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6692. The Wolesi Jirga in 2010: Pre-Election Politics and the Appearance of Opposition
- Author:
- Mohammad Hassan Wafaey and Anna Larson
- Publication Date:
- 01-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU)
- Abstract:
- This brief provides some of the initial findings of AREU’s study on parliamentary functions and dynamics. It summarises initial findings based on data collected from semi-structured interviews with a sample of over 50 MPs comprising different backgrounds, provinces, genders, ethnicities, political relationships, and ideologies. In addition, the views of constituents in three provinces, collected for a complementary study, have been drawn upon here to triangulate the information given by MPs.
- Topic:
- Democracy, Domestic Politics, Community, and Parliamentarism
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and Middle East
6693. Where Have all the Flowers Gone? Assessing the Sustainability of Current Reductions in Opium Poppy Cultivation
- Author:
- David Mansfield
- Publication Date:
- 05-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU)
- Abstract:
- Levels of opium poppy cultivation have fallen in Afghanistan for two consecutive years and it now appears that cultivation will be maintained at this relatively low level for another year. This briefing paper examines the reasons behind the reductions and assesses their sustainability, with special emphasis on the key provinces of Nangarhar and Helmand. It identifies instability and drops in livelihood standards caused by coercive reductions in opium poppy cultivation, and finds that increasing levels of wheat production do not reflect a sustainable shift from opium production, but instead are a sign of market failure, growing concerns over food security, and coercion.
- Topic:
- Security, Agriculture, Food, Rural, Drugs, and Sustainability
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and Middle East
6694. Between Patronage and Rebellion: Student Politics in Afghanistan
- Author:
- Antonio Giustozzi
- Publication Date:
- 02-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU)
- Abstract:
- Student politics in Afghanistan has not been the object of much scholarly attention, but we know that student politics in the 1960-70s had an important influence on the development of political parties, which in turn shaped Afghanistan’s entry into mass politics in the late 1970-80s. The purpose of this study is therefore multiple: to fill a gap in the horizon of knowledge, to investigate the significance of changes in the student politics of today compared to several decades ago, And finally to detect trends that might give us a hint of the Afghan politics of tomorrow. The research is based on approximately 100 interviews with students and political activists in Kabul, Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif and Jalalabad, as well as approximately 12 interviews with former student activists of the 1960-70s.
- Topic:
- Education, Politics, Youth, Political Parties, and Participation
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and Middle East
6695. Building a Viable Microfinance Sector in Afghanistan
- Author:
- Paula Kantor and Erna Andersen
- Publication Date:
- 01-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU)
- Abstract:
- AREU research on the impact of microcredit on informal credit systems and rural livelihoods illustrated the viability challenges microfinance institutions (MFIs) and their clients were facing. This briefing paper examines the changes the microfinance sector is undertaking, such as the introduction of more reliable business plans, creating internal audit units to improve control systems and reduce opportunities for fraud, and institutionalising an MFI report card system, to improve performance.
- Topic:
- Finance, Business, Microcredit, and Credit
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and Middle East
6696. Counter-Cyclical Economic Policy
- Author:
- The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
- Publication Date:
- 05-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
- Abstract:
- The effects of the recent economic crisis have stretched policy frameworks in many OECD countries close to breaking point. Recent work by the OECD has examined how policies have interacted with the economic cycle over time and during the recent crisis. The main policy lessons are as follows: • Policy-makers should take into account uncertainties about the functioning of the economy, the nature of economic shocks or the effects of policy and take their decisions accordingly. • Policy in various areas will have to build in greater safety margins and to be more prudent during upswings. • Appropriate fiscal rules can help prepare fiscal policy for the next downturn by leading to swifter consolidation during the upturn. • The monetary and financial policy framework needs to achieve a better articulation between economic and financial stability. • Financial policy needs to strengthen micro-prudential regulation, regulatory interventions may need to target emerging credit-driven bubbles and macro-prudential policies should address systemic risks. • There may be a case for monetary policy leaning against the wind, if asset prices are driven by a credit boom and financial regulation is judged to be insufficiently robust. • Changes to structural policy settings can improve the resilience of the economy to shocks and affect the degree of leverage households and firms take on.
- Topic:
- Economics, Fiscal Policy, Economic Stability, and Economic Crisis
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
6697. The Impact of Structural Reforms on Current Account Imbalance
- Author:
- The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
- Publication Date:
- 05-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
- Abstract:
- Global current account imbalances widened markedly in the years preceding the global economic crisis. Although the crisis brought some reversal to this trend, imbalances remain large in many countries. New empirical analysis by the OECD has examined the potential contribution of structural reforms to reducing current account imbalances. The analysis shows that structural reforms aimed at boosting economic growth can have more or less persistent side effects on current accounts. These arise because structural policies influence saving and investment of households, firms and governments. In turn, the economy-wide gap between saving and investment equals the current account balance. Specifically, the following policy lessons emerge from the analysis: More developed social welfare systems would reduce the need for precautionary saving among households, which would moderate current account surpluses in external surplus countries. Pension reforms that increase the retirement age and thus the length of the working life would also reduce household saving and thereby reduce current account surpluses. Pension reforms that lead to cuts in replacement rates would have the opposite effect. Financial market reforms that raise the sophistication or depth of financial markets may relax borrowing constraints in emerging economies, thus contributing to a fall in the saving rate. The associated weakening of the current account position might be reinforced if the reforms also boost investment. Reforming competition-unfriendly product market regulation could encourage capital spending and thereby contribute to reduce imbalances in surplus countries. Some policy settings introduce distortions that encourage consumption, such as tax deductibility of interest payments on mortgages in the absence of taxation of imputed rent. Reform in this area might help increase household saving and thereby improve a country’s current account position. Overall, for the policies investigated, surplus countries appear to have more scope for structural reforms that would both enhance economic growth and reduce external imbalances. A scenario analysis indicates that if Japan, Germany and China were to liberalise their product markets and China also increased public health spending and continued to liberalise its financial markets, global imbalances could decline by around one-fifth relative to a baseline scenario. Moreover, since external deficit countries tend to have larger fiscal consolidation needs than surplus countries, fiscal tightening should also contribute to reduce external imbalances over the coming decade.
- Topic:
- Markets, Reform, Welfare, and Economic Crisis
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
6698. Convergence in European Policy Making: What do Article 15 (FCNM) and the EU Regional Policy Have in Common?
- Author:
- Tove H. Malloy
- Publication Date:
- 12-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- European Centre for Minority Issues
- Abstract:
- Minority protection is expanding its focus from protection-only to protectionand-empowerment, or from a politics of identity to a politics of identity related interests. To most, minority protection means the idea that there are compelling reasons why members of ethnic, cultural, national, racial and linguistic minorities require certain special protection rights in order not to suffer assimilation, suppression or persecution. However, in the European context, minority protection has also come to mean a right to attain a decent life. A decent life means a good life. The notion of the good life is of course essentially contested. The problem of protecting the right to a good life is not therefore what is a good life? – but how do minorities achieve and enjoy what they consider a good life?
- Topic:
- Regional Cooperation, Minorities, European Union, Identity, and Protected People
- Political Geography:
- Europe
6699. National Minorities in the 21st Century Europe: New Discourses, New Narratives?
- Author:
- Tove H. Malloy
- Publication Date:
- 12-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- European Centre for Minority Issues
- Abstract:
- For centuries national minorities in Europe have lived in the shadow of the historical events of the 19th and the 20t h centuries. Whether for humanitarian reasons or to protect the identity of national minorities, major European treaties settling inter-state wars have had to address minority issues to secure the peace. For this reason, national minorities have frequently been seen not only as obstacles to nation and state building but also as anomalies in international relations.1 At times labelled as troublemakers and war mongers, national minorities have seldom been afforded ethical standing in the writing of Europe’s history.2 While the settlement after the First World War might be called an ‘honourable’ settlement, the settlement after the Second World War basically erased some national minorities from the European map. The integration discourses of the 21st Century seem to bring changes to this scenario.
- Topic:
- Nationalism, Minorities, Ethnicity, and Regionalism
- Political Geography:
- Europe
6700. Parity—Expanding Equitable Insurance Coverage for Addiction and Mental Health Treatment
- Publication Date:
- 06-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Open Society Foundations
- Abstract:
- On January 1, 2010, the Wellstone-Domenici Parity Act went into effect, expanding access to mental health and addiction treatment coverage in many employer-sponsored group health plans. The new federal law applies to group health plans covering 50 or more employees that provide any level of coverage for treatment of mental health and substance use disorders. Those plans are now required to cover mental health and substance use disorders benefits at “parity,” or in the same way as they cover other medical and surgical services. Simply put, “parity” is the treatment of addiction and mental illness in insurance benefits in the same way as other medical conditions. When the law is fully implemented, it is estimated that 140 million Americans could have improved access to addiction and mental health treatment services should they need it.
- Topic:
- Health, Health Care Policy, Mental Health, Drugs, and Equality
- Political Geography:
- United States