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1881. Post-Conflict Countries and Foreign Investment

Author:
Vesselin Popovski, Nicholas Turner, and Obijiofor Aginam
Publication Date:
11-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
It has become increasingly clear that economic development and poverty reduction can significantly reduce the incidence of conflict. This is of particular importance for countries recovering from violent conflicts, considering they are often among the poorest even compared with other developing countries, and are extremely vulnerable to slipping back into violence.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Development, Third World, Foreign Aid, Infrastructure, and Foreign Direct Investment

1882. Making Sense of Turkish Politics

Author:
Sahin Alpay
Publication Date:
09-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Turkey, a candidate state that started negotiating membership in the EU in 2005, has witnessed serious political conflict since April 2007 when the military threatened to intervene once again in the political process. The Chief Prosecutor filed closure cases before the Constitutional Court first against the Democratic Society Party, the first pro-Kurdish party to enter parliament, and then against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) which won a landslide election victory in the parliamentary elections of July 2007. The Court decided by the slimmest of margins against the closure of AKP, allowing the country to escape narrowly one of its worst political crises. The attempted "judicial coup" can only be explained by the state ideology of and the nature of democracy in Turkey. The political conflicts are related not to a fight over dismantling or protecting secularism, but to the power struggle between old and new elites in the country.
Topic:
Development
Political Geography:
Turkey

1883. Deeper Than Kelo: The Roots of the Property Rights Crisis

Author:
Eric Daniels
Publication Date:
09-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Objective Standard
Institution:
The Objective Standard
Abstract:
On June 23, 2005, the United States Supreme Court's acquiescence in a municipal government's use of eminent domain to advance "economic development" goals sent shockwaves across the country. When the Court announced its decision in Kelo v. City of New London, average homeowners realized that their houses could be condemned, seized, and handed over to other private parties. They wanted to know what had gone wrong, why the Constitution and Fifth Amendment had failed to protect their property rights. The crux of the decision, and the source of so much indignation, was the majority opinion of Justice John Paul Stevens, which contended that "economic development" was such a "traditional and long accepted function of government" that it fell under the rubric of "public use." If a municipality or state determined, through a "carefully considered" planning process, that taking land from one owner and giving it to another would lead to increased tax revenue, job growth, and the revitalization of depressed urban areas, the Court would allow it. If the government had to condemn private homes to meet "the diverse and always evolving needs of society," Stevens wrote, so be it. The reaction to the Kelo decision was swift and widespread. Surveys showed that 80 to 90 percent of Americans opposed the decision. Politicians from both parties spoke out against it. Such strange bedfellows as Rush Limbaugh and Ralph Nader were united in their opposition to the Court's ruling. Legislatures in more than forty states proposed and most then passed eminent domain "reforms." In the 2006 elections, nearly one dozen states considered anti-Kelo ballot initiatives, and ten such measures passed. On the one-year anniversary of the decision, President Bush issued an executive order that barred federal agencies from using eminent domain to take property for economic development purposes (even though the primary use of eminent domain is by state and local agencies). The "backlash" against the Court's Kelo decision continues today by way of reform efforts in California and other states. Public outcry notwithstanding, the Kelo decision did not represent a substantial worsening of the state of property rights in America. Rather, the Kelo decision reaffirmed decades of precedent-precedent unfortunately rooted in the origins of the American system. Nor is eminent domain the only threat to property rights in America. Even if the federal and state governments abolished eminent domain tomorrow, property rights would still be insecure, because the cause of the problem is more fundamental than law or politics. In order to identify the fundamental cause of the property rights crisis, we must observe how the American legal and political system has treated property rights over the course of the past two centuries and take note of the ideas offered in support of their rulings and regulations. In so doing, we will see that the assault on property rights in America is the result of a long chain of historical precedent moored in widespread acceptance of a particular moral philosophy.Property, Principle, and Precedent In the Revolutionary era, America's Founding Fathers argued that respect for property rights formed the very foundation of good government. For instance, Arthur Lee, a Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress, wrote that "the right of property is the guardian of every other right, and to deprive a people of this, is in fact to deprive them of their liberty." In a 1792 essay on property published in the National Gazette, James Madison expressed the importance of property to the founding generation. "Government is instituted to protect property of every sort," he explained, "this being the end of government, that alone is a just government, which impartially secures to every man, whatever is his own." Despite this prevalent attitude-along with the strong protections for property contained in the United States Constitution's contracts clause, ex post facto clause, and the prohibition of state interference with currency-the founders accepted the idea that the power of eminent domain, the power to forcibly wrest property from private individuals, was a legitimate power of sovereignty resting in all governments. Although the founders held that the "despotic power" of eminent domain should be limited to taking property for "public use," and that the victims of such takings were due "just compensation," their acceptance of its legitimacy was the tip of a wedge. The principle that property rights are inalienable had been violated. If the government can properly take property for "public use," then property rights are not absolute, and the extent to which they can be violated depends on the meaning ascribed to "public use." From the earliest adjudication of eminent domain cases, it became clear that the term "public use" would cause problems. Although the founders intended eminent domain to be used only for public projects such as roads, 19th-century legislatures began using it to transfer property to private parties, such as mill and dam owners or canal and railroad companies, on the grounds that they were open to public use and provided wide public benefits. Add to this the fact that, during the New Deal, the Supreme Court explicitly endorsed the idea that property issues were to be determined not by reference to the principle of individual rights but by legislative majorities, and you have the foundation for all that followed. . . .
Topic:
Development and Economics
Political Geography:
United States, America, and London

1884. Security System Transformation in Sierra Leone, 1997-2007

Author:
Paul Jackson and Peter Albrecht
Publication Date:
10-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform
Abstract:
The working paper series on Sierra Leone is part of the research programme 'Security System Transformation in Sierra Leone, 1997-2007'. These working papers present perspectives from both Sierra Leone and the United Kingdom regarding the implementation of activities broadly defined as security sector reform (SSR) in the period towards the end of and following the Sierra Leone war.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Democratization, Development, and War
Political Geography:
Africa and United Kingdom

1885. The Security and Development Nexus: A Case Study of Sierra Leone, 2004-2006

Author:
Mark White
Publication Date:
10-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform
Abstract:
In my observations below, I will not focus on the individual successes within the Sierra Leonean security sector itself over the duration of the security sector reform (SSR) process. Instead, I will focus on the interconnections and disjuncture between security and development that occurred during my time in Sierra Leone. I will also attempt to demonstrate that whilst significant progress has been made since 1999 in ensuring that security and development are inter-related , there is still some way to go before they are fully integrated into either policy or programmatic practice.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, and Development
Political Geography:
Africa, United Kingdom, and Sierra Leone

1886. Operation Pebu

Author:
Aldo Gaeta
Publication Date:
10-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform
Abstract:
This paper documents the history of Operation Pebu (Op PEBU) between April 2003 and March 2006. It is an overview of the progress and development of the project and does not attempt to document every change in contract between the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) and its contractors, nor those relating to contracts let by the United Kingdom (UK) Department for International Development (DfID). The focus of the narrative below is the construction of accommodation for soldiers of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) and their families with which Op PEBU has become synonymous.
Topic:
Security and Development
Political Geography:
Africa, United Kingdom, and Sierra Leone

1887. The Afghan Impasse

Author:
Ivan Konovalov
Publication Date:
09-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Affairs: A Russian Journal of World Politics, Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
East View Information Services
Abstract:
Developments demonstrate that the resumed active operations in Afghanistan have failed to bring about a decisive turning point in the war for either side. The NATO coalition forces and the Afghan army didn't let the Taliban take over the initiative or stage even a single serious operation. They also managed to eliminate several influential field commanders. At the same time, Taliban groups have retained their combat potential and continue delivering harassing strikes at most unexpected locations. Suffice it to mention the insurgent attack on April 27 of this year during a military parade in Kabul. It is a stalemate. The time works for the Taliban, while the allies have to modify their strategy.
Topic:
Security, NATO, and Development
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and Taliban

1888. An Overview of Climate Change: What does it mean for our way of life? What is the best future we can hope for?

Author:
Neva Goodwin
Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University
Abstract:
This paper starts with the question of whether climate change will require a significant reduction of consumption among the richer people in the world, and ends with the most optimistic picture the author can conjure up, of the world in the year 2075. That hopeful picture is of a world in which inequalities – among and within nations – have been substantially reduced. The challenges and adjustments confronting humanity in the coming decades provide an opportunity that could be used to mitigate climate change in ways that can improve the circumstances of the poor. Ecological reasons to reduce throughput of energy and materials in economic systems urge the abandonment of high-consumption life-styles. The 21st century will be an era of many losses, but it is conceivable that societies will successfully make the transition from goals of economic growth, as understood in the 20th century, to goals of maintaining and increasing sustainable well-being.
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, and Economics

1889. Fortune or Evil? The Effects of Inward Foreign Direct Investment on Corruption

Author:
Pablo M. Pinto and Boliang Zhu
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies
Abstract:
This paper analyzes the relationship between inward foreign direct investment (FDI) and grand corruption in host countries. We argue that the effects of FDI on government corruption are conditional on the host country's underlying economic and political climate: FDI will be associated with higher corruption levels in political and economic environments where competition is restriced. We adopt an empirical strategy aimed at dealing with the underlying endogeneity problem. We construct an instrument for inward FDI based on a measure of remoteness. We test our hypotheses on the conditional effects of FDI on corruption in an instrumental variable two-stage least-squares setting, finding preliminary support for our argument: the effect of FDI on corruption is positive in authoritarian and poor countries, and turns negative as countries develop and become more democratic. We also find that the marginal effect of FDI on corruption in democratic and rich countries is smaller.
Topic:
Corruption, Development, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance

1890. Saving Afghanistan: An Appeal and Plan for Urgent Action

Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Atlantic Council
Abstract:
Make no mistake, the international community is not winning in Afghanistan. Unless this reality is understood and action is taken promptly, the future of Afghanistan is bleak, with regional and global impact. The purpose of this paper is to sound the alarm and to propose specific actions that must be taken now if Afghanistan is to succeed in becoming a secure, safe, and functioning state. On the security side, a stalemate of sorts has taken hold. NATO and Afghan forces cannot be beaten by the insurgency or by the Taliban. Neither can our forces eliminate the Taliban by military means as long as they have sanctuary in Pakistan. Hence, the future of Afghanistan will be determined by progress or failure in the civil sector.
Topic:
Security, NATO, Development, and War
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and Central Asia