Tough Policy Research Articles

Rates, Risks and 2: Factors Affecting the Rate of Inflation

In September, the Central Bank of Russia made a decision to cut the key rate by 0.5 p.p. to 10%. The intention of the Central Bank of Russia to stick to a moderately tough monetary policy is justified by the need to consolidate the trend towards sustained reduction of the rate of inflation.

The Cuban Monetary and Financial Jigsaw Puzzle

The Cuban economy currently operates with two local currencies –the Cuban peso and the convertible peso, both with convertibility problems and multiple and overvalued exchange rates– and has been subject to a banking crisis since 2009. It is a veritable monetary and financial jigsaw puzzle. In order to do away with the dual currency and overcome financial imbalances, monetary policy must devalue the two domestic currencies. Cuba’s banks are facing a systemic liquidity crisis with no lender of last resort to help them out of it. The country cannot access a last-resort loan from the IMF, the World Bank or the IDB since it is not a member of these institutions. The government has been applying a tough adjustment policy which has led to the reduction in the fiscal deficit and to a surplus in the balance of payments, which has served to pay off debt and gradually unfreeze bank accounts, although the matter is far from being fully settled.

SOME ASPECTS OF POLITICAL PROCESS RЕBIYA KADЕЕR AS ONE OF UYGHUR NATIONAL MOVEMENT LEADERS

In article some facts of the biography of the famous Uygur politician and participant of the dissident movement – to Rеbiya Кadeer who in the late nineties took active part in a human rights movement in the conditions of tough national policy of the central government of the People's Republic of China in Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region which is one of the most restless regions of the People's Republic of China are considered. It is caused by that SUAR being the area of traditional accommodation of Uyghurs is exposed to the strengthened khanization. In the 2000th R. Кadeer enters political struggle on protection of the national rights of the Uygur population in Xinjiang and becomes the leader of the international Uygur movement, drawing to this problem attention of public opinion. Rabiya Кadeer was condemned for the political activity by the Chinese court and some years spent in prison that made it even more known. Are presented in article and various estimates of a political figure of River are compared. Кadeer who the Chinese authorities is called the head of the Uygur terrorists and separatists, and most of Uyghurs and the government of a number of the states, consider the informal leader of the Uygur people striving for national independence. Today, as the president of the World Uygur congress R. Кadeer supports national self-determination of the Uygur ethnos, without calling thus for separatism and condemning manifestations of national extremism. Кadeer also, as well as many other leaders of the Uygur national movement supports peace methods of fight and condemns terrorism. When writing article, along with domestic researches on national policy of China, the English-speaking sources presented by materials of biographic character, news publications and interview to R. Кadeer were used.

Strategies to Increase the Number of Kenyan Diaspora in Southeast Asian Countries under the Accreditation of Kenya Mission in Bangkok

The enormous contribution of Kenyan Diaspora to Kenya’s economy is increasingly becoming a major area of attention to policy makers. The Diaspora contributes a significant percentage to the GDP from the financial remittances they send back home. They have also been instrumental in the promotion of trade, investment, tourism, education, employment and transfer of technology and expertise to Kenya. Over 75% of the Diaspora contribution comes from North America and Europe, leaving only 25% for the rest of the world. About 30% of Kenyan Diaspora lives in North America, 26% in Europe, 24% in Africa, 9% in Asia while 11% is unaccounted for in different parts of the world. Approximately 0.02% of Kenyans abroad lives in Southeast Asian (SEA) countries under the accreditation of the Kenya Mission in Bangkok, namely: Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. The contribution of Kenyan residents in the five SEA countries is minimal. In this research, factors which contributed to the low number of Kenyan Diaspora in the five SEA countries, and ways in which the number could be expanded were examined. Over 70% of respondents agreed that the British colonialism and colonial legacies in Kenya, long duration of weak economies of SEA, government policies and limited diplomacy, limited information on opportunities, tough immigration policies and visa conditions, and inadequate transport system are some of the factors for the low numbers of Kenyans in SEA countries. Relaxation of tough immigration policies and rigid visa conditions, improvement on transport system, establishment of more diplomatic Missions, signing of MoUs and agreements, and information dissemination on opportunities in the five SEA countries are some of the ways to increase the numbers of Kenyan Diaspora in these countries. The research findings will help Kenya Government to formulate effective Diaspora Policy.

WSPÓŁPRACA SOJUSZU PÓŁNOCNOATLANTYCKIEGO I UNII EUROPEJSKIEJ W OBLICZU OBECNYCH ORAZ PRZYSZŁYCH ZAGROŻEŃ

The purpose of the article was to present the possible areas of cooperation the North Atlantic Alliance and the European Union to the current or future threats. The Euro-Atlantic Partnership often embodied in the North Atlantic Alliance, serves Europeans as an alibi for their escape from a strategic responsibility and delegation to the United States sustainable management of regional security and global stability. CSDP is a tool for civil-military foreign policy of the European Union. Like NATO must remain a tool of the United States military solidarity and Europe. Russian-Ukrainian conflict and terrorist attacks in Europe and the world has become a big test for the security system on the Euro-Atlantic area and a great opportunity for the strengthening of relations between the European Union and NATO. The current situation shows that NATO and the European Union cannot underestimate the current threats. By contrast, they should consistently implement joint arrangements with a tough policy towards Russia and the expansion of the Islamic State. The concept of „Euro-Atlantic national interest” from the point of view of rhetoric is clearly an oxymoron. From a policy perspective, however, a matter of urgency sets and absolutely necessary for both the Allies and the European Union itself.

Correspondence: Secrecy, Civil-Military Relations, and India's Nuclear Weapons Program

Correspondence: Secrecy, Civil-Military Relations, and India's Nuclear Weapons Program

Saudi Arabia: Oil for Water

In 2014, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia faced a freshwater shortage. Despite the global financial crisis, Saudi Arabia experienced modest economic expansion and increasing stress on its water infrastructure due to expanding agricultural production. The major investments in desalinization plants that the country expected to see had not yet materialized, furthering the strain on resources. This case, used in Darden's Economics of elective, examines what policy reforms should be explored in bringing Saudi Arabia's water use and agricultural production into balance. Excerpt UVA-GEM-0129 Rev. May 29, 2015 Saudi Arabia: Oil for Water Saudi Arabia was facing a chronic water crisis. A desert country in the Middle East with virtually no permanent rivers or lakes and an average of 59 millimeters (mm) of rain annually, Saudi Arabia was in terms of natural renewable water resources one of the poorest countries in the world. To quell its thirst for water, the kingdom was banking on a vast and growing desalination infrastructure. It was, however, an open question whether building more desalination plants would suffice. According to many experts, Saudi Arabia had tough policy choices to make. International investors were following the situation closely, albeit with some skepticism, especially in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. In the words of Global Water Intelligence (GWI), a water expert group from the United Kingdom: “Saudi Arabia is in many ways a very mature market for water and wastewater services—in particular for desalination. In other ways, there is a huge amount of development still to be done…What remains to be seen is whether the opportunities for investors and operators will develop as much as hoped for.” The Saudi Society and Economy The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was the largest country in the Arabian Peninsula, roughly one-quarter the size of the United States. It bordered Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, the United Emirates, Yemen, and Oman (see Exhibit 1). Founded in 1932 after a long struggle to unite local tribes, Saudi Arabia had experienced dramatic changes, especially since the 1960s. It had become a well-off nation whose per capita income in 2013—the equivalent of $ 25,000—was comparable to that of the European Union average (see Exhibit 2). Reflecting its climb up the income ladder, life expectancy had steadily increased from barely more than 50 years in 1960 to around 75 in 2013; child mortality had also dropped significantly. Saudi Arabia was a country of young people; its median age was 25 years. Its population had increased about seven times since the 1960s and reached 30 million in 2013, which amounted to an average annual population growth rate of around 3.4%. Driving this rapid growth was, on one hand, the high fertility rate (seven children per woman in 2006, and still three per woman in 2011) and, on the other hand, immigration. Saudi Arabia had been a magnet for citizens from other countries: in 2013, no less than 32% of its population was non-Saudi. . . .

“Characteristically Generous”? Australian Responses to Refugees Prior to 1951

When Australia pledged to accept 15,000 Jewish refugees from Europe in 1938, it was applauded by the London Times as “a characteristically generous contribution” and an example for others. Australia's reputation for generous humanitarianism was solidified after the war when it absorbed more than 180,000 of Europe's Displaced Persons and committed to international human rights instruments designed to protect refugees and asylum seekers. This reputation has been used to both defend and critique the nation's contemporary responses to asylum seekers. Recent Australian Prime Ministers have invoked Australia's proud record of refugee resettlement to deflect criticism of their tough border control policies, policies which critics charge repudiate the nation's humanitarian traditions. This article critically reviews the history of Australia's responses to refugees and asylum seekers prior to 1951 and demonstrates that contemporary border control policies are neither a deviation from, nor defence of, a proud humanitarian record. Rather, they embody the migration management approach to refugees that provided impetus for Federation in 1901, governed Australia's response to the Jewish refugee crisis in the 1930s, and shaped its conditional acceptance of the Displaced Persons and the position it adopted in the drafting of the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees in 1951.

Anti-terrorism policies and the risk of provoking

Tough anti-terrorism policies are often defended by focusing on a fixed minority of dangerous people who prefer violent outcomes, and arguing that toughness reduces the risk of terrorism from this group. This reasoning implicitly assumes that tough policies do not increase the group of ‘potential terrorists’, i.e. of people with violent preferences. Preferences and their level of violence are treated as stable, exogenously fixed features. To avoid this unrealistic assumption, I formulate a model in which policies can ‘brutalise’ or ‘appease’ someone’s personality, i.e. his preferences. This follows the endogenous preferences approach, popular elsewhere in political science and economics. I formally decompose the effect of toughness into a (desirable) deterrence effect and an (undesirable) provocation effect. Whether toughness is overall efficient depends on which effect overweighs. I show that neglecting provocation typically leads to toughness exaggeration. This suggests that some tough anti-terrorism policies observable in the present and past can be explained by a neglect of provocation.

Time to build capacity for evidence synthesis in environmental management

The increasing need to intervene and manage our environment, from the local to global level, is evident from the impacts humans have on its condition. Nowhere on earth remains untouched by humanity. In turn, the state of the environment has both direct and indirect impacts on human health, wellbeing and developmental capacity. Environmental management is therefore inherently interdisciplinary and involves many interactions between the environment, human health, wellbeing and behaviour. Poverty alleviation is unlikely to be successful if we do not tackle climate change and food security, and similarly, disease eradication will not succeed without water security and pollution control. Environmental management is not an isolated task that can be put to one side in hard times but needs to be an integral part of all of our major global efforts to improve human welfare and quality of life. Tough policy decisions need to be made in environmental management just as in other sectors but the synthesised evidence base required to inform these decisions is largely absent. Although large amounts of data have been collected on the state of the environment, human impacts on the environment and effectiveness of efforts to manage it, this rapidly increasing body of data has not been organised into a coherent evidence base to inform decision making. The potential of this evidence to help us make tough decisions is therefore not being realised. In contrast, the evidence base for many health interventions is well established. For example, in the health sector the Cochrane Collaboration Library (www.cochrane.org) contains in the order of 6000 systematic reviews (SRs) of evidence of effectiveness of health interventions, the equivalent Collaboration for Environmental Evidence (CEE) Library (www.environmentalevidence.org/Reviews. html) for environmental management contains just 60; a two-orders of magnitude evidence deficit. This imbalance between sectors is brought into sharp focus when interdisciplinary evidence is required, such as for international

The Future of the Corporate Tax

This paper discusses three essential challenges of the present economic environment: serious long-term budget imbalances, dramatic increases in income inequality over recent decades, and a discrepancy between national or sub-national government jurisdictions and an increasing global economy. This trio of tough policy challenges necessitates a reevaluation of capital taxation in general, and the corporate tax in particular. Corporate taxation has an important role to play in both protecting the revenue-raising capacity of the income tax system and addressing income disparities. However, the global nature of economic activity requires modernization of corporate taxation; reform of U.S. corporate taxation is long overdue.

Engagements volontaires et croissance verte dans l'ère d'après Copenhague

Résumé L’espoir d’un accord climatique a été violemment balayé à Copenhague ainsi qu’à chaque Conférence des parties (COP) qui a suivi. Une des conséquences est que la croissance verte est promue quasiment comme si elle était une voie alternative. Évidemment, la croissance verte est le but au final, mais on n’y parviendra pas d’un coup de baguette magique. L’économie mondiale va avoir besoin de politiques économiques sévères pour devenir verte – et il est naïf de penser autrement. En effet, même une croissance verte va stimuler la demande d’énergie et le charbon est typiquement la ressource la meilleure marché. L’ampleur du défi est encore plus grande si l’on considère également les problèmes entraînés par l’utilisation du nucléaire, et, dans certains cas, des biocarburants (puisqu’ils vont entraîner une compétition pour l’utilisation de terres qui peuvent être essentielles pour les pauvres). Cet article examine quelques-uns des ingrédients nécessaires à une stratégie mondiale à long terme pour protéger le climat. Nous aurons toujours besoin d’un accord climatique mondial, mais, alors que nous sommes dans l’attente d’un accord mondial final (et peut-être difficile à atteindre), nous devons entre-temps mener des politiques économiques cohérentes qui faciliteront le développement de cet accord mondial.

Professor of English, Linguistics, and Religion

This article reexamines cultural curriculum and marginalized youth at-risk for gang involvement. While the literature expresses various approaches to addressing the gang problem in the United States, including comprehensive gang initiative models, get tough policies, and comprehensive peace campaigns to stop the violence. All of these initiatives have seemingly done little to stop gang membership among school age youth. Education has proven to be the most significant means to improve an individual’s life chances, but African American students, in particular, are performing worse than Whites on an average. If society is to reach these youth through education, we argue that a new classroom pedagogy is needed. To this aim, creating a culturally responsive classroom through hip hop may be the answer to engage troubled youth in the classroom.

Terrorism and national security reform: how commissions can drive change during crises

Terrorism and National Security Reform demonstrates that blue-ribbon commissions can be powerful vehicles for policy change, overturning the conventional wisdom that views them only as devices for passing the buck. Jordan Tama explains how the unique political credibility of commissions can enable them to forge bipartisan consensus on tough policy challenges. He also shows that commissions are most valuable during a crisis, when policymakers face pressure to make changes but frequently cannot agree on what to do. Using an original database, case studies, and more than 200 interviews of policymakers and commission participants, Tama reveals how commissions have shaped Barack Obama's plan for ending the Iraq War, spurred the largest government and intelligence overhauls since 1947, and driven many other elements of U.S. counterterrorism policy. In an era of unrelenting partisanship and extreme polarization, this book shows that commissions are increasingly valuable policymaking tools.

Green growth in the post-Copenhagen climate

Global climate change stands out from most environmental problems because it will span generations and force us to think in new ways about intergenerational fairness. It involves the delicate problem of complex coordination between countries on a truly global scale. As long as fossil fuels are too cheap, climate change policy will engage all major economies. The costs are high enough to make efficiency a priority, which means striving toward a single market for carbon—plus tackling the thorny issues of fairness. Hopes for a grand deal were mercilessly shattered at Copenhagen in December 2009 and in other recent UNFCCC meetings, with the result that “green growth” is promoted as an alternative path. Indeed, green growth is clearly the goal, but it is no magic bullet. The world economy will require clear and rather tough policy instruments for growth to be green—and it is naïve to think otherwise. Growth, green or not, will boost demand for energy and coal is normally the cheapest source. The magnitude of the challenge is greater if we also consider the problems related to nuclear (fission) energy and, in some instances, to bioenergy (such as its competition for land that may be essential for the poor). This paper discusses some necessary ingredients for a long-term global climate strategy. As we wait for the final (and maybe elusive) worldwide treaty, we must find a policy that makes sense and is not only compatible with, but facilitates the development of such a treaty.

National Identity and Immigration Policy: Concern for Legality or Ethnocentric Exclusion?

Does support for tough policies against undocumented immigration reflect anti‐immigrant sentiments or a neutral concern about upholding laws? This study addresses the question by examining the relationship between different expressions of national identification and ethnocentric enforcement bias—that is, support for punishment of law‐breaking immigrants but not law‐breaking American employers who knowingly hire undocumented immigrants. Results revealed an association of this enforcement bias with nationalism (an ethnocentric engagement with national identity) but not with patriotism (a more critical engagement with national identity). A moderation analysis indicated that the relationship between nationalism and ethnocentric enforcement bias was most evident among participants who endorsed a “culture”‐based construction of American identity in terms of American citizenship and ability to speak English. Discussion focuses on policy developments that reflect a symbolic threat to culture‐based constructions of American identity and on the implications for fair and just enforcement of immigration policy.

The End of the 'Liberal Theory of History'? Dissecting the U.S. Congress’ Discourse on China’s Currency Policy

In the last ten years, economic issues related to currency policy have become the major ongoing dispute between China and the U.S. Especially the U.S. Congress is stridently demanding a tougher policy to avert the negative consequences for the U.S. economy of “unfair” Chinese policies in the form of a “manipulated currency.” Building on an analytical framework of discourse theory (DT)- and furthermore proposing a method for applying DT in empirical research- an investigation of the congressional debates on the Chinese currency shows that the question is not a purely economic one, but that it reflects a dislocation of U.S. identity as the vanguard of liberal-democratic capitalism. This implicates changes in regard to how “liberal” identity in the U.S. is constructed in relation to the role attributed to “illiberal” China, which in turn affects the formulation of China policy by the U.S. Congress.

Citizenship, Crime, Criminalization: Marshalling a Social Democratic Perspective

This paper argues that criminalization, in the double sense of more perceived (and probably actual) crime and of the tough crime control policies brought by the politics of law and order, are consequences of the reversal some thirty years ago of the centuries-long progress toward universal incorporation into social, political, and civil citizenship. By contrast, the hundred years before that had witnessed the spread of social rights and greater inclusiveness, and experienced a benign coupling of lower crime and disorder with more consensual and welfare-oriented policing and penality. The necessary condition of restoring that more benign climate of greater security is a reversal of the neoliberalism that undermined social democracy. Since the 2007 credit crash, neoliberalism has been challenged increasingly, as practice and as ideology, yet it remains deeply embedded. The ideas and organization to restore social democracy have not been developed. Nonetheless it remains the precondition for security and humane criminal justice, as envisaged by T.H. Marshall's citizenship lectures fifty years ago.

Black on the Block

Black on the Block: The Politics of Race and Class in the City. Mary, Pattillo. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2007. Sometime last year, as I recall, the Chicago Tribune featured an article about the various pieces of significant social research that had their origins on the South Side of Chicago. It was a very thoughtful and informative article, reviewing the seminal contributions of, among others, St. Clair Drake and Horace Cayton (1970), James Grossman (1991), and William Julius Wilson (1987). At the time I thought it astonishing to realize that this part of Chicago has given birth to so much important sociological/urban research: it is testimony to the skills and abilities of the various researchers, but as well to how heavily U.S. social science research has been focused on this part of Chicago. The Chicago School of Sociology, however different it is today from its origins in the writings and work of its founders for example, Robert Park, Louis Wirth, and Ernest Burgess remains very much alive and well. Mary Pattillo's latest book on Chicago, Black on the Block, represents yet another important contribution that builds on these foundations. Examining the processes of gentrification and revitalization in the North Kenwood-Oakland (NKO) area, she provides an insightful analysis of how the people and the neighborhood changed and often in unexpected and unanticipated ways. Whatever the good sentiments and tough policies behind gentrification, it is a process that takes on a life of its own, leading to many material improvements in an area, but often at the expense of harming the lives of those people it is designed to help. Pattillo's book is not simply an imaginative sociological analysis of gentrification in a black neighborhood, it also tells how this part of Chicago has changed from its origins in the late nineteenth century as an exclusively white wealthy area to the present day, and it does so in a concise and intelligent manner. Hence, anyone who wishes a sense of the history of the NKO neighborhood, and also of the role of key institutional actors, such as the University of Chicago, can benefit from reading this book. There are a number of lessons that the book intends to teach its readers.

The Way to the Diversification of Macau’s Social Economy: a Study on Macau’s Cultural Tourism Development

Macau is known for its developed Casino industry. In 2007, the revenue from the Gaming industry for the first time surpassed Las Vegas and Macau became the top Gaming City in the world. Although Macau benefited a lot from the gaming industry, its monopoly status in the social economics became one of the unstable factors to the sustainable development of Macau. Diversification is obviously important when Macau encountered financial crisis and a tough policy on the Mainland residences' visit to Macau. At the same time, Macau won the award of World Culture Heritage for its historical and cultural district in 2005, the World Culture Heritage Sites added new factors to the local attractions. Based on the past studies, the culture tourism is a very important sector in the tourism market; it stands for one of the future trends in the tourism development. To the regional development, the culture tourism can lead to economic promotion, culture upgrade and image-rebuilding. It can also promote the development of economic diversification, creating diversified development mode, and optimizing the visitor structure. Obviously, developed culture tourism can be one of the triggers to a better image, more versatile attractions and a sustainable Macau. The development status of the culture tourism in Macau should be defined both from the angle of tourists' experience and the angle of the economics. The purpose of this research is to test the effects of the World Culture Heritage sites on diversification of Macau's local economy, analyzing the feasibility of taking culture tourism as a chance to promote the diversification of Macau's tourism economy. The methods that were used during the research include the survey, observation and literature analysis. A total 300 questionnaires were distributed, where 215 questionnaires were successfully completed during the survey. At the same time, observation on the behavior of the tourist was carried out. On the basis of the information acquired from the survey and observation, the development status of the Macau culture tourism was described and further suggestion on the diversification of the Macau's industry were provided.