New Publications

Read about new publications by our IEE Members.

Book Contributions

Together with Sérgio Veloso, PhD IDS student Jurek Seifert contributed an article to a new handbook on the BRICS states, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
The authors concur with the idea that all five countries improved their power of influence and position within the international system and have increased their importance, both individually and as a group, producing a greater effect than the sum of their separate effects. Their book chapter specifically analyses the developing BRICS grouping, the areas tackled through the first cycle of summits, the importance of having South Africa in the group since the summit in Sanya, China, and the relationship established between BRICS and Africa. They provide a summary of the first cycle of the BRICS Summits, which started in 2009 in Yekaterinburg, Russia, and was concluded in 2013 in Durban, South Africa. Additionally, they address the joining of South Africa and its importance for the approximation between BRICS and African countries. A specific angle of their contribution lies in approaching the idea of new development partners and South-South cooperation in relation to the cooperation established between BRICS and Africa. Based on their analysis they propose possible meanings and impacts of BRICS in the future.
Jurek Seifert / Sérgio Veloso (2015): The Long Road for BRICS: Summits, South-South Cooperation and Transculturality; in: Yvette Sánchez; Claudia Franziska Brühlweiler: "Transculturalism and Business in the BRICS States – A Handbook", University of St. Gallen, pp. 151-170.

Anja Zorob contributed a chapter to a new German language volume on regional integration, which brings together leading experts in the fields of international relations, foreign policy research, regional and area studies, integration research, as well as law and economics. Her book chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the most important regional integration projects worldwide.
Anja Zorob's contribution zooms in on the Arab League and provides both an introduction and classification of this regional integration project. Furthermore, the chapter sheds light on its historical foundations, the actors, the institutional structures, the different policy programmes and development prospects of the Arab League.
Anja Zorob (2015): Arabische Liga, in: Andreas Grimmel / Cord Jakobeit (Hrsg.): Regionale Integration, Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, pp. 207-231.

Anja Zorob also contributed a chapter to a German language handbook on Mediterranean studies, bringing together the perspectives and insights of disciplines as different as economics, archeology, climatology and philosophy, on the Mediterranean region.
Drawing on her expertise on Middle East and North Africa, endeavours of economic integration, and free trade agreements in the region, Anja Zorob's contribution describes the approaches, perspectives and insights of the discipline of economics to 'the Mediterranian'.
Anja Zorob (2015): Die Mittelmeerforschung in den Wirtschaftswissenschaften, in: Mihran Dabag et al. (Eds.): Handbuch der Mediterranistik, Paderborn: Verlage Wilhelm Fink & Ferdinand Schöningh, pp. 533-553.

IEE post-doctoral fellow Martina Shakya contributed a chapter to a new volume on sustainable tourism.
In her chapter Martina Shakya addresses the widely voiced concern about social and cultural impacts of tourism due to observed changes in local norms, values, and behaviour. She proposes the concept of social capital to analyse the social and cultural implications of tourism in Nepal. Based on empirical evidence from a household survey and village case studies she highlights a decline of bonding social capital and an increase of bridging social capital due to tourism. On the one hand, tourism can exacerbate local conflicts and reduce the relevance of indigenous self-help mechanisms. On the other, it has promoted the formation of new institutions and opportunities to develop and expand hierarchical, extra-community networks. Highlighting the interdependencies and trade-offs of economic advancement and changes in social capital for sustainable development, the chapter calls for a more pragmatic debate on tourism's social impacts in developing countries.
Martina Shakya (2016)*: Tourism and Social Capital: Case Studies from Rural Nepal. In: Stephen F. McCool / Keith Bosak (editors): Reframing Sustainable Tourism. Dordrecht: Springer (Environmental Challenges and Solutions 2), pp. 217-239.
* The print version of the book is already available.

Journal Articles

In the context of the research project "Procurement Law and Anti-Corruption" funded by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation Annika Engelbert published a journal article on current procurement law reforms in Ghana and their potential to curb corruption.
Curbing corruption in public administration in general, and in public procurement in particular, has been high on the agenda of most Sub-Saharan African countries for the last twenty years. Regulatory frameworks are considered to deliver incentives for procuring entities and bidders alike to respect integrity. This paper seeks to identify and assess particular components of the Ghanaian Public Procurement Act, currently being subjected to a legislative reform process, that are suitable to form a strong corruption deterrence mechanism. Besides domestic legal texts, the analysis is based on findings from expert interviews as well as on empirical data of World Bank reports. Recommendations will be proposed to further improve the public procurement system with regard to anti-corruption.
Annika Engelbert (2015): "Anti-corruption elements in the Ghanaian public procurement law", in: African Public Procurement Law Journal, Volume 2, Issue 1.
The full article can be downloaded on the website of the African Public Procurement Law Journal.

Working Paper

Post-doctoral fellow Martina Shakya co-authored a working paper that summarizes the results of an exploratory survey conducted in the context of the Urban Food Plus research project in Tamale, Ghana, and Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
The report summarizes key results from surveys carried out on urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) in Tamale (Ghana) and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) in 2013. The aim was to provide a broad overview of the state of UPA in the study cities and a basis for future research endeavors. The randomized sampling approach used aerial photography to identify 10 sites in different categories of farm in each city. Farmers provided information on their cropping and livestock-rearing activities. The authors point to similarities between the cities, as well as differences in the expression of UPA in Tamale and Ouagadougou as in farm sizes, crops grown and livestock ownership. Farmers were particularly concerned about diminishing access to land in Tamale, where sales by chiefs to private investors were accelerating. In Ouagadougou, formal reallocation of land to homeowners by the state had similarly decreased available farmland. Water availability was a universal concern, and the quality of water used for irrigation was potentially more questionable in Ouagadougou than in Tamale. The results indicate the need for further work on uncontaminated, perennial water sources and soil fertility management, alongside focuses on commercialization of animal production, and the legal, political and institutional context of UPA in different West African cities.
Imogen Bellwood-Howard / Volker Häring / Hanna Karg / Regina Roessler / Johannes Schlesinger / Martina Shakya (2015): Characteristics of Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture in West Africa: Results of an Exploratory Survey Conducted in Tamale (Ghana) and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). Colombo: International Water Management Institute (IWMI Working Paper 163).

Online Publications

IEE Director Markus Kaltenborn contributes a brief analysis of the topic of social security in the context of the recent adoption of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to the Global Governance Spotlight series published by the Stiftung Entwicklung und Frieden.
In recent years, the issue of social protection has re-emerged in development policy debates. In the text of the 2030-Agenda for Sustainable Development, which was adopted by consensus by the United Nations General Assembly on 25 September 2015, it is explicitly mentioned that the adoption and implementation of social protection systems is one of the new global goals. In his paper, Markus Kaltenborn analyses Social Protection Floors as one the key elements of the 2030 Agenda. He also discusses potential financing mechanisms and provides suggestions for the implementation of a global basic social protection.
Markus Kaltenborn, Global Social Protection. New Impetus from the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Global Governance Spotlight 7/2015, Stiftung Entwicklung und Frieden (sef: ), Bonn 2015, ISSN 2195-0873.

IEE research fellow and PhD IDS student, Anne Siebert, co-authored an article on small-holder farming featured in the new online publication format on development issues called Digital Development Debates.
Based on the observation that production from smallholder farmers makes an important contribution to global food security and represents the starting point for sustainable rural development, the authors investigate the following questions: How do smallholder farmers view current global trends in farming and food? How do they experience the impact of these trends on their living environments? They offer three different points of view from Ghana, Malawi, and South Africa.
Jonas Metzger / Franziska Ollendorf / Anne Siebert (2015): Smallholder Farming under Threat?. In: Digital Development Debates, Issue 16 Food & Farming.