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761. NATO and the challenge of non-lethal weapons

Author:
Cees M. Coops
Publication Date:
09-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
NATO Defense College
Abstract:
The capability to apply lethal force manu militari has always been a hallmark of the military, as an instrument in the hands of their political masters to further the interests of the state. Driven by technological innovation, the means to apply lethal force and large scale destruction have been expanded tremendously over the centuries, to the extent that nation states decided that it was in their common interest to curtail or prohibit their use outright, but lethality remained as a qualifying factor. It is not surprising, therefore, that the phenomenon of Non- Lethal Weapons (NLW) was virtually non-existent during the Cold War.
Topic:
Political Violence, NATO, Science and Technology, War, and Weapons of Mass Destruction

762. Civic Engagement on the Move

Author:
J.D. Lasica
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
Conventional wisdom holds that the growing influence of mobile media has contributed to the steady dissolution of society's civic bonds. The creeping sense of disengagement was documented recently in a Duke University study that found we are feeling far more socially isolated today than we were two decades ago. The more we hunker down by checking stocks and scores on our iPhones, sharing our photos on Flickr and jabbering into our Razr phones, the less likely we are to hold a conversation with a stranger, volunteer at a homeless shelter or join a political cause. Or so the argument goes.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, Demographics, Politics, and Science and Technology

763. Leading Without Followers: the Political Economy of Japan's ICT Sector

Author:
Kenji E. Kushida
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy
Abstract:
Despite global leadership by Japanese firms in sectors such as automobiles, precision equipment, and various high tech components, Japanese firms in the ICT sector have followed a persistent pattern of leading without followers. While leading the domestic market to ever-high levels of sophistication, sometimes beyond that of most other advanced industrial countries, Japanese ICT companies have retreated dramatically from international markets. Moreover, in technology after technology, Japanese ICT firms invest heavily, undertake extensive R, and for network technologies, deploy infrastructure rapidly, only to find that global technological trajectories shift in a different direction. While globally successful Japanese industries were able to use their domestic market as a springboard into international markets, Japan's ICT sector became decoupled from global markets, trapping Japanese firms in the domestic market.
Topic:
International Trade and Finance and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Japan, Israel, and Asia

764. Does Digital Divide or Provide? The Impact of Cell Phones on Grain Markets in Niger

Author:
Jenny C. Aker
Publication Date:
10-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
Due partly to costly information, price dispersion across markets is common in developed and developing countries. Between 2001 and 2006, cell phone service was phased in throughout Niger, providing an alternative and cheaper search technology to grain traders and other market actors. Weconstruct a novel theoretical model of sequential search, in which traders engage in optimal search for the maximum sales price, net transport costs. The model predicts that cell phones will increase traders' reservation sales prices and the number of markets over which they search, leading to a reduction in price dispersion across markets. To test the predictions of the theoretical model, we use a unique market and trader dataset from Niger that combines data on prices, transport costs, rainfall and grain production with cell phone access and trader behavior. We first exploit the quasi-experimental nature of cell phone coverage to estimate the impact of the introduction of information technology on market performance. The results provide evidence that cell phones reduce grain price dispersion across markets by a minimum of 6.4 percent and reduce intra-annual price variation by 12 percent. Cell phones have a greater impact on price dispersion for market pairs that are farther away, and for those with lower road quality. This effect becomes larger as a higher percentage of markets have cell phone coverage. We provide empirical evidence in support of specific mechanisms that partially explain the impact of cell phones on market performance. Robustness checks suggest that the results are not driven by selection on unobservables, nor are they solely a result of general equilibrium effects. Calculations of the four-firm concentration index suggest that the grain market structure is competitive, so the observed reductions in price dispersion are not due to greater market collusion. The primary mechanism by which cell phones affect market-level outcomes appears to be a reduction in search costs, as grain traders operating in markets with cell phone coverage search over a greater number of markets and sell in more markets. The results suggest that cell phones improved consumer and trader welfare in Niger.
Topic:
Agriculture, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Africa and Nigeria

765. Desert Power: The Economics of Solar Thermal Electricity for Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East

Author:
David Wheeler and Kevin Ummel
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
A climate crisis is inevitable unless developing countries limit carbon emissions from the power sector in the near future. This will happen only if the costs of lowcarbon power production become competitive with fossil fuel power. We focus on a leading candidate for investment: solar thermal or concentrating solar power (CSP), a commercially available technology that uses direct sunlight and mirrors to boil water and drive conventional steam turbines. Solar thermal power production in North Africa and the Middle East could provide enough power to Europe to meet the needs of 35 million people by 2020.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Europe, Middle East, and North Africa

766. Countering Violent Extremism: Videopower and Cyberspace

Author:
J. Rami Mroz
Publication Date:
02-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
EastWest Institute
Abstract:
The development of global communications technology, in this case digitial video and cyberspace, has diminished the importance of geographic proximity for violent extremists. It is now possible for them to communicate instantly with supporters (or potential supporters) in nearly all parts of the world. Violent extremists are limited far more by their access, or their supporter's access to, technology than by geography. The characteristics of the Internet, its potential anonymity, however temporary, and its high speed, create problems in developing counter-strategies. Violent extremists use these mediums in very similar ways regardless of culture, beliefs, ethnicity, or socio-economic status.
Topic:
Security, Political Violence, Science and Technology, and Terrorism

767. The Commission's New Border Package: Does it take us one step closer to a 'cyber-fortress Europe'?

Author:
Florian Geyer, Sergio Carrera, and Elspeth Guild
Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
The European Commission presented a new 'Border Package' on 13 February 2008, setting out its vision of how to foster the further management of the EU's external border. Billed in a Commission press release as a “comprehensive vision for an integrated European border management system for the 21st century”, one of the key elements of this package is a Communication aimed at establishing an EU entry/exit system registering the movement of specific categories of third country nationals at the external borders of the EU. This Communication furthermore recommends the setting up of an Automated Border Control System enabling the automated verification of a traveller's identity (for both citizens and non-EU citizens alike), based on biometric technology as well as an Electronic Travel Authorisation System – abbreviated to ETA – which would oblige non- EU travellers to provide personal data for a pre-departure online check.
Topic:
Security and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Europe

768. Overcoming the Challenges to the Implementation of Green Chemistry

Author:
William C. Clark, Kira J. M. Matus, Paul T. Anastas, and Kai Itameri-Kinter
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
The Harvard-Yale-ACS GCI Green Chemistry Project is investigating the overall question of the circumstances under which firms can enact innovations that have both economic and environmental benefits, through a focused examination of the implementation of green chemistry. The research project has taken up three fundamental, interrelated questions: What factors act as barriers to the implementation of green chemistry? What actions can be taken by the government, academia, NGO's and industry that will help alleviate these factors? What are the policy implications of these barriers and potential actions, for all of the involved stakeholders?
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

769. Who Buys Whom in International Oligopolies with FDI and Technology Transfer?

Author:
Leo A. Grünfeld and Francesca Sanna-Randaccio
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
Under what conditions will a technology leader from a small country acquire a laggard from a large country, and vice versa? We answer this question with a two-firm two-country Cournot model, where firms enter new markets via greenfield FDI or acquisition. The model takes into account both technological and market size asymmetries, and allows for M transaction costs, like corporate finance and legal fees. We show that to be the acquirer, a firm from a small country needs not only a strong technological lead but also the ability to exploit it on a global scale, which requires low international technology transfer costs. Moreover, we find that a multilateral greenfield investment liberalization may actually increase the incentives for foreign acquisitions. The effect of such liberalization on the nationality of the acquirer depends largely on the extent of the technology gap.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Science and Technology

770. The Durable Internet: Preserving Network Neutrality without Regulation

Author:
Timothy B. Lee
Publication Date:
11-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
An important reason for the Internet's remarkable growth over the last quarter century is the “end-to-end” principle that networks should confine themselves to transmitting generic packets without worrying about their contents. Not only has this made deployment of Internet infrastructure cheap and efficient, but it has created fertile ground for entrepreneurship. On a network that respects the end-to-end principle, prior approval from network owners is not needed to launch new applications, services, or content.
Topic:
Government and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States