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Islamism in the diaspora: Palestinian refugees in Lebanon
Get PDFIn recent years there has been increasing academic interest in Islamism in the Middle East, not least in Palestinian Islamism championed by groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which are waging a bloody war of attrition against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. There has been less concern with Islamism among the Palestinian refugees dispersed in Middle Eastern countries such as Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.
The paper outlines the sources of Islamism (“political Islam”) among Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. The rise of Islamism is a complex mix of contingent factors that is fuelled by social and political deprivation and shaped by divergent views on Palestinian nationalism (secular vs. Islamist), the Islamist revival in Lebanon and “strategic localisation” that turns refugee camps into battlefields between Palestinian factions. The Islamist groups cater for narrowly defined segments of the refugee population and have been unable to attract wider support. Instead, they cater for minor, camp-based constituencies which compete with secular groups for internal control of the camps and, by implication, of the Palestinian nationalist cause itsel
Winners and losers from an international investment agreement
Get PDFRecent attempts at reaching an international investment agreement have been met with considerable opposition and failed. An important reason for this failure is the diverging interests between the parties involved. The present paper focuses on the interests of host countries, with difference in market size as the source of conflict. We analyse the welfare effects of an international investment agreement as a function of the intensity of technological spillovers, the technology gap between the investor and host country firms, intra-regional trade costs, and the difference in market size
Sustaining local level development: What worked and what did not. Lessons from the phasing-out of Norwegian aid to the Hambantota Integrated Rural Development Programme (HIRDEP), Sri Lanka 1992 to 1999
Get PDFAid has been successful when it is no longer needed, but we all too often see how aid breeds dependency, and how both donors and recipients have difficulties preparing for termination of the relationship. This is a study of a case of planned phasing-out. Commissioned by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) and the Ministry of Southern Area Development, Government of Sri Lanka, it summarises the main experiences and lessons from twenty years of cooperation in the Hambantota District with a focus on the last phase from 1992 to 1999.
The study looks at two broad themes. Firstly, how were the achievements of HIRDEP in building a more responsive public sector sustained within a changing government structure? And secondly, how did HIRDEP contribute to the new policies of the 1990s of strengthening economic growth, and, in particular, promote institutions able to create economic opportunities for the poor?
The phasing-out did not go as initially planned. The scalingdown of HIRDEP’s expenditure was not gradual. It first peaked and then nose-dived, which indicate that the HIRDEP-organisation tried to sustain a high level of activity as long as possible. Moreover, NORAD changed the policy course mid-way as new political concerns were brought into the picture – especially private sector development.
With the faltering local government reform, it turned out that the new divisions were not capable of replicating and sustaining the development approaches pioneered by HIRDEP. In general, capacity building in public institutions could only be sustained where other financial resources filled some of the vacuum after the withdrawal of HIRDEP.
Probably the most lasting impact of HIRDEP will be its efforts in institution building at the grassroots, related to microcredit and the management of local infrastructure – irrigation, drinking water supply, community centres etc. HIRDEP’s attempt to establish new small-scale industries, by-and-large, failed, while its role as a midwife to the birth of Hambantota District Chamber of Commerce is a remarkable success.
Twenty years of HIRDEP has demonstrated the virtues of having a development catalyst at sub-national level, and the authors make a strong plea for making use of this experience when, at this juncture, government and donors are preparing for reconstruction and development in the war-torn parts of the island
Review of the Nepal Human Rights Yearbook 1993-2002
Get PDFNORAD has been supporting the Nepal Human Rights Yearbook for a decade, from the pilot issue in 1992 and up to present date. The Yearbook has over the entire period been published by the Informal Sector Service Center (INSEC). Consequently, NORAD found the time ripe to undertake a review of the project and commissioned a team from the CHR. Michelsen Institute to do the review. The team comprised of Hugo Stokke and Tone Kristin Sissener from CMI and Mukta Lama as the local consultant. The team made a number of recommendations on the (a) collection and processing of information; (b) review of the contents of the yearbooks; and (c) contribution to human rights monitoring and its impact.
Among recommendations might be mentioned a more balanced ethnic representation among the district representatives, more training, better focus on what are specifically human rights violations, analysis of patterns and trends, and the presentation of information in such a way that it can be directly followed up by bodies and agencies charged with human rights protection
Taxation and tax reforms in developing countries: Illustrations from sub-Saharan Africa
Get PDFMany low income countries face a trilemma with respect to taxation: (1) There is an urgent and obvious need for more revenues to enable resource poor states to provide and maintain even the most basic public services. (2) The reality is, however, that those with political power and economic ability are few and do not want to pay tax. (3) Moreover, those without political power are many, have almost nothing to tax, and do also resist paying taxes. It follows that the challenge for taxation is to raise domestic revenues from consenting citizens in poor and increasingly open economies. Elected governments in poor countries are therefore facing hard choices about taxation. These decisions will most likely have profound impacts on the future of democratisation itself and on public service provision. They will also have considerable implications for the politics and sustainability of aid.
This situation forms the general motivation for the ongoing research programme ‘Taxation, aid and democracy’. The research aims to contribute to a better understanding of the evolution of tax systems in selected sub-Saharan African countries. Furthermore, it aims to explore the constraints and options available for policy making and implementation on revenue mobilisation in light of current political, economic and administrative reforms. In depth studies on the tax systems in Namibia, Tanzania and Uganda have been carried out. Moreover, on specific issues such as tax administration and local government finances, the research has also covered other sub-Saharan countries, including South Africa and Zambia. This report presents the major areas of research dealt with in the programme and key findings
Autonomy, Incentives and Patronage. A Study of Corruption in the Tanzania and Uganda Revenue Authorities
Get PDFThe report explores factors that explain the observed patterns of corruption within the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) and the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA). In particular, the study discusses the key assumptions behind the revenue authority model and the relevance of these in an African context characterised by scarcity of qualified tax officers, accountants and auditors, as well as clientilistic networks between political, bureaucratic and economic agents. Based on this analysis and in light of existing political, economic and administrative constraints, the study identifies options available for sustainable tax administrative reforms in the two countries. Issues of particular relevance for foreign assistance towards fighting fiscal corruption and strengthening tax administration are highlighted
Telecommunications - a means to economic growth in developing countries?
Get PDFThe world economy has experienced an enormous growth the past 50 years. Yet the gap between the richest and the poorest countries has increased. There have been several attempts to explain the increased differences. Proponents of the endogenous growth theory claim that a technological revolution has created a new growth paradigm. Following the information technology revolution seen in the industrialised world in the 90s, information and communication technology has often been launched as a possible remedy for the slow or decelerating growth developing countries have faced.
This paper seeks to explore the relationship between telecommunications development and economic growth by performing an econometrical analysis of 61 developing countries and 23 developed countries between 1990 and 1999. By estimating a simultaneous equation model where telecommunication infrastructure investments are endogenised into the aggregated economy and country specific fixed effects are included, simultaneous causality and spurious correlation are recognised.
The results of the analysis indicate that there is a significant correlation between telecommunication and GDP growth. Overall, there seems to be larger growth effects from telecommunication development in developing countries than in developed countries, a result that contradicts earlier findings and the notion of network externalities. The report suggests that the indirect effects, i.e. the gain in productivity that other sectors experience as a result of development in the telecommunication sector, are more significant in developing countries, and this might explain the large growth effects found in these countries
A selected survey of traditional and evolutionary game theory
Get PDFThis note reviews the game theoretic literature with the aim of highlighting the similarities and dissimilarities between what we term traditional game theory and evolutionary game theory. The focus is on the contributions of evolutionary game theory to the body of knowledge at the disposal of the game theorist. The note is intended for people with interests in economics and who are familiar with traditional game theory but not necessarily familiar with evolutionary game theory. The main objective is to reach out to the numerous economists and indeed, other social scientists, who are not as yet initiated in the basic theory of of evolutionary games. A major conclusion of this note is that, applications of evolutionary game theory in the analysis of economic problems, especially, in the areas of natural, environmental and development economics are long overdue
Ethnic Federalism in a Dominant Party State: The Ethiopian Experience 1991-2000
Get PDFSince 1991, when the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front came to power, two parallel political processes have taken place in Ethiopia. Firstly, the country is restructuring into a federal system, where the regional governments are obtaining the right to self-government and representation at federal level. Secondly, the party in power is strengthening its control of the regions by creating satellite parties and including them within its centralised party structures. These processes have two fundamentally different aims. The federal system, formalised in the constitution, aims at enhancing regional autonomy from the central government, while the building of a centralised party system has the objective of concentrating the power in the hands of the party leadership at the top.
This study is an analysis of the implementation of a federal system within a dominant party state. It includes examinations of both the legal and functional aspects of the federalisation process in Ethiopia. Theories on federalism and federations are used as guidelines in the exploration of literature, documents and own interview material on the implementation of the federal system.
The analysis of the Ethiopian constitution and various proclamations has shown that the Ethiopian de jure model meets the requirements to be classified as federal. But the process of drafting and ratifying the constitution was totally dominated by the ruling party, and hence, the federal project lost legitimacy. The exploration of the functioning of the federal system disclosed that the federal division of power as defined in the constitution is severely undermined by the centralised party structures
Fighting fiscal corruption: The case of the Tanzania Revenue Authority
Get PDFOver the last decade several African countries have undertaken comprehensive reforms of their tax administrations, with the aims of increasing revenue and curbing corruption. This paper examines recent experiences in the fight against corruption in the Tanzania Revenue Authority. Two lessons of broader relevance are highlighted. Firstly, even with relatively high wages and good working conditions, corruption may continue to thrive. In a situation where there is high demand for corrupt services, it is unrealistic to provide tax officers with pay rates that can compensate for the amount gained through bribery. Without extensive and effective monitoring wage increases may produce a highly paid but also highly corrupt tax administration. Secondly, hiring and firing procedures may lead to more corruption. Corrupt tax officers often operate in networks, which also include external actors. The manner in which the administrative reform was implemented in Tanzania, where many of those fired were recruited to the private sector as ‘tax experts’, seems to have strengthened the corruption networks. This partly explains why the positive process experienced in the initial phase of the new revenue authority was later reversed