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1. Going Global: Chinese Oil and Mining Companies and the Governance of Resource Wealth

Author:
Jill Shankleman
Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
This report is the result of a six-month research project undertaken at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. The focus of the work is on the impact of China's oil and mining companies' recent overseas expansion on the governance of resource wealth. The paper covers four topics: The structure of the Chinese oil and mining industries, focusing on overseas operations; the emergence over the last ten years within the large-scale, OECD-based extractive industry, of a “new model” for resource extraction focusing on minimizing negative social and environmental impacts and on resource revenue transparency; the development of corporate social responsibility concepts in China, and the extent to which this is leading Chinese oil and mining companies to apply the “new model” for resource extraction, and the role of Chinese infrastructure loans to resource-rich developing countries in resource wealth governance.
Topic:
Economics, Government, Industrial Policy, and Oil
Political Geography:
China and Washington

2. Angolan Progress and Prospects: A Conference on Development and Reconstruction

Publication Date:
05-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
On May 9, 2007, a conference and celebration were held honoring Angola Day. The organizers and supporters were the Africa Program of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (WWICS), the Angolan Embassy, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S.-Angola Chamber of Commerce, with further sponsorship by an array of Angolan and international companies. The conference sought to share progress, challenges and opportunities facing Angola, now in its fifth year of peace following a brutal 27-year civil war. The celebratory nature of the event was not limited to the reception and cultural entertainment which took place at the WWICS that day, but also reflected the social, economic and political progress in Angola over these five years. For example, panelists in the conference shared information regarding an ambitious rehabilitation program of social infrastructure, steady economic growth, stabilizing political institutions and improved security conditions. They further cited specific opportunities for partnership with the United States, through international cooperation, private investment and increased trade. Scheduled to hold their first legislative and presidential elections since the end of the civil war in 2002, Angola is poised to become “a model of post-conflict democratic transition, and has the resources—human capital and natural endowments—to be a regional and global leader in world affairs” (Jendayi Frazer, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.
Topic:
Development, Government, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Africa, United States, Angola, and Khartoum

3. Changes in the Constitutional Structure of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Author:
Henry L. Clarke
Publication Date:
02-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
The constitutional structure of Bosnia and Herzegovina is complex, emerging as it did from a peacemaking process between Serb forces of Republika Srpska and a coalition of Bosniak (or Muslim) and Croat forces under the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Most of the fundamental obligations of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its two subordinate Entities, Republika Srpska (RS) and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH), arise from the General Framework Agreement for Peace (GFAP) in Bosnia and Herzegovina and its Annexes, often called the Dayton Accords, signed in Paris on December 14, 1995. The Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina is Annex 4 of the General Framework Agreement.
Topic:
Democratization, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:
Europe, Bosnia, and Herzegovina

4. Election Observation Missions: Making them Count

Author:
Joe Clark
Publication Date:
01-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
An Introduction from Africa Program Director HowardWolpe and Canada Institute Director David Biette: In October of 2004, The Right Honorable Joe Clark, former prime minister of Canada and a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, led the Commonwealth Election Observation Mission to Cameroon. On April 29, 2005 he hosted “Election Observation Missions: Making Them Count,” a conference sponsored jointly by the Africa Program and the Canada Institute, which focused on the follow-up phase of international election observation. Conference participants were asked to consider how the role of international election observation missions might be strengthened, so as to serve as an effective practical means of promoting and advancing democracy. In this paper, Joe Clark, drawing on the contributions of conference participants, provides an overview of the debate on effective election observation missions.
Topic:
Democratization, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:
Africa

5. Whatever Happened to Canada?

Author:
David N. Biette
Publication Date:
06-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
Recently an older acquaintance of mine, aware that I worked on Canadian issues, asked me, “What ever happened to Canada? We used to hear so much about what Canada did around the world and now we don't hear anything.”
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Government
Political Geography:
North America

6. Africa: The Development Challenges of the 21st Century

Author:
Callisto Madavo
Publication Date:
09-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
An Introduction from Africa Program Director Howard Wolpe: The following remarks were delivered by Callisto Madavo, former Vice President for Africa at the World Bank, at a Congressional Staff Forum on Africa Retreat, convened by the Woodrow Wilson International Center March 8-10, 2005. A noted Zimbabwean economist, Callisto Madavo served as World Bank Vice President 1996-2005. Over the course of a distinguished 36-year career at the Bank, which included postings in the Middle East, East Asia and Africa, Madavo witnessed both the successes and failures of poverty reduction strategies in multiple settings. Now, with the world's attention being increasingly drawn to the challenge of poverty reduction in Africa, Madavo offers an important perspective on the context and history of the economic challenges facing the continent.
Topic:
Development, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:
Africa

7. Threat Perceptions in the United States and Canada

Author:
Frank Graves and Karlyn Bowman
Publication Date:
10-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
In this fourth issue of the Canada Institute's One Issue,Two Voices publication series, authors Karlyn Bowman of the American Enterprise Institute and Frank Graves of EKOS Research Associates explore the public's perceptions of threats and security issues in both the United States and Canada. As with past issues in the series, this publication brings expertise from both sides of the border to address policy-relevant questions of significance to the bilateral relationship.
Topic:
Security, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:
North America

8. Renewing the U.S.-Canada Relationship

Publication Date:
02-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
Relations between the United States and Canada have fallen into a noticeably cyclical pattern over the past half century or so. The American Assembly has been able during these years to turn its attention to the U.S.- Canada relationship precisely when it could do the most good. In 1964, when the first such Assembly gathered, sharp disagreements between Ottawa and Washington, primarily over defense and economic matters, ended the long, post-war “golden” period of amicable ties. In a similar vein, the 1984 Assembly met shortly after U.S. Secretary of State George P. Shultz had written President Ronald Reagan that something appeared to be “fundamentally wrong” between the United States and Canada.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Government
Political Geography:
North America

9. Privatization in Brcko District: Why It Is Different and Why It Works

Author:
Henry L. Clarke
Publication Date:
01-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
The Brcko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina is small, with less than 100,000 people. In 2001, about 30 public companies were selected for privatization. At the outset, there were good reasons to ask whether the District would have any success in privatizing them. Many of the public companies had been shut down for up to ten years, while the rest were operating at a small fraction of their pre-1991 output. There was not a single company that was profitable enough to be sold successfully on the basis of its performance, none had adequate working capital or marketing arrangements, many were deeply in debt, some had too many nonworking “employees” and the equipment of most companies that was not damaged during the war was worn out or obsolete.
Topic:
Debt, Government, Politics, and Privatization
Political Geography:
Europe, Bosnia, and Herzegovina

10. The Presidential Crisis in Lithuania: Its Roots and the Russian Factor

Author:
Richard J. Krickus
Publication Date:
01-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to address two questions associated with Lithuania's political crisis in 2004. First, what were the domestic circumstances that led to the impeachment of Lithuania's President, Rolandas Paksas? Second, what evidence is there that Russia has played a significant role in the crisis and what are the motives behind Moscow's meddling in Lithuania's internal affairs? Answers to these questions are pertinent to the fate of countries throughout post-communist Europe, given their common history and geography. In addition, they provide the framework for addressing a third question that must be answered by the European Union (EU), NATO and the United States: what can be done about these two-fold threats to the newest members of the Western alliance?
Topic:
Democratization, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Europe, Lithuania, and Moscow