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181. The Transatlantic Economy 2009

Author:
Daniel S. Hamilton and Joseph P. Quinlan
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Transatlantic Relations
Abstract:
After a five-year boom in prosperity, the transatlantic economy has fallen into what could be perhaps its deepest recession since World War II. Although the U.S. was the epicenter of the financial crisis, many European banks have exposure to U.S. subprime loans and embraced the risky lending practices of their American counterparts. The financial crisis and attendant recession underscore the deep integration of the transatlantic economy. Notions of “decoupling” are mistaken and are likely to lead to serious policy errors. Never before have Europeans and Americans had a greater stake in each other's economic success. Each has a substantial interest in the other's ability to weather current difficulties and to emerge in sound shape from the crisis.
Topic:
International Relations, Economics, Globalization, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

182. New Ideas for the London Summit: Recommendations to the G20 Leaders

Author:
Paola Subacchi, Robin Niblett, and Alexei Monsarrat
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
What started last year as a growing international credit crunch and, by September, a global banking crisis has now spread into the real economy. International trade, investment and economic growth are all contracting. A drastic curtailment of credit, collapsing global demand and a loss of trade finance is having a devastating economic effect on both the developed and developing worlds, especially those economies that are heavily dependent on exports.
Topic:
International Relations, International Cooperation, International Organization, International Trade and Finance, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Europe and London

183. The Concept of Normative Power in World Politics

Author:
Ian Manners
Publication Date:
05-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The social sciences have many different understandings of 'normative power'. The purpose of this brief is to help clarify the concept of normative power in world politics as developed in European Union (EU) studies over the last ten years. The brief uses a five-point conceptualisation of normative power as being ideational; involving principles, actions, and impact; as well as having broader consequences in world politics. For each point both a general observation about world politics and a specific comment about the EU is made.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Europe

184. Travel Restrictions Not a Cure for Swine Flu Outbreak

Author:
Michael T. Osterholm
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:
The outbreak of a new strain of deadly swine flu, which has killed more than one hundred people in Mexico and spread to the United States and Europe, has global health experts considering whether this may be the start of a long-feared pandemic. Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, says there are a lot of unknowns about the new flu strain but so far it presents "a very different picture" from that of recent avian flu outbreaks and the 2003 sudden acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak. "Osterholm says it may be a matter of months before experts understand the disease. He cautions against international policy overreactions, citing some countries' travel warnings and bans on some imported foods from the United States and Mexico as "hysterical." He says the best way to deal with panics is to keep people informed and not create false expectations.
Topic:
International Relations, Globalization, Health, Human Welfare, and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, and Canada

185. Georgia Russia: The "Unknown" Prelude to the "Five Day War"

Author:
Martin Malek
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Caucasian Review of International Affairs
Institution:
The Caucasian Review of International Affairs
Abstract:
The Russian Armed Forces not only expelled invading Georgian troops from the separatist region South Ossetia, but they also entered Abkhazia and marched deep into Georgia proper over the course of the "five day war" in August 2008. The following report analyses Russia\'s military preparations since spring 2008, an aspect hitherto almost unknown among politicians, the media and the public in Western Europe and North America. They included the shooting down of a Georgian drone by Russian fighter jets over Abkhazia, a massive increase of Russian "peacekeeping troops" along the Georgian-Abkhaz armistice line, the deployment of Russian railway troops to Abkhazia and the "Kavkaz 2008" military exercises. These developments occurred against the backdrop of political events, such as demands made by the Russian State Duma to recognise South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states, Russia\'s decision to withdraw from the CIS economic embargo against Abkhazia and NATO\'s refusal to offer membership to Georgia.
Topic:
International Relations
Political Geography:
Russia and Europe

186. Difference within Similarity: Transatlantic Relations as a 'Community of Neighbours'

Author:
Pertti Joenniemi
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The contribution focuses on the unfolding and tensions within the transatlantic relationship and it pursues, in particular, the question how the bonds of association between Europe and America are best comprehended and accounted for. In trying to break some new ground for theorization it argues that the Realist, Liberal and Constructivist accounts have so far come up short in terms of providing up-to-date and broadly acceptable answers. With the dominant theories focusing largely on either external enmity or internal homogeneity, difference internal to the relationship has too easily been conceptualized as destabilizing and seen as representing a rupture. In contrast, the paper assert s that while elements of enmity and homogeneity are important, communities such as the Atlantic one are also critically brought together by their internal differences. It then aims, in view of the difference-based dynamics at play and foundational for the Atlantic communality, to complement an d provide a corrective to the more established theorization of that togetherness.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, International Political Economy, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:
United States, America, and Europe

187. La misión rusa Arktika 2007 y sus implicaciones para el balance mundial de poder en el siglo XXI

Author:
José Miguel Alonso Trabanco
Publication Date:
02-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
Hasta hace pocas décadas, el Círculo Polar Ártico era considerado como una zona planetaria condenada a ser inhóspita e inaccesible a causa de su lejanía y sus glaciales temperaturas. Tal región ha despertado fascinación en los exploradores, como es el caso de Ivan Papanin, quien, en 1937, emplazó la bandera de la Unión Soviética en el Polo Norte (“Europe: Ships, subs and missiles; Russia's new assertiveness” 2007), lo que atestigua que la presencia rusa en la zona no es del todo reciente, aunque, más de 70 años después, el interés nacional ruso se extiende más allá de la esfera científica y sus implicaciones son más complejas.
Topic:
International Relations, Energy Policy, and Power Politics
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Asia

188. Effects of the EU Enlargement on Income Convergence in the Eastern Border Regions

Author:
Fredrik Wilhelmsson
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
This paper analyses the effect of the EU enlargement process on income convergence among regions in the EU and in the Eastern neighbourhood of the EU. The data used is NUTS II regions in the EU and Oblasts' of Russia over the period 1996-2004. The estimation techniques used take into account both regional and spatial heterogeneity. The main findings are that the regional income differences are reduced within EU15. The income convergence within the EU is mainly driven by reductions in the differences across countries rather than by a reduction in regional differences within countries. When differences in initial conditions in the regions are controlled for by fixed regional effects there are strong evidences of convergence among regions in all studied country groups.
Topic:
International Relations and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe

189. A Proposal for a Global Upstream Emission Trading System (UGETS)

Author:
Akinobu Yasumoto and Mutsuyoshi Nishimura
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
An effective policy approach to climate change would be a global emission trading system. Opinions differ, however, as to what approach should be pursued when fostering a global emissions trading system. Many argue in favor of linking various national and regional emission trading systems as a possible way forward. However, an alternative method, which involves developing a new system from the ground up, could prove more advantageous. Under an Upstream Global Emission Trading System (UGETS), all nations would use an upstream emissions trading system that would result in far fewer monitoring points than a downstream system. A nation would only need to keep track of domestic shipments and imports of fossil fuels.
Topic:
International Relations, Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe

190. Visits of Sovereignty and the articulation of the national and the local in France and Germany on the eve of World War I

Author:
Nicolas Mariot
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for European Political Sociology
Abstract:
This paper seeks to explore the problems and potentialities of asymmetrical historical comparison by examining visits by heads of State to the provinces in Germany and France on the eve of WW I. This act of political legitimisation and representation is analysed through the lens of the practical organization of the event understood as an administrative routine, thereby bringing into question many of the categories routinely mobilised to describe and to oppose two models of national integration.
Topic:
International Relations, Government, and War
Political Geography:
Europe, France, and Germany