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62. The Way Forward for WTO Reform: Agricultural Subsidies and Special and Differential Treatments
- Author:
- Jin Kyo Suh, Ji Hyun Park, and Min-Sung Kim
- Publication Date:
- 10-2020
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP)
- Abstract:
- The multilateral trading system has been in crisis. The world economy has changed significantly since the WTO replaced the previous GATT system and new challenges are quickly piling on top of the old ones. The rising emerging countries and the relative decline of traditional economic members, together with the need to deal with complex new issues such as climate change and e-commerce and digital trade, are shaking the foundations on which the WTO was built some 25 years ago. There is also growing momentum among many WTO members to ‘modernize’ the WTO, including the Appellate Body although the details and feasibility of reform are unclear at this stage. In this perspective, we suggest some ideas on both trade-distorting farm subsidies and S&DT which are the two important issues in the WTO negotiations.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Reform, Economy, Multilateralism, WTO, and Subsidies
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
63. Coronavirus and the Future of Globalization
- Author:
- Aamer Raza
- Publication Date:
- 12-2020
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Review of Human Rights
- Institution:
- Society of Social Science Academics (SSSA)
- Abstract:
- Coronavirus Pandemic has generated a discussion regarding the future of globalization. This article places this new wave of pessimism regarding the future of globalization in the broader tension surrounding globalization that has existed in international relations discourse since the end of the Cold War. The article points out some of the previous challenges endured by globalization. It also points out that whereas at this point popular media and news commentary portray pessimism as the dominant feeling, the trend towards multilateralism and global cooperation is also discernable in other responses to the pandemic.
- Topic:
- Security, Globalization, Populism, Multilateralism, Coronavirus, and COVID-19
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
64. The Lungs of the Earth: Shifting a Metaphor from Superstition to Science
- Author:
- Aria Ritz Finkelstein and Porter Hoagland
- Publication Date:
- 10-2020
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- Poor metaphors can muddy the nature of environmental policy problems, but good ones can help policymakers begin to understand how to solve them. Using language carefully is critical to crafting effective international agreements to encourage the sustainable conservation of the marine environment in areas beyond national jurisdictions.
- Topic:
- Environment, Science and Technology, Governance, Law, Multilateralism, and Sustainability
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
65. Internet Freedom: Fighting Back Against Digital Authoritarianism
- Author:
- Olivier Alais
- Publication Date:
- 07-2020
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- One of the great challenges of cyberspace is defending freedom and human rights on the internet, all of which are in steady decline. In a decade, we have moved from a free and open internet to one dominated by closed platforms that are more centralized and easier to control. The internet has become a space where digital giants defend shareholder interests, authoritarian governments squash human rights, and private companies spy on politicians, activists, and journalists.
- Topic:
- Science and Technology, Authoritarianism, Internet, Multilateralism, and Data
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
66. Epidemics and Pandemics as Transnational Issues: The Challenge of the Novel Coronavirus
- Author:
- Robert Kim-Farley and Lauren Dunning
- Publication Date:
- 03-2020
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- The first recorded pandemic occurred during the Peloponnesian War in 430 B.C. Suspected to be due to typhoid fever, the pandemic contributed to the Spartan victory over the Athenians. Since then, infectious diseases have had a significant impact on the course of human history. The explosive outbreak of the new novel coronavirus, COVID-19, was first identified in Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei province in the People’s Republic of China. The outbreak is again challenging the global community, its governance structures, and its mechanisms for international collaboration. Many key data points critical to fully characterizing the disease epidemiology of COVID-19—including transmissibility, potential for asymptomatic spread, and risk factors for severe illness or death—are still emerging; as a result, a collective global response under strong World Health Organization (WHO) leadership, followed by subsequent nation-level implementation, is vital to ensuring the good of the many is not sacrificed for the good of the few. COVID-19 is in the same family as the coronavirus of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), the spread of which in 2002-2003 caused the first pandemic of the twenty-first century. It prompted the creation of an ad-hoc Emergency Committee (EC) composed of international experts convened under the International Health Regulations (IHR) that inform the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General. The IHR, which were last revised in 2005 following the SARS outbreak and subsequent calls for reform, obligate 196 state parties, including all WHO member states, to broadly work together to enhance global health security.
- Topic:
- Governance, Multilateralism, Pandemic, COVID-19, and Health Crisis
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
67. Multipolarity in Practice: Understanding Russia’s Engagement With Regional Institutions
- Author:
- Paul Stronski and Richard Sokolsky
- Publication Date:
- 01-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Abstract:
- Over the past two decades, and especially since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014, the Kremlin has intensified its engagement with international institutions. This paper evaluates the drivers of this involvement, Russian views of three of these organizations, and Moscow’s success in achieving its objectives.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Regional Cooperation, Multilateralism, and Institutions
- Political Geography:
- Russia and Global Focus
68. Multilateral Development Banks: Counter-cyclical Mandate and Financial Constraints
- Author:
- Andrea Molinari and Leticia Patrucchi
- Publication Date:
- 09-2020
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Contexto Internacional
- Institution:
- Institute of International Relations, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro
- Abstract:
- Given their attractiveness as a source of financing for the least developed countries, mul- tilateral development banks (MDBs) have grown in quantity and size supported by their sources of financing. We believe that this ‘resource dependency’ has not been sufficiently questioned in the lit- erature, especially regarding the credit exposure these organizations have with their largest borrow- ing members. This article characterizes and identifies the differential effects of the three sources that make up the dependence on resources in the MDBs: capital contributions, leverage in the markets and their credit function. We analysed these sources particularly at the International Development Bank (IBRD), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) and in two recent events: the risk exchange implemented by the referred MDBs in 2015 and the effect of the Argentina’s selective default on the IDB’s capital adequacy (2014). We find an increasing relevance of leverage and the size of loans, which models a dependence on resources that weakens the development mandate of these organizations.
- Topic:
- Development, Finance, Multilateralism, and Banks
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
69. Renewed Transatlantic Responses towards China: Identifying Common Ground
- Author:
- Katrin Bastian and Graeme P. Herd
- Publication Date:
- 11-2020
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies
- Abstract:
- The western global order originated in the 19th and 20th centuries. It is characterized by formal international institutions and a regime of treaties, rules, norms, networks, expectations, and moral obligations. As Sigmar Gabriel and John B. Emerson note, “Our liberty is protected by democracy, the rule of law, the separation of powers, and freedom of expression and assembly. These shared principles have shaped the outlook on both sides of the Atlantic for decades.”1 These shared democratic, free, and open society principles are challenged by undemocratic non-western, economically and/or militarily successful powers, not least the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Russian Federation. The PRC has a population of 1.4 billion (comprising 18 percent of the global share), a 5,000-year-old history and culture, and boasts the world’s second largest economy. The PRC is ideologically assertive and displays a visible ambition to play a role on the international stage. Sociological theory suggests that the numeric dimension of a group determines social reality. Indeed, as Lenin noted: “quantity has a quality all of its own.” In this light, the PRC is simply “too big and too many” not to shape international politics. Ironically, the political West is involuntarily assisting in this reconfiguration of international power by voluntarily withdrawing from multilateral institutions and geopolitically-critical regions (the U.S., at least in the Trump administration) or by being overwhelmed with administrative tasks (the European Union, as a result of the growing number of member states, deeper integration, and COVID-19).
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Globalization, Multilateralism, Institutions, and Social Order
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
70. The Two Hundred Billion Dollar Question: How to Get the Biggest Impact from the 2019 Replenishments
- Author:
- Andrew Rogerson and Owen Barder
- Publication Date:
- 02-2019
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development (CGD)
- Abstract:
- n 2019/2020 donor governments are anticipated to pledge up to $170 billion to various multilateral organisations as part of their replenishment cycles. In the past, these large replenishments have been approached piecemeal and characterised by path dependency, which arguably has led to underperformance of the multilateral system as a whole. This unusual bunching of replenishments of some of the largest organisations in 2019 provides an opportunity to think more coherently about multilateral funding and to address key systemic problems, such as overlapping mandates and under-funding of some parts of the system. In this paper we recognise that it is unlikely that donors will take a formal, system-wide approach to the replenishments, but instead provide three suggestions that could nudge donors toward better coordinating the effect of their decisions. These are (1) multilaterals should be invited to set out in advance, and in a common format, their “offer” on a number of key issues, (2) donors should increase the envelope for core multilateral funding by diverting money away from earmarked funds, and (3) donors should provide a confidential forecast of their likely replenishments to a trusted intermediary, so that the “business as usual” baseline scenario is known.
- Topic:
- International Cooperation, Multilateral Relations, and Multilateralism
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus