Trakling variables of Reconstruction and Security in Post-Taliban Afghanistan
Reporters Without Borders announces its third annual worldwide index of press freedom. Such freedom is threatened most in East Asia (North Korea, Burma, China, Vietnam and Laos) and the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria and Iraq). The greatest press freedom is found in northern Europe (Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Iceland, the Netherlands and Norway) which is a haven of peace for journalists
A new Working Paper published by the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) and the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) with contributions by Didier Bigo, Jeremy Shapiro and Andrei Fedorov
Fear and want still stand on the way of human security around the world and are major obstacles to achieving the development goals agreed to by all countries of the world, concludes the Social Watch Report 2004.
Based on a sample of reserve holdings among developing countries, this paper shows that the drop in the dollar will lead to a loss in the value of reserve holdings for the average developing country among the group examined of between 1.8 percent and 5.6 percent of GDP
There are three possible scenarios for Iraq in the 18-month transitional period which began with the handover of power on 28 June 2004. If the Iraqi interim Government or its successors fail to assert control over the country and/or its members quarrell with each other and the US, the country could progressively fall apart, or fragment. Alternatively, Iraq could hold together under the auspices of the transitional Government, provided this has real power, a national security force begins to take shape, and the US presence is supportive but not overbearing. In addition, transnational or regional dynamics could overtake Iraq, such that it becomes simply the epicentre of a broader reconfiguring of Sunni/Shi'a Arab/iranian and Kurdish geopolitics -a "regional remake"
Lecture by José María Aznar, former Spanish Prime Minister; Georgetown University, 21/9/2004
Morocco's campaign against suspected Islamist militants is undermining the significant human rights progress the country has made in recent years, Human Rights Watch said in a new report
The nascent discourse on reform in the Arab World has inspired domestic predictions that the region is finally responding to the global trend toward democracy. But such enthusiasm about the inevitability of democratic change is premature, writes Amy Hawthorne in this Carnegie Paper
A group of economists from developing and developed countries have met in Barcelona on September 24 and 25 2004 to consider the prospects for growth and development around the world. They have discussed the effects of economic reforms applied by many developing nations over the last two decades, the lessons for economic policymaking that emerge from this experience, and the performance of the international economic system into which poor and middle-income countries are increasingly integrated
Do the dynamics of human population -rates of growth, age structure, distribution and more- influence when and where warfare will next break out? The findings of this report suggest that the risk of civil conflict that are generated by demographi factors may be much more significant than generally recognized, and worthy of more serious consideration by nacional security policymakers and researchers
Since last fall, a worrying new front has emergend in the still tense relationship between the United States and Europe. The front lies not in the Middle East, but in China. The idea that the EU leaders might lift their arms embargo on China in December is a deep source of concern, not only for US Policy makers, but also for many of their European counterparts
"Corruption in large-scale public projects is a daunting obstacle to sustainable development, and results in a major loss of public funds needed for education, healthcare and poverty alleviation, both in developed and developing countries", said Transparency International (TI) Chairman Peter Eigen. If we hope to reach the Millenium Development Goal of halving the number of people living in extreme poverty by 2015, governments need to seriously tackle corruption in public contracting. TI estimates that the amount lost due to bribery in government procurement is at least US$ 400 billion per year worldwide
