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501. German Companies Engaging in China: Decision-Making Processes at Home and Management Practices in Chinese Subsidiaries

Author:
Geny Piotti
Publication Date:
11-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies
Abstract:
This paper attempts to explain why internationalization processes to China are growing despite the significant difficulties that foreign direct investments into China encounter. The answer to this question can be found in the processes of decision-making on internationalization at the company level and how these affect management practices in Chinese subsidiaries. The argument I put forward in this paper is that for the small and medium-sized enterprises the study focuses on, the decisions concerning investment in China are mainly the product of structural and legitimation pressure. Structural pressure can encourage cognitive mechanisms and behavioral consequences similar to those occurring when individuals (and organizations) cope with threat. Legitimation pressure can foster wishful thinking, which pushes actors to believe that desired options are good despite evidence to the contrary. These pressures have an impact on how well companies are prepared when they internationalize and can particularly affect some crucial management practices, leading to inefficiencies and problems in subsidiaries.
Topic:
Economics and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
China, Europe, Asia, and Germany

502. After War. The Political Economy of Exporting Democracy

Author:
Jayne Du
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Abstract:
Written in a prose of similar to that of Machiavelli's Prince and adapted to the political regime of the twenty-first century, Christopher Coyne's After War provides a policy outlook of framing risks and incentives of reconstruction, with engagement as a main tool used in United States foreign policy to export principles of Western liberalism. The exportation of values is usually concurrent with engagement in a war and as conditions of reconstruction become established, the main tenets of liberalism under democracy and free trade are hopefully sustained and supported by established institutions. This is the central thesis of Coyne's book: to understand how liberal political regimes are exported and developed, barring any reliance on excessive uses of force and military engagement. This story of reconstruction starts in the ashes of World War II and the Cold War, where early and more sanguine efforts in reconstruction evolved into the economic houses of Japan and Western Germany. Yet, Coyne seeks understanding not in the rosy images, but in the stories of contention that still rise from the ashes of US current involvements, namely in Somalia and Haiti; and more recently in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, Japan, Iraq, Germany, Haiti, and Somalia

503. The Coming Conflict With Russia

Author:
George Friedman
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of International Security Affairs
Institution:
Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
Abstract:
No abstract is available.
Topic:
Cold War
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, France, Poland, and Germany

504. "Priorities for Engagement": An Interview with Ambassador Meera Shankar

Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of International Security Affairs
Institution:
Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
Abstract:
Meera Shankar is India's ambassador to the United States. She is the first serving Indian Foreign Service Officer to be ambassador to Washington in more than two decades. Prior to assuming her post in April 2009, she was India's ambassador to Germany.
Political Geography:
United States, India, and Germany

505. Sorry States: Apologies in International Politics

Author:
Yuichi Morii
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
It is rather commonplace to compare Japan and Germany in daily life. Both the countries are economic powers and had similar historical developments in the twentieth century. However, it is rather difficult to draw successful academic comparisons between Japan and Germany. Sorry States is certainly one of the rare comparative analyses of the two countries. This book highlights the remembrance and reconciliation in modern international relations. Japan's unapologetic remembrance of its history and the Korean distrust of Japan are in contrast to (West) Germany's often-praised contrition and reconciliation with France.
Political Geography:
Japan, France, Germany, and Korea

506. Turkey's Perspectives on Nuclear Weapons and Disarmament

Author:
Henri J. Barkey
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
In principle, Turkey would welcome the global elimination of nuclear weapons. For the current government, the possession of nuclear weapons by other states is a factor that, indirectly at least, reduces Turkey's regional (if not global) aspirations and power. However, in the medium term, it remains deeply ambivalent on the future of nuclear weapons and its own plans regarding nuclear energy and weapons development.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Nuclear Weapons, and Nuclear Power
Political Geography:
United States, Iran, Turkey, and Germany

507. How European Protest Transforms Institutions of the Public Sphere: Discourse and Decision-Making in the European Social Forum Process

Author:
Nicole Doerr
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Kolleg-Forschergruppe (KFG)
Abstract:
Against the background of the alleged democratic deficit of EU institutions, this case study explores how politicization and emerging transnational public spaces in European protest movements innovate existing practices of discursive or grassroots deliberative democracy in national social movements. I studied the European Social Forum (ESF) process, a transnational participatory democracy platform created by civil society groups and social movement organizations. I explored discourse and decision-making in the small-scale European Assemblies in which hundreds of activists have met six times a year since 2002 to organize the ESFs, and form campaigns on issues such as global and social justice, peace, climate change, migration, health, or education. Comparing activists' democratic norms and discourse practices in these frequently occurring European Assemblies with social forum assemblies at the national level in Germany, Italy and the UK, I arrived at a surprising result: European Assemblies reflect a higher degree of discursive inclusivity, dialogue and transparency in decision-making and discussion compared to national social forum assemblies. In this paper I discuss structural, strategic and cultural changes that occur in the process of a Europeanization “from below”, that is, when social movement activists work together transnationally across a certain time period. I argue that European protest as a form of contentious Europeanization has developed new social practices and actors that innovate existing practices of participatory democracy at the national level, showing the relevance of social movements to democratize European integration.
Topic:
Democratization
Political Geography:
United Kingdom, Europe, Germany, and Italy

508. Four Emerging Issues in Arms Control, Disarmament, and Nonproliferation: Opportunities for German Leadership

Author:
Nikolai Sokov, Dennis M. Gormley, Miles A. Pomper, Patricia M. Lewis, Lawrence Scheinman, Stephen Schwartz, and Leonard S. Spector
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies
Abstract:
In late April 2009, the Policy Planning Staff of the Foreign Ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany requested that the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) undertake studies on four emerging issues in the fields of arms control, disarmament, and nonproliferation, to be completed by June 15, 2009. The four issues were: The need to address the interrelationship between nuclear and conventional arms reduction, if the United States wants to entice others to go along the path to Global Zero. The world after drastic nuclear arms reductions, including the fear of U.S. conventional superiority/global strike capabilities;  The need (and promising areas) to make (nuclear) arms control and disarmament a strong component of NATO's new strategic concept;  Missile Defense, also covering a possible threat from others than Iran and the need to bring missile defense into the NATO-Russia Council; and Substrategic nuclear weapons, with a description of a way to achieve mutual transparency, reduction, and elimination in Europe.
Topic:
Security, Arms Control and Proliferation, Nuclear Weapons, Treaties and Agreements, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Germany

509. The Catholic Church: An Underestimated and Necessary Actor in International Affairs

Author:
Jodok Troy
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
Institution:
Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
Abstract:
In an attempt to unite faith and reason, among other things, through a quotation of an ancient emperor, Pope Benedict XVI's lecture on 12 September 2006 in Regensburg, Germany, reverberated around the world in widespread, sometimes violent reactions, notably in the Muslim world. Later, the Pope stated that he had simply wished to illustrate the connection between faith and reason. The strong reactions to his speech illustrate what great impact a diplomatic faux pas, especially one from a major religious leader, can have in world politics.
Political Geography:
Germany

510. Stumbling Toward Eurabia

Author:
Alex Alexiev
Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of International Security Affairs
Institution:
Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
Abstract:
In the summer of 2004, in an interview little noticed outside the country, the prominent academic scholar of Islam Bassam Tibi predicted a future for Germany that many decried as provocative nonsense at the time. In ten years, Tibi said, Germany will be the scene of large running battles between police and gangs of marginalized Muslim youth, bringing cities like Berlin, Cologne and Frankfurt to the brink of chaos. This will be the inevitable result, according to him, of a trend that is already visible. Muslims are not interested in integration. They are, in fact, obligated not to integrate by the radical Islamic ideology dominant in their communities, and live increasingly segregated in parallel societies. The main difference between 2004 and 2014, Tibi believed, would be that the highly marginalized Muslim population would have more than doubled to 10 million, sharia would have been gradually introduced in Germany and the Islam preached there would be even more radical and resemble Nazi totalitarianism.
Political Geography:
Germany