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2771. Ideas, Culture and Political Analysis Workshop

Author:
Thomas Risse, Sarah Mendelson, Neil Fligstein, Jan Kubik, Jeffrey T. Checkel, Consuelo Cruz, Kathleen McNamara, Sheri Berman, Frank Dobbin, Mark Blyth, Ken Pollack, George Steinmetz, Daniel Philpott, Gideon Rose, Martha Finnemore, Kathryn Skikkink, Marie Gottschalk, John Kurt Jacobsen, and Anna Seleny
Publication Date:
05-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Social Science Research Council
Abstract:
The last decade or so has witnessed a resurgence in scholarship employing ideational and cultural factors in the analysis of political life. This scholarship has addressed political phenomena across a variety of national and international settings, with studies of European politics being particularly well represented. For example, the work of scholars like Peter Hall (1993), Peter Katzenstein (1996), Ronald Inglehart (1997), Robert Putnam (1994) and Daniel Jonah Goldhagen (1995) has improved our understandings of European polities, societies and economies. Yet despite a recent rise in interest, ideational and cultural explanations still meet with skepticism in many quarters of the discipline. Some scholars doubt whether non-material factors like ideas or culture have independent causal effects, and others, who accept that such factors might matter, despair of devising viable ways of analyzing their impact on political life.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Relations, Security, Democratization, Economics, Government, Human Rights, International Cooperation, Nationalism, and Politics
Political Geography:
United States, Middle East, France, and Latin America

2772. The Regulation of Political Conflict: A Game Theoretic Analysis

Author:
Ali Carkoglu
Publication Date:
03-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Studies Association
Abstract:
Conflict and cooperation constitute the basis of much interest in political analysis. Nevertheless, political theory abounds in disagreement as to which predominates, which constitutes the norm and as to the reasons for their occurrence. Game theoretical models have been applied to these problems with some success. The proposed article aims to contribute to our understanding of the phenomena of creating cooperation, and thus regulating a situation of conflict between two actors by a third party. A third party will be introduced to a prisoners' dilemma game and conditions for its cooperation creating regulatory strategies will be derived. The impact of informational and institutional structures on the prospects for cooperative outcomes will be discussed. Applications to governments' policies in regulating domestic conflict and to a hegemon's problem of maintaining order in the international arena will be shortly discussed.
Topic:
International Relations and International Law

2773. U.S. Foreign Policy: Long Cycles — What Might They Mean for World Long Cycles?

Author:
Jack E. Holmes, Kevin Joldersma, and Aaron Keck
Publication Date:
03-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Studies Association
Abstract:
The author has studied U.S. foreign policy long cycles for two decades and has an extensive database covering 1776-1990. A good deal of attention has been paid to U.S. foreign policy in the post-1945 setting where the U.S. is a world superpower. Now that the U.S. has been freed from the immediate demands of the Cold War, it is important to study American policy over the long run, especially the period before 1945. This paper uses conclusions from the author's previous work to raise issues which have implications for the study of world long cycles. Particular attention is given to consensus (societal/governmental) variables since the U.S. is one of the few countries with a long history under the same written constitution. The American experience indicates that the U.S. is inclined toward independent action as sometimes dictated by domestic considerations. While it is clear that the U.S. will act as a superpower in part due to the nature of the international system, it is important to consider some uniquely American features which also have an important impact on policy. The author's work includes two books on long-term American foreign policy trends. The first one, The Mood/Interest Theory of American Foreign Policy, was published in 1985. It presented a general theory regarding how and why introvert and extrovert foreign policy moods alternate every two decades. This theory, as well as the dates of the cycles, is based on the work of Frank L. Klingberg (1952). Klingberg elaborates on his cycles in later works (1983 and 1996). Since the 1985 work contained a good deal of theory, it was thought that a more empirical study of these trends would be in order. Toward this end, the author created over 150 variables which have been given annual values for at least 150 years. These variables were based on the work of other authors and compilations of data. The resulting work, Ambivalent America, which has been the basis for several convention papers and is nearing completion as a book, raises a second set of conclusions which supplement those of the first book. At the same time, several authors have investigated world long cycles and raised a number of important issues. Most of these authors emphasize the period since the start of major European influence on the world while others go back prior to that period. With the exceptions of works by Klingberg and this author, however, similar attention has not been given to American trends. Pollins and Schweller (1997) do explore some issues relating to interactions of American and world cycles. The author believes that a conceptual comparison of American long cycles with world long cycles will raise some important issues, and that is the purpose of this paper.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Cold War
Political Geography:
United States

2774. Focal Points and International Financial Markets: The Maastricht Convergence Criteria

Author:
Layna Mosley
Publication Date:
03-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Studies Association
Abstract:
A central research problem in comparative and international political economy concerns the implications of economic globalization - and more specifically, of international capital mobility - for national economic policy choice. A large body of recent literature suggests that governments are, at least to some extent, constrained by relatively high levels of international capital mobility (Garrett, 1998; O'Brien, 1992). At the very least, the asset allocation decisions of financial market participants affect interest rate levels, and, therefore, the cost of borrowing for governments and private actors.
Topic:
International Relations, Economics, and International Organization
Political Geography:
Europe

2775. The Structure of Structural Violence Revisited: Rules, Rational Choices, and the Physical Basis of Life

Author:
James C. Roberts
Publication Date:
03-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Studies Association
Abstract:
In 1969, Johan Galtung proposed that physical violence be measured as the difference between actual and potential life expectancy. Structural violence occurs when the cause of this difference is caused by the economic structure of society. Measuring actual life expectancy is not difficult but potential life expectancy cannot be observed, it can only be projected.
Topic:
International Relations and Peace Studies

2776. Environmental Protectionism and Comparative Observations in West Europe

Author:
Imtiaz Hussain
Publication Date:
01-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
Environmental concerns were seen by some as "a welcome guest in the free trade party" when they were first taken seriously in the early 1990s. Although they have since mushroomed in size and significance, the debate rages if policy measures are responding to demand. Trading behavior, for example, has not altered appreciably owing to the mounting pressures, but agreements increasingly acknowledge the need for safeguards. On the one hand is the problem of public pressure, very often of grassroots origins, upon policy-makers at all levels—multilaterally, internationally, regionally, nationally, and locally. On the other is the inquiry if policy impact is evolving differently, not only at various policy-making levels, but also in various parts of the world. How, indeed, have concerns and policy measures meshed? My broad response elaborates why environmental protectionism is chosen as a topic first, then explains the selection of cases for comparison, before turning to theoretical considerations, the empirical study itself, and finally drawing conclusions and implications, all in that order.
Topic:
International Relations and Environment
Political Geography:
Europe and Maryland

2777. Theoretical Explanations of Trade Competitiveness and a North American Application

Author:
Imtiaz Hussain
Publication Date:
01-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
How do we reconcile economic competitiveness with trade regionalism? This exploratory investigation first takes stock of how competitiveness has been defined by both economists and political scientists, then extracts an inclusive model from the different literatures, and finally broadly assesses business transactions and trends across North America using that model. Beginning with the Ricardo-Viner and Hecksher-Olin explanations, various types of competitiveness articulated by Michael Porter, Mancur Olson, and David Mares are subsequently brought in. preliminary findings presented as hypotheses for future testing, suggest that: that evaporation of hegemony has resulted in multiple claims to competitiveness across North America, policy convergences are more widespread and common than ever before, regional-level cooperation provides an efficient means for all three countries to offset global competitiveness, and domestic interests, though still a potential veto force, are slowly embracing, rather than opposing, supranational efforts.
Topic:
International Relations, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Europe and North America

2778. Dispute Settlement, Domestic Institutions and Political Integration in North America: A Comparative Study

Author:
Imtiaz Hussain
Publication Date:
01-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
Created to cultivate interaction between domestic and supranational economic arrangements/institutions, the North American Free Trade Agreement is in increasing need of arrangements/institutions which bridge political boundaries as well. The document's binational panels, for instance, have been authorized to review domestic duty determinations, but have also dragged domestic political practices, customs, arrangements, and institutions into the supranational arena, in turn exposing potentially deep differences across national boundaries. A comparative study of both basic and complex domestic political structures, affected directly or indirectly by NAFTA's dispute settlement procedures, reveals: that as reciprocal relationships increase, arrangements and/or institutions at both levels, domestic and supranational, become more vulnerable; and that different experiences across national boundaries may produce uneven degrees of integration. These findings lead to an explorative assessment of political integration stemming form the economic integration currently underway.
Topic:
International Relations, International Trade and Finance, and Politics
Political Geography:
North America

2779. European Integration and Franco-German Relations: Erbreindschaft or Engrenage?

Author:
Imtiaz Hussain
Publication Date:
01-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
Given the historical depth of Franco-German enmity, or erbfeindschaft, how have integrative efforts in West Europe been shaped by this rivalry? Three sets of tensions are identified in addressing that question: the theoretical tussle to explain West European integration; the explosive historical relationship between the two countries; and their cooperative, complementary relationship in European Community policy-making. For analytical purposes, two hypotheses connect these sources of tension in the multifaceted, complicated subject matter of Franco-German relations. These are that when the Cold War was in full fury, both countries found cooperation a far superior strategy than discord; and when the Cold War ended, disagreements increased without eliminating cooperation . Both are tested through a comparative study of agricultural and monetary policies of the Community, and prefaced by a rapid historical riffle of the ups and downs in that bilateral relationship. The conclusion is drawn that the Community interlocked the two countries in such a way as to make disengagement costly in spite of increasing divergences, and that this engrenage was possible because of the Cold War context.
Topic:
International Relations, Cold War, and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe, Germany, and Maryland

2780. Democracy in External Policymaking

Author:
Renata Dawn
Publication Date:
11-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
EastWest Institute
Abstract:
Since 1992-93, the EastWest Institute (EWI) has been organizing meetings of a 'Strategy Group for Strengthening Cooperation in Central and Eastern Europe'. The Strategy Group brings together representatives of the Central and Eastern European Associates of the European Union and Ukraine (an d Western states and neighbouring countries where appropriate) to discuss the security challenges facing the region. The Strategy Group aims to foster the development of cooperative solutions to the problems facing Central and Eastern Europe. Participants in Strategy Group conferences and workshops come from diverse backgrounds, including governmental representatives, politicians, business people, academics and non-governmental representatives.
Topic:
International Relations and Democratization
Political Geography:
Ukraine, Eastern Europe, and Maryland