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681. Globalization and Democracy

Author:
Michael Hardt
Publication Date:
10-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition, McMaster University
Abstract:
The discourse of globalization has become dominant in recent years in an extraordinarily wide variety of contexts, equally on the left and on the right – from journalism to public policy discussions, from business strategy to labor organizing, and within the university across the social sciences and humanities. It is something like the discourse on postmodernism that blossomed about a decade earlier but seems to me even more extensive. This paper is an attempt to sort out some of the political positions taken within the discourse on globalization to help clarify the stakes in the globalization debates and the political consequences of the various theoretical and empirical claims. My assumption, in fact, is that political positions or desires dictate to a large extent the various analytical characterizations of globalization. What I will attempt, then, is to construct a typology of positions on globalization using the question of democracy as the first line of division. In other words, I will first divide theories in two groups: those who claim that globalization fosters democracy and those who maintain that globalization hinders or obstructs democracy. I will further divide these positions into arguments on the right and those on the left because this is a context in which I believe there remain very clear divisions between right and left, and it would be incoherent to group them together.
Topic:
Globalization, International Political Economy, and Political Economy

682. Lebanon: Between Hong Kong And Hanoi

Author:
Yossi Baidatz
Publication Date:
03-2001
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
In recent weeks, a simmering debate between the two major power centers in domestic Lebanese politics has spilled into public view. This debate pits newly installed Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, who represents those who want Lebanon to take advantage of Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon to focus on internal stability, economic reconstruction and securing foreign investment, against Hizballah leader Shaykh Hassan Nasrallah, who — with the support of Syria and Iran — champions maintaining Lebanon's role on the front line of the ongoing revolutionary resistance against Israel. This tension was described in the Lebanese newspaper an-Nahar as the choice between "Hanoi" (Nasrallah) and "Hong Kong" (Hariri). As with most Middle East crises, the development of this delicate and flammable dispute carries both risks and opportunities for Lebanon and other players on the Middle East scene.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, Foreign Policy, Economics, International Political Economy, Politics, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, Iran, Middle East, Israel, Syria, and Hong Kong

683. The Evolution of Russian Grand Strategy -- Implications for Europe's North

Author:
Henrikki Heikka
Publication Date:
01-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
A study about Russian grand strategy is certain to raise more than a few eyebrows among observers of Russian foreign policy. How can one possibly assume that in a country with constantly changing prime ministers and an economy on the verge of bankruptcy there could be a commonly accepted Grand Plan about anything? Moreover, the record of post-cold war Russian foreign policy is so full of reckless moves and unpredictable u-turns, that it seems rather far-fetched to suggest that there could be, even in theory, a common logic behind it. Judging by the steady flow of publications on the role of self-interested politicians, parties, business elites, and organizational and bureaucratic actors in the formation of Russian foreign policy, it does indeed seem that most scholars see Russia's external policy driven by the day-to-day power struggles of various groups within the Russian political elite rather than by a common national strategy.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and International Political Economy
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Asia

684. Competitiveness and Environmental Policies: The Cases of Chile and Korea

Author:
Claudio Maggi and Kern Soo Yoon
Publication Date:
03-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for Development and Peace
Abstract:
Competitiveness and sustainability share a common aim: to use resources more efficiently. In the long run, unsustainable production patterns may lead to the depletion or degradation of natural resources, and that means loss of future competitiveness.
Topic:
Environment and International Political Economy
Political Geography:
Israel, South America, Latin America, Korea, and Chile

685. 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

686. The New WTO-Round and Eastern Enlargment of the EU: Overlapping Negotiations and the Role of the EU-Commission in Agricultural Policy

Author:
Manfred Elsig
Publication Date:
03-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Studies Association
Abstract:
This paper focuses on three overlapping negotiations, namely the Berlin summit (Agenda 2000), the Seattle summit (New Trade Round) and the pre-accession negotiations with Poland (Accession). By looking at agricultural policy the paper identifies a weak and isolated Commission in relation to the Council and Member States. With the help of level-analysis, developed by Putnam, possible strategies of the main negotiators as well as linkages among issue-areas are highlighted. It is shown that linkages block rather than press negotiations ahead. In particular the paper concentrates on the Agenda 2000 negotiations and its influence on the length and scope of the other negotiations. It focuses on developments that shift win-sets over time as well as factors determining the outcome equilibrium inside the win-sets, as exemplified in the accession negotiations. The paper ends with a look at new institutionalist approaches (historical institutionalism and agent-theory) and shows that these help explain the variance of the agent's (Commission) activity in 1999 compared to its more active role played during the Uruguay-Round.
Topic:
International Organization and International Political Economy
Political Geography:
Eastern Europe

687. Globalization and Its Impact Across Sectors

Author:
Gerald A. Hendrickson
Publication Date:
03-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Studies Association
Abstract:
Globalization is not a topic that immediately attracts the attention of most public administrators. However, understanding the implications of globalization for labor markets across economic sectors can affect the way public sector managers approach personnel planning. This paper attempts to enhance this understanding in three ways. It will carefully examine some of the issues around globalization, subject the ideas from the dominant perspectives to empirical testing and propose alternative hypotheses. In the end, the mission of this paper is to provide some insight into the kind of labor environment that public sector managers will encounter as their plans come to fruition in the future.
Topic:
Economics, Globalization, and International Political Economy
Political Geography:
United States

688. 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

689. Globalization: A Third Way Gospel that Travels World Wide

Author:
Martin Marcussen
Publication Date:
03-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Studies Association
Abstract:
By the end of the 90s, social democratic leaders world-wide have being referring to unspecified processes of globalization when undertaking unpopular domestic reforms of organizational structures and policies. Globalization is overall considered to be an irreversible process to which national politicians will have to adapt in order to avoid future crises. Thus, we can talk about a structural-determinist discourse, or a discourse which is traditionally applied in neo-liberal circles stating that there is no alternative'.
Topic:
Globalization, Government, International Organization, and International Political Economy

690. 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