No. 10 - April 2008

Greetings!

Welcome to the spring 2008 issue of the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) newsletter. First and foremost, we are pleased to announce the launch of three new undertakings since January: A new pilot research project entitled “The European Union, China, and Global Governance: Perceptions, Misperceptions, and Convergences” which lays the foundations for GPPi's expanding work on the EU-China relations and global governance; secondly, the launch of our transatlantic project on "Raising the Bar: Enhancing Transatlantic Governance of Disaster Relief and Preparedness" which is funded by the EU Commission with additional support provided by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ); and thirdly, the launch of our new research project on “Changing Rules of the Game: Global Energy Governance in the 21st Century” which is funded by the European Commission, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the Draeger Foundation and other partners.

We would also like to draw your attention to the upcoming Hertie School of Governance executive education seminar on global public policy to which GPPi will be contributing. The three day seminar will take place in Berlin from 9-11 June 2008. Please click here for further information.

Our newsletter appears three times a year to keep you informed about the institute, to post our newest publications, and to share interesting recent news on global public policy-making. In this edition’s “Global Issues in the News” section, we focus on the multidimensional challenges and pitfalls of current UN peace operations as well as oil and politics in Africa. For more information, please visit our homepage at www.gppi.net

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Research

Raising the Bar
Enhancing Transatlantic Governance of Disaster Relief and Preparedness

Changing Rules of the Game
Global Energy Governance in the 21st Century

Learning to Build Peace?
The United Nations, Peacebuilding and Organizational Learning

The European Union, China, and Global Governance
Perceptions, Misperceptions, and Convergences

EU Foreign Policy Towards China
The Institutional Politics of Cooperation

The New Protectorates
International Administration and the Dilemmas of Governance

Crisis and Change
The UN Secretariat and the Quest for Accountability

Consulting

Development of a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for the Gender Standby Capacity Project (GenCap)

External Review of CGIAR Challenge Programs

Networking United Nations Private Sector Focal Points

Supporting the "Decent Trade": Theme Group for the Geneva Trade and Development Forum (GTDF) on Inclusive Globalization

Evaluation of the Understanding Children's Work (UCW) Project

Debate

Transatlantic Energy Security Dialogues

Global Atlanticists

Topic 1

1. Intervention, Hailed as a Concept, Is Shunned in Practice
By: Warren Hoge, The New York Times, 20 January 2008

Summary: Using the current conflict-ridden West Darfur as an example, this article assess the UN General Assembly’s adopted resolution of 2005 allowing it to intervene to stop genocide. The resolution holds nations responsible for the protection of their citizens and establishes the right of the international community to intervene if the “responsibility to protect” is not fulfilled. However, the Darfur crisis has proved that there is great discrepancy between gaining approval for a working theory and making the theory work.

According to the article, the 2005 resolution is meant to bridge the diverging views between those who believe foreign countries have the right to step in where atrocities are committed, and those who defend state sovereignty as supreme and excludes any outside intervention. The article argues that the phrasing of the resolution allowed the two views to harmonize by stating that the “world could step in, but only after the state had shown unwillingness to act itself.” The long standing debate of intervention gained significant momentum during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, which saw close to a million Tutsi’s and Hutu moderates slaughtered by Hutu extremists.

The article points out the importance given to the resolution with the move by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to upgrade and broaden the post of special adviser for the prevention of genocide and atrocities; and to establish a new post for an assistant secretary general specifically tasked with the "responsibility to protect". In addition, the article states that the 2005 resolution is a way of informing people that sovereignty can no longer be used as a guise to facilitate the killings of people in any country and this message connects with people around the world. While the resolution has gained substantial international support, according to the article, many developing-countries have slowly begun to retract their support under the suspicion that they could become targets of intervention.

2. Annual Review of Global Peace Operations 2008
From: Center on International Cooperation (CIC), 12 March 2008

Summary: The “Annual Review of Global Peace Operations 2008” states that global demand for peacekeepers continued to increase in 2007 and the United Nations continued to be the primary actor in peacekeeping operations providing nearly half of all peacekeepers in the field. The report suggests that while the UN’s deployment of uniformed staff increased by ten percent to 83,000 in the year 2007, peacekeeping missions have become increasingly challenging.

“Peacekeeping was becoming a victim of its earlier success” the report stated, “The complexity of the operations began to outstrip the ability of international organizations to keep pace.” According to the report this is most apparent in the Sudanese region of Darfur. The UN and troop contributing countries were faced with obstacles posed by the Sudanese government regarding the joint mission by the hybrid UN/African Union mission in Darfur (UNAMID). The result was continued deterioration of the security and humanitarian situation on the ground and waning logistical and technological support for the mission.

The report points out that Secretariat officials were warned of the difficulties the mission will face if the decision to deploy troops preceded the presence of peace agreements on the ground. Yet warnings were ignored. The central lesson drawn from the Darfur crises, according to the report, is that “if the UN has a ‘responsibility to protect’, it must also have the ‘capacity to protect’.”     

3. Peacekeeping in Darfur Hits More Obstacles
By: Lydia Polgreen, The New York Times, 24 March 2008

Summary: This article looks at some of the diplomatic and political obstacles posed by the Sudanese government and the international community in addressing the conflict in Darfur. Despite a joint mission of the African Union and United Nations forces (UNAMID), expected to be the world’s largest peacekeeping mission, the article suggests that the bureaucratic delays by the government of Sudan and the reluctance from troop-contributing countries to commit their personnel in an active conflict stalled the mission in Darfur.

The article points out that only 9,000 of the expected 26,000 soldiers and police officers have been deployed to carry out the mission in Darfur. The Sudanese government’s reluctance to allow non-African troops in the mission, coupled with the lack of essential equipment to carry out the most rudimentary of peacekeeping tasks has severely hampered the success of the mission. Quoting Sudanese government officials, the article states that “non-African troops would be seen as neocolonial interlopers.” Aside from the diplomatic and political struggles faced by the mission, there are, however, positive signs developing from this humanitarian crisis.

UNAMID is managing to project a greater sense of security for the tens of thousands of refugees and civilians in the vast territory it covers, carrying out night patrols in displaced people’s camps and sending out long-range patrols to areas most affected by the conflict. Moreover, the article asserts that unlike the previous AU mission tasked to observe cease-fire and not protect civilians, UNAMID has a more robust mandate to protect civilians. However, this responsibility is a difficult one considering the lack of manpower and equipment on the ground to carry out the duties. The article suggests that more pressure on the Sudanese government will not change much on the logistical front of the mission. What is needed is for the international community to act collectively to create a peace settlement and to maintain it.

Topic 2

1. The new scramble for Africa’s resources
By: Dino Mahtani, Financial Times, 28 January 2008

Summary: This article looks at the development of some of the oil rich countries in Africa, which in the last fifteen years have opened up their oilfields to multinational investors on relatively lenient terms. While addressing the positive aspects of the new oil boom, particularly in the Gulf of Guinea and North Africa, the article also sheds light on the down-side of the oil-backed economic bonanza (soaring oil prices, poor governance, and increase in income inequality), and the tension brought by international competition in the region.

The Gulf of Guinea and North Africa houses the world’s highest ratio of “light” and “sweet” crude oil, preferred by refiners in the largest consuming countries. According to the article a study conducted by John S. Herold, an industry consultancy, revealed that “the rise of Africa as an energy region is not a short-term trend.” The article suggests that soaring oil prices have brought not only financial gains from abroad, but also interested parties (from the Chinese in Somalia to Russians in Nigeria) vying for exploration rights in the Africa. The increase in attention given to the natural resources of the world’s poorest continent has also shed light on some serious issues, namely the increasing gap of income inequality, poor governance in the use of oil funds as well as high fuel prices brought about by a lack of refining capacity and hefty import prices which have added to the social despair.

The article claims that with the rise of countries like China, India and other emerging markets, we are witnessing the “new scramble for Africa.” On the other hand, it also points to the fact that big energy producing countries in Afirca are increasingly pushing for greater control of their own oil and gas industries much to the dislike of traditional oil majors.

2. Poor governance can boot a country out of the industry
By: Hugh Williamson, Financial Times, 28 January 2008

Summary: This article states that under the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), mineral-rich governments should disclose their financial gains from international oil and gas companies. The article also looks at the crucial test faced by EITI on 21 February 2008 in Accra, Ghana, where several African countries could potentially be removed due to the low governance standards in their oil industry’s finances. Some of the challenges faced by the initiative are outlined in this article, namely the lack of full compliance by participating countries; the “free riders” syndrome in EITI; and loopholes in the methodology promoted by EITI. Finally it looks at the slow but meaningful progress being made by the initiative.

However, several EITI member states including the Democratic Republic of Congo and Equatorial Guinea have failed to fulfill this basic membership criterion. The article points out the EITI’s real test is to show that it is more than a well-meaning but toothless mechanism by making the tough decisions and ejecting countries that cannot fulfill the fundamental principles. The article asserts that the initiative, set up in 2002 by Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, is the most important international mechanism aimed at shedding light on the oil industry’s often murky finances. Poor governance in mineral-rich countries, the article suggests, “has meant resource endowments have often lead to conflict, corruption and poverty.”

Other challenges faced by EITI are also mentioned. For example, some countries are considered EITI “free riders,” welcoming the initiative while refusing to end corrupt practices at home. Also, critics argue the initiative primarily focuses on data disclosure on revenue but not other more complex aspects of the industry’s finances. Nonetheless, the article also suggests that the success of the initiative largely depends on the political will of member states to implement EITI domestically. The initiative may not be all encompassing, the article points out, but it is a positive step towards more transparency and for the public to understand the problems in the oil sector.

3. Reversing the Resources Curse: Launching an Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative ++
From: The World Bank Group, 2 April 2008

Summary:  In his speech on the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, (EITI) Robert B. Zoellick, President of the World Bank Group, argued that a new and invigorated EITI, called EITI++, will help developing countries benefit from high energy and mineral prices, while ensuring the financial gains are also spread to the citizens of the resource rich countries. In this article, Mr. Zoellick asserts that while the original EITI, launched in 2002 by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, served as a mechanism to increase transparency in resources rich countries by calling for the full publication of company payments and government revenues, this alone was not enough.

The new ETIT++ will help ensure that profits made from high resource prices are not only disclosed, but also translate into improving the lives of the poor citizens in resource rich countries. As such, Mr. Zoellick states that with the help of developing countries and other partners, the framing of the EITI++ will expand the original EITI mandate to become more comprehensive.

Mr. Zoellick reminded developed and developing countries of the negative and risky image of the resource sector, including the “dual” economies that leave most citizens in the peripheries and the volatile returns that entice officials and undermine growth and sustainable budgets. However, the article states that by developing and disseminating good practices and standards for fiscal and legal frameworks, the EITI++ can advance sustainable globalization and broaden the beneficiaries of resource development. As such, “national ownership” of the EITI++ approach is critical for its success and for the sustainability of growth and the environment.