Capacity building: who builds whose capacity?

This article focuses on the role that development NGOs play in capacity building, arguing that many conventional NGO practices are ultimately about retaining power, rather than empowering their partners. This leads to tunnel vision and to upward rather than downward or horizontal accountability, based on the assumption that the transfer of resources is a one-way process. At worst, this undermines rather than strengthens the capacities of the organisations that NGOs are attempting to assist. Sharing responsibilities and risks, mutual accountability, and committing to the long term rather than to short-term projects are more likely to create partnerships that can withstand vicissitudes and contribute to lasting change.     

Capacity building for adaptive management: a problem-based learning approach

As natural-resource issues become more complex, particularly in developing-world contexts, there is a growing need for adaptive management solutions. However, the skills necessary to deal with these increasingly complex situations are not always present in many low-income countries. There is also a growing recognition that many capacity-building activities are limited in their effectiveness. This article suggests a problem-based learning (PBL) approach to capacity building. Using the example of training courses developed to help natural-resource management in Guyana, this article illustrates how PBL can help to enhance the capabilities needed for adaptive management.     

Capacity building through secondment of staff: a possible model in emergencies?

This article offers a case study of a secondment of staff from a Northern NGO (Trócaire) to a Southern partner, the Catholic Development Commission (CADECOM) of Malawi, as a possible model for capacity building. The approach described was tried in the context of an emergency programme, but it could also be used in a development context. The author analyses the appropriateness of the model in terms of its administrative structure, focus, and impact, and draws lessons for practitioners for its successful application.     

Rethinking neo-liberal state building: building post-conflict development states

In attempting to rebuild post-conflict failed states, the international community has drawn heavily on neo-liberal development paradigms. However, neo-liberal state building has proved ineffectual in stimulating economic development in post-conflict states, thus undermining prospects for state consolidation. This article offers the developmental state as an alternative model for international state building, better suited to overcoming the developmental challenges that face post-conflict states. Drawing on the East Asian experience, developmental state building would seek to build state capacity to intervene in the economy to guide development, compensating for the failure of growth led by the private sector to materialise in many post-conflict states. The article concludes that such an approach would, in the first instance, require the international community to accept more honestly its developmental responsibilities when it decides to intervene to rebuild failed states.     

美国在朝核问题上转嫁责任

10月3日,朝鲜外务省宣布"未来将在科研领域进行一次核试验"后,美国情报部门预测朝鲜核试爆的决心已定,但美国政府却没有向朝鲜发出"令人信服"的警告.10月9日,朝鲜宣布成功进行核试爆后,美国仍然未能采取有效措施遏制事态进一步恶化,仅仅推动联合国通过制裁朝鲜的决议案.美国处理朝鲜核试爆的方式,既反映了美国对朝鲜缺乏有效的制衡措施,更反映了美国试图从朝核问题中脱身,将主要责任推给东北亚国家承担的深层考虑.     

美国全球战略的重心转移

布什政府面对非传统威胁上升的严峻形势,调整了美国的全球战略。在新战略中,美虽未完全放弃推行了50多年的“遏制”战略,但由于恐怖主义威胁显现,今后相当长时期内难以再将主要矛头对准其他全球力量中心,而是要与其加强合作,应对非传统威胁。同时,美将纷繁复杂的国际问题简单化,提出“先发制人”或试图通过改变他国社会制度来实现反恐目标,这将给国际关系带来不确定因素。     

Foreign Influences and Shifting Horizons: The Ongoing Evolution of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb

This article details how prior to the establishment of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AGIM), Meghrebis—that is, Algerians, Moroccans, Tunisians and others--made up a significant percentage of the foreign fighters in the al Qaeda-led insurgency in Iraq, thus helping to build the trust networks between al Qaeda central and the Maghreb-based groups, culminating in the the 2007 formal affiliation of the Groupe Salafiste pour la Predication et le Combat (GSPC) with al Qaeda. Since then, an emboldened AQIM has evolved significantly, both strategically and operationally.     

The Shifting Framing Strategies and Policy Positions of the Bloque Nacionalista Galego

This article asks why, in contrast to other historic territories with a regional language, such as Catalonia and the Basque Country, nationalist parties in the Autonomous Community of Galicia receive less electoral support. Going beyond prior explanations of this counterintuitive political outcome, which were mainly based on economic, sociological, and institutional factors, this piece of research sheds light on the strategies of political parties. It examines not only nationalist forces but statewide ones that successfully compete in Galicia. Our analysis is focused on the Bloque Nacionalista Galego (BNG) because this is the only nationalist force that has consistently achieved representation within the regional Parliament. Along with BNG's translation into party positions in both the left-right and center-periphery dimensions, the article's main contribution is its updating of the BNG's three framing strategies: the nationalism/“Spanishism” (1982–1993), the “common project” discourse (1993–2005), and the sovereigntist one (2005 onward). Shifts in public opinion regarding the territorial model and other attitudes toward self-government are also examined.     

世界经济增长重心东移与广西发展的机遇

一、自然形成的世界经济增长重心在世界经济发展中,人们一般把世界经济中经济发展最具活力、市场容量与经济潜能巨大、经济增长幅度最大的地区,同时也是最终需求和外贸出口增长最快、引进技术与国际资本数量规模巨大的地区,称为“世界经济增长的重心”,它既是世界经济发展中的重要增长极,也是世界经济增长的主要火车头之一。世界经济的增长重心,首先在二三百年前形成于西欧(主要是英国);到19世纪末期,开始由欧洲向美国转移;近三四十年来,在东亚首先是日本、亚洲“四小龙”的崛起,其后是中国、东南亚其他国家及越南、老挝、柬埔寨等国家经济…     

伊拉克民族构建问题的根源及其影响

作为文明古国的伊拉克 ,在今天仍然存在着较为严重的民族构建问题 ,主要根源是 :领土和统一国家形成的晚近及各地区间联系的薄弱 ,现代伊拉克的版图最终确立至今不到 6 0年 ;库尔德人与阿拉伯人之间尖锐的民族矛盾影响到国家的稳定 ;逊尼派和什叶派的教派矛盾 ;游牧民的频繁袭扰与部族社会的长期存在 ,在定居农村、甚至城市中不同程度地保留了部落关系及其价值观念。它们对伊拉克现代民族国家和社会经济的发展产生了深远的负面影响 ,其具体后果有 :经济规模的小型化、血缘关系的长期存在及阶级关系的不发达、小党派林立并深受传统因素的影响、激烈而血腥的政治斗争及统治者的独裁等。     

An innovative approach to building stronger coalitions: the Net-Map Toolbox

A common challenge faces development organisations, from the highest policy-making circles to local, grassroots organisations: how to work with other groups to build stronger partnerships and achieve consensus on goals? This article describes the Net-Map Toolbox, a new tool which builds and expands upon existing social-networking approaches. The article highlights the experience of using the Toolbox with the White Volta Basin Board in Ghana, a multi-stakeholder organisation responsible for overseeing local water resources. The authors discuss how the Net-Map Toolbox can assist members of development-oriented organisations to better understand and interact with each other in situations where many different actors can influence the outcome.     

China and the WTO: the theory and practice of compliance

Since China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in December2001, attention has turned to the issue of whether or not Chinais a responsible member of the organization and how compliantChina is with WTO rules. This article discusses the difficultiesfaced by China, as a responsible rising power, in trying toadjust itself to global trading norms. It examines the theoryof compliance in international relations from the perspectivesof neo-realism, liberal institutionalism and social constructivism,and then tests these perspectives by examining the mechanismsused to gauge China's compliance, both bilaterally by the UnitedStates and multilaterally through the Dispute Settlement Mechanismand the Transition Review Mechanism of the WTO. The result ismixed: different opinions exist as to how compliant China hasbeen but, on the whole, most monitors agree that China has triedhard to comply with WTO requirements in various areas, thoughmuch remains to be done. The most severe tests will come inthe next few years when China's financial and service sectorswill have to face fundamental changes to the way they operate.     

Sustainability and peace building: a key challenge

The overarching challenge facing the growing number of international peace-building interventions is to achieve sustainable peace. This paper illustrates this proposition through a brief investigation of the situation in Timor-Leste as the UN mission withdraws at the five-year state-building mark, and in Haiti as a ninth UN mission is established. Adopting the view that participatory democratic governance will best ensure long-term peace, the paper maintains that to build sustainable peace requires transformation on three interrelated fronts: (a) transformation of the society from one that resorts to violence to one that resorts to political means to resolve conflict, requiring that the elite negotiate and that there should be widespread social dialogue and reconciliation; (b) reform of the governance framework to seek to ensure both that a negotiated governance arrangement between parties prevents future conflict and the adoption of basic democratic governance; and (c) the creation of meaningful institutions that will be sustainable after the mission leaves. These institutions cannot be imposed from outside, but must be bodies that re able to perform their core function and are committed to doing so.