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3011. President Bush's Muddled Policy on Taiwan

Author:
Ted Galen Carpenter
Publication Date:
03-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
The Bush administration has gone from one extreme to the other with regard to U.S. policy on Taiwan. During the early months of his administration, the president gave a seemingly unconditional pledge to defend Taiwan from attack by mainland China—going significantly further than his predecessors had. He followed that assurance by approving the largest arms sales package to Taiwan in nearly a decade. In marked contrast to the Clinton years, high-profile visits by Taiwanese leaders to the United States have been encouraged, despite Beijing's protests.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Development, and Politics
Political Geography:
United States, China, and Asia

3012. The Role of Health in the Fight against International Poverty

Author:
Lael Brainard
Publication Date:
04-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
The end of the Cold War and disillusionment with aid's many failures led to widespread aid fatigue among donors during the 1990s. Total official development assistance (ODA) as a share of donor GDP fell by one third over the decade (from 0.32 to 0.22 percent). This was particularly pronounced in the United States, where a slash-and-burn approach reduced foreign economic assistance to just over one half of 1 percent of budget outlays, compared with over 3 percent at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. And U.S. per capita spending fell to last place among donor nations, ending the decade at $29, far below the average of $70.
Topic:
Development, Human Welfare, International Organization, and Poverty
Political Geography:
United States and Cuba

3013. Andes 2020: A New Strategy for the Challenges of Colombia and the Region

Author:
Daniel W. Christman, John G. Heimann, and Julia E. Sweig
Publication Date:
01-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:
The democracies of the Andean region—Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia—are at risk. The problems that characterize other developing regions—including political instability, economic stagnancy, widening inequality, and social divisions along class, color, ethnic, ideological, and urban-rural fault lines—are all present in the Andes. Most important is the region's physical insecurity, due in some countries to ongoing or resurgent violent conflict, and in every country to the lack of state control over significant territory and to porous borders that enable the easy movement of drugs, arms, and conflict. Equally sobering, expectations for strong democracy and economic prosperity in the Andes remain unrealized. Recognizing its interests in the Andes, the United States over the past two decades has spent billions of dollars and significant manpower to stem the flow of illegal drugs from the region northward; to assist local security forces in the fight against drugs, terror, and insurgency; and to promote free markets, human rights, and democratic consolidation. Yet the region remains on the brink of collapse, an outcome that would pose a serious threat to the U.S. goal of achieving democracy, prosperity, and security in the hemisphere.
Topic:
Democratization, Development, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
United States, Colombia, South America, Latin America, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia

3014. Are the Balance of Payments Deficits in the Baltic Countries Sustainable?

Author:
Jorgen Drud Hansen and Morten Hansen
Publication Date:
07-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
For almost a decade all three Baltic countries have witnessed substantial deficits on the current accounts of the balance of payments. This paper discusses whether this situation should be a matter of concern. Recent literature on the sustainability of balance of payments deficits is reviewed and put into a Baltic context. The main conclusion is that the recurrent large deficits in the Baltic countries pose a risk for the fixed exchange-rate policies until the countries adopt the euro. In the longer term, large deficits will influence the time path of convergence of living standards between the Baltic countries and the EU as a whole.
Topic:
Development and Economics
Political Geography:
Europe and Eastern Europe

3015. From Peace Making to Self Sustaining Peace - International Presence in South East Europe at a Crossroads -- 8th Workshop of the Study Group Regional Stability in South East Europe

Author:
Frederic Labarre and Predrag Jureković
Publication Date:
05-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Austrian National Defence Academy
Abstract:
The fall of Communism in Europe, and the end of the bi-polar order put an end to the artificial and forced separation which had been keeping Hungary out of the mainstream of European development for the last 40-plus years. Once that obstacle was removed, a consensus was reached by all Hungarian political parties to become a modern European country in the quickest possible way and with the least sacrifice and develop an economy and culture, social and political structure bases on solid grounds by becoming part of the European and Euro-Atlantic co-operative institutions.
Topic:
NATO, Democratization, Development, International Cooperation, and International Security
Political Geography:
Europe, Balkans, and Hungary

3016. Perspectives on Urban Poverty in Latin America

Author:
Craig Fagan
Publication Date:
02-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
Urban issues and poverty in Latin America are an integral part of any policy debate on the region. With nearly 90% of its diverse population and 50% of its poor residing in cities, effective and efficient solutions to the problems of poverty are imperative to respond to the increasing demographic and economic pressures placed on Latin America's limited social resources.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, and Poverty
Political Geography:
South America and Latin America

3017. The Role of the Central Public Market in a Twenty-first Century Metropolis

Author:
Maria Elena Ducci
Publication Date:
02-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
This paper is designed to provoke discussion on the pros and cons of maintaining a public market in the center of a city such as Santiago, a metropolis of over 5 million inhabitants with serious air pollution and traffic problems.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, Economics, and Markets

3018. Making Doha a Developmental Round: What do the Developing Countries Want?

Author:
William Krist
Publication Date:
01-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
This report was prepared by William Krist, a Senior Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center's Environmental Change and Security Project (ECSP). Mr. Krist is working on issues relating to trade and sustainable development. Before becoming a Woodrow Wilson scholar, Mr. Krist was senior vice president at the American Electronics Association, and prior to that, he had been Assistant Trade Representative for Industry in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. He has an MA in economics from George Washington University, and a BA from Swarthmore College.The Environmental Change and Security Project (ECSP) has been committed to exploration of the connections between environment, population and security since 1994. Through its meetings, its publications, its comprehensive Web site, and the original research carried out by its staff and scholars, ECSP serves as an information clearinghouse. ECSP is directed by Geoffrey D. Dabelko and is housed in the Wilson Center's Division of International Studies, headed by Robert S. Litwak.
Topic:
Agriculture, Development, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Third World
Political Geography:
United States

3019. State Development Planning: Did it Create an East Asian Miracle?

Author:
Benjamen Powell
Publication Date:
09-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Independent Institute
Abstract:
East Asian countries have recorded large increases in per capita GDP over the last fifty years. Some observers have referred to this growth as an “East Asian Miracle.” One popular explanation attributes the rapid growth to state led industrial development planning. This paper critically assesses the arguments surrounding state development planning and East Asia's growth. Whether the state can acquire the knowledge necessary to calculate which industries it should promote and how state development planning can deal with political incentive problems faced by planners are both examined. When we look at the development record of East Asian countries we find that to the extent development planning did exist, it could not calculate which industries would promote development, so it instead promoted industrialization. We also find that what rapid growth in living standards did occur can be better explained by free markets than state planning because, as measured in economic freedom indexes, these countries were some of the most free market in the world.
Topic:
Development, Industrial Policy, and Politics
Political Geography:
Israel and East Asia

3020. Institutional Foundations of Economic Freedom: A time-series cross-section analysis

Author:
Xavier de Vanssay, Vincent Hildebrand, and Zane A. Spindler
Publication Date:
05-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Independent Institute
Abstract:
Using time-series cross-section analysis, we provide additional empirical validation for the principal-agent model developed by Adserà, et al. (2003). In our innovation, efficient economic policy is proxied by “economic freedom” from the Fraser Institute database and “political institutions” are proxied by variables from the Database of Political Institutions. Our results suggest that the more credible the threat of removal from office, the more government officials will pursue efficient economic policies.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Government, and Political Economy