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6682. China's Defense Electronics Industry: Innovation, Adaptation, and Espionage
- Author:
- James Mulvenon and Matthew Luce
- Publication Date:
- 09-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC)
- Abstract:
- Contrary to popular perceptions of China as either "technology thief" or "technology superpower," the success of the Chinese defense electronics sector can be attributed to a combination of indigenous innovation, adaptation of foreign technology, and large-scale technology espionage. Advanced defense electronics components and systems play a key role in this revolution in military capability, making it imperative to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the Chinese defense electronics industry and their implications for U.S. interests in the region.
- Topic:
- Economics, Science and Technology, and Military Strategy
- Political Geography:
- United States, China, and Asia
6683. The Changing Dynamics Behind China's Rise as a Military Technological Power
- Author:
- Tai Ming Cheung
- Publication Date:
- 12-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC)
- Abstract:
- The Minerva project on "The Evolving Relationship Between Technology and National Security in China" held a two-day workshop on the "Military and Geo-Strategic Implications of China's Rise as a Global Technological Power" in Washington, D.C., in November 2010. Presentations were given by academic experts Susan Shirk, Barry Naughton, Tai Ming Cheung and David Meyer (all from UC San Diego), Alice Miller (Stanford University), Bates Gill (Stockholm Peace Research Institute), and Thomas Mahnken (Naval War College). This brief provides a summary of the workshop findings.
- Topic:
- International Political Economy, Science and Technology, and Military Strategy
- Political Geography:
- China, Washington, and Asia
6684. The Slow Death of Japanese Techno-Nationalism? Comparative Lessons for China's Future Defense Production
- Author:
- Christopher W. Hughes
- Publication Date:
- 09-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC)
- Abstract:
- Japan's defense production model is often seen as a successful exemplar of "techno-nationalism," especially in the integration of the civilian and military sectors. Hence, Japan's model has been considered as offering possible lessons for China to emulate in the reform of its own defense industry. But Japan's defense production model, despite arguable past successes, is now experiencing what is often referred to by Japanese policymakers and industrialists as a "slow death" as its structural development limitations have been increasingly revealed over the past two decades. Japan's defense production model is encountering three major structural limitations: 1. Stagnation in defense budgets and long-term military demand.2. Flawed and failing procurement practices.3. Obstacles to expanded and more diverse international collaboration.
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, Science and Technology, and Military Strategy
- Political Geography:
- Japan, China, and Asia
6685. Spin-On for the Renaissance? The Current State of China's Nuclear Industry
- Author:
- Jing-dong Yuan
- Publication Date:
- 09-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC)
- Abstract:
- China's nuclear industry has undergone rapid growth in recent years and is projected to further expand in the coming decades. Accounting for almost 40 percent of all nuclear reactors either under construction or that have been approved globally, the expansion of China's nuclear capacities has largely been driven by increasing demands for energy to support continued economic growth. Constraints include human resources, fuel supply, and the extent to which China can develop indigenous nuclear power capacities. The role of civil-military integration in this industry is yet to be determined partly as a result of the deliberate decision by Beijing to keep its nuclear weapons segment separate from its civilian operations.
- Topic:
- Economics, Nuclear Weapons, and Nuclear Power
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
6686. Defense Innovation and Industrialization in South Korea
- Author:
- Chung-in Moon and Jae-Ok Paek
- Publication Date:
- 09-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC)
- Abstract:
- South Korea's defense industrial transformation has been impressive by any standard. It was able to satisfy most of its basic weapons needs within a decade after launching its defense industry. Since the late 1990s, South Korea has been elevated from a third-tier arms producer to the second tier by moving from the stage of imitation and assembly to that of creative imitation and indigenization. It now competes with major arms-supplying countries. In addition, the South Korean defense industry has made remarkable progress in RMA-related areas mostly involving command, control, communication, intelligence, reconnaissance, and surveillance. In this policy brief, we first assess South Korea's defense industrial performance by examining the patterns of defense acquisition, rate of localization of defense materiel, and defense exports. We then briefly analyze the evolutionary dynamics of defense industrial upgrades in selected sectors by tracing the stages of innovation. We also delineate a set of institutional and policy arrangements that have contributed to this impressive transformation.
- Topic:
- Security, Defense Policy, Arms Control and Proliferation, and Economics
- Political Geography:
- Asia and South Korea
6687. The Current State of European Union-China High-Tech Cooperation
- Author:
- May-Britt U. Stumbaum and Oliver Bräuner
- Publication Date:
- 09-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC)
- Abstract:
- In line with the European policy of supporting China\'s economic reform and development, research institutes and companies in the European Union (EU) have been the major sources for high-technology exports to the People\'s Republic of China in the past thirty years. Dual-use technologies ranging from aerospace to semiconductors play a central role for economic development as well as for modern military development, including network-centric warfare. Yet a comprehensive EU paradigm on China\'s military rise and the impact of these technology transfers has not evolved. The EU–China "strategic partnership" is still dominated by economic considerations. Lack of coordination between the national and the European level contribute to the risks accompanying EU–China collaboration in this field. The differences between EU and U.S. perceptions of China\'s military rise provide potential for further Transatlantic discord, as happened during the acrimonious debate on the intended lifting of the EU arms embargo on China in 2004–2005.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Cooperation, Science and Technology, and Military Strategy
- Political Geography:
- China, Europe, and Asia
6688. Human Rights Standards for Targeted Sanctions
- Author:
- David Cortright and Erika de Wet
- Publication Date:
- 01-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Fourth Freedom Forum
- Abstract:
- Support for human rights principles is essential for sustaining political support for the fight against global terrorism. Nothing erodes support for antiterrorism measures more than the perception that such programs are eroding basic individual freedoms. Disregard for the rule of law and an overreliance on repressive measures alienates many of the social groups and political constituencies whose cooperation is needed in the collective struggle against terrorism.
- Topic:
- Human Rights, Terrorism, Sanctions, and Rule of Law
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
6689. Averting Crisis on the Mekong River
- Author:
- Prashanth Parameswaran
- Publication Date:
- 07-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Project 2049 Institute
- Abstract:
- The Mekong River faces challenges from hydropower, demographic and development pressures to climate change that threaten to alter the river. These trends have the potential to trigger a serious crisis characterized by water shortages, forced migration, food insecurity, and prolonged floods and droughts. Concerted efforts will be necessary to avert serious crisis along the Mekong.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Demographics, Development, Energy Policy, Migration, and Food Security
- Political Geography:
- Cambodia, Laos, and Mekong River
6690. Capacity-Building Through Policymaking: Developing Afghanistan’s National Education Strategic Plan
- Author:
- Dana Holland
- Publication Date:
- 10-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU)
- Abstract:
- This briefing paper examines the capacity-building and policymaking nexus through an examination of the National Education Strategic Plan and its revision. It finds that while clear strides have been made in developing the capacity of the Ministry of Education to plan for itself, building all the necessary capacities across such a large and dispersed organisation is a daunting and complex task.
- Topic:
- Security, Education, Governance, and Bureaucracy
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and Middle East
6691. Poverty in Afghan Policy: Enhancing Solutions through Better Defining the Problem
- Author:
- Paula Kantor and Adam Pain
- Publication Date:
- 11-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU)
- Abstract:
- Over the past few years, Afghan policymakers have put aside strategies encouraging pro-poor growth in favour of solutions that focus on expanding GDP. In addition, existing solutions to poverty are becoming increasingly technically-oriented and fail to take local social realities and power structures into account. This briefing paper calls for policymakers and programmers to refocus on poverty and its social causes as a way to ensure that efforts to improve the lives of rural Afghans meet with lasting success.
- Topic:
- Poverty, Inequality, Economic Growth, and Rural
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and Middle East
6692. The Wolesi Jirga in Flux, 2010: Elections and Instability I
- Author:
- Anna Larson
- Publication Date:
- 09-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU)
- Abstract:
- This paper critically analyses the effects of elections in the current context of 2010, with a specific focus on the Wolesi Jirga, its members and new candidates. It is part of a series on elections in 2009-10. It draws on extensive research compiling over 200 interviews conducted with MPs, their constituents and new candidates, both at the centre in Kabul and in two case study provinces of Balkh and Paktia. It also exists as a parallel study to another discussion paper in the series, written on elections and instability with a focus on constituent perspectives at the local level.
- Topic:
- Elections, Democracy, Local, and Parliamentarism
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and Middle East
6693. Afghan Election 2010: Alternative Narratives
- Author:
- Noah Coburn
- Publication Date:
- 09-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU)
- Abstract:
- Released shortly before the 2010 parliamentary election, this brief examined the undiscussed stories surrounding the vote. It argued that while the media focused on fraud and insecurity, there were other significant narratives being missed by the coverage preceding the polls.
- Topic:
- Corruption, Elections, Democracy, Rigged Elections, and Parliamentarism
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and Middle East
6694. The Wolesi Jirga in 2010: Pre-Election Politics and the Appearance of Opposition
- Author:
- Mohammad Hassan Wafaey and Anna Larson
- Publication Date:
- 01-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU)
- Abstract:
- This brief provides some of the initial findings of AREU’s study on parliamentary functions and dynamics. It summarises initial findings based on data collected from semi-structured interviews with a sample of over 50 MPs comprising different backgrounds, provinces, genders, ethnicities, political relationships, and ideologies. In addition, the views of constituents in three provinces, collected for a complementary study, have been drawn upon here to triangulate the information given by MPs.
- Topic:
- Democracy, Domestic Politics, Community, and Parliamentarism
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and Middle East
6695. Where Have all the Flowers Gone? Assessing the Sustainability of Current Reductions in Opium Poppy Cultivation
- Author:
- David Mansfield
- Publication Date:
- 05-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU)
- Abstract:
- Levels of opium poppy cultivation have fallen in Afghanistan for two consecutive years and it now appears that cultivation will be maintained at this relatively low level for another year. This briefing paper examines the reasons behind the reductions and assesses their sustainability, with special emphasis on the key provinces of Nangarhar and Helmand. It identifies instability and drops in livelihood standards caused by coercive reductions in opium poppy cultivation, and finds that increasing levels of wheat production do not reflect a sustainable shift from opium production, but instead are a sign of market failure, growing concerns over food security, and coercion.
- Topic:
- Security, Agriculture, Food, Rural, Drugs, and Sustainability
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and Middle East
6696. Between Patronage and Rebellion: Student Politics in Afghanistan
- Author:
- Antonio Giustozzi
- Publication Date:
- 02-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU)
- Abstract:
- Student politics in Afghanistan has not been the object of much scholarly attention, but we know that student politics in the 1960-70s had an important influence on the development of political parties, which in turn shaped Afghanistan’s entry into mass politics in the late 1970-80s. The purpose of this study is therefore multiple: to fill a gap in the horizon of knowledge, to investigate the significance of changes in the student politics of today compared to several decades ago, And finally to detect trends that might give us a hint of the Afghan politics of tomorrow. The research is based on approximately 100 interviews with students and political activists in Kabul, Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif and Jalalabad, as well as approximately 12 interviews with former student activists of the 1960-70s.
- Topic:
- Education, Politics, Youth, Political Parties, and Participation
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and Middle East
6697. Building a Viable Microfinance Sector in Afghanistan
- Author:
- Paula Kantor and Erna Andersen
- Publication Date:
- 01-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU)
- Abstract:
- AREU research on the impact of microcredit on informal credit systems and rural livelihoods illustrated the viability challenges microfinance institutions (MFIs) and their clients were facing. This briefing paper examines the changes the microfinance sector is undertaking, such as the introduction of more reliable business plans, creating internal audit units to improve control systems and reduce opportunities for fraud, and institutionalising an MFI report card system, to improve performance.
- Topic:
- Finance, Business, Microcredit, and Credit
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and Middle East
6698. Counter-Cyclical Economic Policy
- Author:
- The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
- Publication Date:
- 05-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
- Abstract:
- The effects of the recent economic crisis have stretched policy frameworks in many OECD countries close to breaking point. Recent work by the OECD has examined how policies have interacted with the economic cycle over time and during the recent crisis. The main policy lessons are as follows: • Policy-makers should take into account uncertainties about the functioning of the economy, the nature of economic shocks or the effects of policy and take their decisions accordingly. • Policy in various areas will have to build in greater safety margins and to be more prudent during upswings. • Appropriate fiscal rules can help prepare fiscal policy for the next downturn by leading to swifter consolidation during the upturn. • The monetary and financial policy framework needs to achieve a better articulation between economic and financial stability. • Financial policy needs to strengthen micro-prudential regulation, regulatory interventions may need to target emerging credit-driven bubbles and macro-prudential policies should address systemic risks. • There may be a case for monetary policy leaning against the wind, if asset prices are driven by a credit boom and financial regulation is judged to be insufficiently robust. • Changes to structural policy settings can improve the resilience of the economy to shocks and affect the degree of leverage households and firms take on.
- Topic:
- Economics, Fiscal Policy, Economic Stability, and Economic Crisis
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
6699. The Impact of Structural Reforms on Current Account Imbalance
- Author:
- The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
- Publication Date:
- 05-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
- Abstract:
- Global current account imbalances widened markedly in the years preceding the global economic crisis. Although the crisis brought some reversal to this trend, imbalances remain large in many countries. New empirical analysis by the OECD has examined the potential contribution of structural reforms to reducing current account imbalances. The analysis shows that structural reforms aimed at boosting economic growth can have more or less persistent side effects on current accounts. These arise because structural policies influence saving and investment of households, firms and governments. In turn, the economy-wide gap between saving and investment equals the current account balance. Specifically, the following policy lessons emerge from the analysis: More developed social welfare systems would reduce the need for precautionary saving among households, which would moderate current account surpluses in external surplus countries. Pension reforms that increase the retirement age and thus the length of the working life would also reduce household saving and thereby reduce current account surpluses. Pension reforms that lead to cuts in replacement rates would have the opposite effect. Financial market reforms that raise the sophistication or depth of financial markets may relax borrowing constraints in emerging economies, thus contributing to a fall in the saving rate. The associated weakening of the current account position might be reinforced if the reforms also boost investment. Reforming competition-unfriendly product market regulation could encourage capital spending and thereby contribute to reduce imbalances in surplus countries. Some policy settings introduce distortions that encourage consumption, such as tax deductibility of interest payments on mortgages in the absence of taxation of imputed rent. Reform in this area might help increase household saving and thereby improve a country’s current account position. Overall, for the policies investigated, surplus countries appear to have more scope for structural reforms that would both enhance economic growth and reduce external imbalances. A scenario analysis indicates that if Japan, Germany and China were to liberalise their product markets and China also increased public health spending and continued to liberalise its financial markets, global imbalances could decline by around one-fifth relative to a baseline scenario. Moreover, since external deficit countries tend to have larger fiscal consolidation needs than surplus countries, fiscal tightening should also contribute to reduce external imbalances over the coming decade.
- Topic:
- Markets, Reform, Welfare, and Economic Crisis
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
6700. Convergence in European Policy Making: What do Article 15 (FCNM) and the EU Regional Policy Have in Common?
- Author:
- Tove H. Malloy
- Publication Date:
- 12-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- European Centre for Minority Issues
- Abstract:
- Minority protection is expanding its focus from protection-only to protectionand-empowerment, or from a politics of identity to a politics of identity related interests. To most, minority protection means the idea that there are compelling reasons why members of ethnic, cultural, national, racial and linguistic minorities require certain special protection rights in order not to suffer assimilation, suppression or persecution. However, in the European context, minority protection has also come to mean a right to attain a decent life. A decent life means a good life. The notion of the good life is of course essentially contested. The problem of protecting the right to a good life is not therefore what is a good life? – but how do minorities achieve and enjoy what they consider a good life?
- Topic:
- Regional Cooperation, Minorities, European Union, Identity, and Protected People
- Political Geography:
- Europe