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21. How the Axis of Evil Metaphor Changes Iranian Images of the USA

Author:
Daniel Heradstveit and G. Matthew Bonham
Publication Date:
06-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
The respondents feared an American attack, and regarded their membership in «the Axis of Evil» as a stab in the back after Iranian help in Afghanistan. This demonisation was seen overwhelmingly in terms of American geopolitical designs, ignorance and downright irrationality – an expansionist superpower that is dangerously out of control. The WTC attack initially caused a strengthening of Iranian national unity and a more coherent foreign policy, but most of the respondents regard «the Axis of Evil» as killing the nascent dialogue with the USA stone dead and coming as a godsend to the conservatives and the ultras.
Topic:
International Relations and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, America, Iran, and Middle East

22. Economic Convergence through Savings, Trade and Technology Flows—Lessons from Recent Research

Author:
Per Botolf Maurseth
Publication Date:
10-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on income disparity between countries and convergence in economic growth. New theoretical models modify and often reverse the prediction of convergence in the traditional neo-classical model of economic growth. A particular feature of the recent literature as compared to traditional studies of economic growth is that it acknowledges interdependence between countries. International capital flows, trade in goods and (maybe most important) international technology flows influence individual countries growth performance. The empirical literature on the dynamics of the international distribution of income per capita reveals massive unconditional divergence in income levels. For sub-samples of countries on the other hand, the data support the conditional convergence hypothesis: when other factors are accounted for, there is a tendency for income per capita to converge. For the OECD countries, as well as for some other countries, knowledge flows, either embodied in traded goods or disembodied seem to be important for whether poorer countries are able to catch up with richer ones.
Topic:
International Relations, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Science and Technology

23. International R Spillovers and the Effect of Absorptive Capacity

Author:
Leo A. Grünfeld
Publication Date:
08-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
We study the productivity effects of R spillovers through imports, foreign direct investment and domestic intermediates, using a highly disaggregated data set for Norwegian business sectors. As opposed to the large body of similar studies, we explicitly analyse the importance of absorptive capacity effects, claiming that the positive contribution from R spillovers is an increasing function of the R activities of the economic units that receive the spillovers. We find strong support for the existence of R spillovers through imports and domestic intermediates, but no sign of such spillovers through foreign ownership. Surprisingly, we identify absorptive capacity effects relating to spillovers from imports, but no such effects with respect to domestic intermediates. One possible explanation is that the cost of learning from international R sources is larger than from domestic R sources, implying that own R investments can counteract the negative effect of geographical and cultural distance on R spillovers.
Topic:
International Relations, Economics, Industrial Policy, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Norway

24. Multinationals Searching for R Spillovers

Author:
Leo A. Grünfeld
Publication Date:
08-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
This paper surveys the literature on R and technology spillovers as a motive for FDI. During the last years, a growing body of theoretical studies has generated formal arguments supporting the economic rationale for such behaviour. Yet, theoretical contributions are clustered within a few schools and a wider approach is necessary in order to understand the mechanisms that relate R spillovers to FDI. The empirical literature is more numerous, but provides ambiguous conclusions with respect to the strength of this motive. Micro studies provide less supportive results as compared to studies based on more aggregate data. Studies based on patent information are generally supportive to the existence of this motive.
Topic:
International Relations, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Science and Technology

25. International R Spillovers and the Absorptive Capacity of Multinationals

Author:
Leo A. Grünfeld
Publication Date:
08-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
This paper studies R spillovers as a motive for firms to go multinational. The establishment of a foreign subsidiary may increase a firm's ability to learn from foreign R activity since R spillovers between firms are moderated by geographical distance. As opposed to earlier studies on this subject, we also model the concept of absorptive capacity where spillovers are endogenised as a function of the firms'own R investments. We employ a three-stage Cournot duopoly model to identify under what conditions a firm chooses to service a foreign market through exports or localised production (going multinational). With exogenous R investments, the absorptive capacity effect contributes to increase the gains from going multinational when the firm is a technology leader in terms of R If R investments are endogenous, only medium-sized absorptive capacity effects will result in firms going multinational. Also, higher spillover rates do not necessarily drive down R and profits for the multinational firm. This stands in contrast to models that ignore the aspect of absorptive capacity.
Topic:
International Relations, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Science and Technology

26. From territorial defence to comprehensive security? European integration and the changing Norwegian and Swedish security identities

Author:
Pernille Rieker
Publication Date:
03-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
This paper analyses the relationship between the European integration process and the recent changes in the Norwegian and the Swedish national security identities. The aim of the paper is to compare developments in the Norwegian and the Swedish security identities in the 1990s and to evaluate the extent and scope of Europeanisation in the two cases. The fact that both Norway and Sweden had very traditional security discourses at the beginning of the 1990s and that it is possible to detect shifts away from this traditionalism in parallel with the development towards a European security dimension should prove that a Europeanisation has indeed occurred. While several researchers have studied the influence of the EU on national institutions and policies, less attention has been given to the Europeanisation of national security identities. This paper is therefore an attempt to fill this gap. The fact that Sweden has become a member of the EU while Norway has not also makes these two countries good cases for examining the extent and scope of their respective Europeanisation.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, and Nationalism
Political Geography:
Europe, Norway, and Sweden

27. Should one bargain over two issues simultaneously or separately?

Author:
Bård Harstad
Publication Date:
05-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
International negotiations on trade (e.g. GATT and TRIPS) have typically been of the package-form, and different issues have therefore been linked to each other. Trade issues have not been linked to e.g. environmental agreements in negotiations, however. This paper studies the outcome of linked bargaining, where two issues are simultaneously negotiated over by two countries. We notice that there always exist gains from linkages in bargaining, and that such linking will always occur in equilibrium if there is a pre-stage where the countries are bargaining over the agenda. The outcome under linked bargaining is compared with the outcome under separate negotiations, and the circumstances where a country will gain or lose from linking are characterized. The results help us to understand different countries' preferences for linkages in bargaining.
Topic:
International Relations, Environment, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Europe

28. Patterns of Trade and Foreign Direct Investment in Africa—A simple test of the new trade theory with multinationals

Author:
Lars C. Svindal and Leo A. Grünfeld
Publication Date:
12-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
In this study, we present an empirical survey of the patterns of trade and FDI in Africa based on a sample of 28 countries and their transactions with the OECD countries. These patterns are used to test whether the predictions of the new trade theory with multinationals as described by Markusen and Venables (1995,1998) fit the development in Africa. The theory states that multinational production will gradually outgrow trade as countries converge in terms of income, yet our econometric study gives only week evidence supporting such a pattern. Alternative explanations are also investigated,and it is shown that trade barriers, geographical distance, income per capita and access to ocean explain much of the variation in trade and FDI in Africa.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:
Africa