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1. Integration in the Global South: What Role for IBSA Dialogue Forum?

Author:
Mehmet Özkan
Publication Date:
01-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:
Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:
Recently we have seen that the middle-sized states are coming together in several forums. The WTO meetings and India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) dialogue forum are among those to be cited. Such groupings are mainly economy oriented and whether they will have political output needs to be seen, however, in the future if globalization goes in a similar way as today, we might see more groupings. Those groupings should be seen as reactions to unjust and exclusive globalization. The IBSA Dialogue Forum members have enhanced their relations economically by signing bilateral trade agreements and acting together on economic issues in global forums. If they can hold together, they are creating a market more than ¼ of global population and, if successful, it has a chance to be the engine of growth in the South. Moreover if they can create the biggest market in the South, they would also be influential in the being of the voice of the South. In that sense, this paper addresses the possible ways to develop relations between the IBSA members and economic development in the South, furthermore, implication of the IBSA on global governance and development can be as critical as its contribution to economic development, since the global governing bodies have legitimacy crisis.
Topic:
Cold War and Economics
Political Geography:
India, South Africa, and Brazil

2. (Dis) Integration and the Emergence of the State System in the Middle East

Author:
Imad El-Anis
Publication Date:
07-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:
Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:
The fall of the Ottoman Empire during World War One and the emergence of the modern state system in the Middle East have received significant attention in academic literature. However, the impacts that the proliferation of state borders in the 19th and 20th centuries have had on political and economic integration within the Middle East is often ignored. This study argues that between the mid-19th and mid- 20th centuries the region underwent significant structural changes. Furthermore, these changes were driven by external intervention and internal decline. A number of theoretical assumptions are posited concerning the importance on integration and cooperation of the following: the increase in borders and claims to sovereignty and the separation of peoples/markets. The conclusions drawn are that the change from a system characterised by large political actors and integrated markets to one which is characterised by smaller states and separated markets led to the disintegration of the region's internal relations.
Topic:
Economics and War
Political Geography:
Middle East

3. Export Trade Performance of Indian Economy during and Following the Global Financial Crisis

Author:
Dr. Sumanjeet Singh
Publication Date:
07-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:
Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:
Towards the end of 2008 the effects of global recession started getting reflected in international trade. The fall in global demand and the slowing-down in economic growth translated into a substantial reduction in international trade. It affected the cross-border trade of virtually all countries and economic sectors. Indian exports trade could not remain unaffected in a situation where external demand was dwindling globally. The present paper reviews India's export performance during and following the global financial crisis. Indian exports started to decline in July 2008. It declined from US$ 17,095 million in July 2008 to US$ 11,516 million in March 2009, which accounts for almost 33 per cent decline. This growth contraction has come after a robust 25 per cent-plus average export growth since 2003. But, as a result of government policy measures and recovery in global economy, India's exports growth turned positive and exports grew by a whopping 54.1 per cent in March 2010 and recorded the highest growth rate among the world's top 70 economies in merchandise exports. India's merchandise exports during April 2010 at US$ 16.9 billion recorded a growth of 36.3 per cent as compared with a decline of 32.8 per cent registered in April 2009. Exports witnessed huge annualized growth of 56.9 per cent to $25.9 billion in May 2011 in a bright spot for the Indian economy, which is battling high inflation amid signs of a slowdown.
Topic:
Economics, Government, and Financial Crisis
Political Geography:
India

4. Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism

Author:
Stan C. Weeber
Publication Date:
07-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:
Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:
This book appeared against the backdrop of a near meltdown in the U.S. economy and the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States. Because candidate Obama championed stimulus spending to repair the economy, there was anticipation that the release of Animal Spirits would coincide with a renewed enthusiasm for the economics of John Maynard Keynes inside 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Topic:
Economics
Political Geography:
United States

5. Shocked and Awed: How the War on Terror and Jihad have Changed the English Language

Author:
Emilian Kavalski
Publication Date:
07-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:
Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:
It is always difficult to comment on the work of an author who has passed away before its publication. The pervasive sense of finitude tends to draw attention to (as well as offer a glimpse into) some of the concerns and interests that must have preoccupied the author in his final days. What is particularly challenging is that the work under review is by no other than Fred Halliday – a scholar, commentator, and insatiably curious student of international affairs, whose research has left an indelible mark on the field. At the same time, Fred Halliday has been someone who has constantly strived to escape the straitjackets of mainstream paradigms. This was evident in his 2008 Burton Valedictory Lecture at the London School of Economics and Political Science before moving to take a research professorship at the Barcelona Institute for International Studies. Fred Halliday concluded his speech to the mesmerized audience by insisting that it is music (and, in particular, dance) that can provide the creative platforms for grasping the complexity of global life (or what he called at the time 'the suffering of passions in ideas and in life').
Topic:
Economics, Political Economy, and International Affairs

6. The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates

Author:
Michael Williams
Publication Date:
07-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:
Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:
In his book The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates, Peter T. Leeson uses economics to describe the seemingly bizarre and contradictory behaviour of 17th and 18th century pirates. In the epilogue, Leeson describes pirates as sadistic pacifists, womanizing homosexuals, treasure-lusting socialists and madmen who outwitted the authorities (though apparently not in the end…). The task of making all of those behaviours appear rational seems daunting, but through the skilful implementation of economic reasoning, Leeson does exactly that.
Topic:
Economics

7. The Faces of Terrorism: Social and Psychological Dimensions

Author:
Dylan Kissane
Publication Date:
07-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:
Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:
In the decade since the 9/11 terrorist attacks there have been countless books and articles published that have sought to explain Islamist terrorism and explore policy responses to terrorism from the Muslim world. A smaller sector of the literature has sought to place Islamist terror in its international political context, drawing parallels with terrorism in the Basque country, Northern Ireland and domestic groups in the United States. A smaller sector again seeks to explore not only to describe such terrorism and explore policy responses to it but also to dig deeper and uncover the motivations that drive terrorists and those that respond to acts of terrorism to. Such works are, by necessity, interdisciplinary, drawing, of course, on political science and international relations but also sociology, psychology, economics and public policy studies, among many other fields. This sub-segment of the much broader field of terrorism studies offers the reader a chance to understand all aspects of terrorism in a variety of contexts, from what motivates a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber in Sri Lanka to what explains Irish Republican Army tactics in the mainland United Kingdom, from how military power is used to counter sub-state terrorist elements to how those terrorist actors are recruited in the first place. Broader in its conception of the notion of terrorism and wise to the complexities that terrorism should engender in policy debates, books that fall into this sub-segment of the field are both the most challenging to read and, when well executed, the most rewarding for the scholar of international politics.
Topic:
Economics
Political Geography:
United States, United Kingdom, and Sri Lanka