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541. CIAO: Eastern Europe/EU — Transition Traps

Author:
Caspar Fithin
Publication Date:
12-2000
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxford Analytica
Abstract:
There has been a large differential in foreign direct investment receipts between the front-runners in the Central European applicant countries and laggards. The accession process itself has exacerbated this bifurcation, raising questions over EU policy towards the applicants and the implications for the region's long-term stability. Accession prospects appear to induce virtuous cycles for the front-runners while potentially trapping the laggards. Moreover, the latter are faced with difficult choices between long-term EU conditionality and more immediate transition imperatives, which are not always compatible
Topic:
Emerging Markets, International Organization, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Eastern Europe

542. CIAO: US/China — Trade Relations

Author:
Caspar Fithin
Publication Date:
10-2000
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxford Analytica
Abstract:
US Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky and China's Prime Minister Zhu Rongji this month held talks in Beijing to discuss China's accession to the WTO. Beyond opening up commercial opportunities to US firms, the award of permanent normal trade relations status to China, and its prospective accession to the WTO, should in theory add predictability to the bilateral trade relationship.
Topic:
International Relations, International Organization, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States, China, and Beijing

543. International — WTO Reform

Author:
Oxford Analytica
Publication Date:
05-2000
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxford Analytica
Abstract:
WTO members are unlikely to reach agreement on radical changes, at least in the short term. At most they may conclude an accord which reaffirms both the principle of consensus and the need for Green Room meetings, and which gives the director-general a role (possibly informal) in ensuring that efficiency is balanced by other considerations. However, an agreement on institutional changes will have little impact on prospects for launching a new trade round. Such prospects will continue to depend on whether members can develop an agenda that all believe will serve their national interests.
Topic:
International Organization, International Trade and Finance, and World Trade Organization
Political Geography:
United States

544. Forward Presence and Peacetime "Shaping": Comparative Analysis of Great Power Experiences

Author:
Edward Rhodes, Jonathan DiCicco, Sarah Milburn, and Tom Walker
Publication Date:
01-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Security and Democracy
Abstract:
The United States has a range of tools at its disposal with which to shape the international environment in ways favorable to U.S. interests and global security. Shaping activities enhance U.S. security by promoting regional security and preventing or reducing. . . [a] wide range of diverse threats.... These measures adapt and strengthen alliances and friendships, maintain U.S. influence in key regions and encourage adherence to international norms.... The U.S. military plays an essential role in...shaping the international environment in ways that protect and promote U.S. interests. Through overseas presence and peacetim e engagement activities such as defense cooperation, security assistance, and training and exercises with allies and friends, our armed forces help to deter aggression and coercion, promote regional stability, prevent and reduce conflicts and threats, and serve as role models for militaries in emerging democracies. . . .
Topic:
Security, International Organization, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, Middle East, and Arabia

545. Reevaluating the "Catalytic" Effect of IMF Programs

Author:
Martin S. Edwards
Publication Date:
01-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Security and Democracy
Abstract:
While it is generally thought that Fund programs serve as a 'good housekeeping seal of approval' the empirical evidence suggests that Fund programs do not attract added inflows of so-called 'catalytic' finance. The existing work on this subject, however, suffers from two important limitations. These works assume that all programs are successfully completed, and they fail to address the effects of self-selection into IMF programs. Given these shortcomings, it is not surprising that the findings on catalytic finance have heretofore been unimpressive.
Topic:
International Organization and International Trade and Finance

546. An Ever Larger Europe

Author:
Julie Smith
Publication Date:
05-2000
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
Thirteen countries are currently seeking to join the European Union. Several more countries, including some Southeast European states that have already signed Stability and Association Agreements with the EU, not to mention some of the Caucasian and Central Asian members of the CIS, have also expressed a desire to be considered for membership at some point in the future. While those former Soviet states, with the possible exception of Moldova, are unlikely to join, the EU is committed to enlarging to the south and east.
Topic:
International Organization
Political Geography:
Europe and Moldova

547. Trade and Environment After Seattle

Author:
Duncan Brack
Publication Date:
04-2000
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
The interrelationship between international trade and environmental protection is becoming increasingly important – and controversial. The volume of world trade in goods topped $5 trillion for the first time in 1996, having grown at an average rate of about 8% a year since the signing of the Marrakesh agreement in 1994 which marked the completion of the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations. The set of agreements administered by the World Trade Organization (WTO), centred around the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and covering areas such as agriculture, textiles, services, intellectual property, technical barriers to trade and health standards, represents a significant extension in scope compared with its pre-Uruguay Round version. In turn this means that international trade regulation increasingly impinges on other areas of public policy.
Topic:
Environment, International Organization, and International Trade and Finance

548. The Dynamics of Coordination

Author:
Marc Sommers
Publication Date:
01-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University
Abstract:
This study takes a fresh look at coordination dynamics by exploring two situations that were noteworthy both for the difficult challenges humanitarian organizations faced and for their innovative responses. The cases shed light on coordination in general and two contexts in particular: coordination for a country (Sierra Leone in the 1990s) and coordination for refugee camps (Rwandan refugees in Ngara District, Tanzania).
Topic:
International Relations, Human Rights, and International Organization
Political Geography:
Tanzania and Rwanda

549. Humanitarian Action: A Transatlantic Agenda for Operations and Research

Author:
Larry Minear and Thomas G. Weiss
Publication Date:
01-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University
Abstract:
During the first decade of seismic aftershocks associated with the end of the Cold War, the humanitarian community has experienced tensions along numerous fault lines. Tensions that have loomed largest include those between organizations that deliver life-saving emergency assistance and those committed to protecting basic human rights, those between practitioners confronting daunting choices in the field and researchers examining the options available and choices made, and those between professionals in North America and in Europe seized with these issues.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, Human Rights, and International Organization
Political Geography:
Europe and North America

550. The Landmine Ban: A Case Study in Humanitarian Advocacy

Author:
Don Hubert
Publication Date:
01-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University
Abstract:
<p><font size="+1">Don Hubert</font> </p><p>Occasional Paper #42<br /> 2000</p><p> Thomas J. Watson Institute for International Studies </p><br /><br /><p><font size="+1">Summary</font> </p><p>This study begins by discussing a historical case similar in many ways to the landmines campaign—the banning of the dum dum bullet in the nineteenth century. It then provides a detailed account of the emergence and development of the campaign from initial attempts to restrict landmines in the 1970s, through the birth of the international nongovernmental organization campaign in the early 1990s, to the signing of the Landmines Convention in December 1997. It also provides a thorough assessment of the key factors accounting for their success and a discussion of the broader significance of the campaign.</p><p>Two broad conclusions are drawn. First, while much of the credit for the successful banning of landmines has deservedly gone to the ICBL and to NGO advocates, the success of the campaign can be explained only through an examination of three other sets of actors: the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United Nations, and key governments. Each of the four sets of actors played a distinct and indispensable role. At the same time, important circumstances completely outside the control of the campaign were also decisive, particularly the end of the Cold War and decisions by the U.S. government.</p><p>A second conclusion questions the widely perceived novelty of this initiative in humanitarian advocacy and stresses instead its similarity to earlier initiatives. Indeed, observers differ on the broader significance of the campaign. For some, it was an aberration, impossible to replicate. For others, it was a harbinger of a new diplomacy, revitalizing if not revolutionizing humanitarian politics. Stark parallels exist with the style of negotiations before World War II on humanitarian law and disarmament, particularly the 1899 Hague Convention's ban on dum dum bullets. Civil society organizations played a major role in the negotiations, and stringent provisions were pursued even though they posed a threat to universal agreement.</p><p>The study concludes with a discussion of an emerging model for humanitarian politics. The examination of the campaign to ban landmines is complemented by a brief analysis of three comparable campaigns from the 1990s: the creation of an International Criminal Court, the Optional Protocol on child soldiers, and attempts to limit the proliferation of small arms. Taken together, these experiences suggest that a model for effective humanitarian advocacy is emerging with three broad dimensions. They are the pursuit of stringent standards with widespread but not necessarily universal support; political coalition building among NGOs, states, and international organizations; and negotiating environments that allow for voting rather than consensus decisionmaking, access for NGOs, and the selection of a supportive chairperson.</p><blockquote><p> (PDF)</p> </blockquote><p> </p><p> </p>
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Human Rights, and International Organization