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2322. The WTO and its Institutional Future - Evaluating the Lessons of Seattle
- Author:
- Isabella Falautano
- Publication Date:
- 06-2000
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Istituto Affari Internazionali
- Abstract:
- There has been a lot of talk in the last months about the results of the third ministerial meeting of the WTO, held in Seattle from November 30th to December 3rd, 1999. In Seattle, the WTO was expected to adopt a proposal for the launching of a comprehensive new Round – the so-called Millennium Round – encompassing a broad and ambitious range of topics, from the more traditional challenges to the new trade issues. Instead, the meeting finished in a dramatic failure and the risk now is that the trading system of the twenty-first century will drift into a fog of uncertainty. One should point out that, at the end of the Uruguay Round a renegotiation was foreseen in the two key sectors of agriculture and services, the so-called "built-in" or progressive agenda. While the scenario for a global round, as I will try to clarify, is improbable to say the least in the short term, sectoral negotiations in agriculture and services will be starting in the year 2000. Nevertheless, the general context in which such negotiations are being launched, and in which the pro-Round coalition is trying to built consensus, is undoubtedly difficult.
- Topic:
- Globalization, International Organization, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- United States and Europe
2323. Euro Spectator 2000 - Italy
- Author:
- Silvia Nenci and Marina Mancini
- Publication Date:
- 01-2000
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Istituto Affari Internazionali
- Abstract:
- According to the “Eurobarometer” survey (Eurobarometer No 54), conducted in November and December 2000 among more than 16,000 citizens of the European Union, 55% (-3% in comparison with spring 2000) of Europeans support the single currency, whilst 37% do not. The Member States in which support is strongest are Italy (79%), Luxembourg (75%), Belgium (72%), Greece (70%), Ireland (69%), Spain (68%) and the Netherlands (64%). The majority of public opinion is against the Euro in Sweden (26%), the United Kingdom (21%), Denmark (41%) and Finland (45%). Looking at Italy, results show that 79% of citizens are in favour of the Euro (-2% in comparison with previous six months), 17% are against it (+ 3%) and the remaining 4% are indifferent.
- Topic:
- Economics and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- United Kingdom, Europe, Finland, Greece, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Netherlands, Ireland, and Luxembourg
2324. The Saviour and Other Europes—Identity, Interests, and Geopolitical Images of Europe in Estonia
- Author:
- Pami Aalto
- Publication Date:
- 04-2000
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Studies Association
- Abstract:
- It is no secret that research on integration within the European Union (EU) is not any more limited to the traditional dispute between intergovernmentalism and neo-functionalism. The debate between these two branches of research is now joined by International Relations (IR) constructivism, comparative politics approaches, and approaches treating the EU as “new governance” (Christiansen et al. 1999: 537). The issue of EU enlargement, moreover, enforces us to enlarge the research agenda horizontally, too, in order to make EU integration comprehensible. One of the metaphors depicting this enlarged research agenda is the “Europe of concentric circles”, with Brussels and EU institutions as the centre (Joenniemi 1993: 209- 12). For Ola Tunander (1997: 32), the emerging perception in the EU centre is that it represents a “Cosmos” of order and peace. This “Cosmos” is surrounded by a concentric circle of less integrated EU members, then a circle of relatively stable states eager for joining the EU, an outer circle of states less prepared to do so, and finally, a periphery representing “Chaos”; a final frontier of Europe which is definitely not about to join the EU in the foreseeable future. Ole Wæver (1997), for his part, speaks of a “Europe of three empires”. The EU is the most important empire, but it is accompanied by the “empire of the Tsars” -- Russia and its sphere of interests -- and the “empire of the Ottomans” -- Turkey with its sphere of interests.
- Topic:
- Globalization, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Israel
2325. Exploding the Value Chain: The Changing Nature of the Global Production Structure and Implications for International Political Economy
- Author:
- Thomas C. Lawton and Kevin P. Michaels
- Publication Date:
- 03-2000
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Studies Association
- Abstract:
- Contrary to recent critical thought, something has changed between the globalisation process of the late 19th and late 20th Centuries. There has been a fundamental change in what Strange (1988) defined as 'the production structure'. We begin this paper by examining Strange's notion of the production structure and its place in structural power. We then proceed to discuss the changing process of globalisation and the growth in intermediate products, deconstructing Michael Porter's value chain concept in the process. We argue that, in addition to developments in communications, the 'new globalism' is characterised in large part by changes in the production structure. These changes are facilitated by the advent of e-commerce. For governments to adapt to this new environment, they need to think in terms of how to gain or maintain comparative advantage in a particular part of the value chain.
- Topic:
- Globalization, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
2326. Beyond the Basle Accord: Banking Regulation in a System of Multilevel Governance
- Author:
- Susanne Lutz
- Publication Date:
- 03-2000
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Studies Association
- Abstract:
- In the 1980s, international banking regulation was thought to exemplify a case of successful regime development. Negotiations at the international level produced a multilateral agreement that established a uniform standard of capital adequacy to safeguard against financial risks. In the following decade, however, a multilevel-model of regulation evolved that accorded greater significance to the cooperation between private and public actors and to the interplay between the international and national levels. In this article, I shall examine the reasons for the transition from the first model to the second. I will argue that the choice of any regulatory approach depends on the conflict situation at hand in which those responsible for regulation find themselves because of the nature of the problem that needs to be solved. Whereas in the 1980s, the problem was a conflict over distribution, which could be resolved through multilateral negotiation, actors today are confronted with more complex forms of financial risk resembling a ‚'game against nature', so to speak . In order to regulate these, actors have replaced negotiation by communication-based learning processes.
- Topic:
- Globalization, International Cooperation, and International Trade and Finance
2327. Domestic Politics and International Relations in Trade Policymaking: The United States and Japan in the GATT Uruguay Round Agriculture Negotiations
- Author:
- Christopher C. Meyerson
- Publication Date:
- 03-2000
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Studies Association
- Abstract:
- This paper is circulated for discussion and comment only and should not be quoted without permission of the author. Linked to efforts to promote trade liberalization through trade negotiations has been the recognition of the need not only to better understand the relationship between domestic politics and international relations in American trade policymaking, but also to analyze more effectively the relationship between domestic politics and international relations in other countries' trade policymaking processes.
- Topic:
- International Political Economy, International Trade and Finance, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- United States, Japan, America, and Israel
2328. Anti-Globalization Movements at the Cross-Roads
- Author:
- Raimo Väyrynen
- Publication Date:
- 11-2000
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame
- Abstract:
- Although it appears to be growing in strength and numbers, the anti-globalization protest movement is now at a cross-roads. The core of the anti-globalization movement, which is rooted in social justice and human rights, has been unable to control violent fringe groups. Furthermore, international economic agencies such as the World Bank and the IMF have been surprisingly responsive, expanding and accelerating their policies on debt relief and strengthening their focus on the mitigation of poverty. The protest movement thus faces the challenge of developing new instrumental goals for the next phase.
- Topic:
- Globalization, Human Rights, International Organization, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Washington
2329. New Answers To Old Questions: Explaining The Slow Adoption Of Ring Spinning In Lancashire, 1880-1913
- Author:
- Timothy Leunig
- Publication Date:
- 10-2000
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Abstract:
- This paper re-examines theories previously advanced to explain Lancashire's slow adoption of ring spinning. New cost estimates show that although additional transport costs and technical complementarities between certain types of machine reduced ring adoption rates, these supply side constraints were not dominant. Instead what mattered most were demand side factors. Lancashire produced far more fine yarns than other countries and that yarn was better spun on mules. Furthermore, Lancashire had a sizeable export yarn trade, a market again more suited to mule spinning. Low ring adoption rates were a positive response to demand patterns dominated by high quality goods.
- Topic:
- Economics, Industrial Policy, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- United Kingdom
2330. The 'Labour Question' in Nineteenth Century Brazil: Railways, Export Agriculture and Labour Scarcity
- Author:
- Lucia Lamounier
- Publication Date:
- 10-2000
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Abstract:
- This paper examines changing patterns of labour relations in nineteenth-century Brazil associated with the building of railways and expansion of export agriculture. It addresses the 1850s-1880s period, decades when the `labour question' became a pressing issue for contemporaries. The extinction of the trans-Atlantic slave trade in 1850 posed the problem of finding alternative supplies of labour at a time of increasing agro-export production. In 1852 effective action to start the building of railways was taken. As part of efforts to improve conditions in the sugar and coffee sectors, several concessions were approved. From the middle of the century through to the 1870s, the expansion of coffee cultivation and railway construction were closely inter-related phenomena in the southern provinces of Brazil and shaped the debate about labour. The 1870s was a key decade. First, these years witnessed a `railway mania' - a great fever of building new lines and branches in various regions of the country, especially in the new coffee districts. Second, concern about the labour question intensified with the approval in 1871 of the Rio Branco Law which provided for the gradual emancipation of slaves. From then until 1888, when slavery was finally abolished, several policies were implemented trying to solve the problem of labour supply and to set new patterns of labour relations. This involved the arrival of thousands of immigrants in the 1880s, imported with government aid, to support the near-continuous expansion of coffee cultivation.
- Topic:
- Economics, Industrial Policy, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Brazil and South America