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261. The Concept of Normative Power in World Politics

Author:
Ian Manners
Publication Date:
05-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The social sciences have many different understandings of 'normative power'. The purpose of this brief is to help clarify the concept of normative power in world politics as developed in European Union (EU) studies over the last ten years. The brief uses a five-point conceptualisation of normative power as being ideational; involving principles, actions, and impact; as well as having broader consequences in world politics. For each point both a general observation about world politics and a specific comment about the EU is made.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Europe

262. Alternative development financing mechanisms: pre-crisis trends and post-crisis outlook

Author:
Sam Jones
Publication Date:
05-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
External financial flows have long held a central place in debates about how to promote socio-economic development in poor countries. Alternative development theories typically map into different views regarding the desirable form and volume of external inflows. Over the past decade, development policy has witnessed a clear shift towards a poverty reduction agenda. Unsurprisingly, this has been accompanied by changes in views concerning development finance. A dominant refrain of the present agenda is that 'traditional' approaches to development finance, characterised by official bilateral and multilateral assistance to discrete projects through a combination of loans and credits, have been inadequate. In response, reforms of traditional aid and alternative approaches to financing have been advocated.
Topic:
Development, Humanitarian Aid, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Africa

263. Revenue effects of participation in smallholder organic cocoa production in tropical Africa: A case study

Author:
Sam Jones, Peter Gibbon, and Yumiao Lin
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This paper examines the revenue effects of certified organic contract farming and of use of organic farming methods in a tropical African context. These are compared with 'organic by default' conventional farming systems without contractual relations. Survey data from a medium-size cocoa-vanilla contract farming scheme in Uganda is reported using a standard OLS regression and propensity score matching approaches. The analysis finds that there are positive revenue effects for the certified crops from both participation and, more modestly, from using organic farming techniques.
Topic:
Agriculture, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Africa

264. The choice of candidates for the European Parliament Elections 2009: Danish parties and their procedures for selecting candidates

Author:
Mette Buskjær Christensen
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This report describes and analyses the procedures applied by Danish political parties when selecting candidates for EP elections 2009. Furthermore, it examines Danish political party cooperation at the European level with both European party federations and political groups in the EP.
Topic:
Democratization, Politics, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe

265. Roads to Militant Radicalization: Interviews with Five Former Perpetrators of Politically Motivated Organized Violence

Author:
Jon A. Olsen
Publication Date:
05-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The present report is based on in-depth interviews with individuals formerly involved in politically motivated group violence, in order to acquire accounts of processes of radicalization in their own words. The main themes in the interviews were the following: 1) How did they become involved with militant activist groups? 2) What drove them to take part in specific militant operations? And: 3) What role did ideology, identity and social group processes play in these decisions? The latter theme is the main problem dealt with in this text.
Topic:
Political Violence, Islam, Politics, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Europe

266. Difference within Similarity: Transatlantic Relations as a 'Community of Neighbours'

Author:
Pertti Joenniemi
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The contribution focuses on the unfolding and tensions within the transatlantic relationship and it pursues, in particular, the question how the bonds of association between Europe and America are best comprehended and accounted for. In trying to break some new ground for theorization it argues that the Realist, Liberal and Constructivist accounts have so far come up short in terms of providing up-to-date and broadly acceptable answers. With the dominant theories focusing largely on either external enmity or internal homogeneity, difference internal to the relationship has too easily been conceptualized as destabilizing and seen as representing a rupture. In contrast, the paper assert s that while elements of enmity and homogeneity are important, communities such as the Atlantic one are also critically brought together by their internal differences. It then aims, in view of the difference-based dynamics at play and foundational for the Atlantic communality, to complement an d provide a corrective to the more established theorization of that togetherness.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, International Political Economy, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:
United States, America, and Europe

267. European Food Safety Regulation and the Developing Countries: Regulatory problems and possibilities

Author:
Morten Broberg
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This paper examines the European Community's food safety regime in order to identify those legal measures that cause the most problems for developing countries' exporters of food products and to point to possible solutions. It is shown that barriers ma y arise due to an array of requirements, some of which may appear to be rather minor legal amendments, such as changing a sampling plan. There is no easy solution to this problem, but three specific measures are proposed: Firstly, improved harmonisation of food safety measures in the industrialised countries. Secondly, when proposing new food safety measures the European Commission should identify the proposal's likely consequences on developing countries – and should explain how alternative measures will affect both food safety and the developing countries. And lastly, the European Community should strengthen its provision of development assistance to enable the developing countries to comply with the food safety standards.
Topic:
Agriculture, Development, International Trade and Finance, Third World, and Food
Political Geography:
Europe

268. Are financial markets embedded in economics rather than society? A critical review of the performativity thesis

Author:
Lasse Folke Henriksen
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
DIIS Working Paper reviews a recent influential branch within the Social Studies of Finance literature which asserts that financial markets are embedded in economics rather than in society (as scholars of the New Economic Sociology would have it). Coming from actor-network theory, the literature contributes conceptually to an extended ontology of markets and agency and empirically to an improved understanding of the importance of economist's role in constructing markets and assembling economic agency. It also draws attention to the staggering effects that material devices and technical 'details' can potentially have on the macrodynamics of financial markets. In some cases financial markets can even be performed by economics, that is, materialized in very close accordance with the economic models that describe them. From this insight they conclude that economics is a performative science and that the social sciences should consequently break down the Great (analytical) Divide between finance the- ory and financial markets.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Political Theory
Political Geography:
Greece

269. How the market for standards shapes competition in the market for goods: Sustainability standards in the cut flower industry

Author:
Lone Riisgaard
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Sustainability initiatives have proliferated in many industries in recent years. This has led to a plethora of standards that exist in parallel to each other seeking to address more or less the same social and environmental issues. Sustainability standards are not neutral tools but institutional mechanisms that differ in the way they seek to implement their objectives and in the impact they have on intended beneficiaries and other value chain actors. In this paper I explore the emergence of multiple standards seeking to regulate the social conditions in the production of cut flowers aimed at the EU market. I investigate developments in the focus and function of these standards and the effect of standards and standard harmonization attempts on the terms of competition in the cut flower value chain. The analysis shows that the harmonization of flower standards has a potential to 'lift the standard bar' by transforming risk management standards into product differ-entiation standards. The paper also shows how the market for standards can shape competition in the market for flowers by altering the terms of participation in the growing market segment for 'sustainable' flowers. Through the new standard harmonization initiative Fair Flowers Fair Plants, Dutch growers are now able to compete in the market for socially labelled flowers which before was restricted to Southern producers.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Markets
Political Geography:
Europe

270. Hizb'allah's communication strategy: making friends and intimidating enemies

Author:
Rune Friberg Lyme
Publication Date:
07-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Managing external communication has proven an increasingly significant concern to Lebanese Hizb'allah. This report argues that the organisation has developed a highly sophisticated communication strategy that enables it to address a variety of target groups efficiently with differentiated aspects of its particular ideologically informed message, using the particular media platform best suited for this purpose. In doing so, the communication serves two main objectives: first, to disseminate aspects of the organisation's religiously informed world-view, ideology, values, motives and moral codes; and secondly, to conduct psychological warfare against its enemies.
Topic:
Islam, Terrorism, and Armed Struggle
Political Geography:
Middle East and Arabia