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882. Learning from each other in North and South: Local Agenda 21 in Germany and the Republic of Korea
- Author:
- Petra Stephan
- Publication Date:
- 09-2000
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute for Development and Peace
- Abstract:
- This report is based on an international workshop which took place at the Institute of Development and Peace (INEF) in Duisburg/Germany in June 2000. A delegation of the Republic of Korea - including members of local communities and local governments, as well as NGO representatives – on a study trip to Germany - had been invited to exchange experiences and information about Local Agenda 21 processes in Germany and the Republic of Korea. The following papers reflect important issues which have been raised and discussed during the workshop.
- Topic:
- Economics and Globalization
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Israel, Germany, and Korea
883. Key Factors of Structural Change in North Rhine-Westphalia
- Author:
- Claudio Maggi
- Publication Date:
- 06-2000
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute for Development and Peace
- Abstract:
- Recent years have seen the re-emergence of industrial policies and policies for the promotion of economic activity in both industrialised and developing countries, flanked by regional and national strategies for enhanced integration into increasingly globalised international markets, improved competitiveness and sustainably dynamic economic growth. The growing popularity of these policies is also a reflection of recent currents in international economic debate, notably the argument that the recipes for stability staunchly championed by neo-liberals, which gave rise to the Washington Consensus in the early eighties, need to be complemented by more committed policies designed to strengthen international competitiveness.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Globalization, Government, and Industrial Policy
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Washington, and Westphalia
884. The WTO and its Institutional Future - Evaluating the Lessons of Seattle
- Author:
- Isabella Falautano
- Publication Date:
- 06-2000
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Istituto Affari Internazionali
- Abstract:
- There has been a lot of talk in the last months about the results of the third ministerial meeting of the WTO, held in Seattle from November 30th to December 3rd, 1999. In Seattle, the WTO was expected to adopt a proposal for the launching of a comprehensive new Round – the so-called Millennium Round – encompassing a broad and ambitious range of topics, from the more traditional challenges to the new trade issues. Instead, the meeting finished in a dramatic failure and the risk now is that the trading system of the twenty-first century will drift into a fog of uncertainty. One should point out that, at the end of the Uruguay Round a renegotiation was foreseen in the two key sectors of agriculture and services, the so-called "built-in" or progressive agenda. While the scenario for a global round, as I will try to clarify, is improbable to say the least in the short term, sectoral negotiations in agriculture and services will be starting in the year 2000. Nevertheless, the general context in which such negotiations are being launched, and in which the pro-Round coalition is trying to built consensus, is undoubtedly difficult.
- Topic:
- Globalization, International Organization, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- United States and Europe
885. The Saviour and Other Europes—Identity, Interests, and Geopolitical Images of Europe in Estonia
- Author:
- Pami Aalto
- Publication Date:
- 04-2000
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Studies Association
- Abstract:
- It is no secret that research on integration within the European Union (EU) is not any more limited to the traditional dispute between intergovernmentalism and neo-functionalism. The debate between these two branches of research is now joined by International Relations (IR) constructivism, comparative politics approaches, and approaches treating the EU as “new governance” (Christiansen et al. 1999: 537). The issue of EU enlargement, moreover, enforces us to enlarge the research agenda horizontally, too, in order to make EU integration comprehensible. One of the metaphors depicting this enlarged research agenda is the “Europe of concentric circles”, with Brussels and EU institutions as the centre (Joenniemi 1993: 209- 12). For Ola Tunander (1997: 32), the emerging perception in the EU centre is that it represents a “Cosmos” of order and peace. This “Cosmos” is surrounded by a concentric circle of less integrated EU members, then a circle of relatively stable states eager for joining the EU, an outer circle of states less prepared to do so, and finally, a periphery representing “Chaos”; a final frontier of Europe which is definitely not about to join the EU in the foreseeable future. Ole Wæver (1997), for his part, speaks of a “Europe of three empires”. The EU is the most important empire, but it is accompanied by the “empire of the Tsars” -- Russia and its sphere of interests -- and the “empire of the Ottomans” -- Turkey with its sphere of interests.
- Topic:
- Globalization, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Israel
886. Globalization and Its Impact Across Sectors
- Author:
- Gerald A. Hendrickson
- Publication Date:
- 03-2000
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Studies Association
- Abstract:
- Globalization is not a topic that immediately attracts the attention of most public administrators. However, understanding the implications of globalization for labor markets across economic sectors can affect the way public sector managers approach personnel planning. This paper attempts to enhance this understanding in three ways. It will carefully examine some of the issues around globalization, subject the ideas from the dominant perspectives to empirical testing and propose alternative hypotheses. In the end, the mission of this paper is to provide some insight into the kind of labor environment that public sector managers will encounter as their plans come to fruition in the future.
- Topic:
- Economics, Globalization, and International Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- United States
887. The Global Trend of Civil Politics: The World Handbook IV Project
- Author:
- J. Craig Jenkins, Zeynep Benderlioglu, and Charles Lewis Taylor
- Publication Date:
- 03-2000
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Studies Association
- Abstract:
- Contemporary discussions of global civil politics provide wildly different pictures of contemporary trends. Some see the end of the Cold War as unleashing a series of ethnic wars, geno/politicides, state breakdowns, rising criminality and a gradual descent into civil chaos (Rosenau 1990; Crevald 1991; Kaplan 2000). Others proclaim an "end of history" with the spread of democracy, capitalism, social peace and growing civility (Fukuyama 1991). Paralleling the latter, some have advanced a “social movement society” thesis (Meyer and Tarrow 1998) arguing that the globalization of civil society has internationalized social movements and protest, creating new transnational social movements and the creation of a truly global civil society. In contrast, others see a narrowing of the civil order with new mini-nationalisms, spreading ethnic intolerance and the rise of new civilizational struggles (Huntington 1996).
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, International Relations, Globalization, and Politics
888. Exploding the Value Chain: The Changing Nature of the Global Production Structure and Implications for International Political Economy
- Author:
- Thomas C. Lawton and Kevin P. Michaels
- Publication Date:
- 03-2000
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Studies Association
- Abstract:
- Contrary to recent critical thought, something has changed between the globalisation process of the late 19th and late 20th Centuries. There has been a fundamental change in what Strange (1988) defined as 'the production structure'. We begin this paper by examining Strange's notion of the production structure and its place in structural power. We then proceed to discuss the changing process of globalisation and the growth in intermediate products, deconstructing Michael Porter's value chain concept in the process. We argue that, in addition to developments in communications, the 'new globalism' is characterised in large part by changes in the production structure. These changes are facilitated by the advent of e-commerce. For governments to adapt to this new environment, they need to think in terms of how to gain or maintain comparative advantage in a particular part of the value chain.
- Topic:
- Globalization, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
889. Beyond the Basle Accord: Banking Regulation in a System of Multilevel Governance
- Author:
- Susanne Lutz
- Publication Date:
- 03-2000
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Studies Association
- Abstract:
- In the 1980s, international banking regulation was thought to exemplify a case of successful regime development. Negotiations at the international level produced a multilateral agreement that established a uniform standard of capital adequacy to safeguard against financial risks. In the following decade, however, a multilevel-model of regulation evolved that accorded greater significance to the cooperation between private and public actors and to the interplay between the international and national levels. In this article, I shall examine the reasons for the transition from the first model to the second. I will argue that the choice of any regulatory approach depends on the conflict situation at hand in which those responsible for regulation find themselves because of the nature of the problem that needs to be solved. Whereas in the 1980s, the problem was a conflict over distribution, which could be resolved through multilateral negotiation, actors today are confronted with more complex forms of financial risk resembling a ‚'game against nature', so to speak . In order to regulate these, actors have replaced negotiation by communication-based learning processes.
- Topic:
- Globalization, International Cooperation, and International Trade and Finance
890. Globalization: A Third Way Gospel that Travels World Wide
- Author:
- Martin Marcussen
- Publication Date:
- 03-2000
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Studies Association
- Abstract:
- By the end of the 90s, social democratic leaders world-wide have being referring to unspecified processes of globalization when undertaking unpopular domestic reforms of organizational structures and policies. Globalization is overall considered to be an irreversible process to which national politicians will have to adapt in order to avoid future crises. Thus, we can talk about a structural-determinist discourse, or a discourse which is traditionally applied in neo-liberal circles stating that there is no alternative'.
- Topic:
- Globalization, Government, International Organization, and International Political Economy