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Expenditure of labour problem is an urgent economical problem in every country of market economy without an exception. Interests of employers and employees directly interfere when dealing with the problem. Most of the authors analyse expenditure of labour taking into consideration only about payment. But it is important to manage and control the whole range of expenditure of labour. Nevertheless, there is still no specific accounting and control system.In order to avoid corrupting of the information concerning expenditure of labour and prevent from different abuse cases and illegal actions it is suggested to divide all the expenditure of labour into 4 groups: 1) expenditure of labour payment; 2) expenditure for training; 3) social expenditure; 4) other expenditure of labour.Expenditure of labour payment making the larger part of expenditure of labour influence employee work efficiency mostly. Therefore before creating a policy for determining labour payment it is advised to consider the attitude that the employees should earn in accordance with their labour input. Expenditure of training can be described as an investment into people who can influence company work efficiency and financial results. Social expenditure consist of payment concerning disability to work, compulsory social assurance fees, different type grants, fees for the sake of employees, company health care employees expenditure of labour and other expenditure of similar nature. However social and other expenditure of labour being a part if the whole company expenditure range on the one and make favourable work conditions for an employee and on the other hand - decrease company competitiveness.Accounting of expenditure of labour is one of the most complicated finance accounting sections. All the expenditure referring to the model accounting plan are taken into accounts of class 6 "Expenditure". Accounts 6103. "Sales persons salary and related expenditure" and 6114 "Administration salary and related expenditure" are dedicated to accounting of employee salary and related expenditure. However there are no separate accounts for expenditure of labour of employees directly or indirectly related to production process. Therefore such accounts should be chosen. Variety of expenditure of labour accounting data would reveal extra information that would grant a possibility to evaluate dynamics of different kind expenditure of labour, calculate amount of a single employee different kind expenditure of labour and compare the received value to the work results achieved by the employee, estimate influence of expenditure of labour change over company activity figures.Expenditure of labour control and accounting questions are little investigated in literature. Mostly attention is paid to whether the company calculates labour payment and reflects it in finance accountability in a correct manner. In order to have the control effectively influence company activity labour payment control limits should be extended including other type of expenditure of labour and adding extra procedures. "Expenditure of labour control form" is recommended for expenditure of labour control. Expenditure of labour control on the basis of recommended form results would give information whether expenditure of labour appear within the laws of Lithuanian Republic, Government resolutions and other law statements or there was no overpay case and calculated and paid out sums reflect in an accountancy of appropriate period. ; Darbo sąnaudų problema yra labai aktuali ekonominė problema visose be išimties rinkos ekonomikos šalyse. Sprendžiant šią problemą tiesiogiai susiduria darbdavių ir darbuotojų interesai. Darbo sąnaudos tai imonės patirtos sąnaudos, samdant darbuotojus, kurie atlieka jiems patikėtas funkcijas, siekiant numatytų įmonės tikslų. Jos parodo ivairių išorės ir vidaus veiksnių suformuotą darbuotojo vertę. Lietuvoje veikiančių imonių sąnaudų struktūroje darbo sąnaudos vidutiniškai sudaro apie 11 proc. Tokia situacija išryškina darbo sąnaudų, kaip sąnaudų visumos rūšies, reikšmę ir ypatingumą.Straipsnyje nagrinėjama darbo sąnaudų reikšmė ir sudėtis šiandienės dinamiškos ir konkurencingos rinkos ekonomikos sąlygomis. Pirmą kartą pateikiama darbo sąnaudų klasifikacija į keturias grupes: 1) darbo užmokesčio, 2) ugdymo, 3) socialinių ir 4) kitų darbo sąnaudų. Analizuojamas šių darbo sąnaudų rūšių informacijos rinkimas ir vertinimas. Daugiausia dėmesio skiriama darbo sąnaudų rūšių apskaitai ir kontrolei. Pateikiamos naujos buhalterinės sąskaitos darbo sąnaudoms apskaityti ir šių sąnaudų kontrolės principai.Šio straipsnio tikslas - ištirti darbo sąnaudų sudėtį ir pateikti jų apskaitos bei kontrolės sistemą. Šiam tikslui buvo naudoti šie tyrimo metodai - mokslinės literatūros šaltinių analizė, informacijos sisteminimas, lyginimas ir apibendrinimas, statistikos duomenų skaičiavimas ir interpretavimas.

The purpose of this work is based both on a theoretical interest and on an empiric contribution to the implementation of a new form of European governance: the Open Method of Coordination (from now on, OMC). It is about trying to get a better understanding of the role of the Community institutions and those of the Member States in the process of European building, showing the eventual ruling effects of the «strictly political» means of action. It is from the point of view of implementing the political action where the OMC may be included as a tool that allows exerting public action at the level of the EU and turning it operational. The OMC belongs to the new generation of non-compulsory mechanisms for good governance, the so called soft law governance, that are having a bearing on the «Europeanization» phenomenon as a process, as compared to the traditional European governance tools, such as the «Community method», which arranges the adoption of decisions within the «institutional triangle» made up by the Commission, the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. That is, the OMC would be the result of the «adaptation Absracts 178 GAPP núms. 30/31: mayo - diciembre 2004 pressures» made by the Community government through specific institutionalization processes, launched and guided by the European Commission, on the «domestic structures» (the Member States), and through the process of framing political guidelines, to be inter-governmentally applied. Recently, and from a descriptive point of view, the author of this work has already dealt with the empiric aspects of applying the OMC to the social field. On this occasion it is about completing the study of the OMC from a doctrinal point of view, in the light of the new approaches that try to explain the complex process of European integration, from a cognitive perspective among others, i.e. through instruments to share knowledge, through mutual learning and through the exchange of experiences. Likewise, it is about answering the question of whether the OMC represents a new model for institutional assessment in the EU. ; El propósito de este trabajo se basa tanto en un interés teórico como en una contribución empírica a la implementación de una nueva forma de gobierno europeo: el Método Abierto de Coordinación (de ahora en adelante, OMC). Se trata de tratar de comprender mejor el papel de las instituciones comunitarias y de los Estados miembros en el proceso de construcción europea, mostrando los efectos finales de los medios de acción "estrictamente políticos". Es desde el punto de vista de la implementación de la acción política donde el MAC puede ser incluido como una herramienta que permite ejercer la acción pública a nivel de la UE y hacerla operativa. El MAC pertenece a la nueva generación de mecanismos no obligatorios para la buena gobernanza, la llamada gobernanza de ley blanda, que tienen relación con el fenómeno de la «europeización» como un proceso, en comparación con las herramientas tradicionales de gobernanza europea, como la «Método comunitario», que dispone la adopción de decisiones dentro del «triángulo institucional» formado por la Comisión, el Consejo de Ministros y el Parlamento Europeo. Es decir, el MAC sería el resultado de las "presiones de adaptación" hechas por el gobierno de la Comunidad a través de procesos de institucionalización específicos, iniciados y guiados por la Comisión Europea, sobre las "estructuras domésticas" (los Estados miembros), y a través del proceso de enmarcando lineamientos políticos, para ser aplicados intergubernamentales. Recientemente, y desde un punto de vista descriptivo, el autor de este trabajo ya ha tratado los aspectos empíricos de la aplicación de la OMC al campo social. En esta ocasión se trata de completar el estudio del MAC desde un punto de vista doctrinal, a la luz de los nuevos enfoques que intentan explicar el complejo proceso de integración europea, desde una perspectiva cognitiva entre otros, por ejemplo, a través de instrumentos para compartir. Conocimiento, a través del aprendizaje mutuo y mediante el intercambio de experiencias. Asimismo, se trata de responder a la pregunta de si el MAC representa un nuevo modelo para la evaluación institucional en la UE.

Las personas en situación de discapacidad presentan vulnerabilidad para lograr atender y solventar muchas de sus necesidades, y adicionalmente, su condición resulta ser un factor adverso que restringe su propia actitud y desempeño. El manejo y adecuada atención que se brinde a estas personas, marca la diferencia a fin de establecer métodos y alternativas viables, seguras e integrales, que permitan su acceso a programas a través de los cuales se les brinde la atención y educación requerida en temas de salud oral, lo cual está íntimamente relacionado con las condiciones sociales, la concepción de políticas públicas y fortalecimiento de la cultura de la equidad dentro de contextos sociopolíticos y programas idóneos de asistencia que acompañen de manera eficiente el manejo de estos individuos. Describir los aspectos sociodemográficos y políticos de la discapacidad en Francia. Se realizó una búsqueda en la literatura por temáticas en motores de búsqueda, tales como: Google Académico, LRC Virtual, Academia.edu, BASE que es operado por la Biblioteca de la Universidad Bielefeld de Alemania, así como búsqueda en la legislación francesa. Una vez seleccionados los referentes, se realizó la extracción de la información pertinente para la presentación de los respectivos resultados y la construcción de la narrativa. Según el INSEE que es: El "Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économique" conocido por sus siglas en francés INSEE es un organismo del gobierno de Francia dedicado a estudios estadísticos y económicos relacionados con el ámbito francés. Este, estima aproximadamente: El 13,4% de los franceses tiene una discapacidad motora, el 11.4% tiene un deterioro sensorial, el 9.8% padece una discapacidad física y, 6.6% tiene una discapacidad intelectual o mental. Del 2 al 3% de la población utiliza silla de ruedas. la Ley n ° 2016-41 del 26 de enero de 2016, exige definir la causa de la discapacidad o trastorno discapacitante, mejorar el acompañamiento de las personas involucradas en el ámbito médico, social, terapéutico, educativo o pedagógico, para mejorar su vida cotidiana y desarrollar acciones para la reducción de la discapacidad y la prevención de riesgos. La población en condición de discapacidad demarca un porcentaje significativo en Francia por lo que se debe realizar más estudios demográficos y, de este modo, ejecutar mayores estrategias normativas como de oportunidad y recreación para mejorar la calidad de vida de la población discapacitada en Francia. ; Odontólogo ; Doctorado ; People with disabilities present a disadvantage when it comes to solving every-day needs and it becomes an adverse conditioning which restricts their own attitude and performance. Guidance and adequate attention for these persons makes the difference for establishing methods and alternatives which are viable, safe and integral, which allow access to programs providing the required assistance and education in oral health. This is closely related with social conditions, public policies and strengthening of equality culture within socio-political contexts and appropriate programs which efficiently assist these individuals. To acquire knowledge regarding applied aspects such as socio-economic, demographic and political in other countries, such as France, searching for integral aspects. A literature search was carried out using search engines such as Google Scholar, LRC Virtual, Academia.edu, BASE which is operated by the Library of Bielefeld University in Germany, as well as French legislation. Once the references were selected, the pertinent information was extracted for presentation of the respective results and narrative construction. The INSEE - Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économique is an institution of the French government dedicated to statistical and economic studies and it estimates that: 13.4% of the French population have a motor disability, 11.4% have a sensory deterioration, 9.8% have a physical disability, 6.6% have an intellectual disability and 2% to 3% of the population uses a wheelchair. Law n ° 2016-41 of 26 January 2016 demands to specify the type of disability or condition, improve guardianship of said persons in the medical, social therapeutic, educational and pedagogic areas in order to improve their every-day lives, reduce the impact of disabilities and prevent risks. Persons with disabilities in France are a high percentage so further demographic studies are required in order to carry out better normative strategies such as opportunity and recreation in order to improve their lives.

Telegrams exchanged between Gen, Plutarco Elías Calles and the following people: Military commanders, his personal secretary Soledad González, Governors, private citizens, the Secretary of Economy Primo Villa Michel, the Secretary of Agriculture and Development, Francisco S. Elías, the President of the Board of Directors of the Public Welfare, José María Tapia, Congress representatives, the Revolutionary Party of Railroads Workers, State Committees of the National Revolutionary Party, the National Chamber of Commerce from Progreso, Yucatán, Mayors, the president of the Confederation of Farmers, and Senators. The aforementioned telegrams concern appreciation for donations to the Medicine School; information about the residence address of Dr. Enrique de Nancy, information about Rodolfo Elías Calles' trip to Sonora, appreciation for mailed messages; a request for supporting the tax increase on labor groups in Chihuahua, information about Gen. Plutarco Elías Calles' health status; a request for budget transference to the National Commission of Irrigation, confirming the delay of the application of article 186, endorsement of Gen. Plutarco Elías Calles, requests for appointments; expressions of support of the State Committee of the National Revolutionary Party in Monterrey; a notice about the opening of a road from Tampico to San Luis Potosí, complaints about the governor of Nayarit and elections conflict; confirming the shipping of documents of the Agricultural Associations of Culiacán, a request for postal fee exemption, reports about assistance provided to victims in Tampico, information about the social peace in Chiapas; processing issues of the Chapultepec Cotton Mill, a report on the issues of the agreement of the National Bank of Agricultural Credit concerning the rice export, a request for a tractor and confirming the preparation of Campo Amaro; birthday greetings; a request for changing the Head of Finance and the head of National Assets in Tampico because of being regarded as enemies of the government; a complaint about the attack against agents of the Office of the General Prosecutor; a report on fraud committed by business people in Durango, a request to influence the decision of granting concession to the Bella Unión Yarn and Fabric Industrial Company from Saltillo due to damaging the municipality; reports on the suspension of train passes for victims, reports on the conditions of the victims in Tampico, confirming the temporary possession of ejidatarios in Chiapas; report about the establishment of the minimum income in Guanajuato, a request for reforming the Agrarian law in Guanajuato, appreciation for condolences. / Telegramas entre el Gral. PEC, Comandantes Militares, Secretaria Particular Soledad González, Gobernadores, particulares, Secretario de Economía Nacional Primo Villa Michel, Secretario de Agricultura y Fomento Francisco S. Elías, Presidente de la H. Junta Directiva de la Beneficencia Pública José María Tapia, Diputados, Partido Revolucionario Ferrocarrilero, Comités Estatales del Partido Nacional Revolucionario, Cámara Nacional de Comercio de Progreso, Yuc.; Presidentes Municipales, Presidente Confederación de Agricultores, y Senadores, acerca de: agradecimientos por donativos a Escuela de Medicina, informe sobre domicilio del Dr. Enrique de Nancy, informe sobre viaje de Rodolfo Elías Calles a Sonora, agradecimientos por mensajes enviados, solicitud de ayuda para solucionar elevación de impuestos a agrupaciones obreras de Chihuahua, reportes del estado de salud del Gral. PEC, solicitud de transferencias de recursos a la Comisión Nacional de Irrigación, notificación sobre aplazamiento en la aplicación del Artículo 186, adhesiones al Gral. PEC, solicitudes de audiencia, manifestaciones de adhesión al Comité Estatal del Partido Nacional Revolucionario en Monterrey, notificación de apertura de vía de Tampico a San Luis Potosí, quejas contra Goberndor de Nayarit y conflicto electoral, notificación de envío de documentación de asociaciones agrícolas de Culiacán, solicitud de franquicia postal, informes de ayuda a damnificados de Tampico, informe de paz social en Chiapas, gestiones para Fábrica de Algodón Chapultepec, informe de irregularidades en convenio con Banco Nacional de Crédito Agrícola en la exportación de arroz, solicitud de tractor y confirmación para acondicionamiento Campo Amaro, felicitaciones por onomástico, solicitud de cambios de jefe de Hacienda y encargado de Bienes Nacionales en Tampico por ser enemigos del Gobierno, queja por atentado de agentes de la Procuraduría General, informe de fraude de comerciantes en Durango, solicitud de influencia para evitar concesión a Compañía Industrial Saltillera Fábrica Hilados Bella Unión por lesionar al municipio, informe sobre suspensión de pasajes de ferrocarril a damnificados, informes sobre condiciones de damnificados en Tampico, notificación de posesión provisional a ejidatarios de Chiapas, informe de implantación de salario mínimo en Guanajuato, solicitud de reforma a la ley agraria en Guanajuato, agradecimiento por condolencia.

This paper focuses on the impact of disasters on public expenditures, and how this impact might be valued. The impact may involve changes in the composition of spending, concurrently and over time. It may also involve changes in the level of spending and the profile of this over time. In the latter case, the associated financing must also be taken into account. The changes of interest are those that would take place under a given sovereign disaster risk financing and insurance strategy, as opposed to what would take place otherwise. The paper concludes with some suggestions toward an operational framework for addressing these questions.

Agriculture is the dominant sector of the economy, contributing a third of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) and about half of Rwanda's export earnings. The government of Rwanda has therefore made agricultural development a priority and allocated significant resources to improving productivity, expanding the livestock sector, promoting sustainable land management, and developing supply chains and value-added activities. At the same time, Rwanda's agriculture sector faces a series of challenges. Agriculture is dominated by small-scale, subsistence farming under traditional agricultural practices and rain-fed agriculture. As a result, average crop yields are low compared with potential yields, and exposed to risks such as weather related shocks and pest and disease outbreaks. The purpose of this report is to assess existing risks to the agriculture sector, prioritize them according to their frequency and impacts on the sector, and identify areas of risk management solutions that need deeper specialized attention. Three levels of risks are assessed: production risks, market risks, and enabling environment risks to selected supply chains. The report takes a quantitative and qualitative approach to risks. The report is structured as follows: chapter one gives introduction. Chapter two provides an overview of Rwanda's economy and the role and structure of the agriculture sector. Agriculture sector risks (production, market, and enabling environment risks) for the selected food crops, export crops, and livestock are analyzed in chapter three. Analysis of the adverse impacts of agricultural risks at aggregate and provincial levels, along with a stakeholder risk assessment and a discussion of particularly vulnerable groups, is presented in chapter four. Chapter five prioritizes identified risks, discusses potential solutions areas, summarizes feedback from consulted stakeholders, and recommends solutions areas for further assessment.

Uganda's progress in reducing poverty from 1993 to 2006 is a remarkable story of success that has been well told. The narrative of Uganda's continued, albeit it slightly slower, progress in reducing poverty since 2006 is less familiar. This was a period in which growth slowed as the gains from reforms years earlier had been fully realized, and weak infrastructure and increasing corruption increasingly constrained private sector competitiveness (World Bank 2015). This report examines Uganda's progress in reducing poverty, with a specific focus on the period 2006 to 2013. The report shows that high growth from 2006 to 2010 benefited poverty reduction. Before turning in further detail to the key findings of the report, it is important to note that the analysis undertaken in this report is only possible because the Government of Uganda has invested in a high quality series of household surveys to document progress in wellbeing since 1993. The Uganda Bureau of Statistics has conducted high-quality household surveys that every three to four years that have provided a comparable series of data on poverty and other household characteristics for the last twenty years. Uganda is one of the few countries in the region to have achieved this level of comparable, frequent poverty monitoring over time. Without this, it would not be possible to document the lessons Uganda provides.

This report describes trends in the beef industry in the Monsoonal North. It aims to provide the region's natural resource management (NRM) groups with an understanding of how best to support the industry, undertake the changes required to improve its environmental sustainability and economic viability, and to provide it with resilience in the face of increasing development pressures and climate change. This report charts the industry's history and development; describes its current condition and the pressures and drivers it is experiencing; and explores how these are likely to change in the near future. The region: The Monsoonal North covers 20% of Australia's land surface across the tropical savannas. It shares a monsoonal climate, extensive intact ecological systems, generally poor soils and limited development. Its river systems carry nearly half of the runoff. The region has a large Indigenous population; most land is either under Indigenous ownership or subject to Native Title; and the highest proportion of Indigenous people live in the region's north and north-west. The region also faces a number of shared issues, particularly the challenges of intensifying climatic extremes and pressure to exploit Asia's growing demand for agricultural produce, which is placing pressure on land and water resources. The industry: Cattle production is northern Australia's most important agricultural industry. Two-thirds of the Monsoonal North is currently used for extensive cattle grazing. Through most of the region, cattle are grazed at low stocking rates on native pastures, with introduced pasture species being restricted in extent. Most enterprises breed animals for the low-value live export trade or for fattening and finishing on better pastures or in feedlots. Cattle numbers in Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia have doubled since 1965, and fluctuated with changes in demand and climatic conditions. In 2009, the Monsoonal North held around 5.7 million head of cattle. High export demand from Asia and drought destocking has seen the region's cattle numbers fall and prices rise through 2014-15. In the longer-term, continued growth in global demand, a reduced Australian dollar and high global prices, and improved incomes are forecast for Australian beef producers. Since 2009, each of the three northern governments have released policy documents that included targets to increase the herd size by between 1 and 5%, with the greatest planned increases on Aboriginal land in the Kimberley. Between 2009 and 2014, the Northern Territory herd grew by more than the projected 5% increase. Herd size in Queensland has recently diminished because of drought, and the current government's stance on herd-building is unclear. Nevertheless, long-term growth is expected to increase the northern Australian herd by a further 80% by 2050. Recent growth in the northern cattle herd has been achieved through intensification (spreading grazing pressure using water points and fencing) and development of underutilised properties, notably on Indigenous lands. Indigenous pastoralism is growing rapidly, with developments in all parts of the sector from cattle breeding to slaughter. Markets: Most beef grown in northern Australia is sent to Asia, with Indonesia being the largest buyer of live cattle. Despite a long-established framework for assuring animal health and welfare within Australia, widely-publicised animal mistreatment in Indonesia resulted in the temporary closure of the live-export market in 2011 until animal welfare could be assured throughout the supply chain. This closure demonstrated how dependence on a single market exposed the northern beef industry to market volatility. Bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations by the federal government are now progressively broadening market access, with agreements favouring Australian beef now in place or close to finalisation with most significant beef markets. Enterprises: Cattle enterprises in the Monsoonal North have been struggling because, in real terms, cattle prices have declined, while input costs have remained stable. In addition, escalating land prices through the 1990s and 2000s encouraged many land owners to increase their mortgages to levels that became unsustainable once land prices fell. This has implications for environmental management. In comparison to pastoralists in a good financial position, those in debt have less resilience to cope with drought; are less likely to adopt practice improvements needed for improving enterprise viability and environmental conditions; and are more likely to suffer adverse health effects. Many enterprises, especially those with small herds, derive more income from off-farm work than they earn from cattle operations. While large cattle enterprises allow economies of scale, increasing cattle herd size seems less important to profitability than does improving herd performance. Performance: Except on Mitchell Grass pastures and small areas of intensively managed pastures, cattle performance in the Monsoonal North is substandard when compared to the rest of the country, and is affected by poor quality pasture quality. Breeding performance is typically poor; with low pregnancy rates; high foetal and calf death rates; and many cows are lost. However, the achievements of the top 25% of the industry indicate there is great potential to improve performance on the remaining properties. Health and well-being: Pastoral production is a stressful occupation, involving financial insecurity and isolation; and pastoralists have high rates of injury, disease, accident and suicide. Recent years have brought additional challenges associated with falling land prices, market instability and drought. In the Burdekin Dry Tropics, proposed coal mining is increasing stress levels for many pastoralists. Supply and demand: Domestic demand for beef in Australia stagnated because per capita beef consumption has fallen, but global demand is escalating with population growth and economic development. Demand for beef is expected to keep increasing until at least 2050, with greatest growth occurring in China. Australia was the world's top beef exporter until 2003. Only Brazil and India currently export more beef than Australia does. Australia's disease-free status gives it access to markets that are closed to these exporters. Australia's dominance of the live-export trade to Indonesia also helps provide a disease free buffer to its north. Australian beef producers are disadvantaged by protectionist measures employed by both beef importing countries and exporting countries. The Australian Government has been engaging in international trade agreements that will overcome some of these barriers and increase market access. Market requirements and consumer preference: A high percentage of Brahman genes in the herd makes northern cattle attractive for slaughter and feedlots in tropical countries. However, slow growth rates and long transport distances mean most beef is sold in the low end of the market. Ethical, health and environmental concerns have contributed to the decline in domestic meat consumption, and are influencing consumer preferences in global markets. These concerns are driving practice improvement throughout the Australian beef supply chain. Challenges: Industry viability is constrained by lack of infrastructure, including feedlots, intensive fattening pastures, saleyards and meatworks, inactive ports and poor quality roads, all of which combine to make freight expensive, pushing up input costs. Considerable advances have been made in alleviating these constraints by building meatworks in Darwin, Arnhem Land and the Kimberley. However, lack of competition through the supply chain may be depressing returns at the farm gate. The ports of Darwin and Townsville are operating at record capacity, but some northern ports with export facilities (Port Hedland, Weipa, Mourilyan and Mackay) have not operated for several years. Water for cattle operations and irrigated crops may be at risk if extraction for these and other activities is not sustainably allocated. While broadscale irrigated cropping is likely to be restricted to a small proportion of the region, its requirements for water resources and fertile soil may deprive the pastoral industry of some of its most productive pasture land. Extraction for mining and irrigated agriculture is of particular concern. This has become a contentious issue with several coal projects in Queensland's Galilee Basin. Mining also has the potential to disrupt pastoral operations by removing land from production for both mineral extraction and infrastructure. Again, this is a significant issue in Queensland, where several landholders will be affected by the rail corridor servicing mines in the Galilee Basin. The disruption caused by mining poses a risk, not only to the financial viability of pastoral enterprises, but also to the health and welfare of pastoralists and their families. If well managed, however, mining and agricultural development can also have co-benefits, improving regional economies and providing employment and infrastructure. Weeds, fire, pest animals, disease and cattle theft all impose financial burdens on northern pastoral operations. Production losses caused by weeds have been estimated at costing the industry around $1,000 million/year; pest animals: ca $36 million/year; disease and parasites: ca $390 million; and cattle theft between $1.5 and $2 million a year in Queensland alone. No industry-wide estimates are available for impacts of fire, cyclones or other natural disasters. Conversely, pastoral managers perform important roles in control of weeds, fire, pest animals and diseases that would not be undertaken if no one was living on the lands they manage. Climatic and seasonal conditions are also serious constraints, particularly in inland Queensland, where periods of drought of two or more years are not uncommon. Conversely, extended periods of above average rainfall may encourage pastoralists to stock land beyond its long-term carrying capacity, and develop unrealistic impressions of what average conditions are. This could be an issue in the Kimberley if the elevated rainfall of the last few decades is not sustained. Climate change is already being felt in the region. Temperature have risen by up to 1.0°C since 1910, with further increases of up to 5°C expected by the end of the century. Droughts, cyclones, wildfires and flooding rains are likely to intensify over the next few decades, and continue to intensify until at least the end of the century. Carbon dioxide enrichment may increase forage production, but reduce its quality and stimulate woody thickening, as woody plants are favoured over tropical grasses. In most climate change scenarios, whether rainfall remains roughly the same or decreases, pasture growth and safe stocking rates in the Monsoonal North are expected to decrease, with the worst scenarios predicting decreases in pasture growth and safe stocking rates of between 50% and 60%. Climate change will also have adverse impacts on each stage of the supply chain, with effects ranging from increasingly uncomfortable work conditions to increased frequency of flood and cyclone damage to infrastructure. Policy environment: Many organisations have an influence on the direction of the pastoral industry. Individually, or as part of cross jurisdictional alliances, national, state and territory governments promote industry sustainability and herd-building. The preferred approach is to improve trade relations; simplify regulation; invest in roads; and provide a conducive business environment to attract infrastructure investment. The Developing Northern Australian White Paper and the Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper further these objectives. Under Australian national legislation, the Red Meat Advisory Council was established to represent the interests of beef and other meat producers, and is reported to by various state farming organisations that work closely with the industry as advocates and information and extension providers. Research and marketing is largely driven by Meat and Livestock Australia (informed on northern issues by the North Australia Beef Research Council) and extension is delivered by state agencies, state farming organisations and NRM groups. The emphasis of both research and extension is on practice improvement, rather than herd building. The Australian Government funded Indigenous Land Corporation is also playing a pivotal role in the northern grazing industry by assisting Indigenous people acquire, develop and manage pastoral properties. Finally, the policies and assessments made by financial institutions can both determine the level of debt that a pastoral enterprise can acquire and the cost of repayment, and influence whether developments seeking external funding are seen as viable. The Australian Government is committed to climate change action by virtue of signing international agreements. Its commitments to reduce emissions will help moderate the long-term impacts of climate change. Both the Western Australian and Northern Territory Governments have also made climate change commitments and the Queensland Government is currently revitalising its climate change agenda. Regulatory environment: Legislation and regulation govern much activity on pastoral properties, most of which are pastoral leases coexisting with Native Title. This type of land tenure allows pastoralists to undertake most activities that can be justified as core business to a pastoral operation, including pastoral-related activities that reduce carbon footprints. Diversification into other activities requires the consent of Native Title holders, which is usually negotiated through Indigenous Land Use and Access Agreements. Pastoralists have the right to water stock and clear vegetation for pastoral uses, but conditions vary between jurisdictions and water use for agricultural development requires a permit. There is a lack of clarity about whether permits can be granted for non-pastoral uses (including diversification into broadacre cropping) in Western Australia and Queensland. Pastoral leases also come with a range of legislated responsibilities. Leaseholders in each jurisdiction are to manage weeds, pest animals and diseases and to report notifiable cattle diseases to the relevant authority. They must use National Livestock Identification Scheme tags to ensure their cattle can be traced through the supply chain, and adhere to animal health and welfare standards. In addition, as employers, pastoral operators must follow conditions laid down by Fairwork Australia. Graziers in the Burdekin catchment are required to manage their properties to minimise reef pollution. The rights of miners to access land and water override those of pastoral leaseholders. While legislation facilitating exploitation of mineral and gas and fuel resources purports to safeguard other interests (notably environmental matters and water access), few mining proposals have been rejected because of environmental or pastoral concerns. Practice improvement: Much effort has been invested in identifying the best practices to improve the profitability and environmental sustainability of the northern beef industry. Key areas of knowledge advancement include: • Improving land condition • Improving diet through exotic pastures and supplementary feeding, especially at finishing • Improving reproductive performance by culling non-productive animals, vaccinating against reproductive diseases and improving diet quality • Increasing liveweight gain through early weaning and improving diet quality • Spreading grazing pressure by increasing fencing and water points. Improvements to herd management are largely compatible with practice change required for reducing adverse impacts on biodiversity, carbon footprints and Great Barrier Reef water quality. Improved animal performance increases animal growth rates (meaning fewer animals are required to produce the same volume of meat), and therefore also reduces the methane emissions generated. Good herd performance in rangelands is also dependent on moderate stocking rates to maximise forage quality, especially by improving the cover of productive perennial grasses. Improved ground cover also reduces soil loss (when cover is at least 50%) and gully formation (when at least 75%). Resilience to climate change will be built by undertaking the practice improvements identified to improve pastoral productivity and land condition. Of particular importance is the ability to adjust stocking rates in relation to seasonal conditions. At the industry level, decision support, including improved access to climatic information, is required to assist pastoralists make the best decisions for their circumstances. Diversification: Another approach to increasing enterprise resilience is diversification. Options being canvased include small-scale irrigation of pasture crops for finishing cattle on the property, grain and oil seed crops, biodiversity conservation and carbon abatement. Conservation efforts on some properties attracted subsidies in return for entering into conservation agreements. Biodiversity offsets may widen opportunities for on-property conservation, particularly in Queensland, where a formalised offset scheme is being developed. A small number of pastoral properties in the region are also receiving funding for fire management to reduce carbon emissions. A range of other emission reduction opportunities are at various stages of development, including reducing emissions from pastoral operations through improved herd management and adjusting cattle diets and storing carbon in soil or vegetation. Natural resource management implications: As practices to improve performance are adopted and/or diversification options are pursued, careful management will be required to avoid potential adverse environmental impacts. Best-bet options for improving environmental outcomes along with pastoral productivity include: • Avoiding the use of "transformer" grasses (with high biomass and fuel loads), or at least ensuring they do not escape from improved pasture plantings • Protecting areas of high biodiversity values when increasing extent and/or intensity of grazing, in particular protecting biodiversity values on riparian corridors when planning irrigated cropping projects • Ensuring wet season supplementary feeding does not weaken native perennial grasses • Ensuring early dry season burning does not lead to vegetation thickening and biodiversity decline. The NRM implications of the current trajectory of the pastoral industry are mixed. Herd building will put more pressure on the natural environment. However, performance improvement has many benefits by reducing the number of hooves and mouths required to produce a kilogram of meat. If well managed, mosaic agriculture can contribute to herd performance while taking pressure off pastures and the natural environment during the wet season, but managed poorly could result in further degradation of alluvial environments and over stocking of adjacent areas. The environmental footprint of diversification into agriculture would similarly need to be managed carefully. However, increasing income from various forms of ecosystem service delivery, particularly on lands that are marginal for grazing, would be a boon to both pastoral enterprises and the environment. Central to all this change are the pastoralists themselves. And with all that is required from them and all the stresses and strains they already have to bear, many will be in no position to take up improved practices, let alone participate in conservation activities. Pathways out of debt must be found before resilience in the face of change can be achieved, and pastoralists must be supported in the adoption of new practices, rather than have it mandated.

It speaks volumes that the death of Henry Kissinger, announced on Wednesday, drew major news obituaries that rivaled those of late American presidents' in length and depth. The news was met with equal parts of vitriol and paeans across social media, the former reflected in words like "war criminal" and "monster," the latter, "genius" and "master."His intellectually-driven, hard-nosed statecraft and strategy has long been embraced by realists who appreciate Kissinger's rejection of ideological doctrine in favor of interest-driven realpolitik. They credit him with détente and managing the Soviet threat in the Cold War. His critics say his approach was responsible for government-led massacres in developing nations and Washington's scorched earth policies in Indochina. Humanity suffered while the "great game" was played, no matter how well, from the Nixon White House and in later presidencies (12 total) for which Kissinger advised.But was his impact on U.S. foreign policy ultimately positive or negative? We asked a wide range of historians, former diplomats, journalists and scholars to pick one and defend it.Andrew Bacevich, George Beebe, Tom Blanton, Michael Desch, Anton Fedyashin, Chas Freeman, John Allen Gay, David Hendrickson, Robert Hunter, Anatol Lieven, Stephen Miles, Tim Shorrock, Monica Duffy Toft, Stephen WaltAndrew Bacevich, historian and co-founder of the Quincy InstituteI met Kissinger just once, at a small gathering in New York back in the 1990s. When the event adjourned, he walked over to where I was sitting and spoke to me. "Did you serve in the military?" "Yes," I said. "In Vietnam?" "Yes." His tone filled with sadness, he said: "We really wanted to win that one."I did not reply but as he walked away, I thought: What an accomplished liar.George Beebe, Director of Grand Strategy, Quincy InstituteHenry Kissinger's impact on American foreign policy, although controversial, was on balance overwhelmingly positive. As he entered office in 1968, America was overextended abroad and beset by domestic political conflict. An increasingly powerful Soviet Union threatened to achieve superiority over America's nuclear and conventional arsenals. The United States needed to extract itself from Vietnam and focus on domestic healing, yet any retreat into isolationism would allow Moscow a free hand to intimidate Western Europe and spread communism through the post-colonial world. Kissinger's answer to this problem, conceived in partnership with President Nixon, was a masterwork of diplomatic realism. Seeing an opportunity to exploit tensions between Moscow and Beijing, he orchestrated a surprise opening to Maoist China that reshaped the international order, counterbalancing Soviet power and complicating the Kremlin's strategic challenge. In parallel, the United States pursued détente with Moscow, producing a landmark set of trade, arms control, human rights, and confidence-building arrangements that helped to constrain the arms race and make the Cold War more manageable and predictable.By comparison to 1968, the scale of the problems we face today seems more daunting. The Cold War architecture of arms control and security arrangements is in tatters. Our middle class is more distrustful and disaffected, our international reputation more damaged, and our ability to manage the challenges of a peer Chinese rival more limited. A statesman with Kissinger's strategic acumen and diplomatic skill is very much needed. Tom Blanton, Director, National Security Archive, George Washington UniversityThe declassified legacy of Henry Kissinger undermines the triumphant narrative he labored so hard to build, even for his successes. The opening to China, for example, turns out to be Mao's idea with Nixon's receptiveness, initially dissed by Kissinger. His shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East did reduce violence but it took Anwar Sadat and then Jimmy Carter to make the peace that Kissinger failed to accomplish. The 1973 Vietnam settlement was actually available in 1969, but Kissinger mistakenly believed he could do better by going through Moscow or Beijing. Meanwhile, Kissinger's callousness about the human cost runs through all the documents. Millions of Bangladeshis murdered by Pakistan's genocide while Kissinger stifled dissent in the State Department. A million Vietnamese and 20,000 Americans who died for Kissinger's "decent interval." Some 30,000 Argentines disappeared by the junta with Kissinger's green light. Thousands of Chileans killed by Pinochet while Kissinger joked about human rights. Untold numbers of Cambodians dead under Kissinger's secret bombing.Adding insult to all these injuries, Kissinger cashed in over the past 45 years through sustained influence peddling and self-promotion, paying no price for repeated bad judgments like opposing the Reagan-Gorbachev arms cuts, and supporting the 2003 Iraq invasion. A dark legacy indeed.Michael Desch, Professor of International Relations at the University of Notre Dame Almost all of the obituaries for Henry Kissinger characterize him as the quintessential realist, harkening back to a bygone era of European great power politics in which statesmen played the 19th century version of the board game Risk otherwise known as the balance of power. Kissinger seemed straight out of central casting for this role with his deep, sonorous voice and perpetual Mittel-Europa accent. All that was missing was a monocle and a Pickelhaube. But in reality, Kissinger was at best an occasional realist. His best scholarly book — "A World Restored: Metternich, Castlereagh and the Problems of Peace 1812-22" — came out in 1957 and was more of a work of history than an articulation of a larger realpolitik theory of global politics in which power is used, and more importantly not used, to advance a country's national interest.And while his (and Richard Nixon's) opening to the People's Republic of China in 1972 remains a masterstroke of balance of power politics in action, at the drop of an egg-roll dividing the heretofore seemingly monolithic Communist Bloc, he was more often an inconstant realist.At times Kissinger embraced a crude might-makes-right approach (think of the Athenians bullying of the Melians in Book V of Thucydides) epitomized by the escalation to deescalate the war in Vietnam by invading Cambodia and the meddling in the fractious politics of Third World countries like Chile, seemingly to no other end than that's what great powers do. More recently, he's worked to remain the indispensable statesman through an embarrassingly obsequious pattern of making himself indispensable to nearly every subsequent president, whether or not they were really interested in sitting at the knee of the master realpolitiker. His hedged endorsement of George W. Bush's disastrous Iraq war is exhibit A on this score.Kissinger kept himself in the limelight for much of his career but not as a consistent voice of realism in foreign policy.Anton Fedyashin, associate professor of history, American UniversityIn his long and distinguished career, Henry Kissinger made many decisions that history may judge harshly, but oversimplifying and exaggerating complex geopolitical issues was not one of them. With their instinctive aversion to the trap of conceptual binarism, Kissinger and Nixon applied their flexible realism to China and the USSR in 1972. Abandoning the assumption that all communists were evil forced Beijing and Moscow to outbid each other for U.S. favors. Treating the USSR as a post-revolutionary state that put national interests above ideology, Nixon and Kissinger decided to bring the Soviets into the American-managed world order while letting them keep their hegemony in Eastern Europe.In Kissinger's realist version of containment, statesmanship was judged by the management of ambiguities, not absolutes. As Kissinger put it in an interview with The Economist earlier this year, "The genius of the Westphalian system and the reason it spread across the world was that its provisions were procedural, not substantive." Kissinger's realist wisdom would serve American leaders well as they navigate the rough waters of transitioning to a multipolar world order. The era of great power balancing is back, and non-binarist realism can help Washington manage hegemonic decline rather than catalyzing it.Ambassador Chas Freeman, visiting scholar at Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public AffairsKissinger embodied a global and strategic view and because it was global, it often offended specialists in regional affairs. Because it was strategic, he often made tactical sacrifices for strategic gain. And the tactical sacrifices that he made were often rather ugly at the regional or local level. The classic example of that is the refusal to intervene in the war in Bangladesh. Obviously, he had nothing but contempt for ideological foreign policy. This has led ideologues, of which we have an abundance, to see him as an enemy, and you're seeing this now with some of the coverage after his passing.Kissinger's achievement of detente at a crucial point in the Cold War will be remembered for its brilliance, as will his significant scholarship. His statecraft and scholarship were inseparable. He was a very good negotiator and probably had more experience negotiating great power relations than any secretary of state since early in the Republic. He was moderately successful in the short term. He was not successful in the long term because his interlocutors correctly perceived that he was manipulative. If one wishes to keep relationships open to future transactions, one must not cheat on current transactions. But this problem is not uncommon. It's very typical in American politics. For example, Jim Baker was famously uninterested in nurturing relationships. He was interested in immediate results in his dealings with foreign governments. He left a lot of anger and dissatisfaction in his wake. Kissinger less so, but the same for different reasons, reflecting his personality, his character, and the character of the president he served.John Allen Gay, Executive Director, John Quincy Adams SocietyKissinger's legacy in the Third World commands the most attention and criticism. He has been made the face of the tremendous toll the Cold War took on the wretched of the earth. Yet his work on great power relations deserves more regard. The opening to China he engineered with President Richard Nixon was a masterstroke to exploit division in the Communist world. Granted, the Sino-Soviet split had happened long before, and the opening was more a Nixon idea, but Kissinger set the table. And Kissinger was also a central figure in détente with the Soviet Union.Both policies were deeply unpopular with the forerunners to the neoconservative movement, but reflected the Continental realist mindset that Kissinger, along with thinkers like Hans J. Morgenthau, brought into the American foreign policy discourse. The opening to China and détente were, in fact, linked. As Kissinger pointed out, the opening to China challenged the Soviet Union to prevent the opening from growing; contrary to the advice of Sovietologists, this did not prompt new Soviet aggression, but made the Soviets more pliable. As Kissinger wrote in his 1994 book "Diplomacy" — "To the extent both China and the Soviet Union calculated that they either needed American goodwill or feared an American move toward its adversary, both had an incentive to improve their relations with Washington. […] America's bargaining position would be strongest when America was closer to bot communist giants than either was to the other." And so it was. Today's practitioners of great-power politics would do well to borrow more from this happier part of Kissinger's legacy. They have instead helped drive China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea together, and have no answer to this emerging alignment beyond lectures and sanctions. The19th century European statesmen Kissinger admired would have seen the failure of such a policy. David Hendrickson, author, "Republic in Peril: American Empire and the Liberal Tradition"The great oddity of Nixon and Kissinger's record in foreign policy is that they gave up as unprofitable and dangerous the pursuit of ideological antagonism with the Great Powers (the Soviet Union and China), but then pursued the Cold War crusade with a vengeance against small powers. Kissinger's diplomatic career reminds me of the charge that Hauterive (a favorite of Napoleon's) brought against the confusions of the ancien regime, that it applied "the terms sound policy, system of equilibrium, maintenance or restoration of the balance of power . . . to what, in fact was only an abuse of power, or the exercise of arbitrary will."Parts of Kissinger's record, like the bombing of Cambodia, are indefensible, but there are good parts too: had Henry the K been in charge of our Russia policy over the last decade, we could have avoided the conflagration in Ukraine. He was sounder on China and Taiwan than 90 percent of the howling commentariat. He was, in addition, a serious scholar who wrote some good books about the construction of world order (A World Restored, Diplomacy). Young people should take his thought seriously, not consign him to the ninth circle.Robert Hunter, former U.S. Ambassador to NATOLike all outstanding teachers, Henry Kissinger was also a showman — and he could be fun. He used his accent and self-deprecating humor as weapons for his policies and getting them taken seriously. Journalists might at times scorn what he was doing and how he did it, but they were still charmed and tended so often to give him the benefit of the doubt — as well as the credit, even when not deserved. Everyone recalls his roles in promoting détente with the Soviet Union and, even more, the opening to China, with Richard Nixon following in his wake. In fact, both policies sprang from Nixon's mind. But when the dust settled, Kissinger was the Last Man Standing."Henry," we could call him who never worked for him (!), made intelligent and literate speeches on foreign policy that everyone could understand, bringing it into the limelight. A man of great ego, he still recruited and inspired talented acolytes at the State Department and White House — matched only by Brent Scowcroft and Zbig Brzezinski. He had other policy positives in the Middle East ("shuttle diplomacy") but major negatives in Chile, in prolonging the Vietnam War, and bombing Cambodia.Take him altogether, a true Man of History.Anatol Lieven, Director of the Eurasia Program at the Quincy InstituteThe problem about any just assessment of Henry Kissinger is that the good and bad parts of his record are organically linked. His Realism led him to an awareness of the vital interests of other countries, a willingness to compromise, and a prudence in the exercise of U.S. power that all too many American policymakers have altogether lacked and that the United States today desperately needs. This Realist acceptance of the world as it is however also contributed to a cynical disregard for basic moral norms — notably in Cambodia and Bangladesh — that have forever tarnished his and America's name.When in office, reconciliation with China and the pursuit of Middle East peace took real moral courage on Kissinger's part, given the forces arrayed against these policies in the United States. But in his last decades, though he initially criticized NATO expansion and called for the preservation of relations with Russia and China, he never did so with the intellectual and moral force of a George Kennan.Perhaps in the end the best comment on Kissinger comes from an epithet by his fellow German Jewish thinker on international affairs Hans Morgenthau: "It is a dangerous thing to be a Machiavelli. It is a disastrous thing to be a Machiavelli without Virtu" — an Italian term embracing courage, moral steadfastness and basic principle.Stephen Miles, President, Win Without WarNearly as many words have been spilled marking the end of Henry Kissinger's life as the lives he's responsible for ending, but let me add a few more. It would be easy to simply say that the devastating impact of Kissinger on U.S. foreign policy was clearly and wholly negative. As Spencer Ackerman noted in his essential obituary, few Americans, if any, have ever been as responsible for the death of so many of their fellow human beings. But Kissinger's true impact was not just in being a war criminal but in setting a new standard for doing so with impunity. Earlier this year, he was feted with a party for his 100th birthday attended not just by crusty old Cold Warriors remembering 'the good ole days,' but also by a veritable who's who of today's elite from billionaire CEOs and cabinet members to fashion megastars and NFL team owners. Sure, he may have been responsible for a coup here or a genocide there, but shouldn't we all just look past that and recognize his influence, power, and intellect? Does it really matter what he used those talents for?And in the end, that's the benefit of Kissinger's horrific life and decidedly not-untimely death. By never making amends for the harm he did and never being held accountable for the horrors he caused, he made clear just how truly broken and flawed U.S. foreign policy is. Perhaps now that he has finally left the stage, we can begin to change that. Tim Shorrock, Washington-based journalistKissinger nearly destroyed three Asian countries by causing the deaths of thousands in U.S. bombing raids, covertly intervened to subvert democracy in Chile, and encouraged an Indonesian dictator to invade newly independent East Timor and inflict a genocide upon its people. These were criminal acts that should have made him a pariah. Instead, he is lauded as a visionary by our ruling elite. And it was mostly accomplished through lies and deceit, in the name of corporate profit.I'll never forget in 1972 watching Kissinger declare "peace is at hand" in Vietnam. After years of protesting this immoral war, I truly thought that Vietnam's suffering, and my own countrymen's, was finally over; they had won and we had lost. But my hope was shattered that Christmas, when Kissinger and Nixon ordered B-52s to carpet-bomb Hanoi in an arrogant act of defiance and malice. Afterwards, a shaky peace agreement was signed that could have sparked an honorable U.S. withdrawal. But it took 3 more years of bloodshed before the United States was forced out.Kissinger broke my trust in America as a just nation and overseas sparked a deep hatred of U.S. foreign policy. Few statesmen have caused such harm.Monica Duffy Toft, Professor of International Politics and Director, Center for Strategic Studies, Fletcher School, Tufts UniversityI have a pair of midcentury teak chairs once belonging to the late eminent scholar Samuel P. Huntington in my office. Sam was a colleague and friend of Henry Kissinger's, and a mentor to me. Sam and I sat in these chairs discussing world politics and the everyday challenges of running a scholarly institute. When a new set of chairs arrived, Sam insisted I take the old ones, but not before emphasizing their significance — reminders of the hours he and Kissinger spent in deep debate and casual banter. These chairs have history.Henry Kissinger was, and shall remain, a controversial figure. His gifts were two. First, across decades of U.S. foreign policy challenges, he remained consistent in his conception of power, and how U.S. power should be used to enhance the security of the United States. Second, he was gifted at assembling, mentoring, and deploying cross-cutting networks of influential people. Like many of my colleagues who study international politics, there are policies — his support of Salvador Allende's ouster in Chile, for example — I find odious. I am also uncomfortable with Kissinger's elitism: his preferred policies favored those with wealth and political power at the expense of those without.But what I admire about Kissinger's U.S. foreign policy legacy and, by extension, international politics, was his profound grasp of the importance of historical context: a thing as important to sound U.S foreign policy today as it is rare; and of which I am pleasantly reminded every time I sit in one of Sam's chairs.Stephen Walt, Quincy Institute board member, professor of international affairs at the Harvard Kennedy SchoolHenry Kissinger was the most prominent U.S. statesman of his era, and that era lasted a very long time. His main achievements were not trivial: a long-overdue opening to China, some high-wire "shuttle diplomacy" after the 1973 October War, and several useful arms control treaties during the period of détente. But he was also guilty of some monumental misjudgments, including prolonging the Vietnam War to no good purpose and expanding it into Cambodia at a frightful human cost. His diplomatic acrobatics in the Middle East were impressive, but they were only necessary because he had missed the signs that Egypt was readying for war in 1973 in order to break a diplomatic deadlock that he had helped orchestrate. His indifference to human rights and civilian suffering sacrificed thousands of lives and made a mockery of U.S. pretensions to moral superiority.Kissinger owed his enduring influence not to a superior track record as a pundit or sage but to his own energy, unquenchable ambition, unparalleled networking skills, and the elite's reluctance to hold its members accountable. After all, this is a man who downplayed the risks of China's rise (while earning fat consulting fees there), backed the disastrous invasion of Iraq in 2003, opposed the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, and dismissed warnings that open-ended NATO enlargement would make Europe less rather than more secure. Kissinger also perfected the art of transmuting government service into a lucrative consulting career, setting a troubling precedent for others. Debates about his legacy will no doubt continue, but one suspects that the reverence that his acolytes exhibit today will gradually fade now that he is no longer here to sustain it.Dear RS readers: It has been an extraordinary year and our editing team has been working overtime to make sure that we are covering the current conflicts with quality, fresh analysis that doesn't cleave to the mainstream orthodoxy or take official Washington and the commentariat at face value. Our staff reporters, experts, and outside writers offer top-notch, independent work, daily. Please consider making a tax-exempt, year-end contribution to Responsible Statecraft so that we can continue this quality coverage — which you will find nowhere else — into 2024. Happy Holidays!

This study provides an overview of Arab official development assistance (ODA) over the past four decades. Trends in volume, composition, and direction are discussed in chapter two and the institutional framework is discussed in chapter three. Over 90 percent of Arab development assistance is provided by three countries: the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

A growing number of states and municipalities in Brazil rely on results-based management, and many other local and state governments are considering adopting the practice. This paper examines the experiences of the Brazilian states that have implemented results agreements linked to variable pay. The analysis compares current with pre-intervention outcomes in the education, health, and security sectors. The changes are examined in relation to regional trends to determine whether the improvements depart in meaningful ways from the overall trend. In addition, a truncated time-series cross-section model is used to control for several additional factors influencing service delivery outcomes. The results suggest that, at least in the short and medium term, the implementation of results agreements is associated with significant and positive changes in outcomes in the security and education sectors. On average, states using team-level targets and performance-related pay have 15 fewer homicides per 100,000 inhabitants than those that do not, all else equal. Similarly, states that have introduced performance agreements and a bonus for teachers and school staff have improved their Basic Education Development Index score for public secondary schools by 0.3 additional points compared with the scores of states with similar characteristics. The conclusions are in line with the findings of in-depth impact evaluations and case study work in the education and security sectors (Bruns, Evans and Luque 2011, Milagres de Assis 2012). The paper does not analyze unit or team level data, which would be necessary to draw more rigorous conclusions about how results-based interventions affect the behavior of civil servants and outcomes over time. Therefore, the results should be interpreted with caution, as some of the assumptions behind the models cannot be examined with the available data.

This report explores the potential financing mechanism options that can be employed to catalyze more private sector investment in clean energy (renewable energy and energy efficiency) in the small island developing states (SIDS). Various financial instruments that have been used successfully to date are described and placed in the context of the issues and constraints of the SIDS, with suggested options for discussion and follow up. Green infrastructure finance, as defined in the report, makes the important point that is the combination of financial and nonfinancial interventions and instruments that can make green investments in infrastructure more affordable and less risky to private sponsors, financial markets, and governments. The objective of this report is to identify and assess options that can help increase investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency in SIDS through the adoption and funding of financing mechanisms by SIDS and development partners with special attention given to the role that the private sector can play. Many renewable energy technologies are characterized by high initial capital costs with relatively low operating costs compared to thermal alternatives. By providing an analysis of options for a financing facility to catalyze renewable energy and energy efficiency, this work is intended to inform the discussions among SIDS and development partners interested in actions to stimulate investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency. This report summarizes the results of the two stages. The assessment and selection of options identifies a number of measures that will be needed to stimulate increased private sector participation - project sponsors and developers, equity funds, lending institutions - for energy efficiency and renewable energy. The background material reviewed for this report has been summarized in the annexes.

Ali E. Abbas (" The Multiattribute Utility Tree ") received his M.S. in electrical engineering, M.S. in engineering economic systems and operations research, Ph.D. in management science and engineering, and Ph.D. (minor) in electrical engineering, all from Stanford University. He is an associate professor in the Department of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. His research interests include utility theory, decision making with incomplete information and preferences, dynamic programming, and information theory. He previously worked with Schlumberger Oilfield Services, where he held several international positions in wireline logging, operations management, and international training. He was also a lecturer in the Department of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford, and he was involved with several consulting projects for mergers and acquisitions in California. Dr. Abbas is a member of INFORMS, a senior member of the IEEE, and an associate editor for Decision Analysis and Operations Research. Address: Department of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, 117 Transportation Building, MC-238, 104 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801; e-mail: aliabbas@uiuc.edu . James S. Dyer (" A Discrete Time Approach for Modeling Two-Factor Mean-Reverting Stochastic Processes ") occupies the Fondren Centennial Chair in Business in the Red McCombs School of Business Administration at the University of Texas at Austin. His research and teaching interests are focused on applications of decision analysis and real options to problems of risk management and capital budgeting, and he has published extensively on these subjects in various journals, including Management Science and Operations Research. He is the former Chair of the Decision Analysis Society of INFORMS, and the former area editor for decision analysis for Operations Research. He was awarded the Ramsey Medal by the Decision Analysis Society and the Edgeworth-Pareto Award by the International Society on Multiple Criteria Decision Making. Address: Information, Risk, and Operations Management Department, McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712; e-mail: jim.dyer@mccombs.utexas.edu . Jeffery L. Guyse (" Consistency Among Elicitation Techniques for Intertemporal Choice: A Within-Subjects Investigation of the Anomalies ") is currently an associate professor in the Technology and Operations Management Department at the Cal Poly Pomona. He holds a Ph.D. from University of California, Irvine in management and an undergraduate degree in economics from California State University, San Marcos. His research interests are focused on the methodological issues involved with eliciting preferences for decisions that occur over time for both monetary and nonmonetary outcomes. Address: Technology and Operations Management Department, College of Business Administration, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, 3801 West Temple Avenue, Pomona, CA 91768; e-mail: jlguyse@csupomona.edu . Warren J. Hahn (" A Discrete Time Approach for Modeling Two-Factor Mean-Reverting Stochastic Processes ") is an assistant professor of decision sciences in the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. He received his Ph.D. in management science from the University of Texas at Austin in 2005, and he also holds an M.B.A., an M.S. in civil engineering, and a B.S. in petroleum engineering, all from the University of Texas at Austin. His research interests include discrete-time modeling of stochastic processes and numerical techniques for solving decision analysis problems, with applications to commodity price modeling and valuation of real options. From 1991 through 2001, he held several engineering and financial management roles with firms in the energy industry, including ARCO, Vastar Resources, and BP. Address: Graziadio School of Business and Management, Pepperdine University, 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, CA 90263; e-mail: joe.hahn@pepperdine.edu . Thomas W. Keelin (" Quantile-Parameterized Distributions ") is a cofounder and managing partner of Keelin Reeds Partners (KR), a management consulting firm that provides portfolio management, strategy, asset valuation, decision analysis, and business-development services. Over the last decade with KR, he has supervised such engagements for more than 80 venture-funded and emerging life sciences companies. Previously, Tom was the worldwide managing director of the Strategic Decisions Group (SDG), where he also served on the board of directors and executive committee. Over two decades at SDG, Tom founded the firm's electric utilities and life sciences practice areas and headed its strategy and strategy implementation consulting practices. He is a coauthor of the Harvard Business Review article "How SmithKline Beecham Makes Better Resource-Allocation Decisions" (March–April 1998), and he has testified before regulatory bodies in multiple U.S. states and internationally on issues of decision quality, investment risk analysis, and customer markets. He is also managing partner of Turning Point Asset Management, an investment management firm specializing in the acquisition and resolution of residential mortgages across the United States using an unusual combination of advance analytics and working with borrowers. Tom is a cofounder and is on the Board of Directors of the Decision Education Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that helps teens develop good decision making as a life skill. He holds three degrees from Stanford University: B.A. in economics and M.S. and Ph.D. in engineering-economic systems. Address: Keelin Reeds Partners, Menlo Park, CA 94025; e-mail: tomk@keelinreeds.com . L. Robin Keller (" From the Editor: Multiattribute and Intertemporal Preferences, Probability, and Stochastic Processes: Models and Assessment ") is a professor of operations and decision technologies in the Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine. She received her Ph.D. and M.B.A. in management science and her B.A. in mathematics from the University of California, Los Angeles. She has served as a program director for the Decision, Risk, and Management Science Program of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). Her research is on decision analysis and risk analysis for business and policy decisions and has been funded by NSF and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Her research interests cover multiple attribute decision making, riskiness, fairness, probability judgments, ambiguity of probabilities or outcomes, risk analysis (for terrorism, environmental, health, and safety risks), time preferences, problem structuring, cross-cultural decisions, and medical decision making. She is currently Editor-in-Chief of Decision Analysis, published by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). She is a Fellow of INFORMS and has held numerous roles in INFORMS, including board member and chair of the INFORMS Decision Analysis Society. She is a recipient of the George F. Kimball Medal from INFORMS. She has served as the decision analyst on three National Academy of Sciences committees. Address: Merage School of Business, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697-3125; e-mail: lrkeller@uci.edu . Francois Melese (" A Multiattribute Sealed-Bid Procurement Auction with Multiple Budgets for Government Vendor Selection ") is a professor of economics and the executive director of the Defense Resources Management Institute at the Naval Postgraduate School. He earned his B.A. in economics at the University of California, Berkeley; his M.A. at the University of British Columbia, Canada; and his Ph.D. at the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium. His research interests include public budgeting, public procurement, game theory, and defense economics. He is widely published in these areas and on other topics in economics and management. He has taught public executive management courses around the world, and he has been an advisor and consultant to the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD Director of Administration and Management), the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Comptroller), NATO's Political and Economics Directorate, and the Defense Business Board (Advisors to the Secretary of Defense). A frequent participant at NATO meetings, Dr. Melese has represented the United States as a speaker and moderator in countries throughout Europe. Dr. Melese is a member of the American Economic Association, Southern Economic Association, and Western Economic Association, and he is an elected member of the Research Society of American Scientists—Sigma Xi. Address: Defense Resources Management Institute, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA 93943; e-mail: fmelese@nps.edu . Bradford W. Powley (" Quantile-Parameterized Distributions ") is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University. Brad holds an M.S. degree in management science and engineering from Stanford and a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering and materials science from the University of California, Davis. Brad consults on various portfolio management, strategy, asset valuation, and decision analysis engagements within the life sciences industry, and he has held various positions in manufacturing, design, and systems engineering in HP's Imaging and Printing and Medical Products Groups. His research interests include probability encoding and the application of decision analysis to asset valuation. Address: Department of Management Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305; e-mail: bpowley@stanford.edu . Jay Simon (" A Multiattribute Sealed-Bid Procurement Auction with Multiple Budgets for Government Vendor Selection " and " Consistency Among Elicitation Techniques for Intertemporal Choice: A Within-Subjects Investigation of the Anomalies ") is an assistant professor at the Defense Resources Management Institute at the Naval Postgraduate School, where he teaches a wide range of topics in quantitative analysis, decision-maker preferences, uncertainty, risk, logistics, and economics. He received his Ph.D. in operations and decision technologies from the University of California, Irvine. His main research focus is multiattribute preference modeling, particularly involving outcomes that occur over time, space, or groups of people. His current work is on the topics of reference-dependent utility, preferences over geographical data, altruistic utility, use of military reserves, and resource usage in military operations. He is a member of INFORMS and the Decision Analysis Society. Address: Defense Resources Management Institute, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA 93943; e-mail: jrsimon@nps.edu .