Search

Begin New Search Political Geography Europe

4271. East-West Integration and the Economic Geography of Europe

Author:
Arne Melchior
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
Implementation of the European internal market and East-West integration has been accompanied by a dramatic change in the spatial distribution of economic activity, with higher growth west and east of a longitude degree through Germany and Italy. In the east, income growth has been accompanied by increasing regional disparities within countries. We examine theoretically and empirically whether European integration as such can explain these developments. Using a numerical simulation model with 9 countries and 90 regions, theoretical predictions are derived about how various patterns of integration may affect the income distribution. Comparing with reality, we find that a reduction in distance-related trade costs combined with east-west integration is best able to explain the actual changes in Europe's economic geography. This suggests that the implementation of the European internal market or the Euro has “made Europe smaller”. In Central Europe, the dominance of capital regions tends to eliminate east-west growth differences inside countries. There is no convincing support for the hypothesis that European integration had adverse effects on non-members.
Topic:
Economics, Markets, and Political Economy
Political Geography:
Europe

4272. The Internationalization of Firms in the Service Industries: Channels, Determinants and Sectoral Patterns

Author:
Fulvio Castellacci
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
The paper presents the results of a new survey on the international activities of Norwegian enterprises in various service industries. The survey focuses on three main internationalization channels: international sales, international cooperation and R outsourcing. The empirical analysis studies the relevance of these channels, and investigates the related strategies, objectives and determinants. International sales and collaborations emerge as the two most relevant channels, whereas the scope for R outsourcing seems to be far more limited. The analysis of the determinants of international activities suggests three main results: (1) the innovative capability of firms matters for their international performance; (2) the various internationalization channels seem to be complement, rather than substitute, strategies to compete in foreign markets; (3) sectoral specificities greatly affect firms' internationalization strategies and performance.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Markets
Political Geography:
Europe

4273. The European Union and the Promotion of Good Governance in its Near Abroad. One Size Fits All?

Author:
Tanja Anita Börzel, Yasemin Pamuk, and Andreas Stahn
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Collaborative Research Center (SFB) 700
Abstract:
With the end of the Cold War, states and international organisations have systematically mainstreamed good governance in their development strategies for third countries. The European Union is no exception. The promotion of good governance ranks particularly high in the EU's “near abroad”, which has become a focal point for EU foreign policy making since the 2004/2006 enlargement rounds. This paper seeks to systematically compare the EU's approach to promoting good governance in the Southern Caucasus. Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia are equally marked by bad governance. Arbitrary rule and pervasive corruption are common in all three countries. Nonetheless, they significantly vary with regard to the degree of statehood, and the quality of the political regime. Our aim is to explore to what extent these variations have affected the EU's strategy of promoting good governance. Looking at the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), a rather recent policy framework, we seek to give some answers to the question whether the EU sticks to a “one-size-fits-all” approach, or whether it has started to practice some differential treatment.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Development, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
America and Europe

4274. Postcolonialism and Postcoloniality: A Premortem Prognosis

Author:
Narasingha P. Sil
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Alternatives: Turkish Journal of International Relations
Institution:
Center for International Conflict Resolution at Yalova University
Abstract:
Postcolonialism as theory, contrasted with postcoloniality as reality, was born sometime during the earlier period of the Cold War that had developed Sphinx-like following the World War II announcing the death of Europe and the rise of two extra-European superpowers. Naturally, the end of the War also began a decade-long process of decolonization, marking the end of European political domination over most of Asia and Africa. The collapse of the continent that owned almost one half of the globe generated a profoundly unsettling soulsearching and re-examination of the values and norms of metropolitan civilization informed by the Enlightenment masculist and quasi-racist rationality, although a critique of Western bourgeois views and values dates back to the works of Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) and later Rudolf Pannwitz (1881-1969), author of The Crisis of European Culture (1917), and Oswald Spengler (1880-1936), author of The Decline of the West (1918).
Topic:
Cold War
Political Geography:
Africa, Europe, and Asia

4275. Social Cohesion in China: Lessons from the Latin American Experience

Author:
Mariano Turzi
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Abstract:
China's economic development over the last three decades has been dazzling critics and supporters alike. Since the launching of the “Four Modernizations” reform process in 1978, growth has averaged 9 percent annually. As a result, according to IMF data released in July 2007, China is poised to overtake Germany as the world's third-largest economy. As growth has slowed in Europe, Japan, and the US the Chinese economy grew at a staggering rate of 11.9 percent in the second quarter of 2007. The IMF report also pointed out that if exchange rates are adjusted to equalize the cost of goods in different countries (purchasing-power parity) China is already the world's second-largest economy.
Topic:
Economics
Political Geography:
United States, Japan, China, Europe, Germany, and Latin America

4276. Using Criminal Justice to Foster US-EU Cooperation on Counter-terrorism

Author:
Paul Wilkinson
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
EU and US political leaders and elites share the same overall threat assessment of terrorist networks but differ over the choice of strategy to defeat them. While President Bush's "war on terrorism" has relied on the military to suppress terrorism, incarcerating terrorist suspects in Guantanamo and refusing them access to US federal courts, Europeans have stressed a holistic and multilateral approach to the struggle, giving a greater role to the criminal justice system. Abandoning due process and violating suspects' human rights betrays the very values and principles upon which the democracies supposedly being defended are founded. Courts in Europe since 9/11 have demonstrated that it is possible to bring terrorists and conspirators to trial and to convict them on the basis of overwhelming evidence. Hence, the strengthening of national judicial processes and international judicial cooperation should remain the major objective of the transatlantic alliance.
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

4277. Less Words and More Deeds in Constructing Europe

Author:
William Wallace
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
British politicians have two different motivations in strongly wishing for a long pause in the negotiations over institutional reform, after 20 years of revisions to the EU treaties. The first is their sensitivity to a domestic debate which presents "Brussels" as a determined assault on British sovereignty by unelected officials. The second is their scepticism about federalistic rhetoric, unsupported by commitments to implement common policies. British disillusion at the gap between promises and fulfilment has been sharpest over common foreign and defence policies, where those governments most actively committed to integrating national policies have also been the most frequent defaulters. Yet successive British governments are also to blame, both for failing to shift the balance of the Eurosceptic public debate within the UK, and for leaving it to other governments to set the EU agenda, for fear of arousing public hostility at home.
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

4278. The AKP in Turkey: Off the Hook This Time

Author:
Senem Aydin Düzgit
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Against expectations, in July 2008, the Constitutional Court in Turkey ruled against banning the AKP. The decision of the Court needs to be interpreted against a background of closely intertwined internal and domestic constraints. While the risk of political and economic crises, lack of a credible political opposition, high public opposition to the closure of the party and prospects of further polarisation in society constitute the main domestic determinants, the implications of a potential ban on the country's relations, primarily with Europe, namely the EU and the Council of Europe, are also major external constraints behind the Court's final decision.
Political Geography:
Europe and Turkey

4279. The Effect of US Policy in the Middle East on EU-Turkey Relations

Author:
Henri J. Barkey
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Turkey could not have a more vigorous advocate for its quest for European Union accession than the United States. Successive administrations in Washington have strongly asserted that Turkey is an intrinsic part of Europe, that historically and politically, Ankara has played a critical role in the defence of Europe against the Soviet Union and that now it is an indispensable country in bridging the civilisational divide. In the early 1970s, the United States decided to locate Turkey in Europe, bureaucratically speaking of course. Turkey, which used to be in the Near East bureau in the State Department and elsewhere in the bureaucracy, was transferred to the European divisions of the respective administrative agencies. Hence it is perhaps ironic that after arguing for decades that Turkey is a European country, the United States, through its Iraq invasion, has in one bold stroke managed to push Turkey back into the Middle East. Of course, other events, especially Turkish domestic politics, have also played a role in making this perceptual move possible. Simply stated, as United States security concerns shifted east and away from Europe, it was only natural, though far from intentional, that Washington would take Ankara along with it.
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, Turkey, and Middle East

4280. EU-Turkey Trade: A Case of Deep Integration

Author:
Luigi Narbone and Agnieszka Skuratowicz
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
The 1963 Ankara agreement established the framework for the relations between Turkey and the European Economic Community. A key intermediate objective was setting up a customs union, which was established in 1996. From a long-term trade perspective the customs union has had a positive impact on EU-Turkey bilateral trade, its growth and its composition. The subsequent pre-accession process has further fostered trade integration, facilitated structural reforms and boosted the country's economic potential. The increasingly close political and economic relations have also promoted stability and growth in the Turkish economy. These positive developments have been linked, however, to the prospects of Turkey's EU accession and could be undermined by uncertainty over the eventual outcome of this process.
Topic:
Economics
Political Geography:
Europe