Delicious/euforic/research_stories

http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/details.asp?id=6014&title=busan-fragile-states-aid-effectiveness-managing-donor-risk

euforic — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 23:08:47 +0000

"Since the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Accra in 2008, there has been a growing awareness amongst the international community that low-income countries with fragile institutions are not simply more difficult cases of development, but require a fundamentally different approach to delivering development assistance. In most cases, however, the way in which assistance has been provided follows the same procedures and uses the same approaches to assessing and managing fiduciary risks that are applied to stable countries." (2011/10 - Overseas Development Institute - ODI)

The role of welfare systems in affecting out-migration The case of Central and Eastern Europe (pdf)

euforic — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 22:35:32 +0000

"This paper analyses the role of welfare systems in shaping migration patterns in Central and Eastern Europe over the transition process and after EU accession. It argues that states have played a crucial role in affecting migration by creating and widening opportunities for potential and actual migrants through welfare system policies. This explains why CEE countries where social spending figures have been lower, unemployment benefit schemes less extensive, and where labour market mismatches remained unaddressed, experienced greater out-migration." (2011/09 - Oxford University Department of International Development - ODID)

Recalibrating Development Co-operation: How can African Countries Benefit from Emerging Partners?

euforic — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 22:36:10 +0000

"With the recent boost of emerging economies in African economic relations, a different philosophy of development co-operation is progressively gaining momentum. Indeed, there are critical differences in the way development co-operation is provided by traditional and emerging partners. For the latter, aid is only one element of a broader economic engagement toolbox. These new realties on the ground mark a qualitative change in the provision of development co-operation both in terms of sectoral allocation and modalities of delivery, which in turn impacts on outcomes as well as the challenges for the recipient countries." (2010/10 - OECD)

From one Sudan to two Sudan: from War to Peace?

euforic — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 22:31:09 +0000

"We, the democratically elected representatives of the people, based on the will of the people of Southern Sudan and as confirmed by the outcome of the referendum on self-determination, hereby declare Southern Sudan to be an independent and sovereign state”. On the 9 of July, this solemn declaration announced the birth of the Republic of South Sudan, Africa’s 54th state and the United Nations’ 193rd member state. The independence celebrations were held in Juba, South Sudan’s capital, while a jubilant crowd of Southern Sudanese was flooding the streets of the city chanting slogans and waving the flag of the new state. A large parterre of guests of honor attended the official ceremony, including thirty African heads of state, the Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon and delegations from all over the world(...)" (2011/10- Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale - ISPI)

Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries

euforic — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 12:30:58 +0000

"How does innovation impact on development? How, and under what conditions, do entrepreneurs in developing countries innovate? And what can be done to support innovation by entrepreneurs in developing countries? This policy brief addresses these questions and explains the relationship between entrepreneurship, innovation and development. Policy lessons are drawn from historical, cross-country and individual country experiences." (2011/10 - Center for International Relations and Development Studies / CIDOB)

Foreign Aid in Bolivia (1985-2003): Boom and Fall of Neoliberalism (PDF)

euforic — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 12:28:07 +0000

""Since 1985 foreign aid became a central issue for understanding Bolivia´s process of development. Financial needs derived from a double crisis (external debt plus hyperinflation) forced their political leaders to massively resort to international aid for stabilization and restructuration of its economy. The resulting dependence of the financial aid combined with an ideological agreement between the successive Bolivian governments and the main aid donors paved the way for the implantation of a neoliberal model as the new development axis." (2011/01 - Cátedra de Cooperación Internacional y con Iberoamérica / COIBA)

Global Exchanges and Gender Perspectives in Africa

euforic — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 12:09:55 +0000

""The classical liberal ideology does not seem to draw any significant distinctions between men and women when they engage in commercial transactions that sanction the unevenness of the product without really factoring in the social status of the trading partners. It apparently does not consider that the individual, homo oeconomicus, whose conduct, viewed from the standpoint of the minimum ‘human’ referent, maximizes its utility based on a stable scale of preferences whose history is never recorded; such interest, which is at the root of trade, is constantly discounted by an individual reduced solely to his or her economic activity." (2011/10 - Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa / CODESRIA)

The effects of a changing institutional environment on academic research practices: three cases from agricultural science - Publications - Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR) - University of Amsterdam

euforic — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 21:51:32 +0000

"Laurens K Hessels, John Grin and Ruud E H M Smits investigate the varying effects of a changing institutional environment on academic research practices in three fields of Dutch animal science. Their analysis shows that the shifts in funding have stimulated interactions with societal stakeholders in fields where this has helped to sustain a basic research agenda. In other fields researchers experience a tension between satisfying the needs of application-oriented funding sources and reaching high scores on evaluations dominated by bibliometric indicators. The paper concludes with the identification of three field characteristics that seem to moderate the effects of institutional changes on academic research practices." (2011/09 - AISSR)

A New Reading of the Crisis and the Dilemmas of Economic Policy

euforic — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 01:52:28 +0000

"Theme: The financial shock waves of August 2011 call for a review of the diagnosis of the crisis and an evaluation of the limited economic policy alternatives at the disposal of the US and the euro zone. Summary: This ARI argues that in order to understand the turbulence that has rocked the international economy since August 2011, it is necessary to re-diagnose the crisis. It explains that the economic growth posted by most advanced countries (excluding Spain) in the wake of the recession of 2008-2010 was in part just a mirage, fuelled by government stimulus measures that are difficult to maintain. The paper also examines the limited economic policy options that governments have." (2011/09 - Real Instituto Elcano)

Turning Legal Pluralism into State-Sanctioned Law: Assessing the Implications of the New Constitutions and Laws in Bolivia and Ecuador

euforic — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 20:31:46 +0000

"Ethnically diverse societies have long faced the challenge of accommodating distinct and often conflictive normative orders within a single polity. Leaving the ideal of a single, ho-mogeneous legal order aside, many Latin American states have recently acknowledged the right of indigenous peoples to practice and generate proper law. The ensuing question of how to address the challenges implied by this state-sanctioned form of legal pluralism is examined by a comparison of Bolivia and Ecuador in this paper. Similarities between cases can be identified as to the definition and limits of indigenous jurisdictions and the coordi-nation among legal authorities. Marked differences exist with regard to the status of in-digenous law, the ability to appeal indigenous rulings, and the incorporation of indige-nous legal cultures into the state’s legal system. (...)" (2011/08 - GIGA)