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641. UN 2030: Rebuilding Order in a Fragmenting World

Author:
Kevin Rudd
Publication Date:
08-2016
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Asia Society
Abstract:
As the world faces a slew of complicated challenges and the international community comes together to select the next UN Secretary General, there is renewed debate about the role of the UN in international affairs. In UN 2030: Rebuilding Order in a Fragmenting World, Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) President Kevin Rudd argues that the UN continues to matter. The report makes the case that if the UN fails, falters, or fades away, it would fundamentally erode the stability of an already fragile global order. At the same time, Rudd contends, we tend to take the UN for granted, overlooking the reality that its continued existence is not inevitable. The UN, while not yet broken, is in trouble. The report concludes, however, that the UN is capable of reinventing itself. This requires not one-off reforms but a continual process of reinvention to ensure the institution is responding to the policy challenges of our time.
Topic:
United Nations, International Affairs, Political Theory, Geopolitics, and Political and institutional effectiveness
Political Geography:
Global Focus

642. The everyday and the existential: how Clinton and Trump challenge transatlantic relations

Author:
Jeremy Shapiro
Publication Date:
10-2016
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
European Council On Foreign Relations
Abstract:
The transatlantic relationship is likely to face difficult challenges whatever the result of the US election. If Trump wins he will launch a revolutionary presidency — pulling back from NATO and other security guarantees, undermining key parts of the global free trade regime and building closer relations with strong-man leaders than allies. Even if Hillary is elected the transatlantic relationship could still face difficult albeit more everyday challenges. Her poor relations with Moscow, exacerbated by gender issues, could threaten transatlantic unity on Russia. Europe would be foolish not to learn lessons from the experience of Trump’s candidacy. Trump represents only an extreme version of a growing feeling in the United States that, in a time of relative decline, the country is getting a raw deal from its allies. The EU should not be complacent in assuming that the transatlantic relationship will continue as it is and should begin to take more responsibility for its own defence and build resilience against a potentially more self-interested US.
Topic:
International Relations and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

643. Revisiting What Works: Women, Economic Empowerment and Smart Design

Author:
Mayra Buvinic and Megan O’Donnell
Publication Date:
11-2016
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
Expanding women’s economic opportunities bene ts both women and society. Women’s choices widen and societies gain from the contribution that women’s income makes to economic growth and family wellbeing. These bene ts are increasingly well-understood, but much less is known regarding the most effective interventions to empower women economically. The call to nd out what works is long overdue. Gender gaps in economic performance are pervasive and persistent — women earn less than men across countries and occupations, and gender gaps are especially salient in poor countries. A wide range of policies and programs — from long-term investments in health and education to short-term training programs and ‘just-in-time’ information on markets — can potentially help close these gender gaps and bolster women’s economic advancement.
Topic:
Gender Issues, International Affairs, and International Development
Political Geography:
Global Focus

644. Infrastructure, Attitude and Weather: Today's Threats to Supply Chain Security

Author:
Stephen Blank
Publication Date:
06-2016
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Canadian Global Affairs Institute (CGAI)
Abstract:
The global economy can be viewed today as a myriad of border-crossing supply chain networks of production, supply, distribution and marketing systems. Given the enormous value embodied in these systems, and an environment increasingly characterized by uncertainty and vulnerability, it is not surprising that concern about supply chain security has intensified. Concern takes many forms. For example, how supply chains might be used as vehicles for criminal activity (smuggling, trafficking of narcotics and importing counterfeit goods) or acts of terrorism (radio-active materials, bombs, even nukes in containers). Technology-based threats to supply chains, such as cybercrimes, data breaches and IT failures, now appear more frequently in the literature on supply chain security. These threats could result in substantial disruption to supply chains and damage to companies and their customers. But larger storms are brewing, whose menace to supply chain security is greater still – and where actions to protect supply chains move more slowly. These include the continued deterioration of transportation infrastructure, a new posture on trade which views supply chains as threats to jobs and wages, and the impact of climate change. These threats do not lie off in the distant future; they are threats of today and tomorrow.
Topic:
International Political Economy, International Security, and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

645. Intercultural coexistence and cooperation : Is the model of Schleswig-Holstein transferrable?

Author:
Zora Popova, Inga Marken, and Lavinia Bâdulescu
Publication Date:
09-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues
Abstract:
The current paper, developed in connection to an ECMI project implemented in Azerbaijan in 2014, explores the transferability of successful reconciliation and intercultural cohesion mechanisms from one region or a country to another. Analysing the positive example of Schleswig-Holstein and the conflict region of Nagorno-Karabakh, the paper aims at overcoming the specific context related issues and to look at the structural factors that need to be considered if a model is to be adapted to a historically, geographically, and culturally different case.
Topic:
International Relations and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

646. International Affairs

Author:
East View Information Services
Publication Date:
12-2016
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
East View Information Services
Abstract:
World Issues
Topic:
International Affairs and International Development
Political Geography:
Global Focus

647. A New Measure of Inter-industry Distance and Its Application to the U.S. Regional Growth

Author:
Yoon Yeo Joon and Whang Un Jung
Publication Date:
12-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP)
Abstract:
We propose a new measure of inter-industry ‘distance’. This is constructed a la Antras et al. (2012). While they measure the distance of an industry from its final use ？ what they call ‘downstreamness’ of an industry ？ we measure the distance between a pair of industries. Our proposed index is a measure of input-output linkages between industries that incorporates a ‘distance’ flavor. Our measure distinguishes the number of vertical production stages that an industry’s product goes through until it is finally used by another industry by assigning larger weights to the value of input use with longer production chains. Hence our measure contains more information on the relation between two industries along the vertical production chain. We use this index to construct an aggregate measure of ‘industry connectedness’ of regions in the U.S. It measures the degree of industrial linkages of a region. We then empirically establish that each region’s labor productivity is positively associated with the ‘industry connectedness’. The result contributes to the large literature of agglomeration economies that the industrial linkage is one of the main sources of agglomeration economies and productivity growth, as emphasized by Marshall (1920). It also suggests that our index can serve as an alternative measure of the industrial linkages.
Topic:
International Political Economy and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

648. Comparative Advantage of Value Added in Exports: The Role of Offshoring and Transaction Costs

Author:
Park Soonchan
Publication Date:
10-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP)
Abstract:
This study tests whether Ricardian comparative advantage is valid for value added in exports that does not include intermediate inputs imported from various industries in a number of countries. Using a panel data on valued added contents of bilateral exports, we find that changes in the labor productivity lead to growth of value added in exports. This implies that Ricardian comparative advantage is an important determinant of exports in longitudinal changes. The estimated coefficients of the observed productivity turn out to be larger than those of CDK (2012), implying that Ricardian comparative advantage has greater influence on determining the patterns of trade in a world with global value chains.
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

649. White House Narratives on the Iran Nuclear Deal

Author:
Michael Scott Doran
Publication Date:
05-2016
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Hudson Institute
Abstract:
Testimony before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, United States House of Representatives
Topic:
International Affairs and Nuclear Power
Political Geography:
Global Focus

650. Local Democracy and Economic Growth

Author:
Carl Henrik Knutsen, John Gerring, and Svend-Erik Skaaning
Publication Date:
11-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Varieties of Democracy Institute (V-Dem)
Abstract:
Theoretical work on the institutional sources of economic growth regards decentralization and democracy in a positive light. Despite this, empirical work shows that neither fiscal decentralization nor national democracy is a robust predictor of per capita GDP growth. We argue that these theories have failed to bear fruit because they ignore the linchpin of decentralization and democracy, namely local democracy. Democracy at a local level enhances economic growth by enabling decentralized policy selection and incentivizing local politicians to select policies that benefit economic development, including the provision of local public goods. We test for the relationship using a novel measure of local democracy with global coverage and time series extending from 1900 to the present. We find robust evidence that local democracy nurtures growth. This relationship holds up when accounting for country- and year-fixed effects, when controlling for democracy at the national level, and when we treat our measure of local democracy as an endogenous regressor. Additional tests reveal that the relationship is clearer in contexts where our argument suggests that it should operate more strongly, namely (national- level) democracies and in periods and regions where local-level institutions have a more pronounced role in policy-making.
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus