Food aid,scarce resources,and difficult decisions

This article attempts to address the requirements of a methodology for evaluating food aid. It is an extension of an article by Fitzpatrick and Storey, which appeared in a recent issue of Development in Practice (Vol. 1, No. 3). The evaluation of food aid policies is considered from the perspective of a policy maker in a recipient country. Fitzpatrick and Storey analyse one particular project. But the value of evaluating one project depends on how far lessons can be learned which will influence future decisions. Is it worthwhile for a country to negotiate for food aid? Should food-aid policies be pursued, rather than others? Which particular type of food-aid policy should be followed? This article argues the case for an evaluation method that is potentially capable of facilitating these decisions. It then takes some hesitant steps towards defining a method.     

The politics of development in longhouse communities in Sarawak,East Malaysia

In rural development, political policies do not necessarily match project beneficiaries' needs and goals. One reason is the rural people's lack of political power to influence policy decisions that affect their livelihoods. If rural development is to benefit these people, upward influence in policy decisions should go hand in hand with development policies. Ideally, both government agents and politicians should commit themselves to support the people's agenda, and any government intervention should reflect political response to grassroots demands.     

Practising homeland security across the Atlantic: practical learning and policy convergence in Europe and North America

Abstract

Despite different traditions, interests and perceptions characterizing North American and European approaches to homeland security, since 9/11 policy-makers across the Atlantic have formulated increasingly similar policies to deal with terrorism and other international security threats. Challenging mainstream accounts elaborated in the policy convergence literature, and drawing from sociological works in performance studies, this essay argues that the recent evolution of homeland security policies in Europe and North America can be understood as an instance of ‘practical learning’. From this perspective, this outcome is the result of the acquisition on the part of European and North American policy-makers of the practical knowledge necessary to carry out the new policies, policies learned by mimicking the practices of their counterparts across the Atlantic. This argument is then applied to examine two cases of policy convergence in Europe and North America – the proposal for a ‘European Passenger Name Record’ system and the project of a regional ‘Security Perimeter’.     

International development and the European Union's external policies: changing contexts,problematic nexuses,contested partnerships

This special section explores and explains how the European Union's (EU's) overall approach to international development has evolved since the beginning of the twenty-first century. At the international level, the rise of a group of emerging economies has not only provided developing countries with greater choices, but has also further enhanced their agency, thus questioning the EU's leadership and even relevance in international development. At the European level, the various (paradigmatic) shifts in each of the three key external policies—trade, security and foreign policy—and the EU's aspiration to project a coherent external action have collided with the EU's commitment to international development. Numerous tensions characterize the various nexuses in EU external relations, which ultimately challenge the EU's international legitimacy and (self-proclaimed) identity as a champion of the interests of the developing world. Nevertheless, the EU has made more progress than is generally acknowledged in making its external policies more coherent with its development policy. Moreover, the EU's relationship with developing countries has gradually become less asymmetrical, though not because of the EU's emphasis on partnership and ownership but more because of the increased agency of developing countries.     

中国和越南边境政策的发展、演变及对云南的影响

中国和越南实施改革开放政策以来,加快了边境地区的经济社会发展。中国与越南国情不同,所实行的边境政策也不同。但两国都注重促进边境地区的经济社会发展,两国在中越边境地区实行的边境政策,都有利于云南边境地区的社会经济发展与和谐社会的构建。     

Scientific Outlook on Development and China＇s Foreign Policy

More than half a century has passed since the founding of the People＇s Republic of China. There have been successes as well as failures in China＇s policies and practices at home and abroad. The failures are stepping stones for success; lessons drawn from errors lead to truth. Chinese leader Hu Jintao recently spoke about ＂Scientific Outlook on Development, ＂＇ a summary of past history and an important guiding principle for China＇s economic and social development both now and in future. The authors believe that this is a major development in China＇s strategic thinking following Deng Xiaoping＇s ＂Reform and Opening Up＂ and Jiang Zemin＇s ＂Three Representatives＂ and that it should be upheld and applied to foreign policy decision making.     

Why Some States Participate in UN Peace Missions While Others Do Not: An Analysis of Civil-Military Relations and Its Effects on Latin America's Contributions to Peacekeeping Operations

Why do some states deploy troops to support UN missions while others do not? Although short from war, peacekeeping entails a military dimension of foreign policy in which uniformed personnel is deployed to accomplish diplomatic and political means. As such, decisions to commit troops to UN operations must have the implicit support of the armed forces in order to take place. Yet, military backing for peacekeeping participation is not universal; some military institutions are more willing to join such missions than others. This article accounts for variations in terms of peacekeeping commitments by focusing on security doctrines and the degree of integration between military and foreign policy roles. It hypothesizes that countries with externally oriented doctrines and integrated foreign and defense policies are more likely to commit troops to the UN than countries with national security doctrines and segregated military and foreign policy roles. Using evidence from the Latin American region, the paper suggests that the decision to engage in UN operations is the result of doctrinal policies and bureaucratic infighting.     

U.S. Foreign Policy in Latin America: Time for a Change

This paper addresses why neoliberal policies of the United States have failed to spur broad-based economic development, and why they have not consolidated stable liberal democracy in Latin America. The author argues that the United States must reevaluate its foreign policy in order to accomplish its goals and maintain its influence in the region. This will mean engaging more moderate leftist leaders in Latin America and adopting changes to its trade policy. Above all, the United States should not revert back to its unilateral interventionist policies of the past.     

Voluntary and involuntary resettlement in China: a false dichotomy?

The success of involuntary resettlement is contingent on recasting the involuntary as voluntary. To explore this proposition, this article presents two projects in China – one “voluntary” (Poverty Alleviation Resettlement or PAR) and relatively “successful” and one “involuntary” (Three Gorges Project Resettlement or TGPR) and less so. The research finds the voluntary–involuntary dichotomy a false one. It is not volition that leads to better outcomes, but people-centred practices that are embedded in policy, planning, and implementation of PAR. Perhaps the most important lesson drawn is that all resettlements should be based on a commitment to settlement and not just resettlement.     

The effects of circulatory capitalism on democratization: Observations from South Africa and Brazil

This article argues that the democratization processes taking place in South Africa and elsewhere in emerging market economies cannot be separated from the global economic context within which these processes are taking place. The article illustrates that the mainstream political economy literature has not paid sufficient attention to the issue of the limits and constraints placed upon these newly emerging democracies by the new financial architecture, particularly the derivatives market, which now determines the value and price of emerging market currencies. The article concludes that the workings of this market not only heavily favour the interests of developed countries but that they deeply question the accountability of politicians in those emerging markets and thereby endanger the legitimacy of the democratic project in large parts of the post-colonial world. The article is divided into three sections: first, a critique of some of the leading political economy analyses and their position on the relationship between open-economy policies and democracy; second, an account of the development of the derivatives market since 1973 and a theorization of its implications for currency movements, particularly monetary volatility, of emerging market currencies; third, an illustration by way of the South African and Brazilian cases of the policy implications of currency volatility for creating improved social and economic conditions.     

Democratic inclusiveness,climate policy outputs,and climate policy outcomes

In an ideal inclusive political system, all citizens are equally able to influence and challenge policies. We focus on how inclusiveness affects climate policies and outcomes. We argue that more inclusive systems should produce more policies in response to environmental threats and should have better outcomes. We test these hypotheses using panel and cross-sectional data relating to climate policy outputs and outcomes. The results suggest that inclusiveness is positively associated with policy outputs, but probably not with lower emissions of greenhouse gases. This pattern may relate to a lack of deliberation in systems, which are relatively inclusive in the narrower sense of pluralist democratic theory.     

Reparative development: re-conceptualising reparations in transitional justice processes

Reparations are increasingly seen as potential avenues to address the socioeconomic structural injustices that have affected victims during conflict or authoritarian rule. Scholars, however, have identified serious limitations in these policies, emanating from faulty design, political reluctance, financial limitations and uneven implementation. This article proposes a reconceptualisation of reparation policies by embedding them in a framework of reparative development. A theory of reparative development is outlined by discussing how principles emanating from key rulings of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights can be articulated to provide a conceptual link between transitional justice and development. This article argues that restitution should consider not only past damages but also lost life opportunities. Reparations should be both individual- and community-based, taking into account the supplemental policy actions required to make them both effective and sensitive to existing human insecurities. Finally, they need to involve local and grassroots organisations in their implementation.     

Security challenges in Europe's mediterranean periphery ‐ perspectives and policy dilemmas

Challenges to European security emanating from the southern Mediterranean have had a marked influence on European security policies during the 1990s. This article identifies the main themes in the debate on Mediterranean security and the policy dilemmas which these security challenges raise for European states and their multilateral security organizations. It is argued that Mediterranean security challenges cannot be fully understood without grasping the security implications of the presence of authoritarian and repressive regimes in the South. As European security policies aim at supporting ‘political stability’ in the South through development assistance, expansion of trade relations and military co‐operation, these policies also contribute to uphold an illegitimate status quo, which is often the very source of political instability and insecurity.     

Towards convergence and cooperation in the global development finance regime: closing Africa's policy space?

The revival of China's interest in Africa is often highlighted as being an opportunity to provide African governments with a choice between development partners that may strengthen negotiation leverage and thereby carve out policy space to define and implement policies that affect social and economic development. This article critically reviews the most recent developments in Chinese and Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) approaches to development finance to Africa. It argues that although we can detect a number of incidents that point towards more policy space for African governments, the revival of China's development finance does not fundamentally alter the power relations between African countries and their financiers, as the tendency now is towards convergence and cooperation between China and Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donors—not divergence and competition, which could have created policy space as it did prior to the end of the Cold War. This follows the trend of other ‘emerging’ donors who increasingly play by DAC rules and thereby minimize the future possibility of playing out one partner against the other.     

论日本大陆政策与俄国远东政策

日本大陆政策与俄国远东政策均形成于19世纪,并分别被两国确定为基本国策。两大政策的目标与实质基本相同,其宗旨均为向外侵略扩张,称雄于东北亚,因而在实施过程中给中国、朝鲜乃至整个亚洲带来深重灾难。两大政策之间的残酷争斗是主流并贯穿始终,但有时又不得不互相妥协和勾结,两国间甚至签订了3次公开协定和4次秘密条约。然而两大政策的结局与其初衷背道而驰,远东政策在一定程度上导致了罗曼诺夫王朝的彻底崩溃,大陆政策的直接结果是日本的战败投降。     

EU–Korea relations in a changing world project: main results and recommendations

The paper provides an overview of the most important results of a project on EU–Korea economic and regulatory relations funded by the European Commission. The paper first outlines the emergence and development of EU–Korea relations. In the second part, the paper presents the main findings clustered in three thematic areas. A first thematic area focuses on a discussion of the EU–Korea Free Trade Agreement. The second cluster analyzes EU–Korea cooperation on regulatory policies with a main focus on cooperation in the policy areas of security (arms trade and control), chemical regulation, environmental regulation, education, development cooperation and industrial policy. The third part focuses on EU–Korea cooperation concerning regional and international issues. In the third part, the paper presents the main recommendations which were formulated on the basis of the project.     

Operationalising local governance in Kilimanjaro

Decentralisation is a policy feature common to many African countries. Local governance is therefore gaining in relevance, though not yet in clarity. Based on the experience of a development project in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, the article examines the case of local governance in practice, grounding this in a historical analysis and focusing on the relationship between local government and civil society. Through a phased process from experimentation through piloting to lobbying, the PAMOJA project develops interface mechanisms to structure local government-civil society relations at the district level. Three actors are identified for the success of the project: the external agent as process facilitator, local champions as change agents, and strategic partners for the lobby component. A successful outcome would ultimately strengthen decentralisation processes.     

Foreign policy and development in the post-Lisbon European Union

The European Union (EU) has a long tradition of involvement in development policy and can claim to be the world's most influential donor when the activities of its member states are aggregated. Recently, however, this position has been challenged by the rise of new donors and models of development assistance, by the changing needs and positions of recipients and by institutional change within the EU itself. This article explores these issues by focusing first on the nature of EU foreign policy, and then on the ways in which it has interacted with the changing trajectory of development policies to create new issues and problems. It concludes that the EU's position remains central and significant to global development policy, but that this position faces important challenges to which the response is as yet uncertain.     

新加坡学生资助政策的特点及其启示

新加坡资助学生的政策体系比较完善,同时也有其独特性,如资助公平、资助形式多样且资助范围广泛、资助经费来源方式宽广以及资助政策灵活等特点。这些措施对于改进目前中国学生资助政策中存在的问题具有一定的借鉴意义。