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671. Energy in the Mediterranean and the Gulf. Opportunities for Synergies

Author:
Naji Abi-Aad
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Mediterranean is expected to play an increasingly important role in global energy flows which might result in a greater European dependence on North African supplies and less on the Gulf. At the same time, potential synergies are said to exist in such fields as the development of renewable energy sources, and investment required to meet domestic electricity demand. As far as oil and refined products are concerned, the volume and direction of oil flows to and through the Mediterranean will be important, especially as an expected rise in transport in the near future contains serious security implications. As a result, an increased focus on the development of a pipeline network between the Mediterranean and Europe might open possibilities for Gulf involvement. The same could apply for the supply of natural gas to Europe. In the field of power generation, the improved ability to transmit electricity over longer distances opens the door for establishing a continuum of interconnection from the Gulf to Europe through the Mediterranean and the ability to serve markets along those connections. Finally, the rapidly rising awareness of the need for renewable energy sources suggests an additional field of cooperation.
Topic:
Energy Policy, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, and Oil
Political Geography:
Europe, Middle East, Arabia, and North Africa

672. National Courts, Domestic Democracy, and the Evolution of International Law: A Reply to Eyal Benvenisti and George Downs

Author:
Tom Ginsburg
Publication Date:
11-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
The application of the tools of international relations, particularly those associated with rational choice analysis, to problems of international law has generated many important insights in the last two decades. In a recent issue of this Journal, Eyal Benvenisti and George Downs, two scholars who individually and jointly have contributed much to this research programme, provide a fascinating interpretation of a recent trend in democracies toward judicial constraint of executives in foreign affairs matters. Placing this development in the broader context of inter-judicial cooperation and globalization, they argue that courts are increasingly coordinating across borders to constrain their national executives. This requires resolution of a transnational collective action problem among judges. The piece is creative, well-argued, and might even be correct. But, as I will argue, it might not be. The fact that courts cooperate and coordinate is observationally equivalent to other plausible theories of what courts are doing. These theories are simpler and also consistent with the basic story Benvenisti and Downs want to tell.
Topic:
Globalization
Political Geography:
United States

673. THE FUTURE OF GLOBAL HEALTH: Ingredients for a Bold Effective U.S. Initiative

Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Africa Policy Information Center
Abstract:
Major accomplishments in global health over the last decade demonstrate that adequately resourced programs, focused on achieving specific results, can improve health outcomes for millions and support economic progress. They also show that distinct public health challenges are closely interconnected and that a comprehensive and integrated strategy is needed to ensure that ambitious health goals are met.
Topic:
Globalization, Health, Human Welfare, and Humanitarian Aid
Political Geography:
United States

674. Pandemic Influenza and the Globalization of Public Health

Author:
Karen Eggleston, Qiong Zhang, and Michele Barry
Publication Date:
11-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Abstract:
Globalization means a threat to any of the world's peoples is a threat to all the world's peoples. As American journalist Laurie Garrett says in her famous book The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World out of Balance, none of us can escape from a pandemic in our increasingly globalized world. Most of us are active members in prosperous communities, whose daily lives involve interactions with dozens of people of varied backgrounds; even if we were Robinson Crusoes safely living a life of autarky on an isolated island, a fly or bird could bring an avian or swine flu virus to puncture our well-protected balance.
Topic:
Globalization, Health, and Humanitarian Aid
Political Geography:
Global Focus

675. The City in the Global Crisis: Understanding Impacts and Strengthening the Performance of Stimulus Packages

Author:
hael Cohen
Publication Date:
11-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The New School Graduate Program in International Affairs
Abstract:
Though countries generate more than half their GDP in urban-based economic activities, the G-20 discussions in London and Pittsburgh devoted no recorded attention to urban infrastructure. Policy makers and designers of stimulus packages ignored two fundamental aspects of this crisis: Where the greatest impact of economic contraction are and where demand can be stimulated to generate the largest possible multipliers. This paper argues that while industrialized countries take urban and spatial dimensions of their economies for granted, this perspective is counterproductive for Latin American countries that are the most urbanized among developing countries.
Topic:
Economics, Globalization, Industrial Policy, and Financial Crisis
Political Geography:
Latin America

676. Speculating on Change: Four Paradoxes of Our Urban Future

Author:
Michael Cohen
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The New School Graduate Program in International Affairs
Abstract:
The current global economic crisis demonstrates the growing inter-connectedness and its impacts on the economic welfare and political stability of both rich and poor countries—the impact of which are greater in cities. It is important to understand the role of cities in the world, both as sites for the most impacts of global change and as providing solutions to some of these problems. Today, the challenge of urban change has been transformed into the policy and institutional economic, geographic, sustainable, and political but in the end it is manifest in the streets. The world has become urban.
Topic:
Globalization, Industrial Policy, Poverty, and Financial Crisis

677. Islam and the International Sector: Negotiations of Faith in the Kyrgyz Republic

Author:
Noor Borbieva
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This paper examines the impact of globalization on local religious life in the Kyrgyz Republic, a formerly Soviet republic of Central Asia. The central argument of the paper is that transnational Islamic discourses alter the way Kyrgyz Muslims think about identity and religious authority. The paper draws on the work of Talal Asad, acknowledging important contributions he has made to the anthropology of Islam, as well as exploring the limitations of his approach. The paper follows Asad in viewing Islam as a tradition of competing discourses, none of which are more authentic than any other, but challenges Asad when he limits the study of Islam to competing discourses about belief and practice. Ethnographic material reveals that not only do Kyrgyz Muslims champion an astounding variety of competing discourses about Islam, but with the entrance of transnational Islamic discourses in these contests, they increasingly encompass issues of identity and religious authority.
Topic:
Globalization, Islam, and Religion
Political Geography:
Central Asia

678. Africa's Private Sector: What's Wrong with the Business Environment and What to Do About It

Author:
Vijaya Ramachandran, Manju Kedia Shah, and Alan Gelb
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Global Development (CGD)
Abstract:
Why has the private sector failed to thrive in much of sub-Saharan Africa? Drawing on a unique set of enterprise surveys, we identify inadequate infrastructure (especially unreliable electricity and poor quality roads) and burdensome regulations as the biggest obstacles to doing business. We find as well that the private sector in many countries is dominated by ethnic minorities, which inhibits competition and lowers demand for a better business environment. Solutions include investing in infrastructure, providing risk guarantees, and reforming regulations to lower the cost of doing business, as well as increasing access to education for would-be entrepreneurs.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, Globalization, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Africa

679. A New Geography of Knowledge in the Electronics Industry? Asia\'s Role in Global Innovation Networks

Author:
Dieter Ernst
Publication Date:
08-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
East-West Center
Abstract:
Political debates about globalization are focused on offshore outsourcing of manufacturing and services. But these debates neglect an important change in the geography of knowledge––the emergence of global innovation networks (GINs) that integrate dispersed engineering, product development, and research activities across geographic borders.
Topic:
Emerging Markets, Globalization, Industrial Policy, International Trade and Finance, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Asia

680. Trade Imbalance: The Struggle to Weigh Human Rights Concerns in Trade Policymaking

Author:
Sébastien Jodoin
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
Scholars and policymakers have only recently begun to develop a rigorous understanding of the relationship between trade and human rights. The authors of the present book seek to provide readers with greater insight into this relationship, with the ultimate aim of helping policymakers to better govern globalization.
Topic:
Globalization