Every day, governments around the world give authorisation for the export and transfer of weapons. These decisions affect the lives of millions of people. In some cases, these arms transfers undermine development, by fuelling conflict and armed violence, threatening peace-building efforts, or when they involve excessive unaccountable spending. Such spending can divert vital funds from public services such as education and health care, and when such spending takes place without accountability and more...

'This report provides Transparency International’s latest recommendations for the establishment of an effective review mechanism for the UN Convention against Corruption.'

Companies and governments need to provide better quality information on extractive industries revenues if funds are to benefit all citizens and a country's development.

'Leaders of the Group of 20 (G-20), representing 85 percent of the global economy's output, face a long list of agenda items when they gather on April 2 in London for their second summit. As the world combats a 'great recession,' the leaders must address how to help stabilize financial markets and re-start economic growth, reform the global financial system, and aid developing and emerging economies.

Amidst this background of critical issues, Brookings' global economic and development experts more...

In April, leaders of the G-20 Summit will gather in London for a second meeting. In the March edition of The World Today, Colin Bradford discusses challenges they will face and how to make this governance mechanism work for the good of the international community.

'Everyone would agree that international human rights standards are the foundation of the responsibility to protect (R2P). States have an obligation to protect their populations from the worst atrocities on the basis of international human rights precepts. However, it was not until the advent of R2P that the international community accepted for the first time the collective responsibility to act should states fail to protect citizens from genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes or crimes against more...

'On Tuesday January 27, Chatham House hosted the European launch of Power and Responsibility: Building International Order in an Era of Transnational Threats. In Power and Responsibility, MGI Co-Directors and Brookings Fellows Bruce Jones, Carlos Pascual, and Stephen Stedman provide the conceptual underpinnings for a new approach to sovereignty and cooperation. They present ideas for the new U.S. administration, working with other global powers, to promote together what they cannot produce apart more...

Leaders of the Group of 20 (G-20) countries will gather in London on April 2 for their second summit on the global financial crisis. What issues are on the agenda and what can realistically be accomplished? In a new set of articles, Brookings experts address the critical issues for policymakers and offer guidelines for more effective global coordination.

This issue of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Governance News and Notes includes the following headings: a note from the publisher; governance newsmaker interview with Dr. Naser Al-Sane, chair of the Arab Region Parliamentarians Against Corruption (ARPAC) by Rami G. Khouri; the role of parliaments in good governance and anticorruption efforts by Mitchell O'Brien; the open budget index results for MENA countries; Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC) global task f more...

Democratic governance is central to the achievement of the MDGs, as it provides the ‘enabling environment' for the realization of the MDGs and, in particular, the elimination of poverty. Recognizing this, world leaders undertook in the Millennium Declaration to “spare no effort to promote democracy and strengthen the rule of law, as well as respect for all internationally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms including the right to development”. They resolved to “strengthen th more...