Despite the best of intentions, donors can inadvertently undermine statebuilding processes. When the resources they deliver or the reforms they advocate weaken rather than strengthen the state’s decision- and policy-making functions, their efforts can do more harm than good. Donors can also do harm by creating a brain drain away from state organizations. When aid [...]
Archive for the ‘International Politics’ Category
New OECD Report: “Do No Harm: International Support for Statebuilding”
Posted in Afghanistan, Development Theory, International Politics, Peace and Conflict on February 8, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Politicophobia: How the UN Fails Afghanistan
Posted in Afghanistan, Development Theory, International Politics, Peace and Conflict on January 4, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
In a parliamentary democracy with a president at the executive helm, it is one of the former’s most critical prerogatives to review, approve or potentially reject the latter’s cabinet. This is the procedure followed in the U.S. and many other countries in the world. Even the otherwise weak European Parliament in Strasbourg retains the right [...]
Gary Gaile Development Geography Pre-Conference in DC
Posted in Afghanistan, Development Theory, Health and Development, International Politics, Urban Politics on December 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Development Geographies Specialty Group of the AAG is delighted to present the “Gary Gaile Development Geography Pre-Conference” in Washington, DC, a one-day event in April 2010 which is themed around innovative policies and approaches emerging at the interface of research and practice.
Merging debate around cutting edge research and acute practical challenges, the format and [...]
Comparing Afghan Apples With Vietnamese Oranges, or Why There Is No Solution For Afghanistan
Posted in Afghanistan, International Politics, Peace and Conflict on December 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Once upon a time, not too long ago, there would have been a solution for Afghanistan, one that had a realistic chance of success. “Success” would have meant a stabilization of the modest gains made during the first three of the post-war years (2002-2004), and the “solution” would have looked roughly as follows: a highly [...]
An End to Development? The Appointment of Dirk Niebel as BMZ Liquidator
Posted in International Politics on October 26, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Scarcity facilitates choice. But finding senior politicians who are qualified for high-ranking federal posts can be a headache nonetheless. Germany’s political establishment, not precisely littered with luminaries in the field of International Development, has yet to rival France’s courage to appoint Medecins Sans Frontieres founder Bernard Kouchner as Foreign Minister. While deserving credit for pushing [...]
Afghanistan Commentary on Swedish Radio
Posted in Afghanistan, International Politics, Peace and Conflict on September 8, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
For the Swedish speakers among you, check out Marcus Hansson’s 20-minute feature on Afghanistan’s botched reconstruction, broadcast on September 2, 2009 on Swedish Radio 1.
It includes interviews with several international observers. For instance, Antonio Donini at the Fletcher School comments on the aid industry and the discrepancy between its global mobility and its lack of [...]
Racial Discrimination at the World Bank: New GAP Report
Posted in International Politics, Peace and Conflict on July 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Last week, the Government Accountability Project (GAP) released a report that investigates and finds evidence of racial discrimination against black professional grade employees at the World Bank. The report, which documents the treatment of these employees in recruitment, retention and internal judicial decisions, finds that a race ceiling exists at the institution, and that the [...]
The Astronomy of Aid: Stars and Starlets in International Development
Posted in Development Theory, International Politics on July 16, 2009 | 1 Comment »
All universes have their stars. It is therefore not surprising that International Development, as its own little universe, has produced both stars and starlets.
In the following, I classify and characterize some of the most prominent and luminous celestial bodies. They can be seen almost every day and night in the sky projected onto us by [...]
Development as Fiction: The Failure of the MDGs
Posted in Development Theory, International Politics on July 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
David Lewis, Dennis Rodgers and Michael Woolcock have recently proposed that works of fiction may be just as valid and useful sources of knowledge than official reports and academic papers: “Not only are certain works of fiction ‘better’ than academic or policy research in representing central issues relating to development, but they also frequently reach [...]
Afghanistan: A Victory for Women – A Defeat of Democracy?
Posted in Afghanistan, Health and Development, International Politics, Peace and Conflict on July 9, 2009 | 1 Comment »
The Afghan Ministry of Justice has presented a revised version of a new law regulating marital affairs for the country’s Shi’ite minority. Many of its previous medieval provisions have been scrapped. No longer does it prescribe the frequency of sexual activity that Shi’ite women in Afghanistan would have had to observe, thus practically legalizing domestic [...]
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