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31. Labour Immigration Policy in the EU: A Renewed Agenda for Europe 2020

Author:
Sergio Carrera, Elspeth Guild, Anaïs Faure Atger, and Dora Kostakopoulou
Publication Date:
04-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
The EU's capacity for a legitimate, coherent and migrants' rights compliant policy on labour immigration is now more than ever at a test in light of the political priorities set in the EU's 2020 Strategy and the effects of the revolutions and war in North African states during the last four months. This Policy Brief examines the incoherencies characterising the current generation of EU's labour immigration policies and the challenges towards ensuring a global rights-based approach to migration. The analysis carried out in this paper is accompanied by a synthesis of the main policy recommendations discussed at the Workshop on “The Next Phase of EU Labour Immigration Policy: Enhancing Policy Coherence and Advancing a Rights-Based Approach” organised in the context of the Conference “State of the Union: Brussels Think Tank Dialogue 2011” in January 2011.
Topic:
Labor Issues and Immigration
Political Geography:
Africa and Europe

32. Europe Fighting Irregular Migration – Consequences for West African Mobility

Author:
Nauja Kleist
Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
In collaboration with African countries, the EU is fighting irregular migration to Europe through border control and deportations. However, rather than halting irregular migration, such policies reconfigure mobility flows and make migration routes more dangerous and difficult.
Topic:
Migration, Labor Issues, and Immigration
Political Geography:
Africa and Europe

33. Reconsidering West African Migration: Changing focus from European immigration to intra-regional flows

Author:
Anne Sofie Westh Olsen
Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Research on West African migration has tended to focus on specific 'crisis migration' issues, such as trafficking, international refugee flows or irregular migration to Europe. This reflects rather Eurocentric policy priorities, since these forms of West African migration are actually relatively small in comparison with intra-regional migration.
Topic:
Demographics, Markets, Migration, and Labor Issues
Political Geography:
Africa and Europe

34. From Compliance to Practice: Mining Companies and the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Author:
Jana Hönk and Tanja A. Börzel
Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:
Transnational institutions increasingly commit multinational companies to human rights and social standards on a voluntary basis. Our paper investigates the security practices of multinational companies and whether these comply with the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights. Analysing the case of mining companies in the Democratic Republic of Congo we evaluate the impact of the Principles on local security practices and critically analyse the effects of these practices. We argue that one needs to go beyond compliance studies, which focus on the implementation of formal programs (output) and rule-consistent behaviour (outcome), in order to evaluate corporate governance contributions. We therefore develop a conceptual framework that looks at companies' local security practices, including non-compliant practices, and their effects on local security. Our approach leads to a more differentiated evaluation of the effects of voluntary standards and the potential for corporate governance contributions than much of the literature on business and governance does.
Topic:
Security, Human Rights, Natural Resources, and Labor Issues
Political Geography:
Africa and Democratic Republic of the Congo

35. Pro-poor Growth through Export Sector Support: What Works Where and Why

Author:
Peter Gibbon and Henrik Nielsen
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This report reviews international experiences with pro-poor development assistance to export sectors. Such support has become more common in the last decade and a half, following the emergence of widespread consensus amongst policymakers that export growth can be a key poverty reduction mechanism – since it should increase both national income and formal employment. This contributes to poverty reduction directly through increased employment and indirectly through creating additional resources for governments to pursue pro-poor policies. Nevertheless, policymakers normally also agree that some types of export growth are more (potentially) pro-poor than others, especially but not only in their employment effects. It is initiatives to respond to this challenge that will be treated in this report.
Topic:
Economics, Gender Issues, Poverty, and Labor Issues
Political Geography:
Africa

36. "Let us Rebuild our Country" Migration-development scenarios in Ghana

Author:
Nauja Kleist
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
In recent years, there has been a reconfiguration of the relationship between states and international migrants. From an overall perception of migration as a problem to be solved, a number of international development agencies, policy makers, and academics are taking the position that migration contributes to national development – if well managed. This aspiration indicates the (re-)discovery of non-resident citizens or former citizens as populations to be governed by their states of origin. The implications of this aspiration are examined in this working paper, focusing on migration-development scenarios in Ghana. The paper is inspired by anthropological and critical development studies on statecraft and public policy, approaching migration-development scenarios as a cultural and political object of study. Using the theatrical metaphor of scenario, it analyzes actually implemented policies as well as policy visions and debates, focusing on the underlying narratives and imaginaries of how migration and development are interlinked and can be governed.
Topic:
Development, Government, Migration, Sovereignty, and Labor Issues
Political Geography:
Africa and Ghana

37. Child Budget Initiatives in Latin America

Author:
Alberto Minujin, Louise Moreira Daniels, and Javier Curcio
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The New School Graduate Program in International Affairs
Abstract:
Children in Latin American (LA) countries were among the most vulnerable groups that suffered from the adjustment policies promoted by the “Washington Consensus” in the 1980s and 1990s. In that context, several organizations started initiatives to ensure and promote resources allocated by public budgets to children and women. This paper describes and analyzes the characteristics and main activities of such initiatives in a dozen LA countries, with in-depth analysis provided for three countries: Argentina, Brazil and Ecuador. A number of lessons are enumerated, which can serve as orientation for other regions, in particular for Africa.
Topic:
Development and Labor Issues
Political Geography:
Africa, Washington, Brazil, Argentina, Latin America, and Ecuador

38. To Formalize or Not to Formalize? Comparisons of Microenterprise Data from Southern and East Africa

Author:
Vijaya Ramachandran, Manju Kedia Shah, Alan Gelb, and Taye Mengistae
Publication Date:
07-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
Why do firms choose to locate in the informal sector? Researchers often argue that the high cost of regulation prevents informal firms from becoming formal and productive. Our results point to a more nuanced story.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Markets, and Labor Issues
Political Geography:
Africa