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371. Better (RED)â„¢ than Dead: 'Brand Aid', Celebrities and the New Frontier of Development Assistance

Author:
Stefano Ponte and Lisa Ann Richey
Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Bono's launch of Product (RED)™ at Davos in 2006 marks the opening of a new frontier for development aid. The advent of 'Brand Aid' explicitly linked to commerce, not philanthropy, reconfigures the modalities of international development assistance. American Express, Gap, Converse and Armani represent the faces of ethical intervention in the world, as customers are encouraged to do good by dressing well. Consumption, trade and aid wed dying Africans with designer goods, as a new social contract is created to generate a sustainable flow of money to support The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Aid celebrities – the bard, the teacher and the healer – guarantee the 'cool quotient,' the management and the target of this new modality. Bono is the rock-star who led his fans to believe that they could solve Africa's problems of AIDS and poverty. Jeffrey Sachs is the recently-radicalized economist who masterminded The Global Fund. And Paul Farmer is the physician who convinced the world that treatment of AIDS was possible in even the poorest communities. The consumer's signification of status through designer RED products does not represent the exploitation of the most downtrodden – it actually helps them. 'Brand Aid' creates a world where it is possible to have as much as you want without depriving anyone else. Promoted as new leftist development chic, compassionate consumption effectively de-links the relations of capitalist production from AIDS and poverty.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Humanitarian Aid
Political Geography:
Africa and America

372. The Rise and Fall of Mass Taxation in Uganda

Author:
Ole Therkildsen
Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Although Graduated Personal Tax (GPT) paid to local government in Uganda has caused numerous tax riots throughout the past century, it is only since the mid-1990s that competitive presidential elections have provided people with an effective way to express their dissatisfaction with it. Thus, greater political competition was instrumental in almost dismantling the GPT in 2001 and abolished in 2005. Positive governance effects will follow from this. As shown by the comparison of taxpayer rights and enforcement practices (in particular the use of imprisonment) for GPT and income tax paid to central government, the former has been collected with the use of much more coercion than the latter. Coercive approaches to taxation become more difficult to sustain with greater political competition.
Topic:
Economics, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:
Uganda and Africa

373. Iran and the New Geopolitics of Oil - an Annotated Bibliograhy

Author:
Luke Patey
Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Since its revolutionary birth in 1979, the Islamic Republic of Iran has had a turbulent existence in international relations. From the US hostage crisis to the Iran-Iraq War to the current provocative development of its nuclear program, the short history of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been characterized by its volatile foreign politics. In fact, this is a feature very much resemblant of the country's tumultuous past, born from both its immense energy resources and its geo-strategic location. Regardless if Iran was under the rule of a Shah or the ultimate power of an Ayatollah, since the discovery of oil in the early 1900s, Iran's generous natural endowments have created an intimate link between itself and geopolitical competition.
Topic:
Economics, Politics, and Religion
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, and Iran

374. The Role of Militias and Other Paramilitaries in African (un)Civil Wars

Author:
Bjørn Moller
Publication Date:
08-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Recent violent conflicts in Africa have seen extensive use of very irregular armed forces by governments. Examples include the use of Kamajors in Sierra Leone, Janjaweed and other militias in Sudan and Interahamwe militias in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The paper, originally written for a seminar on Threatened Trust. The transformation of the state and fading civil security at the Centre for African Studies, Institute for Social Anthropology, University of Basel, Basel, 9-10 January 2006, analyses the historical background of such phenomena, the strategic benefits and drawbacks of the resort to such forces, the consequences for the conduct of armed conflicts and the implications thereof for the civilian populations. Finally, it points to a number of complications caused by the presence of such forces for peace settlements and post-conflict peacebuilding, including DDR (disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration) of former combatants and security sector reform.
Topic:
Civil War and Politics
Political Geography:
Africa and Sudan

375. Political Islam in Kenya

Author:
Bjørn Moller
Publication Date:
08-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
In the paper, commissioned by Hussein Solomon and Akeem Fadare for their forthcoming anthology on Political Islam and the State in Africa, the focus placed on the political role of Islam in Kenyan politics. Prevalent fears (e.g. in the United States) of the country becoming a hotbed of Islamist radicalism and terrorism are critically examined against the background of the various categories of Kenyan Muslims, their general position in Kenyan society, their grievances, organisation and occasional role in various conflicts. This is all set against a background of Kenyan history, where the role of other religions (Christianity and traditional religion) is also highlighted. The paper concludes with some tentative recommendations for how the (mainly latent) conflicts might be defused.
Topic:
Civil Society, Politics, and Religion
Political Geography:
Kenya, Africa, and United States

376. Interim Return and Palestine: On Politics, Terminology and Structural Invisibility

Author:
Riina Isotalo
Publication Date:
08-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Taking its cue from the literature on return migration and repatriation processes as well as the Palestinian refugee problem, this paper looks first at the issue of return to place of origin or not. Return migration to the West Bank and Gaza Strip is then considered in the light of this schema, and stipulations of the politicisation of a transnational paradigm and the structural invisibility of return migration are highlighted. The present paper argues that in the Palestinian context, return is a political issue for all parties concerned and that Palestinian return migration has been structurally invisible. The paper concludes that politicisation of a transnational paradigm should be acknowledged in studying Palestinians' transnational mobility and relations because otherwise the fact that some transnational practises might aim at permanent return can pass unnoticed.
Topic:
Development, Migration, and Politics
Political Geography:
Middle East and Gaza

377. Poor People in Environmental Management in Uganda and Tanzania

Author:
Kim Raben, Michael Kidoido, Dositeus Lopa, Zarupa Akello, and Jannik Boesen
Publication Date:
08-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This is a paper on analysing the Participatory Environmental Management (PEMA) programme's impact on poverty, livelihoods, and the knowledge-attitudes-practices syndrome in the Kasyoha- Kitomi forest landscape in Uganda and the South Nguru forest landscape in Tanzania. The objectives of the Participatory Environmental Management (PEMA) programme are to improve the livelihood security of poor, natural resource dependent households [...] and enhance the capacity of civil society and government institutions to design and implement effective ICD programmes The principal purpose is to analyse the poverty situation in each landscape in terms of the level and composition of poverty and the factors causing the poverty of different groups of the population. A secondary purpose is, during the first phase, to be able to indicate the effects of forest management on poor people's livelihoods, to register their relationships with the forest, and not least to analyse the involvement of the poor and marginalised in new initiatives of landscape planning and environmental management. DIIS has developed a methodology for monitoring the poverty impacts of agricultural interventions at household level, which is now being used for this purpose.
Topic:
Development, Environment, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Uganda, Africa, and Tanzania

378. Egyptian Youth and the European Eldorado. Journeys of Hope and Despair

Author:
Ayman Zohry
Publication Date:
08-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
In this paper, I explore characteristics of Egyptian irregular migrants to Europe and reasons of irregular migration from the point of departure through a field survey in some Egyptian villages known of sending irregular – as well as regular - migrants to Italy and France (mainly). The fieldwork was carried out in eight Egyptian governorates to identify the push factors in the country, with particular attention to the dynamics governing the irregular migratory flows from Egypt to the EU. The research focuses on the broad dimensions of migration, both legal and illegal, towards the northern shores of the Mediterranean. The research further tries to define the socio-political and economic environment in which the decision to migrate mature. The survey gathered information about the level of awareness of potential migrants about irregular migration and migrants smuggling from Egypt. The results of the filed survey indicates that the vast majority of youth who want to migrate to Europe as well as current migrants intend to return to Egypt after a temporary stay in the countries of destination. Inspite of the fact that the legal framework for migrants to the Arab Gulf countries – the traditional destination of temporary Egyptian migration - is very different to the legal framework in Europe, these findings suggest that the Egyptian migration to Europe is a re-production of the pattern of Egyptian migration to the Arab Gulf countries, where young males migrate to achieve specific financial goals and then they return to Egypt. With respect to the reason for migration, the study indicated that the main reason behind migration is the lack of employment job opportunities in Egypt, especially among fresh graduates and the low wages and salaries in Egypt.
Topic:
Civil Society and Migration
Political Geography:
Africa, Europe, and Egypt

379. Religion and conflict in Africa with a special focus on East Africa

Author:
Bjørn Moller
Publication Date:
06-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The report provides a brief overview of the religious landscape of Africa with a special focus on the role of religion in the continent's several conflicts. It then proceeds to look at East Africa, where the three religious “families” of traditional religion, Islam and Christianity are all present in large numbers. It does not find any significant correlation between conflict propensity or terrorism and religion, neither in the sense that religious diversity gives rise to any “clash of civilizations” nor in the sense that the predominance of any one religion (e.g. Islam) make a country more prone to conflict or terrorism. It then proceeds to country case studies of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, providing a brief overview of the history of religion and conflict and an assessment of the present situation and the prospects for the future.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Relations, and Religion
Political Geography:
Uganda, Kenya, Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, and East Africa

380. From Soldier to Civilian: Disarmament Demobilisation Reintegration in Afghanistan

Author:
Peter Dahl Thruelsen
Publication Date:
06-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This report sets out to explore the processes of disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) within the context of post-conflict peace-building. I have tried to investigate the transformation of soldiers to civilians in the aftermath of war. The purpose of the research is to facilitate practical recommendations of DDR to be used in future cases of post-conflict peace-building.
Topic:
Security, Civil Society, and Development
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and Asia