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. (more…)
Entries categorized as ‘International development’
The big beasts of development… – and peace
July 5, 2010 · 1 Comment
Categories: Conflict & peace · International development
Tagged: fragile states, peacebuilding, UN, DFID, World Bank, Liberia, Andrew Mitchell, UK government, UN Peacebuilding Fund, Burundi, Somalia, PRSP, multilateral agencies
UK development aid: First major government speech
June 5, 2010 · 1 Comment
Categories: Conflict & peace · International development
Tagged: 0.7%, Andrew Mitchell, DFID, fragile states, human security, poverty
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. (more…)
Categories: 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? (more…)
Categories: 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?
Categories: 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. (more…)
Categories: International development
Tagged: Azerbaijan, Caucasus, freedom of expression, natural resource curse, oil
“Militarising aid” vs. “Running away from conflict”
January 27, 2010 · 3 Comments
The battle lines are starting to be drawn over how development assistance and peacebuilding do or don’t support each other, or can or can’t be made to work together, and about whether bad governance and insecurity are the right targets for international development policy and assistance. (more…)
Categories: Conflict & peace · International development
Tagged: DFID, fragile states, governance, human security, peacebuilding, poverty
Haiti and beyond: preparing for the next disaster
January 22, 2010 · 2 Comments
One part of the tragedy in Haiti is how unprepared the country was to deal with the earthquake on 12 January. Yet the risk is well established. And Haiti is equally vulnerable to the equally visible risk of hurricanes. Haiti is not alone in this lack of readiness and the problems about getting help to the survivors make an urgent case for a new humanitarian business model that emphasises preparation instead of depending entirely on emergency aid flown in after the disaster hits. (more…)
Categories: International development
Tagged: Climate change, disaster, earthquake, emergency, fragile states, Haiti, human security, humanitarian assistance, hurricanes, IMF, relief effort, US
Copenhagen: time to re-think? Or just keep thinking!
December 6, 2009 · Comments Off
As thousands of negotiators, activists, diplomats, scientists, politicians and journalists start pouring into Copenhagen for the climate summit – formally said, the 15th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – the question has been raised whether we should want them to succeed or fail. Which, of course, begs the next question: what is success at Copenhagen?
So is Copenhagen not the time to seal a new climate deal after all? Is it time for a re-think? My own view is that it’s best never to stop thinking, then you don’t have to make the effort to start up again. (more…)
Categories: Climate change · Conflict & peace · International development
Tagged: adaptation, Bush, carbon emissions, carbon trading, Copenhagen, development aid, green economy, International development, international politics, peacebuilding, UN
Tobin tax: is this the way to meet the climate change bill?
November 16, 2009 · Comments Off
Tobin or not to bin? Gordon Brown’s apparently sudden conversion to supporting a tax on financial transactions – initially proposed by James Tobin – has, if nothing else, put new energy into the related debates about the banking sector, paying off the costs of the economic crunch, and financing basic social needs. But will it fly? And should it? There are several strong reasons why but there is a negative side that we also need to attend to. (more…)
Categories: Climate change · International development · The economic crunch
Tagged: adaptation, banking reform, Brown, budget deficit, carbon trading, finance sector, G-20, green economy, Tobin tax
