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6472. Computers and Labour Markets: International Evidence
- Author:
- Francis Kramarz
- Publication Date:
- 10-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- The rapid diffusion of computers has widely changed the consequences of computer use on the labour market. While at the beginning of the eighties knowledge of computers was an obvious advantage in a career, this same knowledge is now so commonplace that the inability to use these tools is widely seen in many industries as a professional handicap. In relation to such drastic transformations, changes in the North American wage structure during the eighties in favour of the better educated have been interpreted by many analysts as evidence of skill-biased technical change. Evidence outside the US, and in particular in Europe, seems to support the idea that similar transformations affected most other labour markets.
- Topic:
- Economics, Government, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- United States and Europe
6473. Media Coverage of Parliament
- Author:
- Ralph Negrine
- Publication Date:
- 07-1998
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Chatham House
- Abstract:
- The last decade of the 20th century has apparently seen a profound change in the way in which European media handle their reporting of the political process. It is a process which marks an end to the formality and sense of obligation with which parliamentary debates and the activities of individual politicians have traditionally been treated. It has been paralleled by far-reaching changes in the ways in which politicians seek to influence their electorate. This briefing paper summarizes the findings of a comprehensive study that attempts to quantify what these changes in presentation of news and information might really mean.
- Topic:
- Government and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Europe
6474. From G7 To G8: Evolution, Role and Documentation of a Unique Institution
- Author:
- Peter I. Hajnal
- Publication Date:
- 04-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Columbia International Affairs Online
- Abstract:
- As the next millennium approaches, the international community faces the fundamental challenge of devising at the global level mechanisms for governance to reinforce, and at times replace, those that have operated effectively for several centuries at the national level. The end of the cold war has substantially eliminated a world divided among a democratic west, communist east and non-aligned south, highlighted a host of new transnational, human security priorities and led to the demise of the self-contained "national security" state. The advent of globalization in finance, investment, trade, production and communication has led many national economies to be integrated into a single global economy, whose healthy functioning is increasingly vital to the well being of citizens even in large, advanced industrial economies such as the United States and Japan. Finally, new openness and technology have meant that many issues once dealt with primarily as a part of domestic politics - supervising banking systems, protecting the environment, combating organized crime, drugs and disease, ensuring nuclear safety, and creating employment, have now come to require collective international action for their effective accomplishment.
- Topic:
- International Organization and International Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- United States, Japan, and Europe
6475. European Union Views on International Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading
- Author:
- Les Bissell, Johanna Hjerthen, Balachandar Jayaraman, Elizabeth Karkus, John Leahy, Gerald Mulder, Pamela Chasek, David Leonard Downie, Kevin Baumert, Sean Clark, and Joshua Tosteson
- Publication Date:
- 05-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Columbia International Affairs Online
- Abstract:
- In December 1997, the Third Conference of the Parties (COP-3) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) met in Kyoto, Japan to negotiate a protocol to limit greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Two of the main features of the Kyoto Protocol are (1) legally binding requirements for Annex I countries to reduce collectively their emissions of six greenhouse gases by at least 5.2% below 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012; and (2) flexibility measures, including joint implementation (Article 6), a Clean Development Mechanism (Article 12) and emissions trading (Article 17, which appeared as Article 16bis in the draft Protocol text adopted in Kyoto) to encourage countries to meet their obligations at the lowest cost. Although emissions trading (ET) provisions were included in the Kyoto Protocol, the Parties did not establish rules and guidelines for the trading system. Instead, Governments have been asked to address these issues at COP-4, to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 2-13 November 1998.
- Topic:
- Environment, International Cooperation, and International Law
- Political Geography:
- Europe and United Nations
6476. Representations of Northernness — Spatial Politics and Political Spaces in a Nordic Journal
- Author:
- Pirjo Jukarainen
- Publication Date:
- 04-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Spatial politics is 'alive and kicking'. Human aspiration to define, represent and master spaces has not ended. Claim about 'the end of the geography', due to the decreasing importance of spatial distance or location, is thus misleading. Albeit the mode of spatial politics is obviously changing, it does not mean that it would completely loose its significance. Northern hemisphere makes no exception in this respect. An analysis of the Nordic journal, 'Nord Revy' (later called 'North') shows that spaces are actively constructed and spatial development strategies are extensively formulated also in the name of 'northernness'. 'Northernness' gets multiple meanings and becomes 'real' within various spatial representations. This analysis covers about seven years of spatial development starting from the year 1990, thus somewhat revealing the overall spatial politics of the 90's.
- Topic:
- Politics and Sovereignty
- Political Geography:
- Europe
6477. Rival Views Of Postcommunist Market Society
- Author:
- Béla Greskovits
- Publication Date:
- 10-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute for European Studies at Cornell University
- Abstract:
- While reviewing various interpretations of the postcommunist transformation it is demonstrated that the manner social scientists think about postcommunism has much in common with the ideas of their predecessors who faced the emergence of capitalism over the past centuries. What explains the continuity of the major views? Why did the debate on the perspectives of capitalism and on the nature of its strengths and weaknesses reappear in the new historical case of postcommunist market society? This author argues that neither the specific historical nor the systemic context of capitalist expansion can account for the prevalence of competing interpretations. Rather the latter is the standard way social scientists think about systems and systemic change in general. But the trench-war between rival views of postcommunist market society also reflects the impact of new psychological, political, and institutional factors specific to the mass-production of social science ideas towards the end of the XXth century.
- Topic:
- Communism and Economics
- Political Geography:
- Europe
6478. Building a Composite Polity: Popular Contention in the European Union
- Author:
- Sidney Tarrow
- Publication Date:
- 03-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute for European Studies at Cornell University
- Abstract:
- While much research has focussed on the interest group process growing up around the institutions of European union, far less attention has been given to the contentious forms of politics appearing at the base of the process of European integration. Part of the problem lies in models of integration that either focus on single levels of the European Union — states or supranational entities — or on vertical policy networks and domains. But another important part results from the difficulty of systematically analyzing the reactions of ordinary people to EU directives. This paper both reports on a new, computer-assisted method of studying European contentious politics and draws on a case study of recent industrial conflict to demonstrate how supranational actors, national political elites, domestic social actors and the press are beginning to interact to produce a composite — and contentious — European polity.
- Topic:
- Government
- Political Geography:
- Europe
6479. Europarliament and Environmental Leglislation: The Case of Chemicals
- Author:
- George Tsebelis and Anastassios Kalandrakis
- Publication Date:
- 07-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute of European Studies
- Abstract:
- The paper studies the impact of the EP on legislation on chemical pollutants introduced under the Cooperation procedure. A series of formal and informal analyses have predicted from significant impact of the EP, to limited impact (only in the second round) to no impact at all. Through the analysis of Parliamentary debates as well as Commission and Parliamentary committee documents, we are able to assess the significance of different amendments, as well as the degree to which they were introduced in the final decision of the Council. Our analysis indicates first that less than 30% of EP amendments are insignificant, while 15% are important or very important; second, that the probability of acceptance of an amendment is the same regardless of its significance. Further analysis indicates two sources of bias of aggregate EP statistics: several amendments are complementary (deal with the same issue in different places of the legal document), and a series of amendments that are rejected as inadmissible because they violate the legal basis of the document or the germainess requirement) are included in subsequent pieces of legislation. We calculate the effect of these biases in our sample, and find that official statistics underestimate Parliamentary influence by more that 6 percentage points (49% instead of 56% in our sample). Finally, we compare a series of observed strategic behaviors of different actors (rapporteurs, committees, floor, Commission) to different expectations generated by the literature.
- Topic:
- Environment, Industrial Policy, and Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- Europe
6480. A View from Tirana: The Albanian Dimension of Kosovo Crisis
- Publication Date:
- 07-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- Relations between Albanians from Albania proper and their ethnic kin over the border in Kosovo are complex. Despite obvious linguistic and cultural ties, the political division of the past 80 years and Albania's isolation during the communist period have caused the two communities to evolve in a very different fashion. Moreover, the arrival of Kosovo Albanians in Albania in recent years and their influence in some unsavoury spheres of the economy have caused resentment among Albanians from Albania proper, most of whom are too preoccupied with the daily struggle for existence to devote much time or thought to national questions. The upsurge in violence in Kosovo and the influx of several thousand Kosovo Albanian refugees have, nevertheless, reminded Albanians of the links between the communities and sympathy for their ethnic kin in Kosovo is especially strong in the border areas among the Ghegs, the northern Albanians.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Arms Control and Proliferation, Ethnic Conflict, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Eastern Europe, Kosovo, Albania, and Tirana