Author: Damien Millet
Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.
ISBN: 1848138024
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 142
Book Description
Using 50 questions and answers, this book explains the debt impasse for developing countries in a simple but precise manner. It details the roles of the various actors involved, the mesh in which indebted countries are caught, the possible scenarios for getting out of the impasse, and the various alternatives to future indebtedness. It also sets out the various arguments - moral, political, economic, legal and environmental - on which the case for a wholesale cancellation of developing countries‘ external debt rests. It replies to the range of possible objections and proposes new ways of financing development at both local and international level.
Who Owes Who
Author: Damien Millet
Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.
ISBN: 1848138024
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 142
Book Description
Using 50 questions and answers, this book explains the debt impasse for developing countries in a simple but precise manner. It details the roles of the various actors involved, the mesh in which indebted countries are caught, the possible scenarios for getting out of the impasse, and the various alternatives to future indebtedness. It also sets out the various arguments - moral, political, economic, legal and environmental - on which the case for a wholesale cancellation of developing countries‘ external debt rests. It replies to the range of possible objections and proposes new ways of financing development at both local and international level.
Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.
ISBN: 1848138024
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 142
Book Description
Using 50 questions and answers, this book explains the debt impasse for developing countries in a simple but precise manner. It details the roles of the various actors involved, the mesh in which indebted countries are caught, the possible scenarios for getting out of the impasse, and the various alternatives to future indebtedness. It also sets out the various arguments - moral, political, economic, legal and environmental - on which the case for a wholesale cancellation of developing countries‘ external debt rests. It replies to the range of possible objections and proposes new ways of financing development at both local and international level.
Le courage des alternatives
Author: Christoph Eberhard
Publisher: KARTHALA Editions
ISBN: 2811107037
Category : Citizenship
Languages : fr
Pages : 326
Book Description
Cet ouvrage réunit des contributeurs du monde entier pour explorer l'enjeu du courage des alternatives dans le contexte actuel d'un changement paradigmatique où la complexité, le pluralisme et l'interculturalisme émergent comme nouveaux horizons de sens. "La vie n'est pas un vide à remplir. C'est une plénitude à découvrir". Oser la vie, oser l'Autre, s'ouvrir à soi-même, aux autres et au monde, voilà de grands défis éternels qui prennent toute leur actualité dans un contexte contemporain de globalisation qui exacerbe la tension entre unité et diversité, tension qui peut se révéler destructrice ou au contraire extrêmement créatrice selon la manière dont on l'aborde. Les contributeurs à cet ouvrage invitent le lecteur à décaler son regard sur le monde en le faisant passer du "centre" vers les "marges". Ils explorent la richesse du monde tel qu'il apparaît dès lors que l'on accepte de sortir de l'univers de nos certitudes pour s'ouvrir au plurivers des possibles expérimentés ou esquissés dans la diversité humaine. Oser l'Autre, c'est oser s'ouvrir à la vie qui est transformation permanente et confronte constamment l'humanité, individuellement et collectivement, à ses limites tout en révélant ses potentialités cachées. Cette découverte ne peut se faire seule et appelle des approches interdisciplinaires et interculturelles. L'ouvrage articule ainsi des approches anthropologiques, philosophiques, juridiques, politiques, psychologiques et mobilise des points de vue d'Afrique, d'Amérique, d'Asie et d'Europe, non seulement pour décrire ou critiquer les situations et paradigmes dominants, mais aussi pour dégager de nouveaux horizons d'un vivre ensemble dans le dialogue et la complémentarité des différences.
Publisher: KARTHALA Editions
ISBN: 2811107037
Category : Citizenship
Languages : fr
Pages : 326
Book Description
Cet ouvrage réunit des contributeurs du monde entier pour explorer l'enjeu du courage des alternatives dans le contexte actuel d'un changement paradigmatique où la complexité, le pluralisme et l'interculturalisme émergent comme nouveaux horizons de sens. "La vie n'est pas un vide à remplir. C'est une plénitude à découvrir". Oser la vie, oser l'Autre, s'ouvrir à soi-même, aux autres et au monde, voilà de grands défis éternels qui prennent toute leur actualité dans un contexte contemporain de globalisation qui exacerbe la tension entre unité et diversité, tension qui peut se révéler destructrice ou au contraire extrêmement créatrice selon la manière dont on l'aborde. Les contributeurs à cet ouvrage invitent le lecteur à décaler son regard sur le monde en le faisant passer du "centre" vers les "marges". Ils explorent la richesse du monde tel qu'il apparaît dès lors que l'on accepte de sortir de l'univers de nos certitudes pour s'ouvrir au plurivers des possibles expérimentés ou esquissés dans la diversité humaine. Oser l'Autre, c'est oser s'ouvrir à la vie qui est transformation permanente et confronte constamment l'humanité, individuellement et collectivement, à ses limites tout en révélant ses potentialités cachées. Cette découverte ne peut se faire seule et appelle des approches interdisciplinaires et interculturelles. L'ouvrage articule ainsi des approches anthropologiques, philosophiques, juridiques, politiques, psychologiques et mobilise des points de vue d'Afrique, d'Amérique, d'Asie et d'Europe, non seulement pour décrire ou critiquer les situations et paradigmes dominants, mais aussi pour dégager de nouveaux horizons d'un vivre ensemble dans le dialogue et la complémentarité des différences.
The Debt System
Author: Éric Toussaint
Publisher: Haymarket Books
ISBN: 1642590169
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 243
Book Description
“A compelling explanation of the deep-seated mechanisms at work in the international credit system” from the coauthor of Debt, the IMF, and the World Bank (Counterfire). For as long as there have been rich nations and poor nations, debt has been a powerful force for maintaining the unequal relations between them. Treated as sacrosanct, immutable, and eternally binding, it has become the yoke of choice for imperial powers in the post-colonial world to enforce their subservience over the global south. In this ground-breaking history, renowned economist Éric Toussaint argues for a radical reversal of this balance of accounts through the repudiation of sovereign debt. “Since 2008 CADTM has campaigned for ‘a new doctrine of illegitimate, illegal, odious, and unsustainable debt’ cancellation. This doctrine includes considerations of whether the debtor state is democratic, whether it respects human rights, whether the debt is incurred within the framework of ‘structural adjustments’ (enforced austerity), and includes all debts incurred to pay back previous odious debts. On grounds of global social justice, The Debt System makes a strong case for this new doctrine.” —Against the Current “This work has much to commend it; it provides detailed analyses of the impact of indebtedness in several nations . . . The author shows that, contrary to orthodox arguments, debt repudiation can be both justified and successfully carried out. I recommend the book wholeheartedly.” —Counterfire
Publisher: Haymarket Books
ISBN: 1642590169
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 243
Book Description
“A compelling explanation of the deep-seated mechanisms at work in the international credit system” from the coauthor of Debt, the IMF, and the World Bank (Counterfire). For as long as there have been rich nations and poor nations, debt has been a powerful force for maintaining the unequal relations between them. Treated as sacrosanct, immutable, and eternally binding, it has become the yoke of choice for imperial powers in the post-colonial world to enforce their subservience over the global south. In this ground-breaking history, renowned economist Éric Toussaint argues for a radical reversal of this balance of accounts through the repudiation of sovereign debt. “Since 2008 CADTM has campaigned for ‘a new doctrine of illegitimate, illegal, odious, and unsustainable debt’ cancellation. This doctrine includes considerations of whether the debtor state is democratic, whether it respects human rights, whether the debt is incurred within the framework of ‘structural adjustments’ (enforced austerity), and includes all debts incurred to pay back previous odious debts. On grounds of global social justice, The Debt System makes a strong case for this new doctrine.” —Against the Current “This work has much to commend it; it provides detailed analyses of the impact of indebtedness in several nations . . . The author shows that, contrary to orthodox arguments, debt repudiation can be both justified and successfully carried out. I recommend the book wholeheartedly.” —Counterfire
Africa's Odious Debts
Author: Léonce Ndikumana
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1848134606
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 152
Book Description
In Africa's Odious Debts, Boyce and Ndikumana reveal the shocking fact that, contrary to the popular perception of Africa being a drain on the financial resources of the West, the continent is actually a net creditor to the rest of the world. The extent of capital flight from sub-Saharan Africa is remarkable: more than $700 billion in the past four decades. But Africa's foreign assets remain private and hidden, while its foreign debts are public, owed by the people of Africa through their governments. Léonce Ndikumana and James K. Boyce reveal the intimate links between foreign loans and capital flight. Of the money borrowed by African governments in recent decades, more than half departed in the same year, with a significant portion of it winding up in private accounts at the very banks that provided the loans in the first place. Meanwhile, debt-service payments continue to drain scarce resources from Africa, cutting into funds available for public health and other needs. Controversially, the authors argue that African governments should repudiate these 'odious debts' from which their people derived no benefit, and that the international community should assist in this effort. A vital book for anyone interested in Africa, its future and its relationship with the West.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1848134606
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 152
Book Description
In Africa's Odious Debts, Boyce and Ndikumana reveal the shocking fact that, contrary to the popular perception of Africa being a drain on the financial resources of the West, the continent is actually a net creditor to the rest of the world. The extent of capital flight from sub-Saharan Africa is remarkable: more than $700 billion in the past four decades. But Africa's foreign assets remain private and hidden, while its foreign debts are public, owed by the people of Africa through their governments. Léonce Ndikumana and James K. Boyce reveal the intimate links between foreign loans and capital flight. Of the money borrowed by African governments in recent decades, more than half departed in the same year, with a significant portion of it winding up in private accounts at the very banks that provided the loans in the first place. Meanwhile, debt-service payments continue to drain scarce resources from Africa, cutting into funds available for public health and other needs. Controversially, the authors argue that African governments should repudiate these 'odious debts' from which their people derived no benefit, and that the international community should assist in this effort. A vital book for anyone interested in Africa, its future and its relationship with the West.
The International Legal System in Quest of Equity and Universality
Author: Laurence Boisson de Chazournes
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004479015
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 862
Book Description
Georges Abi-Saab began his writing and teaching at a time when the process of decolonization, and thereafter the quest for emancipation, began to make its far-reaching impact on the international scene, producing significant changes in the international environment, both quantitatively in increasing the number of nation-States and qualitatively in changing patterns of interests and claims. This was bound to result in new pressures on the international legal system itself and in a questioning of the traditional Eurocentric content of international law. In his work and teaching Professor Abi-Saab viewed the dynamics of international law as a function of two driving forces: the emergence of the third world and the sense of injustice. In his view, the first driving force - the emergence of the third world - raised the problem of exclusion: exclusion from participation in the elaboration of international law and the decision-making process, and exclusion as beneficiaries of the resulting rules of international law. At the same time, this new force introduced diversity into the international scene, reflecting the richness of the international community in its different facets. This process remains relevant today, reflecting the contemporary problem of exclusion of new actors as well as their quest for participation. The second driving force - the sense of injustice - posed a teleological problem for him, that of defining community values in order that they capture the different facets of justice, whether formal or distributive. So long as there is no effective organic structure, international law in his view will continue to remain effectiveness-oriented, reflecting rather than impacting on the structures of power. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that there is an on-going process of development of community values and interests; as Georges Abi-Saab wrote with reference to international crimes: `law, like all social phenomena, is a continuous unfolding, a continuous process of elaboration'. He has also considered that the dynamics of the international legal process itself can be captured from the perspective of international organizations as vehicles for change in the international system. From his early writings, Georges Abi-Saab approached the United Nations Charter as a blueprint - both normative and institutional - for a certain type of international society. International institutions with all their imperfections, continue for him to be the means of realization of the law of cooperation which lies at the heart of his concept of the international system. The themes selected for this volume in honour of Professor Georges Abi-Saab are intended to reflect his unique and pioneering contribution to the field of international law. The contributors are drawn from what he has always considered to be his large `family' of former students: in his forty years of teaching, Georges Abi-Saab has acted as mentor to generations of students from all over the world who have benefited from his vision, insights, originality and creative and stimulating use of language. The contributors also include colleagues and friends who share a similar vision of the international legal system.
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004479015
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 862
Book Description
Georges Abi-Saab began his writing and teaching at a time when the process of decolonization, and thereafter the quest for emancipation, began to make its far-reaching impact on the international scene, producing significant changes in the international environment, both quantitatively in increasing the number of nation-States and qualitatively in changing patterns of interests and claims. This was bound to result in new pressures on the international legal system itself and in a questioning of the traditional Eurocentric content of international law. In his work and teaching Professor Abi-Saab viewed the dynamics of international law as a function of two driving forces: the emergence of the third world and the sense of injustice. In his view, the first driving force - the emergence of the third world - raised the problem of exclusion: exclusion from participation in the elaboration of international law and the decision-making process, and exclusion as beneficiaries of the resulting rules of international law. At the same time, this new force introduced diversity into the international scene, reflecting the richness of the international community in its different facets. This process remains relevant today, reflecting the contemporary problem of exclusion of new actors as well as their quest for participation. The second driving force - the sense of injustice - posed a teleological problem for him, that of defining community values in order that they capture the different facets of justice, whether formal or distributive. So long as there is no effective organic structure, international law in his view will continue to remain effectiveness-oriented, reflecting rather than impacting on the structures of power. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that there is an on-going process of development of community values and interests; as Georges Abi-Saab wrote with reference to international crimes: `law, like all social phenomena, is a continuous unfolding, a continuous process of elaboration'. He has also considered that the dynamics of the international legal process itself can be captured from the perspective of international organizations as vehicles for change in the international system. From his early writings, Georges Abi-Saab approached the United Nations Charter as a blueprint - both normative and institutional - for a certain type of international society. International institutions with all their imperfections, continue for him to be the means of realization of the law of cooperation which lies at the heart of his concept of the international system. The themes selected for this volume in honour of Professor Georges Abi-Saab are intended to reflect his unique and pioneering contribution to the field of international law. The contributors are drawn from what he has always considered to be his large `family' of former students: in his forty years of teaching, Georges Abi-Saab has acted as mentor to generations of students from all over the world who have benefited from his vision, insights, originality and creative and stimulating use of language. The contributors also include colleagues and friends who share a similar vision of the international legal system.
Foreign Policy in North Africa
Author: Irene Fernandez Molina
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 100005537X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 166
Book Description
Foreign Policy in North Africa explores how the foreign policies of North African states, which occupy a peripheral and subaltern position within the global system, have actively responded to the constraints and opportunities stemming from multi-level transformations in the 2010s. What has been the extent of continuity and change in each country’s foreign policy-making and behaviour under such conditions? Which structural and agential factors explain the variations observed, or the lack thereof? Building on scholarship on foreign policy in the Global South and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) as well as the international impact of the 2011 Arab uprisings, case studies on six different countries focus on a specific level of analysis for each. These range from the global (Tunisia’s financial predicaments and foreign debt negotiations) through the (sub)regional (Egypt’s relationship of necessity with Saudi Arabia, Algeria’s half-hearted policies towards the conflicts in Libya and Mali) to the domestic sphere (Morocco’s power balance between the monarchy and the Islamist-led government, Libya’s extreme state weakness and internal competition among proliferating actors), reaching also the deeper non-state societal level in the case of Mauritania. The volume concludes by examining post-2011 developments in the longstanding Algerian–Moroccan rivalry which hinders regional integration in the Maghreb. Foreign Policy in North Africa will be of great interest to scholars of North African politics and international relations, Middle Eastern and North African studies, foreign policy and global international relations. The chapters were originally published as a special issue of The Journal of North African Studies.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 100005537X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 166
Book Description
Foreign Policy in North Africa explores how the foreign policies of North African states, which occupy a peripheral and subaltern position within the global system, have actively responded to the constraints and opportunities stemming from multi-level transformations in the 2010s. What has been the extent of continuity and change in each country’s foreign policy-making and behaviour under such conditions? Which structural and agential factors explain the variations observed, or the lack thereof? Building on scholarship on foreign policy in the Global South and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) as well as the international impact of the 2011 Arab uprisings, case studies on six different countries focus on a specific level of analysis for each. These range from the global (Tunisia’s financial predicaments and foreign debt negotiations) through the (sub)regional (Egypt’s relationship of necessity with Saudi Arabia, Algeria’s half-hearted policies towards the conflicts in Libya and Mali) to the domestic sphere (Morocco’s power balance between the monarchy and the Islamist-led government, Libya’s extreme state weakness and internal competition among proliferating actors), reaching also the deeper non-state societal level in the case of Mauritania. The volume concludes by examining post-2011 developments in the longstanding Algerian–Moroccan rivalry which hinders regional integration in the Maghreb. Foreign Policy in North Africa will be of great interest to scholars of North African politics and international relations, Middle Eastern and North African studies, foreign policy and global international relations. The chapters were originally published as a special issue of The Journal of North African Studies.
Debt Relief and Beyond
Author: Carlos A. Primo Braga
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821378759
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 478
Book Description
The history of debt relief goes back several decades. It reveals that a country s accumulation of unsustainable debt stems from such factors as deficiencies in macroeconomic management, adverse terms-of-trade shocks, and poor governance. Debt-relief initiatives have provided debt-burdened countries with the opportunity for a fresh start, but whether the benefits of debt relief can be preserved depends on transformations in a country s policies and institutions. In 1996, the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative was launched as the first comprehensive, multilateral, debt-relief framework for low-income countries. In 2005, the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative was established, which increased the level of debt relief provided to HIPCs. As of early 2009, assistance through these two initiatives had been committed to 35 countries and amounted to US$117 billion in nominal terms, or half of the 2007 GDP of these countries. 'Debt Relief and Beyond' assesses the implications of debt relief for low-income countries and how its benefits can be preserved and used to fight poverty. The chapter authors bring unique operational experience to their examination of debt relief, debt sustainability, and debt management. Several key questions are addressed, including, what consequences does debt relief have for poverty-reducing expenditures, growth, and access to finance? Can debt relief guarantee debt sustainability? How can debt management at all levels of government be improved? What lessons can be learned from countries that have experienced debt restructuring? Finally, this book provides sound empirical evidence using current econometric techniques.
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821378759
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 478
Book Description
The history of debt relief goes back several decades. It reveals that a country s accumulation of unsustainable debt stems from such factors as deficiencies in macroeconomic management, adverse terms-of-trade shocks, and poor governance. Debt-relief initiatives have provided debt-burdened countries with the opportunity for a fresh start, but whether the benefits of debt relief can be preserved depends on transformations in a country s policies and institutions. In 1996, the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative was launched as the first comprehensive, multilateral, debt-relief framework for low-income countries. In 2005, the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative was established, which increased the level of debt relief provided to HIPCs. As of early 2009, assistance through these two initiatives had been committed to 35 countries and amounted to US$117 billion in nominal terms, or half of the 2007 GDP of these countries. 'Debt Relief and Beyond' assesses the implications of debt relief for low-income countries and how its benefits can be preserved and used to fight poverty. The chapter authors bring unique operational experience to their examination of debt relief, debt sustainability, and debt management. Several key questions are addressed, including, what consequences does debt relief have for poverty-reducing expenditures, growth, and access to finance? Can debt relief guarantee debt sustainability? How can debt management at all levels of government be improved? What lessons can be learned from countries that have experienced debt restructuring? Finally, this book provides sound empirical evidence using current econometric techniques.
Unconstitutional Regimes and the Validity of Sovereign Debt
Author: Sabine Michalowski
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317005430
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 252
Book Description
Sabine Michalowski's work provides a much-needed legal perspective on the topical subject of Developing World debt repayment. The volume incorporates a single debtor country, Argentina, as an example to address global questions relating to this problem. The work assesses the range of complex issues involved in the context of international as well as national law. It further examines the political pressure creditors may apply to make vulnerable countries adapt their economic and other policies in line with their wishes. These raise obvious constitutional issues for the debtor country and pose questions of whether and how the inequality of bargaining power in such situations could influence the validity of any measures taken, whether contractual or legislative. Argentina has been chosen as a case study because as a large debtor country, it represents these sorts of issues.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317005430
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 252
Book Description
Sabine Michalowski's work provides a much-needed legal perspective on the topical subject of Developing World debt repayment. The volume incorporates a single debtor country, Argentina, as an example to address global questions relating to this problem. The work assesses the range of complex issues involved in the context of international as well as national law. It further examines the political pressure creditors may apply to make vulnerable countries adapt their economic and other policies in line with their wishes. These raise obvious constitutional issues for the debtor country and pose questions of whether and how the inequality of bargaining power in such situations could influence the validity of any measures taken, whether contractual or legislative. Argentina has been chosen as a case study because as a large debtor country, it represents these sorts of issues.
Debt, the IMF, and the World Bank
Author: Eric Toussaint
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 1583674985
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 372
Book Description
Mainstream economists tell us that developing countries will replicate the economic achievements of the rich countries if they implement the correct “free-market”policies. But scholars and activists Toussaint and Millet demonstrate that this is patently false. Drawing on a wealth of detailed evidence, they explain how developed economies have systematically and deliberately exploited the less-developed economies by forcing them into unequal trade and political relationships. Integral to this arrangement are the international economic institutions ostensibly created to safeguard the stability of the global economy—the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank—and the imposition of massive foreign debt on poor countries. The authors explain in simple language, and ample use of graphics, the multiple contours of this exploitative system, its history, and how it continues to function in the present day. Ultimately, Toussaint and Millet advocate cancellation of all foreign debt for developing countries and provide arguments from a number of perspectives—legal, economic, moral. Presented in an accessible and easily-referenced question and answer format, Debt, the IMF, and the World Bank is an essential tool for the global justice movement.
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 1583674985
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 372
Book Description
Mainstream economists tell us that developing countries will replicate the economic achievements of the rich countries if they implement the correct “free-market”policies. But scholars and activists Toussaint and Millet demonstrate that this is patently false. Drawing on a wealth of detailed evidence, they explain how developed economies have systematically and deliberately exploited the less-developed economies by forcing them into unequal trade and political relationships. Integral to this arrangement are the international economic institutions ostensibly created to safeguard the stability of the global economy—the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank—and the imposition of massive foreign debt on poor countries. The authors explain in simple language, and ample use of graphics, the multiple contours of this exploitative system, its history, and how it continues to function in the present day. Ultimately, Toussaint and Millet advocate cancellation of all foreign debt for developing countries and provide arguments from a number of perspectives—legal, economic, moral. Presented in an accessible and easily-referenced question and answer format, Debt, the IMF, and the World Bank is an essential tool for the global justice movement.
The Debt Scam
Author: Damien Millet
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Debts, External
Languages : en
Pages : 214
Book Description
On the sorry state of external debt in developing countries; a study.
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Debts, External
Languages : en
Pages : 214
Book Description
On the sorry state of external debt in developing countries; a study.