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402. Foreign Aid and the Weakening of Democratic Accountability in Uganda
- Author:
- Andrew Mwenda
- Publication Date:
- 07-2006
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Africa is the world's poorest continent. Between 1974 and 2003, the per capita income in sub-Saharan Africa declined by 11 percent. Africa continues to trail the rest of the world on human development indicators including life expectancy; infant mortality; undernourishment; school enrollment; and the incidence of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. The international aid lobby advocates more foreign aid and greater debt relief for Africa as solutions.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Security, and Humanitarian Aid
- Political Geography:
- Africa
403. Falling In Line on Israel
- Author:
- Stephen Zunes
- Publication Date:
- 11-2006
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Foreign Policy In Focus
- Abstract:
- The election of a Democratic majority in the House and Senate is unlikely to result in any serious challenge to the Bush administration's support for Israeli attacks against the civilian populations of its Arab neighbors and the Israeli government's ongoing violations of international humanitarian law.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Democratization, Humanitarian Aid, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Arabia
404. Fuelling the Niger Delta Crisi
- Author:
- James Cockayne (ed.)
- Publication Date:
- 03-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Peace Institute
- Abstract:
- Commercial security is increasingly present in humanitarian and post-conflict settings. The UN has even considered using commercial security to solve peacekeeping shortfalls. Yet using commercial security in these settings raises difficult ethical, operational and strategic questions. This exploratory study begins to describe the decentralized, ad hoc use of commercial security in these settings, in an attempt to provoke the further research and discussion needed before these questions can be adequately answered.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Security, Humanitarian Aid, and Peace Studies
405. Iraqi Economic Reconstruction and Development
- Author:
- Onur Ozlu
- Publication Date:
- 04-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- The US aid effort in Iraq has not accomplished most of its sectoral goals, and more importantly, has not effectively initiated the reconstruction of the country's economy. After three years of struggle, the expenditure of more than $ 20 billion US aid funds, $ 37 billion Development Fund for Iraq (DFI) - UN accumulated from the oil for food program's revenues and the seizure of bank accounts- and death of thousands of US and other coalition soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis, Iraq is producing less oil, has less electricity and less water than it did during the Saddam period. After studying the modern Iraqi economic history as a background, this work analyzes why.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, and Humanitarian Aid
- Political Geography:
- Iraq, Middle East, and Maryland
406. Humanitarian Intervention: The Situation After the 1999 Kosovo and the 2003 Iraqi Cases
- Author:
- Funda Keskin
- Publication Date:
- 12-2006
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Uluslararasi Iliskiler
- Institution:
- Uluslararasi Iliskiler
- Abstract:
- Humanitarian intervention entered into the agenda of the international community once again after the Kosovo intervention of 1999. It is not one of the exceptions to the prohibition of the use of force brought by the United Nations Charter. Despite all efforts to describe it as one of the justifiable causes of using force against another state in 1970s and 1990s, both states' attitudes and writers' elaborations show clearly that it is not accepted as a legal exception even by intervening states in Kosovo. After the invasion of Iraq in 2003, debates of humanitarian intervention first dropped from the agenda, but later it became a hot topic once again as one of the reasons of the invasion. Nevertheless, there is a small minority considers the invasion as an example of humanitarian intervention and their argument is not persuasive because of the still insecure conditions in Iraq.
- Topic:
- Humanitarian Aid and United Nations
- Political Geography:
- Iraq and Kosovo
407. Myanmar and Argument for Engagement: A Clash of Contending Moralities?
- Author:
- Christopher B. Roberts
- Publication Date:
- 03-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
- Abstract:
- The domestic environment of Myanmar, in the wake of half a century of civil war and instability, has not shown any sign of an improvement. The Generals remain in control; the health and education systems are collapsing; and the people in the borderlands live under some of the worst conditions of poverty imaginable. Meanwhile, a clash of contesting moralities has emerged through a growing fissure (at least until recently) between those in favour of engagement (ASEAN) and those wanting to isolate and sanction (the West). Of these contesting moralities the most damaging has been economic isolation. Today, Myanmar receives less Official Development Assistance (ODA) per capita than any other developing country in East Asia. Laos, by contrast, is arguably little better in terms of governance yet it receives nineteens times more ODA per capita. Nevertheless, during the course of the past two decades neither engagement nor isolation has produced a tangible shift towards better governance and/or democracy. Through an analysis of the consequences of isolation and instability in Myanmar this paper argues that the international community needs to overcome its policy divide by embracing a combination of diplomatic pressure and targeted engagement designed to enhance, in the long-term, the security and stability of Myanmar and its people. Given the dire nature of the economy in Myanmar, large scale aid packages designed to alleviate the humanitarian crisis and also build the capacity of the state need to be implemented. For the purpose of capacity building and engagement, broad sweeping sanctions targeting the economy in general should be abolished while targeted sanctions (directed at the leadership) should have clear benchmarks for their removal. While the idea of even limited engagement may be repugnant to some; the analysis will show that the "middle path" advocated by this paper represents the best sustainable option to resolve the crisis in Myanmar.
- Topic:
- Development, Humanitarian Aid, and Poverty
- Political Geography:
- Israel
408. Payments for Progress: A Hands-Off Approach to Foreign Aid
- Author:
- Nancy Birdsall and Owen Barder
- Publication Date:
- 12-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- There are significant differences of opinion about the merits of additional aid in meeting the MDGs, including whether and how aid should be given in 'fragile states', whether additional aid on the scale envisioned can be effectively used even in well-managed economies, and whether the aid system, particularly in highly aid-dependent countries, undermines instead of strengthens local institutions. We discuss an approach to scaling up foreign aid that would explicitly be aimed at strengthening local capacity and institutions, including in fragile states. “Payments for progress” would link additional aid to clear evidence of progress already achieved on the ground. This approach would give flexibility and autonomy to local institutions, providing an opening for local institutional experimentation, while at the same time ensuring that aid pays only for real, measurable achievements. Donors would bind themselves as a group to pay a specific amount for clear evidence of progress against one or more agreed goals in low-income developing countries. Developing country governments would present an independently audited statement reporting their progress on the measures, and donors would pay the agreed amount. Payments would be determined as a function of the outcomes, and not linked to the implementation of any particular policies, any other intermediate outputs, or “tied” to purchases from particular suppliers or companies. Governments that found ways to provide services efficiently and so reduce the costs of providing them would benefit from a larger surplus. We discuss the issues such an approach raises—in setting the benchmarks against which progress is measured, in avoiding cheating, and in managing unintended negative consequences of an incentives-based approach. We conclude with a summary of the advantages for donors and recipients.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Development, Humanitarian Aid, and Third World
409. An Index of Donor Performance
- Author:
- David Roodman
- Publication Date:
- 11-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- The Commitment to Development Index of the Center for Global Development rates 21 rich countries on the “development-friendliness” of their policies. It is revised and updated annually. The component on foreign assistance combines quantitative and qualitative measures of official aid, and of fiscal policies that support private charitable giving. The quantitative measure uses a net transfers concept, as distinct from the net flows concept in the net Official Development Assistance measure of the Development Assistance Committee. The qualitative factors are: a penalty for tying aid; a discounting system that favors aid to poorer, better-governed recipients; and a penalty for “project proliferation.” The charitable giving measure is based on an estimate of the share of observed private giving to developing countries that is attributable to a) lower overall taxes or b) specific tax incentives for giving. De-spite the adjustments, overall results are dominated by differences in quantity of official aid given. This is because while there is a seven-fold range in net concessional transfers/GDP among the scored countries, variation in overall aid quality across donors appears far lower, and private giving is generally small. Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden score highest while the largest donors in absolute terms, the United States and Japan, rank at or near the bottom. Standings by the 2006 methodology have been relatively stable since 1995.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Development, Economics, and Humanitarian Aid
- Political Geography:
- United States, Japan, Norway, and Netherlands
410. Fragile States and U.S. Foreign Assistance: Show Me the Money
- Author:
- Stewart Patrick and Kaysie Brown
- Publication Date:
- 08-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- The Bush administration has increasingly acknowledged that weak and failing states represent the core of today's global development challenge. It has also recognized that such states are potential threats to international peace and security. But despite the rhetoric, it has yet to formulate a coherent strategy around fragile states or commit adequate resources towards engaging them. Excluding funding for Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and HIV/AIDS, the administration's FY07 budget request proposes to spend just $1.1 billion in direct bilateral assistance to fragile states—little more than a dollar per person per year. In this new working paper, CGD research fellow Stewart Patrick and program associate Kaysie Brown urge U.S. policymakers to consider increasing aid to fragile states and to think creatively about how and when to engage these troubled countries. The authors also call for the policy community to integrate non-aid instruments into a more coherent government strategy. To put its money where its mouth is, the U.S. should treat aid to weak and failing states as a form of venture capital, with high risk but potentially high rewards.
- Topic:
- Economics, Government, and Humanitarian Aid
- Political Geography:
- Pakistan, Afghanistan, United States, and Iraq