The Value of Social Capital to the Future of Iraq
This is a critical, yet hopeful, survey of the value of social capital to understanding the prevailing conditions in Iraq. The abundance of failures and paucity of progress in promoting a peaceful, stable, and democratic Iraq can be directly attributed to the lack of social capital between United States reconstruction representatives, the U.S. military and Iraqi civilians. The utility of social capital to the future of Iraq will be demonstrated in the following relationship: As social capital between the U.S. military, U.S. reconstruction authorities, and common Iraqis increases, the security and overall quality of life for Iraqis will increase. Iraq is listed second, just ahead of Somalia and behind Sudan, in Foreign Policy’s influential “Failed States Index for 2007.” Seventy-five percent of Iraqis describe the state of security in Iraq as “poor” (IRI, 2006, 29). Iraqis do not have access to basic services including electricity, food, or even potable water because of this lack of security. Four million Iraqis are considered “food insecure and in need of food assistance” (UNAMI, 2007, 2). Only one in three children in Iraq under the age of five has access to safe drinking water (UNICEF, 2007). More than 80,000 Iraqi citizens have lost their lives since the invasion of 2003 (Iraq Body Count, 2007). Over 4,000 coalition troops have suffered the same fate (icasualties, 2007). More importantly to our study, common citizens do not trust their neighbors, the coalition and Iraqi security forces trying to protect them, or their representatives in government. Indeed, most would agree with a recent CSIS report claiming that the central government is less and less relevant to what happens in Iraq (CSIS, 2007). The fundamental source of conflict in Iraq is doubtless the “competition among ethnic and sectarian communities for power and resources” (Petreaus Report, 2007, 2). Iraqis and U.S. analysts alike are asking the same question: how did we get to this point? American policy errors ran the gamut from political miscalculation and economic misallocation to social misunderstanding and military mismanagement. Past mistakes in policy formulation and implementation will offer us a portal
The Iraqi Impasse: Sustaining Economic Reconstruction During War-Time
Abstract : Economic recovery is important for stability and peace in Iraq. The Iraq Study Group proposed financial aid to Iraq of around $5 billion annually, while President Bush has increasingly stressed the importance of job creation in that country. Unfortunately, significant economic progress in Iraq is unlikely unless part of a comprehensive strategy is designed to overcome several forces currently impeding reconstruction and economic recovery: (a) the growth and dynamics of the shadow or informal economy, (b) the deterioration in social capital, and (c) the evolving relationship between tribes, gangs and the insurgency. The dynamic interrelationship between these factors is causing a downward economic spiral. Progress in one or two areas alone will not be capable of generating significant economic gains. All these factors need to be addressed.
Points of strong summability of Fourier series
In this paper we present a new solution of Hardy and Littlewood's problem concerning strong summability of Fourier series; we also present a property of points of strong summability.