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721. International Institutions, Globalisation and Democray: Assessing the Challenges

Author:
Tony Porter and William D. Coleman
Publication Date:
07-1999
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition, McMaster University
Abstract:
The advance of globalization has involved additional governance capacity at supranational levels and thereby raised concerns about democracy, which has traditionally been based on the nationstate. For the most part, these governance arrangements take the form of intergovernmental fora, where nation-states are the principal players. In some policy areas where globalization is more pronounced, such as international finance, governance appears to feature some autonomous institutional development. Autonomy may come in the form of a relatively strong international organization with a mandate anchored in international law such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), or of the institutionalization of norms and values that give the intergovernmental forum an autonomous and distinct global perspective. As Held (1995) has observed, democratic theory has assumed that the nation-state is the relevant decision-making unit. The migration of political authority to supranational levels thus has the potential to undermine long-standing democratic arrangements.
Topic:
Globalization, Government, International Law, International Organization, International Political Economy, and Political Theory

723. Role of the Private Sector: Study Group

Author:
Virginia Haufler
Publication Date:
11-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
The study group addressed four topics: the definition of what we are examining; whether it is a new phenomenon; some of the factors driving it; and the concerns it raises. The goal at this meeting was to set the context for further discussion at the next meeting. Participants stressed that this is an important topic and a timely project. Please note that this summarizes the main points and imposes a certain order on what was in reality a wide-ranging discussion.
Topic:
International Relations, Globalization, Government, and International Political Economy

724. The Case for a Russian Currency Board System

Author:
Steve H. Hanke
Publication Date:
10-1998
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
The devaluation of the Russian ruble this year was predictable, especially considering Russia's poor monetary history. State-manipulated money has been a Russian hallmark since the time of Peter the Great and shows that the country's money problems are endemic and do not depend on who controls the central bank. Czarist, Soviet, and post-Soviet governments have used the central bank printing press to finance deficit spending, resulting in high inflation, confiscation of savings, capital controls, or a combination of the three.
Topic:
Economics and International Political Economy
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Asia, and Soviet Union

725. Energy and Security in East Asia

Author:
Michael May
Publication Date:
01-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Abstract:
This study examines the likely security consequences of the continued growth in energy consumption in East Asia, and in particular: The dimensions of that growth which are likely to have an effect on international security. The dependencies and insecurities created by that continued growth. The policy guidance that can be derived for the United States from a review of those dependencies and insecurities.
Topic:
Security, Economics, Energy Policy, and International Political Economy
Political Geography:
Israel and East Asia

726. U.S. Commercial Diplomacy

Author:
Raymond J. Albright, S. Robbin Johnson, David J. Rothkopf, Christopher B. Johnstone, and Gary C. Hufbauer
Publication Date:
05-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:
In the larger scheme of U.S. trade, government financing agencies do not loom as large as fiscal and monetary policies, dollar exchange rates, the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Yet, the acronym financial agencies—the Export–Import Bank (Ex–Im), Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), and Trade Development Agency (TDA) —are prominent in the current debates of what is needed to keep American exports competitive, especially in the most dynamic areas of U.S. trade growth—Asia and Latin America.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, and International Political Economy
Political Geography:
United States, Latin America, and North America

727. U.S.-European Economic Relations And World Trade

Author:
Robert D. Blackwill and Kristin Archick
Publication Date:
04-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:
Much debate exists over the likely effects of U.S.-European economic relations on the future viability of an invigorated transatlantic partnership. Some of those who perceive largely positive dynamics between the two sides of the Atlantic in trade and investment assert that the U.S.-European commercial relationship will serve importantly to undergird the Western Alliance in the period ahead, contributing to further deepening of political and security cooperation. Others, however, argue that in light of the end of the Soviet threat and the quickening pace of globalization, transatlantic competition and diverging economic priorities are likely to threaten increasingly the cohesion and unity of the Atlantic Alliance. This paper first explores indicators that signal the continuation of a robust trade and investment relationship across the Atlantic, then discusses possible challenges to maintaining close commercial ties between the United States and the European Union (EU), continues with a survey of policy prescriptions offered by various experts to manage the economic aspects of the partnership, and finally returns to the question of the effects on broad U.S.-European cooperation of transatlantic economic interaction.
Topic:
International Political Economy
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

728. Promoting U.S.. Economic Relations With Africa

Author:
Salih Booker, Peggy Dulany, and Frank Savage
Publication Date:
04-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:
Significant positive developments in Africa have recently created a sense of economic and political renewal throughout much of the continent. Over two-thirds of African countries are implementing economic policy reforms that emphasize growth, private-sector development, and greater openness to the global economy. Aggregate growth rates for these 35 African countries in 1995 and 1996 averaged 5 percent, more than twice the rates of the previous decade. A new generation of leadership in Africa is promoting a reform agenda that offers important opportunities for rapid economic growth and increasing African countries' participation in the global economy. Now that an increasing number of African countries are becoming strong candidates as potential trade and investment partners, the United States should be at the forefront of the industrialized world in pursuit of these new opportunities. Recognizing the favorable economic and political trends occurring in most African countries, the Council on Foreign Relations--while taking no position on the subject as an organization--sponsored an independent Task Force of distinguished private citizens, committed to strengthening American ties with Africa, to make recommendations on how best to advance mutual U.S. and African interests in the sphere of economic relations.
Topic:
International Political Economy
Political Geography:
Africa and United States

729. Shaping U.S.-China Relations: A Long-Term Strategy

Author:
Michel Oksenberg and Elizabeth Economy
Publication Date:
04-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:
The rise of China in world affairs is a major feature of our era. An increasingly contentious debate has erupted in the United States over how to respond to this development. Figuring out a successful policy toward China is no easy task, but any sound strategy must be rooted in a sense of history.
Topic:
International Political Economy
Political Geography:
United States, China, and Asia

730. International Capital Mobility and Monetary Politics in the U.S. Congress, 1960–1997

Author:
J. Lawrence Broz
Publication Date:
10-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
Prevailing approaches to the politics of monetary policy in the United States are based on closed economy assumptions, which is appropriate for analyzing the period before about 1980. However, the opening of U.S. and foreign financial markets since the early 1980s has had a profound effect on domestic monetary policy and domestic monetary politics. The major policy effect is that the transmission channels of monetary policy now include the exchange rate. The major political effect is that the exchange rate has become a focus of concern for well-organized industries in the traded goods sector and, by extension, for Congress. This paper presents statistical evidence showing that the forces driving congressional activity on monetary policy have changed dramatically with the international financial integration of the U.S. economy. Exchange rates, as opposed to interest rates, now largely determine congressional attentiveness to monetary policy and the Federal Reserve.
Topic:
Economics, Government, and International Political Economy
Political Geography:
United States