Who is going to be the new World Bank President? For one man and his supporters, there is only one viable candidate for this position: he himself. In a recent Washington Post op-ed, he has laid out his unique set of experience and expertise. Those who dare to cast any doubt are either tackled head-on [...]
Archive for the ‘International Politics’ Category
The World Bank needs a strategic arbiter, not a narcissistic insider
Posted in Development Theory, International Politics, Peace and Conflict on March 16, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
DGSG pre-conference in New York City: successful pilot of a new interactive format
Posted in Development Theory, Health and Development, International Politics on February 27, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
On Thursday, February 23rd, a diverse crowd of over 30 professors and graduate students gathered at Bar Basso in midtown Manhattan for the 4th AAG Development Geographies Specialty Group’s Pre-Conference. Seven presenters each delivered a seven-minute policy plea on issues ranging from land use and fair trade certification “on the ground” to the management of e-waste, Vietnam’s recent [...]
New CGD working paper on health aid effectiveness ranks DFID highest, UN low
Posted in Health and Development, International Politics on February 22, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Building on the growing body of empirical literature on aid effectiveness–including two of my recent publications–Amanda Glassman and Denizhan Duran at the Center for Global Development just published an interesting working paper that achieves two things simultaneously: it provides an excellent overview of the dramatic increase of Development Assistance in Health (DAH) globally during the past [...]
About.com and Good Generation posts on Kara’s and my World Development article
Posted in Health and Development, International Politics on January 18, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
A colleague (thanks, John!) just alerted me that Joanne Fritz, in a recent post on About.com, included a really neat discussion of Kara’s and my recent article in World Development as “Food For Thought“. Thien Nguyen-Trung also covered the piece and posted an excellent summary and comments on his blog, Good Generation.
DW interview on QDDR: no blueprint for other countries
Posted in Development Theory, International Politics on January 12, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
DW Deutsche Welle (the “German BBC”) recently interviewed me on the State Department’s First Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR). Professor James Davis at St. Gallen University, Switzerland and I were asked to comment on whether the mainstreaming of development policy into diplomacy is an approach that other countries should consider as well. What a neat [...]
How the World Bank Institute spin-doctors urban development
Posted in International Politics, Urban Politics on August 19, 2010 | 2 Comments »
In June, I attended a new event format launched by the World Bank Institute (WBI). The Innovative Cities: Global Dialogue brings together mayors, corporate interests, some fig-leaf activists and a large number of Bank staffers (and presumably academic researchers as well, though I saw very few) to discuss urban development challenges and opportunities. UN-Habitat and [...]
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 »
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 [...]
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 [...]