Suchergebnisse

"Die türkische Außenpolitik gegenüber ihrer Nachbarschaft befindet sich im Wandel von
einer sicherheitsfixierten, unilateralen Außenpolitik hin zur diplomatischen, multilateralen
Lösung von außenpolitischen Problemen. Die Spannungen und außenpolitischen Streitfälle,
die die Beziehungen zu den Nachbarstaaten charakterisierten, konnten in den letzten
Jahren sukzessive gelöst werden. Exemplarisch dafür ist die politische und wirtschaftliche
Annäherung an Syrien, Iran und Russland, aber auch ein pragmatischerer Umgang mit
Armenien. Im Gegensatz zur regionalen Passivität und zum Desinteresse, das die Außenpolitik
des Landes seit Gründung der Republik dominierte, sucht die Türkei seit Mitte der
1990er Jahre zunehmend durch die Verfolgung einer aktiven und multidimensionalen Außenpolitik
ihren Status als sicherheitspolitische, politische und ökonomische Regionalmacht
im Nahen Osten und Kaspischen Raum zu festigen.
In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden innenpolitische Erklärungsfaktoren für den Wandel der
türkischen Regionalpolitik identifiziert. Denn der Wandel kann als Ausdruck einer politischen
Neuordnung des Landes gewertet werden, der neben neuen gesellschaftlichen und
politischen Kräfteverhältnissen auch eine Diversifizierung der politischen Machtzentren
und Veränderungen im institutionellen Gefüge impliziert." [Autorenreferat]

"As part of a wider review of existing scenario analyses in areas with direct relevance to the future of global development, this paper focuses on two major recent studies: the scenarios contained in the UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) and the scenarios developed by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in support of the G8 Gleneagles plan of action on climate change, clean energy and sustainable development. The paper offers a critical appraisal of these scenarios, examines the drivers of change that are considered to influence future developments, explores the implications of the scenarios for developing countries, and outlines what types of changes in development policy could be appropriate in light of the lessons learned from these scenario exercises. The adverse consequences of growing pressures on ecosystems due to demographic and economic drivers identified in the MEA scenario projections are most immediately felt by rural poor populations in the least developed regions of the world. The degradation of ecosystem services poses a significant barrier to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Many of the regions facing the greatest challenges in achieving these targets coincide with regions facing the greatest problems of ecosystem degradation. Significant changes in policies, institutions, and practices can mitigate many of the negative consequences of growing pressures on ecosystems. A key implication of the interdependence between environmental and development goals is the need for a meaningful integration of environmental sustainability concerns in national development plans and strategies of individual donors and intergovernmental development agencies, as well as the need for closer coordination between multilateral environmental agreements and other international institutions in the development policy sphere. The IEA baseline scenario clearly shows that without decisive globally coordinated policy action in support of the adoption of low-carbon energy technologies, GHG emissions will continue to rise rapidly over the 21st century and exacerbate current global warming trends. However, in the presence of a supporting policy environment, emerging clean energy technologies can move the global energy system onto a more sustainable path and return world-wide energy-related CO2 emissions back to today's level by 2050. Most of the future growth in energy demand, and hence emissions, arises from developing countries. An effective follow-up agreement to the Kyoto Protocol must therefore include the major large and fast-growing developing countries including China and India. Developed countries have an important role to play in helping developing economies to leapfrog the technology development process and to employ efficient equipment and practices through technology transfer, capacity building and collaborative research, development and demonstration efforts. It will take a huge internationally coordinated effort to achieve the positive outcomes suggested by the IEA-scenarios, and development cooperation on an unprecedented scale will be required as part of this effort. Thus, an important future role of development policy must be the facilitation of the technology and knowledge transfer that is required to meet this challenge. Overall, the scenario studies under review confirm that ecosystem degradation and global warming pose serious threats for poverty reduction and development and deserve high priority on the future development policy agenda." (author's abstract)

"Die internationale Dynamik, die sich durch die globale Finanzkrise in der Gipfelarchitektur entwickelt hat, birgt die große Chance, die global governance-Reform herbeizuführen, die im Vorfeld des VN-Reformjahrs 2005 so vielversprechend begonnen hatte, dann aber weitgehend ausblieb. Der Heiligendamm-Dialogprozess (HDP), der 2007 von der G8 ins Leben gerufen worden war, kann eine wichtige Rolle als Forum für intensive, policy-spezifische und detaillierte Reformdebatten spielen und einen Beitrag dazu leisten, die Nord-Süd-Beziehungen neu und inklusiver auszugestalten. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird analysiert, welche Ergebnisse der HDP bislang gebracht hat und unter welchen Voraussetzungen er erfolgreich weitergeführt werden kann. Vorschläge für verschiedene Reformszenarien werden unter Berücksichtigung aktueller globaler Dynamiken (insbesondere G20-Finanzgipfel) unterbreitet. Die Studie fußt auf der Prämisse, dass globale Probleme wie die Finanzkrise oder der Klimawandel nur mithilfe eines inklusiveren und repräsentativeren Koordinationsgremiums in der Spitze der global governance-Architektur möglich ist." (Textauszug)

Der Beitrag zur Entwicklungs- und Umweltpolitik erörtert die Debatte über das Entwicklungs- und Umweltprogramm REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, die Reduktion von Emissionen aus Entwaldung und Schädigung von Wäldern). Die Grundidee von REDD basiert auf der Funktion der Wälder als Kohlenstoffspeicher. Indem dem in den Wäldern gespeicherten Kohlenstoff ein wirtschaftlicher Wert beigemessen wird, kann der Erhalt von Wäldern in wirtschaftliche Entscheidungsprozesse einbezogen werden. Im Rahmen eines REDD-Systems sollen die Emissionen aus tropischer Entwaldung anerkannt und bewertet werden, damit wirtschaftliche Anreize für den Stopp der Entwaldung geboten werden können. Obwohl die Theorie einfach klingt, ist die Umsetzung von REDD doch komplex und verschiedene strukturelle, technische und methodische Herausforderungen müssen gemeistert werden. Die Ausführungen gliedern sich in folgende Punkte: (1) methodische Herausforderungen für REDD und Hypothesen zu Angebot und Nachfrage von Emissionsreduzierungen sowie (2) die Beurteilung von REDD-Optionen (Betätigungsfeld, Walddefinition, politische Ansätze zum REDD-Transfersystem und der Finanzierung). Nach Ansicht des Autors besitzt REDD das Potenzial, ab 2020 wichtiger Bestandteil eines globalen Umwelthandelssystems mit dem Ziel weltweiter Emissionsreduzierung zu werden. (ICG2)

"Significant climate change is expected over the 21st century; it will affect ecosystems and
access to natural resources such as fertile land and water. Regions with low adaptive capacity
due to poverty, lack of infrastructure, services, and appropriate governance will be
most severely affected. Sub-Saharan Africa is, due to its low economic development and
the diversity of local conditions, a region that needs special attention in developing adaptation
strategies. Climate impacts and the adaptive capacity of societies determine their vulnerability to climate change. The extent of climate change and spatial patterns of impacts are, however,
highly uncertain. This report supplies background knowledge on climate change in sub-
Saharan Africa, including uncertainties and basic assumptions of climate change
projections. Impact studies are only roughly summarized here, as a systematic evaluation
of the wealth of specific case studies available would by far exceed the scope of this report." (author's abstract)

"Tax-motivated transfer pricing has attracted world attention owing to the existence of low-tax
jurisdictions and the volume of the activities of multinational corporations (MNCs). MNCs
have many instruments for shifting profits through transfer pricing, and tax havens provide ample
opportunity for this. Tax havens pose the threat of capital flight and income shifting from
high-tax countries. At present, there are two ways of tackling this problem: by applying the
arm's length principle to determine the tax payable by MNCs in a particular jurisdiction or by
using a formula to allocate tax payable by MNCs between countries. Based on various studies
conducted so far, this paper summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of these methods in
solving the problem of profit-shifting by MNCs. The predicament is truly global in nature, and
no single country or group of countries can hope to resolve it. It is high time a global institution
was set up to calculate MNCs' worldwide income and to provide tax authorities with timely
information." [author's abstract]

"Turkey's foreign policy has been in transition since the early 1990s. This change is reflected in the country's departure from a firmly security-focused, coercive and unilateral foreign policy towards a policy keyed more to reaching diplomatic, multilateral solutions for foreign-policy problems. Significant examples might be seen in Turkey's political and economic rapprochement with Syria, Iran, and Russia, but also in a pragmatic approach to dealing with foreign-policy disputes, as illustrated by the process of change in Turkey's Armenia policy. Looked at in terms of the overall picture, it can be said that the country is increasingly intent on abandoning its self-enforced role as an 'intimate stranger' and honing its political and economic profile in its neighbourhood in order to strengthen its position as a regional power. The present paper seeks to identify some of the domestic factors responsible for the change in Turkey's regional foreign policy. It argues that the change in Turkey's regional foreign policy must be seen as part of a fundamental domestic reorientation. The domestic reorientation could be interpreted as a rearrangement of the overall domestic and social context in Turkey, which appears to have led both to a diversification of the country's centres of political power and changes in the country's institutional power relations." (author's abstract)

"The international dynamic to which the global financial crisis has led in the international summit architecture offers a grand opportunity to effect the global governance reform that had begun so auspiciously in the period leading up to 2005, the year of UN reform, in order then to falter. Here the Heiligendamm Dialogue Process (HDP) can play an important role as a forum for intensive, policy-specific, and in-depth reform debates. The Heiligendamm Dialogue Process, created by the G8 in 2007, may play an important role as a forum for intensive, policy-specific, and in-depth reform debates, providing a contribution to giving North-South relations a new and more inclusive shape. The present paper analyses what results the HDP has generated thus far, inquiring into the conditions required if it is to be continued successfully. The paper offers suggestions for various reform scenarios, taking current global dynamics into account (in particular the G20 financial summit). The study is based on the premise that global problems like the financial crisis or climate change can be effectively addressed only with the aid of a more inclusive and representative coordination body at the top level of global governance." (excerpt)

"For most Sub-Saharan African countries, agriculture is a key to achieving broad-based
(pro-poor) economic growth and attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Approximately 70–80 % of the continent's employment and 40 % of its export earnings stem from agricultural activities. A stronger agricultural sector is considered to be fundamental for Africa's overall economic growth as well as for addressing hunger, poverty, and inequality.
However, the sector is not performing well for various reasons. Therefore, the New
Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) – the economic programme of the African Union (AU) – has set itself the task to revitalise the sector. For this purpose, it has initiated the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) in order to improve agricultural policies in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In addition, the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), another NEPAD initiative, seeks to improve African political, economic and business governance in general. Together, CAADP and APRM should be expected to improve substantially the institutional and political conditions for agriculture.
This paper analyses CAADP and APRM policy-making processes in the agricultural sector. The analysis shows that CAADP and APRM have a potential to bring fundamental qualitative changes in the way policies are made in member countries. While the present paper is mainly a desk-based study, it provides a foundation for conducting further research on the topic on the ground." [Autorenreferat]

"The comparative study on Development Research (DR) in Germany and three other European
countries was commissioned by the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and
Development (BMZ). It gives an overview of the available resources, the institutional setting
and the governance of DR in the four countries. The paper will neither provide an indepth
evaluation of the DR realized by the four countries nor is it embedded in a more
general discussion of the growing role of research for development cooperation.
The understanding of the term DR varies largely in the four countries. In the most
common and broadest definition DR is any kind of research with relevance for development
and developing countries. Thus, a large number of disciplines may contribute to DR.
A more restricted understanding defines DR as mainly social science based research on
global and local processes of cultural, demographic, economic, environmental, political,
technological and social change in low and middle income parts of the world. DR covers a
wide array of applications, from feeding the academic search for new or improved knowledge
to resolving immediate problems formulated by policy makers. In three of the countries,
strengthening of research capabilities in the South is considered as a constitutive element of
the promotion of DR." (author's abstract)

Contents: 1 Introduction; 2 Historical background and genesis of the Millennium Development Goals; 3 Significance of the Millennium Declaration; 4 Evaluation of the Millennium Development Goals; 5 The Millennium process; 6 Implications for German development cooperation.

"The economic and political rise of China has led to considerable controversy regarding potential repercussions for the current global governance architecture. At least two opposing scenarios are conceivable: China's adaptation to the rules and norms system shaped by developed countries or the pursuit of a distinctive policy approach, a possibility that involves the danger of clashing regulatory policies. A recent and increasingly dynamic trend giving substance to the phenomenon of China's rising importance is the growth of outward foreign direct investments (OFDI) by Chinese enterprises. Against this background, the present paper investigates the evolution and change of Chinese international investment policy-making, with a particular focus on bilateral investment treaties (BITs) as the most important legal instrument for the governance of global foreign direct investment (FDI) flows. China has been a committed signatory of BITs since the early 1980s (120 treaties up to 2007). It is thus the second most active contracting party to BITs worldwide, surpassed only by Germany. The traditional Chinese BIT approach, however, has only cautiously supported the legal protection of FDI. As a mere capital-importer, China concluded BITs that contained serious reservations and safeguards intended to preserve policy spaces for the regulation of incoming investments. Starting at the end of the 1990s the Chinese government initiated a decisive policy shift towards a liberal BIT approach characterized by high levels of substantive and procedural investment protection. Upon examining a representative sample of Sino-foreign BITs, this study concludes that the policy shift was a pro-active decision of the Chinese government intended to introduce liberal treaty provisions first and foremost with developing countries which are the main destination of Chinese OFDI. A further explanation for this development may be found in the great importance attached to the promotion of OFDI through the 'Going Global' strategy announced by the Chinese government at the end of the 1990s. In sum, this paper concludes that China has adopted a complementary rather than a competitive approach in the field of global FDI governance. China has fully agreed to standards of the current international liberal regime for FDI protection and has become an important global player in this context. This policy shift will yield consequences for China itself by levelling the playing field for international investors. Furthermore, developing countries that have concluded BITs with China will face a further reduction of their legal and regulatory autonomy, which is already limited by treaties with developed countries. China's BIT policy, therefore, contradicts the widespread rhetoric of a mutual beneficial South-South cooperation. Lastly, the emerging complementarity of investment policies between China and developed countries at the bilateral level gives rise to the possibility of enhanced cooperation between both at higher levels, for instance as part of the Heiligendamm Process between G8 countries and emerging countries." (author's abstract)

"Die Indische Union gilt aufgrund ihrer Größe, militärischen Stärke und Wirtschaftskraft als 'natürlicher Hegemon' in Südasien. Doch eine genauere Analyse zeigt, dass Indien trotz seiner überlegenen Ressourcen kaum Einfluss auf die Regierungsstrukturen in Pakistan und Bangladesch genommen hat. Erstens spielt die Förderung von Demokratie in den Nachbarstaaten bis heute keine Rolle in der indischen Außenpolitik. Zweitens verfolgte Premierministerin Indira Gandhi zwar eine aktive Ordnungspolitik und verstand Südasien als Teil der nationalen Sicherheit Indiens. Allerdings konnte sie trotz militärischer Erfolge wie gegen Pakistan 1971 die indischen Interessen in der Kaschmirfrage nicht durchsetzen. Auch gegenüber Bangladesch fand sie kein Mittel, um die Abkehr des Landes von Indien nach dem Putsch von 1975 zu verhindern. Drittens versteht Indien seit den wirtschaftspolitischen Reformen von 1991 die Region Südasien eher als Teil des heimischen Marktes. Trotz der Krisen mit Pakistan in den 90er Jahren prägt der Ausbau der wirtschaftlichen Beziehungen und das Bemühen um eine stärkte Vernetzung der Region seitdem die Politik Indiens gegenüber seinen beiden größten Nachbarn. Der Schatten der vermeintlichen indischen Hegemonie ist damit deutlich größer, als die reale Einflussnahme Indiens auf die Regierungsstrukturen in beiden Ländern." (Autorenreferat)