ON HOLIDAY IN JULY!
July 23, 2010 · Leave a Comment
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Uncategorized
Tagged: Sweden
The big beasts of development… – and peace
July 5, 2010 · 1 Comment
Under new leadership, the UK Department for International Development is emphasising results and accountability. And as part of that, the big multilateral beasts of development – to which the UK gives £3 billion a year – are coming under the efficiency microscope. It will be good to assess them not just for efficiency but for impact, and especially their impact on peace and conflict because it is the thing they have trouble taking into account. Keep reading →
→ 1 CommentCategories: Conflict & peace · International development
Tagged: Andrew Mitchell, Burundi, DFID, fragile states, Liberia, multilateral agencies, peacebuilding, PRSP, Somalia, UK government, UN, UN Peacebuilding Fund, World Bank
UK development aid: First major government speech
June 5, 2010 · 1 Comment
The UK Secretary of State for International development, Andrew Mitchell, gave his first major, setpiece speech in government on Thursday. The debate starts up again.
→ 1 CommentCategories: Conflict & peace · International development
Tagged: poverty, fragile states, human security, DFID, Andrew Mitchell, 0.7%
Water, conflict and peace
June 3, 2010 · 5 Comments
Water is a basic condition of life. We depend upon it for daily use, for agriculture, for industry and infrastructure. A shortage, an excess and deficient quality can all undermine welfare, impair human security, hold back economic development and in some circumstances generate conflict. The London-based Foreign Policy Centre has published Tackling the World Water Crisis, an edited collection of articles in which mine looks at the peace and security issues around water. Keep reading →
→ 5 CommentsCategories: Climate change · Conflict & peace · International development
Tagged: food security, Climate change, poverty, fragile states, human security, peacebuilding, China, adaptation, Yemen, India
After the UK election (2): Three questions on international development
May 20, 2010 · Comments Off
What does the advent of the new government mean for UK policy on international development? Keep reading →
Comments OffCategories: Conflict & peace · International development · The economic crunch
Tagged: food security, Climate change, poverty, fragile states, human security, peacebuilding, UN, DFID, Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Andrew Mitchell, coalition government, UK government
After the UK election: international development and foreign policy
May 16, 2010 · 2 Comments
So the dust has settled, the first peacetime coalition in seven decades is in office and the work begins. What about UK international development policy under the new blue and yellow colours?
→ 2 CommentsCategories: International development
Tagged: Andrew Mitchell, coalition government, David Cameron, DFID, EU External Action service, UK government, William hague
Ashed up: reflections in Baku
April 20, 2010 · Comments Off
Well, like millions of others, the volcano has stranded me. Here in Baku for what was meant to be a flying visit, weighing the odds of waiting for Frankfurt to open (en route to London) or hoping there might be a place on a train and boat from Madrid (reachable via Istanbul), and just hoping for a fresh wind to blow (which is sort of ironic since Baku is the City of Winds), I am taking the opportunity to look around and glean some impressions. Keep reading →
Comments OffCategories: International development
Tagged: Azerbaijan, Caucasus, freedom of expression, natural resource curse, oil
EU’s External Action Service: options remain open
March 28, 2010 · Comments Off
This past week the EU High Representative Catherine Ashton presented “her” proposal for the new European External Action Service (quotation marks on “her” because, of course, it is not hers alone – even in draft it is already a compromise). So far she has not won all her battles but nor has she lost them. In fact, those battles are not over. All options are open still and those of us who want a genuine Action service need to keep our sleeves rolled up and engage in the arguments ahead. Keep reading →
Comments OffCategories: Conflict & peace · Power
Tagged: European politics, human security, peacebuilding, international politics, EU, EU External Action service, Ashton
Chaff, noise and fog in the climate debate.
March 12, 2010 · 9 Comments
This is a critical time on climate. Scientific conclusions that had seemed largely settled and backed by professional consensus are today challenged with increasing confidence. Three months after Copenhagen, the policy pathway is still hard to discern. Opinion polls show growing numbers of people think the globe is not warming, or not because of human action, or, variously, that not much can, need or should be done about it. Last week a House of Commons committee queried the state of climate science in the wake of the publication of emails to and from the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit; this week a new UN review has been launched to assess the work of the Inter-govermental Panel on Climate Change.
→ 9 CommentsCategories: Climate change
Tagged: adaptation, carbon emissions, carbon trading, Climate change, Copenhagen, green economy, Obama, Phil Jones, UEA, UEA emails
Quiet start from EU High Rep Ashton? Good! Go for the long game
March 2, 2010 · 2 Comments
Baroness Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s High Representative, is facing a mountain of a job and a rockfall of criticism across Europe after her first 100 days. But most of the negativity is a matter of Brussels gossip, bruised little egos and out-dated thinking about international politics. Ashton has got things more right than her critics. Rightly, she is focused on the long game rather than short-term headlines (which some journalists find impossible to forgive and others equally impossible to understand). Keep reading →
→ 2 CommentsCategories: Power
Tagged: Ashton, Climate change, EU, EU External Action service, European politics, international politics, peace and security, Quatremer, trade
