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10071. Sovereign Wealth Funds and the International Monetary System

Author:
Anthony Elson
Publication Date:
09-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Abstract:
Since the end of last year, much public attention has been focused on the growing importance of sovereign wealth funds (hereafter SWFs), which are large investment pools managed by national governments primarily among oil exporters and emerging market economies. Many of these governments have accumulated substantial foreign reserves because of large trade surpluses, some of which they have begun to invest in a range of financial instruments that is more diversified than is typically the case for central bank international reserves in order to improve the yield on their foreign asset positions.
Topic:
Economics and Government

10072. The Cultural Impact on China's New Diplomacy

Author:
Wilfried Bolewski and Candy M. Rietig
Publication Date:
09-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Abstract:
China is in a state of universal change—economically, culturally, politically and diplomatically—and the international community is taking note of the Chinese posture as an ascending global power. As a nation, China has economically liberalized and opened up to the world while retaining a government that by some definitions would be considered authoritarian. Previously an aloof international actor, increased participation in international organizations like the United Nations and dramatic increases in contributions to peacekeeping missions are just two examples of the larger soft power network Beijing is establishing. These activities in public diplomacy are aimed at raising international popularity and acceptance of an ascending China through cooperative behavior and international engagement. As Jamie Roth puts it, “China's new public diplomacy seems to have taken careful note of how to strengthen the country's image abroad through cultural relations.”Because the Chinese want to be able to deal with the challenges of a globalized world, they have adopted a strategy of learning from other participants.
Topic:
Diplomacy, Economics, Government, and United Nations
Political Geography:
China and Beijing

10073. Microinsurance for Brazil: The GILR-Bond

Author:
Bernardo Weaver
Publication Date:
09-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Abstract:
Microfinance, in general, worries about alleviating poverty in the developing world. But, how do the poorest people avoid falling into poverty traps on their way to the middle class? What recourse do people have from becoming poor due to illness, natural disaster, or the loss of assets like livestock? Microinsurance is insurance that caters to the lowest income groups in a country and serves those who are not usually served by private insurance. The microinsurance enterprise is comprised of several components and issues. First, microinsurance relies on massive market penetration. For microinsurance to work effectively, insurance contracts must be sold to vast numbers of people at very low rates and provide coverage against losses that are usually not large. Thus, microinsurers sell millions of contracts to turn a very small profit, with even total revenue volumes being small.
Topic:
Poverty
Political Geography:
Brazil

10074. Brazil: Keeping the Lights On

Author:
Susana Moreira
Publication Date:
09-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Abstract:
In 2001, Brazil endured severe power shortages that resulted in mandatory rationing and ultimately, in a significant reduction of GDP growth. Worse than the personal inconvenience and economic contraction was the embarrassment all Brazilians felt for what had happened. The “country blessed by God” had shown the world, once again, that it was unable to put its vast natural resources to good use. Brazil barely escaped forced electricity rationing; however, there is widespread belief among energy experts that rationing may yet occur within the next four years.
Topic:
Economics
Political Geography:
Brazil

10075. Law Markets: A model for Predicting Laws, Governments, and Institutions

Author:
Graham Lawlor
Publication Date:
09-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Abstract:
Law Markets is a positive economic model, which treats laws as tradable goods, citizens as consumers of laws, and governments as producers of laws. This model borrows heavily from the fields of Public Choice, which models political actors as economic agents, and from New Institutional Economics, which analyzes social contracts in the presence of transaction costs. The financial fields of Efficient Markets Theory and Behavioral Finance provide tools to measure transaction costs and empirical studies to demonstrate long-term trends.
Topic:
Economics, Government, and Law

10076. Identity and the Bomb

Author:
Michael Busch
Publication Date:
09-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Abstract:
Given the increasingly grim forecast of a “nuclear renaissance,” and renewed concerns of uncontrollable atomic weapons proliferation, Jacques E.C. Hymans's The Psychology of Nuclear Proliferation provides a refreshingly positive antidote to the glum literature on international security. Traditional security studies generally seek to explain why so few countries have acquired nuclear arsenals, despite widespread desire and technical capacity in the international arena. In stark contrast, Hymans asks why any nation-state has the bomb at all. Rejecting conventional realist, institutionalist, and constructivist approaches to understanding foreign policy decision-making, Hymans crafts a new theoretical model for shedding light on why certain countries make the “revolutionary” decision to go nuclear. Drawing deeply from social psychology perspectives on human behavior, Hymans counter-intuitively argues that most decision makers are not naturally inclined to want nuclear weapons, nor are they willing to assume the grave responsibilities of having them.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and Nuclear Weapons

10077. Using Criminal Justice to Foster US-EU Cooperation on Counter-terrorism

Author:
Paul Wilkinson
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
EU and US political leaders and elites share the same overall threat assessment of terrorist networks but differ over the choice of strategy to defeat them. While President Bush's "war on terrorism" has relied on the military to suppress terrorism, incarcerating terrorist suspects in Guantanamo and refusing them access to US federal courts, Europeans have stressed a holistic and multilateral approach to the struggle, giving a greater role to the criminal justice system. Abandoning due process and violating suspects' human rights betrays the very values and principles upon which the democracies supposedly being defended are founded. Courts in Europe since 9/11 have demonstrated that it is possible to bring terrorists and conspirators to trial and to convict them on the basis of overwhelming evidence. Hence, the strengthening of national judicial processes and international judicial cooperation should remain the major objective of the transatlantic alliance.
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

10078. Less Words and More Deeds in Constructing Europe

Author:
William Wallace
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
British politicians have two different motivations in strongly wishing for a long pause in the negotiations over institutional reform, after 20 years of revisions to the EU treaties. The first is their sensitivity to a domestic debate which presents "Brussels" as a determined assault on British sovereignty by unelected officials. The second is their scepticism about federalistic rhetoric, unsupported by commitments to implement common policies. British disillusion at the gap between promises and fulfilment has been sharpest over common foreign and defence policies, where those governments most actively committed to integrating national policies have also been the most frequent defaulters. Yet successive British governments are also to blame, both for failing to shift the balance of the Eurosceptic public debate within the UK, and for leaving it to other governments to set the EU agenda, for fear of arousing public hostility at home.
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

10079. The AKP in Turkey: Off the Hook This Time

Author:
Senem Aydin Düzgit
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Against expectations, in July 2008, the Constitutional Court in Turkey ruled against banning the AKP. The decision of the Court needs to be interpreted against a background of closely intertwined internal and domestic constraints. While the risk of political and economic crises, lack of a credible political opposition, high public opposition to the closure of the party and prospects of further polarisation in society constitute the main domestic determinants, the implications of a potential ban on the country's relations, primarily with Europe, namely the EU and the Council of Europe, are also major external constraints behind the Court's final decision.
Political Geography:
Europe and Turkey

10080. The Effect of US Policy in the Middle East on EU-Turkey Relations

Author:
Henri J. Barkey
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Turkey could not have a more vigorous advocate for its quest for European Union accession than the United States. Successive administrations in Washington have strongly asserted that Turkey is an intrinsic part of Europe, that historically and politically, Ankara has played a critical role in the defence of Europe against the Soviet Union and that now it is an indispensable country in bridging the civilisational divide. In the early 1970s, the United States decided to locate Turkey in Europe, bureaucratically speaking of course. Turkey, which used to be in the Near East bureau in the State Department and elsewhere in the bureaucracy, was transferred to the European divisions of the respective administrative agencies. Hence it is perhaps ironic that after arguing for decades that Turkey is a European country, the United States, through its Iraq invasion, has in one bold stroke managed to push Turkey back into the Middle East. Of course, other events, especially Turkish domestic politics, have also played a role in making this perceptual move possible. Simply stated, as United States security concerns shifted east and away from Europe, it was only natural, though far from intentional, that Washington would take Ankara along with it.
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, Turkey, and Middle East