In This Issue

Announcements

Awards & Funding

Technology News & Tools

Africa

Asia

Eurasia

LAC

MENA

Multiregional

Just for Fun 

http://fotoweekdc.org/
When: Nov 6-13
Where: Everywhere
 

Festival of photography and new media!

Tens of thousands of fans have come to expect the unexpected: colossal photo projections on the walls of the city's famed architecture...all-night photo experiences...evocative exhibitions of award-winning images...lectures and workshops by internationally renowned photographers.

What's New?

NEW BOOKS

Digital Library on Democracy (DLD) 

The Digital Library on Democracy features full-text publications produced by NDRI member institutions. The library provides scholars, activists, and others interested in democracy promotion and related issues with access to an online repository of materials, many produced by new think tanks in developing and transitional countries.
To access the Digital Library on Democracy, visit http://bit.ly/ndrilibrary

Nexis News Search

NEXIS is one of the largest database services in the world offering thousands of daily articles on news stories from around the world. If you are interested in getting news on a particular topic or country as the arrest of a grantee or a rapidly developing political situation in a country please an email to: NexisSearch@ned.org with a brief summary of what you are interested in finding and one of the library staff will respond to your request.

Sign Up for a Library Orientation!

New staff and interns or staff who just want a refresher on the resources and services offered by the library are encourage to attend one of our library orientations.  To sign up for a library orientation contact Tim Myers tim@ned.org or ext. 686

Book Exchange Corner

Look for the cart in the front of the library where we put out extra copies books or those that are not relevant to the collection and invite others to bring in books they no longer want and wish to give away to others.  So come in take some books and bring some you may not want anymore!

Announcements

CIPE's impact on democracy

http://www.cipe.org/programs/evaluations/pdf/25%20Year%20Evaluation.pdf

Stories from more than 1,100 projects and more than 100 countries are documented in the 25-Year Impact Evaluation.

New Library Intern

Jessica Ondusko recently started working on the Digital Library on Democracy (DLD) for the Network of Democracy Research Institutes (NDRI). Jessica, who is currently a library science student at the University of Maryland, comes with a very rich background in digital libraries and archives. She previously worked for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum and the Rutgers University Oral History Archives.

Awards, Funding and Educational Opportunities

2011 International Human Rights Training Program (IHRTP)
http://www.equitas.org/english/programs/IHRTP.php
The goal of the IHRTP is to strengthen the capacity of human rights organisations to undertake human rights education efforts (e.g. training, awareness campaigns, information dissemination and advocacy) aimed at building a global culture of human rights.

Applications are currently being accepted for the Justice Initiative Fellows Programme at Central European University
http://web.ceu.hu/legal/OSJI.htm
Justice Initiative Fellows are nominated by NGOs from their home countries and reside for one year in Budapest, Hungary, where they undertake a degree program (MA or LL.M. in Human Rights) at the CEU Legal Studies Department. During their stay, Fellows participate in a three-month internship with a leading European NGO. The second year of the fellowship is devoted to work in the home country with the nominating NGO.

Technology News & Tools

Bing Maps Now a Component on UNCHR.org to Help Protect and Empower Refugees

http://www.bing.com/community/site_blogs/b/maps/archive/2010/10/22/bing-maps-now-a-component-on-unchr-com-to-help-protect-and-empower-refugees.aspx

A Bing Maps mash-up developed by ShootHill was launched on UNCHR.org to show geographical information on refugees, refugee assistance offices, and refugee-related stories from around the globe.

China unveils its own version of Google Earth

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69L07920101022

A Chinese government body has released its own online mapping service, designed to compete with Google Earth's popular satellite mapping service, that could spell more trouble for Google's services in the mainland.

Circumvention Tool Usage Report

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/node/6421

Circumvention tools allow users to bypass Internet filtering to access content otherwise blocked by governments, workplaces, schools, or even the blocked sites themselves. There are a number of different types of these tools: blocking-resistant tools, simple web proxies, virtual private network (VPN) services, and open HTTP/SOCKS proxies.

The incredible growth of the Internet since 2000
http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/10/22/incredible-growth-of-the-internet-since-2000
There were only 361 million Internet users in 2000, in the entire world. For perspective, that's barely two-thirds of the size of Facebook today.

Place Search: a faster, easier way to find local information

http://bit.ly/aUJNXu

Google recently introduced Place Search, a new kind of local search result that organizes the world's information around places. 

Women's Political Participation in 21st Century: Using Communication Technologies

http://www.iknowpolitics.org/node/21155

In its most recent e-discussion, iKNOW Politics invited its members to share their thoughts and experiences on the use of new communication technologies in politics.

Africa

2010 Ibrahim Index of African Governance
http://www.moibrahimfoundation.org/en/section/the-ibrahim-index
The Ibrahim Index measures the delivery of public goods and services to citizens by government and non-state actors.

Assessing Progress in Africa Toward the MDGs
http://www.undp.org/africa/mdg2010.shtml
The report shows achievement in areas including poverty reduction, increased access to safe drinking water, increased access to education and gender equality, and the stemmed spread of HIV/AIDS. However, the report also highlights Africa's generally slow progress in meeting health targets and sites continued inequalities among socioeconomic groups and classes as the primary obstacle in achieving the MDG goal of "health for all."

Democratic Republic of the Congo human rights report, 1993-2009
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/AfricaRegion/Pages/RDCProjetMapping.aspx
The mapping team's 550-page report contains descriptions of 617 alleged violent incidents occurring in the DRC between March 1993 and June 2003. Each of these incidents points to the possible commission of gross violations of human rights and/or international humanitarian law. 

Guinea: Reforming the Army

http://www.ciaonet.org/wps/icg/0019624/index.html

After decades of bad governance and misuse, the armed forces are a potential source of instability which could still throw Guinea and the region into chaos.

Asia

China's Myanmar Strategy: Elections, Ethnic Politics and Economics

http://www.ciaonet.org/pbei/icg/0019592/index.html

Myanmar's 2010 elections present challenges and opportunities for China's relationship with its south-western neigh­bour. Despite widespread international opinion that elections will be neither free nor fair, China is likely to accept any poll result that does not involve major instability.

North Korea: Legislative Basis for U.S. Economic Sanctions
http://opencrs.com/document/R41438/
These sanctions are a critical tenet of the larger bilateral relationship, and this report highlights Congress's role and responsibility in determining the nature of U.S.-North Korea relations.

Women's Participation in Politics and Government in Indonesia

http://bit.ly/aaRcFc

This paper sets out a series of recommendations for increasing women's participation in politics and government. These strategic areas aim to be not only holistic, but also to address both structural and functional barriers for women. 

Eurasia 

Kyrgyzstan: A weak state, political instability: civil society caught up in the turmoil

http://www.fidh.org/Kyrgyzstan-A-weak-state-political-instability

The authors of the report show that the human rights violations committed in Kyrgyzstan are the result of the slow deterioration of the political and social situation in the country.

Kyrgyzstan: Recent Developments and U.S. Interests
http://opencrs.com/document/97-690/
The United States has been interested in helping Kyrgyzstan to enhance its sovereignty and territorial integrity, increase democratic participation and civil society, bolster economic reform and development, strengthen human rights, prevent weapons proliferation, and more effectively combat transnational terrorism and trafficking in persons and narcotics.

Russian magazine editor wins IPA's Freedom to Publish Prize

http://www.ifex.org/international/2010/10/20/ipa_prize_shovkhalov/

A Russian editor who has valiantly addressed the conflicts in the Caucasus - despite a recent kidnapping attempt - is this year's winner of the International Publisher Association (IPA) Freedom to Publish Prize. Israpil Shovkhalov, editor-in-chief of the quarterly magazine "Dosh" and NED grantee, won the 2010 prize for his "exemplary courage in upholding freedom to publish."

Turkmenistan: Recent Developments and U.S. Interests

http://opencrs.com/document/97-1055/

This report examines the political, economic, and foreign policies undertaken by Turkmenistan's President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, who came to power in late 2006.

Latin America & Caribbean

Digest of Latin American Jurisprudence on International Crimes

http://www.dplf.org/uploads/1285861527.pdf

The Due Process of Law Foundation (DPLF) is proud to announce the release of the English version of their Digest of Latin American Jurisprudence on International Crimes. The Spanish version was released earlier this year and has already proven to be a great resource for judicial officials and civil society representatives in the region, as well as academics.

The Mexican Economy After the Global Financial Crisis
http://opencrs.com/document/R41402/
The state of Mexico's economy is important for U.S. policymakers for many reasons, most significantly because a prosperous and democratic neighboring country is in the best interest of the United States.

Middle East & North Africa

Afghanistan: Politics, Elections, and Government Performance
http://opencrs.com/document/RS21922/
The weak performance and lack of transparency within the Afghan government are a growing factor in debate over the effectiveness of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan.

Carnegie Guide to Egypt's Elections

http://egyptelections.carnegieendowment.org/

Experts in the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut and the Carnegie Middle East Program in Washington assess the latest developments and provide background on the political players, laws, and other factors that will shape the outcome.

The Kurds in Post-Saddam Iraq
http://opencrs.com/document/RS22079/
The Kurdish-inhabited region of northern Iraq has been relatively peaceful and prosperous since the fall of Saddam Hussein. However, the Iraqi Kurds' political autonomy, and territorial and economic demands, have caused friction with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and other Arab leaders of Iraq, and with Christian and other minorities in the north.

Loose Ends: Iraq's Security Forces Between U.S. Drawdown and Withdrawal

http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/middle-east-north-africa/iraq-syria-lebanon/iraq/099-loose-ends-iraqs-security-forces-between-us-drawdown-and-withdrawal.aspx

Much is at stake in the never-ending negotiations to form Iraq's government, but perhaps nothing more important than the future of its security forces.

New USIP Primer Sheds Light on Iran
http://iranprimer.usip.org/
The United States Institute of Peace Press recently released "The Iran Primer: Power, Politics, and U.S. Policy," an online resource that provides a comprehensive but concise overview of Iran's politics, economy, military, foreign policy and nuclear program.

Turkey: Politics of Identity and Power
http://opencrs.com/document/R41368/
Turkey has long been a valued U.S. NATO ally and strategic partner. However, the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) foreign policy decisions have led some U.S. observers, including Members of Congress, to question its future course.

Multiregional/General

Integrating Human Rights in the Anti-corruption Agenda: Challenges, Possibilities and Opportunities

http://www.ichrp.org/files/reports/58/131b_report.pdf

The new report goes beyond the concepts outlined in Making the Connection to address practical issues of implementation. It shows that use of a human rights framework enhances national and local anti-corruption strategies and discusses how key human rights principles can be operationalised in anti-corruption work.

The Millennium Development Goals: The September 2010 U.N. High-level Meeting
http://opencrs.com/document/R41410/
While evidence of MDG effectiveness in advancing global development is uneven a decade after the Millennium Declaration, the international community--and many policymakers in the United States--continue to use the Goals as a paradigm for development assistance.

Press Freedom Index 2010

http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2010,1034.html

Rwanda, Yemen and Syria have joined Burma and North Korea in the group of the world's most repressive countries towards journalists. This does not bode well for 2011. 

World Economic Outlook: Recovery, risk and rebalancing

http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2010/02/index.htm

The World Economic Outlook (WEO) presents the IMF staff's analysis and projections of economic developments at the global level, in major country groups (classified by region, stage of development, etc.), and in many individual countries.