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7631. Caribbean Basin Economic Development and the Section 936 Tax Credit

Author:
Richard L. Bernal and Stephen E. Lamar
Publication Date:
12-1996
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The North-South Center, University of Miami
Abstract:
In 1986, as part of a major overhaul of the U.S. tax code, the U.S. Congress made a valuable source of private sector financing available for Caribbean economic development. Less than 10 years later, as part of a series of measures to balance the U.S. federal budget and enact a package of tax cuts for small businesses, the Congress approved legislation to terminate this source of funds for the Caribbean.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, Development, and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
United States and Caribbean

7632. The Politics of Free Trade in the Western Hemisphere

Author:
Manuel Pastor and Carol Wise
Publication Date:
08-1996
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The North-South Center, University of Miami
Abstract:
Just as the 1980s now stand out as the decade of the debt crisis in Latin America, the 1990s have become the free trade decade. After a number of failed attempts at trade liberalization during the 1970s, many states in the region now have made dramatic progress in their efforts to reduce tariffs and eliminate quantitative restrictions (QRs) (see Table 1). The strongest evidence of this new openness is reflected in Mexico's 1994 entry into the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the United States and Canada, the stated intention at the 1994 Summit of the Americas in Miami to develop a plan for the full expansion of hemispheric free trade, and the ongoing consolidation of such subregional trade pacts as South America's Southern Cone Common Market (MER - COSUR), including Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
Topic:
Development, Government, Industrial Policy, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States, Canada, Brazil, South America, Uruguay, Caribbean, North America, and Paraguay

7633. The Binational Center and U.S. Foreign Policy

Author:
Louis P. Falino
Publication Date:
06-1996
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The North-South Center, University of Miami
Abstract:
The binational center (BNC) has been one of the most successful elements in U.S. cultural programs overseas and, as such, has made important contributions to U.S. foreign policy. Through the historical study of binational centers, one sees that contemporary issues in cultural relations and public diplomacy have been dealt with on many occasions in the past, and they resurface according to the demands of the moment. This historical study of BNCs thus provides a way of reflecting upon and reconsidering perennial issues involving cultural programs and the effective conduct of U.S. foreign policy.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
United States

7634. The Era of Microsoft? Externalities, and the Seattle Factor in the US Software Industry

Author:
Edmund A. Egan
Publication Date:
01-1996
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy
Abstract:
Microsoft Corporation, the largest company in the US software industry, has been under anti-trust scrutiny from the Department of Justice for most of the 1990s. In 1995, its planned acquisition of Intuit, Inc. prompted a Silicon Valley law firm, on behalf of unnamed complainants, to submit a White Paper to the DOJ, on the subject of Microsoft's long-term strategy. The White Paper, relying on the theoretical concepts of network externalities and lock-in effects, argues that Microsoft will use Intuit's products to attain monopolistic positions in network operating systems, on-line services, and electronic commerce, and will eventually be in a position to affect the content transmitted over electronic networks.
Topic:
Industrial Policy and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

7635. The Journey to Democracy: 1986-1996

Author:
Robert A. Pastor
Publication Date:
01-1996
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Carter Center
Abstract:
In my travels throughout Latin America, I have always found the region's leaders eager to converse with American statesmen, but with few exceptions, they mostly had to content themselves with speaking to specialists like me. The kind of transnational dialogue that would permit hemispheric relations to rise to a higher level just did not exist. When President Carter asked if I would direct a new program at The Carter Center, my thoughts turned to the question of whether I could help form a group of senior statesmen from thoughts the hemisphere, who not only could consult with each other, but also work together to advance the ideals of human rights, democracy, social justice, and equitable development that lie at the core of the inter-American promise.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, Democratization, and Human Rights
Political Geography:
United States, South America, Latin America, Central America, and Caribbean

7636. Neo-conservatism: Some Theoretical and Terminological Clarifications

Author:
Jesus Velasco
Publication Date:
01-1996
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The classification of current political tendencies in the United States is sometimes confusing. Since the beginning of Ronald Reagan's first presidential campaign, American journalists and scholars have used indistinctly terms like right, conservatism, neoconservatism, ultraconservatism, extreme right, New Right, etc., to define the different political forces behind Reagan's ascent to the White House. This confusion is evident in the work of John Judis. He believes that Kevin Phillips (a conservative scholar), Paul Weyrich (a New Right activist), Irving Kristol (a neoconservative leader), and William Buckley (a traditional conservative), could all be embraced within the term "conservative" without considering any differences in their theoretical and political position.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Politics
Political Geography:
United States and America

7637. Structural Liberalism:The Nature and Sources of Postwar Western Political Order

Author:
G. John Ikenberry and Daniel Deudney
Publication Date:
05-1996
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Christopher H. Browne Center for International Politics, University of Pennsylvania
Abstract:
The end of the Cold War has triggered new debates about international relations theory. Most of the attention has been focused on explaining the end of the Cold War. Equally important, however, this epochal development raises new questions about the impact of forty years of East-West rivalry on the relations among the Western liberal democracies. This issue is not simply of passing historical interest because it bears on our expectations about the future trajectory of relations among the great powers in the West. Will the end of the Cold War lead to the decline of cooperative relations among the Western liberal democracies? Will major Western political institutions, such as NATO and the U.S.-Japanese alliance, fall apart? Will "semi-sovereign" Germany and Japan revert to traditional great power status? Will the United States return to its traditional isolationist posture? Our answers to these questions depend upon the sources of Western order: was the Cold War the primary cause of Western solidarity or does the West have a distinctive and robust political order that predated and paralleled the Cold War?
Topic:
International Relations, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:
United States, Japan, Europe, and Germany

7638. Discourse Analysis as Foreign Policy Theory

Author:
Ole Wæver
Publication Date:
11-1996
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC)
Abstract:
Where is Germany heading? So we have been asking ourselves since the wall fell. We had been reasonably calmed down: they were apparently not out for new adventures of their own. No Eastward going it alone -- neither in Eastern Europe, nor with the Russians. Nor any autonomous power politics. On the contrary, Germany has primarily made itself noticed in global politics through its continued restraint, from half-hearted support in the Gulf War to qualms over participation in UN operations.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Government
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, and Germany

7639. Policy Impact Panel on US Defense Priorities

Publication Date:
10-1995
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:
Dr. LESLIE GELB (President, Council on Foreign Relations): Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Leslie Gelb. I'm president of the Council on Foreign Relations, and I welcome you to our fourth, now, Policy Impact Panel, the idea being, take on a major public policy issue in foreign policy, national security policy, lay out the problems and issues and get a clear sense of the alternatives.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and Defense Policy
Political Geography:
United States

7640. Is Pandora's Box Half-Empty or Half-Full? The Limited Virulence of Secessionism and the Domestic Sources of Disintegration

Author:
Stephen M. Saideman
Publication Date:
11-1995
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC)
Abstract:
Is secession contagious? If so, can it be contained or quarantined to limit its spread? These two questions must be addressed to understand the challenges posed by ethnic divisions within and between states today. The end of ideological competition between the United States and the Soviet Union has not ushered in an era of global peace, but instead a period characterized by ethnic conflicts within many states. The coincidence of the disintegrations of the Soviet, Yugoslav, and Czechoslovak federations suggests that secession does spread with potentially nasty consequences.
Topic:
Security, Ethnic Conflict, Nationalism, Politics, and Sovereignty
Political Geography:
United States and Eastern Europe