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42. Promoting Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries: Policy Challenges
- Author:
- Wim Naudé
- Publication Date:
- 04-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- This policy brief provides some fresh perspectives on the relationship between entrepreneurship and development, and considers policy design issues. It reports on the UNU-WIDER two-year research project “Promoting Entrepreneurial Capacity”, which aimed to understand whether and how entrepreneurship matters for development, how it could derail development, how entrepreneurs function in high growth as well as in conflict environments, and how female entrepreneurship differs across countries at various stages of development.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, and Third World
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, Iraq, and Burundi
43. Sexed Pistols: The Gendered Impacts of Prolific Small Arms
- Author:
- Albrecht Schnabel, Vanessa Farr, and Henri Myrttinen
- Publication Date:
- 01-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- Every day, small arms and light weapons (salw) kill, maim, wound and threaten millions of adults and children. The victims are combatants and civilians in war zones or communities in degraded “peacetime” environments characterized by large-scale criminal or political violence, and can also be found in “societies at peace” where SALW may be used in cases of domestic violence or shooting sprees. Due to their widespread availability, mobility and ease of use, prolific SALW play a significant role in maintaining social dislocation, destabilization, insecurity and crime in the build-up to war, in wartime and in the aftermath of violent conflict. Small arms are misused within domestic settings as well as in public spaces, and they affect everyone in the community regardless of sex or age.
- Topic:
- Political Violence, Arms Control and Proliferation, and Gender Issues
- Political Geography:
- United Nations
44. The Internationalization of Chinese and Indian Firms: Trends, Motivations and Policy Implications
- Author:
- Sandeep Kapur and Suma Athreye
- Publication Date:
- 01-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- The last two decades have seen a significant rise in the internationalization of firms from developing economies. In addition to their growing participation in international trade, a number of leading emerging economies are contributing to growing outflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) and cross-border mergers and acquisitions. According to the 2008 World Investment Report, outward flows of FDI from developing countries rose from about US$6 billion between 1989 and 1991 to US$225 billion in 2007. As a percentage of total global outflows, the share of developing countries grew from 2.7% to nearly 13.0% during this period.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Economics, Globalization, International Political Economy, Markets, Foreign Direct Investment, and Financial Crisis
- Political Geography:
- United States, China, and India
45. The Global Economic Crisis after One Year: Is a New Paradigm for Recovery in Developing Countries Emerging?
- Author:
- Wim Naudé
- Publication Date:
- 08-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- T HE ECONOMIC DOWNTURN AND RECESSION, WHICH spread across the globe following the US sub-prime mortgage crisis in September 2008, has become the dominant news topic of the past year. One year into the crisis it has become clear that the paradigm for international development has changed irrevocably. With leadership, moral authority and the capacity of the West diminishing, developing countries' recovery and future growth will critically depend on their own initiatives and solutions.
- Topic:
- Economics, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, and Financial Crisis
- Political Geography:
- United States
46. Policy Responses to the Global Economic Crisis in Africa
- Author:
- Wim Naudé and Augustin Kwasi Fosu
- Publication Date:
- 08-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS OF 2008 HAS INDUCED two negative external shocks in African countries. The first is a financial shock with the availability of credit declining and the cost of international credit increasing (a financial crisis); and the second is a shock relating to the demand for and price of exports, as most of Africa's important markets went into recession and commodity prices tumbled (an economic crisis).
- Topic:
- Globalization, Poverty, and Financial Crisis
- Political Geography:
- Africa
47. Partnerships for Women's Health: Striving for Best Practice within the UN Global Compact
- Author:
- Monika Kruesmann and Martina Timmermann
- Publication Date:
- 09-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- Women represent the great majority of the world's poor. With this poverty comes a range of well-documented problems: low educational attainment; low income and earning potential; inferior social power, status and influence compared with men; and importantly, poor health outcomes for both women and their children. High rates of maternal mortality and morbidity remain apparently intractable problems in many countries, particularly developing countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that every minute, at least one woman dies from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth; and 20 more suffer injury, infection or disease.
- Topic:
- Gender Issues, Health, Treaties and Agreements, and United Nations
- Political Geography:
- United States
48. Toward a Global Science and Technology Policy Agenda for Sustainable Development
- Author:
- Paul A. David, Can Huang, Luc Soete, and Adriaan van Zon
- Publication Date:
- 09-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- The current economic crisis has tended to sap the policy momentum that had developed during 2006 and 2007 behind public R programmes and institutional initiatives to expand the portfolio of affordable technological means of controlling global warming. This is unfortunate, since the international negotiations about concerted actions among the leading industrial countries to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have so far proceeded very slowly – too slowly, considering both the global nature of the problem and the size of the stakes involved. The initial “bargaining” stance taken by some important players, notably Japan and the United States, was in some respects disappointing in that it appears to fall far short of the EU member countries' endorsement in December 2008 of the package of EC directives designed to activate its “20-20-20” renewable energy strategy – a 20 per cent reduction of GHG emissions, and 20 per cent of energy consumption from renewable sources, by the year 2020. While there have been more promising developments recently, in the convergence towards that target in some of the legislation introduced in the US Congress, and the Obama administration's issuance of US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulatory directives requiring the use of the latest emissions control technologies on new and retrofitted electricity power plants, the outcome of the Copenhagen conference in December 2009 remains uncomfortably uncertain.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Development, International Cooperation, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- United States
49. Comparing the Effectiveness of Accountability Mechanisms in Eastern Europe and Latin America
- Author:
- Vesselin Popovski, Johanna Stratton, and Kalle Huebner
- Publication Date:
- 10-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- A society emerging from war or authoritarianism seeks to reckon with past human rights atrocities that, if not addressed, can threaten the state's legitimacy and democratic foundations. It is in the interests of sustainable peacebuilding and democratic consolidation to promote reconciliation and healing, and foster human rights and the rule of law. In order to achieve such a transformation over the long term, the organizational strategies, political styles and mechanisms used to consolidate democracy are of critical importance and deserve closer comparative analysis with the aim to provide valuable lessons for newly democratizing societies.
- Topic:
- Human Rights and Law
- Political Geography:
- Eastern Europe and Latin America
50. The Human Rights Regime in the Americas
- Author:
- Vesselin Popovski, Nicholas Turner, Thomas Karl Wagner, and Greg Lowden
- Publication Date:
- 01-2008
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- This policy brief examines the context, development and future of the human rights regime in the Americas —a region where people in many states have suffered brutal repression on a massive scale. It argues that the changing nature of human rights violations in Latin America demands a refocusing of international and domestic policies, building state capacity and improving the implementation of judicial reforms. The significant progress achieved in protection of civil and political rights should inspire and guide strategies to promote economic, social and cultural rights.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Human Rights, and International Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Latin America