Number of results to display per page
Search Results
39642. Analysis of the Status of Women in Burundi’s Political and Electoral Processes
- Author:
- Serge Nanourou and Abigal Wilson
- Publication Date:
- 07-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Foundation for Electoral Systems
- Abstract:
- Burundi is one of few countries in the world to have adopted a gender quota for its legislature in an effort to promote the inclusion and participation of women in the political process. As such, it presents an informative case study on the impact a gender quota can have as a catalyst for more progressive and inclusive governance. Given the International Foundation for Electoral System’s (IFES) commitment to gender equality and women’s participation in electoral processes and government, a thorough analysis demonstrating the effectiveness of quotas is a vital effort that aids IFES in supporting their use as a tool for democratic progress. As detailed in IFES’ Analysis of the Status of Women in Burundi’s Political and Electoral Processes, gender quotas in Burundi, which have their origin in the 2000 Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement that marked the end of a long and bloody civil war and have been encoded in Burundi’s Constitution and Electoral Code, have led to significant increases in the number of women participating in government, which is an important initial step in ensuring meaningful participation of all members of society. Perhaps the greatest indicator of success of the gender quota policy in Burundi is the high rate of women’s representation in the legislature. In the 2010 elections, 31% of National Assembly members and 46% of senators were women. Most remarkable is the fact that provisions to ensure quota requirements, which are set at 30% minimum, did not have to be invoked in order to reach these figures. In contrast, the 30% quota was only reached after seats were added in the 2005 elections. Four years prior to that, before provisions ensuring a minimum of 30% of women’s representation in the legislature had been adopted, less than 20% of seats in both the National Assembly and the Senate were filled by women. This marked improvement from election to election is strong evidence for the efficacy of gender quotas in the Burundian context.
- Topic:
- Gender Issues, Elections, Women, and Feminism
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Burundi
39643. Political Finance and Gender Equality
- Author:
- Lolita Cigane and Magnus Ohman
- Publication Date:
- 08-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Foundation for Electoral Systems
- Abstract:
- Throughout the world, women and men have different opportunities to participate in the political sphere. This is particularly true when it comes to participation as candidates and elected officials in electoral processes. There are many factors that contribute to existing gender inequalities in politics. While political finance is an important instrument for achieving gender equality in politics, the ongoing debates about political finance rarely consider the impact of money on the level of representation of both men and women in elected offices. IFES' latest publication, Political Finance and Gender Equality, has been developed on the premise that there is an important connection between political finance and gender equality that has not been explored in-depth. Discussions regarding political finance should take into account the issue of gender, particularly in consideration of the challenges that prospective women candidates face with regard to the role of money. This white paper attempts to take initial steps to examine the relationship between these two important issues. After an examination of political finance regulation and its impact on the chances of women and men to effectively run for elected office, the paper reviews the effect of varying electoral systems on gender equality in politics and political finance. Finally, this white paper discusses a recent pilot project in the Middle East and North Africa. A series of interviews with women candidates informed the work of multi-stakeholder working groups in Tunisia and Yemen, and these working groups provided recommendations for reform in their respective countries.
- Topic:
- Gender Issues, Politics, Finance, and Feminism
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Middle East, Yemen, North Africa, and Tunisia
39644. Money and Elections in the Maldives
- Author:
- International Foundation for Electoral Systems
- Publication Date:
- 11-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Foundation for Electoral Systems
- Abstract:
- The International Foundation for Electoral System’s (IFES) in close cooperation with national experts from Commerce, Development and Environment Consulting, conducted a nation-wide survey to measure the prevalence of vote buying in the Maldives during the March 2014 parliamentary elections. This is the first systematic study of its kind conducted in the Maldives and it provides statistical data on vote buying, campaign finance and other election-related issues. It reveals that 37% of the voters have personally witnessed attempts at vote buying. In addition, the Maldivian public is highly cynical of the way in which political parties and candidates spend their campaign funds. At the same time there is very strong public support for campaign finance reforms and, in particular, for combating vote buying. The methodology and sample were designed to be nationally representative with a +/- 3 percent margin of error. The report will be shared with the government, the parliament, the Election Commission, civil society, political parties and others. IFES is currently providing technical support to the Electoral Reform Working Group to formulate amendments to electoral legislation, and remains committed to supporting Maldivian institutions in improving the electoral process.
- Topic:
- Elections, Finance, Voting, and Campaign Finance
- Political Geography:
- South Asia, Asia, and Maldives
39645. Financing for the Implementation of National Action Plans on UN Security Council Resolution 1325: Critical for Advancing Women's Human Rights, Peace and Security
- Author:
- Dewi Suralaga and Mavic Cabrera-Balleza
- Publication Date:
- 10-2014
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP)
- Abstract:
- In 2000, the United Nations Security Council adopted the landmark resolution 1325(2000) on Women and Peace and Security, a historic recognition of the gender dimension of conflict, the disproportionate impact of conflict on women and girls, and the significant, yet often unrecognized, contributions women have made – frequently in the face of grave threats and unrelenting opposition – to sustained conflict resolution and peacebuilding. As we approach the 15-year anniversary of the resolution and the world continues to be plagued by unresolved conflicts and new threats to peace, human security and dignity, efforts to implement UNSCR 1325 and, indeed, the full Women and Peace and Security agenda) must be redoubled. The time is ripe to accelerate adequate and predictable funding. Though a host of factors contribute to the success of resolution 1325 (2000) implementation, adequate funding remains paramount among these. Yet, OECD recently reported that only three per cent of peace and security funding targets gender equality and women’s empowerment as a principal objective.1 Therefore sustainable and adequate financing continues to be a significant challenge. Despite being at the forefront of work to advance the Women and Peace and Security agenda, women’s rights groups, networks and movements face uniquely difficult obstacles in accessing sustainable funding for their work, particularly at the grassroots level. While governments hold primary responsibility for the implementation of resolution 1325(2000), women’s rights groups and movements are vital to addressing the context specific root causes of conflict and building a transformative and sustainable peace. Funding women’s rights groups and movements would go far in addressing the “implementation deficit” faced by the WPS agenda.
- Topic:
- Security, Gender Issues, United Nations, Women, Peace, and WPS
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
39646. Women Count: Security Council Resolution 1325: Civil Society Monitoring Report 2014
- Author:
- Mavic Cabrera-Balleza, Eleonore Veilet Chowdhury, Helena Gronberg, and Annalise Moser
- Publication Date:
- 10-2014
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP)
- Abstract:
- The forthcoming 15th anniversary of UNSCR 1325 once again brings to the fore the importance of monitoring policy implementation. In the last 15 years, greater accountability to the resolution has been a consistent call from civil society, the UN and Member States. However, only a handful of Member States are actually monitoring the progress and achievements as well as the gaps and weaknesses in the implementation of the resolutions. The 2014 edition of Women Count, Security Council Resolution 1325: Civil Society Monitoring Report, demonstrates once again that while it is labor intensive and time consuming, monitoring is a doable and relevant exercise. It also illustrates that while funding is absolutely necessary, the lack of it should not be an excuse to not monitor. On the fifth year of Women Count, the civil society monitoring of UNSCR 1325, civil society groups from Azerbaijan, India, Iraq, Kenya and Libya are participating in this independent monitoring report for the very first time. Moreover, we are for the first time including a territory, Nagorno-Karabakh in monitoring and analyzing the applicability of the WPS resolutions in different socio-political and cultural contexts. 21 countries were monitored in 2014 bringing the total number of countries monitored in the last five years to 24. Beyond just a figure, this number represents the wealth of data, information and analysis on how UNSCR 1325 has impacted the lives of women around the world—in conflict-affected countries, in developed and non-conflict countries, in middle income countries; in countries with or without National Action Plans. GNWP’s participation in the ongoing Global Study on Women, Peace and Security is informed by the findings and recommendations in the last five years of this monitoring exercise. I would like to emphasize that some of the findings and recommendations such as those on women’s lack of representation in official peace negotiations, lack of local level action, as well as the persistent problem on lack of funding for women’s peacebuilding work at the grassroots level are not new and in fact some of them have been articulated prior to 2010. However, the civil society monitoring initiative presents new evidence and fresh insights.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Security, Gender Issues, United Nations, Women, Negotiation, Peace, and WPS
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
39647. Two Concepts of Pluralism: A Comparative Study of Mahatma Gandhi and Isaiah Berlin
- Author:
- Ramin Jahanbegloo
- Publication Date:
- 12-2014
- Content Type:
- Research Paper
- Institution:
- India International Centre (IIC)
- Abstract:
- When the definitive history of democratic thought in the 20th century is written, both Mohandas K. Gandhi and Isaiah Berlin will take their places as the two most distinguished theorists of the pluralist tradition. As history goes, Gandhi and Sir Isaiah never met and the latter never wrote any piece on the former. However, Isaiah Berlin visited India in 1961 and met with Jawaharlal Nehru, but he never considered seriously the views of Gandhi as an anticolonial leader. In his talk delivered in New Delhi on 13 November 1961 on ‘Rabindranath Tagore and the Consciousness of Nationality’, Berlin presents himself as a person who is ‘shamefully ignorant of Indian civilization, even of what is most valuable and most important in it’ (Berlin, 1996: 249).
- Topic:
- Multiculturalism, Ethics, Philosophy, Pluralism, and Morality
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
39648. Around 1948: Human Rights and Global Transformation
- Author:
- Rashid Khalidi, Lydia H. Liu, Samuel Moyn, Deborah Nelson, and Eurgenia Lean
- Publication Date:
- 10-2014
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Footage from the October 8, 2014 panel discussion "Around 1948: Human Rights and Global Transformation" at Columbia University about the issues surrounding the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Featuring Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies, Columbia University; Lydia H. Liu, Wun Tsun Tam Professor in the Humanities, Columbia University; Samuel Moyn, Professor of Law and History, Harvard University; and Deborah Nelson, Associate Professor of English, University of Chicago. Moderated by Eugenia Lean, Associate Professor of Chinese History and Director of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University. Co-sponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, the Center for International History, Critical Inquiry, the Department of East Asian Languages & Cultures, the Department of History, the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society, and the Middle East Institute.
- Topic:
- Human Rights, History, and Geopolitics
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, East Asia, Asia, and Global Focus
39649. Understanding the Nature of Local-Global Interactions in Istanbul’s Retail Property Market
- Author:
- Fatih Eren
- Publication Date:
- 07-2014
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
- Institution:
- Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
- Abstract:
- Today, capital, people and information flows have increased more than ever before among different regions in the world. Every flow creates a different local-global interaction in its own social environment. One of social environments in which this kind of interactions occurs is property markets. There are some theories to explain the nature of local and global interactions in social sciences literature. However, the success of these theories in explaining the nature of local-global interactions in a property market became subject to a research very few. This research aims to make a contribution to this area. The study also intends to find general answers to some important questions emerge in the internationalization process of property markets. The study focuses on the three well-accepted interaction theories of social sciences, which are imperialism, globalisation and glocalisation. The validity of the assumptions of these theories in the case of Istanbul’s retail property market is questioned in this research. The emergence of social structures and the specific behaviours of these structures in local property markets may be understood better when true point of view is found out about interactions. A qualitative methodology is followed; interview and document analysis methods are used in the study. Findings show that the nature of local-global interactions experienced in Istanbul’s retail property market is very unique so it is not possible to explain t
- Topic:
- Globalization, Imperialism, Housing, and Retail
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Turkey, Asia, and Istanbul
39650. Erasmus+ Programme With Eyes of Ukrainian Students
- Author:
- Svitlana Batsyukova
- Publication Date:
- 03-2014
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Studies of Changing Societies Journal (SCS)
- Institution:
- Studies of Changing Societies Journal (SCS)
- Abstract:
- This article looks at the relevance, comprehensiveness and integrity of the Erasmus+ programme in Ukraine thorugh the lenses of Ukrainian students' eyes. It takes account of recently signed political provisions of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and demonstrates support outlined in the Agreement toward goals of the Erasmus+ programme. The core component of the article presents analysis of students' questionnaires. The questionnaires were composed of questions aimed at supporting or countering different arguments related to the introduction of the Erasmus+ programme in Ukraine.
- Topic:
- European Union, Higher Education, and Survey
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Ukraine