At a time where the international flow of remittances has received a great deal of criticisms by those on the political right, Jorge de Leon Miranda, a researcher at the International Monetary Fund, attempts to investigate the magnitude and effects of international remittances. In doing so, he discovered that remittances from the United States make up a great deal of the remittance inflow for at least fifteen countries and that the level of remittance inflow has an appreciable effect level of that country's development.
In this article, Mohsin Amin and Elnaz Hassanpour Adeh from Oregon State University tackle the issue of water scarcity in Afghanistan and its implications for the stability of the country. After discussing the recent myriad problems facing the water infrastructure system in Kabul, they propose several engineering and policy solutions such as the construction of the Shah-Arus Dam and the creation of the Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) that will ameliorate the situation.
Author Edmund Ruge revisits the German Sociologist Max Weber's theory of international development to see how Weber's theory, as expressed in his classic book The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism are still relevant today in the field of international development. Edmund Ruge then juxtaposes Weber's theory of development with two other theories of development that were proposed by Karl Marx and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.
Author Valentin Sierra demonstrates how ICT adoption by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can spur long-term gains in firm productivity, competitiveness, and facilitate economic development in Latin America.
Dr. John Olushola Magbadelo, Director for Research at the Centre for African & Asian Studies (Abuja, Nigeria), reviews "The Political Economy of Sustainable Development: Policy Instruments and Market Mechanisms" by Timothy Cadman, et al.
Authors Giulio de Tommaso and Rohullah Osmani discuss the challenges of rebuilding robust state institutions in post-conflict zones, using Afghanistan and Somalia as case studies, and provide policy prescriptions for public administration reform.
Authors Jan Brecht-Clark and Rohullah Osmani discuss how a lack of transportation infrastructure--railroads, highways, and civil aviation--are limiting economic development in Afghanistan.
SAIS MA candidate Caitlin Smith offers ideas to enhance resiliency and reduce extreme poverty through the water-energy-food nexus.
Second-year MA candidate at SAIS, Saumya Kurup shares her vision for a sustainable development goal that will ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns in the post-2015 development agenda.
The crafting of the post-2015 development agenda began with a pivotal decision to integrate environmental, social, and economic issues into a set of sustainable development goals (SDGs). Since their inception, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have become a unifying mechanism for a previously disjointed development community. Homi Kharas from the Brookings Institution discusses the MDGs and what comes Post-2015.
In the defining process of the post-2015 development agenda, the term “resilience” has been used abundantly by policy makers and experts to define the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Resilience is both an innovative and useful concept to improve the overall framework of international aid. However, the actors defining the SDGs must use the term resilience carefully to ensure that it is clearly defined and operational.
Contributing author Hany Besada discusses responsibility and accountability in the post-2015 development agenda, giving us insight into shifts in the actionable policy platform of the process to include climate change as an integral part of sustainable development.
