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3932. Banking Reform and Development in the Middle East and Africa
- Author:
- Catherine Boone and Henry Clement
- Publication Date:
- 03-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
- Abstract:
- This study underscores the strategic role —both political and economic— of banking sector reform in the overall pursuit of economic development and democratization. It compares trajectories of banking sector reform in Middle Eastern and African countries that have remained on the margins of the new global economy. A close look shows that there governments' willingness to embrace reform has differed across contexts, as has the extent and pace of reform. Meanwhile, the effects of reform have also been very uneven. We model this variation in reform trajectories and its outcomes, propose a theoretical explanation for it, and use a set of case studies to illustrate the contrasts and causal dynamics that we have identified. Our main claim is that structural features of national political economies go far in defining actual trajectories of banking sector reform and liberalization. Structural features of national political economies that we define as key are the strength of indigenous private sector, and how it is linked to the state and foreign capital. We propose a typology of banking structure and reform trajectories and use case studies from the Middle East and Africa to illustrate variation in the politics of banking sector reform.
- Topic:
- Development and Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- Africa, United States, Middle East, Canada, North America, and Mexico
3933. Los Balcanes: Entre el Pasado y el Presente. Una Introducción Históica a los Estudios Balcánicos
- Author:
- Slobodan Pajovic
- Publication Date:
- 02-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
- Abstract:
- This working paper deals with the complex, turbulent and contradictory history of the Balkans region. It is argued that the tragic realities confronting the region derive mainly from its asymmetric geopolitical, economic and cultural position, and its high degree of vulnerability and dependence on Western Europe and the Near East. It suggests that it is possible to study the history of the region by examining processes of both internal fragmentation and external subordination. While the paper cannot constitute a complete or systematic study of the Balkans, it presents and overview of the most salient features in the region's historical, politico-economic and cultural development. Two case studies, Yugoslavia and Kosovo, help to highlight the broader trends.
- Topic:
- Economics, Human Welfare, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Iran, Middle East, Eastern Europe, Kosovo, Yugoslavia, and Balkans
3934. Foreign Policy Strategies in a Globalized World: The Case of Mexico
- Author:
- Guadalupe González
- Publication Date:
- 02-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
- Abstract:
- This document analyses the impact of the end of the Cold-War, and the processes of economic and political liberalization on Mexico's foreign policy. The first section identifies the consequences for the so-called intermediate countries of the three most important post-Cold War trends: the emergence of hybrid structure of global power, the wave of globalization, and the growing importance of international institutions. The second section evaluates the explanatory value of three systemic approaches to the study of the foreign policy of intermediate states: systemic-structuralism, middle powers, and pivotal states. In the third section, I evaluate Kahler's alternative approach centered on the interaction between systemic and domestic variables, in particular on the foreign policy consequences of economic liberalization and democratization such as the adoption of external cooperative strategies and the deepening to engagement with international institution. The fourth section describes the main changes that have taken place in Mexico's foreign policy during the 1990s: pragmatism, primacy of economics, closer alignment with the United States, segmented multilateralism, fragmentation of the decision-making process, and new instruments. There are two arguments in this document. First, in contrast to other intermediate liberalizing countries, Mexico's efforts to adapt to the new post-Cold War international system, followed an uneven and partial pattern. While Mexican political leaders pursued the full integration of the country to the international economy, in the security realm they maintain a less than open policy based on the defense of the traditional notion of sovereignty. Mexico's partial adaptation is explained by the different pace of the raid economic reform on the one hand, and the gradual and slow opening of the post-revolutionary political regime, on the other. Second, as Kahler's model predicted, Mexico adopted strategies of cooperation and institutional engagement in order to solve credibility roblems. The need to enhance the credibility of the programs of economic reform pushed the Mexican government to engage actively with economic international institutions.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Africa, United States, Middle East, North America, and Mexico
3935. Turkey at the Crossroads on Iraq: A Test Case for US-Turkey Relations
- Author:
- Aysegul Sever
- Publication Date:
- 09-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- EastWest Institute
- Abstract:
- While the Iraqi crisis has served to help define America's position on the world's stage, especially pertaining to trans-Atlantic relations and the West-Islam axis, Turkey's position on Iraq will similarly have a lasting effect on that country's relations both with the West and with the Islamic world. The Turkish government's ambivalent stance towards the Iraqi crisis (first siding with the US position, then deciding to remain on the sidelines in accordance with a legislative decision based mainly on domestic concerns) seriously strained Turkish-American relations. This strain must be addressed, as it is now clear that neither side can take the decades-old, deep-seated ties for granted. As the Iraqi crisis proved, Turkey should not overestimate its strategic geographical location as a guarantee that will ensure America's continuing interest in Turkish concerns. On its part, the US should avoid the patronizing position that was evident in the run-up to the Iraq war. Especially, as the leading supporter of Turkey's fight against the PKK, America should be more attentive to its ally's special concerns and engage in consistent consultation with the Turkish government on Iraq while avoiding any “knee-jerk” reactions or unilateral acts. It is also important that Turkey's economic recovery program should continue to be backed by Washington. As a Middle Eastern country and a long time ally of the US, Turkey's views on the rebuilding of Iraq should be taken into account, especially while anti-Americanism in the area remains strong.
- Topic:
- International Relations and Security
- Political Geography:
- United States, Iraq, Turkey, and Middle East
3936. Egypt as a Failing State: Implications for US National Security
- Author:
- Ruth M. Beitler and Cindy R. Jebb
- Publication Date:
- 07-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Department of Social Sciences at West Point, United States Military Academy
- Abstract:
- Short-term solutions to more profound, long-term problems are not sufficient to safeguard United States interests in the Middle East. This paper challenges the current United States policy towards Egypt and its underlying assumption that regime stability supercedes a US interest in true political development. The key question in this paper queries why the status quo policy towards Egypt is no longer fulfilling US objectives when it has been a successful pillar for US Middle East policy in the past. One can easily understand the seductive nature of adhering to the status quo policy by recalling Anwar Sadat's initiatives moving Egypt squarely from the Soviet camp to the American one, the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, and Egypt's support during the Gulf War in 1991. The United States must take bold new steps towards its relationship with Egypt and leverage Egypt's historical regional leadership to better support US interests for the future.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, and Regional Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- United States, Middle East, Soviet Union, Arabia, and Egypt
3937. Iraqi Forced Migrants in Jordan: Conditions, Religious Networks, and the Smuggling Process
- Author:
- Geraldine Chatelard
- Publication Date:
- 04-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- This paper describes and analyses the case of Iraqis who, in the 1990s, have arrived in Jordan as forced migrants, and have continued to Western Europe or Australia as asylum migrants. The argument put forth is that trends of asylum migration cannot be fully understood without looking at a set of interrelated issues in the countries of first reception of the forced migrants: reception standards, the migrants' poor socioeconomic conditions, further violations of their human rights, but also the functioning of the migrants' social networks and of human smuggling rings.
- Topic:
- Human Rights, Migration, and Religion
- Political Geography:
- Iraq, Middle East, Australia, Jordan, and Western Europe
3938. EU-U.S. Relations beyond Iraq: Setting the Terms of Complementarity
- Author:
- Simon Serfaty
- Publication Date:
- 04-2003
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU) have been significant institutional casualties of the war in Iraq. European heads of state and government who joined the coalition of the willing organized by President George W. Bush (with a decisive assist from Prime Minister Tony Blair) often did so in spite of significant opposition from their general public. States that gathered, vocally or passively, in the coalition of the unwilling (and even resentful) organized by President Jacques Chirac (with a decisive assist from Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder) did so at the expense of a Euro-Atlantic structure within which the states of Europe have gained unprecedented security, stability, and prosperity. As the first phase of the coalition's military action in Iraq comes to an end, the prevailing view in the United States is that the EU is a troubled and troubling union: troubled in terms of its internal divisions, and troubling in terms of the motivation that seems to underline the actions of its older members. As for NATO, the prevailing view is that it is a fading organization with a blocking minority of members who are not only unwilling but also broadly incapable and frankly irrelevant.
- Topic:
- Economics and Politics
- Political Geography:
- United States, Europe, and Middle East
3939. The Future of the Transatlantic Defense Community
- Author:
- Felix G. Rohatyn and Jean-Paul Béchat
- Publication Date:
- 02-2003
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- On January 24, 2003, the CSIS Commission on Transatlantic Security and Industrial Cooperation in the Twenty-First Century, under the leadership of CSIS president and CEO John J. Hamre, released its final report, The Future of the Transatlantic Defense Community. Cochaired by Jean-Paul Béchat, chairman and CEO of SNECMA and president (in 2001-2002) of the European Association of Aerospace Industries (AECMA), and former U. S. ambassador to France Felix G. Rohatyn, this Commission consisted of 22 senior business leaders and former policymakers from both sides of the Atlantic. An Experts Group, directed by CSIS Europe Program director Simon Serfaty and composed of several representatives from the private and public sectors and academia, assisted the Commission in its work.
- Topic:
- Economics and Politics
- Political Geography:
- United States, Europe, and Middle East
3940. Can India and Pakistan Seize the Moment?
- Author:
- Teresita Schaffer and Paul A. Longo
- Publication Date:
- 07-2003
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- Two months after Indian prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's offer to extend “the hand of friendship” to neighboring Pakistan, the two countries are exchanging ambassadors and have begun restoring transport links, but discussions on their underlying dispute have yet to take shape. The next few months provide a crucial opportunity to begin a serious peace effort. Should this window of time pass by without progress, however, internal politics in both countries may rule out another try for a year or two.
- Topic:
- Government and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Pakistan, South Asia, and Middle East