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Begin New Search Publishing Institution German Institute of Global and Area Studies Publication Year within 25 Years

401. Más allá de lo económico: Los objetivos estratégicos de los TLCs de Chile y México

Author:
Leslie Wehner
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
This article analyzes the “other” goals that drive Chile and Mexico to achieve intra- and extra-regional FTAs. These countries have a predominantly economic motivation to negotiate FTAs. However, there are other elements that are less apparent, but equally important, in Chile's and Mexico's FTA policies. These accords can also be seen as means to power and as mechanisms for establishing a closer system of global economic governance than that available through multilateral forums. Therefore, these two countries' FTAs are an ad hoc system that represents their respective economic contexts and realities. In other words, FTAs as an essential part of Chile's and Mexico's foreign policies have a strategic political-economic logic that synthesizes the notions of power and institutions. However, these two forces do not exclude of the economic logic for FTAs, which focuses on the maximization of consumers' welfare and producer s' gains. On the contrary, they have to be taken as complementary factors.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, International Trade and Finance, Markets, Regional Cooperation, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Latin America, Mexico, and Chile

402. Handel, Hierarchien und Kooperation in der Globalisierung

Author:
Robert Kappel and Juliane Brach
Publication Date:
02-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
In the course of globalization, the intensity of global interactions between nations, firms, and civil society actors has increased significantly and has led to the creation of transnational norm-building networks. These have an essential, but little-known influence on all aspects of life (business and work relationships, environment, security, law, trust, etc.). Their influence expands to nation-state and market relationships that are also subject to constant reorganization. Transnational networks are leading to a global civil society that is more and more independent of the nation-state. With this relative erosion of state domination, the standard economic perspective, which primarily focused on the nation-state, is eroding as well.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, Civil Society, Environment, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, and Markets

403. The Power of Proximity: Strategic Decisions in African Party Politics

Author:
Alexander Stroh
Publication Date:
02-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
Recent publications suggest that exclusively ethnoregional parties are as rare in sub-Saharan Africa as elsewhere. At the same time, the idea that ethnicity is a very special feature of African party politics persists. The paper acknowledges the general relevance of ethnicity in party competition but emphasizes the level on which it becomes important. It develops a microbehavioral approach which pays particular attention to the strategic choices of party elites in order to supplement the dominant structuralist thinking in party research on Africa. An in-depth evaluation of detailed election data from Burkina Faso shows that strategies which rely on personal proximity between the voter and the candidates influence the parties' success to a great extent. Parties maximize their chances of winning seats if they concentrate their limited resources on the home localities of leading party members. Hence, African party politics are less dependent on ethnic demography than is often implied but more open to change through elite behavior.
Topic:
Democratization, Demographics, Ethnic Conflict, and Politics
Political Geography:
Africa

404. Savings, Credit and Insurance: Household Demand for Formal Financial Services in Rural Ghana

Author:
Lena Giesbert, Susan Steiner, and Mirko Bendig
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
This paper argues that the study of the demand for financial services in developing countries leaves out part of the story, if it looks at only one of the three elements of the so called finance trinity, i.e. savings products, loans, or insurances, as is largely done in the literature. In contrast to previous research, it is assumed that households' choice for any of these services is strongly interconnected. Therefore, the paper simultaneously estimates the determinants of household demand for savings, loans and insurances by applying a multivariate probit model on household survey data from rural Ghana. On the one hand, the estimation results confirm the common finding that poorer households are less likely to participate in the formal financial sector than better off households. On the other hand, there is empirical evidence that the usage of savings products, loans and insurances does not only depend on the socio-economic status of households, but also on various other factors, such as households' risk assessment and the past exposure to shocks. In addition, trust in the providing institution and its products appear to play a key role.
Topic:
Development, Economics, International Trade and Finance, Poverty, and Third World
Political Geography:
Africa

405. The Resilience of Authoritarian Rule in Syria under Hafez and Bashar Al-Asad

Author:
Annette Büchs
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
This paper seeks an explanation for the resilience of the Syrian authoritarian regime under Hafez and Bashar Al-Asad. It will be argued that this resilience is to a relevant extent caused by the fact that the regime's “material” as well as “ideational” forms of power share a common element, if not an underlying principle. This generates their compatibility and congruency and thus produces a convergence of forces which manifests in the regime's ability to exceed the mere sum of its individual forms of power. It will be demonstrated that this common principle can be conceptualized as a “tacit pact” between unequal parties, with the weaker party under constant threat of exclusion and/or coercion in the event of noncompliance. It will be argued that inherent in the pact is a high level of ambiguity; this, paradoxically, renders it more effective but at the same time also more instable as a tool of domination.
Topic:
Government, Post Colonialism, and Political Theory
Political Geography:
Middle East, Arabia, and Syria

406. A Shrimp amongst Whales? Assessing South Korea's Regional-power Status

Author:
David Shim
Publication Date:
08-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
Recent developments in South Korea's foreign and security policies as well as major structural adjustments in the military alliance between the United States and South Korea indicate a new self-understanding on the part of South Korea in terms of playing a more assertive role in regional and even global affairs. Alongside its involvement in the so-called Six- Party Talks—a multinational framework to disarm a nuclear North Korea—South Korea's civil-military engagement in Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon demonstrates that the government's foreign policy posture is not only focused on Northeast Asian affairs but is also intended to engage in other international security hot spots. However, although it has considerable material resources and capabilities— in neorealist terms constituting the power base of a state actor—South Korea is widely seen as a minor player in world politics. By means of a specific set of indicators—pretension, endowment, influence, recognition—this paper seeks to answer the question of whether South Korea is a regional power. The methodological approach used to evaluate its position will be based on analytical frameworks and typologies compiled from the literature on regional powers. Following the introduction of this approach, different concepts of the term regional power and the selection of the methodological instruments are presented. The subsequent section analyzes the selected set of indicators with regard to South Korea's potential status as a regional power. The concluding chapter evaluates the findings and raises further questions related to the regional-power concept.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Diplomacy, National Security, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:
United States, Israel, South Korea, and North Korea

407. Editorial

Author:
Jorge Gordin
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
Welcome to JPLA Journal of Politics in Latin America. The launching of this journal reflects some changes in the field of comparative politics on Latin America. With the waning of military dictatorships in the region, there has been a proliferation of academic work on formal institutions, which now amounts to the dominant paradigm in the discipline. This scholarship on institutions has rebounded in the last two decades because of an increased interest on the part of political scientists and policy analysts in the quality of democracy and the performance of Latin American polities. Numerous comparative country studies as well as cross-national quantitative studies have focused on formal rules such as those governing the working of presidential and parliamentary regimes, elections, and the organization of political parties. Notwithstanding such studies, there is a conspicuous gap between these research foci and the increasing worldwide interest in informal institutions addressing issues such as public security and crime, corruption, globalization, and energy management, among others.
Topic:
Politics
Political Geography:
Latin America

408. The Mechanics of Regime Instability in Latin America

Author:
Adam Przeworski
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
The paper is narrowly addressed to a single puzzle: How did it happen that countries that attempted to install democracy earlier enjoyed it less frequently? Regime dynamics are driven by two mechanisms: (1) Democracies become more durable as per capita income increases, and (2) Past experiences with democracy destabilize both democracies and autocracies. As a result, countries that experiment with democracy at lower income levels experience more regime instability. Moreover, until they reach some income threshold, at any time such countries are less likely to be democratic than countries that first enter democracy when they have higher incomes. Hence, paradoxically, the resistance of European monarchies against democracy resulted in democracies that were more stable than those following postindependence attempts in Latin America.
Political Geography:
Europe and Latin America

409. Institutional Change in Latin America: External Models and their Unintended Consequences

Author:
Kurt Weyland
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
Influential theories claim that institutions shape actor behavior but are sustained by these actors' behavior. How do scholars escape from this trap of endogeneity? This article highlights a partially exogenous factor: institutional models and blueprints. Since these ideational schemes do not emerge from actor preferences, they play an independent, irreducible role in institutional creation. In fact, Latin America has borrowed many blueprints from the “First World.” But transferred to a different setting, these imported models often fail to command firm, reliable compliance and do not operate well. Therefore, informal mechanisms arise and guide behavior. External borrowing thus produces persistent disjunctures in institutional development.
Topic:
International Relations
Political Geography:
Latin America

410. Government and Opposition in the Argentine Congress, 1989-2007: Understanding Inter-Party Dynamics through Roll Call Vote Analysis

Author:
Mark P. Jones, Wonjae Hwang, and Juan Pablo Micozzi
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
This article employs roll call vote data and Bayesian ideal point estimation to examine inter-party dynamics in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies between 1989 and 2007. It highlights the presence in the Argentine Congress of a strong government vs. opposition dimension as well as identifies the relative position on this dimension, vis-à-vis the governing party, of the most prominent non-governing parties. Special attention is paid to the evolution of inter-party legislative dynamics during Argentina\'s brief experience with coalition government (1999-2001) and to party behavior in the Chamber during the final two years of President Néstor Kirchner\'s term in office (2005-07).
Topic:
Political Economy
Political Geography:
Argentina