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4371. Economic survey of Korea, 2004

Publication Date:
06-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:
Korea has been one of the fastest growing economies in the OECD area over the past five years, with an annual growth rate of about 6 per cent. Such rapid growth, which has lifted per capita income to two-thirds of the OECD average, reflects Korea's underlying dynamism and its progress in implementing a wide-ranging reform programme in the wake of the 1997 crisis. However, the recession in 2003 – which was due in part to structural problems in the labour market and in the corporate and financial sectors – indicates that the reform agenda is unfinished. Sustaining rapid growth over the medium term as the contribution from inputs of labour and capital slows requires further progress in structural reform, particularly in the labour market and in the corporate and financial sectors, accompanied by appropriate macroeconomic policies.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:
Asia and Korea

4372. Competition Law and Policy in Mexico

Publication Date:
06-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:
Mexico's competition policy was introduced as part of a decade-long reform initiative, begun in the mid-1980s, to end central government control and protection of domestic economic activity and to develop instead a market-based economy. A key element in the government's economic reform was the adoption, in 1993, of the Federal Law of Economic Competition (LFCE), and creation of the Federal Competition Commission (CFC) to enforce it.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:
North America and Mexico

4373. The Just War Concept: From Antiquity to Present

Author:
Fulya A. Ereker
Publication Date:
09-2004
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
When taken as an aspect of "thinking on war", the concept of "just war" can be defined to include the ideas and practices that demonstrate when it could be justifiable to conduct a "war" and that aim at limiting the use of force even when it is deemed a just war. The concept of just war is a product of various cultural sources that have developed for centuries especially in the Western world. This study examines the historical development of the concept of "just war" and attempts to demonstrate the place that the tradition reached today. With this purpose in mind, the study, first of all, tries to explain the terms of "jus ad bellum" and "jus in bello" that together draw the conceptual framework of the theory of war and at the same time constitute the two different dimensions of the theory. Historical development of the concept is examined in sequential phrases that correspond to philosophical contributions to the tradition. The classification is based on the historical development of the West, because the concept itself is an element of the Western culture and tradition.
Topic:
Development, War, and Culture

4374. Globalization, Western Modernization and Terrorism: Political Islam Against the West

Author:
Rasim Özgür Dönmez
Publication Date:
12-2004
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
The aim of the article is to evaluate the relationship between globalization, modernity and violence in the context of the antagonistic relationship between political Islam and the West. To put it more succinctly, this study seeks an answer for the question "why and how do globalization and modernity breed global political violence?" It tries to answer this question by means of evaluating the formation, the development and the transformation process of political Islam by considering and examining the role of the West, modernity and the changing political, economic and psychological conditions stemming from globalization. In this framework, this study consists of two sections. The first section evaluates the effects of globalization and modernity on the formation of political violence. The second section explains and examines the relationship between globalization, modernity, violence and political Islam.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Globalization, Islam, and Terrorism

4375. The Unique Evolution of the State in the Turkic Republics of the Caspian Sea

Author:
Mert Bilgin
Publication Date:
12-2004
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
Post-Soviet countries are either passing through a transition period, or have already completed it, as an outcome of the neoliberal pressures of international actors. The attempts have focused on reconstruction of the state because of its being conceived as an impediment in front of political and economic liberalization. The states of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan resemble other transition economies in the sense that they share a similar Soviet legacy. Nevertheless, they deviate from the rest by the virtue of natural resources which endow the state the ability to re-produce itself. The state of Azerbaijan has liberated itself from the society by using the natural resource rents, which in turn outmode taxation as an instrument of revenue. Despite Kazakhstan's discernible progress in launching economic reforms, the state has politically kept its solid structure. The Kazakh state has preferred to allocate the natural gas revenues for economic transformation with no political liberalization. Under an autocratic regime, the Turkmen state has strengthened its positioning vis-à-vis the society with no economic and political transformation.
Topic:
Communism, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:
Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Soviet Union, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan

4376. Development Policy: An Introduction for Students

Author:
Tony Addison
Publication Date:
10-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
This paper discusses development policy objectives, noting how these have changed over the years, with a more explicit focus on poverty reduction coming recently to the fore. It also examines the relationship between economic growth and poverty reduction. The paper then discusses how to achieve economic growth, starting with the caveat that growth must be environmentally sustainable, and moves on to the big question of the respective roles for the market mechanism and the state in allocating society's productive resources. The paper next discusses how economic reform has been implemented, and the political difficulties that arise. It concludes that getting development policy right has the potential to lift millions out of poverty.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:
United States

4377. Social Groups and Economic Poverty: A Problem in Measurement

Author:
S. Subramanian
Publication Date:
09-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
This paper points to some elementary conflicts between the claims of interpersonal and intergroup justice as they manifest themselves in the process of seeking a real-valued index of poverty which is required to satisfy certain seemingly desirable properties. It indicates how 'group—sensitive' poverty measures, similar to the Anand-Sen (1995) 'Gender Adjusted Human Development Index' and the Subramanian-Majumdar (2002) 'Group-Disparity Adjusted Deprivation Index', may be constructed. Some properties of a specific 'group-sensitive' poverty index are appraised, and the advantage of having a 'flexible' measure which is capable of effecting a tradeoff between the claims of interpersonal and inter-group equality is spelt out. The implications of directly incorporating group disparities into the measurement of poverty for poverty comparisons and anti-poverty policy are also discussed.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Human Welfare, Poverty, and International Affairs

4378. Do Structural Reforms always Succeed? Lessons from Brazil

Author:
Jorge Saba Arbache
Publication Date:
09-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
In the last twenty years, Brazil has undergone several attempts of improving sustainable growth through stabilization programmes, and more recently, structural reforms in line with the Washington Consensus Agenda. The results, however, have been disappointing, as the per capita output growth has remained below its historic trend, and poverty and inequality remain at high levels. This paper investigates why marketoriented reforms such as trade and capital account liberalization, privatization, deregulation and stabilization failed to boost growth in Brazil. We conclude that structural reforms may contribute to growth if accompanied by microeconomic policies tailor-made to address the country's needs, and by appropriate macroeconomic, institutional and political environments.
Topic:
Development, Human Welfare, and Political Economy
Political Geography:
Washington, Brazil, and Latin America

4379. Participatory Approaches and the Measurement of Human Well-being

Author:
Sarah White and Jethro Pettit
Publication Date:
08-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
This paper considers the use of participatory methods in international development research, and asks what contribution these can make to the definition and measurement of well-being. It draws on general lessons arising from the project level, two larger-scale policy research processes sponsored by the World Bank, and the experience of quality of life studies. It also considers emerging experiments with using participatory methods to generate quantitative data. The paper closes by assessing the future trajectory of participatory approaches in well-being research, and reflects on some dilemmas regarding the use of participatory data on well-being in the policymaking process.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Human Welfare, and International Cooperation

4380. Divergent Means and Convergent Inequality of Incomes among the Provinces and Cities of Urban China

Author:
John Knight, Li Shi, and Zhao Renwei
Publication Date:
08-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
Two precisely comparable national household surveys relating to 1988 and 1995 are used to analyse changes in the inequality of income in urban China. Over those seven years province mean income per capita grew rapidly but diverged across provinces, whereas intra-province income inequality grew rapidly but converged across provinces. The reasons for these trends are explored by means of various forms of decomposition analysis. Comparisons are also made between the coastal provinces and the inland provinces. The decompositions show the central role of wages, and within wages profitrelated bonuses, together with the immobility of labour across provinces, in explaining mean income divergence. The timing of economic reforms helps to explain the convergence of intra-province income inequality. Policy conclusions are drawn.
Topic:
Demographics, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:
China and Asia