Suchergebnisse

The relationship between nationalism and public policy remains largely unexplored. Focusing on the link between sub-state nationalism and social policy, this article formulates three main arguments. The first is that social policy is likely to factor into processes of identity- and nation-building spearheaded by sub-state nationalism, and that nationalist movements typically trigger pressures for the decentralization of social policy. The second is that recognizing the importance of this connection should not lead to hasty conclusions about the impact of societal and institutional pressures on public policy. Nationalism is not only a societal force; it is also a political construction that reflects broad institutional legacies. The third is that the historical sequence of nationalism and policy development may create institutional forces preventing the congruence between policies and ethno-linguistic boundaries, in spite of pressures emanating from nationalist movements. The analysis of Social Security politics in contemporary Belgium provides ground to these claims.

This report seeks to distil the main findings and recommendations from the EU-CIVCAP project and is organised around the following key themes: 1) Resources for conflict prevention and peacebuilding; 2) Prioritising conflict prevention; 3) An integrated approach to conflicts and crises; 4) Building inclusive and sustainable peace; and 5) Improving learning in conflict prevention and peacebuilding. ; This report seeks to distil the main findings and recommendations from the EU-CIVCAP project and is organised around the following key themes: 1) Resources for conflict prevention and peacebuilding; 2) Prioritising conflict prevention; 3) An integrated approach to conflicts and crises; 4) Building inclusive and sustainable peace; and 5) Improving learning in conflict prevention and peacebuilding.

ObjectiveTo describe the process of approval and implementation of a comprehensive smoke-free law in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina, between 2005 and 2009.MethodsReview of the Santa Fe smoke-free legislation, articles published in local newspapers and documentation on two lawsuits filed against the law, and interviews with key individuals in Santa Fe.ResultsEfforts to implement smoke-free policies in Santa Fe began during the 1990s without success, and resumed in 2005 when the provincial Legislature approved the first 100% smoke-free subnational law in Argentina. There was no strong opposition during the discussions within the legislature. As in other parts of the world, pro-tobacco industry interests attempted to block the implementation of the law using well known strategies. These efforts included a controversy media campaign set up, the creation of a hospitality industry association and a virtual smokers' rights group, the introduction of a counterproposal seeking modification of the law, the challenge of the law in the Supreme Court, and the proposal of a weak national bill that would 'conflict' with the subnational law. Tobacco control advocates sought media attention as a strategy to protect the law.ConclusionsSanta Fe is the first subnational jurisdiction in Latin America to have enacted a comprehensive smoke-free policy following the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. After 3 years of implementation, pro-tobacco industry forces failed to undermine the law. Other subnational jurisdictions in Argentina, as well as in Mexico and Brazil are following the Santa Fe example.

This learning product reviews the extent to which political economy analysis (PEA) is used to improve the design of development policy operations (DPOs) and how effective it has been. Although the World Bank's mandate explicitly precludes it from engaging in politics, an understanding of the political economy is critical for the organization's effectiveness. A political economy perspective broadens the World Bank's operational considerations beyond technical analysis to the significance of power relations and the national political processes. This study mostly builds on evaluative findings from previous IEG work, including ICRRs, PPARs of long-term programmatic series (Tanzania, Vietnam, Uganda, and Ghana PRSCs). Supplementary evaluative evidence was gathered through a portfolio review of randomly selected DPOs, internal PEA reports, and Systematic Country Diagnostic reports (SCDs) relevant for DPOs. The study found that PEA can improve the design of DPOs by identifying implementation risks and mitigating action; there are different ways to make use of PEA; PEA can inform specific design elements, and that PEA can be used in self-evaluations to better analyze factors affecting program effectiveness and contribute to knowledge and improved design.

Following its achievement of Self-Rule status in 2009 Greenland embarked on a series of measures to diversify its economy with an eye towards eventually gaining full independence from Denmark. Tourism was underlined as a key sector for reaching this goal and, consequently, over the last few years there has been a concerted effort to develop the island as an important polar destination. Significantly, the Greenlandic government created the tourism development policy for 2016-2020, which it views as a key instrument for shaping the sector's future. In this paper, we adopted a policy network approach to determine the relational architecture among various stakeholders from the public and private sectors who are seen as relevant to tourism's development. Inter alia, we examined how these actors were linked to each other while examining what kind of tourism networks existed in Greenland and what obstacles might hinder or foster their formation. A thematic analysis of qualitative data on Atlas.ti reveals that though there exist networks in the Greenlandic tourism sector, they are not policy networks and that the Greenlandic government's approach to developing this tourism policy has been top-down, reflecting a 'government' rather than a 'governance' approach. Barriers to the formation of policy networks included lack of a shared image for the future; lack of trust among actors; lack of time and spatial fragmentation hindering iterative interactions, and lack of institutional enabling of information and knowledge sharing.

This article outlines a strategy for the evaluation of a development partnership within the EU 'EQUAL' programme. A new aspect of the EQUAL programme is the grouping of projects within thematic or geographical partnerships. This facilitates the establishment of stronger links between learning at intra-project, inter-project and programme level, in a way that was not the case in previous EU employment programmes. It provides the opportunity to address the problem of external validity (also known as transferability or generalizability), which has long been an intractable aspect of evaluation. In particular, it has been difficult to generate inter-project and policy-level learning in innovative programmes of heterogeneous projects, because learning has been strongly context-bounded. The approach of cluster evaluation has offered a methodology for bridging the gap between case-based learning and policy-level learning. The approach is suitable for thematic programmes of innovative and heterogeneous interventions in field settings with multiple objectives and diverse participants. It favours communicative learning processes among programme participants, using interactive and dialogue-focused techniques. The article reviews these issues and outlines the strategy adopted in the evaluation of a development partnership within the EU EQUAL programme in Germany.

Renewing Development in Sub-Saharan Africa reviews the ensuing debates and brings together specialist contributions, to provide a clear guide to the major complexities of African development.

On 16 September 2023, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger – all three states led by military regimes – decided to establish a new regional organisation, the Alliance of Sahel States (Alliance des Etats du Sahel – AES). This move was prompted by the worsening of the crisis within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in 2023, a crisis that reached its peak to date with the announcement by the three AES members on 28 January 2024 of their withdrawal from ECOWAS, a regional organisation set up back in 1975. In a socio-political context in which the role and functions of the state, the extent of state powers and the way in which they are exercised are increasingly being called into question, new forms of political and social organisation are developing. These are also influenced by the current geopolitical developments in the changing world order. At the same time, states and societies and the ongoing regional integration processes are facing major new challenges. Within ECOWAS, conventional ideas of state and society, values and structures are coming up against growing tendencies towards a new understanding of statehood and sovereignty. In the West Africa/Sahel region, new processes of nation-building and state-building are under way, underpinned by efforts to renew social cohesion and to integrate the 'vital forces of the nation' – a concept cited increasingly frequently in these countries – as comprehensively as possible. These developments call for a realignment of German and European foreign and development policy. The political and social conditions and expectations of the partners in the West Africa/Sahel region are currently undergoing profound transformation. They need to be aligned with the content and interests of the value-based foreign policy advocated by Germany – in line with the principle of a 'partnership between equals'. Any appraisal of the future developments and integration of the dynamics that determine them must take account of the various integration processes, which are particularly diversified and run in parallel in this region. Adopting a comparative perspective, this paper provides an overview of the various regional organisations in the West Africa/Sahel region. It analyses the potential of each of them in terms of their development prospects and sustainability. In addition to the critical relationship between ECOWAS and the AES, it also examines the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), the Integrated Develop-ment Authority of the Liptako-Gourma Region (Autorité de Liptako-Gourma – ALG) and the G5 Sahel, which is currently being dissolved. If the partnership between Germany and Europe on the one hand and the West African and Sahel states on the other is to be continued, it will be vital to adopt a pragmatic approach and maintain a political dialogue with all the partners. The states in this region are extremely important to Europe's future development. Moreover, it is only through communication based on mutual respect underpinning cooperation in the economic and development sectors that the growing influence of political powers such as Russia and Iran – whose ideas, interests and values are not in line with the Western Atlantic model of democracy governed by the rule of law – can be curbed effectively.