http://www.myheadlines.org/source1624.html Last publications from FRIDE en http://www.myheadlines.org/images/myh.gif http://www.myheadlines.org/source1624.html Despite the EU’s broad formal commitments to promote democratic norms, the feeling is widespread that in practice European governments have become less committed to promoting political change in many third countries. Overall, the EU appears to be failing to meet the challenges of a more complex international environment for democracy and human rights, having declined fundamentally to reassess its democracy support in either qualitative or quantitative terms.

This book aims to enhance understanding of the EU’s role in promoting human rights and democratic norms in the European Neighbourhood. It does so through a detailed study of the full range of different EU instruments available to support human rights improvements and democratic reform in Morocco, Jordan, Lebanon, Ukraine, Belarus and Azerbaijan. The book offers detailed studies of the extent to which democracy and human rights commitments made under European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) action plans and the national bilateral assistance programmes of EU member states are being implemented in practice.

It is hoped that these studies can help move debates on the ‘European model of human rights and democracy promotion’ beyond the general to country-specific operational challenges. The authors identify lessons learned and offer concrete policy recommendations on how the EU can increase the effectiveness of its efforts to promote human rights and democracy in its Neighbourhood and beyond.

This book has been produced in collaboration with ECFR

]]> http://www.myheadlines.org/headline2082083.html This Activity Brief presents the conclusions of the roundtable on Euro-Atlantic approaches towards Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in the field of democracy and human rights, held in Madrid on Friday 12 December. The meeting was organised by FRIDE and CEPS, with the support of the Human Rights Office of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, and brought together a group of 25 researchers, academics, human rights activists, NGO representatives and Spanish policy-makers. Over three sessions, the role of the European Union (EU), NATO and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Central Asia was discussed, as well as the current human rights situation in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Participants touched on a variety of questions going beyond the issues of democracy promotion and human rights and debated the EU’s security and energy relationship with Central Asia. The roundtable took place under the auspices of the EU-Central Asia Monitoring (EUCAM) project. ]]> http://www.myheadlines.org/headline1993277.html

G.Cerles/AFP/Getty Images

With a host of major banking-sector bail-outs having been agreed across Europe, attention is beginning to turn to the broader political impact of the financial crisis. The question arises of whether the crisis will affect the EU's broader foreign policies - and if so, how.

Many voices are already suggesting that the crisis is likely to mark a turning point in international relations of the same magnitude as those produced by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the attacks of 9/11. Many predict a weakening of support for economic liberalism beyond the immediate banking crisis. And many also foresee the crisis triggering a fundamental shift in the global balance of power and even infecting the liberal political values that ostensibly lie at the heart of European foreign policies. In short, the fear is taking root that the financial crisis will undermine the principal tenets of Western-sponsored global liberalism and encourage a retrenchment in US and European diplomacy.

However, in this Policy Brief, Richard Youngs cautions against such apocalyptic reasoning. Europe’s already existing drift away from global (economic and political) liberalism is part of the problem, not part of the solution. The crisis may even end up providing a positive service if it convinces the EU of the real effort and conviction needed to ensure that liberal foreign policies regain some reality. ]]> http://www.myheadlines.org/headline1842522.html

Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images

There is currently great interest in citizenship within the development community. Strong citizenship has come to be seen as a vital ingredient for good governance and development, and strengthening the citizenship of poor people is viewed as a way to ensure their rights and participation in governance.

However, one of the biggest challenges is how to strengthen citizenship for women in developing countries. In many African countries women have little contact with the formal state and their lives are governed by customary governance systems that seriously limit their rights and opportunities for political participation. This is particularly true for women in fragile states, where the formal state is weak and inaccessible.

CGG

Based on field research in Sierra Leone conducted by FRIDE and CGG, this Working Paper by Clare Castillejo examines how processes of post-conflict state-building have redrawn the boundaries of authority between the formal state and customary governance systems, and thereby provided new citizenship opportunities for women.

The paper explores the changes that are taking place in women’s rights, women’s political participation and women’s mobilisation in Sierra Leone, in the context of state-building. It also makes recommendations for how donors can support the strengthening of women’s citizenship within their support for state-building in Africa. ]]> http://www.myheadlines.org/headline1784120.html

N. Schulz

Between 2 and 4 September 2008, the international development community gathered in Accra (Ghana) in order to discuss the progress of and future steps for aid effectiveness. While the 2005 Paris Declaration sets technical standards for achieving better development results, political issues had an important impact on its implementation over the last three years.

This backgrounder by Stefan Meyer and Nils-Sjard Schulz takes a historical point of departure to track development trends and pathways of development policy principles leading to the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. It describes agenda setting by the World Bank, the United Nations and the OECD/DAC. Thereby it critically traces the genesis of the five principles of aid effectiveness: ownership, alignment, harmonisation, results-orientation and mutual accountability.

It then documents the evolution of the debate from Paris to Accra and identifies issues of contestation for the future aid agenda. Amongst these, political dimensions, such as conditionalities, the independent monitoring of mutual accountability between donors and governments, emerging patterns of South-South cooperation and a general call for democratisation of the new aid architecture.

Finally, the document describes a series of key issues that donors and partner countries will have to attend to in order to maintain the momentum of the aid effectiveness agenda. In the aftermath of the High-Level Forum in Accra, it might be necessary to pay greater attention to the politics of development partnership, which should feed more consistently into the evolving global governance of aid.   (Home page photo by Elektra Cute. Flickr) ]]> http://www.myheadlines.org/headline1784121.html Nils-Sjard Schulz The III High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF), held in Accra (Ghana) early this September, was conceived of as an opportunity to take stock of the implementation of the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness half way towards its target date of 2011.

Originally, the Forum was to focus on providing a technical assessment of the progress made and obstacles encountered thus far, based on the recent monitoring and evaluation reports of the Development Assistance Committee (OECD/DAC).

However, due to ongoing profound changes in North-South relations and a complex consultation process with both partner countries and CSO, the Accra HLF became an excellent opportunity to continue renegotiating the global governance of aid, covering political issues affecting aid relationships. ]]> http://www.myheadlines.org/headline1784122.html  In Equatorial Guinea, progress on the subject is very limited (In the photo: Teodoro Obiang. Credits: P. Marcou/AFP/Getty Images) The EITI’s voluntary regime is gradually being established as a means of entry to fight corruption in Africa’s conflict-ridden extractive industries sector. However, as it currently stands, this tool has limited capacity to redress the problem of “resource curse”, an issue which has marked Publish What You Pay’s Annual Regional Meeting and the first EITI Conference in Western Africa (Abuja).

African civil society organisations are increasing pressure for broader commitments on the part of governments, companies and consumer countries, beyond the EITI’s current demands (for payments between companies and governments to be published).

If there is a real concern to reform the sector, a greater degree of transparency in the complex chain governing the transformation of natural resources into economic and human development will need to be achieved: from the transparency of oil contracts (contract disclosure) and bidding processes, to transparency in the management of income from extractive industries in policies aimed at reducing poverty.

Time is running short for candidate countries to pass the EITI examination in March 2010 (the date when mechanisms at the country-level need to be validated). Without a doubt, this will be a big step forward. However, the promoters of the initiative and stakeholders must reflect on the need to assume greater political commitments beyond the EITI. More on AOD Forum ]]> http://www.myheadlines.org/headline1784123.html

N. Schulz

Towards a better world with the Accra Agenda for Action? In the days after the Accra High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, three FRIDE researchers have reflected in a radio discussion on the outcomes and implications of the agreement that had been reached.

Stefan Meyer focuses on historical precedents and the previous development fashions that are both synthesised and overcome in the new consensus on aid. Nils-Sjard Schulz emphasises the implications for a better aid practice and highlights the potential shift in power from Northern domination towards a more equal relation between donors and recipients. Sarah-Lea John de Souza describes the role of new Southern actors in development cooperation, particularly focusing on Brazil, both as tough negotiator in Accra and practitioner of a new South-South collaboration.

A number of themes of the global governance of aid are being touched upon. Among them, the question of the adequate platform for negotiating the aid regimen, today dominated by the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC), whose position could be complemented by the UN Development Cooperation Forum (DCF). Negotation dynamics were also relevant in Accra, with Southern countries having prepared common positions in a contact group and the North being split into more progressive donors and those who want to maintain control over funds. Furthermore, the discussants debate the relevance of aid effectiveness in the Latin-American continent and the need for an adaptation of the Paris Declaration to its context. A particular role is mentioned for Secretaría General Iberoamericana (SEGIB) in coordinating the South-South and triangular development cooperation.

Listen the interview: ]]> http://www.myheadlines.org/headline1784124.html

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

On 20 January 2009, Barack Obama or John McCain will inherit the burden of dealing with the world’s oldest and most dangerous conflict—that between Israel and Palestine - and one for which a solution seems as far off as ever. After the unconditional US support for Israel during the administration of George W. Bush, the US has lost its credibility as an honest intermediary in the dispute. John McCain, although promising to focus more on the issue than was the case with Bush, gives no indication he would change the assumptions of US policy toward Israel. Obama is well within the "pro-Israel" mainstream of today’s Democratic party. Yet Obama is the only contender for the White House whose past comments reveal a broader understanding of the issues confronting both sides in the conflict, sympathy for the plight of Palestinians and a need to address their agenda with fairness and impartiality. His advisers are also more progressive on the issue than the neoconservative counsel that surrounds McCain. On Iran, Obama’s Senate record is less hostile and he has departed radically from both McCain and Bush in proposing that the United States should talk to Iran without preconditions. It is not surprising then that while popular opinion around the world wants to see Obama as the next US president, the vast majority of Israelis express more trust in McCain and favour his election. ]]> http://www.myheadlines.org/headline1784125.html

T.Belizaire/AFP/Getty Images

The current inertia of Haiti’s political institutions stems from the absence of any national dialogue since the beginning of the democratic transition that would have allowed a common vision in which the Haitians could recognise themselves to be outlined.

Contrary to what happened in Guatemala, the intervention of the United Nations in Haiti, especially as mediator, did not foster such a space for debate and reflection, thus making the reconciliation and reconstruction effort that the country is currently undergoing all the more complex.
]]> http://www.myheadlines.org/headline1784126.html