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61. Covering Corruption: The Difficulties of Trying to Make a Difference

Author:
Rosemary Armao
Publication Date:
07-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:
It is often taken for granted that a free press shining a light on wrongdoing is the way to ntrol corruption. The World Bank, with an eye to the economic potential of honest government, promotes this, as do United Nations agencies and the U.S. and European governments, which spend millions of dollars to develop media with corruption-fighting power. And brave journalists have endured threats and attacks and have even died reporting about corruption. In June and July of 2010 alone, three Philippino and a Greek journalist-working in different media and on different topics, but all exposing corruption-were gunned down. Covering corruption is more dangerous than covering war.
Topic:
Corruption, Democratization, Development, Mass Media, and Foreign Aid
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

62. Twenty Concrete Steps to Improve the United States' Commitment to Development

Author:
David Roodman and Cindy Prieto
Publication Date:
07-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
The Commitment to Development Index (CDI) ranks 22 rich countries on their dedication to policies that benefit poor nations. Looking beyond standard comparisons of foreign aid flows, the CDI measures national policies on aid, trade, investment, migration, environment, security, and technology. The United States ranked 17th overall in 2009, strong in trade and security but less competitive in aid and environment. This memo describes how to boost the U.S. score and links to CGD materials with more detail.
Topic:
Development, Foreign Aid, and Foreign Direct Investment
Political Geography:
United States

63. Not Just Aid: How Making Government Work Can Transform Africa

Author:
Tony Blair
Publication Date:
12-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
Country ownership has become the new watchword in development. The problem for traditional donors is that ownership is too often code for convincing developing country governments to adopt the donors' agenda as their own: a way of securing influence without imposing conditionality. What is really needed is genuine country leadership. As President Obama said when he announced the United States' new development policy at the UN Millennium Development Goals summit in New York in September, “We will partner with countries that are willing to take the lead. Because the days when your development was dictated in foreign capitals must come to an end.”
Topic:
Development, Human Welfare, Humanitarian Aid, and Foreign Aid
Political Geography:
Africa, United States, New York, and United Nations

64. U.S. Aid to Pakistan—U.S. Taxpayers Have Funded Pakistani Corruption

Author:
Azeem Ibrahim
Publication Date:
07-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
There is widespread agreement that aid to Pakistan has not been spent effectively over the past decade. There is less agreement over how to fix it. This paper contributes to the debate in two ways.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Terrorism, War, Bilateral Relations, and Foreign Aid
Political Geography:
Pakistan and United States

65. Challenges to U.S. Government Support for Media Development

Author:
Andrew Green
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:
Media play a pivotal role in U.S. foreign policy, but the two U.S. government bodies most directly involved in media development assistance—the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)—face significant resource shortfalls in this area. This weakness has a direct impact on the U.S. government's ability to support media development around the world. Several units within the State Department are engaged with media efforts. Those that work in media development usually do so in cooperation with or through USAID and its media experts.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Democratization, Mass Media, and Foreign Aid
Political Geography:
United States

66. Afghanistan's Police: The Weak Link in Security Sector Reform

Author:
Robert M. Perito
Publication Date:
08-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United States Institute of Peace
Abstract:
In seven years, the Afghan National Police forces have grown to 68,000 personnel, with a target end strength of 86,000. The ANP includes the uniformed police force, which is responsible for general police duties, and specialized police forces, which deal with public order, counternarcotics, terrorism, and border control. Despite the impressive growth in numbers, the expenditure of $10 billion in international police assistance, and the involvement of the United States, the European Union, and multiple donors, the ANP is riddled with corruption and generally unable to protect Afghan citizens, control crime, or deal with the growing insurgency. The European Union has replaced Germany as the lead partner for police reform, but the United States has the largest police program, which is directed by the U.S. military. Putting soldiers in charge of police training has led to militarization of the ANP and its use as a counterinsurgency force. Using improperly trained, equipped, and supported ANP patrol men as “little soldiers” has resulted in the police suffering three times as many casualties as the Afghan National Army. Police are assigned in small numbers to isolated posts without backup and are targeted by the insurgents. Beyond funding the Taliban, the explosion in Afghan narcotics production fueled widespread corruption in the Afghan government and police. Drug abuse by police officers became increasingly common as did other forms of criminal behavior. Challenges facing the ANP were further compounded by a proliferation of bilateral police assistance programs that reflected the policing practices of donor countries. These efforts often were not coordinated with the larger U.S. and EU programs, creating confusion for the ANP. The Obama administration has acknowledged the importance of the police and announced its intentions to expand and improve the ANP as a key part of its plan for stabilizing Afghanistan. It should do this as part of a broader international community approach to police assistance that embraces a comprehensive program for security sector reform and rule of law.
Topic:
Security, War, and Foreign Aid
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, Europe, and Asia

67. Experimentation and Evolution in Private U.S. Funding of Media Development

Author:
Anne Nelson
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:
U.S. foundations have long funded programs in both “media development” and “media for development,” but recent political and economic trends have shifted the balance between the two fields. No one disputes the value of media development, which promotes independent news media. Nor do they doubt the importance of media for development, which emphasizes the communication of critical information to vulnerable populations, whether or not the information or the media involved meet the definition of “news.” But as U.S. journalism has entered a period of crisis, along with its philanthropies, these institutions, which have historically funded media development, have retrenched. With the U.S. advertising-based business model in peril, new avenues and approaches are being explored, with a greater emphasis on addressing the domestic model before trying to apply it abroad.
Topic:
Mass Media and Foreign Aid
Political Geography:
United States

68. Funding for Media Development by Major Donors Outside the United States: A Report to the Center for International Media Assistance

Author:
Mary Myers
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:
The main guiding questions for this research are: How much are European and other governments and donors spending on international media development? Where is the money going, for what sort of development (training, capacity building, infrastructure, legal or physical safety, etc.) and what are the trends in terms of donor priorities and approaches? The present study is an update of one produced for the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID) by the author, with Emma Grant, in 2007 (see Grant and Myers in References). That study was, in one way, more limited in that it dealt only with media support when used by donors to enhance access to information and promote governmental accountability in developing countries. In another way it was broader in that it made recommendations about “what works” and “what are the gaps” in media support in order to guide DFID policy. The present study is less of a discussion document and more of a straight survey.
Topic:
Development, Mass Media, and Foreign Aid
Political Geography:
United States, United Kingdom, and Europe

69. Experimentation and Evolution in Private U.S. Funding of Media Development

Author:
Anne Nelson
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:
U.S. foundations have long funded programs in both “media development” and “media for development,” but recent political and economic trends have shifted the balance between the two fields.
Topic:
Mass Media and Foreign Aid
Political Geography:
United States

70. Post-Conflict Health Reconstruction: New Foundations for U.S. Policy

Author:
Leonard S. Rubenstein
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United States Institute of Peace
Abstract:
The stabilization and reconstruction of states emerging from conflict has gained increasing attention in U.S. foreign policy as means to promote well-governed states, avoid future conflict and alleviate the enduring human suffering from war. Over the last two decades, stabilization and reconstruction initiatives supported by the United States and other donors have sometimes included investments in re-establishing – or in some cases, establishing for the first time – a system of health services for the population. Despite the knowledge generated and the encouraging outcomes of many of these programs, however, and the increasing attention to and financial commitments to global health in U.S. foreign assistance, the place and priority of health reconstruction as part of post-conflict U.S. stabilization initiatives remain undefined.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Development, Humanitarian Aid, and Foreign Aid
Political Geography:
United States