The New Presence of China in Africa2009/09 - European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI); EADI Book Series; Ed.: Meine Pieter van Dijk
Abstract:
This book describes China's growing range of activities in Africa, especially in the sub-Saharan region. The three most important instruments China has at its disposal in Africa are development aid, investments and trade policy. The Chinese government, which believes the Western development aid model has failed, is looking for new forms of aid and development in Africa. China's economic success can partly be ascribed to the huge availability of cheap labour, which is primarily employed in export-oriented industries. China is looking for the required raw materials in Africa, and for new marketplaces. Investments are being made on a large scale in Africa by Chinese state-controlled firms and private companies, particularly in the oil-producing countries (Angola, Nigeria and Sudan) and countries rich in minerals (Zambia). Third, the trade policy China is conducting is analysed in China and compared with that of Europe and the United States.
In case studies the specific situation in several African countries is examined. In Zambia the mining industry, construction and agriculture are described. One case study of Sudan deals with the political presence of China in Sudan and the extent to which Chinese arms suppliers contributed to the current crisis in Darfur. The possibility of Chinese diplomacy offering a solution in that conflict is discussed.
The conclusion considers whether social responsibility can be expected of the Chinese government and companies and if this is desirable, and to what extent the Chinese model in Africa can act as an example – or not – for the West.
Meine Pieter van Dijk is professor of water services management at the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education in Delft and part-time professor at the Economic Faculty of Erasmus University in Rotterdam.
Reviews
This is one of the best books on Chinese-African relations from an economic-managerial perspective. It provides a great insight on Chinese FDI, Foreign Aid and Trade with Africa and therefore a must for policy-makers, researchers and students dealing with the influence of China in Africa.
Diederik de Boer, Director of the Sustainable Development Centre, Maastricht School of Management
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Human Capital and the Quality of Education in a Poverty Trap Model2009/08 - Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI), WORKING PAPER NO. 30, Author: Maria Emma Santos
Abstract:
This paper presents a model of a poverty trap that is caused by an unequal initial income and human capital distribution, and differences in the quality of education between children from the more and less advantaged social sectors. Under certain conditions, the economy converges to a situation with three stable and simultaneous equilibria, two of which constitute poverty traps, lowering the economy’s current and steady-state aggregate output level as well as its growth rate. The model suggests that a policy oriented to equalizing the quality of education would, in the long run, have potential in reducing initial inequalities.
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Gender Vulnerabilities, Food Price Shocks and Social Protection Responses 2009/08 - Overseas Development Institute (ODI), ODI Background Note, Authors: Rebecca Holmes et al.
Abstract:
The first half of 2008 saw the peak of the international food price spike: food prices had risen dramatically, with effects on domestic and local food prices in many countries. Since then, the global economic crisis has further compounded the situation, with concerns that the contagion effects could reverse decades of progress in developing countries, with hundreds of millions of people experiencing worsening impoverishment and destitution.
In this Background Note, we argue that two important features of the food price crisis have received inadequate attention. First – as has been the case in previous crises – women are bearing a disproportionate share of the burden of the food price crisis, both as producers and consumers. Second, responses at the international and national levels have not taken sufficient consideration of gender dynamics into crisis responses.
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Shrimp amongst Whales? Assessing South Korea’s Regional-power Status2009/09 - German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA); Working Paper No. 107; Author: David Shim
Abstract:
Recent developments in South Korea’s foreign and security policies as well as major struc-tural adjustments in the military alliance between the United States and South Korea indi-cate a new self-understanding on the part of South Korea in terms of playing a more asser-tive role in regional and even global affairs. Alongside its involvement in the so-called Six-Party Talks—a multinational framework to disarm a nuclear North Korea—South Korea’s civil-military engagement in Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon demonstrates that the gov-ernment’s foreign policy posture is not only focused on Northeast Asian affairs but is also intended to engage in other international security hot spots. However, although it has con-siderable material resources and capabilities—in neorealist terms constituting the power base of a state actor—South Korea is widely seen as a minor player in world politics. By means of a specific set of indicators—pretension, endowment, influence, recognition—this paper seeks to answer the question of whether South Korea is a regional power. The meth-odological approach used to evaluate its position will be based on analytical frameworks and typologies compiled from the literature on regional powers. Following the introduc-tion of this approach, different concepts of the term regional power and the selection of the methodological instruments are presented. The subsequent section analyzes the selected set of indicators with regard to South Korea’s potential status as a regional power. The concluding chapter evaluates the findings and raises further questions related to the re-gional-power concept.
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Tenure Security or Social Security?2009/06 - Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS); DIIS Working Paper 2009:4, Author: Soeren Hvalkof
Abstract:
This working paper summarizes the discussions and findings of a recent larger study of the impacts of contemporary land privatization processes and individual titling programs affecting indigenous communities in Latin America, with particular emphasis on indigenous economies and production systems. The study was informed by case studies from Peru, Bolivia and Honduras and Mexico, with the main focus on the indigenous peasant societies of the highlands of South and Central America, where individualization schemes apply. The neoliberal policies of the 1990s promoted market based legal and administrative reforms, with a strong emphasis on developing a dynamic land market that would eventually have an impact on indigenous communal land tenure systems, whether they were the direct target or not. From the present study it can be seen that there are significant contradictions between indigenous communal land arrangements and tenure systems, and the market-based land and agricultural policy reforms being promoted by the multilateral donor agencies. In the conventional economic development discourse land tenure security is considered a prerequisite for economic growth. The study shows, however, that in relation to indigenous communities the question of tenure security is much more complex and closely related to the security of social reproduction, safeguarding of communal control and of the communal decision-making authority. It shows that privatization and individualization of land tenure per se has not generated the expected results.
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The Protection of Women and Children in Liberia2009/07 - Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI); Policy Brief No. 1, Authors: Benjamin de Carvalho, Niels Nagelhus Schia
Abstract:
After six years of UN presence, women and children still lack the protection they have been promised. Through a grant of USD 1.6 million from the Norwegian Government administered through UNDP, the Liberian National Police (LNP) has now been able to establish Women and Children Protection Sections (WACPS) in over twenty locations in Liberia. These sections are meant to address the protection of women and children, especially against genderbased violence (GBV), including sexual violence. While having been recognized from the UN as representing a landmark effort, these sections nevertheless do not function as intended. There is a dire lack of resources for running these sections. Furthermore, GBV is not addressed in a comprehensive manner. Thus, police officers involved in the WACPS, in spite of often being well-trained, willing and qualified, often go through the motions rather than addressing the substantive challenges facing women and children.
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Candide in Congo. The expected failure of Security Sector Reform 2009/05 - Institut francais des relations internationales (ifri); Focus stratégique No 9 bis, Author: Sebastien Melmot
Abstract:
From Afghanistan to the Central African Republic, through Haiti and Guinea Bissau, "failed" or fragile states have finally turned out to be much more resilient than planned to the Security Sector Reforms (SSR) and other imported reforms of governance. Their ability to let any reform coming from abroad sink, to block or twist such initiatives strongly contrasts with the weakness of their human and financial resources. The example of the Democratic Republic of Congo illustrates the difficulties which are inherent to the concept of SSR.
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Sustainable Economic Development in Conflict-affected Environments: A Guidebook 2009/08 - Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), Author: Helmut Grossmann et al.
Abstract:
This comprehensive Guidebook on Sustainable Economic Development in Conflict affected Environments synthesises that work and contributes to the current international efforts, in particular of the Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (DCED), to improve economic development approaches in these difficult conditions. It explains the challenges of working in a conflictive environment and guides development practitioners towards successful project planning, implementation and monitoring
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Losing Ground: Protection and Livelihoods in the Occupied Palestinian Territory 2009/07 - Overseas Development Institute (ODI), HPG Working Paper, Authors: Sorcha O'Callaghan et al.
Abstract:
The occupation of Palestine and the conflict and violence that have attended it has had devastating implications for protection and livelihoods in the West Bank and Gaza. A series of measures have combined to create ‘a crisis of human dignity where the entire population is denied basic rights’. This Working Paper analyses the relationship between protection and livelihoods in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It explores how threats to people’s protection are linked to their livelihoods, the impact of these threats on particular groups in the West Bank and Gaza and the strategies they employ in response. The study analyses the efforts of humanitarian organisations to link protection and livelihoods in their work, with recommendations on how this work could be expanded in the occupied Palestinian territory and elsewhere.
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Beyond the Surge: Policy Options for Afghanistan 2009 - Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI); Seminar Report
Abstract:
The surge in the US presence in Afghanistan, announced by President Barack Obama soon after taking office, is unfolding rapidly. What does this ‘surge’ signify? Is it a commitment to achieve what Obama calls ‘the achievable objective’ in US strategy towards Afghanistan, namely to eliminate Al Qaeda’s base in the region and ensure that the organization will not be a source of terrorist threats to the West and its allies? Or is it the beginning of an exit strategy from a controversial war, aiming to gain a position of military strength from which to negotiate a favorable compromise? In a longer time perspective, is it a step to secure a strategic US presence in the region, or a prelude to strategic retrenchment? What are the implications for Afghans who are deeply concerned about the escalating violence in their country, disillusioned by the pace of reconstruction, and apprehensive about the future?
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¿Hay lugar para el cambio positivo entre Europa e Irán?2009/05 - Fundacion para las Relaciones Internacionales y el Dialogo Exterior (FRIDE); Policy Brief, Author: Paulo Botta
Abstract:
Irán ha aumentado en los últimos cinco años su influencia regional. Sin embargo, el desarrollo de su plan nuclear ha generado un conflicto con la comunidad internacional que se encuentra en un punto muerto. Aunque la nueva administración Obama parece estar iniciando una nueva política hacia Teherán, también se exigirá una decisión por parte de Europa.
En este policy brief se recomiendan algunas líneas de acción tomando en consideración los intereses europeos en aquella región así como las implicaciones que en temas clave tendría la aceptación de Irán como potencia regional, y cuáles serían las responsabilidades de Irán derivadas de su nueva posición. Teherán podría ejercer su influencia en temas de importancia para la seguridad europea como es el caso de Afganistán, la solución de las tensiones con los países árabes e Israel, así como corredores de energía alternativos.
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