Suchergebnisse

A review essay on books by (1) Jeffrey D. Sachs, The End of Poverty. How We Can Make It Happen in Our Lifetime (London: Penguin Books, 2005); (2) William Easterly, The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good (Oxford: Oxford U Press, 2006); (3) Paul Collier, The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done about It (Oxford: Oxford U Press, 2007); & (4) Roger C. Riddell, Does Foreign Aid Really Work? (Oxford: Oxford U Press, 2007).

This article surveys the broad array of arguments addressing the lack of progress made in third-world development over the course of the last fifty years. During this period of time, financial aid given by the world's industrial nations to developing countries became a practice that was seen as both economically & morally demanded. However, in the years that have since elapsed, there has been an increasing volume of critical attention paid to the imbalance between the amount of funding given & the amount of development accomplished. It is at this juncture that the lack of necessary internal conditions in developing counties becomes apparent. Analysis has not only demonstrated that a large portion of funding made to third-world countries becomes subject to abuse by controlling powers, but has also suggested that foreign aid might actually contribute to the imbalance of power in the said recipient countries. Some of the many perspectives that comprise the growing argument against the notion of foreign aid as a viable policy are presented here to illustrate the increasingly clear reality of failed development in the third world. 4 Tables, 20 References. C. Brunski

An open debate where the eight central figures from the eight largest Norwegian political parties explain their foreign policy goals for the term 2009-2012. While all three leftwing parties stress the importance of climate change and equality, the criticism towards NATO intensifies when we moved from the center-left to the far left. The traditional center and right wing parties all emphasize the importance of free trade and globalization with an increased degree of skepticism in the center. The Progress Party stands out from the crowd by attacking foreign aid for increasing corruption and diminishing human rights in developing countries. L. Pitkaniemi

This article takes an in-depth look at the controversy surrounding initiatives to eliminate poverty in developing countries. While analysis of the problem necessarily assumes an international perspective, special attention is given here to the role that Norway -- as a European country made wealthy by its natural resources -- is to play in the effort to advance underdeveloped regions. A review of existing critical literature reveals a commonly held view that the most detrimental problems arise because of the inability to control what happens to aide money given to impoverished nations that are often run by corrupt power groups that use the money to consolidate their own power. As much research has demonstrated, world contributions to developing areas over the past decades have failed to produce the expected results, which again signals that the dilemma of under-developed areas is rooted in their internal organization & collective incentives. Several perspectives on this issue are reviewed here to pronounce the moral question assumed by many where Norway is concerned, namely if a country made wealthy by something that it has not "earned" per se should continue to support an aide mechanism that is shown by many analyses to be unsustainable. The stakes & alternatives in this debate are discussed here in detail. C Brunski

Hedge strategies became famous after the strange year of 2008 when Lehman Brothers went bankrupt and the Norwegian stock market crashed by 55%. Countries could benefit from the hedging strategies known from the financial world during an era when the American hegemony is about to end. In a polar or bipolar world where stakes are well known hedging is unnecessary, but in a multipolar world dominated from two to ten states the importance of hedging increases. A successful foreign policy hedging strategy aims at finding a low delta by reducing and managing risk, pushing decision making into the future, keeping options open and developing insurance mechanisms. L. Pitkaniemi

This article considers the rising importance regional power development in a world where the stability of political alliances is increasingly brought into question. Most world leaders agree that these emerging economies will come to play an ever-more powerful role in the shaping of tomorrow's global policies, even if they do not themselves occupy the leading socio-political slots. Several possible policy configurations for China, India, Brazil, & South Africa are considered here, focusing on the degree to which these countries will both collectively & independently choose to balance their engagement between their local sphere of influence & their strategic global allies, namely the US & EU. It is suggested that the direction China elects to take in its policy over the coming years will have a decisive role for the other developing regions as a whole, because its economic power will largely temper the attitudes of the dominant world powers towards these regional powers. Tables, References. C. Brunski

Over the last decade, Russia has considerably ramped up its military presence in the Arctic. This is something that attracted much attention from Western countries, especially against the backdrop of deteriorated relations and general mistrust following the annexation of Crimea in 2014. Current developments are to some extent familiar, as they echo the militarisation of the Arctic during the Cold War and the attendant US-Soviet tensions. Although comparisons with the Soviet Union's Arctic military posture lie close at hand, we need to analyse Russia's current military build-up in the Arctic with fresh eyes. Two of the most indicative developments were studied. Firstly, the formation of a single Arctic military command, with its implications for a reassessment of the Arctic strategic direction; secondly, the physical expansion of its Arctic military footprint, which includes both the construction of modern facilities and the increased activity of its armed forces there. In both these developments, the Northern Fleet is taking on a leading role, but the overall military posture relies on other military and civilian actors as well, and is closely related to security concerns of the developing latitudinal axis of the Northern Sea Route, rather than the Cold War longitudinal axis of a massive nuclear weapons exchange.