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Reconstruction Efforts (reconstruction + effort)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Humanities and Social Sciences75%

Selected Abstracts

Building the Other, Constructing Ourselves: Spatial Dimensions of International Humanitarian Response

INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY, Issue 3 2008
Lisa Smirl
Humanitarian reconstruction after a large-scale natural disaster has become a key site of international politics; a site where global assumptions, relationships, and responsibilities are negotiated, solidified and questioned. While post-crisis response strategies and institutional practices have strong spatial and material characteristics, these are rarely considered as significant,either to the reconstruction effort, or to international politics more generally. This article identifies and examines the "auxiliary space" created by the everyday practices of international aid workers and asks whether its effects may lead to unanticipated and potentially transformative outcomes not only for the reconstruction effort, but also for global North-South relations at large. The article concludes that post-crisis reconstruction sites may offer both cautionary and emancipatory potential for the evolution of international relations. [source]

Helping South Asia Cope Better with Natural Disasters: The Role of Social Protection

DEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 6 2007
Rasmus Heltberg
Social protection (income) support to households in the wake of major natural disasters is assuming a growing role for the World Bank, and major cash transfers in Turkey, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Pakistan are reviewed in this article. Such support is usually best provided directly as cash to affected households; it complements other relief and reconstruction efforts, is demanded by client countries and has a positive impact on short-term food security and long-term recovery. It could be geared for greater impact and more efficient delivery in future by the use of a best-practice toolkit and a right-on-time technical assistance facility, and its integration in emergency preparedness and capacity-building for implementing agencies. [source]

Reconstructing Weak and Failed States: Foreign Intervention and the Nirvana Fallacy

FOREIGN POLICY ANALYSIS, Issue 4 2006
CHRISTOPHER J. COYNE
Attempts to reconstruct weak and failed countries suffer from a nirvana fallacy. Where central governments are absent or dysfunctional, it is assumed that reconstruction efforts by foreign governments generate a preferable outcome. This assumption overlooks (1) the possibility that foreign government interventions can fail, (2) the possibility that reconstruction efforts can do more harm than good, and (3) the possibility that indigenous governance mechanisms may evolve that are more effective than those imposed by military occupiers. It is argued that reconstruction efforts focus on resolving the meta-level game of creating self-sustaining liberal democratic institutions while neglecting the nested games embedded within the general meta-game. An analysis of Somalia, a prototypical failed state, is provided to illuminate these claims. While Somalia lacks a central government, the private sector has developed coping mechanisms to fill the void. These mechanisms have proven to be more effective in generating widespread order than attempts by foreign occupiers to impose a self-sustaining liberal state. [source]

ENSO history recorded in Agathis australis (kauri) tree rings.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY, Issue 1 2008
Part A: kauri's potential as an ENSO proxy
Abstract Although many of the main characteristics of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon have been established, uncertainties remain concerning its multidecadal- to millennial-scale evolution. Because of the shortness of the instrumental record, we need to resort to proxy-based reconstructions to investigate ENSO's history prior to the mid 19th century, but the available proxy data is limited in both time and space. Here we investigate the potential for ENSO reconstruction from the tree rings of Agathis australis (kauri). Kauri is a long-lived endemic New Zealand conifer and grows in an ENSO teleconnection region not previously represented in ENSO multi-proxy studies. A high quality 423 year kauri regional master chronology (AD 1580,2002) is constructed. Statistical analysis of the period AD 1876,2002 confirms previous findings that kauri tree rings carry a strong regional-scale climate signal and that ENSO is a significant contributor (predominantly via the western pole of the Southern Oscillation). Kauri carries a signal of both ENSO phases, but with a slight El Niño bias. Growth sensitivity is primarily registered through a five-season window, extending from March (prior to growth initiation in September) through to the following May, with strongest relationships across the middle three seasons (June,February). Relationships appear to be stationary. We conclude that kauri has sufficient ENSO event capture skill to make it a useful addition to future multi-proxy ENSO reconstruction efforts. It may also have potential for stand-alone reconstruction of multidecadal- to millennial-scale evolution of ENSO activity, especially ENSO robustness. Copyright © 2007 Royal Meteorological Society [source]