RSS

November 11, 2008 | Afghan Police and Economy: Lynchpins for Success

Memo 9: Afghanistan needs a continued international commitment to ensure its security and assist in economic and social development. The US, EU and Germany must focus on training local authorities. Cooperating with Iran and the Taliban remains a point of debate.

August 15, 2008 | Doing Good Efficiently

Finn E. Kydland: Six Nobel Peace Prize laureates asked themselves what the most effective way would be to spend $75 billion in order to make the world a better place. The ranking list they developed gives very different answers than those policymakers usually do.

March 13, 2008 | Bangalore and the Challenge of Inclusive Growth

Hans F. Bellstedt: As a modern and economically booming city, Bangalore stands for the upside of globalization and offers a possible foretaste of what India will be like in the future. Yet Bangalore’s success story is still an exception in a country that suffers from deep-set structural problems.

January 21, 2008 | Kosovo: Avoid US Unilateralism, Encourage EU Leaders

Memo 4: Members of the Atlantic Community are mostly optimistic about the future of Kosovo and conflict resolution in the Western Balkans. The EU has a key role in this region and policy is in the right track, but, of course, big challenges still lie ahead.

December 12, 2007 | Kosovo: It's Not as Bad as You Think

Elizabeth Pond: The EU and the UN can build on recent progress to resolve the last unfinished business from the 1990s’ Balkan wars. There is still a long way to go, though, to bring Kosovo under EU supervision and persuade Serbia to opt for a European future.

December 7, 2007 | "Corruption Ruins Lives"

Transparency International: ‘s Global Corruption Barometer reveals that corruption remains a constant presence in the lives of people around the world and that poor families are hit hardest by demands for bribes.

June 8, 2007 | G8 Criticism: Scattered and Hollow

Sylke Tempel: I look at the ever-present globalization bogeyman at the top of this year’s G8 protest agenda. But are concerns justified? Many of the more fuzzy arguments of globalization critics can be easily discarded.

May 22, 2007 | Congo: Grassroots Groups Are Key Partners

Guenther von Billerbeck: I advise that civil society organizations, and not just the new DRC government, may be the best partners to bring stability and peace to the Congo. The international community, particularly the UN, EU, and bilateral partners of the Congolese government, should partner with non-governmental actors to turn the country toward sustainable democracy and prosperity.

May 14, 2007 | The EU Can and Should Do More in Afghanistan

Julianne Smith: I want the EU to take a stronger role in Afghanistan. The EU should act as a coordinating body for the reconstruction and development of the country. This would also strengthen Europe’s standing with its partners.

July 21, 2008 | Dam Projects Threaten the Livelihoods of Over 60 Million

Many governments in Southeast Asia are hoping for better energy security and appreciable increases in public revenue through a number of dam construction projects along the Mekong River. Yet the projected dams do not only produce electricity, inject the empty state treasuries with money from international development programs, or promise long term gains through energy exports. They also reduce

May 7, 2008 | Challenges and Promises of China's Urbanization

China’s growth is especially generated in the cities. Their contribution to the GDP is around 75 percent. In 2025, there should be a billion Chinese living in urban areas, 350 million more than today. They could then be responsible for 95 percent of the Chinese GDP. For Chinese as well as international companies, this advancing urbanization of China holds huge promises. At the same time,

May 6, 2008 | "Solving Asia's Food Crisis"

The rise in food prices threatens the success of poverty reduction in Asia. ++ Rather than subsidies, price control, and export caps, governments should focus on targeted income and cash support measures as short-term remedies. ++ This will give better coverage to those in need, and allow governments greater flexibility in boosting agricultural investment, creating incentives for increased

April 22, 2008 | Google Gathers Earth Day Pledges

Googlers from around the world are exchanging ideas and intentions on how to combat climate change on the Earth Day-specific mashup map. ++ The “nifty map” is part of the initiative “go green with Google” which provides ideas, energy saver gadgets, and a database of NGOs focusing on environmental sustainability. ++ The map is an inspiring platform to raise awareness and

April 15, 2008 | The Political Will to Make a "Real Dent in Poverty"

Political pressures are preventing the structural problems of the aid system from being solved rapidly. ++ Achieving the development goals set for 2015 requires immediate action, the political will of official donors, and the contribution of non-profit organizations. ++ Even if aid is in short supply, a system which coordinates donors, projects and priorities can deliver quality assistance.

March 10, 2008 | The Perverse Effects of Biofuels

Despite progress on climate change, there is an imminent threat on food security. ++ Decreased rainfalls and the rush to grow biofuels in an unsustainable manner is causing food prices to soar and putting the world at risk of a food crisis. ++ Expected growth of the population and increasing wealth in developing nations will exacerbate the problem by exerting added pressure on food and energy

March 4, 2008 | India's Infrastructure: Chances and Risks for Investments

India’s infrastructure is obstructing economic growth. Just the terrible state of the roads and the endless traffic jams cause economic losses amounting to 6 billion US dollars per year. The cities in particular are struggling with increasing traffic chaos and power cuts. At the same time, the number of inhabitants in the cities will increase by 20% over the next seven years. The Indian

March 3, 2008 | Lisbon Agenda: the EU Fails to Deliver on R&D Promises

Europe is well on the way to fall short of the ambitiously formulated targets of the Lisbon Agenda of 2002. We remember: all EU member states wanted to increase R&D expenditure from an average 1,8% of GDP in the late 1990s to 3% of GDP by 2010. Two thirds of this was to be funded by the business sector while the rest was to be funded by governments. However last year, the total expenditure

January 28, 2008 | India and China on Climate Change: Let's Work Together

Apart from hosting international sporting events in the near future, Delhi and Beijing have a lot in common at the moment, according to Narayani Ganesh of the Times of India: both face increasingly serious environmental challenges.
However these common issues offer opportunities for scientific cooperation, as shown by a memorandum on environmental collaboration signed during PM Manohan

December 12, 2007 | The US Trails Behind on Humanitarian Aid

A new rating of 22 developed countries (and the EC) puts the United States at 16th on Humanitarian Aid. The new Humanitarian Response Index (HRI), carried out by a Spain-based NGO called DARA, focuses less on total funding and more on how well aid dollars reach their target.

Sweden gets top marks for quickly delivering funds in cash, and consistently following up. The US on the other hand

December 4, 2007 | Survey Shows Afghans are still Hopeful about the Future

An opinion poll commissioned by the BBC indicates that 54% of Afghans think things are going in the right direction, while 70% described their living conditions as good or very good. According to the poll of 1377 people from all 34 provinces of Afghanistan, 67% support or strongly support the presence of NATO forces.
Most striking was the apparent unpopularity of the Taliban – only 5% of

April 25, 2007 | Chicago Tribune Finds UN Giving Dollars to Dictators

After the UN oil-for-food scandal, it seemed UN aid programs couldn’t possibly sink lower in public opinion. Enter North Korea which, according to the Chicago Tribune, has taken $150 million in hard currency from the UN Development Program in Pyongyang. UN officials now promise a full audit, but the fact that this “development aid” was used during the period when the North Korean nuclear weapons

April 16, 2007 | Deutsche Welle Watching Globalization Eat Its Parents

Globalization has come full circle, says Deutsche Welle. 10 years ago, Germany set the tone of its economic relationship with India. German companies outsourced parts of their production to India and attempted to lure Indian IT-Specialists into the country. Now, Indian companies are opening up subsidiaries in Germany, employing Germans, and an Indian steel giant is making bids to buy its