Afghanistan, the limits of counter-insurgency
By Juan Garrigues, Robert Matthews (01/08/2008)
As the conflict in Afghanistan worsens and extends, a series of debates is unfolding in NATO and the need for discussion about the political options available to the international community and the political forces within Afghanistan is becoming increasingly urgent.
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The Kosovo debate: beyond the headlines
By Juan Garrigues (19/02/2008)
Many people are understandably surprised at the extent to which Kosovo’s independence has heightened geopolitical rhetoric to Cold War levels and engrossed the international media’s attention. While a look at the articles and the op-eds in some of the world’s leading newspapers shows just how complex an issue this is, the many arguments that have been voiced for and against accepting Kosovo’s independence can be categorised into two broad groups. In this Comment article the author explores the perspectives of both camps.
Daniel Mihailescu
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Guatemala: security, human rights and the state after the elections
By Publicaciones FRIDE (19/11/2007)
Over 25 experts and diplomats from Latin America and Europe came together on November 15, as part of the “FRIDE in Casa de Galicia” series of seminars, to discuss the prospects for improved public security and effective government in Guatemala. The event came shortly after presidential elections in the country ended in victory for Álvaro Colom.
Publishing groups: FRIDE in Casa de Galicia
Reform versus capture: Guatemala after the elections
By Ivan Briscoe (08/11/2007)
The social democrat Álvaro Colom won Guatemala's presidential elections on November 4. But what are the challenges that Colom will now face? What hope is there of achieving institutional turnaround in a country afflicted by narco-trafficking?
Venezuela: is Hugo Chávez in control?
By Ivan Briscoe (17/09/2007)
As the Latin American country’s defiant president continues to brush off the criticisms he receives from Western leaders, the author investigates what is going on beneath the rhetoric in his oil-rich state.
Can Democratic Elections Solve a Civil War? The case of Serbia and Kosovo
By Susan Woodward (18/07/2007)
The case of Serbia and continuing delays in a resolution to the status of Kosovo demonstrate the misunderstanding in European and American policy of the purpose and virtues of democratic elections and the counterproductive consequences for both a resolution of fundamental questions of statehood and for democratic development more generally.
Haití - La misión de la última oportunidad?
By Amélie Gauthier (04/06/2007)
Not least than seven United Nations missions have come and gone through
Organized Crime, the State, and Democracy: the cases of Central America and the Caribbean
By Angélica Durán Martínez (16/05/2007)
Based on a two-day conference held in early 2007 in New York, this report explores new thinking on the ills afflicting the region and how the international community might help remedy the problems of crime and corruption without undermining the fragile states.
Honduras
By Angélica Durán Martínez (14/05/2007)
The stability of political parties in Honduras and their organisation may have prevented a deeper influence of organised crime in the political system such as that which has emerged in Guatemala.
Trinidad & Tobago
By Angélica Durán Martínez (14/05/2007)
With high rates of economic growth and decreasing unemployment, Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) has been called a Caribbean ‘tiger’ (The Economist, 2006), awash with money and investment from the liquefied natural gas boom.
Prime Minister Patrick Manning has launched Vision 2020, a policy strategy which calls for T&T to acquire developed country status by 2020.
The Kosovo Quandary: on the International management of statehood
By Susan Woodward (16/03/2007)
On March 10, 2007, after a final high-level meeting on a draft Comprehensive Proposal for a Kosovo Status Settlement, presented to the parties on February 2, the United Nations Special Envoy for Kosovo Martti Ahtisaari announced a dead end.
Kosovo: From International Province to State?
By María Avello (07/03/2007)
In February 2007, the UN presented the Ahtisaari plan to define the legal status of Kosovo. Serbia considers it its province and believes that it is the plan’s intention to make it independent. The Albanian Kosovars see it as an incomplete attempt to maintain the territory under Serbian rule. The European Union faces the serious challenge of taking a stance on the future of Kosovo: should it be a new state or a protectorate?
Re-founding the State in Bolivia
By Mariano Aguirre Ernst, Isabel Moreno Carballal (11/01/2007)
The December 18 elections in 2005 in Bolivia proved to be a historic moment when the first indigenous president ever was elected by an absolute majority in a country whose majority indigenous population has been excluded for centuries. This report outlines the structural challenges facing Bolivia in this new phase.
Haiti and the international donor community
By Mariano Aguirre Ernst, Amélie Gauthier (29/11/2006)
The Haiti Donors' Conference, which was held today in Madrid, will be decisive for the country's future. It will also test the capacity of international cooperation to address the problems of the so-called ‘fragile’ states.
The Corroded State in Nicaragua
By Ivan Briscoe (09/11/2006)
After 17 years of opposition, Daniel Ortega won Nicaragua's presidential elections in November 2006. But there are serious doubts as to whether the Nicaraguan state will be able to spur equitable growth and build efficient institutions, while the willingness of the Sandinista leader to strengthen the rule of law at the cost of his party's political machine remains uncertain.
Bolivia: The Challenges to State Reform
By Mariano Aguirre Ernst, Isabel Moreno Carballal (18/07/2006)
Recovering from armed conflict: lessons learned and next steps for improved international assistance
By Megan Burke (07/04/2006)
Transition and legitimacy in African States: the cases of Somalia and Uganda
By Martin Doornbos (08/12/2005)
Social innovation for human development. An Arab region perspective
By Nader Fergany (06/02/2003)
The concept of “human development” gained currency since 1990 when the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) adopted the term with a specific connotation, advanced a simplified index (HDI) to measure it- in spite of many refinements, the HDI is closer to an index of human development in the limited sense corresponding to conventional human capital- and started publishing an annual report on the subject. The human development concept is based on the intellectual heritage of the role of people in development as it evolved over the years, culminating in the first Human Development Report (UNDP, 1990).
Arab human development and Europe
By Nader Fergany, Rafael Guardans Cambó (05/02/2003)
The Arab Human Development Report 2002 concludes that Arab countries have made significant strides in more than one area of human development in the last three decades. Nevertheless, the predominant characteristic of current Arab reality, as we have seen in Part II of this Report, seems to be the existence of deeply rooted shortcomings in the Arab societal structure. These shortcomings are an obstacle to building human development. We summarised them in the three deficits of freedom, empowerment of women, and knowledge.
