Number of results to display per page
Search Results
34282. The Aftershock of 9/11: Implications for Globalization and World Politics
- Author:
- Richard Bernal
- Publication Date:
- 09-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The North-South Center, University of Miami
- Abstract:
- Globalization is a multi-dimensional process that is transforming national and global activities and interactions at a rapid rate and in a profound way. The changes encompassed by globalization have far-reaching implications for all aspects of life. The pace, extent, and character of globalization differ among economic, political, and social dimensions. While there is no single agreed-upon definition of globalization, it is generally understood to be a process in which barriers to the international flow of goods, services, capital, money, and information are being increasingly eroded or eliminated.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Globalization, and International Trade and Finance
34283. Evolution of Coastal Management in Panama
- Author:
- Daniel Suman
- Publication Date:
- 09-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The North-South Center, University of Miami
- Abstract:
- A window of opportunity for integrated coastal management (ICM) may exist in Panama as the new century begins. Panama emerged from a period of political instability in the 1990s and began the new century with full political control over its most important resource – the Panama Canal. A major institutional reorganization in the late 1990s merged a number of agencies with authority in the coastal and marine areas into the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) and expanded the responsibilities of the marine resource directorate to include marine and coastal resources. This reorganization occurred with the adoption of new legislation that clearly recognizes the importance of ICM. Concurrent with the formation of the Maritime Authority, the Legislature of Panama passed the General Environmental Law and created the National Environment Authority (ANAM). Despite these positive developments, institutional change has been slow. Sectoral management of coastal resources continues. Interagency coordination remains deficient, and no formal coastal coordination mechanism exists. Legislation is contradictory and confusing, and the new laws only add to the confusion. As coastal environmental quality continues to degrade and conflicts between sectors increase, the AMP's marine and coastal directorate must strengthen its institutional role and take the initiative in the development of a meaningful ICM effort in Panama. This manuscript analyzes the evolution of Panamanian institutions and legal frameworks related to coastal areas and highlights themes that are ripe for future action.
- Topic:
- Environment and Government
34284. Free Trade, Smart Borders, and Homeland Security: U.S.-Caribbean Cooperation in a New Era of Vulnerability
- Author:
- Stephen Flynn and Anthony Bryan
- Publication Date:
- 09-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The North-South Center, University of Miami
- Abstract:
- In the hours following the collapse of the World Trade Center twin towers on September 11, 2001, the United States applied a tourniquet to the transportation arteries that feed its national economy. The first campaign in the war to protect the U.S. homeland turned out to be an embargo on its own economy. Given the uncertainty surrounding the attacks, freezing its transport networks first and asking questions later was probably appropriate. But then came the hard part—how to resume global trade and travel after U.S. citizens' confidence in the security of their nation had been rocked to core? In the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the United States, front-line agencies like the U.S. Customs Service, Coast Guard, Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), Department of Agriculture, and Border Patrol were being called upon to open U.S. borders and seaports once again to legitimate trade and travel. At the same time, they were tasked with exercising increased vigilance in detecting and intercepting would-be terrorists or the means of terrorism, including weapons of mass destruction that might be smuggled in a vehicle, train, truck, or maritime container. Just how the United States arrives at the appropriate balance—between openness to facilitate legitimate commerce and exercising sufficient controls to stem transnational threats to public safety and security—is one of the most critical public policy challenges confronting U.S.-Caribbean relations.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Security, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- United States and Caribbean
34285. A Free Trade Area of the Americas: Implications of Success or Failure for the Members of the OAS
- Author:
- Stephen Keat
- Publication Date:
- 08-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The North-South Center, University of Miami
- Abstract:
- Ongoing negotiations involving all the nations in the Americas except for Cuba are aimed at agreeing on a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA or ALCA in Spanish) “from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego” by 2005. In addition to potentially revolutionizing the economies of some of the members of the Organization of American States (OAS), an FTAA will have major political, social, and even military ramifications for the Inter-American System. Failure to agree, however, will not just leave the member states with the present status quo. It would have negative impacts in the above-cited areas.
- Topic:
- International Organization and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- America
34286. Democracy and the Future of Civil-Military Relations in Chile: An Exercise in Historical Comparison
- Author:
- Felipe Agüero
- Publication Date:
- 05-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The North-South Center, University of Miami
- Abstract:
- The years since the return of democracy in Chile in 1990 have been quite stressful in the area of civil-military relations. How will these relations develop in the future, and how will they affect the quality of Chilean democracy? While it is safe to say that tension in these relations will eventually subside, the manner in which this happens and the specific path that these relations take will heavily influence the nature of Chile's democratic regime. To address this question, I propose to focus on trends that emerged before the disquieting circumstances of the past decade and the immediate present. I submit that, in the domain of civil-military relations, an approach grounded in historical comparison is the proper strategy for a sound assessment of future trends.
- Topic:
- Democratization and Government
34287. The Effectiveness of Special Interventions in Latin American Public Primary Schools
- Author:
- Joan B. Anderson
- Publication Date:
- 05-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The North-South Center, University of Miami
- Abstract:
- In pursuit of improved quality and more equity in education, public primary schools in Latin America have utilized several compensatory educational policies that include special interventions such as food aid programs, distribution of free textbooks, classroom libraries, in-service teacher training, extra classes and extra school sessions, tutors and mentors, and scholarships. Using data on children and schools in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico, this paper presents the results of cross-country, empirical estimates of the effects of these interventions on language and math achievement and on the likelihood of promotion, both at the school level and at the level of individual children. Language and math achievement was measured by scores on UNESCO-developed language and math examinations administered to each of the 2,048 children in the sample. In addition, the paper addresses whether a particular intervention is equally effective in poor and non-poor environments and whether these compensatory interventions in fact target those who need them most. Empirical findings suggest that the most effective programs are classroom libraries, distribution of textbooks, distribution of food, and teacher training. For programs to be compensatory, the research indicates that better targeting of scarce resources toward low-income schools and children is needed
- Topic:
- Development, Education, and Government
- Political Geography:
- Brazil, Argentina, Latin America, Mexico, and Chile
34288. Economic Development and Asymmetries in MERCOSUR: The Prospects of a MERCOSUR Regional Development Fund
- Author:
- Fernando Masi and Amaury Hoste
- Publication Date:
- 04-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The North-South Center, University of Miami
- Abstract:
- The signature of the Treaty of Asunción on March 26, 1991, by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay initiated the creation of a common market called the Mercado Común del Sur (Southern Common Market – MERCOSUR). The signatory governments hoped that the economic growth subsequent to the creation of this organization would contribute to a better convergence among them.
- Topic:
- Development and International Organization
- Political Geography:
- Brazil and Argentina
34289. Divergence and dispersion in the Russian economy
- Author:
- Per Botolf Maurseth
- Publication Date:
- 12-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- In the Soviet Union, one result of central planning was geographical decentralisation of economic activity to a large set of remote peripheral regions. For Russian post-Soviet regions an important question is whether centripetal market forces may alter the pre-existing industrial location. This paper addresses some aspects of regional economic development in Russia. The Russian economic landscape differs from what is common in market economies. Peripheral regions are generally richer than the average. During the 1990s, differences in gross regional product increased. These developments have also meant less spatial concentration of economic activity. During the last half of the 1990s, economic growth was higher in central regions than in the peripheries. If these trends continue, the Russian economic landscape will alter significantly in the future, with income per capita, total income and population being concentrated in economic central regions.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, and Industrial Policy
- Political Geography:
- Russia and Soviet Union
34290. Economic Convergence through Savings, Trade and Technology Flows—Lessons from Recent Research
- Author:
- Per Botolf Maurseth
- Publication Date:
- 10-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on income disparity between countries and convergence in economic growth. New theoretical models modify and often reverse the prediction of convergence in the traditional neo-classical model of economic growth. A particular feature of the recent literature as compared to traditional studies of economic growth is that it acknowledges interdependence between countries. International capital flows, trade in goods and (maybe most important) international technology flows influence individual countries growth performance. The empirical literature on the dynamics of the international distribution of income per capita reveals massive unconditional divergence in income levels. For sub-samples of countries on the other hand, the data support the conditional convergence hypothesis: when other factors are accounted for, there is a tendency for income per capita to converge. For the OECD countries, as well as for some other countries, knowledge flows, either embodied in traded goods or disembodied seem to be important for whether poorer countries are able to catch up with richer ones.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Science and Technology