Past Highlights

The Business of Building Walls

08 Nov 2019

2019/11 – Transnational Institute (TNI); research paper; Author(s): Mark Akkerman

This report explores the business of building walls in Europe, which has both fuelled and benefited from a massive expansion of public spending on border security by the European Union (EU) and its member states. The main beneficiaries of this development are the businesses involved, some of them also global players who tap into a global market for border security estimated to be worth approximately €17.5 billion in 2018, with annual growth of at least 8% expected in coming years. It is important to look both beyond and behind Europe’s walls and fencing, because the real barriers to contemporary migration are not so much the fencing, but the vast array of technology that underpins it, from the radar systems to the drones to the surveillance cameras to the biometric fingerprinting systems.

continue: The Business of Building Walls (external link)

10 Years to Act. 11 Voices for a Sustainable World

27 Sep 2019

2019/09 – Agence Française de Développement (AFD); research paper; Author(s): Stéphane Besançon et al

As the challenges of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent a serious emergency, this cross-cutting scientific booklet gathers the voices of 11 experts in development on various topics, from water to governance through biodiversity, inequalities or entrepreneurship. We can now see the symptoms of the difficulties ahead “if nothing is done”–the unvarying incipit of repeated warnings. But soon we will wake up to find that a decade has slipped away. Will we then be ready to bear the consequences of our lack of initiative?

continue: 10 Years to Act. 11 Voices for a Sustainable World (external link)

Migration and Development: The Role for Development Aid

29 Aug 2019

2019/08 – Expert Group for Aid Studies (EBA); research paper; Author(s): Robert E.B. Lucas

What is known and not known about the links between migration and economic development? What is the potential of development assistance in enhancing these links? This publication by The Migration Studies Delegation (Delmi) and The Expert Group for Aid Studies (EBA), today's featured EADI member, synthesizes existing research on the links between migration and economic development. It also discusses how the role of migration in development can be considered in the design of development assistance. The evidence is mixed on whether development assistance increase growth, and on whether growth increase or decrease emigration pressures. Both the composition of aid and characteristics of the recipient country influence the effects of development assistance on migration and economic development.

continue: Migration and Development: The Role for Development Aid (external link)

Poverty as Ideology. Rescuing Social Justice from Global Development Agendas

19 Aug 2019

2019/08 – Comparative Research Programme on Poverty (CROP), International Social Science Council (ISSC); UiB Global, University of Bergen; Book; Author(s): Fischer, Andrew Martin 2018/12 – Now open access!

Poverty as Ideology shows how our dominant approaches to poverty studies have served to reinforce the prevailing neoliberal ideology while neglecting the wider interests of social justice that are fundamental to creating more equitable societies. Instead, our development policies have created a ‘poverty industry’ that obscures the dynamic reproductions of poverty within contemporary capitalist development and promotes segregation in the name of science and charity. Andrew Fisher, associate professor at the Institute of Social Studies (ISS), argues that an effective and lasting solution to global poverty requires us to reorient our efforts away from current fixations on productivity and towards more equitable distributions of wealth and resources. The book is winner of the International Studies in Poverty Prize awarded by the Comparative Research Programme on Poverty CROP and Zed Books.

continue: Poverty as Ideology. Rescuing Social Justice from Global Development Agendas (external link)

The Digital Revolution and Sustainable Development: Opportunities and Challenges

05 Aug 2019

2019/07 – German Development Institute, Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) et al; research paper; Author(s): The World in 2050 Initiative

It is increasingly clear that digital changes, we refer to them as the Digital Revolution, are becoming a key driving force in societal transformation. The transformation towards sustainability for all must be harmonized with the threats, opportunities and dynamics of the Digital Revolution, the goals of the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement. At the same time, the digital transformation will radically alter all dimensions of global societies and economies and will therefore change the interpretation of the sustainability paradigm itself. Digitalization is not only an ‘instrument’ to resolve sustainability challenges, it is also fundamental as a driver of disruptive change. This report is based on the voluntary and collaborative effort of 45 authors and contributors from about 20 institutions, among them the German Development Institute (DIE) and 100 independent experts from academia, business, government, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations from all the regions of the world.

continue: The Digital Revolution and Sustainable Development: Opportunities and Challenges (external link)

Economic Outlook for Southeast Asia, China and India 2019 – Update - Responding to Environmental Hazards in Cities

05 Aug 2019

2019/07 – OECD Development Centre (OECD/DC); research paper; Author(s): Oecd

The Economic Outlook for Southeast Asia, China and India is a bi-annual publication on regional economic growth, development and regional integration in Emerging Asia. It focuses on the economic conditions of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries. It also addresses relevant economic issues in China and India to fully reflect economic developments in the region. The update of the Outlook comprises three main parts, each highlighting a particular dimension of recent economic developments in the region. The first part presents the regional economic monitor, depicting the economic outlook and macroeconomic challenges in the region. The second and third parts consist of special thematic chapters addressing a major issue facing the region. This update focuses on smart cities, discussing in particular smart city strategies and urban environmental risks.

continue: Economic Outlook for Southeast Asia, China and India 2019 – Update - Responding to Environmental Hazards in Cities (external link)

Public Finance for the Future We Want

05 Jul 2019

2019/06 – Transnational Institute (TNI); book; Editor(s): Lavinia Steinfort, Satoko Kishimoto

This open access book by the Transnational Institute draws on real-world examples to demonstrate that a political economy that curbs the power of big finance and serves people and planet is possible. The ideas shared here are timely and urgent—a call to readiness before the next financial bubble bursts. This book presents visions of regenerative and redistributive economies, built with collective power: from the thriving cooperative economy in Kerala, India, to the hundreds of local saving banks in Germany, the worker-owned bank Banco Popular in Costa Rica, and the thousands of People’s Credit Funds in Vietnam. It explores models that could become the new normal— the basis for a democratically organised and life-sustaining future.

continue: Public Finance for the Future We Want (external link)

Enabling Civil Society for Sustainable Development

05 Jul 2019

2019/06 – OECD Development Centre (OECD/DC); Text; Author(s): Jacqueline Wood; Karin Fällman

Civil society and civil society organisations (CSOs) are important to development co-operation, both as implementing partners for members of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC), and as development actors in their own right. Agenda 2030 is clear on the necessity of mobilising CSOs to implement, and uphold accountability for, the Sustainable Development Goals. This paper by the OECD Development Centre introduces a selection of key findings and recommendations from two 2018-2019 surveys complemented with DAC statistical data. It points to evidence of member effort to work with CSOs in ways that enable CSOs to maximise their contribution to development.

continue: Enabling Civil Society for Sustainable Development (external link)

Risk-Informed Development: From Crisis to Resilience

07 Jun 2019

2019/05 – Overseas Development Institute (ODI); research paper; Author(s): Sarah Opitz-Stapleton et al.

This report explores how development can become more sustainable and resilient: Over the past decade, important progress has been made on poverty reduction, disease control and access to healthcare, education and services. However, these gains are fragile, and are undermined by new and emerging threats, including climate change, economic and financial instability, antibiotic resistance, transnational criminal networks and terrorism, cyber fragility, geopolitical volatility and conflict. These threats are interconnected, they cross national borders and they are occurring simultaneously.

continue: Risk-Informed Development: From Crisis to Resilience (external link)

No Time to Waste: Tackling the Plastic Pollution Crisis Before it’s Too Late

07 Jun 2019

2019/05 – Institute of Development Studies (IDS), Brighton; research paper; Author(s): Mari Williams at al.

This report by Tearfund, Fauna & Flora International (FFI), WasteAid and The Institute of Development Studies (IDS) describes the environmental destruction, sickness, mortality, and damage to livelihoods that the plastic pollution crisis is causing. On the solution side, it outlines the roles and responsibilities of four groups who could be key to tackling the plastic pollution crisis.

continue: No Time to Waste: Tackling the Plastic Pollution Crisis Before it’s Too Late (external link)

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