Volume 12 Winter 2010
A Covenant with Uncertainty: Considering Contemporary Constitutional Land Reform in Bolivia
By Joshua Gross
Tufts University
Bolivia has long-standing problems with poverty, inequality, and corruption. A new constitution, passed in 2009, attempts to address the country's huge disparities in land ownership, but it will only be effective if the vague doctrine of "social function" is enforced equitably.
Overstating Poppy: The U.S. Counternarcotics, Counterterrorism, and Development Policy Nexus in Afghanistan
By Elizabeth A. Bennett
Brown University
Since 2005, a “chicken or egg” dilemma has dominated the discourse over the order in which United States missions in Afghanistan can succeed. Given the current U.S. foreign policy interests and strategies in Afghanistan, are the counternarcotics, counterterrorism and development missions best achieved simultaneously (the status quo) or sequentially? If sequentially, in what order should they be prioritized? This paper analyzes each of the logical possibilites in order to come up with a reccomendation.
Petro-dictators: Does the Price of Oil Impact Freedom? A Re-Examination of the Political Dimension of the Resource Curse
By Kristen Ardani and Benjamin Jaques
University of California, San Diego
This paper analyzes measures of political freedom against oil revenues to test the alternate hypotheses that oil either increases or decreases freedom. It finds that although countries with high oil revenues are correlated with low freedom, that effect is simply associated with the low levels of freedom in those countries before oil became an important part of the economy.
Challenges to China's Energy Policy
By David Almeida
University of California, San Diego
While China's central government has made efforts to strengthen their energy security, many of the changes fail to address major issues weakening China’s ability to have sustainable energy growth. This paper outlines some of the main problems with China’s current energy policy. After two studying capacity building efforts by two different organizations, it comes to conclusions about changes needed in China's energy policy.
