Jennifer M. Brinkerhoff

Partnerships Between International Donors and Non-Governmental Development Organizations: Opportunities and Constraints:

This article examines partnerships between international donors and non-governmental development organizations (NGDOs). Following a discussion of partnership’s rationale and presumed benefits, the article provides a general overview of selected donors’ partnership experience and describes four illustrations of donor– NGDO partnership. Opportunities and constraints are identified, illustrating gaps in oratory and practice. Identified challenges include constraints related to donorinitiated partnerships, addressing the legacy of past relationships, the insufficiency of relying on personal relationships, and the limits of good intentions. The article stresses the importance of recognizing the political and economic realities that frame donor–NGDO relationships and condition incentives on both sides of the partnership.

Governance Reforms and Failed States: Challenges and Implications

This article investigates the multifaceted nature of governance reforms in failed states, and the complex interplay of technical and political factors. It examines three questions: (1) What do the theory and practice of international assistance in public administration tell us about building and/or repairing governance systems? (2) What are the challenges to applying these lessons and models to failed/failing states? and (3) What are the corresponding implications for promoting sustainable governance strategies? The discussion shows how the synoptic efforts to grapple with the ‘big picture’ are often undermined by the operational nitty-gritty of donor agency procedures and aid delivery mechanisms on the ground. Attention to the complexity of shifting foreign assistance agendas, the application and refinement of analytic and process tools, appropriate incorporation of sometimes conflicting values and agendas and democratic processes to maximize effectiveness can contribute to bringing the conceptual and the practical aspects of promoting governance reforms in failed states closer together.

Digital diasporas and conflict prevention: the case of Somalinet.com

Recent research on the Internet and terrorism confirms the Internets enabling features for terrorist activities, including its ease of access, anonymity, and international character. While the Internet can serve as a tool for nefarious purposes, little research has focused on whether and how the Internet can be used to prevent conflict and, ultimately, terrorist activities. This research focuses on one group that might be considered a resource base for violent action: diasporas from failed states. Research shows a strong correlation between marginalisation and violence. On the other hand, fostering a shared identity, inclusive of liberal values, and promoting carefully framed discussion and debate may reduce psychologi- cal incentives to engage in violent activities. This article examines the case of one digital diaspora - a diaspora organised on the Internet - to explore these hypotheses. Specifically, the case of Somalinet suggests potential for the Internet to promote liberal values, channel frustration into verbal debates thus diffusing tension, and create communities that counter the marginalisation conducive to violence.

Diasporas and conflict societies: conflict entrepreneurs, competing interests or contributors to stability and development?

This paper summarises our state of knowledge regarding diaspora engagement in conflict socieities. It presents a map of possible diaspora contributions and their specific potential positive and negative impacts in societies experiencing or recovering from conflict. Following a discussion of diasporas and their motivations for engagement in their places of origin, the paper reviews the specific remittance, philanthropy, human capital and policy influence contributions, both positive and negative, that diasporas may make. Policy implications include the need more systematically to include considerations of diasporas in conflict/post-conflict interventions, and based on a more careful case-by-case analysis, using the provided map as a starting point. Such analyses can inform decisions of when to tolerate, unencumbered, diaspora engagement; when to facilitate or support such engagement; and when to consider strategic partnering with diaspora efforts. By mapping potential positive and negative influences of diasporas, the paper establishes why a more nuanced understanding of diasporas and peace and conflict is so important to policy and practice for a more peaceful world.

Global Public Policy, Partnership, and the Case of the World Commission on Dams

This article examines the potential for partnership to address two major challenges in public service: (1) the evolving sociopolitical context of public service, that is, the increasing incidence and intensity of conflict among diverse stakeholders; and (2) the formulation of acceptable and feasible global public policy. The partnership approach, its value added, and its operationalization are examined through the World Commission on Dams, a partnership designed to resolve conflicts over large dam projects. The analysis identifies lessons that are specific to conflict-based partnerships for global public policy making and regarding partnership work more generally. The importance of converging interests, policy champions, democratic processes, and perception are highlighted. Intense conflict provides incentives for joint solution, but process agreement is paramount, and conflict resolution is not a one-time effort for all. The World Commission on Dams demonstrates that partnership is an effective and efficient approach to addressing conflictive policy issues.

Lost in Cyberspace: Shedding Light on the Dark Matter of Grassroots Organizations

This article explores how information technology affects the forms and possibilities of voluntary efforts. Specifically, the authors examine the emergence of grassroots organizations in cyberspace. An analysis of two cyber-grassroots organizations (CGOs), Afghanistan Online and Rebuild-Afghanistan, highlights CGOs’ similarities, differences,and relative strengths and weaknesses compared to their traditional physical-space counterparts. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications for our understanding of grassroots organizations generally. Traditional characteristics such as size, scope, and the nature of communication need to be refined to better account for new forms of grassroots organizations.

Diaspora Identity and the Potential for Violence: Toward an Identity-Mobilization Framework

This article begins to address the need to better understand the motivation that leads some diaspora members to engage in violent activities and, from that understanding, to identify those most vulnerable to succumbing to its recruitment. The identity-mobilization framework is intended as a set of hypotheses to stimulate dialogue as well as empirical research on these issues. Following a brief note on diasporas and the potential security risks they pose, the article proceeds in three sections: the first section discusses diaspora identity, why it matters, and factors that influence its construction; the second considers why diaspora identity construction holds a potential for conflict; and the third addresses diaspora mobilization, and develops the identity-mobilization framework. The framework brings together identity construction strategies, locus of identity, and resulting acculturation strategies and potential contributions. The article closes with policy implications.

Diaspora Philanthropy in an At-Risk Society: The Case of Coptic Orphans in Egypt

This article seeks to answer two questions: How can the potential gains from diaspora philanthropy be extended beyond individual households and sustained beyond one generation? And how can these gains be mobilized for poverty alleviation, justice, and development, especially in at-risk countries? Following reviews of potential diaspora contributions and the parameters of at-risk societies, the case of Coptic Orphans is presented. Coptic Orphans provides a model for channeling remittances to meet the subsistence and development needs of the poorest of the poor and sustaining these contributions beyond the first generation. It illustrates how diaspora organizations can effectively navigate the social and legal challenges of operating in an at-risk society. Finally, it suggests that diaspora organizations may increasingly overcome voluntary failures to become a significant sector in the international development arena.

Sovereignty under Siege, or a Circuitous Path for Strengthening the State? Digital Diasporas and Human Rights

Abstract Conventional wisdom holds that globalization, and its specific contributing factors such as immigration, information technology, and the emergence of universal values that inform international law, poses a challenge to state sovereignty. This article analyzes this assertion by examining one case, which encompasses each of these factors. Following a review of the literature, this article describes the efforts, using information and communication technologies, of the Egyptian Copt diaspora to advocate for human rights and improved quality of life of Copts residing in Egypt. We conclude that while the theory and practice of state sovereignty are certainly evolving and increasingly complex, the essence of state sovereignty is not necessarily challenged by these trends and may even be supported by them.

Partnership as a Means to Good Governance: Towards an Evaluation Framework

This significant study discusses the emergence of partnerships for sustainable development as an innovative, and potentially influential, new type of governance. With contributions from leading experts in the field, the ‘partnership paradigm’ is discussed and the contributors explore the process, extent and circumstances under which partnerships can improve the legitimacy and effectiveness of governance for sustainable development.