Does infrastructure reform work for the poor? A case study from Guatemala

Following the 1996 Peace Accords, Guatemala embarked on a major program of infrastructure reform involving the restructuring and privatization of the electricity and telecommunications sectors and a substantial increase in infrastructure investments partially financed by privatization proceeds. As a result, the pace of new connections to electricity, water, and sanitation services increased by more than 40 percent. Moreover, households in traditionally excluded sectors-the poor, rural, and indigenous populations-were twice as likely to be the beneficiaries of a new infrastructure connection than they had been prior to the Peace Accords. The teledensity index increased by a factor of five from 4.2 in 1997 to 19.7 in 2001, largely because of the growth in cellular telephones, which now outnumber fixed lines. The number of public telephones in rural areas increased by 80 percent since the Peace Accords, so that 80 percent of rural households are now within six kilometers from a public telephone. Although real electricity tariffs increased by 60-80 percent following the reform, residential consumers have been shielded by a"social tariff"policy that has kept charges at pre-reform levels. This policy, which costs US$50 million a year, does little to benefit poor households. The reason is that 60 percent of poor households are not connected to the electricity network, and those that are consume modest amounts of electricity and hence capture only 10 percent of the total value of the subsidy. In contrast, poor households without access to electricity pay about US$11 a kilowatt-hour (or 80 times the electricity tariff) to light their homes with candles and wick lamps. The resources used to finance the"social tariff"would therefore be better used in further accelerating the pace of new connections for currently underserved households.Health Economics&Finance,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Sanitation and Sewerage,Decentralization,ICT Policy and Strategies,Sanitation and Sewerage,TF030632-DANISH CTF - FY05 (DAC PART COUNTRIES GNP PER CAPITA BELOW USD 2,500/AL,ICT Policy and Strategies,Town Water Supply and Sanitation,Public Sector Economics&Finance

The Political Economy of Education Systems in Conflict-Affected Contexts: A Rigorous Literature Review

This report is a rigorous literature review on the political economy of education systems in conflict-affected contexts and is aimed at education advisers and agencies, development practitioners and Ministry of Education policy makers working in conflict-affected contexts. The report seeks to provide theoretically informed and policy relevant insights on the global, national and local governance of education systems in conflict-affected contexts garnered from a rigorous review of the academic and policy literature on the political economy of education in conflict-affected contexts.<p></p> The review was driven by three main questions: (1) What are the underpinning assumptions of the main bodies of political economy research in education and conflict? (2) What can the political economy of education literature since 1990 inform us about educational change and reform in conflict-affected contexts? (3) What are the strengths, weaknesses, blind spots and research gaps in the political economy of education literature exploring the governance of educational change and reform in conflict-affected contexts?<p></p> Chapter 1 outlines the rationale and aims of the review. Chapter 2, describes the theoretical and conceptual framework and presents the framing of the key issues under review, and Chapter 3 outlines the review methodology. Chapter 4 presents the main characteristics and an assessment of the quality of the studies selected for the in-depth review, and Chapter 5, discusses the review’s main findings. Chapter 6 presents the conclusions of the study, outlines a theory of change that emerges from the findings and draws out the policy insights and research gaps for future study

The political economy of education systems in conflict-affected contexts

This report is a rigorous literature review on the political economy of education systems in conflict-affected contexts and is aimed at education advisers and agencies, development practitioners and Ministry of Education policy makers working in conflict-affected contexts. The report seeks to provide theoretically informed and policy relevant insights on the global, national and local governance of education systems in conflict-affected contexts garnered from a rigorous review of the academic and policy literature on the political economy of education in conflict-affected contexts. The review was driven by three main questions: (1) What are the underpinning assumptions of the main bodies of political economy research in education and conflict? (2) What can the political economy of education literature since 1990 inform us about educational change and reform in conflict-affected contexts? (3) What are the strengths, weaknesses, blind spots and research gaps in the political economy of education literature exploring the governance of educational change and reform in conflict-affected contexts? Chapter 1 outlines the rationale and aims of the review. Chapter 2, describes the theoretical and conceptual framework and presents the framing of the key issues under review, and Chapter 3 outlines the review methodology. Chapter 4 presents the main characteristics and an assessment of the quality of the studies selected for the in-depth review, and Chapter 5, discusses the review’s main findings. Chapter 6 presents the conclusions of the study, outlines a theory of change that emerges from the findings and draws out the policy insights and research gaps for future study

GUATEMALA’S MARKET-LED AGRARIAN REFORM: A FAILURE IN ITS OWN TERMS

Inequitable land ownership has been, and continues to be, an enormous problem confronting Guatemala. Since it was first perceived to impede ideals and conceptions of progress, the ways in which land concentration has been problematized have evolved and expanded to include a variety of concerns. Consequentially, a variety of attempts have been made throughout Guatemala’s history to distribute land more equitably. One of the most recent attempts has been through the implementation of a Market-Led Agrarian Reform (MLAR). This model of agrarian reform emerged in the 1980s out of criticisms of previous, state-led reforms and the growing neo-liberal rationale that resources are most efficiently and peacefully, distributed through market forces. Since the 1990s, the MLAR has gained prominence and has been widely implemented with the support of the World Bank (WB) in countries such as Brazil, Philippines, Colombia, and Guatemala. Although the inadequacy of the MLAR model and its objectives is well-documented, it is less clear to what extent the model has been able to achieve its own goals, however limited they may be. The following examines the outcomes of Guatemala’s MLAR in light of its justification and objectives and argues that the MLAR has largely failed in its own terms. Instead of improving access to land and alleviating poverty, the reform has resulted in massive beneficiary indebtedness, increased poverty, and the re-concentration of land

Relevance and justification of the regional development agency approach for the Brcko district of BiH

Still facing the consequences of a post-war and a post-communist transition, BiH is trying to consolidate the strategies for a sustainable peace, based on institutionalisation of a pluralistic democracy - less obsessed by the ethnic questions - and a socio-economic development - that does not necessarily have to rely on the international assistance. Bosnia and Herzegovina is far from being an unitarian institutional, political and social subject and the differences that have marked the years of the war have got consolidated in a constitutional structure that is for sure one of the most complicated that are currently existing in the world. The lack of the presence of a State in the policy making process, is often filled up in Bosnia by the emerging role of local authorities. The case of Brcko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina is rather unique and is a sort of paradox in the paradox of the BiH situation. After getting an autonomous status which was a result of a long and tiring political mediation, Brcko District is now facing the challenge of building a regional development strategy, which has not only to be "politically correct" (like almost all the decisions that have been recently regarding this little but strategic territorial area, so crucial for the BiH peace stability) but has as well to match the difficulties of achieving a future sustainability. The following paper aims to give an answer to the following crucial questions: Does it make sense to promote a regional development strategy and the institutionalisation of a Development Agency for a limited territorial area like Brcko, created as a consequence of a war scenario? What is the specificity of Brcko and what -on the contrary- can be used to build up a model replicable elsewhere in BiH?

The Contribution of Critical Theory to New Thinking on Peacekeeping: Some Lessons from MINURSO

YesThis paper sums up the findings from the first comprehensive study on the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara. This research project explores the possibilities of using a Foucualtian analysis to look at the links between peacekeeping practice and Western policies of conflict containment in the Western Sahara with a view to enhancing UN conflict resolution capabilities

Perils, Pitfalls & Dilemmas in Responding to Transnational Organized Crime Groups.

Governments employ several approaches to combat Transnational Organized Crime groups. These groups include drug trafficking organizations and armed-insurgent groups. Tactics such as High-Value Target strikes, Peace Accords, and vigilantism have shown to successfully debilitate criminal networks while at the same time sparking unintended negative outcomes. For example, some of these tactics are associated with an increase in cartel-related violence, terrorist attacks, and the lethality of terrorist attacks. What remains unclear is the degree to which these approaches affect these associations and which of these tactics has the most favorable outcomes in combating Transnational Organized Crime groups. The analyses conducted in this dissertation address these gaps in the literature by separately analyzing the three approaches and ultimately comparing their outcomes. Therefore, the goal of this dissertation is to devise a framework for governments and communities to employ against Transnational Organized Crime groups that will yield positive outcomes while minimizing any unintentional consequences. This dissertation independently explores High-Value Target strikes, Peace Accords, and vigilantism. Specifically, the first study of this dissertation explores the link between High-Value Target Strikes and cartel-related homicides in Tijuana, Mexico using data from Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography. The second study analyzes the link between High-Value Target strikes and terrorism in Colombian using data from the Global Terrorism Database. This second study also analyzes the effect that Peace Accords have on cartel-related violence by employing data available through Colombia’s National Police. The third study evaluates the association between vigilantism and cartel-related violence in Guerrero, Mexico using the same dataset as study 1. The findings of this study suggest that all three assessed approaches yield positive outcomes but are accompanied by negative effects. However, the most promising results came from study 3, which indicates that the presence of a long-established communitarian police force is associated with the smallest increase in cartel-related homicides when compared to other approaches. In terms of terrorism, results from study 2 indicate that Peace Accords are more effective in reducing terrorism than High-Value Target strikes. The dissertation concludes with a comparison of the outcomes of the three approaches, along with a discussion on the implications of these findings and the limitations of the three studies, as well as suggestions for future research in this realm

Girls with guns : the disarmament and demobilization of female ex-combatants in Africa.

Since the passing of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1325, states recovering from violence have worked to integrate females into peacemaking and peacebuilding processes. However, many states—particularly in Africa—struggle to craft policy that properly integrates female ex-combatants into disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programs. Much of the literature on this subject focuses on how women and girls are reintegrated and rehabilitated into civilian society. However, the first vital steps in the DDR process are disarmament and demobilization. Utilizing the Peace Accords Matrix, I analyze a number of recent cases in Africa to examine ways in which DDR policy can be improved to provide females with better, safer access to the cantonment sites where the DDR process initiates. The most important changes that must take place include expanding the definition of “combatant” to include those who are not armed and removing the label of “dependent” from female ex-combatants