Suchergebnisse

Lack of information is a severe barrier to effective participation by developing countries in the international trade regime. Information systems in international regimes are the sets of institutions, actors and procedures involved in collecting, analysing and disseminating information about members' actions and the regime's effectiveness. The multilateral trade regime's information system, including the Trade Policy Review Mechanism as its latest and most institutionalised form, has evolved over more than five decades. The TPRM in particular, in operation since 1989, shoulders a fundamental responsibility in making the trade regime more transparent. This paper asks: how has the TPRM responded to the demands for information and transparency in the trade regime, particularly from the perspective of developing countries? The paper builds a framework for the demand and supply of information in international regimes, using it to explain the evolution of information systems in the trade regime. It then conceptualises the functions of an ideal-type information system and inquires whether the TPRM was at all designed to perform as an effective information system. Finally, the paper investigates developing countries' participation in the mechanism to outline several challenges that prevent the TPRM from fulfilling its stated objectives and potential.

India survived near-crisis situations twice in the 1990s. What determined its ability to learn from the experience of a balance of payments crisis in 1991 to shield the economy from the pressures of the Asian financial crisis in 1997? By linking the two crises within a framework of external and internal economic and political constraints, the paper explains the dynamics of the crises. It argues that India's success can be attributed to five sets of decisions taken during 1991-97: devaluation, engaging the IMF, floating the exchange rate while increasing the central bank's autonomy to intervene against speculative pressures, opening up the external sector while maintaining asymmetric capital controls, and liberalising the financial sector. The paper analyses the options, political opposition and eventual outcomes for each set of decisions. Based on this approach it argues that India's ownership of its reform programme helped set the pace of reform while close interaction between technocrats and the IMF added credibility. But the balance between entrenched traditional interest groups and the demands of new interests determined the scope of reform. Finally, the paper raises broad political questions for the lessons other countries can draw from India's experience.

Left Front's victory for the sixth consecutive term in West Bengal came as an exception in Indian electoral politics, where most of the governments are not able to survive for a second term. The timely change of Chief Minister, the Front's excellent record of maintaining communal amity, its performance in the rural sector, & its positive role in the overall development of the state are some of the major factors for its victory. It seems that the people of West Bengal have voted for stability & development against adventurism & anarchy. 2 References. Adapted from the source document.

1. Human development : an idea whose time has come? -- 2. The international policy impact of the human development approach in the 1990s. the early years -- 3. Human development measurement tools : advantages and shortcomings -- 4. Human development in international policy-making, part I : trade, water, energy, and environment -- 5. Human development in international policy-making, part II : democratic governance, human rights, and peacebuilding -- 6. Human development in global governance : new frontiers.

This book provides a timely and accessible introduction to the foundational ideas associated with the human development school of thought. It examines its conceptual evolution during the post-colonial era, and discusses how various institutions of the UN system have tried to engage with this issue, both in terms of intellectual and technical advance, and operationally. Showing that human development has had a profound impact on shaping the policy agenda and programming priorities of global institutions, it argues that human development has helped to preserve the continued vitality of major multilateral development programs, funds, and agencies. It also details how human development faces new risks and threats, caused by political, economic, social, and environmental forces which are highlighted in a series of engaging case studies on trade, water, energy, the environment, democracy, human rights, and peacebuilding. The book also makes the case for why human development remains relevant in an increasingly globalized world, asking whether global institutions will be able to sustain political and moral support from their member states and powerful non-state actors.