The paper focuses its analysis on the last three decades of the twentieth century. The basic assumption is that Egypt's economic performance during this period was less than satisfactory compared with the most successful examples in the far East and elsewhere. The paper also assumes that Egypt's initial conditions at midcentury compared favorably with the winners in the development race at the end of the century. Egypt has achieved positive progress, no doubt, yet compared with the higher performers in Asia, and given its favorable good initial conditions, the record seems quite mediocre.

This paper tracks the process through which FIAS, the investment climate advisory service of the World Bank Group advised the government of Latvia from 1998 to 2004 on ways to improve the business environment, achieve higher rates of economic growth, and thereby alleviate poverty. This case study shows that it is reasonable to describe how assistance by FIAS led to an improved business environment.

Contents of the report are: introduction; by Penelope J. Brook, and Sabine Hertveldt; how to reform in 3 months. Azerbaijan registers businesses faster by setting-up a one-stop shop; by Svetlana Bagaudinova, Dahlia Khalifa, and Givi Petriashvili; one-stop shopping in Portugal; by Camille Ramos; competitiveness from innovation, not inheritance; by Karim Ouled Belayachi, and Jamal Ibrahim Haidar; harnessing the internet to streamline procedures; by K.

El documento describe el proceso de integración y las señales que da éste en el marco regional. Es una reflexión sobre el contexto latinoamericano, oportunidades, límites y desafíos, desde la perspectivas de las Organizaciones Sociales.

This report is about how to progressively reduce over time Afghanistan's dependence on opium - currently the country's leading economic activity - by development initiatives and shifting economic incentives toward sustainable legal livelihoods. Specifically, the report identifies additional investments and policy and institutional measures to support development responses that can counterbalance the economic advantages of opium.

Divided into three parts, this collaborative work looks at the varied challenges brought about as a result of corruption in the water sector. It also looks at recent research conducted and provides an overview of the water sector corruption challenges in country profiles across the globe. Corruption in the water sector puts the lives and livelihoods of billions of people at risk. The onset of climate change and the increasing stress on water supply around the world make the fight against corruption in water more urgent than ever.

This paper notes that under a sustainable, well-managed, logging regime, Papua – the most densely forested part of Indonesia – can potentially contribute substantial forest revenues for socio-economic development. Yet, it remains the poorest region in the country, in part due to widespread corruption involving public and private actors.The paper argues that, reforming the management of these resources – specifically, introducing accountability and transparency into the collection of forest revenues – is a key precondition for welfare improvements in the region.

Entender los factores de la intermediación de partidos políticos (el ´clientelismo’) en la participación campesina en espacios públicos de concertación rural es una tarea básica aunque frecuentemente soslayada. Como fenómeno muy difundido en el mundo rural, debe ser parte del análisis de la exclusión (o, para ser más exacto, subordinación) campesina en la vida cívica de las municipalidades rurales, en América Latina hoy.

Includes land rights and conflict, humanitarian challenges, the political and legal framework, economic reform and governance issues, human rights and humanitarian organisations in Angola, corruption and forced evictions, the demobilisation process, rural land grabs, recommendations.

Includes why is secure access to land important; secure property rights, economic growth and social justice; the scale of insecure access to land; political contestation; the role of donors; IIED v FIG, contrasting ways of looking at land issues; governance and corruption; recourse to legal remedies; struggling for urban survival; aid instruments; lessons and recommendations from the literature – the IIED school, FAO and EU guidelines.

This report examines the benefits that a resource-rich country can derive from endorsing the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and implementing its Principles. It also searches for courses of action that the EITI Board can pursue to persuade more countries to endorse EITI. Both issues are investigated in the context of Angola, Indonesia, and Trinidad and Tobago. The authors argue that EITI is particularly beneficial for countries that suffer from the so-called “resource curse”.