Suchergebnisse

"This study deals with one specific form of donor support for policy reform,
namely donor-financed policy reform programmes that are based on
a combination of pilot projects and high-level advice – so called multilevel
approaches. German development agencies argue that policy reform
processes involve complex societal changes and can therefore not be decreed
and implemented through top-down processes. According to their
argument, high-level policy advisory services that are not embedded in
processes of societal change can offer blueprints but not tailor-made solutions
and are therefore rarely able to bring about lasting change. They
insist that good policy solutions need to be tested in practice, and stake holder support needs to be built through participatory learning processes.
GTZ in particular claims to have a competitive advantage vis-à-vis other
donors that do not offer as much "multi-level competence" and processbased
policy support.
The purpose of the present volume is to see how successful multi-level
approaches work in practice, especially to what extent good policy support
actually requires a micro- or project-level foundation. This gives rise to
questions regarding the operational setup of such processes: E.g. how
feedback loops between implementation of pilot projects, capacity-building
in service delivery, and policymaking are best organized; what role
formal and informal procedures play in the policymaking process, and
who the most influential change agents are; how a succession of microlevel
experiments, codification of experiences, norm-setting and enforcement
of new rules should be timed and sequenced, and what time spans are
required to manage such iterative processes." [author's abstract]

Introduction : the struggle for the soul of the twenty-first century -- pt. 1. Bringing religion back into international relations theory. "The revenge of God?" : The twentieth century as the "last modern century" -- Blind spots and blowback : why culture and religion were marginalized in international relations theory -- In the eye of the storm : explaining and understanding culture and religion in international relations -- The soul of the world? : religious non-state actors and international relations theory -- pt. 2. The substantive issues in international relations. Wars and rumors of war? : religion and international conflict -- "Creating a just and durable peace" : rethinking religion and international cooperation -- Soulcraft as statecraft? : diplomacy, conflict resolution, and peacebuilding -- Funding virtue? : rethinking religion, civil society, and democracy -- When faith and economics meet? : rethinking religion, civil society and international development -- Conclusion : how shall we then live?

Encounters with the other -- Becoming a weapons scientist -- Nuclear weapons and the other in the western imagination -- Militarism and the media -- Short circuit : watching television with a nuclear weapons scientist -- Hiroshima, the Gulf War, and the disappearing body -- Ideological frames -- Presenting the creation : Dean Acheson and NATO -- Missing the end of the cold war in security studies -- Cultures as strategic hamlets : an anthropologist reads Samuel Huntington -- Nuclear testing -- Nuclear weapons testing as scientific ritual -- The virtual nuclear weapons laboratory in the new world order -- Life around the barbed wire fence -- The death of the authors of death : prestige and creativity among nuclear weapons scientists -- How not to construct an incinerator -- Postscript : tall tales and deceptive discourses : nuclear weapons in George W. Bush's America

"The study is based on desk research on the BDS concept as well as on the available empirical evidence. In addition, we conducted a number of interviews with GTZ project managers and Thai counterparts during the spring of 2003. In coming up with our general assessment of Thailand's institutional performance in business services, we draw on a parallel GDI research project with a much broader empirical base. Chapter 1 summarizes the new BDS paradigm, presenting the four principle arguments that cast doubt on the traditional path taken by state- or donor-led service provision as well as the policy conclusions made by proponents of the BDS market approach. Chapter 2 then identifies four conceptual and practical limitations of this school of thought. Chapters 3-6 go on to elaborate on these four critical arguments. Chapter 3 discusses the distinction between public and private goods, arguing that some business services are, at least in part, public goods, and concluding that there is a case for subsidizing them. In Chapter 4 we show that the evolution of private service markets is a slow process of interaction between customers and service providers. These interactions serve to increase specialization and deepen the division of labour, thus contributing to productivity growth, innovation and competitiveness.
Government action aimed at accelerating this process may thus be assumed to spur economic
development. Chapter 5 demonstrates that service provision for SMEs is a political issue. Some politicians and bureaucrats clearly pursue self-interests which may not be compatible with the new paradigm of undistorted private service markets. Development of such markets is therefore not a technocratic project but one that requires political bargaining. In Chapter 6 we point out that the development of service markets never starts from scratch. Usually there are already a number of established subsidized, and often bureaucratic, service providers. This leads us to discuss the challenge of how to propel these service providers towards business-like modes of service delivery. Finally, Chapter 7 draws some practical conclusions for development co-operation." (author's abstract)

This book explains why British defence policy and practice emerged as it did in the period 1941-67, by looking at the overlapping of colonial, military, economic and Cold War factors in the area. Its main focus is on the 1950s and the decolonisation era, but it argues that the plans and conditions of this period can only be understood by tracing them back to their origins in the fall of Singapore. Also, it shows how decolonisation was shaped not just by British aims, but by the way communism, communalism and nationalism facilitated and frustrated these.

In neun Fallstudien und vier allgemeine Fragen behandelnden Beiträgen befasst sich der Sammelband mit militärischen Interventionen afrikanischer Staaten: in Nachbarstaaten oder jenseits ihrer unmittelbaren Nachbarschaft. Interessen, Akteure und ihre Handlungen werden thematisiert, die militärischen Möglichkeiten der afrikanischen Armeen und ihre Nutzung analysiert. Die zunehmende Rolle privater Sicherheitsunternehmen bei diesen Interventionen behandelt ein eigener Beitrag. Schließlich wird die zunehmende Bereitschaft von OAU-/AU-Mitgliedern untersucht, Interventionismus und die Verschiebung von Grenzen hinzunehmen. (DÜI-Sbd)

Die ASEAN der 90er Jahre sieht sich verstrickt in ein dichtes Netz sicherheits- und wirtschaftspolitischer Interdependenzen. Mit dem Ende des Kalten Krieges sind die ehemals prägenden ideologisch motivierten Konflikte und die damit einhergehende weltweite Anbindung der Staaten an eine der beiden Supermächte entfallen. Sowohl auf sicherheitspolitischer als auch auf wirtschaftspolitischer Seite sieht sich die ASEAN mit starken Asymmetrien in ihren Beziehungen zu den Großmächten der Region, China, Japan und den Vereinigten Staaten, konfrontiert, auf die sie mit unterschiedlichen Kooperations- und Integrationsinitiativen innerhalb ihrer Organisation oder mit den Nachbarn im asiatisch-pazifischen Raum zu reagieren versucht. Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht diese Initiativen und die politischen Ziele, die die ASEAN durch sie zu erreichen sucht. Hierbei vertritt der Autor die These, daß die Integrationstendenzen, die in der ASEAN zu erkennen sind, politisch von den Mitgliedstaaten weniger erwünscht als vielmehr geduldet sind. Sie entwickeln sich als unerläßliches Nebenprodukt bei dem Versuch, auf Bedrohungen von außen geschlossen, also gestärkt, zu reagieren. Die supraregionale Öffnung der ASEAN zu einem offiziellen Sicherheitsdialog unter eigener Regie im Rahmen des ASEAN Regional Forum und zur Kooperation mit den Nachbarn im Rahmen der APEC sowie der subregionale Ansatz zur Bildung einer ASEAN-Free Trade Area kennzeichnen also keinen grundlegenden Wandel des politischen Willens der Entscheidungsträger. Vielmehr versuchen die ASEAN-Staaten, mit einer den neuen globalen Verhältnissen angepaßten, gemeinsamen Politik als Investitionsstandorte interessant zu bleiben. Das nationale Interesse bleibt im Vordergrund.