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9402. The New Counter-Insurgency Era in Critical Perspective
- Author:
- Celeste Ward Gventer, David Martin Jones, and M.I.R. Smith
- Publication Date:
- 07-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Abstract:
- The New Counter-Insurgency Era in Critical Perspective pulls together contributions from a range of authors with academic, policy, and military perspectives. Developed in the wake of the American-led invasion of Iraq, the current counterinsurgency (COIN) narrative— commonly referred to as “population centric” or “hearts-andminds”—identifies civilians as the center of gravity in winning insurgencies. Under this rubric, counterinsurgency experts have advocated redressing popular grievances, providing public goods and services, representative governance, and limited use of force. Such actions, these experts claim, will woo civilians away from supporting insurgents and inspire loyalty to the incumbent regime. Scholars, military handbooks, and media reports have all articulated this paradigm. The book’s editors state that “it was the largely uncritical acceptance of this COIN narrative that forms the background to this edited volume.”
9403. Social Justice and the Indian Rope Trick
- Author:
- Aaron Ross Powell
- Publication Date:
- 07-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Abstract:
- There’s a clarity and straightforwardness to Anthony de Jasay’s work that’s always refreshing—even when I find myself disagreeing with what he’s clearly and straightforwardly arguing. Jasay is unapologetic about his beliefs and that sense of purpose has animated his numerous contributions to libertarian thought. Yet, in this collection, that certainty occasionally leads him to offer incomplete arguments that miss their mark. The essays collected in Social Justice and the Indian Rope Trick largely group into three different arguments, all intended in some degree to highlight what Jasay calls a “perilously ignored defect of modern political thought, namely the careless use, the misuse, and even the downright abuse of the language.” The first target is the term “social justice,” which Jasay thinks a pleonasm at best, a dangerous subversion of justice at worst. Then he turns to rights, which he finds conceptually unhelpful, tying us in intellectual knots we could shrug out of if we’d only recognize the primacy of rules. Finally, he addresses the problems of social contract theory and distinguishes it from his own preferred theory of conventions.
9404. This Nonviolent Stuff’ll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible
- Author:
- David Kopel
- Publication Date:
- 07-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Abstract:
- Charles Cobb’s excellent book This Nonviolent Stuff’ll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible teaches two important lessons that will make some people uncomfortable. The first lesson is summarized in the subtitle: the exercise of Second Amendment rights was a sine qua non for the survival and success of the Civil Rights Movement in the South during the 1960s. The second uncomfortable lesson, for some people, is that community organizing is vital to democracy. This Nonviolent Stuff is not the first book about armed self-defense in the Civil Rights Movement, but it does make a vital and unique contribution.
9405. The Myth of Dynastic Wealth: The Rich Get Poorer
- Author:
- Robert Arnott, William Bernstein, and Lillian Wu
- Publication Date:
- 09-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Abstract:
- Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century rocketed to the top of the best-seller lists the moment it was published in 2013, and remained there for months. While this feat is quite remarkable for a weighty tome on economics, it’s no mystery why Piketty’s magnum opus created such a sensation; it is clearly articulated, is accessible to the non-economist, and contains a trove of historical insights. We believe Piketty’s core message is provably flawed on several levels, as a result of fundamental and avoidable errorsin his basic assumptions. 1 He begins with the sensible presumption that the return on invested capital, r, exceeds macroeconomic growth, g, as must be true in any healthy economy. But from this near-tautology, he moves on to presume that wealthy families will grow ever richer over future generations, leading to a society dominated by unearned, hereditary wealth.
- Topic:
- Economics
- Political Geography:
- United States and Europe
9406. Central Bank Stress Tests: Mad, Bad, and Dangerous
- Author:
- Kevin Dowd
- Publication Date:
- 09-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Abstract:
- One of the most important aspects of the remarkable transformation of central banking following the onset of the 2008 global financial crisis is the growth of regulatory stress tests for the larger banks. The relevant regulator—typically the central bank—uses these to determine the ability of the banks to withstand stress, and uses the results of the tests to assess the overall financial health of the banking system. A key purpose of the stress tests is to reassure the public that the banking system is sound.
- Topic:
- Economics
- Political Geography:
- United States
9407. The Conservatarian Manifesto: Libertarians, Conservatives, and the Fight for the Right’s Future
- Author:
- Ilya Shapiro
- Publication Date:
- 09-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Abstract:
- It’s altogether fitting that a book throwing down the gauntlet for a libertarian-conservative fusion in the 2010s has emerged from an author linked to the same magazine as the progenitor of the original fusionism of a half-century earlier. I only recently met Charlie Cooke—though we’ve exchanged many tweets—and never had the chance to meet Frank Meyer—though I’m heavily involved with the Federalist Society, which his son Eugene has long led—butI have no doubt that the two would get on swimmingly. And it comes as no surprise that both cut their writing chops at National Review, which many assume is a stodgy journal of urtraditionalist redoubt when in fact it has produced some of the most innovative reformist ideas in the conservative movement. Or, should I say, that it has featured ideas from the full range of center-right thought, along with various manifestations of entertainingly untraditional personal style.
- Topic:
- Economics
- Political Geography:
- United States
9408. Financing Options for the Ugandan National Oil Company
- Author:
- Thomas Lassourd
- Publication Date:
- 09-2015
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Natural Resource Governance Institute
- Abstract:
- This briefing note is an effort to help frame the main tradeoffs and assess four potential funding models for the newly created national oil company of Uganda. It is based on NRGI’s international experience and understanding of the local context. Uganda’s national oil company will have a critical role. It is expected to professionally manage all aspects of state participation in the sector and act as a center of expertise for the government. It is also expected to play a strong role as a minority equity partner in the USD 4.3 billion Hoima refinery project and potentially in a USD 4 billion export pipeline. Under all possible funding options, strong audit and reporting processes should be required, as well as parliamentary oversight. The chosen funding model will also need to balance the needs of the national oil company with national development needs in Uganda. Funding model options can be adapted to meet Uganda’s unique situation. NRGI is at the disposal of Uganda’s government and parliament to discuss these models.
- Topic:
- Development, Energy Policy, Oil, Natural Resources, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- Uganda and Africa
9409. Answering Questions About the Commodity Slump: A Summary from the 2015 NRGI Conference
- Author:
- David Manley
- Publication Date:
- 10-2015
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Natural Resource Governance Institute
- Abstract:
- There has rarely been as large a commodity boom, with such resounding effects, as the one that has recently ended. Policy makers and commentators saw the boom as an opportunity to pull hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. But, after the crash of commodity prices, one might ask whether this opportunity been largely missed. Policymakers and citizens of resource-rich countries should draw lessons from the experience and ascertain what risks and opportunities they now face in a period of depressed prices. To contribute to this thinking, NRGI gathered more than 180 experts for two days of discussion at St. Catherine’s College, Oxford, in June 2015. Key questions addressed in this conference summary paper include: Were countries prepared for the bust? Was a lack of accountability and transparency really to blame for countries’ poor resource governance efforts? How can transparency be more useful? Has the price slump closed the door on new investment? Is there a “race to the bottom” to stem capital flight? Can we turn the crisis into an opportunity?
- Topic:
- Development, International Trade and Finance, Oil, Poverty, Natural Resources, and Financial Crisis
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
9410. In Pursuit of Transparent Trading
- Publication Date:
- 10-2015
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Natural Resource Governance Institute
- Abstract:
- Commodity trading and the activities of trading companies influence economic and governance outcomes in developing countries. Typically privately owned with flexible business models, many trading companies work extensively in “high-risk” environments – including countries with weak institutions, conflicts or other challenges that scare away more risk-averse companies. Given the size of this footprint, and its prevalence in countries with high levels of corruption or poverty (or both), the quality of trading companies’ business practices is of serious concern. Trading companies play several roles through which they influence public institutions and public revenues, and they frequently build close relationships with top officials and political elites. They are major buyers of raw materials sold by governments and state-owned companies worldwide, and these transactions generate significant public revenues. Traders also provide large loans to governments, sell refined products, and enter into joint ventures with state-owned entities. They are expanding their upstream and downstream operations in developing countries as well.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Trade and Finance, Natural Resources, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus