International Policy Circles Research Articles

On the economic foundations of green growth discourses: the case of climate change mitigation and macroeconomic dynamics in economic modeling

‘Greening’ economic growth discourses are increasingly replacing the catchword of ‘sustainable development’ within national and international policy circles. The core of the argument is that the growth of modern economies may be sustained or even augmented, while policy intervention simultaneously ensures sustained environmental stewardship and improved social outcomes. But how well are these claims scientifically grounded or supported by economic theory, evidence, and applied modeling? We address this question with reference to the economic modeling of climate mitigation policies. We argue that orthodox economic equilibrium and optimization thinking offers, in effect, little support to and insufficiently meaningful interpretations of green growth claims. There are several exciting strands of new economic thinking that are emerging, offering a more robust and empirically validated understanding of the potential for green growth paths. Nonoptimizing simulation models are arguably in a better position to capture socioeconomic system dynamics and the role of macroeconomic policies for sustainability governance. An important caveat, nevertheless, is that when judged against the evidence, greening growth remains to some extent an oxymoron as to date there has been little evidence of substantial decoupling ofGDPfrom carbon‐intensive energy use on a wide scale. Moreover, although the rhetoric on ‘greening the economy’ actively supports the need for policy intervention, the macroeconomic reasoning behind this, remains ambiguous. We finally suggest that, although focusing on the dichotomy between growth and the environment is clearly important, the quality of growth and beyond growth dimensions are at least as important for delivering improved macroeconomic governance for sustainability.This article is categorized under:Energy and Climate > Climate and EnvironmentEnergy and Development > Economics and Policy

Mitigation Efforts Calculator (MEC)

The Mitigation Efforts Calculator (MEC) has been developed by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) as an online tool to compare greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation proposals by various countries for the year 2020. In this paper, first we introduce the MEC conceptual model, i.e. the methodology and system architecture. We then discuss the abstract formulation of four different international greenhouse gas trading regimes that are conceivable. Hereafter, the optimization process and its output results, namely cost curves are presented. Finally, we illustrate the MEC as a tool for interactively evaluating complex cost curve information in the context of GHG mitigation targets as currently discussed in international climate policy circles.

Preventive Diplomacy by Intergovernmental Organizations: Learning from Practice

Abstract Conflict prevention is enjoying a renaissance in international policy circles. However, the official machinery of the international community presently offers few institutions with a specific mandate to address the causes of political violence at an early stage. One such multilateral mechanism dedicated solely to the prevention of conflict is the High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Over two decades, the office has developed a significant track record of effectiveness against which to examine the preventive efforts of other intergovernmental organizations. In this article, we examine the prevention efforts of the HCNM in Georgia, Macedonia, and Ukraine and compare these with the preventive diplomacy of three other intergovernmental organizations (IGOs): the Organization of American States (OAS) in Guyana, the Commonwealth in Fiji, and the UN in Afghanistan, Burundi, and Macedonia. Our findings offer some useful and surprising insights into effective prevention practice, with implications for how IGOs might improve preventive diplomacy in the future.

Do Health and Forensic DNA Databases Increase Racial Disparities?

The issue of the digital divide is a growing concern in health and forensic DNA databases, reflecting structural disparities in biomedical research and policing. Over the last decade, the majority of DNA samples in population studies are from individuals of European origin. Individuals from Asian, African, Latino, and aboriginal groups are underrepresented. Forensic DNA databases are growing to mirror racial disparities in arrest practices and incarceration rates. Individuals from African American and Latin1o groups are overrepresented in forensic from health DNA databases. Currently, there is little recognition in national and international public policy circles about the “digital divide” in health and law enforcement databases. To avoid reproducing structural patterns of racial inequality, regulators, policy makers, scientists, and law enforcement officials need to address these disparities by supporting policies and mechanisms designed to better protect individuals and groups through institutional practices, law, and securely encrypted digital codes.

Dominant Discourses, Debates and Silences on Child Labour in Africa and Asia

Drawing on the relevant literature, this article explores key debates and controversies on child labour in the context of Africa and Asia. It first identifies and analyses three dominant discourses on child labour: 1) the work-free childhoods perspective; 2) the socio-cultural perspective; and 3) the political economy perspective. Against the backdrop of these discourses, the article goes on to critically examine aspects of child labour that are underrepresented in the literature and in international policy circles. It concludes by highlighting the importance of grounding children's gendered work within the complex material social practices of interconnected histories and geographies in which their livelihoods unfold.

The interface between health systems and vertical programmes in Francophone Africa: the managers’ perceptions

To explores the interface between vertical programmes (VPs) and general health services (GHS) in sub-Saharan Africa. Using semi-structured interviews, we analysed the perceptions of a selection of experienced mid-level managers of health systems and of VP originating in francophone Africa on the nature and quality of this interface. The respondents acknowledged that VPs lead to both positive and negative effects on the functioning of GHS. The overall result, however, cannot be viewed as a simple summation of the positive effects possibly compensating for the negative ones. Indeed, some of the negative effects have a profound impact on the management and operation of the health care delivery system and may undermine the long-term institutional capacity of the general health systems. The quality and the nature of the interface between VP and GHS strongly vary in time, between settings and programmes. We argue for more systematic monitoring of the interface between VP and GHS, so as to identify and address, in a timely manner, significant disruptive effects and deficiencies in a perspective of systemic capacity building of health systems.

Measuring Renminbi Misalignment: Where do We Stand?

The value of China’s currency, the renminbi (RMB), and the conduct of China’s exchange rate policy have generated intense debate in academic and international policy circles. Despite the accumulation of empirical evidence regarding the degree of RMB misalignment over the past few years, the debate continues unabated. In this study, we highlight the challenges to properly assessing the nature and degree of currency misalignment, in terms of the choice of the model, the method of calculation, and data uncertainty. In particular, we demonstrate the susceptibility of misalignment estimates to model selection and data revisions. Further, we explicitly discuss the implications of sampling uncertainty for determining the extent of RMB misalignment.

Health inequity and women’s self-help groups in India: The role of caste and class

With the United Nations Millenium Declaration of 2000, the establishment of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) has been identified as a significant strategy in addressing the alarming levels of poverty and marginalisation that have accompanied global development. SHGs are small, voluntary associations of people from the same socio-economic background that have been established for the purpose of solving shared social and economic problems through self-help and mutual help. Such grass-roots commonality, it has been assumed, will promote community empowerment and prevent economic marginalisation. Such an assumption is largely based on the global, neo-liberal agenda of seeing the withdrawal of the State from social provisioning. SHGs have been widely adopted in India, especially to eliminate the social exclusion of poor women and improve their access to health. This article reviews the scope and limitations of SHGs in improving women’s health, focusing on their implementation in the State of Bihar in India. It critically assesses the extent to which SHGs can be involved in attaining better health for women and children by exploring the crucial role of caste and class in access to health services. The article concludes that solutions such as SHGs, which emanate from international policy circles, fail to capture local structural contexts such as caste and class and, as a result, develop instrumentalised approaches that are unlikely to produce equitable health services provision to poor and marginalised people.

Economic restructuring in New Zealand: A classical account

Abstract New Zealand's recent experiment with radical neoliberalism is well rehearsed in international policy circles. Yet, given the economic restructuring premise for the reforms, there has been little assessment of their structural impact. In this paper I take up this challenge, utilising [Shaikh, A., Tonak, E. Measuring the wealth of nations: the political economy of national accounts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 1994] methodology for deriving classical value categories from official national accounts data but extending this to the industry level. This approach allows changes to the production and appropriation of surplus value in different industries during the period to be identified, underpinning a Marxian interpretation of restructuring. Beyond the methodology, the research makes four contributions. First, conventional analysis is found limited by its concentration on changes to the distribution of value rather than its creation. Second, land rents are significant. Third, the role of financial capital is found more complex than traditionally argued. Finally, the approach provides a firm grounding for the unfashionable concept of class fraction.

Liberia: Sustaining the Transition to Peace and Recovery

Liberia has generated great interest in international policy circles in recent years. The United States has provided a leadership role in focusing attention on this war battered country. While Liberians and observers acknowledge this attention, questions about concrete commitment to aid remain. The signing of a peace agreement in August 2003, the installation of a transitional government, and a donors' conference held in February 2004 all seemed to point to a window of opportunity for Liberia. Organized by the United Nations (UN), the United States and the World Bank, the donor's conference was intended to pledge funds and create an action plan for Liberia's reconstruction. A UN-World Bank needs assessment estimated that Liberia would need $488 million for reconstruction over two years. Pledges from the donor's conference topped that amount, totaling $520 million, including $200 million from the United States. Clearly the onus is on Liberians to seize this opportunity for a new beginning, even though the donor community will be a partner in this process. A successful recovery effort is bound to draw on lessons from previous experiences within Liberia and throughout the continent.

The changing state–market condominium in East Asia: rethinking the political underpinnings of development

This article addresses the long-running debate concerning the changing nature of state– society relations in the development process in East Asia and elsewhere in the developing world. It affords a critical re-examination of the developmental state model that has become central to the study of the politics of economic growth and achieved the status of a dominant paradigm in international policy circles. 1 The relationship between state institutions and private market agents, as portrayed in the model, is viewed as one of two analytically distinctive entities—a state– market dichotomy that obscures as much as it illuminates the political underpinnings of development. Recent revisionist efforts have critically reviewed the developmental state claims about state– society relations and provided a more nuanced view of the complex and interdependent interaction between states and markets that has shaped industrialisation policies in East Asia. 2 This article argues that while the revisionist efforts have correctly emphasised the importance of state –market interactions in the development process there is still a further and crucial conceptual step to take in order to move beyond the developmental state thesis and to overcome the conceptual constraints of the state– market distinction. The concept of the state– market condominium is proposed as an alternative approach to the political economy of development and argues that the experience of East Asia can be more fruitfully theorised if states and markets are viewed as an integrated ensemble of governance. This state –market condominium approach has been articulated within the national setting of industrial policy management and financial market governance in major East Asian newly industrialising economies over the past two decades. The value added of the approach can be demonstrated by thinking in terms of opportunity cost, that is of not employing the approach: the distorted view of the political economy which results from employing the existing concepts in the developmental state literature. The central claim is that the state– market condominium is greater than its state –market/public –private parts and that the outcomes in terms of governance are significantly different from the preferences of

Iraq: A Fork in the Road for a Special Relationship?

In his September 2003 address to the United Nations general assembly, Secretary General Kofi Annan warned the UN charter's legal and institutional framework on the use of military force among states had come to a fork the road.1 He asked a high-level panel on threats, challenges and to consider practical options for reform. Quite clearly, the secretary general's initiative was a response to the combination of the United States's rhetoric of preventive war, its assertion the UN was risking irrelevance security matters, and the invasion of March 2003. It thus seems obvious where the United States stands the debate Annan launched on it is possible to continue on the basis agreed upon, or whether radical changes are needed. It may seem equally clear Canada's answer is the world must maintain the existing multilateral framework. In other words, it may seem Canada and the United States are now headed down diverging legal and policy roads, with potentially serious implications for their special relationship. Indeed, it is tempting to see the fact Canada chose not to support the US-led intervention and the American displeasure with decision as indicative of what is to come.In this essay, we examine these assumptions and look more closely at where the two countries are headed on matters of the use of force and international We suggest it is important to separate the policy decisions and legal arguments made specifically relation to the intervention from broader policy themes. There are significant differences between American and Canadian policies on the use of force framework, but they cannot be reduced to simple unilateral vs. multilateral, or radical change vs. status quo, formulas. More importantly, differences notwithstanding, there are also opportunities for engaging the United States the renewal of the global security regime.THE IRAQ INTERVENTIONIn September 2002, the US government published a new national security strategy (NSS) appeared to challenge the existing UN framework on the use of force. A central tenet of the strategy was the confluence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), global terrorist networks, and rogue states requires the US be able to use force preventively to eliminate emerging threats.2 The expanded concept of self-defence inherent the doctrine of preemption raised alarms international policy circles, heightened by the fact it coincided with a renewed US focus on Iraq. In an address to the UN general assembly on the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States, President George W. Bush moved the threat to international security posed by to the top of the international policy agenda. That speech is now widely remembered for the president's challenge to the relevance of the United Nations and its security council.' The events ensued are well known. After protracted debates, the security council adopted resolution 1441, which found Iraq has been and remains material breach of its obligations under relevant resolutions and gave a final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations. Upon renewed inspections to assess Iraq's performance, the council would reconvene in order to consider the situation and the need for full compliance...in order to secure international peace and security. The resolution recalled that the council has repeatedly warned it will face serious consequences as a result of its continued violations of its obligations. Resolution 1441 was a compromise between the position of France and Germany and of the US and UK. While the former countries contended the resolution established a two-step process for any potential invasion of Iraq, the latter claimed its language left open the possibility of action by member states without a further resolution. US and UK officials nonetheless returned to the security council at the beginning of February 2003 to argue the resumed weapons inspections were not succeeding and remained a serious threat to international peace and …