First impressions and perceived roles: Palestinian perceptions on foreign aid

This paper summarizes some results of a wider research on foreign aid that was conducted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2010. It seeks to describe the impressions and feelings of Palestinian aid beneficiaries as well as the roles and functions they attached to foreign aid. To capture and measure local perceptions on Western assistance a series of individual in depth interviews and few focus group interviews were conducted in the Palestinian territories. The interview transcripts were processed by content analysis. As research results show — from the perspective of aid beneficiaries — foreign aid is more related to human dignity than to any economic development. All this implies that frustration with the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict inevitably embraces the donor policies and practices too.

Az Európai Unió nemzetközi fejlesztéspolitikája előtt álló kihívások és válaszok (EU’s international development policy – challenges and answers)

A tanulmány röviden áttekinti, hogy milyen kihívások érték az elmúlt években az EU nemzetközi fejlesztéspolitikáját, és milyen válaszokat adott ezekre a Közösség. A Bizottság által 2011-ben kiadott Agenda for Change című zöld könyv a közös fejlesztéspolitikát erőteljesebb normatív alapokra igyekszik helyezni és a demokrácia és jó kormányzás támogatását teszi az EU egyik fő célkitűzéséve a fejlődő országokban. Mindez a gyakorlatban erőteljesebb kondicionalitást és szelektivitást fog jelenteni az európai segélyezésben. _____ The paper briefly reviews the challenges that the EU’s international development policy faced in recent years and the answers the Community has provided to these. A green paper published by the Commission in 2011, the Agenda for Change attempts to place development policy on a stronger normative basis by making the support of good governance and democracy one of the main goals of the EU in developing countries. In practice, this will mean stronger conditionality and greater selectivity in EC aid.

Are Democratizing Countries ‘Rewarded’ with Higher Levels of Foreign Aid?

The paper examines how flows of foreign aid have reacted to events of democratization in developing countries. Using a panel dataset of 136 aid receiving countries between 1980 and 2009, aid allocation regressions reveal that donors in general have tended to react to visible, major democratic transitions by increasing aid to the partner country, but no significant increases can be identified in case of countries introducing smaller democratic reforms. The increases in aid flows are not sustained over time, implying that donors do not provide long term support to nascent democracies. Also, democratizations in Sub-Saharan Africa do not seem to have been rewarded with higher levels of aid.

A globálisan növekvő hulladékmennyiség és a kezelésére irányuló nemzetközi törekvések (International efforts to cope with globally increasing waste amounts)

Sokoldalú nemzetközi megállapodások és programok foglalkoznak a hulladékok keletkezésének és az országhatárokon átterjedő hatásainak problémájával, a nemzetközi együttműködést szükségessé tevő megoldásokkal. A leginkább átfogó megközelítést a probléma hajtóerőinek szentelt globális programok tartalmazzák, de a fenntarthatóság alapelveire támaszkodó termelési eljárásokra és fogyasztási szokásokra, a zöld gazdaságra való áttérést szorgalmazó dokumentumok nem tartalmaznak számon kérhető kötelezettségeket. A konkrétabb hulladékkeletkezési és hatásterjedési ügyekben – mindenekelőtt a veszélyes hulladékok és a nemzeti fennhatóság alá nem tartozó területekre eljutó vagy ott keletkező hulladékok esetében – jóval konkrétabb nemzetközi megállapodások és programok léteznek. Ezek szabályozási, szakpolitikai, technológiai célokat, feladatokat határoznak meg az országok és az érintett ágazati szereplők szintjén is. Egyes problémák kapcsán és egyes térségekben a hulladékgazdálkodás jelentős eredményeket tud felmutatni, de általában véve a nemzetközi megállapodások hatékony végrehajtásával komoly gondok vannak. Továbbá a meglévő nemzetközi eszközök összességükben még teljes körű végrehajtásuk esetén sem lennének képesek ellensúlyozni a hulladékprobléma globális szintű növekedését. Következésképpen további erőfeszítésekre van szükség – minden kormány, érintett nem-kormányzati szervezet és az ágazatok részéről – különösen a megelőzés vonatkozásában. ____ Various multilateral agreements and programmes deal with the problems of waste generation and its transboundary impacts, and those solutions, which necessitate international co-operation. Those global programmes include the most comprehensive approach, which are dedicated to the drivers of these problems, however, these documents promoting the transition to sustainable production and consumption, or to the green economy do not consist of binding commitments. In case of more concrete issues of waste generation and transboundary impacts there are much more concrete international agreements and programmes, especially, for the hazardous waste streams and the waste transmitted to and/or generated in areas outside national jurisdiction. These determine regulatory, policy, technological goals and tasks for the participating countries and the relevant sectors. Significant progress is demonstrated for some specific problems and in certain regions, but in general, there are serious concerns about the efficient implementation of the international agreements in their entirety. Moreover, even if those were fully accomplished, the existing set of the international instruments would be unable to counterweigh the global increase of the waste problem. Consequently, further efforts are needed by all countries, the relevant non-governmental organisations and sectors, primarily in order to prevent the further global escalation of the problem.

Financial aid and the persistence of associate of arts graduates transferring to a senior university

This study examined the effects of financial aid on the persistence of associate of arts graduates transferring to a senior university in one of four consecutive fall semesters (1998-2001). Situated in an international metropolitan area in the southeastern United States, the institution where the study was conducted is a large public research university identified as a Hispanic Serving Institution. Archival databases served as the source of information on the academic and social background of the 4,669 participants in the study. Data from institutional financial aid records were pooled with the data in the student administrative system.^ For purposes of this study, persistence was defined as ongoing progress until completing the baccalaureate degree. Student social background variables used in the study were gender, ethnicity, age, and income, with GPA and part-time or full-time enrollment status being the academic variables. Amount and type of aid, including grants, loans, scholarships, and work study were incorporated in the models to determine the effect of financial aid on the persistence of these transfer students. Because the dependent variable persistence had three possible outcomes (graduated, still enrolled, dropped out) multinomial logistic regression was the appropriate technique for analyzing the data; four multinomial models were employed in the analysis.^ Findings suggest that grants awarded based on the financial need of students and loans were effective in encouraging the persistence of students, but scholarships and work study were not effective.^

Foreign aid and the national interest : the cases of the United States and Japan

Developed countries give foreign assistance for many reasons, one of which is the protection of national interests. Foreign aid gives a donor country leverage in international relations and is used as a tool of foreign policy. The United States and Japan are the two largest aid donors in the world. Each of these countries exert influence over specific regions through foreign assistance. Although the national interests of each country are different, both use foreign aid to protect these interests. This thesis discusses the means by which the United States and Japan use foreign aid in foreign policy. It looks specifically at U.S. food aid to Central America and Japanese aid to Asia.

Measuring the impact of international R&D cooperation: the case of Spanish firms participating in the EU Framework Programme

The objective of this paper is to analyse the effects of international R&D cooperation on firms’ economic performance. Our approach, based on a complete data set with information about Spanish participants in research joint ventures supported by the EU Framework Programme during the period 1995-2005, establishes a recursive model structure to capture the relationship between R&D cooperation, knowledge generation and economic results, which are measured by labour productivity. In the analysis we take into account that the participation in this specific type of cooperative projects implies a selection process that includes both the self-selection by participants to join the consortia and the selection of projects by the European Commission to award the public aid. Empirical analysis has confirmed that: (1) R&D co-operation has a positive impact on the technological capacity of firms, captured through intan-gible fixed assets and (2) the technological capacity of firms is positively related to their productivity.

Coretta King at International Women's Year conference

General note: Title and date provided by Bettye Lane.

Demonstration against abortion at International Women's Year conference

General note: Title and date provided by Bettye Lane.

Mormon women in support of ERA at International Women's Year conference in Houston

General note: Title and date provided by Bettye Lane.

Pro-life rally at International Women's Year conference

General note: Title and date provided by Bettye Lane.

International Women's Day March

General note: Title and date provided by Bettye Lane.

Gloria Steinem at International Women's Year party meeting

General note: Title and date provided by Bettye Lane.

International Women's Year March

General note: Title and date provided by Bettye Lane.