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2872. U.S. Foreign Assistance to Africa: Claims vs. Reality
- Author:
- Susan E. Rice
- Publication Date:
- 06-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- The Bush Administration has significantly increased aid to Africa, but that increase falls far short of what the President has claimed. U.S. aid to Africa from FY 2000 (the last full budget year of the Clinton Administration) to FY2004 (the last completed fiscal year of the Bush Administration) has not "tripled" or even doubled. Rather, in real dollars, it has increased 56% (or 67% in nominal dollar terms). The majority of that increase consists of emergency food aid, rather than assistance for sustainable development of the sort Africa needs to achieve lasting poverty reduction.
- Topic:
- International Relations and Human Welfare
- Political Geography:
- Africa and United States
2873. WTO Dispute Settlement and the Missing Developing Country Cases: Engaging the Private Sector
- Author:
- Chad P. Bown and Bernard M. Hoekman
- Publication Date:
- 05-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- The poorest WTO member countries almost universally fail to engage as either complainants or interested third parties in formal dispute settlement activity related to their market access interests. This paper focuses on costs of the WTO's extended litigation process as an explanation for the potential but "missing" developing country engagement. We provide a positive examination of the current system, and we catalogue and analyze a set of proposals encouraging the private sector to provide DSU-specific legal assistance to poor countries. We investigate the role of legal service centres, non-governmental organizations, development organizations, international trade litigators, economists, consumer organizations, and even law schools to provide poor countries with the missing services needed at critical stages of the WTO's extended litigation process. In the absence of systemic rules reform, the public-private partnership model imposes a substantial cooperation burden on such groups as they organize export interests, estimate the size of improved market access payoffs, prioritize across potential cases, engage domestic governments, prepare legal briefs, assist in evidentiary discovery, and pursue the public relations effort required to induce foreign political compliance.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Development, Economics, and Third World
2874. Global Health and Global Governance: Prioritizing Health within the Framework of the Millennium Development Goals
- Author:
- Colin I. Bradford
- Publication Date:
- 01-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- Global health conditions are in a state of crisis. Not only are poor health conditions in poor countries ravaging lives and restraining development, but the HIV/AIDS pandemic is threatening to undermine progress on all other fronts in developing countries and menacing the sense of health security in industrial countries.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Development, Human Welfare, and Politics
2875. Nigeria's Paris Club Debt Problem
- Publication Date:
- 08-2005
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- Intense domestic pressure has convinced Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo to seek a deal that would eliminate the country's $31 billion of debt owed to the governments of the U.K., France, and other aid-giving countries that use the Paris Club process to restructure debt that countries cannot repay. The Paris Club creditors have proposed an unprecedented operation—its first-ever buyback at a discount—that would cancel all of Nigeria's debt to them in exchange for a cash payment of roughly $12 billion.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, International Relations, and Debt
- Political Geography:
- Africa, United Kingdom, Paris, France, and Nigeria
2876. Moving Toward Smarter Aid
- Publication Date:
- 08-2005
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is seriously wounded. Unveiled by President Bush in March 2002 as a promising new bilateral aid instrument for tackling global poverty, the most prominent sign of the MCC's distress was the mid-summer resignation of Paul Applegarth, its first CEO. More disturbing are the cuts imposed by the Congressional committees marking up next year's budget. The MCC's original concept was to award $5 billion annually to low-income countries based on objective criteria measuring their performance in ruling justly, investing in people, and promoting economic freedom. Appropriations for the MCC in its third year of funding, however, appear to be stuck below $2 billion. Criticism of the MCC for getting off to a slow start misses the point. Creating a new agency takes time and the original concept remains valid. To enable the MCC to live up to its potential, its newly nominated CEO will have to sell the MCC vision to a skeptical Congress and gain the flexibility required to avoid drifting toward "more of the same."
- Topic:
- International Relations, Debt, Economics, and Poverty
2877. Can the U.S. Government Live Within Its Means? Lessons from Abroad
- Author:
- Allen Schick
- Publication Date:
- 06-2005
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- When George W. Bush leaves office in 2009, the federal government will owe at least $15,000 more for every American than it did when he became president eight years earlier. This unprecedented build-up of public debt will result from budget deficits projected to average more than $250 billion a year during the Bush presidency, plus more than one trillion dollars borrowed from social security trust funds. Although this budget projection may be high, there is far greater risk that actual deficits will exceed current estimates than that they will be lower.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Economics, and Government
- Political Geography:
- United States
2878. Simmering Fire in Asia: Averting Sino-Japanese Strategic Conflict
- Author:
- Michael Swaine and Minxin Pei
- Publication Date:
- 11-2005
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Abstract:
- The rapid deterioration in Sino-Japanese relations in recent years has raised geopolitical tensions in East Asia and could embroil China and Japan in a dangerous strategic conflict that could be threatening to U.S. interests. China's rise, Japan's growing assertiveness in foreign policy, and new security threats and uncertainties in Asia are driving the two countries increasingly further apart. Political pandering to nationalist sentiments in each country has also contributed to the mismanagement of bilateral ties. But Japan and China are not destined to repeat the past. Their leaders must ease the tensions, restore stability, and pursue a new agenda of cooperation as equals. For its part, the United States must play a more positive and active role.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution and International Relations
- Political Geography:
- United States, Japan, China, Israel, East Asia, and Asia
2879. Back From the Brink: A Strategy for Iraq
- Author:
- Marina S. Ottaway
- Publication Date:
- 11-2005
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Abstract:
- The approval of the Iraqi constitution in the October 15 referendum does not put Iraq on the path to stability and democracy but pushes it toward division into largely autonomous regions. And this new momentum is probably irreversible. Whether it will lead to a catastrophic descent into greater violence or even ethnic cleansing, or to a managed transformation into a loose federation of regions enjoying extreme autonomy, depends on whether it becomes possible for Sunni Arabs to form their own region, as Kurds already have and Shias are bound to do once the constitution is in effect. The central thrust of U.S. policy in Iraq must now be to help Sunnis organize an autonomous region and to convince Shias and Kurds that it is in their interest to make this possible. Paradoxically, announcing now a timetable for the inevitable withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq could give Washington additional leverage in influencing all sides to accept the necessary compromises.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Democratization, and Government
- Political Geography:
- United States, Iraq, Washington, Middle East, and Arabia
2880. Putin's Decline and America's Response
- Author:
- Anders Åslund
- Publication Date:
- 08-2005
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Abstract:
- Russia's regime has gone through a major aggravation during the first year of President Vladimir Putin's second term. The regime suffers from serious overcentralization of power, which has led to a paralysis of policy making. Putin's power base has been shrunk to secret policemen from St. Petersburg. Although his popularity remains high, it is falling. Neither unbiased information nor negative feedback is accepted. As a result, the Putin regime is much more fragile than generally understood. Russia's current abandonment of democracy is an anomaly for such a developed and relatively wealthy country, and it has made Russia's interests part from those of the United States. The United States should not hesitate to promote democracy in Russia, while pragmatically pursuing common interests in nonproliferation and energy.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Democratization, and Government
- Political Geography:
- Russia, United States, America, Europe, and Asia