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38972. What to Expect in the House Defense Authorization Bill
- Author:
- Mieke Eoyang and Ben Freeman
- Publication Date:
- 05-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Third Way
- Abstract:
- The House will soon consider the FY 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). This memo provides a preview of the NDAA floor debate and highlights both good and bad elements in the Committee bill.
38973. US Reconstruction Aid for Afghanistan: The Dollars and Sense
- Author:
- Catherine Lutz and Sujaya Desai
- Publication Date:
- 11-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University
- Abstract:
- The United States, and its allies, the UN, NGOs, and the World Bank, have injected billions of dollars into what is commonly termed the "reconstruction" of Afghanistan since the war began in 2001. This paper focuses on United States spending on aid in Afghanistan, describing the rationale government officials have given for the aid, what they have spent money on, who has profited from the contracts to provide aid, and what the consequences of that spending have been in terms of benefits to the people of Afghanistan or the United States. The central findings of this review of US government investigative reports and existing field-based scholarship are that reconstruction aid has been allocated primarily to re-arming and policing Afghanistan, with poor or even counterproductive outcomes in both security and other-than-security domains. Furthermore, US companies have been among the primary beneficiaries of this aid, despite widespread fraud, waste, and dysfunction. In contrast to a focus on human needs, and rather than rebuilding the basis of a modern state, reconstruction has been focused on furthering United States security interests. Reconstruction thus sets the foundation for continued violence and impoverishment in the years to come.
- Topic:
- Corruption, Foreign Aid, and World Bank
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and United States
38974. What War Has Wrought in Afghan Women's Lives
- Author:
- Jennifer Heath
- Publication Date:
- 11-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University
- Abstract:
- The “liberation” of Afghan women became a justification of the George W. Bush administration for the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. Good intentions notwithstanding, Western feminists often painted a distorted portrait of absolutely helpless Afghan women buried alive in their burqas. One sad result of this black--‐and--‐white thinking, which overlooks the nuances and diversity of Afghan life and society, has been a severe curtailing of the quality, quantity, and endurance of whatever help Western women try to offer their Afghan sisters. This paper gives a historical overview of the realities of Afghan women's lives, contrasting these with common perceptions about Afghan women held by those outside Afghanistan – often misperceptions upon which millions of dollars of foreign aid have been spent. A description of Afghan women's social context touches on their views of the Taliban, women's political rights and empowerment throughout history, and women's access to healthcare and education. This paper argues that unless every step is taken with consideration for Afghan women's concerns, within the diverse contexts of their real lives, there can be no lasting peace. Any peace agreements must include clear commitments from all sides to respect and protect women's rights.
- Topic:
- Education, Gender Issues, Human Rights, and Political Activism
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan
38975. Democratic Aspirations and Destabilizing Outcomes in Afghanistan
- Author:
- Norah Niland
- Publication Date:
- 11-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University
- Abstract:
- The United States and its allies, in control of Afghanistan since October 2001, failed to support the development of an inclusive, legitimate and accountable political system. This paper examines how the imposition of an inappropriate model of democracy, the prioritization of American interests over those of Afghans, and a pattern of expedient political decisions have contributed to the destabilization of the country. The democracy and state-building model imposed on Afghanistan was stymied from the outset by critical foundational flaws. These include the return to power of discredited warlords reviled by most Afghans, the marginalization of particular groups including the remnants of the Taliban movement, and the concentration of power in an executive Presidency at the expense of a weak parliamentary structure. In 2014, along with the drawdown of US and NATO troops, Afghanistan's disputed election saga ended in a no-victor deal that effectively discarded the (as yet unknown) results of the ballot box. Once again, Washington politics reinforced the grip of a warlord-dominated elite on the machinery of the state and exposed the hollowness of the US-led and UN-supported state building project.
- Topic:
- Political Violence, Corruption, Democratization, and Fragile/Failed State
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and United States
38976. The Continuing Cost of the Iraq War: The Spread of Jihadi Groups Throughout the Region
- Author:
- Jessica Stern
- Publication Date:
- 02-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University
- Abstract:
- The US invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq, initiated in part to retaliate against Al Qaeda for the 9/11 strikes, had the effect of inspiring the creation of new Al Qaeda franchises. One such group is The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, formed as the Iraqi Al Qaeda affiliates spread into Syria. The formation of ISIS and the other Jihadi groups active in Syria and now spreading elsewhere through the region, together responsible for thousands of deaths, is one of the many costs of the Iraq war. These new groups - which formed and trained during the US occupation of Iraq - are impeding US foreign policy and preventing donor nations from providing humanitarian relief.
- Political Geography:
- United States, Iraq, and Syria
38977. The Politics of History: India and China, 1949-1962
- Author:
- Nirupama Rao
- Publication Date:
- 09-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University
- Abstract:
- When speaking of the politics of history involving the relationship between India and China in the period before the conflict of 1962, it is essential that we should have a sense of proportion about that history, distilling the meaning of the events that transpired and the key determinants in the evolving relationship between these two Asian powers in mid-century. How does that history connect to us, and how we shape our future? While there can be infinite meanings attached to what caused the war between India and China, what lessons are to be learnt about leadership, about public opinion, about logistical and military preparedness, about narrowing differences, and about negotiation?
- Political Geography:
- China, India, and Asia
38978. Socializing the European Semester? Economic Governance and Social Policy Coordination in Europe 2020
- Author:
- Jonathan Zeitlin and Bart Vanhercke
- Publication Date:
- 10-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University
- Abstract:
- Since the onset of the Euro crisis in 2009-‐2010, the EU has introduced a series of far-‐reaching changes in its institutional architecture for economic and social governance. At the heart of this new architecture is the 'European Semester' of policy coordination, through which the Commission, the Council, and the European Council set priorities for the Union in the Annual Growth Survey (AGS), review National Reform Programmes (NRPs), and issue Country-‐Specific Recommendations (CSRs) to Member States, backed up in some cases by the possibility of financial sanctions. The European Semester brings together within a single annual policy coordination cycle a wide range of EU governance instruments with different legal bases and sanctioning authority, from the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), the Macroeconomic Imbalances Procedure (MIP), and the Fiscal Treaty to the Europe 2020 Strategy and the Integrated Economic and Employment Policy Guidelines. This process in turn has given the EU institutions a more visible and intrusive role than ever before in scrutinizing and guiding national economic, fiscal, and social policies, especially but by no means exclusively within the Eurozone (Costamagna 2013; Chalmers 2012).
- Political Geography:
- Europe
38979. Albanian Local Government Finance on the Eve of Territorial Consolidation
- Author:
- Anthony Levitas
- Publication Date:
- 10-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University
- Abstract:
- This paper reviews local government finances in Albania on the eve of the government's plan to decrease the number of municipalities from 373 to 61. The paper argues that without changes in the current intergovernmental finance system, territorial consolidation is unlikely to be accompanied by improved service delivery. This is because Albanian local governments are underfunded and receive less revenue than their counterparts in the region measured both as a percentage of total public revenues and of GDP. The current intergovernmental finance regime is also “over-equalizing” and is depriving the country's larger jurisdictions –particularly Tirana— of the resources they need to build network infrastructure. These problems cannot be resolved by the efficiency gains that should come from consolidation. Nor is better property tax collection fix likely to transform the situation. Instead, the national government needs to provide municipalities with new grants and transfers. One possibility here is to introduce income tax sharing, a reform that would also make it possible to anchor the equalization system in an objective measure of relative wealth. Eventually, income tax shares could be transformed into local surcharges.
- Political Geography:
- Albania and Tirana
38980. Collective Reputation and the Dynamics of Statistical Discrimination
- Author:
- Young-Chul Kim and Glenn C. Loury
- Publication Date:
- 04-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University
- Abstract:
- Economists have developed theoretical models identifying self-fulfilling expectations as an important source of statistical discrimination practices in labor markets (Arrow, 1973). The static models dominating the literature of statistical discrimination, however, may leave the false impression that a bad equilibrium is as fragile as a "bubble" and can burst at any moment when expectations flip. Such models thus understate the adversity that disadvantaged groups face in seeking to escape bad equilibria. By developing a dynamic version of a statistical discrimination model based on Coate and Loury's (1993) original setup, we clarify the limits of expectations-related fragility. We show that when a group is strongly affected by negative reputational externalities, the group cannot escape a low skill investment trap, regardless of how expectations are formed. By examining the evolution of stereotypes in this way, we also provide new insights into egalitarian policies.