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71. Coping with climate change: what works for women?

Author:
Kate Raworth
Publication Date:
07-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
In every society, women and men have different roles inside and outside the household, and different resources to deliver them. In the rural communities of developing countries where Oxfam works, men's roles typically focus on earning cash, by growing food, trading, or selling their labour. But it is largely the role of women to provide the food, fuel, water, and care that the family needs (all for no pay), in addition to earning some cash. In such communities, women are likely to have: greater reliance on natural resources – like rivers, wells, reliable rainfall, and forests fewer physical resources – such as land, fertilizer or irrigation, and fewer assets (like machinery, or a bicycle) to use to make money, or to sell as a last resort fewer financial resources – little cash, savings or access to credit, and less access to markets that give a good price for their goods less powerful social resources – due to social and cultural norms that limit their mobility and their voice in decision-making, reinforce traditional roles, and put them at risk of violence fewer human resources – due to having less education, fewer opportunities for training, and less access to official information.
Topic:
Climate Change, Gender Issues, and Non-Governmental Organization

72. Vulnerability to Hunger: Improving Food Crisis Responses in Fragile States

Author:
Colin Andrews and Margarita Flores
Publication Date:
04-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
The paper examines the imperative for improved classification and analysis of food crises in different fragile contexts. Recognizing the persistence and protracted nature of food crises, the paper questions how prevention and response mechanisms could be improved to help decisionmakers better address the underlying causes of vulnerability and hunger. The paper draws on case study information to examine real life opportunities and constraints in applying a recently developed food security classification system, named the analytical frameworks at country level, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). Developed originally in Somalia, this classification framework is now being applied in a range of country contexts within and outside of Africa by national governments, UN agencies, donors and NGO organizations. The paper draws on early applications of the IPC to consider opportunities and constraints in the application of common classification systems, taking into account issues of institutional adaptation, methodologies, data and analysis.
Topic:
Security, Agriculture, and Non-Governmental Organization
Political Geography:
Africa and Somalia

73. Procedural Legitimacy and Private Transnational Governance. Are the Good Ones Doing Better?

Author:
Marianne Beisheim and Klaus Dingwerth
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Collaborative Research Center (SFB) 700
Abstract:
Private governance schemes deploy a significant share of their resources to advocate their legitimacy. Assuming that their primary concern is to ensure their own success, this suggests that the initiators of private governance schemes presume a strong relation between a scheme's perception as legitimate on the one hand and its success on the other. Based on this observation, this article explores the general hypothesis that the procedural legitimacy of private governance schemes – defined in terms of inclusiveness, transparency, and deliberativeness – enhances their prospects for success. We particularly focus on how right process may translate into effectiveness. To this end, the article identifies three mechanisms: the development of ownership based on inclusive, fair and representative participation; social learning and persuasion based on deliberative procedures; and social control based on transparency and accountability. The three mechanisms are subjected to a plausibility probe in an illustrative case study of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), a private governance scheme in the field of corporate sustainability politics. All in all, the study shows how the GRI's success can be related to procedural legitimacy. In particular, it suggests that while inclusiveness and deliberation are mostly relevant to gain legitimacy, transparency and accountability are primarily relevant to maintain the legitimacy of private transnational governance schemes.
Topic:
Civil Society, Markets, and Non-Governmental Organization

74. From Public-Private Partnership to Market [Working Paper No. 10]

Author:
Gudrun Benecke, Lars Friberg, Markus Lederer, and Miriam Schröder
Publication Date:
04-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Collaborative Research Center (SFB) 700
Abstract:
Tackling climate change is by now recognised as a policy challenge of utmost importance. The Kyoto Protocol is the most advanced multilateral effort to tackle climate change. One of the most interesting and innovative building blocks of the Kyoto Protocol climate regime is the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Since its inception this so-called flexible mechanism has been key in establishing a volatile and booming market for carbon emission reductions (CERs), which are the first internationally traded commodity created by an international environmental agreement. Within the process of market establishment and function, private actors such as companies, project verifiers, carbon funds and traders have become leading actors in the global carbon market. The market continues to be intimately policy dependent as demand derives from the stringency of emission allocations and future nation state commitments for greenhouse gas reductions. This article investigates the transformation of a market that has been initiated by public actors, kick-started by public-private partnerships (PPPs) and that has evolved into a market in which governments are withdrawing and private actors are increasingly taking up their governance function. It furthermore evaluates the status quo of the CDM and finishes with open questions for research.
Topic:
Environment, International Organization, Markets, and Non-Governmental Organization

75. From bear to bull? Sub-Saharan Africa and Global Capital Markets

Author:
Sam Jones
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The current boom in global commodity prices and the expansion of Chinese interests in sub-Saharan Africa are part of a general warming of external investors to the region. This policy brief examines trends in commercial financial instruments such as equities, bonds and commercial bank lending and their impact on economic development. It reviews the nature and behaviour of these instruments in developing countries compared with more traditional development finance, such as foreign aid. This provides a foundation for analysing past and present trends in sub-Saharan Africa. It is argued that, like many other low income countries in the past, sub-Saharan Africa has received negligible inflows of external commercial financing. If anything, the region has been additionally excluded from these flows due to very weak levels of financial sector development even compared to other low income countries. At the same time, recent changes in global and domestic conditions mean that the situation is evolving rapidly. There is mounting evidence to show that many economies in sub-Saharan Africa are enjoying significantly expanded access to commercial external capital flows. Given good prospects that this trend will continue, the playing field for traditional donors is likely to alter significantly. The brief concludes by reflecting on how donors might respond to these emerging policy challenges.
Topic:
Development, Markets, and Non-Governmental Organization
Political Geography:
Africa and China

76. Organised labour and the social regulation of global value chains

Author:
Lone Riisgaard and Nikolaus Hammer
Publication Date:
04-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Since the 1980s, various processes of economic globalisation have eroded established foundations of organised labour. The increased mobility of goods and capital, compared to labour's relative immobility, has made it more difficult for labour to advance its objectives through traditional local industrial action or tripartite social contracts. In this paper, we are concerned with the social regulation of global value chains (GVCs) and more specifically the room for manoeuvre that organised labour has for advancing social regulation in different GVCs via Private Social Standards and/ or International Framework Agreements. We argue, that the governance structure (and restructuring) of GVCs frame key elements of the terrain that enables and constrains labour's strategic opportunities for advancing the social regulation of GVCs.
Topic:
Globalization, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Non-Governmental Organization

77. Using Philanthropy for Diplomacy

Author:
Thomas C. Foley
Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Council of American Ambassadors
Abstract:
I cannot remember who first mentioned prior to my posting to Ireland that I should consider promoting philanthropy as one of my objectives at post. It may have been during consultations with Richard Haass at the Council on Foreign Relations or Michael Gallagher, Director of the Office of United Kingdom, Benelux and Ireland Affairs at the State Department. Whoever it was, it was an excellent idea.
Topic:
Diplomacy and Non-Governmental Organization
Political Geography:
United States and United Kingdom

78. Corresponsabilidad Estado-sociedad civil internacional. Greenpeace España y el caso Prestige

Author:
Nancy Janett García Vázquez, Paulina Coronel Arias, Elisa G. Gaxiola Baqueiro, Ana Lucia Mendoza Ibarra, and Aída Patiño Macía
Publication Date:
04-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
Nowadays it is possible to talk about state-civil society co-responsibility. Although the state is still the dominant actor of the international system, globalization has led it to a re-structuration process. International non-governmental organizations (INGOs) have begun to play a key role in the design of solutions to issues not entirely attended by the state. In this paper we argue that INGOs have addressed topics that affect the international commu-nity—for instance, the environment—and have occasionally complemented the state's functions. To demonstrate our thesis, we will analyze the Span-ish authorities' and Greenpeace's reactions towards the environmental disaster caused by the oil tanker Prestige's sinking off the coast of Galicia.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, Government, Non-Governmental Organization, and Politics
Political Geography:
Spain

79. Promoting Human Rights in Russia by Supporting NGOs: How to Improve EU Strategies

Author:
Elena Klitsounova
Publication Date:
04-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
The EU advocates a policy that includes a great deal of human rights promotion and support for Russian NGOs. The question for EU policy-makers is no longer whether but how to manage NGO involvement in a way that induces necessary changes in Russia's human rights behaviour. This paper argues that current EU policies often fall short of their potential to develop the non-state transfer of European ideas, norms, and practices to Russia or to assist the development of the Russian NGO community. If the EU is to become a serious actor in the field of human rights promotion, it will have to find new and creative ways to communicate with Russians about human rights matters. This paper offers policy recommendations to adapt EU strategies to the current context of the EU Russia relationship and to redesign EU assistance programmes.
Topic:
Human Rights and Non-Governmental Organization
Political Geography:
Russia and Europe

80. Empowering commercial actors: Outsourcing of humanitarian and development services in international peace operations and post-war settings

Author:
Nina Græger
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
This paper explores the increased outsourcing of humanitarian and, in particular, development services in conflict and post-conflict settings to private, profit-seeking companies that operate according to commercial principles. In integrated post-conflict missions, humanitarian aid and reconstruction and development tasks (including state building) now take place more or less in parallel. Arguably, governments, donors, NGOs and commercial companies are increasingly becoming part of the same political project: to assist countries in the transition from war to peace. The blurring of the lines between war and post-war settings has expanded the scope of activity by commercial actors. On the positive side, commercial companies seem to score better on efficiency and may contribute to a more professional humanitarian and development sector. On the negative side, the ability of governments to monitor and control private contractors is limited, while at the same time, allegations of corruption have sometimes been raised. Furthermore, profit-maximising companies are not likely to abide by or feel committed to established concepts and principles of humanitarian action in the provision of their services to the same extent as more traditional actors. If this is the case, the long-term legitimacy of the international community's commitment in war and post-war settings may suffer serious damage.
Topic:
Development, Humanitarian Aid, Non-Governmental Organization, Third World, and Foreign Aid