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52581. The Political Economy of Energy Taxes, OECD 1973-1995: The Role of Political Institutions, Public Opinion and Ideology (A Pre-Test)

Author:
Svetlana Valerie Morozova
Publication Date:
02-1999
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Studies Association
Abstract:
The paper presents a theoretical cross-national study of energy taxation, concentrating on the heavy fuel oil tax. It theoretically investigates the effects that public opinion, institutional corporatism and left-wing ideology may have on the cross-national variance in manufacturing energy taxes, controlling for the plausible influence of budget deficits, energy import-dependency and deindustrialization. It is hypothesized that in more corporatist nations public opinion supportive of energy conservation, in combination with the Left-wing ideology of governing legislative coalition, will lead to higher energy taxes. Deindustrialization, proxied by the declining employment and output value in/of energy-intensive industries is believed to be responsible for a certain share of energy tax variance in the OECD countries. Finally, it is argued that energy import-dependency brings affects national manufacturing energy taxes.
Topic:
Economics, Energy Policy, Environment, and Politics

52582. Research on the Effectiveness of International Environmental Regimes: A Review of the State of the Art

Author:
Detlef F. Sprinz
Publication Date:
02-1999
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Studies Association
Abstract:
This paper reviews the current state of research on the effect of international environmental regimes. In particular, the various concepts of regime effectiveness and methods chosen to establish causal regime effects are compared, followed by a summary of the empirical findings on the degree of regime effectiveness and the explanation of its variation. Subsequently, a range of research challenges is outlined which needs to be addressed in order to make substantive progress, esp. in assessing international regimes over longer time horizons. The paper concludes with lessons which the study of the effect of international environmental regimes offers for international political economy.
Topic:
Environment, International Cooperation, and International Political Economy

52583. Conflict-Cooperation for Interstate and Intrastate Interactions: An Expansion of the Goldstein Scale

Author:
J. Craig Jenkins, Charles Lewis Taylor, Joe Bond, Doug Bond, and Zeynep Benderlioglu Kuzucu
Publication Date:
02-1999
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Studies Association
Abstract:
This paper presents the current state of our project to expand and to replicate Goldstein's Conflict-Cooperation Scale for WEIS Event Data using a Delphi technique and focusing on intrastate as well as interstate interactions. We report here the results of a pilot study conducted with the assistance of a small expert panel. Our intention is to take advantage of a larger and more diverse set of judges representing the governmental, national security, commercial and academic communities while controlling for major demographic characteristics. In our Integrated Data for Event Analysis (IDEA) approach, classic WEIS categories are supplemented with verb cues drawn from the World Handbook and other interaction event taxonomies. Panelists are asked to rank these event categories, with regard to contention-accommodation, coercion-altruism, and physical violence as well as to overall conflict-cooperation. No a priori assumptions are made with regard to the three hypothesized dimensions and their fit or placement within the conceptual space of conflict and cooperation. Interrelationships will be sought empirically. This expansion of the Goldstein scale will be a useful tool in the analysis of conflict and cooperation in international and intra-national political interactions.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution and International Cooperation

52584. Unveiling Human Rights: A Postcolonial Feminist Analysis of Women, Veiling, Human Rights and Western Geopolitical Discourse

Author:
Jessica L. Urban
Publication Date:
02-1999
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Studies Association
Abstract:
The contributions of feminist scholarship to International Relations have exposed gender bias in the field and have provided inroads toward the internationalization of women's human rights. Nevertheless, non-Western women's bodies continue as an important site for the construction of Western geopolitical discourse. Western discourse on Islam represents Muslim societies as inherently violent and backwards with Muslim men as irrational victimizers of passive Muslim women. The veil epitomizes this oppression. Subsequently, this discourse justifies Western intervention into Muslim countries.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Human Rights, and Islam

52585. Ideas Toolkit: The Role of Culture in the Transboundary Air Pollution Issue in Northeast Asia

Author:
Kenneth E. Wilkening
Publication Date:
02-1999
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Studies Association
Abstract:
This paper outlines a general approach for analyzing the role of culture in international environmental policymaking. It draws on work in anthropology and foreign policy analysis. As a first step in investigating the role of culture in international environmental policy, culture needs to be viewed as a “toolkit of environmental ideas.” The second step is to delimit broad definitions of culture to a more workable forms. Three forms are offered (following Hudson 1997a): culture as organization of environmental meaning, environmental shared-value preferences, and templates for environmental action. The third step is to answer three basic questions relative to the specific definition of culture employed: who draws what environmentally-related ideas from the ideas toolkit, how are these ideas employed in the political arena, and how do these ideas, originally drawn upon for political purposes, change and ultimately end up changing the set of environmentally-related ideas in the toolkit. In the political arena the ideas are assumed to be embodied in a “discourse.” The terminology of discourse and the body of theory built up around it is then used as a vehicle for examining the role of culture and cultural change in international environmental policymaking. A rough and preliminary attempt is made to provide a concrete example of the above approach in relation to the role of culture in the transboundary air pollution issue in Northeast Asia.
Topic:
International Relations, Environment, and Politics
Political Geography:
Israel and Northeast Asia

52586. Observations on The Township People's Congress Elections in Chongqing January 5-15, 1999 and Cooperative Activities with the Ministry of Civil Affairs August 1, 1998-January 15, 1999

Publication Date:
03-1999
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Carter Center
Abstract:
This report describes in detail The Carter Center's activities in China from July 1998 to January 1999 with a focus on the observation of China's village and township elections and recommendations to improve the quality of those elections. The report is divided into two parts. Part I is a report on the Center's observation of township elections in Chongqing. Part II covers the Center's activities with respect to village elections in cooperation with the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA ).
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, and International Organization
Political Geography:
China

52587. Some Reflections on Three Mile Island

Author:
Dick Thornburgh
Publication Date:
09-1999
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues
Abstract:
On the evening of March 28, 1979 America experienced the first, and worst, nuclear power plant accident in its history. The crisis began when a valve opened, unnoticed, allowing coolant water to escape from the plant's new Unit 2 reactor. Following a series of technical and human failures, temperatures within the unit rose to more than 5,000 degrees, causing the fueling core to begin melting. During the next tension-packed days, scientists scrambled to prevent a meltdown while public officials, including Governor Dick Thornburgh and President Jimmy Carter, attempted to calm public fears. In spite of these efforts, thousands of residents fled to emergency shelters or left the state, driven by rumors of an imminent CHINA SYNDROME. In the end, only one layer of the containment structure was compromised and the accident never reached the proportions of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. The accident nonetheless resulted in the release of some radiation, the quantity and effects of which are still debated.
Topic:
Energy Policy and Industrial Policy
Political Geography:
United States and Island

52588. Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Tactical Battlefield Communications

Publication Date:
12-1999
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
At the outset of this study, the Task Force observed that there was no such thing as “just” tactical communications. Rather, it saw requirements for conducting military operations in two major theaters of war as well as for conducting a wide variety of other missions. It also saw emerging requirements for a telecommunication infrastructure to support rapid force projection, early entry, reachback/split-base, and high mobility operations. Furthermore, Joint Vision 2010 (JV2010) assumed information superiority to be necessary for dominant maneuver, precision engagement, full dimensional protection and focused logistics. All these factors have led our Military Services to express a need for a fully integrated, strategic/tactical, voice/data/information telecommunications infrastructure rather than merely “tactical” communications. This infrastructure must bring post-camp-station information services to deployed forces and, conversely, bring information from our deployed forces to the continental United States (CONUS) or to other locations geographically distant from areas of operations.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Industrial Policy, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

52589. Buck Rogers or Rock Throwers?

Publication Date:
10-1999
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
About 150 participants, including an international gathering of experts, examined whether and how technology may be leading to a paradigm shift in the nature and conduct of warfare, a shift that has been generally categorized as a "revolution in military affairs" (RMA).They concluded: The United States is the far—and—away leader in this drive. In fact, the United States is the only country intent on achieving a high technology RMA. No country is likely to match the United States in the broad—based technological sophistication of its military capabilitiesor even to try. US successes in developing RMA capabilities will drive potential adversaries toward asymmetric responses including weapons of mass destruction and information warfare. Some countries probably would be able to pose serious operational and strategic challenges to the United States by acquiring military technologies and capabilities that were in their eyes, "good enough." Also, countries can exploit "sidewise" technologies—old by US standards but still new to many other countries—to pose significant security threats and complicate US military operations. These technologies, if employed in a "novel" operational manner rather than high-end technologies, could drive development of the next RMA. Participants believe that—of the countries considered for discussion—China, Russia, India, and Australia have the greatest potential to achieve an RMA, should they decide to pursue the option.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Security, International Political Economy, and Sovereignty
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, China, and Australia

52590. Foreign Missile Developments and the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States Through 2015

Publication Date:
09-1999
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
The worldwide ballistic missile proliferation problem has continued to evolve during the past year. The proliferation of technology and components continues. The capabilities of the missiles in the countries seeking to acquire them are growing, a fact underscored by North Korea's launch of the Taepo Dong-1 in August 1998. The number of missiles in these countries is also increasing. Medium- and short-range ballistic missile systems, particularly if armed with weapons of mass destruction (WMD) warheads, already pose a significant, threat to US interests, military forces, and allies overseas. We have seen increased trade and cooperation among countries that have been recipients of missile technologies from others. Finally, some countries continue to work toward longer-range systems, including ICBMs.
Topic:
International Relations, Arms Control and Proliferation, and Political Economy
Political Geography:
United States and North Korea