Seminar II Problem Formulation Poul Thøis Madsen & Corrie Lynn S. McDougall

Outline 1. General Comments a. The (lacking) use of theory b. The (lacking) focus Specific Comments to some projects illustrating the problems of: 2. Specific comments a. focus, tension, theory b. Problem formulations that aren’t problem formulations… c. Problem formulations that are too vague… 3. Questions to our hand written comments 4. A few words on the last seminar

1. General Comments, a  1. How to use theory?  Like to force you to think about this as early as possible  E.g. to understand and explain why the EU acts as it does (complicated organisations/’hidden’ causalities etc.)  Not: a lot of words about the theories or just listing theories (rational choice, integration theories)  Limit yourself to 2-3 perspectives/theories (focus!)

1. General Comments, b 2. The problem of not having a clear focus: Why integrating Turkey? Or: what will the consequences be? Problems of consistency and too many and too diverse questions (brain storms) CFSP-policy or CFSP-sceptical countries? UN/EU or an individual country? What is the focus? Identify the main tension – what puzzles you? Too many levels of analysis/international organisations – e.g. NGO,GO and IGO’s. Beware of being too ambitious.

2. Specific Comments on focus, tension and theory, a 1. Does the EU play a major role in the Israel/Palestine conflict. Past, presence, future. Focus? 2. How do the resolved territorial conflicts in Georgia, particularly in Abkhazia, affect the development of the country? What puzzles you? 3. How do European Union and Danish integration policies correspond with the practice of integration on the municipal level in Denmark? Where is the tension? 4. In all (9) but one project the use of theory is unclear!

Problem Formulations that aren’t problems, b1 Considering the causes and implications of the international sex slave trade, what actors at the national and international levels have been most successful in reducing or eliminating the trade? Have governments, IGOs or NGOs/INGOs been most successful, and what mechanisms have they utilized? Possibility: According to Thai law prostitution is illegal, why then has the Thai government, through its Tourism Authority of Thailand, in fact been promoting the national sex industry. How have these practices affected the social and economic development of the country?

Problem Formulations that aren’t problems, b2 In this project we, therefore, want to look into the education system of a developing country in Africa. To see whether the education system works and whether the education system is creating the needed development. Furthermore we wish to find if there are any alternative education systems or models that might be better at achieving development. Possibility: Despite efforts to address the issue of Human Resource Development (HRD) in Uganda, social and economic indicators depict a miserable situation. What contributions have the Ugandan government made towards improving the formal education system in the country? What have been the main limitations to this process? Are there any alternative (informal) opportunities?

Problem Formulations that aren’t problems, b3 Why should the International Community have intervened in the ethnic conflict in Rwanda that led to genocide in 1994? Possibility: What circumstances prevented the Intern’l Community from acting sooner, and what has been done to ensure that a atrocity such as this never occurs again.

Problem Formulations that are too vague, c1 The issue at hand is that foreign aid has become an instrument of foreign policy. To illustrate this, the definition of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) claims that the agency “provides economic, development, and humanitarian assistance… in support of the foreign policy goals of the US” (USAID 2004). This fundamental shift in priority may be what has led to the stagnation – if not backwards movement – of the development process. In order to halt these current wasteful and detrimental practices we must ask: how has the use of foreign aid as a means of political manipulation entailed the failure of the development project? Possibility: The World Bank’s mission is to fight poverty and improve the living standards of people in the developing world. In Kenya, like many developing countries, the Bank has been pursuing policies of structural adjustment to promote growth in order to create jobs and empower the poor. How then, can the increasing poverty levels in Kenya be explained?

Problem Formulations that are too vague, c2 Assuming that a degree of self-sufficiency is a precondition for sustainable development, how has/have communities maintained self-sufficiency in the face of pressures imposed by the world order? Possibility: What are the challenges involved with the expansion of market liberalisation as a result of the mining industry in Bolivia, and how has if affected the self-sufficiency of the indigenous population against disruptive social and environmental effects.

Questions to our hand written comments??