Governing international freshwater resources: an analysis of treaty design

International rivers create complex relationships between their riparian states, which can contribute to economic, political, and social losses. Treaties provide a means for states to coordinate their actions in managing international river disputes to minimize these losses. However, there is little knowledge about treaty content and the factors influencing treaty design. We test whether a relationship exists between the challenges of negotiating, complying, and distributing the gains in bilateral, multilateral, and basin-wide negotiation contexts and the depth of cooperation along with the degree of institutionalization. While the great challenges confronting multilateral or basin-wide negotiations can produce treaties that focus on joint gains and shallow cooperation to secure the signature of riparians, we find that they can also provide opportunities for deeper, more behavior-altering, cooperation. To manage the difficulties of maintaining multilateral cooperation, we find a higher degree of institutionalization. We also find that bilateral negotiations provide states with opportunities for deeper cooperation, but a lower degree of institutionalization.     

Introduction to Performing Refusal/Refusing to Perform

This introduction outlines an aesthetic of refusal as it emerges from instances of racialized exhaustion. Described as an aesthetics of minoritarian inaction and non-reproductivity, refusal challenges the centrality of action and repetition as the central tenets of political performance. Instead, the two valences of performing refusal/refusing to perform name an ethics of relation under racial capitalism, negating the dialectic of assimilation or resistance that shape minoritarian political performance, in favor of tactics such as opacity, imperceptibility, and obscurity.     

Negotiating international civil society support: the case of Ethiopia’s 2009 Charities and Societies Proclamation

ABSTRACT

Since 2005, international civil society support has faced increasing resistance around the world. Ethiopia is widely recognized as a key example of this so-called Closing Space phenomenon. With the 2009 Charities and Societies Proclamation (CSP) Ethiopia has established strict regulations on civil society organizations that, in particular, restrict the ability of local associations to make use of foreign funding and the range of activities allowed for foreign (funded) organizations. This paper traces the process of international negotiations that has accompanied the drafting of the CSP and identifies the consequences of these negotiations for international civil society support in the country. Focusing on the interaction between foreign “donors” and the Ethiopian government, it analyzes (a) what precisely these negotiations have been about, (b) to what extent these negotiations have actually influenced the content of the CSP, and (c) how the CSP as finally adopted has actually affected international civil society support in Ethiopia.     

Public sector capacity reform in Ethiopia: a tale of success in two ministries?

To enhance the capacity of public institutions in Ethiopia and to create an ideal environment for investment and economic growth, the public sector has gone through a series of reform processes including the civil service. This article attempts to assess the outcomes of the Public Sector Capacity reform, based on a small‐scale survey conducted in two ministries. The survey, which was conducted between March and May in 2005, reveals a notable transformation of service delivery in each organisation. Very high levels of user satisfaction and spectacular improvements in performance were also recorded as a result of the introduction of business process reengineering (BPR). Although the change process in both organisations tended to be sluggish, these improvements appear to be outstanding within the context of Ethiopia's system of public administration. However, one challenge will be for the government to maintain the momentum of reform and to cascade BPR and other elements of the reform to other divisions, departments and work units in the government. Putting in place incentive schemes and an appropriate monitoring system should protect the reform from backsliding. Despite the pessimistic accounts of public sector reform in African countries, this article reveals that there are positive findings of interest to the field of development administration. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Weather Shocks and Spatial Market Efficiency: Evidence from Mozambique

The aim of this paper is to study the association between weather shocks (droughts and floods) and agricultural market performance in Mozambique. To do so, we employ a dyadic regression analysis on monthly maize prices, transport costs, and spatial identification of markets as well as droughts and flooded areas. Our estimates show that, while a drought reduces price differences between markets, price dispersion increases during flood periods, an effect that is mainly driven by increases in transport costs. Finally, floods are found to affect price differences more if markets are closer to each other and if the road infrastructure quality is poor. An important implication of our results is that markets show some degree of efficiency during supply shock periods in Mozambique. However, spatial market integration continues to be insufficient, probably due to high transfer costs.     

Mission or Empire,Word or Sword? The Human Capital Legacy in Postcolonial Democratic Development

Why are some former colonies more democratic than others? The British Empire has been singled out in the debates on colonialism for its benign influence on democracy. Much of this scholarship has focused on colonialism's institutional legacies; has neglected to distinguish among the actors associated with colonialism; and has been nation‐state focused. Our subnational approach allows us to isolate the democracy effects of key actors operating in colonial domains—Christian missionaries—from those of colonial powers. Missionaries influenced democracy by promoting education; education promoted social inclusivity and spurred social reform movements. To make our case, we constructed colonial and postcolonial period district datasets of India and conducted panel analysis of literacy and democracy variations backed by case studies. The findings challenge the conventional wisdom of the centrality of the effects of British institutions on democracy, instead also highlighting the missionaries’ human capital legacies.     

Utilisation of maternal health services in Ethiopia: a key informant research project

This article explores the application of key informant research to examine barriers and facilitators to maternal health services in rural and pastoralist Ethiopia. The key informants were health extension workers (HEWs) who assist women with birth preparedness and facilitate timely referral to health centres for birth. While women encounter many barriers to giving birth in health facilities, where HEWs are supported by their communities and health centre staff, they can effectively encourage women to travel to health centres to give birth with skilled birth attendants rather than at home with unskilled relatives or traditional birth attendants.