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A study in contradictions: African democracy

"Support for Democracy Seen Falling in Africa" is the Washington Post headline – a stronger version of Afrobarometer's own headline of "African Democracy Faces Continuing Challenges", describing the results of its latest 18-country survey.  "A Study in Contradictions" would be a more apt title. ...

SMEs in Russia

Yesterday the Russian government discussed the SME situation in Russia - see Komsomolskaya Pravda article (in Russian). Prime Minister Fradkov acknowledged that the government does not provide adequate support to SMEs even though "successful small business development is essential for the country's ...

An Unlikely Advocate for Free Markets in Africa?

It seems that these days everyone is ready to voice their opinion on what's going on with poverty reduction efforts in Africa, with viewpoints fluctuating between the extremes of doubling or tripling or any other "ing" aid and abandoning aid altogether in favor of purely market solutions to povert...

New Strategy Towards Russia

Who is to decide where Russia’s democracy and economy are heading? Certainly not the foreigners, according to Russian public officials and political experts, reports the Moscow Times: Russians now expect the West not to meddle in their internal politics and in their relations with former Soviet re...

Russians and Americans Agree on Economy

On one thing Russians and Americans agree - that economic situation in the United States is positive and it is not so good in Russia.  Reports Interfax: Seventy-three percent of Russian interviewed as part of a poll conducted by the Yuri Lavada Analytic Center and the World Public Opinion.org (join...

Staffing Challenges in NGOs

Aceh Diary at the World Bank's PSD Blog takes a closer look at the staffing challenge in reconstruction/rebuilding efforts.  In the spirit of being responsible, supporting local employment, and not overspending on foreign experts, NGOs are looking for locals.  But ...the qualified locals—and I d...

On the Road With Ramazan

Ramazan Jumazada is CIPE Afghanistan's program manager for its USAID-funded business association network development project.   In addition to his daily work to build the capacity of the Afghanistan International Chamber of Commerce, he is also responsible for overseeing elements of the project th...

Rising Crime Rate in Karachi Metropolis

In Karachi which is the largest city of Pakistan with a population of 14 million (Pakistan's total population is 150 million) at least 210 people lost their lives, 2,188 people were robbed and 920 people became theft victims in the month of May. These crimes deprived citizens of goods worth millions...

Alan García: Back to the Past?

Today Alan García can be declared the virtual winner of the second round of the presidential elections in Peru. AFP reports that 91% of all votes have been counted and Alan García has consolidated his victory with a 7% lead over the nationalist candidate Ollanta Humala. Alan García will therefore...

Assessing Corruption Trends

What are the corruption trends in today's world?  Is commercial bribery increasing or decreasing?  Is it primarily supply-side or demand-side? Help TRACE answer these questions by taking their survey on corruption attitudes.  The survey is available here in 10 different languages and should take...

From Agrarian Reform to Command Economy

As Alan Garcia is getting ready to celebrate his victory in the runoff presidential elections in Peru, Jefferson Morley at the Washington Post ponders whether the influence of the Left, particularly Hugo Chavez, is dwindling in Latin America. With Peru seemingly rejecting any serious reversals from ...

New Feature on CIPE Blog

There is a new feature on CIPE blog - we are now polling our users on general international development issues.  The poll is available in the right-side column.  Stop by and "have your say."  and Technorati Profile

Democracy Promotion — Local Risk and International Support

Yesterday the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on The Role of NGOs in the Development of Democracy.  It was broadcast live, of course, and the archived video as well as the list of witnesses and copies of opening statements can be found on line. All democracies are works in p...

What Type of Investment Do You Want?

Russian stock market grew by over 80% in 2005.  80%?!?! Risk or no risk, that's something any investor would love to hear.  And Russia is not the only country on the list of economies with booming stock markets. Recently, however, stock markets in many emerging economies have been losing stea...

Empowering Women Through Micro Finance

Women are vital contributors to the economic survival of poor households and family reliance on women’s earnings increases with the extent of poverty. A survey showed that the earnings of women in poor households of Karachi which is the largest city of Pakistan with a population of about 14 mi...

Private Solutions to Public Problems: Street Vendors?

NPR is running a story today on the informal sector in Mexico.  There are some interesting insights into the daily life of street vendors.  Consider, for example, Porfirio Salinas, who modified his bicycle so that he is able to provide city residents a knife-sharpening service.  He tells about ...

Property protest hits the blogosphere — in China

High prices in urban centers are a pain felt by many would-be homeowners, whether in New York, Moscow, London, Hong Kong, and now apparently, Shenzhen.  On Monday the Wall Street Journal (paid subscription required) reported about a Chinese blogger calling for a boycott of Chinese property sales ...

Transparency – Key to Economic Reforms

Truly said, transparency within the governments and its stakeholders is the singly key economic reform required by a country needed to embark upon the path of economic growth. Despite continued efforts, the Government of Pakistan is still unable to implement transparency and trust within their syste...

Using Trade Barriers as An Incentive

Belarus has fallen off the radards somewhat, following Lukashenka's victory in this spring's Presidential elections and subsequent European Union's ban on travels of senior Belarusian officials and freeze on their assets within its borders.  But, it seems, the EU is not yet finished, annoucing th...

Corruption Strikes Motorola in Russia

In a strange twist of events, $17 million worth of Motorola cellular phones imported into Russia were confiscated on March 29th by the customs agency merely 5 days after Motorola received approval from the very same agency. As Steven Lee Meyers writes in his article in Wednesday's edition of the New...
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