CDDRL Publications

A new account of modern Iraqi politics that overturns the conventional wisdom about its sectarian divisions

How did Iraq become one of the most repressive dictatorships of the late twentieth century? The conventional wisdom about Iraq's modern political history is that the country was doomed by its diverse social fabric. But in State of Repression, Lisa Blaydes challenges this belief by showing that the country's breakdown was far from inevitable. At the same time, she offers a new way of understanding the behavior of other authoritarian regimes and their populations.

From 1962 onward, Myanmar was a military dictatorship. In 2007, General Thein Sein became Prime Minister and began a process that would lead to the country’s gradual democratization by releasing political prisoners and talking with Aung San Suu Kyi. At the same time, Thein Sein worked to attract foreign investment and made a proposal to Japan to develop a special economic zone together. Although China had been its most important partner, Myanmar wanted to strengthen relationships with countries such as Japan, India, and other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

In this case, Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanović must decide whether to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Chinese Pacific Construction Group to build a highway between his country and neighboring Albania. This highway, known as the “Blue Corridor,” is part of Europe’s proposed Adriatic-Ionian Highway, which would stretch from Italy to Greece, connecting the Balkans via a coastal road. As Djukanović makes his decision, he considers domestic pressures, both economic and political, as well as international pressures from China and Europe.

The cholera response in Yemen was and remains extremely complicated and challenging for a variety of political, security, cultural, and environmental reasons. The study team recognizes these challenges and commends the government, international and national organizations, and the donors for working to find solutions in such a difficult context. There are no easy fixes to these challenges, and the conclusions and recommendations are meant to be constructive and practical, taking into account the extreme limitations of working in Yemen during an active conflict.

For three and a half decades following the end of the Maoist era, China adhered to Deng Xiaoping’s policies of “reform and opening to the outside world” and “peaceful development.” After Deng retired as paramount leader, these principles continued to guide China’s international behavior in the leadership eras of Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao.

In 2013, President Barack Obama announced Power Africa, the U.S.’s initiative to bring energy infrastructure to Sub-Saharan Africa. In the years following, the initiative enjoyed bipartisan support and congress passed enabling legislation in 2016. Despite early momentum for Power Africa, the initiative has yet to achieve its potential. This case follows the challenges and limitations of Power Africa in the face of growing and evolving Chinese pressures on the African continent. At a time when China is investing more than ever in Africa’s infrastructure, the U.S.

The emergence of a global digital ecosystem has been a boon for global communication and the democratization of the means of distributing information. The internet, and the social media platforms and web applications running on it, have been used to mobilize pro-democracy protests and give members of marginalized communities a chance to share their voices with the world.

This case examines the environmental permitting process leading up to the construction of the Bui Dam, the second largest hydropower facility in Ghana. Intended to provide much needed relief to the nation’s persistent power challenges, the project secured proper funding from China Exim Bank in 2005, fulfilling several decades of attempts to build the dam. At issue, however, are the potential environmental and social impacts associated with dam construction.

This case describes the preparations and decisions made by Actis, a leading global emerging markets private equity firm, in the lead-up to its partial divestment via an initial public offering (“IPO”) of Umeme Limited (“Umeme”), Uganda’s national electric distribution company. The case describes the challenges encountered by Actis during the seven year period from when it first took over Umeme in 2005, through the years of work to turnaround the company, until 2012 when final preparations for the IPO were underway.

This case is about Ecuador's decision to finance the country's largest hydropower plant: Coca Codo Sinclair. The country's president is facing a shortage of financial resources and an urgent need to build the hydroplant so as to fulfill political promises. The only feasible option was to borrow money from China at a high cost. How did Correa ultimately decide on and negotiate with China in order to procure funding for the national project? 

Political parties in the United States and Britain used clientelism and patronage to govern throughout the nineteenth century. By the twentieth century, however, parties in both countries shifted to programmatic competition. This book argues that capitalists were critical to this shift. Businesses developed new forms of corporate management and capitalist organization, and found clientelism inimical to economic development.

This case examines the decision process of a team of volunteers that started a public procurement reform named ProZorro. ProZorro was named after the Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine in early 2014. The team originally pushed for government-led reforms, but eventually endeavoured to enact the reform themselves. However, they lost all political support for their desired reforms during the process.

This case focuses on a private sector initiative to fight deep-seated corruption in Thailand. The Collective Action Coalition Against Corruption (CAC) was founded by a charismatic business scion in late 2010, but an untimely heart attack a few months later left CAC reeling. A new leader named Bandid Nijathaworn was suddenly responsible for delivering the rapid growth and good-faith commitments that his predecessor had envisioned. At the center of this case, Dr.

A year into the Trump Administration, the health and stability of American democracy remain an open question. At a time when almost four in 10 Americans say they are not satisfied with the way democracy is working in the U.S., there is ample reason to ask how committed the American people are to our democracy.

Violence in war must have a limit. Those who are not participating in the hostilities should be protected to prevent war from sinking into barbarity. Today, this is safeguarded by international humanitarian law (IHL), of which the cornerstones are the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and its Additional Protocols.

The Battle of Mosul was one of the largest urban sieges since World War II. From October 2016 and July 2017, Iraqi and Kurdish forces fought to retake Iraq’s second largest city, which had fallen to ISIL in 2014. They were backed by U.S.-led coalition forces. More than 940,000 civilians fled during the siege, and thousands were injured as they sought safety.

Trumpist populism could easily linger longer than most people readily assume. This article defines populism and gives three reasons why we are seeing the rise of populist nationalism now, in the second half of the 2010s. Those reasons are economic, political, and cultural. It also addresses the future of populism at home and abroad.

This essay confronts the collision of two potential global threats: the outbreak of infectious pandemics and the outbreak and protraction of civil wars.

Abbas Milani argues how the 19 May 2017 presidential election offers a window into the painful predicament of a democracy-minded society

—demographically young, globally inclined, and social-media savvy—subordinated to an authoritarian polity. Read the article here.

This case looks at the predicament of a small nation burdened by Chinese debt, accumulated by infrastructure projects under the aegis of China’s One Belt One Road initiative. By 2016, the government of Sri Lanka owed China $8 billion (almost 10% of GDP) mainly from loans taken to construct a series of infrastructure projects, many of which proved commercially unviable. Most of these were approved by the previous government under President Rajapaksa. The Colombo Port City project was the grandest and most ambitious of them all.

This case presents the decision to build the Sopladora Hydroelectric Plant (487MW) in the Ecuadorian Amazon, with financing from the Eximbank of China. President Rafael Correa faces a difficult dilemma. On the one hand, Sopladora is a strategic infrastructure project for the country that will allow it to reduce imports of refined fuel and increase its energy security, while saving money in an economy without a monetary policy.