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1832. Fear of China is overplayed
- Author:
- Victoria Samson
- Publication Date:
- 03-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Defense Information
- Abstract:
- WASHINGTON -China is rapidly becoming, to many U.S. conservatives, the primary menace to U.S. national security. In fact, the attitude seems to be that China is the new Soviet bear. This mentality would have you believe that any gains by China are directly at the expense of the United States. But this attitude is unsubstantiated and based largely on racism -- which it would behoove the United States to drop immediately.
- Topic:
- Security and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- United States, China, and Asia
1833. A Case for Non-Globalization? The Organization of R in the Wireless Telecommunications Industry
- Author:
- Alberto Di Minin and Christopher Palmberg
- Publication Date:
- 11-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy
- Abstract:
- The offshoring of manufacturing has been the most visible ingredient of economic globalization in recent years. However, the rapid change in the global division of manufacturing has overshadowed another – and perhaps even more significant phenomena – namely the internationalization of the R and inventive activities of firms.
- Topic:
- Economics, Globalization, International Political Economy, and Science and Technology
1834. A Fresh Approach to US Energy Security and Alternative Fuels: The Western Hemisphere and the Ethanol Option
- Author:
- Annette Hester
- Publication Date:
- 10-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)
- Abstract:
- Spurred by world events, energy security has vaulted to the top of the US political agenda. Concerns about supply interruptions and rising prices sped approval of an energy bill which Congress had in the works for nearly five years. Moreover, the growing prominence of the nation's energy challenges, drew special attention from President Bush in his 2006 State of the Union Address, sparking a renewed search for viable alternative fuels. Of those, ethanol is receiving the lion's share of attention. This paper will argue that the new US focus on energy alternatives will undoubtedly impact the ethanol and agriculture markets. However, this discussion will also advance the notion that a key element of an effective ethanol strategy from both cost and environmental perspectives lies in forging technological and open trading relationships in the Western Hemisphere, particularly with Brazil and Canada.
- Topic:
- Security, Development, Energy Policy, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- United States, Canada, and Brazil
1835. Techno-Religious Imaginaries: On the Spiritual Telegraph and the Circum-Atlantic World of the 19th Century
- Author:
- Jeremy Stolow
- Publication Date:
- 03-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition, McMaster University
- Abstract:
- Whether looking at matters of invention and design, of distribution and ownership, or of reception and use, popular histories of technology are typically framed within one of two meta-narratives: the optimistic or the dystopian. In the former case, technologies are seen as benign instruments that fulfill the needs, intentions, and desires of their human users. An extreme form of such technophilia can be found in the pages of the American magazine Wired, and among techno-gurus such as Nicholas Negroponte, who wax poetic about an imminent world populated by therapeutic Barbie dolls, selfcleaning shirts, driverless cars, and a range of devices enabling immediate access to inexhaustible supplies of media and information. This optimism has a considerable progeny, one root of which might be traced back to early modern European conceptions of the mechanical order of nature, and its susceptibility to ever-advancing human powers of inspection and rational design. In this tradition, technology is a pliable handmaiden to the forward march of history, taking such forms as the Haussmannized city, the Macadamized countryside, the prosthetically enhanced body, or the digitized archive. On the other hand, there is a tradition of thinking about technology, such as one finds in the philosophical writings of Martin Heidegger or Jacques Ellul, which is both dystopian and technophobic. Here one is presented with a vision of technology as an autonomous, self-directed realm, indifferent and impervious to our feeble calls for restraint, democratic control, or humane purpose. In this scheme, modern technologies resemble juggernauts running loose in the world, devouring the natural environment, and even human bodies, and transforming them into raw materials for their own mechanical processes.
- Topic:
- Globalization, Religion, Science and Technology, and History
- Political Geography:
- America
1836. Identification and surveillance issues at the age of biometrics
- Author:
- Ayse Ceyhan
- Publication Date:
- 12-2006
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Cultures & Conflits
- Institution:
- Cultures & Conflits
- Abstract:
- Contrairement aux approches déterministes et essentialistes, cet article se propose d'analyser les relations technologie / sécurité en termes de contextes et dynamiques. Après avoir posé le cadre définitionnel où la technologie est envisagée au sens de « dispositif » qui produit un environnement et façonne les comportements individuels et sociaux, l'auteur examine les éléments de contexte qui conditionnent la technologisation fulgurante de la sécurité. Le contexte est caractérisé par plusieurs phénomènes qui ont pour point commun de générer des incertitudes. Le recours aux technologies émergentes de sécurité se produit dans un cadre de gouvernance libérale où l'Etat coopère avec les entreprises, les organismes internationaux, l'Union Européenne etc. Pour tous ces acteurs la technologie apparaît comme la solution la plus scientifique pour anticiper les dangers et menaces futurs. Cela soulève des problèmes éthiques, juridiques, philosophiques, sociologiques et politiques cruciaux qu'il convient d'examiner à la lumière de la transformation des rapports humains par la technologıe.
- Topic:
- Security and Science and Technology
1837. A biometric national identity card for the British: antiterrorism as justification
- Author:
- Laurent Laniel and Pierre Piazza
- Publication Date:
- 12-2006
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Cultures & Conflits
- Institution:
- Cultures & Conflits
- Abstract:
- A partir des années 1980, les gouvernements britanniques ont commencé à mettre en avant l'argument de la lutte antiterroriste dans leurs discours visant à justifier le besoin d'instaurer une carte nationale d'identité dans leur pays. Mais ils ne sont jamais parvenus à démontrer rigoureusement comment un tel document permettrait de lutter efficacement contre le terrorisme. Le caractère peu probant et souvent fragile de l'argumentaire antiterroriste, davantage mobilisé depuis le 11 septembre 2001, constitue une des principales explications à l'ampleur des résistances suscitées par l'Identity Cards Bill, projet gouvernemental d'encartement biométrique des citoyens britanniques lancé en 2002. En dépit de grandes difficultés, les autorités sont finalement parvenues à faire aboutir ce projet en 2006, mais en infléchissant leur discours, devenu à la fois plus prudent et plus ambigu, et en faisant valoir le caractère incontournable de prétendues obligations internationales.
- Topic:
- Security, Science and Technology, and Terrorism
1838. Personal databases and security policies: an illusive protection?
- Author:
- Sylvia Preuss-Laussinotte
- Publication Date:
- 12-2006
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Cultures & Conflits
- Institution:
- Cultures & Conflits
- Abstract:
- Cet article traite des questions juridiques posées par les bases de données personnelles dans le cadre du recours aux technologies de sécurité, notamment en Europe. La relation entre sécurité et démocratie étant centrale, l'Union européenne a fait le choix de placer cette question sous l'angle du respect des droits fondamentaux. Mais, si la protection de la vie privée et son développement sous forme d'une protection spécifique des données personnelles semble précise dans les textes, dans les faits, elle apparaît comme très formelle et peu efficace, surtout dans le cadre des fichiers de sécurité. A cela s'ajoute une série de dysfonctionnements techniques non résolus et des problèmes soulevés par la transformation des données biométriques en véritables données publiques, stockées dans un nombre considérable de systèmes informatiques. Ces risques sont renforcés par l'objectif d'interconnexion de l'ensemble des fichiers de sécurité au niveau européen.
- Topic:
- Security and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- Europe
1839. The European Union and technologies of security
- Author:
- Sylvia Preuss-Laussinotte
- Publication Date:
- 12-2006
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Cultures & Conflits
- Institution:
- Cultures & Conflits
- Abstract:
- Cet article vise à analyser, sous l'angle juridique, le rôle de l'Union européenne dans le choix des technologies de sécurité, choix qui s'est essentiellement traduit par le recours à la biométrie et aux bases de données, deux éléments indissociables. Ce choix l'a été dans un objectif de « cohérence juridique » présenté comme nécessaire pour l'élaboration d'une politique européenne de sécurité. Mais la réalisation de cet objectif reste contraint par une série de décisions extérieures à l'Union, notamment celles des Etats-Unis et de l'OACI. Il se heurte de plus à la réticence de certains Etats, et à la difficulté de mise en œuvre de cette « cohérence juridique », même en créant un « principe de disponibilité » complexe entre les Etats.
- Topic:
- Security and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- Europe
1840. E-Activism: New Media and Political Participation in Europe
- Author:
- Óscar García Luengo
- Publication Date:
- 12-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
- Abstract:
- The demonstrations in Spain on March 13th, 2004 following the terrorist attacks in Madrid present an interesting challenge for political communication research. For the first time in the history of Spain, people employed communication technologies in order to create the dynamics of peaceful civil disobedience. Research on political communication has traditionally paid attention to the classic outlets in order to analyze the impact of media exposure on political affectation. Taking the cited framework as the main reference, this article compares the connection between political activism and the consumption of new and old media in European countries. Analyzing the use of these technologies is important because research on political communication has traditionally only focused on the classic media techniques to analyze the impact of media exposure on political disaffection. Therefore, using the March 13th demonstrations, this article compares the connection between political activism and the consumption of new and old media in European countries.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Politics, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Spain