This report is based on an international workshop which took place at the Institute of Development and Peace (INEF) in Duisburg/Germany in June 2000. A delegation of the Republic of Korea - including members of local communities and local governments, as well as NGO representatives – on a study trip to Germany - had been invited to exchange experiences and information about Local Agenda 21 processes in Germany and the Republic of Korea. The following papers reflect important issues which have been raised and discussed during the workshop.
The existence of highly dynamic and successful small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) is one of the characteristic features of the German economy. They have been, and continue to be, a growth and a job machine. Their strong performance has raised interest in other countries, with less dynamic SME, which are keen to strengthen their SME sector. Learning from the German experience appears as a promising exercise.
Recent years have seen the re-emergence of industrial policies and policies for the promotion of economic activity in both industrialised and developing countries, flanked by regional and national strategies for enhanced integration into increasingly globalised international markets, improved competitiveness and sustainably dynamic economic growth. The growing popularity of these policies is also a reflection of recent currents in international economic debate, notably the argument that the recipes for stability staunchly championed by neo-liberals, which gave rise to the Washington Consensus in the early eighties, need to be complemented by more committed policies designed to strengthen international competitiveness.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Globalization, Government, and Industrial Policy
Competitiveness and sustainability share a common aim: to use resources more efficiently. In the long run, unsustainable production patterns may lead to the depletion or degradation of natural resources, and that means loss of future competitiveness.
Topic:
Environment and International Political Economy
Political Geography:
Israel, South America, Latin America, Korea, and Chile
Regional integration in southern Africa, although frequently regarded as a useful and necessary project, seems to have come to a standstill since 1998. After South Africa had joined SADC in 1994, many observers had hoped that the integration project would be seeing rapid progress. When, in August 1996, SADC agreed on the establishment of a free trade area, many observers regarded this as an important step forward (cf. Gibb 1998, p. 303). However, the developments since 1996 are characterised by too few steps forward and too many back. We are witnessing a combination of economic decline and lack of responsible leadership in the region.
Topic:
International Cooperation and International Organization
Unlike what has happened with Central-eastern Europe and the Eastern Balkans, policies conducted by the West towards Western Balkans after the end of the Cold War have had a largely reactive character. By and large, although the fragmentation of Yugoslavia had been widely feared and anticipated, developments in Western Balkans took the West aback because of their violent and uncompromising character. For this reason, with respect to this area the European countries and the United States have shown continuous hesitations and oscillations on how their interests in the area had to be understood, how much they had to feel involved and what they had to do.
Topic:
Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Europe, Yugoslavia, and Balkans
The acquis of the EU in regard to foreign and security policy is definitely predicated less on realist than liberal and neo-liberal views. The EU is based on a functionalist model of economic and political integration, which has brought about a model of interdependent security. The development of these models has been coupled by the consolidation of democratic polities. The interplay of inter-state cooperation and intra-state democratisation has given way to a community whose fundamental principles have been ultimately stated by the 1993 European Council in Copenhagen (democratic institutions, rule of law, respect of human rights, and protection of minorities).
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, and International Cooperation
The conference was organised by the Institute for International Affairs (IAI) with the support of the Centre for High Defence Studies (CASD), the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the NATO Office for Information and Press and the Thyssen Foundation. It was held in Rome, at the Centre for High Defence Studies, on 24 and 25 November 2000.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, NATO, Cold War, Human Rights, and Peace Studies
The American component in the EU Middle East Policy cannot be considered in isolation. The transatlantic relationship has a complex character and, for this reason, there are linkages between different issues. The influence of transatlantic relations and the U.S. on what the EU does or does not do in the Middle East is not necessarily tied to the Middle East itself and to specific Middle Eastern issues debated in transatlantic relations. It may stem from other issues.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, and NATO
Political Geography:
United States, America, Middle East, and North Africa
The area currently encompassed by the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP) reflects fairly well the broad Western perception of the new strategic situation established by the end of the Cold War. The North Atlantic Council described this situation very aptly in the strategic concept it approved in Rome in 1991, though it meant to refer primarily to the European East: “Risks to Alliance security are less likely to result from calculated aggression against the territory of the Allies, but rather from the adverse consequences of instabilities that may arise from the serious economic, social and political difficulties, including ethnic rivalries and territorial disputes . . . The tensions that may result . . . could lead to crises inimical to European stability and even to armed conflicts.”
Topic:
Security
Political Geography:
Europe, Middle East, Arab Countries, North Africa, and Rome