For Protection And Promotion

Safety nets are noncontributory transfer programs targeted to the poor or vulnerable. They play important roles in social policy. Safety nets redistribute income, thereby immediately reducing poverty and inequality; they enable households to invest in the human capital of their children and in the livelihoods of their earners; they help households manage risk, both ex ante and ex post; and they allow governments to implement macroeconomic or sectoral reforms that support efficiency and growth. To be effective, safety nets must not only be well intended, but also well designed and well implemented. A good safety net system and its programs are tailored to country circumstances, adequate in their coverage and generosity, equitable, cost-effective, incentive compatible, and sustainable. Good safety nets are also dynamic and change over time as the economy changes or as management problems are solved and new standards are set. Drawing on a wealth of research, policy, and operational documents from both academia and the World Bank s work in over 100 countries, For Protection and Promotion provides pragmatic and informed guidance on how to design and implement safety nets, including useful information on how to define eligibility and select beneficiaries, set and pay benefits, and monitor and evaluate programs and systems. The book synthesizes the literature to date and enriches it with new examples on various program options cash transfers (conditional and unconditional), in-kind transfers, price subsidies, fee waivers, and public works. It concludes with a comprehensive diagnostic for fitting safety net systems and programs to specific circumstances.

Safety nets are noncontributory transfer programs targeted to the poor or vulnerable. They play important roles in social policy. Safety nets redistribute income, thereby immediately reducing poverty and inequality; they enable households to invest in the human capital of their children and in the livelihoods of their earners; they help households manage risk, both ex ante and ex post; and they allow governments to implement macroeconomic or sectoral reforms that support efficiency and growth. To be effective, safety nets must not only be well intended, but also well designed and well implement.

The 2005 UNESCO Convention on Cultural Diversity is a landmark agreement in modern international law of culture. It reflects the diverse and pluralist understanding of culture, as well as its growing commercial dimension. Thirty diplomats, practitioners and academics explain and assess this important agreement in a commentary style. Article by article, the evolution, concepts, contents and implications of the Convention are analysed in depth and are complemented by valuable recommendations for implementation. In an unprecedented way, the book draws on the first-hand insights of negotiators and on the experience of practitioners in implementation, including international cooperation, and combines this with a good deal of critical academic reflection. It is a valuable guide for those who deal with the Convention and its implementation in governments, diplomacy, international organizations, cultural institutions and non-governmental organizations and will also serve as an important resource for academic work in such fields as international law and international relations.

Economists disagree on whether recent U.S. trade policies are harmful or helpful, but they all agree that there is a new trend toward focusing on results-oriented policies in specific markets and with particular trading partners. These twelve essays by leading international economists explore crucial issues in U.S. trade policy today. Topics examined include the markets for automobile and automobile parts in the United States and Japan, the U.S. response to "unfair" trading practices such as dumping, and the effects of industry- and country-specific policies. Examples include high-technology and agricultural industries and off-shore assembly in U.S. border cities. The volume concludes that some policies can act to both protect imports and promote exports, that the threat of protectionist policies can often have effects that are as pronounced as their implementation, and that regulatory policy has as great an impact on trade and investment patterns as does trade policy itself. It will be of crucial interest to international trade economists, policy specialists, and political scientists.

The past decade has seen increasing international recognition of civic space as a cornerstone of functioning democracies, alongside efforts to promote and protect it. Countries that foster civic space are better placed to reap the many benefits of higher levels of citizen engagement, strengthened transparency and accountability, and empowered citizens and civil society. In the longer term, a vibrant civic space can help to improve government effectiveness and responsiveness, contribute to more citizen-centred policies, and boost social cohesion.

This book is a product of my long-standing interest in international action on human rights, an interest which I developed as a graduate student and which I have maintained as a teacher and researcher. I am indebted to Professor Vernon Van Dyke of the University of Iowa for stimulating my interest in the subject and for guiding the preparation of my Ph. D. thesis, of which this book is a greatly revised and expanded version. I should also like to express my ap preciation to Professor A. Glenn Mower, Jr. , of Hanover College, and to my colleague Glenn N. Schram, both of whom read the thesis and made many helpful suggestions when I began to revise it for publication. The book is im proved as a result of their efforts, though I alone remain responsible for any errors of fact or interpretation. Most of the research on the book was done at the Columbus Memorial Library of the OAS in Washington, D. C. , and I am grateful to the librarians there for kind and efficient assistance. The Marquette University Committee on Research provided me with a research grant for the summer of 1974 and supplementary grants in 1975 and 1976 which facilitated the completion of the manuscript: I am grateful for this assistance. I have endeavored to include all material available to me as of the end of March, 1976.

This book provides a precise concept of international human rights law, its development and the tangible meaning of civil and political rights, economic and social rights. It has highlighted women’s rights, globalization, human rights education, role of the UN and NGOs to protect human rights.