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311. The Implications of China's Rise for Asia and Europe

Author:
Linda Jakobson
Publication Date:
05-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
China has in a very short time span embraced multilateral mechanisms to address a broad range of issues and avoided confrontation with the United States. Both stances have shaped Asian and European views of a rising China. At present, Asian and European leaders take China's word regarding its peaceful intentions as a rising power. However, Asian and European policy-makers tend to refrain from confronting China too strongly on issues sensitive to Beijing (poor implementation of intellectual property rights, disregard for human rights, etc). The more prosperous China grows, the less influence any other country will have over Beijing's policies. A rising China is a challenge to others because of its sheer size, its great need for imported energy, and the environmental degradation it causes due to its ongoing industrialization. The troubled relationship between China and Japan is one of increasing concern and could lead to aggravated tensions in East Asia.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, and International Political Economy
Political Geography:
United States, China, Europe, and Asia

312. The Promise and Peril of Public Anthropology

Author:
Ben Feinberg
Publication Date:
08-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Human Rights Human Welfare (University of Denver)
Abstract:
In recent years, as we accelerate our planetary experiment into increasing violence and social inequality, cultural anthropologists have increasingly expressed their befuddlement about why, amid all the clamor and reckless talk about the state of the world that characterizes public discourse, our voice has been notably absent. We have moved from the introspection of the 80s, when the big debates within the discipline involved tearing at our own flesh and flaunting the sackcloth of self-doubt: how do know what we know about other people? Are we not projecting our colonialist narratives onto the weak? Who the Hell do we think we are to talk so pompously and authoritatively about them? Emerging from this doubt, we remembered that, at the same time that we sparred with each other and devoured our elders in the hidden corners and footnotes of obscure journals, our discipline has actually reached a near-unanimous consensus—as strong as the consensus for evolution among physical anthropologists or for global warming among climate scientists—on a number of vitally important issues that are relevant to the masses outside our club, and could, if applied by the right people, actually benefit society and serve in defense of human rights.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, and Human Rights
Political Geography:
United States

313. Recent US Free Trade Initiatives in the Middle East: Opportunities but no Guarantees

Author:
Robert Z. Lawrence
Publication Date:
12-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
This paper evaluates the US initiative to establish a Free Trade Agreement with countries in the Middle East by signing bilateral agreements with the countries individually and then combining them into a single arrangement. These agreements present new opportunities for Arab countries, but to take full advantage, they will have to complement the agreements with additional policy measures, both individually, and together. The promise comes from the ability to use the agreements as a catalyst for improving regulatory rules and systems at home and facilitating integration with the rest of the region and the world. But the agreements also present problems for Arab countries, first in relating these US agreements to agreements with other trading partners – most importantly the EU; second in creating political difficulties associated with closer relations with the USA given problems in the region, and third, in undertaking the necessary economic and political policies that are necessary to realize the benefits.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, Globalization, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States, Middle East, and Arabia

314. Transatlantic Transformation: Building a NATO-EU Security Architecture

Author:
David C. Gompert, Jan M. Lodal, Leslie S. Lebl, Walter B. Slocombe, and Frances G. Burwell
Publication Date:
03-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Atlantic Council
Abstract:
Since 1989, the security environment facing the United States and its European allies has changed beyond recognition. The Soviet Union has disintegrated, as has the division of Europe between East and West, and new threats have arisen. The disintegration of Yugoslavia in the 1990s demonstrated that instability and war emerging from failing states could affect the peace and security of Europe. After 2001, global terrorism became the priority threat, especially when linked with the prospect of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Topic:
Security, NATO, and Development
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia

315. Natural Unemployment, the Role of Monetary Policy and Wage Bargaining: A Theoretical Perspective

Author:
Stefan Collignon
Publication Date:
05-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
Abstract:
This paper models unemployment as a general equilibrium solution in labor and capital markets, while the natural rate hypothesis explains unemployment simply as a partial equilibrium in the labor market. It is shown that monetary policy can have long-run effects by affecting required returns on capital and investment. If monetary policy is primarily concerned with maintaining price stability, the interaction between wage bargaining and the central bank's credibility as an inflation fighter becomes a crucial factor in determining employment. Different labor market institutions condition different monetary policy reactions. With centralized wage bargaining, a central bank mandate focusing primarily on price stability is sufficient. With an atomistic labor market, the central bank must also consider output as a policy objective.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, Economics, and Markets
Political Geography:
United States, United Kingdom, and Europe

316. Low Intensity Conflict and Nation - Building in Iraq: A Chronology

Author:
Sara B. Moller and Eric M. Brewer
Publication Date:
03-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:
May 1, 2003 President George W. Bush declares an end to major combat operations in Iraq. The U.S. lost 138 soldiers during the war. Seven U.S. soldiers are wounded when grenades are thrown at an American base in Fallujah, a stronghold for Saddam Hussein loyalists. Earlier, U.S. troops killed 15 civilians at a protest in the city.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Relations, and Development
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, Middle East, and Maryland

317. The Rule of Law in China: Incremental Progress

Author:
Jamie P. Horsley
Publication Date:
04-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:
Western media reporting on China does not give the impression of a rule of law country. We read of frequent corruption scandals, a harsh criminal justice system still plagued by the use of torture, increasingly violent and widespread social unrest over unpaid wages, environmental degradation and irregular takings of land and housing. Outspoken academics, activist lawyers, investigative journalists and other champions of the disadvantaged and unfortunate are arrested, restrained or lose their jobs. Entrepreneurs have their successful businesses expropriated by local governments in seeming violation of the recently added Constitutional guarantee to protect private property. Citizens pursue their grievances more through extra-judicial avenues than in weak and politically submissive courts. Yet China's economy gallops ahead, apparently confounding conventional wisdom that economic development requires the rule of law.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:
United States, China, and Asia

318. A Fresh Approach to US Energy Security and Alternative Fuels: The Western Hemisphere and the Ethanol Option

Author:
Annette Hester
Publication Date:
10-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
Spurred by world events, energy security has vaulted to the top of the US political agenda. Concerns about supply interruptions and rising prices sped approval of an energy bill which Congress had in the works for nearly five years. Moreover, the growing prominence of the nation's energy challenges, drew special attention from President Bush in his 2006 State of the Union Address, sparking a renewed search for viable alternative fuels. Of those, ethanol is receiving the lion's share of attention. This paper will argue that the new US focus on energy alternatives will undoubtedly impact the ethanol and agriculture markets. However, this discussion will also advance the notion that a key element of an effective ethanol strategy from both cost and environmental perspectives lies in forging technological and open trading relationships in the Western Hemisphere, particularly with Brazil and Canada.
Topic:
Security, Development, Energy Policy, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States, Canada, and Brazil

319. Recent Regional Agreements: Why so many, so fast, so different and where are they headed?

Author:
John Whalley
Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
Recent years have witnessed a sharp increase in the number of regional trade agreements (RTAs) both concluded and under negotiation. This paper attempts to document and discuss this growth focusing on the United States (US), the European Union (EU), China, India and the agreements of other countries. The form, coverage, and content of these agreements vary considerably from case to case. This paper poses the following questions: why so many, why the variation, and why the recent increase in RTAs? Implications for the trading system are discussed in a final section.
Topic:
Development, International Trade and Finance, Regional Cooperation, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
United States, China, and India

320. An Index of Donor Performance

Author:
David Roodman
Publication Date:
11-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
The Commitment to Development Index of the Center for Global Development rates 21 rich countries on the “development-friendliness” of their policies. It is revised and updated annually. The component on foreign assistance combines quantitative and qualitative measures of official aid, and of fiscal policies that support private charitable giving. The quantitative measure uses a net transfers concept, as distinct from the net flows concept in the net Official Development Assistance measure of the Development Assistance Committee. The qualitative factors are: a penalty for tying aid; a discounting system that favors aid to poorer, better-governed recipients; and a penalty for “project proliferation.” The charitable giving measure is based on an estimate of the share of observed private giving to developing countries that is attributable to a) lower overall taxes or b) specific tax incentives for giving. De-spite the adjustments, overall results are dominated by differences in quantity of official aid given. This is because while there is a seven-fold range in net concessional transfers/GDP among the scored countries, variation in overall aid quality across donors appears far lower, and private giving is generally small. Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden score highest while the largest donors in absolute terms, the United States and Japan, rank at or near the bottom. Standings by the 2006 methodology have been relatively stable since 1995.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, Economics, and Humanitarian Aid
Political Geography:
United States, Japan, Norway, and Netherlands