No. 15 - December 2009

Greetings and happy holidays!

Welcome to the December 2009 issue of the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) newsletter. As always, we are happy to bring you up to date with GPPi's activities. 

We are pleased to announce the launch of a number of new undertakings, including two new projects. First and foremost, a collaborative program entitled, "Global Governance 2020: Designing the Future of International Institutions" that will bring together 24 outstanding fellows from China, Germany and the US for three sessions in Berlin, Shanghai and Washington D. C..  Secondly, a pilot project entitled, "Joint Stakeholders in Global Energy Governance? Prospects for joint global problem-solving between the EU and China" which is funded by the Volkswagen Foundation in cooperation with Compagnia di San Paolo and Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.

We would also like to draw your attention to the publication of a new GPPi book entitled "Humanitarian Assistance: Improving U.S.-European Cooperation" which was published on 9 November 2009.

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 International Food Aid and the European Union's Foreign Policy after the Lisbon Treaty. For more information, please visit our homepage at www.gppi.net

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Research

Joint Stakeholders in Global Energy Governance? Prospects for joint global problem-solving between the EU and China
The common dependency on energy, shared by societies around the world, entails policy challenges of global nature and scope..

Role and Success Factors of Round Tables
In Germany and abroad, traditional governmental and administrative functions are reaching their limits...

Public-Private Partnerships for Education
This study is part of a broader project aimed at creating the necessary information for supporting governments in their...

Learning to Build the Rule of Law?
The Evolution of Police and Judicial Reform in EU Peace Operations

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

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

EU Foreign Policy Towards China
The Institutional Politics of Cooperation

Global Climate Governance and the Making of China's Climate Change Policy
Actors, Interests and Policy-formulation

The New Protectorates
International Administration and the Dilemmas of Governance

Crisis and Change
The UN Secretariat and the Quest for Accountability

‘Brusselisation’ and the emergence of a strategic culture in the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP)
With the 10th anniversary of the British-French St. Malo summit in December 2008 it is time to take stock on how...

Consulting

Review of Public-Private Partnerships Promoting Labour Market Integration of Disadvantaged Groups

Cluster Approach Evaluation Phase II

Networking United Nations Private Sector Focal Points

Debate

Global Governance 2020

Transatlantic Energy Security Dialogues

Global Atlanticists

Sino-German Expert Workshop Series: EU-China cooperation in climate change mitigation and nuclear non-proliferation

Topic 1

1. Do starving Africans a favour. Don't feed them
By: Sam Kiley, The Times, 23 October 2009

Summary: In this article, Sam Kiley, a former Africa bureau Chief of The Times, argues that since images of the Ethiopian famine where brought to television screens worldwide 25 years ago, donoations and international food aid programs have generated billions of dollars to tackle the food crisis in parts of Africa. He points out that foreign aid is, in fact, the principle reason for Africa's accumulated agony. Instead, what is needed is better education and infrastructure to address this crisis.   

Aid organizations and the media have inflated the scale of human tragedies related to hunger in in many parts of the continent. The article goes on to challenge the statistics on starvation and related death-tolls coming out of the continent, claiming their fabrication serves to produce donation-winning headlines. Referring to Oxfam, he points out that what is needed are initiatives that support the creation of community strategies "that prevent the next drought from becoming a disaster". The way to do so, Kiley argues, is through education, infrastructure and communication.

2. Emergency food aid gets results
By: Jane Cocking and John Mitchell, The Times, 28 October 2009

Summary: In their response to Sam Kiley's article "Do starving Africans a favour. Don't feed them", Jane Cocking, Humanitarian Director, Oxfam, and John Mitchell, Director, ALNAP, argue that Kiley has missed the point on emergency relief and that while food aid is not the panacea for the African continent's problems, it consititutes an essential part of the overall strategy to help the countries hardest hit by severe food shortages.

This article argues that what is needed to address life-threatening shortages of food and water is short-term emergency relief coupled with long-term development. While "food aid is a blunt instrument for dealing with crises" the article argues that carefully targeted food aid coupled with distribution of cash to attract increase sales and mobility of food can help to get food to people who would otherwise perish from starvation.

3. UN expert urges global trade talks to prioritize needs of world's hungry
From: UN News Centre, 2 December 2009

Summary: In this article, Olivier De Schutter, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, urges the trade community to "place hunger high on its agenda and to join multilateral efforts to eradicate the scourge." He further emphasizes that governments undertaking negotiations on trade should take into account those affected by hunger.

De Schutter cautioned the international trade community from thinking that simply increasing trade liberalization is the solution for eradicating hunger. In doing so, he calls for three concrete steps: First, a "compatibility check" between current trade agreements and policies that countries facing food shortages are planning to put into place. Second, he calls for the Doha Work Programme to scrutinize the long-term impacts of the 2008 global food crisis. Finally, De Schutter calls for a series of conditions to be met as part of a responsible closure to the Doha Round to improve food security.

Topic 2

1. Europe must rediscover its power
By: Mark Leonard, The Guardian, 1 December 2009

Summary: In this article, Mark Leonard, Executive Director, European Council on Foreign Relations, calls for European leaders to support the newly elected EU Foreign Minister, Catherine Ashton, rise to the scale of challenges that confront the EU if they "want to be more than spectators in the creation of a 21st century world order." The article urges Ashton to use her "consensus-building skills" to bring together EU governments.

The article suggests three areas where EU governments are in need of new approaches: in their own region, on the world stage and in the setting of global standards. Finally, the piece warns that the toughest challenge for the post-Lisbon EU may well be in the setting of global norms and argues that EU leaders and citizens should stop criticizing their high representatives and focus on the development of the EU's next big task, "the development of its global power." 

2. What the EU can learn from Solana's legacy
From: The European Voice, 26 November 2009 

Summary: This article argues that after more than a decade of serving as the European Union's High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana leaves behind a complex but ultimately disappointing legacy. The article points out that the invasion of Iraq in 2003 showed the limitations of Solana's office. The diverging opinions amongst the member states on the role the EU should take (on what was largely seen as the America's war) forced Solana to withdraw from the big questions and "turn to small-scale missions scattered across the world."

However, the article suggests that the main disappointment lies not with Solana, but with the discrepancy between the EU's stated ambition to be "a force for good in the world" and its actual policies. Moreover, the lack of political will on the part of the member states also looms over the EU. The article ends by suggesting that Solana's successor, Catherine Ashton, has the added advantage of treaty-based authority, something he never had. She will also enjoy the right of initiative and a foothold in the European Commission in addition to more money and staff. It is time for the member states and Ashton to reflect on the last decade and to "close the gap between ambition and achievement." 

3. With this timid choices of leaders, the EU may have the faces it deserves
By: Timothy Garton Ash, The Guardian, 25 November 2009

Summary: In this article, Timothy Garton Ash, professor of European studies, University of Oxford, argues that the appointment of the Herman Van Rompuy as President of the European Council and Catherine Ashton as the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy were ultimately disappointing decisions. He suggests that the choices of these two low-profile individuals to the EU’s new top jobs reflect the Union’s lack of will to project itself as a global power.

The article points out that Ashton and Van Rompuy may not be qualified to represent the EU in front of major global players including the United States and China. The decision for Ashton and Van Rompuy was not only a decision made by heads of national governments; it also reflects the reluctance of the majority of their people who are not interested in projecting European power around the world, according to the article. Garton Ash suggests that by refusing to make hard choices for more appropriate candidates the EU may well be in for a "soft, slow, fragmented decline."