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2782. Baltic Sea, America Eurasia: Vision and Action for the 21st Century
- Publication Date:
- 10-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- EastWest Institute
- Abstract:
- Interdependence, both political and economic, between the different parts of the Baltic Sea region is growing. This means that there is a strong case for cooperative strategies rather than policies based on zero-sum thinking. The positive outcome of the Latvian referendum should be regarded as a crucial building element to promote this cooperation.
- Topic:
- International Relations and Government
- Political Geography:
- Russia, United States, America, Europe, Eurasia, Eastern Europe, and Maryland
2783. EWI Baltic Initiative Fund
- Author:
- Rado Petkov and Rick Petree
- Publication Date:
- 10-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- EastWest Institute
- Abstract:
- In this report we wish to provide a brief account of what the EWI Baltic Initiative Fund has accomplished in its first year, and of some of the things we are hoping to achieve in the future. Our experience over the past eighteen months has convinced all of us at EWI that there is a job to be done, and that we have a real contribution to make. The very favorable responses we continue to receive from our Baltic partners encourage us to believe that our program is indeed worthwhile and fills an important need.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Economics, and Government
- Political Geography:
- Eastern Europe and Maryland
2784. The U.K. and Japan
- Author:
- Haruko Satoh
- Publication Date:
- 05-1998
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Chatham House
- Abstract:
- Among the now G–8 countries, perhaps the most stable political relationship in the past decade or so has been between Britain and Japan. While the two countries do not necessarily rank high in each other's foreign policy priorities, their leaders have always made sure publicly to endorse the growing ties in strong and positive language. Prime Minister Tony Blair used the occasion of his official visit to Tokyo this January to echo Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto's own positive views of the relationship, expressed to Blair at the G–8 summit in Denver. To Hashimoto's 'Britain is a special partner to Japan', Blair confirmed that UK–Japan relations were 'as strong as ever', in line with the remarks of his predecessors, which had ranged from a 'dynamic, plain-speaking partnership', 'strategic partnership' in the post-Cold War era, to 'natural partnership'. Furthermore, compared with Japan's relations with other major European states, specifically France and Germany, the contours of UK–Japan relations seem to stand out more. There is a strong economic relationship between the two. The UK–Japan Action Agenda of September 1996 was the first of its kind to be agreed between Japan and a European state, reflecting Britain's resolve to be the 'outward looking' member in the EU, and to keep ahead in the primarily economic competition for Japanese interest in Europe. Cooperation between the two countries has been credited as the key to success in some post-Cold War multilateral agreements, such as the UN arms register or the recent Kyoto conference on global warming, here reflecting the scope of official cooperation between the two governments. This track record supports the leaders' claims that Britain and Japan are special partners. Nevertheless, there is a sense that the relationship is still bound in the realm of political rhetoric. Neither the positive language nor the track record of achievements can dispel the perception that Europe—Japan relations are the weakest in the trilateral world of Europe, Japan and the United States. The Hague Declaration of 1991 — a document outlining further commitment to cooperation between Japan and the EU — the UK–Japan Action agenda, and the subsequent similar documents between Japan and France or Germany, have only received cursory attention. 2 While UK–Japan relations may be the key to genuinely strengthening Europe—Japan ties, there are issues that need to be addressed to promote further progress.
- Topic:
- International Relations and Foreign Policy
- Political Geography:
- Japan, United Kingdom, Malaysia, and Netherlands
2785. Doing Democracy A Disservice: 1998 Elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Publication Date:
- 09-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- The stakes in Bosnia's forthcoming elections, the fifth internationally-supervised poll since the end of the war, could not be higher, for Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnia) and also for the international community. Having invested enormous financial and political capital in the peace process, the international community expects a return on its investment. That is why leading international figures including US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright have entered the Bosnian political fray, urging Bosnians to back parties which "support Dayton" and threatening to withdraw aid if they do not. The elections will bring some changes so the event will be hailed as a triumph. However, they will not lay the ground for a self-sustaining peace process. That can only be achieved by political reform and, in particular, a redesign of the electoral system to guarantee Bosnians ethnic security.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Foreign Policy, Ethnic Conflict, Government, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Eastern Europe
2786. Kosovo's Long Hot Summer: Briefing on military, humanitarian and political developments in Kosovo
- Publication Date:
- 09-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- During the past six months, Serbia's southern, predominantly Albanian province of Kosovo has emerged from international obscurity to become the world's most reported conflict zone. That said, the history of ethnic animosity in this contested land, the complexity of competing Serb and Albanian claims and the speed with which the fighting has escalated make it difficult to keep up with the events, let alone analyse and try to understand them. What had, on 1 January 1998, been a long-standing ethnic Albanian political aspiration, namely an independent Kosovo, had evolved, by 1 March 1998, into the military objective of a popular insurrection and had by, 1 July 1998, become part of the cause of an impending humanitarian catastrophe with hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the fighting.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Human Rights, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Eastern Europe, Kosovo, Serbia, and Albania
2787. Inventory of a Windfall: Milosevic's Gains from the Kosovo Dialogue
- Publication Date:
- 05-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- When on 15 May 1998 Slobodan Milosevic met with Ibrahim Rugova it was the first time that the Yugoslav president had met with an Albanian leader from Kosovo in close to a decade. The event, heralding weekly talks between Kosovo's Albanians and the Serbian government, has thus been hailed as a "dramatic turn-about" and "a first step toward peace in Kosovo". However, the fact that, after so many years of stale-mate, some kind of negotiations have begun, should not in itself be a reason for euphoria. Key to the success of any talks is the framework within which they take place. Negotiations concerning the future status of Kosovo may, as a result of the concessions offered to the Yugoslav president, have got off to an inauspicious start.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Diplomacy, Economics, Ethnic Conflict, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Eastern Europe, Kosovo, and Yugoslavia
2788. China's Foreign Economic Relations
- Author:
- K.C. Fung and Lawrence Lau
- Publication Date:
- 05-1997
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
- Abstract:
- China's presence in the world economy continues to grow and deepen. The foreign sector of China plays an important and multifaceted role in the country's economic development. At the same time, China's expanded role in the world economy is beneficial to all its trading partners. Regions that trade with China benefit from cheaper and more varied imported consumer goods, raw materials, and intermediate products. China also provides a large and growing export market. While the entry of any major trading nation in the global trading system can create a process of adjustment, the outcome is fundamentally a win-win situation. It is a simple but powerful lesson from economics that freer international trade and investments benefit all parties concerned.
- Topic:
- International Relations, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
2789. Speeches and Transcripts: 1997
- Author:
- Frederick Z. Brown, William Clinton, Jiang Zemin, and William Itoh
- Publication Date:
- 01-1997
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Asia Society
- Abstract:
- Next week, when President Jiang Zemin comes to Washington, it will be the first state visit by a Chinese leader to the United States for more than a decade. The visit gives us the opportunity and the responsibility to chart a course for the future that is more positive and more stable and, hopefully, more productive than our relations have been for the last few years.
- Topic:
- International Relations
- Political Geography:
- United States, China, New York, Asia, and Southeast Asia
2790. Global Trends 2010
- Publication Date:
- 12-1997
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
- Abstract:
- In fall 1996, the National Intelligence Council (NIC) and the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) held a series of conferences at National Defense University to identify key global trends and their impact on major regions and countries of the globe. The exercise was designed to help describe and assess major features of the political world as they will appear in the year 2010.
- Topic:
- International Relations
- Political Geography:
- Africa, United States, Europe, Middle East, Asia, and South America