"The authors use a sample of 147 countries to investigate the link between democracy and reforms. Democracy may be conducive to reforms, because politicians have the incentive to embrace growth-enhancing reforms to win elections. By contrast, authoritarian regimes do not have to worry as much...

Tajikistan is a small mountainous land-locked Central Asian country with an economy that heavily depends, as a legacy of the soviet economy, on exports of cotton, aluminum and hydroelectricity that are three rather environmentally sensitive sectors, as well as on remittances from migrants living...

The country environmental safeguard review provides an overall assessment of Bhutan's environmental safeguard system. The study is not intended to be comprehensive or prescriptive. It is meant to provide a broad overview of some key legal, policy, and institutional challenges and highlight some...

The natural reserve of Ker Cupaam, is located along the Atlantic coast in Senegal, a fragment of a former national forest, basically for the protection of endangered species. Both the flora, and fauna had been severely damaged as a result of drought, grazing, and firewood harvest. Though...

The Chinese economy has experienced an unprecedented 30-year period of economic growth and development that has delivered enormous social and economic benefits to the people but has had seriously adverse and continuing effects on the state of the environment. The government is well aware of the...

In Japan, the sustainable development of cities and provinces has been vigorously pursued since the late 1990s under various programs through the initiative of the central government and local authorities. In 2009, the World Bank launched an urban development initiative called Eco2 Cities:...