Aid Policy Research Articles

EU Soft Law in the EU Legal Order: A Literature Review

In this first SoLaR working paper we are reviewing the literature on EU soft law, with a special focus on research dealing with competition law, state aid, financial regulation, environmental protection and social policy. The literature reviewed consists of studies conducted at the EU level of governance. A further paper will focus on nationally centered analyses, in particular concerning Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and the UK. The present paper first discusses different definitions of soft law and taxonomies before moving to an analysis of status and legal effects of soft law. The paper then reviews studies dealing with the interface between soft law and adjudication. It finally looks into issues concerning the justiciability of soft law instruments in order to distill a theory with regards to the use of soft law in courts and national administrations. The paper concludes by looking at the consequences that the enforcement of soft law can have from a rule of law perspective.

Understanding Promise: Impact of State Support on Latino High School Student Habitus

ABSTRACT This study examined the role of a state need-based financial aid policy in Latina/o high school students’ meaning making of postsecondary access. Utilizing narrative research, the analytical focus on the meaning making uncovered patterns of individual agency in the journeys of eight Latina/o high school students who were recent enrollees in the state need-based financial aid program.

Chlorine and Monochloramine Disinfection of Legionella pneumophila Colonizing Copper and Polyvinyl Chloride Drinking Water Biofilms.

Building water systems promote the regrowth and survival of opportunistic pathogens, such as Legionella pneumophila, especially within biofilms, where most drinking water microbes reside. However, compared to their planktonic form, disinfection efficacy for the biofilm-associated forms of water-based pathogens is unclear. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of free chlorine and monochloramine in the inactivation of biofilm-associated L. pneumophila strain Philadelphia-1 serogroup 1 (LpP1s1). Mature (1.5- to 2-year-old) drinking water biofilms were developed on copper (Cu) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) slides within biofilm annular reactors, then colonized with LpP1s1 at approximately 4 log10 CFU cm-2 and exposed to 2 mg liter-1 of free chlorine or monochloramine. Ct (disinfectant concentration × time, expressed as mg min liter-1) inactivation values for 2-, 3-, and 4-log10 reductions of planktonic and biofilm LpP1s1 were determined. For planktonic LpP1s1, free chlorine was more effective at inactivation than was monochloramine treatment, and for biofilm-associated LpP1s1, monochloramine was more effective on Cu biofilms while free chlorine was more effective on PVC biofilms. In contrast to monochloramine, free chlorine treatment of Cu and PVC biofilms, negatively impacted LpP1s1 16S rRNA gene transcript levels and may act synergistically with Cu surfaces to further reduce transcript levels. Moreover, LpP1s1 cells shed from biofilms into the bulk water were more resistant to disinfection than were prepared planktonic LpP1s1 cells. Results from this study indicate that biofilm association, disinfectant type, and substratum play an important role in the survival of Legionella pneumophila in building water systems.IMPORTANCE Microbial regrowth within building water systems are promoted by water stagnation, low disinfectant residual, high surface-to-volume ratio, amenable growth temperatures, and colonization of drinking water biofilms. Moreover, biofilms provide protection from environmental stresses, access to higher levels of nutrients, and opportunities for symbiotic interactions with other microbes. Disinfectant efficacy information is historically based on inactivation of pathogens in their planktonic, free-floating forms. However, due to the ecological importance of drinking water biofilms for pathogen survival, this study evaluated the efficacy of two common disinfectants, free chlorine and monochloramine, on Legionella pneumophila colonizing mature, drinking water biofilms established on copper and PVC surfaces. Results showed that inactivation was dependent on the disinfectant type and biofilm substratum. Overall, this, and other related research, will provide a better understanding of Legionella ecological stability and survival and aid policy makers in the management of exposure risks to water-based pathogens within building water systems.

Mediating Illegality: Federal, State, and Institutional Policies in the Educational Experiences of Undocumented College Students

Immigration federalism scholarship has established that state and local government policies can make federally defined immigration status more or less consequential. Drawing primarily on focus groups and interviews with 184 undocumented students attending the University of California, we suggest that institutional policies work alongside state and local efforts to mediate the consequences of illegality for undocumented students. We find that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, state-funded financial aid policies, and university support programs all facilitate the integration of undocumented students by increasing access to higher education and enabling fuller participation. Although federal policies contribute to persistent barriers to academic engagement and professional development, we show that universities can intervene to improve educational experiences and opportunities. Ultimately, we argue that university policies are a key site for intervening in immigration policy and constructing immigrant illegality.

Should Canada’s foreign aid policy help address the environmental impact of single-use plastics?

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Making National Participatory Institutions Work: Bureaucrats, Activists, and AIDS Policy in Brazil

ABSTRACTWhat are the conditions under which participatory institutions increase the voice of marginalized groups in policymaking? Existing studies of local participatory institutions highlight the role of leftist politicians and a strong civil society in determining outcomes, yet they fail to explain significant variation among participatory institutions at the national level. Examining the case of Brazil’s AIDS policy sector, this article argues that to fully understand the dynamics of national participatory governance, we must consider the role of bureaucrats. As studies of state-society synergy have shown, bureaucrats may seek outside political support from civil society when other actors inside the state prevent them from advancing their policy preferences. National bureaucrats may create new participatory institutions, and even help civil society delegates coordinate their engagement in such institutions, as strategies to strengthen their policy alliances with civil society.

Changes in official development assistance in Vietnam as seen through the prism of governance

Traditionally confined to the pursuit of economic, social and environmental development objectives, official development assistance has moved into less traditional and more sensitive sectors. By making governance a major focus of official development assistance policies, Western powers have reinforced the strategic and diplomatic dimension of aid. In doing so, they have come up against the challenge of exporting Western-inspired governance models to countries whose historical, political, and cultural norms preclude their acceptance, forcing donors to adapt to local contexts. This is particularly the case in Vietnam which, while being one of the most important historical recipients of international aid, and thus to some extent financially dependent on its donors, is distinguished by its ideological and political independence, especially in the way it runs its domestic affairs. Now facing the challenges of good governance, the country is turning a new page in its relations with its creditors, marked by the difficulty the latter experience in supporting public policies of governance, given the sensitive nature of the subject. Traditionally focused on Millennium Development Goals or Sustainable Development Goals, aid in general, and French aid in particular, have moved into more sensitive areas such as governance. Choosing governance as their new target in developing countries, donors have strengthened the strategic dimension of aid. However, they have encountered several obstacles in exporting western governance patterns to developing countries whose history, social and political background are fundamentally different. This phenomenon is leading donors to draw up a more tailored governance aid policy in developing countries. This is notably the case in Vietnam. While it is one of the most important aid recipients in the world, Vietnam has nonetheless preserved its ideological independence vis-a-vis its creditors. Vietnam is now being urged to tackle governance issues in the country to unlock its growth potential, and has embarked on a new era in its relationships with international aid, characterized by the difficulty of implementing public policies inspired and funded by aid, given the sensitive nature of the topic.

Aid-Growth Association and Role of Economic Policies: New Evidence from South and Southeast Asian Countries

The present article aims to study the implications of foreign aid on GDP per capita in the seven middle-income countries of South and Southeast Asia from 1990 to 2016. The influence of foreign aid on GDP per capita is studied in a policy-driven environment, for which a policy index using government consumption expenditure, inflation and trade openness is constructed. The outcomes of the study confirm that aid–policy interaction has a significant and positive impact on economic growth in the region. The results are calculated using the two-stage least-squares model, as foreign aid is included as an endogenous variable in the study. This approach enables us to assess the indirect effect of monetary, fiscal and trade policies on GDP per capita, as the constructed policy index is used as an instrument for foreign aid. The results of the study ascertain that besides current aid–policy interaction, the preceding years’ aid–policy interaction also has a positive and significant impact on GDP per capita in the region. The inclusion of a policy index in the analysis enables us to evaluate the effectiveness of economic policies while determining the level of GDP per capita in South and Southeast Asian countries. Therefore, the study proposes that while assessing the influence of aid-financed programmes on GDP growth of a country, the economic policies of recipient countries need to be considered. The bottom line is that foreign aid, economic policies and economic growth of aid-recipient countries are inextricably linked.

A colonial legacy of HIV/AIDS, NTD, and STI super-syndemics: Eugenicist foreign aid and intertwined health burdens in Nigeria

ABSTRACTSyndemics theory has been applied to the structurally shaped, biologically facilitated co-occurrence of HIV/AIDS with Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) and with sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The biological and social pathways of interaction between all three ailments have not yet been analysed together. The effects of these diseases are often exacerbated by structural factors including access to care and socioeconomic status. We explore the interrelated biological pathways and structural factors that have further heightened the risk for HIV/AIDS, NTDs, and STIs. Furthermore, we argue women in rural areas are at an increased risk for all three diseases due to biological and social factors including increased distance to quality care and lower reproductive autonomy. This paper integrates the established syndemics of HIV/NTDs and HIV/STIs within the historical and modern contexts of colonisation and neo-colonisation in Nigeria. We explore the effects of colonisation on women’s health by evaluating the influence of foreign aid policies, structural programmes, and shifting gender norms. Applying a syndemic approach, juxtaposed by historical contextualisation, offers important implications for the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, STIs, and NTDs. Our analysis suggests a perspective through which to view health of regions with a history of colonisation.

Addressing fragility through community-based health programmes: insights from two qualitative case study evaluations in South Sudan and Haiti

BackgroundFragility can have a negative effect on health systems and people’s health, and poses considerable challenges for actors implementing health programmes. However, how such programmes, in turn, affect the overall fragility of a context is rarely considered. The Swiss Red Cross has been active in South Sudan and Haiti since 2008 and 2011, respectively, and commissioned a scoping study to shed new light on this issue within the frame of a learning process launched in 2015.MethodsThe study consisted of a document review, qualitative field research undertaken between June and August 2015 in South Sudan and Haiti, and two data triangulation/validation workshops. Semi-structured key informant interviews and focus group discussions included 49 purposively sampled participants who helped build a deeper understanding of what constitutes and drives fragility in the respective countries. Moreover, interviews and focus group discussions served to grasp positive and negative effects that the Swiss Red Cross’s activities may have had on the overall state of fragility in the given contexts.ResultsQualitative data from the two case studies suggest that the community-based health programmes implemented in South Sudan and Haiti may have influenced certain drivers of fragility. While impacts cannot be measured or quantified in the absence of a baseline (the projects were not originally designed to mitigate overall fragility), the study nevertheless reveals entry points for designing programmes that are responsive to the overall fragility context and contain more specific elements for navigating a more sustainable pathway out of fragility. There are, however, multiple challenges, especially considering the complexity of fragile and conflict-affected contexts where a multitude of local and international actors with different goals and strategies interfere in a rapidly changing setting.ConclusionsHealth programmes may not only reach their health objectives but might potentially also contribute towards mitigating overall fragility. However, considerable hurdles remain for aid agencies, especially where scope for action is limited for a single actor and where engagement with state structures is difficult. Thus, cooperation and exchange with other aid and development actors across the spectrum has to be strengthened to increase the coherence of aid policies and interventions of actors both within and across the different aid communities.

Italy, the developing world, and aid policy, 1969–1979: the ‘historic compromise’ and Italian foreign policy

ABSTRACTPolitical support and economic cooperation with progressive developing countries was a key factor in the ‘historic compromise’, the cooperation between the Communist Party and the Christian Democrats that dominated Italy in the 1970s. Circumventing the so-called ‘conventio ad excludendum’, the Partito Comunista Italiano (PCI) gained a voice in Italian foreign policy which reached beyond the pro-Soviet camp, in particular in the Mediterranean, in the Horn, and in South-Eastern Africa. The real nature and the ultimate aim of this cooperation, in a country in which the borders between domestic and foreign policy were often blurred, remains a matter for historical debate.

Tax Policy Convergence and EU Fiscal State Aid Control: In Search of Rationality

The pending tax ruling constitute a new saga in the continuous political battle between the Member States and the European Commission about the limits of article 107 TFEU within the complex multi-level tax governance system of the EU. This article claims that the legal determination of these limits – as reflected in the distinction between general measures and fiscal state aids – cannot provide for a rational explanation concerning the balance of power between the Member States and the European Commission. Consequently, it cannot be maintained that the European Commission should merely monitor the limits of EU fiscal state aid control as defined by the Member States. Such an understanding is at odds with the prevailing neo-functionalist reality in which the European Commission is able to develop state aid policies in an independent way. This contribution reaches these conclusions on the basis of a combination of the legal and the political-economic traditions that study EU (fiscal) state aid control. It calls for more multidisciplinary academic discussion about the desirable function and limits of EU fiscal state aid control.

EU Development Policy and the Promotion of the Financial Sector

This paper assesses the Aid policy of the European Union. It highlights how this EU Aid provision has been intertwined with the process of fictionalization in two main ways. Firstly, a non-negligible proportion of Aid flows are linked to the promotion of private sector, for-profit activities, which very often include the development of the financial sector in developing countries. Secondly, the provision of Aid itself has become closely linked to the financial sector through the process of “blending”, which effectively increases the Aid budget by means of leveraging. These two aspects highlight how even cooperation policies with developing nations cannot be considered immune to the process of fictionalization.

Policy change and micro-politics in global health aid: HIV in South Africa.

Efforts to improve the effectiveness of global health aid rarely take full account of the micro-politics of policy change and implementation. South Africa's HIV/AIDS epidemic is a case in point, where the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has provided essential support to the national AIDS response. With changing political context, PEPFAR has shifted focus several times-most recently reversing the policy of 'transition' out of direct aid to a policy of re-investing in front-line services in priority districts to improve aid effectiveness. However, this policy shift has not led to the expected impact on health services. This paper reports the findings of a study on the implementation of the recent policy through interviews at randomly selected sites in high HIV-burden districts of South Africa that capture the experiences of public-sector health leaders. We find little evidence to support the explanation that the new aid policy displaced government staff and resources. Instead, our findings suggest that legacies of the previous policy remained as local aid managers did not shift funding and practice at sufficient scale to drive the planned service delivery expansion. Human resource support, the main PEPFAR contribution to service delivery at front-line facilities, was not adequate or distributed based on the size of the HIV programme, leaving notable gaps in outreach, defaulter tracing, and community service delivery. Instead, services that better fit the previous policy paradigm, like training and data-sharing, are common at site-level but provide diminishing returns. Together, our findings suggest opportunities for PEPFAR South Africa to revisit its model and increase service delivery intensity, in particular through community-based services. More broadly, this case illustrates the need for greater attention to the multiple actors with discretion in the policy system of health aid and the mechanisms through which political priority is translated into programming as policy shifts are made.

The Road to Pergau Dam: Aid Policy, Ideology, and the Thatcher Government

ABSTRACTThis analysis charts the changes in British aid policy under the Margaret Thatcher government (1979–1990). In particular, it examines the impact of so-called neo-liberal ideology in overseas development strategy in an era where “structural adjustment”—aid in return for market-based reforms—became World Bank and International Monetary Fund orthodoxy. There is some evidence to show British increases in multilateral aid during the 1980s supported a neo-liberal aid policy. Bilateral aid policy, however, demonstrated a subordination of aid to foreign policy and a pro-business—not ideologically pro-market or neo-liberal—alignment. One of the results of these structural changes was the Pergau Dam scandal at the end of the Thatcher years.

Infrastructure and Innovation: Emerging Priorities of EU and Chinese Aid in Africa

The international development cooperation system has long revolved around the notion of a North-South divide and reflected much of the systemic imbalances in global economic relations. It aimed mostly at increasing official development assistance rather than tackling other key development issues like priority infrastructure and innovation capacity. Over the past decade, Africa has experienced rapid growth and rising global prominence, which has profound implications for global development cooperation on the continent. The European Union and China, two major contributors to African development, have increasingly felt the need to put infrastructure development and innovation capacity at the core of their aid policies toward Africa. Recently, important factors, such as growing competition within the international development cooperation regime, search for new markets, increasing role of regional regimes, persistent poverty, the need to stabilize the world economy, and the responsibility to support international peace and stability are shaping Europe’s and China’s aid policies toward Africa. Priority infrastructure like highways, railways, energy, and technological innovation in pillar sectors such as agriculture and textile have been prioritized in Africa’s development cooperation with China and Europe. Although Brussels and Beijing have maintained a visible level of traditional development cooperation policies, this new form of cooperation is causing an embryonic policy shift from aid to investment within their development and cooperation policies.

Aging With HIV: Policy Considerations for a Graying Epidemic.

Nina K. Sublette, PhD, FNP-BC, is an Assistant Professor, College of Nursing, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee, USA, and Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, Policy and Advocacy Committee Co-Chairperson. Stephen Perez, PhD, RN, is an Infection Preventionist, The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, and Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, Policy and Advocacy Committee, Committee Co-Chairperson. Corresponding author: Nina K. Sublette, e-mail: [email protected] Sponsorships or competing interests that may be relevant to content are disclosed at the end of this article.

The Impact of Aid and Macroeconomic Policy on Growth in Nigeria: A Bounds Testing Approach

This paper explores the impact of aid and macroeconomic policy on growth with Nigeria as a case study. Given its limited use in the aid efficiency literature on Nigeria, the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model was applied in this study for time series data covering 44 years (1970-2014) in an attempt to expand the use of this approach and to check if a similar (negative) relationship is found between aid and growth. The results showed a positive correlation i.e. aid supports growth in Nigeria in the long-term. The other variables identified above and trends such as labour force and technological change were also found to be positive towards economic growth in the long-term, though governance showed an insignificant relationship. In the short-term, investment and policy were found to have a negative correlation on growth. More data on governance (before 1996) could be applied to expand the findings of this study and other measures of macroeconomic policy could be used to test if a similar result is obtained as principal component analysis was applied in this case. Given our findings, this paper recommends that the government of Nigeria should prioritize aid since it has been empirically found to support growth.

The relationship between awareness of HIV and AIDS workplace policy and consultation on HIV and AIDS policy development among staff of Moi University, Kenya.

The unprecedented effect of HIV and AIDS in Africa cannot be over-emphasized as it takes its toll mainly on the active age population of 15-49 years. This age group is the main workforce of any nation and, unfortunately, the most vulnerable to infection of HIV. There has been growing concern about the devastating impact of HIV and AIDS in many workplaces. In response, many universities have developed university specific HIV and AIDS policies for impact mitigation in the workplace. Moi University is a public institution with a large workforce hence targeted in the current study. Realizing the negative impact that HIV and AIDS has on workplaces and the importance of having an HIV and AIDS workplace policy, this study sought to determine the relationship between awareness of HIV and AIDS workplace policy and consultation on HIV and AIDS policy development among staff of Moi University. The study, whose main concern was about Moi University HIV and AIDS workplace policy, targeted teaching staff, non-teaching staff and senior management. To achieve this objective, the study used ex-post facto research design and stratified sampling technique in the selection of the study sample. A study sample made up of 330 participants was used for the study. The study utilized both qualitative and quantitative methods in data collection. These included Workplace Testing Questionnaire, document analysis and semi-structured interviews. Primary data was collected by use of self-administered questionnaires and interview schedules, while secondary data was collected from libraries. The study used the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS v 22.0) program to analyze the data collected. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically through coding. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used. The descriptive statistics included frequencies and means. Correlation analysis was used to test hypotheses (to test the relationship between the independent and dependent variables). The findings revealed that Moi University had an HIV and AIDS workplace policy. It also emerged that lack of consultation on HIV policy development, was an impediment to successful implementation of the policy. The study concluded that HIV and AIDS workplace policy is a vital document in HIV and AIDS impact mitigation and, therefore, requires serious consultation among all employees of Moi University for purposes of ownership by every employee. Following this, the study recommended that consultation of all of all employees about HIV and AIDS workplace policy development be undertaken and worker’s views and opinion be considered when developing an HIV and AIDS workplace policy. The study is, therefore, expected to be of great significance to universities in addressing some of the HIV and AIDS workplace policy related implementation challenges. KEYWORDS : awareness of HIV and AIDS workplace policy and consultation on HIV and AIDS policy development. DOI : 10.7176/JEP/10-2-16

Effectiveness, Problems and Expectations of British Educational Assistance

Britain is an exporter of education. It is committed to helping poor developing countries improve the backward education situation. It has achieved remarkable results in infrastructure construction, material supply and personnel training. At present, the development of education aid in Britain has entered a new five-year planning period, and the direction of aid has changed accordingly. It has increased the support for girls’ education, improved the effectiveness of education aid funds, and strengthened the management mode of aid cooperation. Starting with the development of educational aid in Britain, this study analyzed the effectiveness and problems of educational aid, and prospected the development trend of educational aid in Britain from the aspects of aid quality, international cooperation, policy adjustment and girls’ education.