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301. On the measure of power and the power of measure in International Relations

Author:
Stefano Guzzini
Publication Date:
11-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Power is a central concept in theories of International Relations. Its explanatory role shows in such a key concept as the 'balance of power' which predicts that allied groups of states will tend to balance their respective powers. But it also plays an important role for understanding the outcome of conflicts, since here 'power' has often been likened to a 'cause': getting someone else to do what he/she would not have otherwise done. Knowing power distributions therefore is said to explain state behaviour and the outcome of their interaction. Such power analysis must assume the measurability of power. Unfortunately, as this Working Paper argues, such measure is of no avail, not because we have not yet thought enough about it, but because it is not possible. There are two main reasons. First, because of the missing fungibility of power resources, no standard of measure can be established. And secondly, for understanding power phenomena and the very value of such resources in the first place, we need to analyse legitimacy, which is, however, not reducible to any objective measure. Still, since power as a measurable fact appears crucial in the language and bargaining of international politics, measures of power are agreed to and constructed as a social fact: diplomats must agree first on what counts before they can start counting. The second part of the paper therefore moves the analysis of power away from the illusion of an objective measure to the political battle over defining the criteria of power, which in turn has political effects. In other words, besides understanding what power means, one has also to assess what its understanding, if shared, does. Being tied to the idea of responsibility in our political discourse ('ought implies can'), the act attributing power to actors asks them to justify their action or non-action: it 'empowers' certain actions. The paper illustrates such interactive effects by discussing the present debate about US power, showing the way we conceive power, if it becomes shared, implies and legitimates particular foreign policy action.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and International Affairs
Political Geography:
United States

302. Bandits, Borderlands and Opium Wars: Afghan State-building Viewed from the Margins

Author:
Jonathan Goodhand
Publication Date:
11-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This paper explores the linkages between the drugs economy, borderlands and 'post conflict' state-building in Afghanistan. It does this through a fine grained historical analysis of Sheghnan, a remote district on the Afghan-Tajik border in the north-east. The paper charts the opening and closing of the border; the movement of people, commodities and ideas across the border; the effects of changing political regimes; the role of resources and their effects on local governance; and the complex, multifaceted networks that span the border and are involved in the drugs trade. The paper argues that the drugs economy has been an important part of the story of borderland transformation in Sheghnan. Because of drugs, borderlands are no longer marginal, but have become a resource to be exploited by the centre. As such the paper argues that examining the frontier may throw light on processes of state formation, state collapse and 'post conflict' state-building. A focus on borderlands means taking seriously the 'politics of place' and examining the diffuse dynamics and localised projects that feed into and shape processes of state formation.
Topic:
Cold War, Economics, War, and Narcotics Trafficking
Political Geography:
Afghanistan

303. 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

304. Desde declaración hasta protección real. Biodiversidad y participación local en la gestión de cuatro áreas protegidas en nicaragua

Author:
Helle Munk Ravnborg
Publication Date:
11-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
La imagen común de un área protegida es un bosque denso, no intervenido, con una alta diversidad de plantas y animales, y donde el objetivo de la protección es proteger la naturaleza de la (posible) intervención de los seres humanos. Sin embargo, en la realidad las áreas protegidas representan situaciones muy lejanas de esta imagen. A nivel mundial, 12 por ciento de la superficie está declarada área protegida (lista de áreas protegidas de la ONU – 2003), mientras que en Nicaragua este porcentaje llega a 22 por ciento (WRI, 2003). Como observan Haller y Galvin (2008), las 'áreas protegidas' son de hecho la mayor categoría de uso de suelo a nivel mundial. También los objetivos de la protección varían mucho de la imagen común. En la mayoría de las áreas protegidas vive gente, tanto en el mundo como en Nicaragua, y muchas veces el objetivo de la protección es proteger ecosistemas y paisajes que a lo largo del tiempo han sido producidos a través de una interacción específica entre la naturaleza y el ser humano y que prestan valores importantes estéticos, ecológicos y culturales, y que a menudo albergan una rica diversidad biológica (UICN y PNUMA, 2006).
Topic:
Environment
Political Geography:
Latin America

305. Counting Carbon in the Marketplace – and at the Border

Author:
Simon Bolwig and Peter Gibbon
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Carbon labelling or 'footprinting' of products poses several challenges for developing countries including costs, the availability of relevant data, and the implicit bias of Northern standards against labour-intensive manufacturing. Donors can help alleviate these problems through supporting Southern research institutions in calculating footprints for locally-produced products, by helping to develop comprehensive and user-friendly open access databases, and by insisting that emerging standards in the area are non-discriminatory
Topic:
Climate Change and Environment
Political Geography:
Europe

306. Sarkozysm: New European and foreign policy into old French bottles?

Author:
Ulla Holm
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The Gaullist French president Nicolas Sarkozy has announced that France has to break with French past policies. The break refers to the launch of a new French European policy, re-enter in NATO's military integrated structure, up-grading of human rights in international politics and a new World Order. However, the analysis demonstrates that Sarkozy does not break with the past. Sarkozy's activism, his permanent speed and change of issue hide the fact that he continues Charles de Gaulle's and late president Francois Mitterrand's European and foreign policy which was guided by the concept of a 'European Europe', a multipolar world, France being allied to the US but not aligned and France as a politically visible actor in Europe and in international politics. The means to accomplish French European and foreign policy visions changes according to the specific European and international situation. The re-enter in NATO's Military integrated structure is such a change, but Sarkozy does not break with the past concept of not being automatically aligned with the US. Sarkozysm exists, but as we argue in this working paper Sarkozysm is an amalgam of past policies whose purpose is to satisfy all French societal layers and to strike a balance between Gaullism and Mitterrandism.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and NATO
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, and France

307. The Russo-Georgian War and Beyond: towards a European Great Power Concert

Author:
Henrik Boesen Lindbo Larsen
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The brief war between Georgia and Russia in August 2008 provoked vigorous international reactions among the European states as consequence of the sudden shift in the strategic balance. This paper argues for a focus on the great powers France, Germany and Britain as crucial actors for understanding the behavioural reactions towards Russia. It argues furthermore that reactions must be explained mainly from the perspective of experience based on past geopolitics, translating the external pressures into concrete foreign policy: France as promoter of a strong EU as global actor, Germany as bridge builder towards Russia and Britain influenced by Atlanticist commitments. As witnessed by the Russo-Georgian war, the Franco-German axis remains the stable element but backing from Britain is crucial to ensure band-wagoning of the Atlanticist-oriented states in Eastern Europe also in future international crises.
Topic:
Peace Studies and War
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Germany

308. Reducing poverty through low carbon development: Recommendations for development cooperation in Least Developed Countries

Author:
Helle Munk Ravnborg, Henrik Egelyng, Mikkel Funder, and Jacob Fjalland
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Development cooperation between the North and the Least Developed Countries should not just focus on adaptation to climate change. There are real and sustained benefits to be had for Least Developed Countries from engaging in approaches and practices that mitigate future emissions and at the same time support poverty alleviation and economic development. However, not all low-carbon development is pro-poor, and some options offer far better benefits for the poor than others.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, and Globalization

309. 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

310. Refraiming the Aid Debate: Why aid isn't working and how it should be changed

Author:
Lindsay Whitfield
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Everyone knows that aid is not working as intended, and that something must change. The big question is how to change the status quo. The current international aid debate is characterized by dichotomies and over-simplified generalizations. In order to push the debate forward and identify solutions we must first reframe the aid debate. The most important factors undermining aid's effectiveness need to retake center stage in the debate. These include: what is economic development and the role of aid in achieving it; the politics of aid relationships in aid dependent countries and have they generate perverse incentives; and the everyday practices and bureaucratic routines of aid agencies and how they diminish the impact of aid. Based on a reassessment of why aid is working, and on assessment that reforms inspired by the Paris Declaration have largely failed, the paper concludes with a different approach to changing the way donor countries think about aid and the way bilateral and multilateral agencies give aid.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Development, and Foreign Aid