The OECD recently published aid figures for 2006. Major debt relief operations in 2005 and varying trends among donors explain the first decline since 2001 in the total volume of development aid.
A wide-ranging World Bank anti-corruption strategy is pending approval from the organisation’s Development Committee. This ARI examines the strong political tint that the Bank’s activity might acquire in attempting to conduct in-depth assessment of the level of corruption in member countries.
The successes of the Alliance of Civilisations have been largely presentational. While the need for a new focus in diplomacy in the 21st century is undeniable, the Alliance of Civilisations does not fill the gap. It suffers both theoretical and practical problems, above all in its focus on the conflicts and differences between civilisations and their values, which could even worsen the global climate. However, instead of abandoning it, the Alliance of Civilisations can be reformed, especially by focusing on concrete problems and giving a greater role to NGOs.
The ‘Millennium + 5’ summit was held last September. It was hoped that the Millennium Goals would be backed more solidly and that the strategies so far implemented to reach these goals would be reviewed. However, neither the UN meeting nor the autumn meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank –held only a few days later– appear to have met the expectations of many sectors in this ‘Year of Development’.
It will only have escaped the attention of died-in-the-grain recluses that Africa has recently been firmly placed on the international agenda in a way that was perhaps unthinkable a couple of years ago. Music concerts, television documentaries and, above all, political meetings have all been carried out recently in support of African ‘development’.
ARI 106/2005 - 29.7.2005 After a decade of informal
The global response to the Indian Ocean seaquake and tsunami disaster has been unprecedented. More than 50 governments and agencies have pledged some US$5 billion in aid; companies and individuals have promised another US$1.5 billion. Although this generosity will create a number of diplomatic openings, the long-term implications for international politics will be limited
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