Number of results to display per page
Search Results
282. Employment Generation and Economic Development in Stabilization and Reconstruction Operations
- Author:
- Merriam Mashatt and Johanna Mendelson-Forman
- Publication Date:
- 03-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- United States Institute of Peace
- Abstract:
- It seems logical that improving the lives of those who have suffered from conflict would include a program to generate economic well-being in the immediate period after hostilities subside. Yet livelihood creation, the root of potential economic success and security, has often become a secondary objective in the transformation from war to peace. An obvious reason for this relegation to a lower priority is that security, humanitarian needs, and restoring the rule of law often overtake the economic development priorities of any peace-building mission. Even in Iraq, the largest stabilization and reconstruction effort undertaken by the U.S. government, restoring livelihoods and getting people back to work remains an unresolved challenge and an unmet agenda. Of the nearly $20 billion of U.S.-appropriated funds to reconstruct Iraq, only $805 million was directed toward jump-starting the private sector. Although employment generation is not a new subject in “postwar” literature, lessons about implementation vary from one country to the next. Current knowledge about “golden hour” job creation, which is creating jobs within one year of the cessation of hostilities, is culled more from specific pilot studies than from a coherent overview of what tools exist and how they can be applied. This report advances current research by providing such an overview for U.S. government policymakers. It seeks to help the U.S. government work through the lessons learned about the processes needed to generate employment. Moreover, it explores the U.S. government strategy toward golden hour job creation, the existing civilian and military tools, and how these tools can be better incorporated into larger transformation efforts. The report also notes the limitations of U.S. civilian capacity in a nonpermissive environment.
- Topic:
- Security, Development, Economics, and Peace Studies
- Political Geography:
- United States
283. Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Iraq
- Author:
- Robert M. Perito
- Publication Date:
- 03-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- United States Institute of Peace
- Abstract:
- Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) are small civilian-military units that assist provincial and local governments in Iraq to govern effectively and deliver essential services. In January 2007 President Bush announced that the United States would double the number of PRTs as part of his plan for a “New Way Forward.” Ten new PRTs will be embedded with Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs) in Baghdad, Anbar, and Babil. The new PRTs will differ significantly from the ten original PRTs set up in Iraq in November 2005. Led by the State Department, most of the original PRTs are located on U.S. military bases and rely on the military for security and logistical support. Both types of PRTs in Iraq differ in staffing and organization from PRTs in Afghanistan. Start-up of the PRT program in Iraq has been troubled by interagency differences over funding, staffing, and administrative support and by the overriding challenge of providing security. Embedding the new PRTs with BCTs should help overcome many of these problems. Despite the problems, PRTs provide a U.S. civilian presence in areas that would not be served otherwise. Participants in PRTs believe they are having a positive effect.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Development, and Government
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, United States, Iraq, and Middle East
284. Discourse, Dissent, and Strategic Surprise: Formulating U.S. Security Policy in an Age of Uncertainty
- Author:
- Janne E. Nolan and Douglas MacEachin
- Publication Date:
- 01-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
- Abstract:
- The Institute for the Study of Diplomacy (ISD) at Georgetown University launched a two-year study of the role of intelligence and policy failures in undermining the pursuit of U.S. strategic interests. This study focuses on why the United States has found itself unprepared to manage or contain adverse developments in regions of vital interest even in instances where there was extensive U.S. diplomatic and military involvement. The authors of this monograph selected five case studies of "strategic surprises" drawn from recent history. The cases were discussed and analyzed by a working group made up of senior practitioners and policy experts, a group established in the fall of 2004 that held five meetings sponsored by ISD from November 2004 through the spring of 2006.
- Topic:
- Security and Development
- Political Geography:
- United States
285. APEC and the search for relevance: 2007 and beyond
- Author:
- John Ravenhill, Lorraine Elliott, Helen E.S. Nesadurai, and Nick Bisley
- Publication Date:
- 11-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Australian National University Department of International Relations
- Abstract:
- In September 2007, Australia will host the annual Economic Leaders' Meeting of the Asia–Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. This will be the culmination of over 100 days of ministerial, official and business group meetings, working groups and dialogues that will be held in various Australian cities from January to August. Fifteen federal government departments will be involved along with a range of other interested actors, predominantly in the private sector. The Australian government will spend considerable sums of money on the leaders' meeting itself, not least to ensure the security of those attending. This will include, if all goes according to plan, the heads of government of 21 countries—member economies in APEC-speak—including the United States, Russia, Japan and China. Security may well be the least of the government's worries. Few would argue that APEC is 'going strong' as a regional economic forum and recent reviews have suggested that at best it faces an uncertain future and that at worst it could be in a state of terminal decline. The forum is argued to have lost its relevance and to have generally been unsuccessful in attaining any of its more ambitious goals such as regional trade liberalisation.
- Topic:
- Security, Development, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Russia, United States, Japan, China, Australia, and Australia/Pacific
286. American hegemony: A dangerous aspiration?
- Author:
- James L. Richardson
- Publication Date:
- 05-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Australian National University Department of International Relations
- Abstract:
- The Bush administration's foreign policies have sparked off a round of new debates on America's power and its international role. At the core of these debates are ideas of empire and hegemony, but these terms are used in many senses and often interchangeably. The paper first distinguishes among these usages and spells out its own concepts. As understood here, a hegemonic power is one that plays a leading role in shaping and maintaining a certain international order, exercising its dominant power in such a way as to win broad acceptance and legitimacy. It is argued that the discussion of hegemony can best be advanced by distinguishing among the various domains of power: military, economic, ideological and political, to follow Michael Mann's breakdown. The US is closest to hegemony in the international economic domain, but in each domain its hegemony is at best partial and qualified. Nonetheless, it remains the preponderant power, with aspirations to hegemony and empire. The benefits of American preponderance are widely acclaimed in the West and infrequently questioned in the international relations discipline, but its dangers merit far greater attention than they normally receive. In particular, beyond the short-term context, the specifically American version of liberal ideology renders the US ill-suited to respond to some of the foreseeable challenges of the twenty-first century. Consequently there is a need for others to engage a great deal more actively than heretofore with the construction of a more viable international order.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Development
- Political Geography:
- United States and America
287. Restoring Order: Practical Solutions to Congressional Dysfunction
- Author:
- Norman J. Ornstein and Thomas E. Mann
- Publication Date:
- 11-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- The Framers of our nation created a political system built upon three vibrant, assertive, and active branches of government, with a series of checks and balances in place to make sure that no single branch or individual could accumulate too much power and threaten the rights and freedoms of citizens, and to create a deliberative process to make good public policy. Congress, the first branch of government, was designed to be the linchpin of this system, the body closest to the people, with the most robust specified powers.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- United States
288. Building a Better New Orleans: A Review of and Plan for Progress One Year after Hurricane Katrina
- Author:
- Amy Liu
- Publication Date:
- 08-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- It has been one year since Hurricane Katrina struck the New Orleans area and the surrounding Gulf Coast. While longtime residents of these communities can easily rattle off the names of past hurricanes, “Katrina” will be emblazoned like no other. And for good reason: After accounting for all households and structures, Hurricane Katrina is the deadliest and costliest storm this country has ever seen, causing over 1,800 deaths to date and approximately $81.2 billion in total damage.
- Topic:
- Development, Disaster Relief, and Environment
- Political Geography:
- United States
289. Federal Allocations in Response to Katrina, Rita, and Wilma: An Update
- Author:
- Amy Liu and Matt Fellowes
- Publication Date:
- 08-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- Federal allocations in response to hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma now total $109 billion. Additionally, over $8 billion in tax relief is available. While these numbers appear quite large, widespread uncertainty exists over how much of this money has been spent and where.
- Topic:
- Development, Disaster Relief, and Environment
- Political Geography:
- United States
290. New Goals and Outcomes for Temporary Assistance: State Choices in the Decade after Enactment
- Author:
- Sean Fremstad and Margy Waller
- Publication Date:
- 08-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- State officials are spending Temporary Assistance funds quite differently from the early years after welfare reform. States now spend a majority of Temporary Assistance funds on benefits and services other than cash assistance, and the beneficiaries of these benefits and services include a substantial number of families who do not receive cash assistance.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, and Humanitarian Aid
- Political Geography:
- United States