The EBRD: Redundant, or an important actor in the transformation of Eastern Europe?

Now in its second year of operation, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development was the first new institution set up by the West to cope with the historical challenge of helping to transform the centrally planned economies of Eastern Europe into market economies. Strongly criticized for its lack of funds and its redundant profile when compared to the World Bank and the European Investment Bank, the “European Bank” is still struggling to assume an independent role in the transformation process and remains a controversial institution

English in the Margins: Cajun Literacy Communities in Bec Doux et ses amis

In this thesis, I will explore the dual language Cajun-French and English comic strip, Bec Doux et ses amis, in terms of its value within the literacy communities of southwest Louisiana. I will claim that the text subverts the established power dynamics which existed between the American English speakers, the unreconstructed Cajuns, and the bilingual Cajun French and English speaking communities through the use of text placement and trickster figures

Irreführende Geisterdebatte oder funktionale Notwendigkeit? Regimetheoretische Überlegungen zur Re- Regulierungsdiskussion am Beispiel der Weltumweltordnung

The paper starts with a presentation and critique of regime theoretical approaches to the understanding of world economic developments after 1945. Within the debate on re-regulation, the normative-idealistic calls for a global environmental organisation seem to ignore what we have learned so far about the change and the effectiveness of international regimes. A fundamental regime change requires the consensus of the hegemon and/or the hegemonial group. And regime effectiveness does not primarily depend upon hierarchical organisational structures. Rather than advocating a global environmental organisation, from an ecological perspective the reform-minded transnational discourse networks would be better adviced to work for the acceptance of ecologically oriented indicators for economic development within all existing organisations of the world economy

Civilizing the world order? The scope and potential of transnational norm-building networks

Civil society organizations, epistemic communities, and lobby groups -what we call transnational norm-building networks - are influencing the global economy and global politics more than ever before. We argue that such transnational norm-building networks, in contrast to the dominating executive intergovernmental elites and democratically deficient supranational bodies, hold the scope and potential for a more civilized world order. They are - together with states and international governmental organizations - creating new norms; they are setting standards. They associate the voice of stakeholders with decision-making processes, thus leading to an increase in legitimate world governance. (GIGA

Warum hilft die Hilfe nicht?

Die Autorin fordert, dass innerhalb der nächsten fünf Jahre die Entwicklungshilfezahlungen des Nordens an afrikanische Staaten eingestellt werden müssen. Denn statt Unternehmergeist und Eigenverantwortung zu wecken, würden diese durch die Hilfe erstickt. Die mehr als eine Billion US-Dollar, die in den letzten fünfzig Jahren an Hilfe nach Afrika geflossen seien, hätten nicht zu Wachstum geführt, sondern seien vielmehr eine Wachstumsbremse

Understanding Policy Change in Developing Countries: The Spheres of Influence Framework

National policy reform is a prerequisite for improved stewardship of the global environment and figures prominently among the goals of international environmental diplomacy and transnational advocacy campaigns. Yet research on global environmental politics has proceeded absent models of policy change in developing countries, where most of the planet\u27s people, land, and biological diversity are found. In this article I present a theoretical framework to explain the domestic responses of developing countries to global environmental concerns. Drawing on research in Costa Rica and Bolivia, I situate the impact of global environmentalism in the context of complex, decades-long domestic struggles to create effective institutions. When international outcomes depend on protracted reforms in nations that are sovereign yet poor, policy change is driven by actors who successfully pair international resources (technical, financial, and ideational) with the domestic political resources needed to see through major policy innovations

One step forward, two steps back?:the fading contours of (in)justice in competing discourses on climate migration

In recent debates on climate change and migration, the focus on the figure of ‘climate refugees’ (tainted by environmental determinism and a crude understanding of human mobility) has given ground to a broader conception of the climate–migration nexus. In particular, the idea that migration can represent a legitimate adaptation strategy has emerged strongly. This appears to be a positive development, marked by softer tones that de-securitise climate migration. However, political and normative implications of this evolution are still understudied. This article contributes to filling the gap by turning to both the ‘climate refugees’ and ‘migration as adaptation’ narratives, interrogating how and whether those competing narratives pose the question of (in)justice. Our analysis shows that the highly problematic ‘climate refugees’ narrative did (at least) channel justice claims and yielded the (illusory) possibility of identifying concrete rights claims and responsibilities. Read in relation to the growing mantra of resilience in climate policy and politics, the more recent narrative on ‘migration as adaptation’ appears to displace justice claims and inherent rights in favour of a depoliticised idea of adaptation that relies on the individual migrant's ability to compete in and benefit from labour markets. We warn that the removal of structural inequalities from the way in which the climate–migration nexus is understood can be seen as symptomatic of a shrinking of the conditions to posing the question of climate justice