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18561. European Security Practices vis-à-vis the Mediterranean: Implications in Value Terms

Author:
Pinar Bilgin, Eduard Soler i Lecha, and Ali Bilgic
Publication Date:
08-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This paper analyses the implications of European security practices vis-à-vis the Mediterranean in value terms as deduced from an analysis of 'facts on the ground' and local actors' perspectives (based on interviews conducted in Algeria, Egypt and Morocco). It is argued that European security practices have had adverse implications for various security referents in the South. While it is too soon to tell whether the so-called 'Arab Spring' has been delayed or brought on by such collaboration, our research shows how Euro-Mediterranean security collaboration has rendered more defenceless the already vulnerable individuals and societies in the South and how Southern Mediterranean states/regimes and societies have become further alienated from each other following such collabo-ration. The paper also highlights how the very practices adopted by European actors to secure the Union and its values may have rendered it less secure insofar as they have had consequences for the very meaning of what it means to be 'European'.
Topic:
Security and Popular Revolt
Political Geography:
Europe, Arabia, Algeria, Egypt, and Morocco

18562. Matching the Market and the Model: The Business of Independent News Media

Author:
Michelle J. Foster
Publication Date:
08-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:
The audience for, and access to, news media has grown across the globe. Economic development in formerly impoverished countries, the spread of mobile and Internet technologies, and the loosening of censorship have fueled this expansion. However, many media businesses are unable to take full advantage of this growth because of their lack of management skills and inexperience in developing effective business models. Compounding this is a lack of media development assistance targeted to media managers, the expansion of economic constraints on media businesses, and a lack of access to investment capital.
Topic:
Markets, International Affairs, and Mass Media

18563. Indonesia: Hope and Hard Reality in Papua

Publication Date:
08-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
The conflict in Indonesian Papua continues to defy solution, but some new ideas are on the table. A spike in violence in July and August 2011 underscores the urgency of exploring them. The government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should move quickly to set up a long-delayed new Papua unit with a mandate that includes political issues. That unit should look at a set of political, social, economic, legal and security indicators produced in July by a Papua Peace Conference that could become a framework for more enlightened policies. Taken together, they represent a vision of what a peaceful Papua would look like. The conference participants who drafted them, however, were almost all from Papuan civil society. For any real change to take place, there needs to be buy-in not just from Jakarta but from the increasingly large constituency of Papuan elected officials who have influence and resources at a local level.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Political Violence, Development, Peace Studies, and Developing World
Political Geography:
Indonesia and Papua

18564. The Green Growth Economies Project Country Cases: An Analytical Overview

Publication Date:
06-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy
Abstract:
This set of seven green growth cases explores the variety of green growth strategies countries and states are putting into practice: how they define success; what obstacles they face; and what kinds of policy outcomes they produce. In essence, what is the political and economic logic underpinning different strategies and their success?
Topic:
Climate Change, Diplomacy, Energy Policy, Industrial Policy, and Natural Resources

18565. Cloud Computing: Policy Challenges for a Globally Integrated Innovation, Production and Market Platform

Author:
John Zysman and Jonathan Murray
Publication Date:
07-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy
Abstract:
“Cloud computing” is much more than simply a new set of technologies and business models. It is rapidly emerging as the platform that will underpin the next generation of digital products and services. Cloud Computing is transforming how consumers, companies, and governments store information, how they process and exchange that information, and how they utilize computing power. Consequently, it opens a new set of policy discussions while at the same time underling the importance of old debates.
Topic:
Government, Intelligence, Markets, and Science and Technology

18566. Seeing Russia Straight

Author:
Ilan Berman
Publication Date:
06-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of International Security Affairs
Institution:
Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
Abstract:
As Russians look to the future, three recent events have shaken the complacency of those hoping for a democratic evolution in the country. The first was the New Year's Eve jailing of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov for his participation in an anti-Kremlin rally. The second was the guilty verdict in the trial of Mikhail Khodor - kovsky, the former head of the Yukos oil company on fresh (and clearly fabricated) corruption charges. The third was the devastating terrorist attack at Domodedovo Airport that left 35 dead and 41 seriously injured.
Topic:
Corruption
Political Geography:
Russia

18567. Economics and Emigration: Trillion-dollar Bills on the Sidewalk?

Author:
Michael Clemens
Publication Date:
08-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
Large numbers of people born in poor countries would like to leave those countries, but barriers prevent their emigration. Those barriers, according to economists' best estimates to date, cost the world economy much more than all remaining barriers to the international movement of goods and capital combined. Yet economists spend much more time studying the movement of goods and capital, and when they study migration at all, they focus on the effects of immigration on nonmigrants in destination countries. I ask why this is the case and sketch a four-point research agenda on the effects of emigration. Barriers to emigration deserve a research priority that is commensurate with their likely colossal economic effects.
Topic:
Economics, Migration, Poverty, and Immigration

18568. Incentive Proliferation? Making Sense of a New Wave of Development Programs

Author:
William Savedoff
Publication Date:
08-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
A new wave of development programs that explicitly use incentives to achieve their aims is under way. They are part of a trend, accelerating in recent years, to disburse development assistance against specific and measurable outputs or outcomes. With a proliferation of new ideas under names such as “payments for performance,” “output-based aid,” and “results based financing,” it is easy to lose sight of basic underlying similarities in these approaches and to miss some significant differences. This paper proposes a way of classifying and distinguishing the range of incentive programs being debated today, emphasizing two particular dimensions: the agent whose behavior the incentive seeks to change and the specificity of the output or outcome measure. It begins by characterizing a basic incentive arrangement, discussing the range of available contracts and how they appear in development programs, presents a classification of existing incentive programs and illustrates the scheme with examples. The paper concludes by identifying four broad categories that address different problems and offers some cautionary notes.
Topic:
Development, International Political Economy, Poverty, and Foreign Aid

18569. Scholars Who Became Practitioners

Author:
Nora Lustig
Publication Date:
08-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
Celebrated by academics, multilateral organizations, policymakers and the media, Mexico's Progresa/ Oportunidades conditional cash transfers program (CCT) is constantly used as a model of a successful antipoverty program. Here I argue that the transformation of well-trained scholars into influential practitioners played a fundamental role in promoting a new conceptual approach to poverty reduction, ensuring the technical soundness and effectiveness of the program, incorporating rigorous impact evaluation, and persuading politicians to implement and keep the program in place. The involvement of scholar-practitioners also helped disseminate the new CCT “technology” to many countries around the world quite rapidly.
Topic:
Development, Poverty, and Foreign Aid
Political Geography:
Mexico

18570. Sifting Through the Layers of Insecurity in the Sahel: The Case of Mauritania

Author:
Cédric Jourde
Publication Date:
09-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Africa Center for Strategic Studies
Abstract:
Until recently, the Sahel (as-Sahil), literally the “shore” of the Saharan “sea,” rarely made headlines. Nevertheless, the expanding nexus of illicit trafficking and transnational Islamist terrorism—and the increasingly serious risk this poses to stability in the region and to international security—is attracting growing attention. These concerns will likely mount as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) attempts to use the window of opportunity presented by the Arab Spring to reestablish itself in North Africa while transitional governments there devote much of their energy to rebuilding state institutions. In turn, an unstable North Africa, especially Libya, could further exacerbate insecurity in the Sahel as unsecured weapons and trained mercenaries filter their way into the region.
Topic:
Security, Crime, and Narcotics Trafficking
Political Geography:
Africa, Libya, Arabia, and Mauritania