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6071. Liberalizing Agricultural Trade and Developing Countries

Author:
David Orden, Rashid S. Kaukab, and Eugenio Diaz-Bonilla
Publication Date:
03-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
A diverse group of development and trade liberalization advocates agree that reduction of agricultural protection and subsidization in the world's wealthy countries is necessary to strengthen both international growth opportunities and the global trade regime. According to the consensus reached among participants attending a conference cosponsored by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Cordell Hull Institute, WTO Doha Round negotiations on agriculture should compel policy changes in industrialized countries to limit trade-distorting domestic subsidies for agricultural products, lower tariffs, increase market access, and eliminate export subsidies. In response to temporary hardships caused by an overall reduction in agriculture support, governments should have the flexibility to adopt temporary or limited domestic, and perhaps international, compensatory policies. Significant differences in perspective and policy prescriptions were expressed by conference participants about the appropriate speed and scope of agricultural liberalization in developing countries, especially if progress is not made toward reduced support for agriculture in developed countries.
Topic:
Development, International Organization, International Trade and Finance, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

6072. Promoting Democracy in the Middle East: The Problem of U.S. Credibility

Author:
Marina Ottaway
Publication Date:
03-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
Since early last year, the Bush administration has paid unaccustomed attention to the issue of democracy in the Middle East. Following September 11, many U. S. officials have worried that the authoritarianism of most Arab regimes has bred frustration in their countries, and this frustration has in turn favored the growth of terrorist organizations. U.S. discussions about the need for democracy in the Middle East have triggered a strong negative reaction by Arab commentators and journalists, including in discussions of democracy in the Arab press. However, very little of this writing has dealt with the problem of democracy in the real sense—that is, with the issue of how Arab governments relate to their citizens now and how they should relate to their citizens in the future. Instead, Arab commentators have treated democracy as a foreign policy issue, asking why the United States is suddenly discussing democracy in the Arab world and what true intentions it is trying to hide behind the smoke screen of democracy talk. The debate in the Arab press reveals some of the obstacles that the United States faces as it attempts to define its new pro-democracy role in the Middle East.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and Democratization
Political Geography:
United States, Middle East, and Arabia

6073. Trade Preferences and Environmental Goods

Author:
Scott Vaughan
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
For the World Trade Organization (WTO), the most important development in a decade related to trade-environment linkages is the agreement to liberalize commerce in environmental goods and services. If properly executed, the agreement will increase the availability of “green” goods in global markets and break the North-South deadlock that has paralyzed discussions on the trade regime governing such goods.
Topic:
Environment, International Organization, International Trade and Finance, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

6074. Iraq: What Next?

Author:
George Perkovich, Joseph Cirincione, and Jessica T. Mathews
Publication Date:
01-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
American televisions are filled with war rooms, countdowns, deadlines, and showdowns with Iraq. The almost minute by minute coverage distorts public understanding of how inspections work and creates a false sense of the inevitability of war. No decision has in fact been made. Within the administration some indeed intend the buildup as the prelude to war while for others it presents the credible threat of war that is necessary to compel Iraq's disarmament through inspections.
Topic:
Democratization
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, America, and Middle East

6075. At a Crossroads in Afghanistan: Should the United States Be Engaged in Nation Building?

Author:
Subodh Atal
Publication Date:
09-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Despite progress in the return of refugees and the prevention of humanitarian disasters, stability in Afghanistan is threatened by ethnic tension, feuding warlords, and violence perpetrated by regrouping elements of the Taliban and their allies. The United States is being asked to increase its level of commitment to rebuilding Afghanistan as a means of stabilizing the country, even as American troops battle the resurgent Islamic extremists who operate along the Afghan-Pakistan border.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Development, and Politics
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, America, Middle East, Taliban, and Arabia

6076. Reauthorize or Retire the Overseas Private Investment Corporation?

Author:
Ian Vásquez and John Welborn
Publication Date:
09-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation is a government agency that provides loans and investment insurance to U.S. companies doing business around the world. Its four-year, renewable charter will expire in September 2003. Proponents of OPIC claim that the agency helps the U.S. economy and promotes economic development abroad.
Topic:
Economics, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States

6077. Missile Defense: Defending America or Building Empire?

Author:
Charles V. Peña
Publication Date:
05-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
The rationale for missile defense put forward by its advocates is often a “doom and gloom” picture: America and its citizens are defenseless against the threat of ballistic missiles, and missile defense is supposed to protect the American people. The administration's vision of missile defense is not just a global system that protects the United States against long-range missiles but a global system capable of engaging all classes of ballistic missiles to protect U.S. forces deployed worldwide, U.S. allies, and other friendly countries. Thus, the purpose of missile defense is extended well beyond protecting America and Americans.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Defense Policy, and Nuclear Weapons
Political Geography:
United States and America

6078. Wrong War, Wrong Place, Wrong Time: Why Military Action Should Not Be Used to Resolve the North Korean Nuclear Crisis

Author:
Doug Bandow
Publication Date:
05-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Ever since North Korea's dramatic revelation that it was producing materials that could be used to make nuclear weapons, the Bush administration has considered a range of policy options—including a military strike on North Korean nuclear facilities. Although the administration officially dismisses such talk, President Bush has left the military option on the table, and influential advisers outside of the administration have openly called for military action along the lines of the Israeli attack on Iraqi nuclear facilities at Osirak in 1981.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and Defense Policy
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, Israel, and North Korea

6079. The China-Taiwan Military Balance: Implications for the United States

Author:
Ivan Eland
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
China's economy is four times the size of Taiwan's and apparently growing at a faster rate; that economic disparity between China and Taiwan could eventually lead to a military disparity as well. Nonetheless, even an informal U.S. security guarantee for Taiwan against nuclear-armed China is ill-advised. Taiwan is not strategically essential to America's national security. Moreover, China has significant incentives to avoid attacking Taiwan. Perhaps the most crucial is that hostile behavior toward Taiwan would jeopardize China's increasing economic linkage with the United States and other key countries.
Topic:
Security and Defense Policy
Political Geography:
United States, China, America, Taiwan, and Asia

6080. Are Our Troops Ready for Biological and Chemical Attacks?

Author:
Eric R. Taylor
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
As war with Iraq becomes imminent, U.S. military readiness takes center stage. Concerns about readiness focus not only on our ability to successfully attack Iraq but on our ability to defend U.S. forces against an enemy regime that, if its existence is threatened, could have every incentive to use weapons of mass destruction. In any war with Iraq, military experts worry most about attacks with chemical and biological weapons. They have reason to worry, given the U.S. military's lack of preparedness for such attacks.
Topic:
Security and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, and Middle East