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1991. The New Investment Tribunal under Chapter 8 of CETA

Author:
Marc Lalonde
Publication Date:
05-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
I have rarely seen, in my long life, a change as unjustified as the one represented by the new investment tribunal structure now found in the agreed text of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union. First of all, it is a poor solution based on a faulty premise. It is the result of an ill-informed but obviously effective campaign by mainly European lobbies[1] and some groups in the European Parliament, which have argued, without proper quantitative or qualitative support, that the present system is biased in favour of foreign investors. If this were the case, how can they explain that, according to the latest statistics from the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), only 46 percent of all ICSID awards upheld (in part or in full) investors’ claims, while 53 percent of the claims were dismissed for lack of jurisdiction or on the merits, and another one percent were rejected as manifestly without legal merit.[2] Similarly, in its 2014 World Investment Report, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) came to the conclusion that, out of 274 concluded investment treaty cases in 2013, 43 percent were decided in favour of the state, 31 percent in favour of the investor and 26 percent were settled.[3]
Topic:
International Political Economy and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1992. Intercultural coexistence and cooperation : Is the model of Schleswig-Holstein transferrable?

Author:
Zora Popova, Inga Marken, and Lavinia Bâdulescu
Publication Date:
09-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues
Abstract:
The current paper, developed in connection to an ECMI project implemented in Azerbaijan in 2014, explores the transferability of successful reconciliation and intercultural cohesion mechanisms from one region or a country to another. Analysing the positive example of Schleswig-Holstein and the conflict region of Nagorno-Karabakh, the paper aims at overcoming the specific context related issues and to look at the structural factors that need to be considered if a model is to be adapted to a historically, geographically, and culturally different case.
Topic:
International Relations and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1993. Missile Defense: Challenges and Opportunities for the Trump Administration

Author:
Henry F. Cooper
Publication Date:
11-2016
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis (IFPA)
Abstract:
This IFPA/Independent Working Group on Missile Defense white paper proposes the return to key elements of the Strategic Defensive Initiative (SDI) era, particularly to deploy space-based ballistic missile defense (BMD) systems, as part of an effective strategy to combat growing threats by rogue states or terrorists that have or may soon have the ability to conduct a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack
Topic:
Military Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1994. EU and China: Leadership after COP21

Author:
Sophia Kalantzakos
Publication Date:
03-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP)
Abstract:
COP21 in Paris sparked a glimmer of hope that perhaps nations were finally ready to take on the climate crisis. The message of optimism now requires concrete action and steadfast commitment to a process that raises a number of crucial challenges: technological, political, social and economic. Who will lead after COP21? As the crisis continues to grow, new robust leadership is imperative. This paper discusses why a close collaboration between the EU and China may result in the necessary push to solidify a concrete vision and a roadmap for our common future in the Anthropocene.
Topic:
Climate Change
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1995. Making or Breaking Nonviolent Discipline in Civil Resistance Movements

Author:
Thomas Pinckney
Publication Date:
10-2016
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC)
Abstract:
A central question in the study and practice of civil resistance is how nonviolent movements can maintain nonviolent discipline among their members. What factors encourage and sustain nonviolent discipline, particularly in the face of violent repression? While several scholars have suggested answers to these questions to date, the answers have largely remained ad hoc and have not been systematically tested. This monograph addresses these deficits in the literature by offering a unified theory of nonviolent discipline. This theory provides a helpful tool for better understanding how nonviolent discipline is created, sustained and shaped by repression. Following the theory, the monograph presents two tests of the effects of several influences on nonviolent discipline. The first is on the impact of patterns of repression, history of civil resistance, and campaign leadership and structure on nonviolent discipline.
Topic:
Human Rights
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1996. International Affairs

Author:
East View Information Services
Publication Date:
12-2016
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
East View Information Services
Abstract:
World Issues
Topic:
International Affairs and International Development
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1997. A New Measure of Inter-industry Distance and Its Application to the U.S. Regional Growth

Author:
Yoon Yeo Joon and Whang Un Jung
Publication Date:
12-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP)
Abstract:
We propose a new measure of inter-industry ‘distance’. This is constructed a la Antras et al. (2012). While they measure the distance of an industry from its final use ？ what they call ‘downstreamness’ of an industry ？ we measure the distance between a pair of industries. Our proposed index is a measure of input-output linkages between industries that incorporates a ‘distance’ flavor. Our measure distinguishes the number of vertical production stages that an industry’s product goes through until it is finally used by another industry by assigning larger weights to the value of input use with longer production chains. Hence our measure contains more information on the relation between two industries along the vertical production chain. We use this index to construct an aggregate measure of ‘industry connectedness’ of regions in the U.S. It measures the degree of industrial linkages of a region. We then empirically establish that each region’s labor productivity is positively associated with the ‘industry connectedness’. The result contributes to the large literature of agglomeration economies that the industrial linkage is one of the main sources of agglomeration economies and productivity growth, as emphasized by Marshall (1920). It also suggests that our index can serve as an alternative measure of the industrial linkages.
Topic:
International Political Economy and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1998. Government Spending Policy Uncertainty and Economic Activity: U.S. Time Series Evidence

Author:
Kim Wongi
Publication Date:
12-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP)
Abstract:
In this paper, I empirically examine the effects of uncertainty about government spending policy on economic activity using U.S. time series data. To this end, I constructed government spending policy uncertainty indexes and estimate proxy SVAR model. Proxy SVAR model with constructed indexes shows that an increase in government spending policy uncertainty has negative, sizable, and prolonged effects on economic activity. Moreover, the results imply that the commonly adopted recursive SVAR model in literature on policy uncertainty systematically underestimates the adverse effect of government spending policy uncertainty because of the endogeneity issue. One policy suggestion based on the empirical finding is clear announcement of future government spending path.
Topic:
International Political Economy
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1999. Comparative Advantage of Value Added in Exports: The Role of Offshoring and Transaction Costs

Author:
Park Soonchan
Publication Date:
10-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP)
Abstract:
This study tests whether Ricardian comparative advantage is valid for value added in exports that does not include intermediate inputs imported from various industries in a number of countries. Using a panel data on valued added contents of bilateral exports, we find that changes in the labor productivity lead to growth of value added in exports. This implies that Ricardian comparative advantage is an important determinant of exports in longitudinal changes. The estimated coefficients of the observed productivity turn out to be larger than those of CDK (2012), implying that Ricardian comparative advantage has greater influence on determining the patterns of trade in a world with global value chains.
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2000. The Cyber Financial Wars on the Horizon

Author:
Juan Zarate
Publication Date:
07-2016
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
Juan Zarate, with a foreword from Stewart Baker, looks forward to the future as cyberattacks and intrusions become increasingly common weapons in the ever-expanding toolkit of state and non-state actors.
Topic:
International Security and Cybersecurity
Political Geography:
Global Focus