Economic Security in Nova Scotia

The report uses an aggregate index, based on security from the economic risks imposed by four key factors – unemployment, illness, old age, and single parenthood – to examine trends in economic security in Nova Scotia from 1981 to 2007. It concludes that economic security in Nova Scotia decreased during the 1981-2007 period.Economic security, Composite index, Economic well-being, Wellbeing, Indicators

The business of security and the transformation of the state

The field of security policy seems to have undergone dramatic changes in the last decades. Under the broad umbrella of a turn to security governance, one can observe trends of an internationalization and privatization of security. Of these trends, one seems to stand out, that is the increasing reliance of states on private business actors in the provision of security. How do theses trends affect the state? While some believe that the provision of security by private agents is unproblematic as long as the state keeps its governmental supervision, others fear that the state is losing its capability to control the activities of private actors in the field of security, the more privatization proceeds. The working paper, firstly, provides a systematic overview on the inclusion of private business actors in the provision of security. Secondly, it will address the question of its consequences for the state. The papers highlights that privatization stops short of transforming the state but it is about to weaken the democratic legitimation of the use of force. -- Sicherheitspolitik ist in den letzen Jahrzehnten erheblichen strukturellen Wandlungsprozessen unterworfen, die sich zugegeben grob mit den Trends einer Internationalisierung und Privatisierung umschreiben lassen. Eine besonders auffällige Entwicklung ist die gestiegene Bedeutung privater Wirtschaftsakteure in der Bereitstellung von Sicherheit. Die Frage, die sich dabei stellt, ist, welche Effekte dieser Trend der Privatisierung für die staatliche Organisation von Sicherheitspolitik zeitigt. Während einige glauben, dass die Bereitstellung von Sicherheit durch private Akteure unproblematisch ist, so lange der Staat die Bedingungen der privaten Bereitstellung hinreichend kontrolliert, fürchten andere, dass mit der zunehmenden Auslagerung an private Akteure diese Kontrolle dem Staat aus der Hand gleitet. Das Arbeitspapier will zunächst einen systematischen Überblick über die Beteiligung privater Wirtschaftsakteure in der Sicherheitspolitik geben, bevor es die möglichen Konsequenzen dieser Form der Privatisierung für die staatliche Organisation von Sicherheitspolitik thematisiert. Die Analyse verdeutlicht, dass Privatisierung in der Sicherheitspolitik zwar keine Transformation des Staates nach sich zieht, aber die demokratischen Legitimationsmechanismen innerhalb der staatlichen Gewaltmonopols sukzessive schwächt.

Food Security and Nutrition in Bangladesh: Progress and Determinants

For Bangladesh food security was synonymous with achieving self-sufficiency in rice production and stabilization in rice prices. The country has made good progress in increasing rice production through technological progress, facilitated by private sector investment in small scale irrigation. But, it is difficult to sustain the progress made in view of the growing pressure of population on scarce land resources. Domestic food grain production remains susceptible to floods and droughts thereby perpetuating the threat of major production shortfalls, inadequate food availability, and vulnerability from fluctuation in prices. The availability of other foods has not increased, and the progress in nutritional outcome has remained slow. Forty percent of the population lives below the poverty line, and income inequality has been worsening. This paper assesses the trends in factors that affect food production, availability of food and their impact on nutrition outcomes. It also probes into the trends in poverty and distribution of income and access to food through markets.Bangladesh, food security, nutrition, poverty, safety nets, natural disasters, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty,

Regulating work and welfare of the future: Towards a new gender contract?

This paper starts off by briefly considering some of the problems of future studies; it discusses how the origins and principles of the systems of regulation and security have generated different employment systems in Europe. The concept of employment systems allows us to identify how the future of work may well be managed in different ways according to the capacity and constraints of national and European actors. The paper focuses on the characteristics and changes in European regulatory systems of labour and social welfare. Two key developments are identified in these areas. First there are trends to decentralise collective bargaining and to encourage a trade off between labour flexibility and employment security. Second, there have been trends towards a decentralisation and outsourcing of state monopolies and attempts to develop new forms of caring. The prospects these trends imply for regulating the work of the future are discussed in relation to the development of a new social and gender contract. --

Immigration: Visa Security Policies

[Excerpt] The report opens with an overview of visa issuance policy. It then explains the key provisions that guide the documentary requirements and approval/disapproval process. The section on consular screening procedures includes an analysis of trends over time in denying visas. Visa revocation, a reoccurring issue of concern to Congress, and the visa security program are discussed as well

Funding a PAYG pension system: the case of Italy

Italy is characterised by a mature pay-as-you-go social security system and by particularly adverse population projections. Given these trends, the social security contribution rate is expected to increase above its current high level. This hinders the development of employer-provided pension funds and introduces a significant wedge between labour cost and earnings that discourages both labour demand and labour supply. Any proposal to reduce payroll taxes and to reform the system in the direction of partial funding has to cope with the state of Italian public finances. Italy has to comply with the Stability and Growth Pact that imposes constraints on budget deficit and debt trends. Using micro data from the Bank of Italy"s Survey of Household Income and Wealth and official population projections, we estimate future employment trends under different demographic and macroeconomic scenarios and compute the cost of the transition. We show that it would be substantially reduced if positive effects on employment were induced by the payroll tax reduction.