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281. State-controlled entities as claimants in international investment arbitration: an early assessment

Author:
Michael D. Nolan and Frédéric Sourgens
Publication Date:
12-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Abstract:
State-controlled entities (SCEs) are increasingly important participants in international investment flows and international trade. Cumulative FDI by sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) has reportedly reached US$100 billion. SWFs are significant equity investors in, and provide significant debt financing to, every kind of company, from professional sports franchises to container ports. In addition to the role of these funds, national oil companies are growing in regional and international importance. In many countries, other industries are also increasingly government-owned.
Topic:
Development, Government, Industrial Policy, International Trade and Finance, Political Economy, and Foreign Direct Investment
Political Geography:
United States

282. Alongside global political economy — a rhizome of informal finance

Author:
William Vlcek
Publication Date:
12-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of International Relations and Development
Institution:
Central and East European International Studies Association
Abstract:
One contemporary issue confronting global finance is the nature and extent of its participation in and contribution to a global war on terror. To date, efforts have involved a variety of methods, including both an increase in the surveillance of financial transactions and the regulation of previously unregulated methods of financial exchange. This paper offers a conceptualisation of one informal value transfer method (known by its Arabic name — hawala) in the form of a rhizome, using the concept as developed by Deleuze and Guattari in A Thousand Plateaus. This paper argues that the ability of hawala to regenerate itself along multiple paths situates the procedure as a rhizome, and that standard methods for financial regulation fail to appreciate the crucial difference this regenerative ability makes for attempts at control and regulation. Consequently, the activity that the state is seeking to control will merely be displaced, to reform and regenerate itself yet again. To ground this argument in the present condition of the global political economy, the specific example considered is Al Barakaat, a transnational Somali firm that fell victim to the global war on terror in late 2001.
Topic:
Political Economy
Political Geography:
Arabia

283. Strengthening Popular Participation in the African Union

Publication Date:
03-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
The African Union (AU) has committed to a vision of Africa that is 'integrated, prosperous and peaceful … driven by its own citizens, a dynamic force in the global arena' (Vision and Mission of the African Union, May 2004).
Topic:
Democratization, Development, and Political Economy
Political Geography:
Africa

284. Export Control Reform 2010: Transforming the Legal Architecture of Dual-Use and Defense Trade Controls

Author:
Neena Shenai
Publication Date:
02-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
This paper proposes reforms to the legal framework of the U.S. export control system. By examining the existing legal structure of dual-use and defense trade controls and its shortcomings, the paper considers how other U.S. legal regimes could provide models for ongoing reform efforts being undertaken by the Obama Administration and Congress. The paper proposes certain reforms, including the institution of added administrative safeguards and limited judicial review, to improve the current system.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, International Trade and Finance, and Political Economy
Political Geography:
United States

285. Myths about Budget Deficits

Author:
John H. Makin
Publication Date:
02-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
February always brings with it the president's proposals for taxing and spending in the coming fiscal year. The president's budget proposals are accompanied by congressional and administration estimates of the path deficits and government debt are expected to take in coming years. Last year, those projections, especially a three-year string of actual and projected deficits over a trillion dollars from 2009 through 2011, excited widespread comment and handwringing about runaway deficits and their allegedly damaging effects in the form of lower growth, higher inflation, and higher interest rates.
Topic:
Debt, Economics, Political Economy, and Politics
Political Geography:
United States

286. A Nation at War, an Administration in Retreat: An Assessment of the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review and the FY 2011 Defense Budget

Author:
Thomas Donnelly and Tim Sullivan
Publication Date:
02-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
The 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review Report (QDR) and the Fiscal Year 2011 defense budget proposal reveal a critical contradiction at the heart of the Obama Administration's national security policy. As the second sentence of the QDR states, "first and foremost, the United States is a nation at war." But the remainder of the report and, more importantly, the long-term budget, reflect an administration more interested in ending wars than winning them, and prepared to defer the modernization of the military resources necessary to maintain American leadership in the face of emerging threats. AEI's Center for Defense Studies (CDS) has developed a presentation, narrated by CDS director Tom Donnelly, assessing the key shortfalls of the QDR and the administration's defense budget proposal.
Topic:
Political Economy, Politics, and War
Political Geography:
United States

287. Can Economic Reform Open a Peaceful Path to Ending Burma's Isolation?

Author:
Raymond Gilpin and Lex Rieffel
Publication Date:
03-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
United States Institute of Peace
Abstract:
After decades of domestic conflict, military rule and authoritarian governance, Burma's economy could provide a viable entry point for effective international assistance to promote peace. Doing so would require a detailed understanding of the country's complex and evolving political economy. The lingering income and distributional effects of the 2008 Cyclone Nargis, anticipated changes associated with the new constitution and the 2010 elections and the Obama administration's decision to devote more attention to Burma suggest that the time is ripe for the creative application of economic mechanisms to promote and sustain peace. Looming challenges could derail Burma's prospects for economic and political stability. These challenges include irrational macroeconomic policies, failing to ensure all citizens enjoy benefits accrued from natural resources, endemic corruption, a flourishing illicit economy, a dysfunctional financial system and critical infrastructure bottlenecks. Failure to address these problems would frustrate peacebuilding efforts. A conflict sensitive economic strategy for Burma would focus on effective capacity-building, sustained policy reform, progressive steps to reduce corruption, fiscal empowerment of subnational authorities and prudent natural resource management. Success in these areas requires unwavering political will for sensibly sequenced policy improvements by domestic actors and finely targeted support from Burma's international partners.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Relations, Diplomacy, Economics, Political Economy, and Governance
Political Geography:
Myanmar

288. The Case for Auditing the Fed Is Obvious

Author:
Arnold Kling
Publication Date:
04-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Recently, the Federal Reserve has significantly altered the procedures and goals that it had followed for decades. It has more than doubled its balance sheet, paid interest to banks on reserves held as deposits with the Fed, made decisions about which institutions to prop up and which should be allowed to fail, invested in assets that expose taxpayers to large losses, and raised questions about how it will avoid inflation despite an unprecedented increase in the monetary base.
Topic:
Economics, Government, Political Economy, Politics, and Financial Crisis
Political Geography:
United States

289. Marché, bureaucratie, formes de la domination politique: Une économie politique weberienne

Author:
François Bafoil
Publication Date:
04-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales
Abstract:
From a broad perspective, political economy analyses economic and political exchanges proper to some social groups, embedded in particular historical periods. The great innovation of Max Weber's analysis is to highlight the intersubjective orientations that support these exchanges and characterize a particular period of history. This study firstly compares different features between free market economy and the soviet-type economy. Secondly, it measures their difference in accordance to the "ideal type" of "market", bureaucracy" and "forms of domination". Finally, it insists on the particular "hybrid" figures of "charisma" and "patrimonial bureaucracy".
Topic:
Economics, Markets, Political Economy, and Political Theory
Political Geography:
Russia and Europe

290. Can Economic Reform Open a Peaceful Path to Ending Burma's Isolation? (Burmese edition)

Author:
Raymond Gilpin and Lex Rieffel
Publication Date:
07-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
United States Institute of Peace
Abstract:
After decades of domestic conflict, military rule and authoritarian governance, Burma's economy could provide a viable entry point for effective international assistance to promote peace. Doing so would require a detailed understanding of the country's complex and evolving political economy.
Topic:
Development, Political Economy, and Foreign Direct Investment
Political Geography:
Asia