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142. Oxfam Publishing: No Soft Landing: As China opens its markets, US subsidies are making life hard for cotton farmers
- Author:
- Phoenix Leung Pui Fung
- Publication Date:
- 12-2005
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Cotton is an important crop for some of the poorest areas of China, and millions of cotton farmers depend on it for their livelihoods. Cotton's high economic returns have helped, and continue to help, bring many farmers in the poor western provinces of Gansu and Xinjiang out of poverty. Cotton production is not only essential to the development of China's textile industry; it is also a labour-intensive crop that demands a large workforce in rural areas. It has thus contributed to easing the pressures of rural underdevelopment in China, at a time when the country is faced with seriously high levels of surplus labour and lack of development potential in rural areas.
- Topic:
- Globalization and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- United States, China, and Asia
143. Democracy, History, and Migrant Labor in South Korea
- Author:
- Hyun Park
- Publication Date:
- 01-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
- Abstract:
- This paper concerns the paradox of democratization in South Korea, whose progression has been entwined with neoliberal capitalism beginning in the 1990s. There have been critical moments of democratization since the military rulers gave in to popular pressure for democratization. These moments range from the recommencement of the popular electoral system in the Presidential election in 1987 to the transfer of the state power to civilian leaders, and the participation of former dissidents in the parliament and the administration. A particular form of democratization addressed in this paper is not electoral state politics but the broad-reaching initiatives to transform the relationship between the state and society. Specifically, I examine the initiative to rewrite colonial and cold-war history. This particular initiative is part of an effort to correct a longstanding tendency of previous military regimes that suppressed the resolution of colonial legacies and framed Korean national history within an ideological confrontation of capitalist South Korea and communist North Korea.
- Topic:
- International Relations and Globalization
- Political Geography:
- United States, Asia, South Korea, and North Korea
144. Opening the Realm: The Role of Communications in Negotiating the Tension of Values in Globalization
- Author:
- Michael Suman
- Publication Date:
- 04-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Aspen Institute
- Abstract:
- We live in an era in which security concerns have become paramount, the forces of capitalism have dealt a death blow to socialist command economies, and the United States is aggressively promoting democracy in the Middle East. In this context, what does the future hold for the values of security, capitalism, and democracy? Historians tell us we also are in the Digital Age—increasingly so with the advent of new communications technologies such as the Internet. What role can the media play in fostering the values of security, capitalism, and democracy?
- Topic:
- International Relations, Civil Society, Democratization, and Globalization
- Political Geography:
- United States and Middle East
145. Leaders and Laggards: When and Why do Countries Sign the NPT?
- Author:
- Christopher Way and Karthika Sasikumar
- Publication Date:
- 02-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for International Peace and Security Studies
- Abstract:
- The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) was concluded at the end of the 1960s, a decade which saw the drama of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the height of the nuclear arms race between the superpowers, and the entry of France and China into the club of countries that had tested nuclear weapons. The basic bargain underlying the NPT allows countries to surrender their right to develop nuclear weapons in return for access to international assistance in civilian nuclear technology. Five countries (the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France, and China) that had tested nuclear devices before 1 January 1967, were conferred the status of Nuclear Weapon State (NWS) by Article IX. All other signatories (Non Nuclear Weapon States or NNWSs) pledged to abjure the development and diffusion of nuclear weapons technology.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Globalization, Nuclear Weapons, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- United States, China, United Kingdom, France, Soviet Union, and Cuba
146. Empire of Liberty: The Historical Underpinnings of the Bush Doctrine
- Author:
- Thomas Donnelly
- Publication Date:
- 06-2005
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
- Abstract:
- In reelecting George W. Bush, Americans voted to continue foreign policies often caricatured at home and abroad as militaristic, expansionist, and unilateralist. The question is why a majority of voters backed Bush in the face of these charges. Does the Bush Doctrine, which urges the transformation of the political order in the greater Middle East and the broader international order in ways that defend and promote human freedom, constitute a radical break in the practice of American statecraft? Or is the Bush administration's approach—and the general public's acceptance of it—better explained by the “strategic culture” of the United States, the precepts of which can be traced through the history of U.S. foreign policy to the founding of the republic?
- Topic:
- International Relations, Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, and Globalization
- Political Geography:
- United States, America, and Middle East
147. Phases of Competition Policy in Europe
- Author:
- Andreas Resch
- Publication Date:
- 04-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute of European Studies
- Abstract:
- In the process of globalization, international convergence of competition legislation has steadily gained importance. Yet, specific aspects of European history gave capital markets, corporate governance and competition policies a special flavor. Historically grown peculiarities have to be taken into account when it comes to evaluate actual policy decisions.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Globalization, and Markets
- Political Geography:
- United States and Europe
148. Importers, Exporters, and Multinationals: A Portrait of Firms in the U.S. that Trade Goods
- Author:
- J. Bradford Jensen, Peter K. Schott, and Andrew B. Bernard
- Publication Date:
- 09-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- This paper provides an integrated view of globally engaged US firms by exploring a newly developed dataset that links US international trade transactions to longitudinal data on US enterprises. These data permit examination of a number of new dimensions of firm activity, including how many products firms trade, how many countries firms trade with, the characteristics of those countries, the concentration of trade across firms, whether firms transact at arm's length or with related parties, and whether firms import as well as export. Firms that trade goods play an important role in the United States, employing more than a third of the US workforce. We find that the most globally engaged US firms, i.e. those that both export to and import from related parties, dominate US trade flows and employment at trading firms. We also find that firms that begin trading between 1993 and 2000 experience especially rapid employment growth and are a major force in overall job creation.
- Topic:
- Economics, Globalization, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- United States
149. What Might the Next Emerging-Market Financial Crisis Look Like?
- Author:
- Morris Goldstein and Anna Wong
- Publication Date:
- 07-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- This paper addresses the following question: If a financial crisis affecting a group of emerging economies were to take place sometime over the next three years, where would the crisis likely originate, how could it be transmitted to other economies, and which economies would be most affected by particular transmission or contagion mechanisms? A set of indicators is presented to gauge the vulnerability of individual emerging economies to various shocks, including a slowdown in import demand in both China and the United States, a fall in primary commodity prices, increased costs and lower availability of external financing, alternative patterns of exchange rate changes, and pressures operating on monetary and fiscal policies in emerging economies.
- Topic:
- Economics, Emerging Markets, Globalization, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- United States and China
150. Postponing Global Adjustment: An Analysis of the Pending Adjustment of Global Imbalances
- Author:
- Edwin M. Truman
- Publication Date:
- 07-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- Halving the US current account deficit as a share of GDP is likely to impose a burden of $2,350 per capita on the United States, which explains why US policymakers want to postpone adjustment. The rest of the world relies on the economic stimulus of a widening US external deficit, which explains why they are not eager to see global adjustment. The paper examines three scenarios of exchange rate adjustments, calls on the Federal Reserve to take more account of the external deficit in its words and policy actions, and familiarly notes the need for US fiscal adjustment as part of an efficient adjustment process. Complementary policies are required in the rest of the world. The paper discusses the pattern of recent international capital flows and proposes an international reserve diversification standard to remove some of the uncertainty about the management of foreign exchange reserves.
- Topic:
- Debt, Development, and Globalization
- Political Geography:
- United States