Mexico needs a comprehensive fiscal reform to alleviate the looming medium-term pressures on its budget. This policy note contributes to the debate on Mexico's looming fiscal challenges. The country's fiscal framework, centered on the 2006 budget and fiscal responsibility law, and prudent fiscal...

More than 10 years after the overthrow of Saddam, the impatience of the Iraqi people and government for transformation of their economy to advance shared prosperity is growing. The government has expressed the desire for the World Bank Group to enhance its role in this transformation. This note...

Throughout the 20th century, the debate on women's rights and their role in Afghan society has been closely interlinked with the national destiny. Women not only carry the burden of symbolizing the honor of the family, but often are seen as embodying the national honor as well. Gender has thus...

Civil service reconstruction is important in post-conflict countries because conflict erodes institutions and civil service capacity. And because successful reconstruction-in all sectors-requires domestic capacity to implement projects, a weak civil service undermines overall reconstruction...

Hurricane Ivan struck Grenada on September 7, 2004. The international and local communities responded with a massive reconstruction and recovery effort. Although the job is far from finished, the reconstruction to date is substantial. Large-scale efforts have been mounted by Grenadian Government...

The Arab Spring protests marked the beginning of a new era in the Syrian Arab Republic in 2011. Minor public protests began almost immediately after the initial protests in Cairo in January 2011. The first large demonstrations began two months later in March, and the following months saw a...

Afghanistan will experience a major security and development transition over the next three years. At the Kabul and Lisbon Conferences in 2010, NATO and the Afghan government agreed that full responsibility for security would be handed over to the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) by the...