This report shows that some investors
still perceive Aceh as a risky place to do business, despite
being relatively peaceful for almost four years. Security
incidents, relatively common in post-conflict environments,
deter businesses and individuals from investing in Aceh,
robbing the economy of necessary capital and innovation.
Other consequences of the conflict, including forms of
illegal taxation, also hurt investment. The Government of

This report evaluates the framework of
decentralization reforms instituted in decentralizing
countries. Decentralization is a multi-faceted process which
includes giving discretion to local governments and
establishing accountability mechanisms at three different
levels of governance: political, administrative and fiscal.
Therefore, the analysis of the decentralization reforms
should also be based on an inter-disciplinary approach. The

This report will look at how the
Government of Morocco (GoM) has addressed the issues of
decentralization and deconcentration in recent years. It
discusses how these processes have affected public policies
at the sub-national level and a number of strategic sectors,
including agriculture, irrigation, water and waste water,
health, education, energy, transport, urban, housing, and
solid waste management. Specifically, the report will

Big cities are becoming even bigger and
these have been and will be the key drivers of economic
growth in Serbia. Belgrade, Novi Sad, Nis and Kragujevac,
Serbia's four largest cities contributed to about 60
percent of the increase of value added in the economy over
the period 2001-2008. These four largest cities in 2008
accounted for about two thirds of country s economy. Spatial
characteristics of foreign direct investments inflow,

This working paper concerns the growth
of investment climate in the Philippines. There are several
resounding ideas in areas both positive and negative. The
growth potential in the Philippines is considerable. The
country has significant natural resources; a large pool of
managerial and entrepreneurial talent; and widespread
proficiency in English. The Government's Medium Term
Development Plan (MTDP), 2005-2010 sets ambitious growth and

The decentralization game in Bolivia has
been altered quite significantly with the presence of new
bargainers at the departmental level. Two, opposing groups
have emerged and which follow intricate strategies to
enforce their claims. The highland departments are strongly
aligned to the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) party and the
charismatic leadership of the country's first
indigenous leader Evo Morales. The Media Luna departments in

The financial sector, dominated by the
banks, is vulnerable to external shocks. The country is
exposed to terms of trade shocks mainly from coffee and oil
prices, which could impact banks through real sector
effects. The banking system is also vulnerable to a decline
in external assistance which funds nearly half of the
government on which a large share of the economy depends.
Burundi has not been directly affected by the international

The government has embarked upon a
comprehensive and difficult medium term program for
reforming the public sector aimed at rebalancing the
relation between revenue and spending and enhancing the
efficiency and efficacy of service delivery. The Romanian
economy has been hit hard by the global economic downturn.
Latest estimates suggest that real Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) may have contracted by around 7 percent in 2009,

The topic of this paper is, in the words
of one reviewer, 'one of the most discussed
sociological and societal issues in African studies: the
relationship between traditional institutions and new
institutions'. Often in such discussions, the
'traditional' and 'modern' are framed as
if in opposition to one another, and debate centers on
whether and to what extent tradition should cede to
modernity, or modernity should yield to the dictates of

This paper focuses on the experience of
the national-level adaptation planning efforts and the
lessons that can be derived for more effective adaptation
from an examination of local governance of development and
natural resources. After examining national level adaptation
plans, particularly the NAPAs (National Adaptation
Programmes of Action), the paper analyzes the range of
institutional instruments and relationships visible in

The agriculture sector has been and will
continue to be important for poverty alleviation efforts in
Indonesia. Indonesia was very successful in increasing
agriculture productivity during the 1970s and up to the
early 1990s, but productivity stagnated during most of the
1990s, partly as a result of declining public investments.
Public spending on agriculture has increased significantly
in the last decade, but a large share of that spending has

A pro-growth, pro-poor transport
strategy (PGPTS) responsive to the second generation poverty
reduction strategies (SGPRSs) and the millennium development
goals (MDGs) are essential instruments to promote transport
development that facilitates economic growth and poverty
reduction. However, the national poverty reduction and
transport strategy reviews, undertaken by Sub-Saharan Africa
Transport Policy Program (SSATP) member countries, and the