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792. A Resurgent MERCOSUR: Confronting Economic Crises and Negotiating Trade Agreements
- Author:
- Thomas Andrew O'Keefe
- Publication Date:
- 02-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The North-South Center, University of Miami
- Abstract:
- Almost from the day it was launched on March 26, 1991, skeptics have predicted the imminent collapse of the Common Market of the South (Mercado Común del Sur — MERCOSUR), while some economists have fretted about the project's supposed protectionist designs to create a trade fortress. The most memorable example of the latter was a 1996 report written by a World Bank economist that relied on out-of-date trade statistics and attributed to MERCOSUR policies that were actually pre-existing national automotive regimes. More recent tirades have tried to blame Argentina's economic meltdown on its MERCOSUR membership. A well-known economist from a New York City investment bank has even gone as far as to proclaim MERCOSUR dead. Given all the invective directed against efforts to integrate South America's Southern Cone economically over the past decade, it is not surprising that MERCOSUR is misunderstood by many in North America.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- South America, Latin America, and North America
793. The Bombardier-Embraer Dispute and its Implications for Western Hemisphere Integration
- Author:
- Jonathan P. Doh
- Publication Date:
- 12-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- Government subsidies are a pervasive problem for international trade and economic development. Subsidies distort investment decisions, generally squander scarce public resources, skew public expenditures toward unproductive uses, unfairly discriminate against efficient industries and firms, and prompt wasteful overconsumption of some products over others. Despite efforts to limit subsidies through trade and investment policy disciplines, subsidization remains a constant on the global trade policy and international business landscape.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- South America, Latin America, Central America, Caribbean, and North America
794. Managing Canada-U.S. Relations in the Post 9-11 Era: Do We Need a Big Idea?
- Author:
- Donald Barry
- Publication Date:
- 11-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- The remarkable growth of Canadian-U.S. economic integration, combined with the security implications of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, have brought the management of Canada-U.S. relations into sharp focus. The most important challenge facing Canadian decisionmakers is how to respond to the new security environment while ensuring the uninterrupted flow of people and commerce across the 3, 989-mile common border. The dimensions of the challenge became apparent in the immediate aftermath of September 11 when the United States temporarily closed its borders in reaction to the attacks. Quick action by the Canadian government led to the “Smart Border Declaration” in December 2001, to secure the border while facilitating the flow of low-risk people and goods. Since then, Ottawa and Washington have been working to flesh out the principles contained in the declaration and to bolster other aspects of their cooperation.
- Topic:
- NATO and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- United States, Washington, Canada, and North America
795. Canada and the Future of Continental Defense - A View from Washington
- Author:
- Dwight N. Mason
- Publication Date:
- 09-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- The United States and Canada have had a long and successful defense relationship. This relationship is based on a shared understanding that North America is a single military theater and that each country has an obligation to the other for its defense. Over time this basic understanding had led to a steady expansion and deepening of our defense relationship and the creation of a number of institutional arrangements to manage it. One product of these arrangements has been a partnership style of continental defense management that has proved to be successful despite the disparities in resources and responsibilities and, sometimes, the policy differences between our two countries. This structure is now beginning to be threatened by the decline in the resources and capabilities of the Canadian Forces. Nevertheless, there are things that both countries separately and together could do to improve the situation.
- Topic:
- Defense Policy and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- United States, Washington, Canada, and North America
796. CERI: Municipalities in South Africa: A Shifting-Pole Autonomisation
- Author:
- Ivan Crouzel
- Publication Date:
- 04-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales
- Abstract:
- In South Africa, the transition negotiated in order to build a post-apartheid political order has brought about a deep-seated transformation of the state. A central issue of this radical reform had to do with the territorial arrangement of the new state. Constitutional negotiations resulted in a hybrid federal type of system that distinctly reinforced the power of local government, particularly to counterbalance that of the nine provinces. At the same time, a smoother form of intergovernmental relations was introduced with the concept of "cooperative government." In contrast to the centralized system that held sway under apartheid, local government has been strengthened by a new constitutional status, which in particular guarantees an "equitable share" of the national revenue. It also ensures that municipalities are represented nationally through intergovernmental structures involving the participation of local governments.
- Topic:
- Development, Government, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- Africa and South Africa
797. The Institutional Setting of the NAFTA Debate in the United States
- Author:
- Miguel Ángel Valverde
- Publication Date:
- 02-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
- Abstract:
- The objective of this paper is to analyze the institutional setting of the NAFTA debate in the United States, focusing on the interaction between the Presidency and Congress, in the formulation of foreign commercial policy. A series of arrangements have tamed confrontation between the Executive and Legislative powers, reconciling their institutional biases. THese arrangements channel and contain domestic demands for protectionism, favoring international trade liberalization negotiations.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- Africa, United States, Asia, and North America
798. Liberalizaci ó n Commercial y Reforma Burocr á tica en El Área de Tratados Comerciales Internacionales en México.
- Author:
- Jorge A. Schiavon and Antonio Ortiz Mena
- Publication Date:
- 02-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
- Abstract:
- The central trade policy priority of the last two administrations (Carlos Salinas de Gortari, 1988-1994, and Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León, 1994-2000) was the negotiation and the implementation of one very important and ambitious free trade agreement each, the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Mexico-European Union Free Trade Agreement respectively. This working paper explains how and why both administrations were able to successfully deal with the delegation problems that chief-executive principals face with their bureaucratic agents, through a series of institutional reforms. The main argument is that both Salinas and Zedillo had to deal with three specific agency problems: adverse selection, moral hazard, and incomplete enforcement, and that given the characteristics of the Mexican political system prevailing at that time, they were able to successfully solve these problems. These institutional reforms in the foreign economic policy should be understood as a response to agency problems, and not as a reflection of the personal governing style of Salinas and Zedillo.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Development, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- Africa and North America
799. ¿ Hacia Dónde va la Pol ìtica Exterior Japonesa? El Rearme y el Sistema de Partidos
- Author:
- Isami Romero
- Publication Date:
- 02-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
- Abstract:
- The central purpose of this article is to analyze the impact of the Japanese party system on the rearmament rhetoric in the 90's. based on a theoretical model which incorporates regional factors as well as domestic variables, the author argues that the rise of the rearmament rhetoric in Japan is a result of changes in the regional context of the country and the prominence of Conservatoriums in the domestic political arena. The author also presents a brief recount of Japanese political history since the Second World War. This article provides a general framework for the study of the impact of the party system on foreign policy making, and contributes to the present debate on the need to incorporate domestic variables to the study of international events.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Japan, Israel, East Asia, and Mexico
800. Sudan: Towards an Incomplete Peace
- Publication Date:
- 12-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- With the signing on 25 September 2003 of a framework agreement on security arrangements, the Sudanese government and the insurgent Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLA) are closer to peace than at any time in the past twenty years. However, considerable hurdles remain before any final deal is signed, and a separate, intensifying war in the west already threatens to undermine it. As the parties press forward with the last phases of negotiation, the international community's engagement should intensify in support of the final deal, in preparation for helping with implementation if successful, and in ensuring coordination between the main peace process and the conflict in the west.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Security, Ethnic Conflict, Treaties and Agreements, and United Nations
- Political Geography:
- South Asia, Sudan, and North Africa