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1201. Challenges of Pakistan's Governance System

Author:
Marco Mezzera
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution
Abstract:
This policy brief looks at the underlying causes of weak governance and poor interaction between Pakistan's institutions and its citizens. Factors are broadly organized in three dimensions: structural, including geopolitical position, historical backdrop and social structures; the distribution and exercise of power; and Pakistan's current state of affairs.
Topic:
Civil Society and Governance
Political Geography:
Pakistan and South Asia

1202. Argentina's Double Political Spectrum: Party System, Political Identities, and Strategies, 1944–2007

Author:
Pierre Ostiguy
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The paper demonstrates that the Argentine political arena or “party system” is, has been, and continues to be structured as a two-dimensional space, and more precisely, at least from 1945 to 2002, as a double political spectrum. This structure for party or leaders' competition has resisted and outlasted many regime changes, economic calamities, and institutionally short-lived political actors. In fact, positions in the two-dimensional Argentine political space are far more stable than the partisan institutions themselves; a position abandoned within it leads to the creation of a new partisan actor to fill it. The dimension orthogonal to the left-right axis, itself very present in Argentina, is clearly rooted in the social, political, political-cultural, and sociocultural cleavage between Peronism and the forces opposed to it, or “anti-Peronism.” Both Peronism and anti-Peronism, moreover, fully range from left to right, thus creating a double political spectrum in Argentina. This main cleavage, in addition, has been notoriously difficult to characterize ideologically and politically, also complicating the comparative analysis of party systems. A key goal of this paper is to show that it is best understood—in a more general way—as being a conflict and contrast between the “high” and the “low” (Ostiguy 2009) in politics.
Topic:
Democratization, Politics, and Governance
Political Geography:
Argentina and Latin America

1203. Petersberg Papers on Afghanistan and the Region

Author:
Wolfgang Danspeckgruber
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination, Princeton University
Abstract:
Afghans and Afghanistan have faced many challenges, suffering, and destruction in the past. However time and again, they have risen after and have rebuilt. Since the 2001 Bonn Conference and the subsequent extensive international engagement in Afghanistan–both military and civilian–much has changed and much has been achieved. But today, many are not satisfied.
Topic:
Security, Development, Human Rights, International Cooperation, Treaties and Agreements, and Governance
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Asia

1204. Reframing Global Environmental Governance: Results of a CIGI/CIS Collaboration

Author:
Jennifer Clapp, Steven Bernstein, and Matt Hoffmann
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
Global environmental governance is undergoing significant change. There is a growing recognition that the traditional state-centric intergovernmental model of addressing global environmental problems is insufficient in the face of increasingly complex and overlapping environmental issues. There are serious questions about the ability or willingness of states, individually and collectively, to respond to the most pressing environmental challenges. The erosion of confidence in and the dominance of a state-centric governance model has simultaneously resulted from and provoked significant innovation. While there is growing discussion of institutional reform at the international level including reform to the United Nations Environment Programme and the creation of a new global organization to address these problems, there is also a fragmentation of governance processes to other jurisdictional levels and actors. Corporations, social and environmental organizations, private-public partnerships, substate governments, and even local communities have already begun to conceive and implement governance initiatives to address global environmental problems. This paper reflects upon these innovative institutional dynamics and assesses their prospects to produce effective, legitimate, and equitable outcomes. It concludes with a series of questions to guide future analysis and to better understand the prospects for improving the practice of global environmental governance.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, International Cooperation, International Organization, and Governance

1205. Institutions of Georgia for Governance on National Minorities: An Overview

Author:
Giorgi Sordia
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues
Abstract:
Since the 'Rose Revolution' in November 2003, significant reform has taken place in Georgia. The new Georgian government led by Mikheil Saakashvili, eager to push forward the process of reform and enhance the pace of integration with Euro-Atlantic structures and institutions, has taken a range of important steps to develop the institutional arrangement of government. A number of key ministries have been radically reformed, including the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Education and Science. Structural reform is also ongoing in many other ministries and state bodies.
Topic:
Democratization, Politics, Governance, and Minorities
Political Geography:
Europe and Georgia

1206. The Integration of National Minorities in the Samtskhe-Javakheti and Kvemo Kartli Provinces of Georgia: Five Years into the Presidency of Mikheil Saakashvili

Author:
Jonathan Wheatley
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues
Abstract:
This paper aims to explore the extent to which national minorities in the Georgian provinces of Kvemo Kartli and Samtskhe-Javakheti are integrated into the economic and political life of Georgia and to investigate how government policy in the aftermath of the Rose Revolution of November 2003 has affected the relationship between the state and minority communities in these two regions. It is divided into eight parts. First I provide a general overview of the main characteristics of the population of the two provinces in terms of ethnicity and language use. The second part turns to the economy of the two regions, focusing on both agricultural and industrial production. The next section turns to state-society relations by showing how government policy in the fields of education, local government, infrastructure and economic development has impacted upon the integration of national minorities in the two provinces. The fourth section explores in greater depth the modes of local governance in the two municipalities of Samtskhe-Javakheti (Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda, collectively known as Javakheti) and the five municipalities of Kvemo Kartli (Gardabani, Marneuli, Bolnisi, Dmanisi and Tsalka) in which members of national minorities are concentrated, by identifying the main power brokers in these municipalities and by looking at how local power structures have changed in the last five years. The following part focuses on the process of migration and includes both permanent migration of Georgians and members of national minorities within Georgia and to destinations beyond the country's borders, as well as seasonal migration abroad. The sixth part deals with the issue of land distribution, which has been a contentious one in both provinces. The seventh section is the final substantive part of the paper; it takes the "view from below" by looking at the most salient issues from the point of view of members of national minorities that live in the two provinces. The paper then closes with a short conclusion.
Topic:
Politics, Governance, and Minorities
Political Geography:
Georgia

1207. Mexico's 2009 Midterm Elections: Winners and Losers

Author:
Andrew Selee and Katie Putnam
Publication Date:
07-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
On July 5, Mexicans elected the five hundred members of the Chamber of Deputies (the lower house of Congress), six governors, and hundreds of mayors and local legislators throughout the country. At the midpoint of President Felipe Calderón's term, the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) made important gains in the Chamber of Deputies, as well as in gubernatorial and local elections. The election results carry important implications for pending domestic reforms and for the 2012 presidential elections.
Topic:
Politics and Governance
Political Geography:
Central America and Mexico

1208. Transparency International Annual Report 2008

Publication Date:
07-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Transparency International
Abstract:
Strong political parties that can compete for power in fair elections are essential to modern democracies. Political parties need resources for building solid organisations and canvassing public support, yet large donations have the potential to compromise the independence of elected officials, undermining democratic values and good governance. Laws and regulations cannot always prevent the undue influence of money and private interests in politics. Transparency is essential.
Topic:
Corruption, Non-Governmental Organization, International Affairs, and Governance

1209. Transparency in Reporting on Anti-Corruption: A Report on Corporate Practices

Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Transparency International
Abstract:
Bribery and corruption remain endemic problems in many countries, weakening governance and posing a major impediment to development. At the same time, bribery and corruption are a significant risk for companies around the world: not only must companies comply with anti-bribery legislation, but corrupt company practices are increasingly scrutinised and punished by both investors and society at large who demand that companies behave as responsible corporate citizens. To ensure compliance with laws and to manage the broader risk of corruption, firms must adopt coherent policies and systems to prevent and redress bribery and corruption.
Topic:
Corruption, International Trade and Finance, International Affairs, Governance, and Peacekeeping

1210. Business Principles for Countering Bribery: A Multi-Stakeholders Initiative Led by Transparency International

Publication Date:
02-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Transparency International
Abstract:
The Business Principles for Countering Bribery were originally developed through an extensive multi-stakeholder process involving companies, non-governmental organisations and trade unions as a tool to assist enterprises to develop effective approaches to countering bribery in all of their activities.
Topic:
Corruption, International Trade and Finance, International Affairs, and Governance