countries and other weak chain actors such as small trading and processing firms.
Topic:
Economics, Environment, Gender Issues, Markets, and Poverty

58. Danish Foreign Policy Yearbook 2007

Author:
Nanna Hvidt and Hans Mouritzen
Publication Date:
05-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This is an outline of Danish foreign policy 2006 provided by the Permanent Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Throughout 2006, developments caused by globalisation posed huge challenges to Denmark. The cartoons crisis and the conflict in Lebanon were the most obvious ones. Confronted with these challenges, Denmark managed to pursue a pro-active foreign policy. Interrelated issues such as energy security, climate change, failed states and weapons of mass destruction became increasingly important. These issues must be addressed with different instruments ranging from diplomacy and multilateral cooperation to trade policy and development cooperation. They illustrate the need for new tools in foreign policy such as public diplomacy, which has gained further importance in the globalised and network-based system of international relations. In addition, the need for horizontal coordination has increased. The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a major globalisation study in 2006, recommending how Denmark can cope with the challenges of globalisation.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:
Europe and Denmark

59. What's in it for Labour? Private social standards in the cut flower industries of Kenya and Tanzania

Author:
Lone Riisgaard
Publication Date:
08-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Export of cut flowers from East Africa to Europe is an example of how tightened quality regulations and increasing concern with social and environmental issues have created a highly codified industry. For producers participating in value chains driven by large retailers, adopting social and environmental standards is a requirement and specificities are dictated by the buyers. In this paper focus is on private social standards and the opportunities and challenges they pose for labour organizations, especially trade unions. By incorporating the concept of labour agency, global value chain analysis is widened to encompass not just industrial development but also labour development.
Topic:
Agriculture, Economics, and Emerging Markets
Political Geography:
Kenya, Africa, Tanzania, and East Africa

60. The role of freight transport in economic development: An analysis of the interaction between global value chains and their associated transport chains

Author:
Poul Ove Pedersen
Publication Date:
07-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is first to discuss the paradox that freight transport, which so clearly is an important prerequisite for the processes of regional development and economic internationalisation and globalisation, since the 1970s has almost vanished from mainstream economic geography and development studies, and is most often hardly mentioned in studies of international industrial development and global commodity or value chains. Secondly, the paper discusses the consequences of leaving freight transport out of the value chain analyses and argues that it has had serious consequences for economic development especially in the peripheral parts of the world, not least in Africa, and for our understanding of rural poverty.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Globalization, and Third World
Political Geography:
Africa