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12. Political Alternation, Regardless of Ideology, Diminishes Influence Buying: Lessons from Transitions in Former Communist States
- Author:
- Karla Hoff, Shale Horowitz, and Branko Milanovic
- Publication Date:
- 01-2005
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Abstract:
- The Relationship between Alternation in Power and Governance: In many countries, for many firms, it is more profitable to pay off influential politicians to obtain property rights protection à la carte than to rely on existing rules of the game, or to support new institutions that would provide general protection of property rights. This is particularly likely to be the case in the early stages of economic liberalization and the transition to democracy, when state institutions and legal systems are too weak to check executive power, legal boundaries on corruption are not well-defined, and institutions to protect private property rights may be undeveloped. What factors can make influence buying less profitable? The most direct way to break the grip on state power of private interests is through the alternation of officeholders with new political players. Businesses often have “dedicated” relationships with specific political parties or politicians, but if “their” party or leader loses power, businesses' investments in influence may be wasted, since the new officeholders will not be beholden to them and may even punish them. It is true that when businesses expect political turnover, they may respond by trying to influence the entire political spectrum of parties. But attempting to influence all political players is prohibitively costly if there are many parties with widely different political ideologies. In that case, the most successful strategy for influence seekers would be to accept more transparent and equitable rules of competition and checks on arbitrary state action—a rule of law.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution and Government
- Political Geography:
- Eastern Europe
13. Global Challenges: Beating the Odds
- Author:
- P.J. Simmons
- Publication Date:
- 08-2002
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Abstract:
- The global to-do list has never been more daunting. New arteries for transport, trade, finance, and communications require constantly updated rules. Freer, faster movement across borders necessitates filters to separate terrorists from traders and levees to contain infectious disease, pollution, invasive species, and financial disruption. Once-sovereign responsibilities such as poverty, child labor, and human rights shift to become international moral concerns. Technologies of literally world-shaking power—capable of destroying humans en masse, altering Earth's ecology, or upsetting atmospheric stability—create a set of truly global issues.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Civil Society, and Government
14. Rebuilding Afghanistan: Fantasy versus Reality
- Author:
- Anatol Lieven and Marina Ottaway
- Publication Date:
- 01-2002
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Abstract:
- Afghanistan after the Taliban may easily turn into a quagmire for the international community, and the wrong kind of international strategies may easily worsen both its problems and ours. In particular, to begin with a grossly overambitious program of reconstruction risks acute disillusionment, international withdrawal, and a plunge into a new cycle of civil war and religious fanaticism.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Democratization, and Development
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and Taliban
15. Preventing New Afghanistans: A Regional Strategy for Reconstruction
- Author:
- Martha Brill Olcott
- Publication Date:
- 01-2002
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Abstract:
- Now is the time to learn the lessons of the past decade in Afghanistan: how it declined from a failing state into a cesspool drawing in Islamic malcontents from all over the world as well as those, like Osama bin Laden, who could bankroll them. If we fail to do so, our freedom may regularly be challenged by threats emerging from the heart of Eurasia, from Afghanistan itself, or from the neighboring states whose fates are being reshaped by their troublesome neighbor.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Democratization, and Development
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and Eurasia