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54992. The Intangible Globalization: Explaining the Patterns of International Trade in Services
- Author:
- Leo A. Grünfeld and Andreas Moxnes
- Publication Date:
- 06-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- We identify the determinants of service trade and foreign affiliate sales in a gravity model, using recently collected bilateral data for the OECD countries and their trading partners, as well as new indicators for barriers to service imports and foreign affiliate sales. We emphasize the strong links between service FDI and trade, since a large proportion of trade is facilitated through foreign affiliate sales. Trade barriers and corruption in the importing country have a strong negative impact on service trade and foreign affiliate sales. We find a strong home market effect in service trade, and rich countries do not tend to import more, which may indicate that rich countries have a competitive advantage in service trade. Free trade agreements do not contribute to increased service trade. A full liberalization of international trade in services in our model, lifts exports by as much as 50% for some countries, and no less than 30%.
- Topic:
- Economics, Globalization, and Science and Technology
54993. Study of selected Fredskorpset exchange projects
- Author:
- Axel Borchgrevink
- Publication Date:
- 06-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- The present study examines nine Fredskorpset exchange projects, in order to assess the degree to which the goals specified have been reached. The basis for the exchanges is the partnerships established between institutions in Norway and counterpart entities in the South. The projects studied encompass a wide variety of such partnerships, illustrating the flexible and innovative attitude that Fredskorpset has shown during its first two years of operation. By basing its work on such partnerships, Fredskorpset has avoided some of the weaknesses of traditional volunteer programs. In terms of achievements, there are variations among the projects. While individual learning of participants was strong in all cases, the degree to which institutional benefits were achieved varied. Well-matched partners with sufficiently strong institutional structures; thorough planning of exchanges; and participants selected in accordance with well-defined needs for professional skills were seen to be important factors for successful projects.
- Topic:
- Economics, Industrial Policy, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Norway
54994. How the Axis of Evil Metaphor Changes Iranian Images of the USA
- Author:
- Daniel Heradstveit and G. Matthew Bonham
- Publication Date:
- 06-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- The respondents feared an American attack, and regarded their membership in «the Axis of Evil» as a stab in the back after Iranian help in Afghanistan. This demonisation was seen overwhelmingly in terms of American geopolitical designs, ignorance and downright irrationality – an expansionist superpower that is dangerously out of control. The WTC attack initially caused a strengthening of Iranian national unity and a more coherent foreign policy, but most of the respondents regard «the Axis of Evil» as killing the nascent dialogue with the USA stone dead and coming as a godsend to the conservatives and the ultras.
- Topic:
- International Relations and Foreign Policy
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, United States, America, Iran, and Middle East
54995. Evaluation of Fadcanic's teacher training program in Nicaragua's Southern autonomous region of the Atlantic Coast
- Author:
- Axel Borchgrevink and Anníbal Ramírez Rodrígues
- Publication Date:
- 06-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- Since 1997, FADCANIC has been implementing a training program for unqualified teachers working in primary schools of Nicaragua's Southern autonomous region of the Atlantic Coast. SAIH, the Norwegian NGO that has been funding this program, has commissioned the present evaluation. It concludes that the program has had a significant impact in terms of improving education in the region through addressing one of the most urgent needs of the educational sector, namely teacher qualifications. However, the evaluation also points out a number of other limitations for the sector, including lack of resources for materials, physical infrastructure and reasonable teacher salaries, as well as general social problems of the region. It recommends that the program is continued, and that even greater emphasis is put upon creating a teacher education appropriate to the multilingual and -cultural reality.
- Topic:
- Development, Education, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Norway, Central America, and Nicaragua
54996. Defusing a Ticking Bomb? Disentangling International Organisations
- Author:
- Indra Øverland
- Publication Date:
- 05-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- This article examines how various organisations divide and coordinate their conflict prevention and development aid in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region of southern Georgia, and how that coordination might be improved. There have been numerous early warnings of impending violent conflict and calls for conflict prevention in Samtskhe-Javakheti. Counter-claims have, however, been asserted that the region's problem is in fact not one of potential violent ethnic conflict, but rather one of poverty and peripherality, and that exaggerated, uncoordinated early warning might in fact inflate conflicts that were not initially acute. At one point it seemed that the Samtskhe-Javakheti case would provide an example of uncoordinated and one-sided focus on conflict prevention and early warning on the part of international organisations, and its potentially detrimental consequences. An overview of the activities of the organisations, however, shows the contrary. A critical, sensitive and deconstructive perspective is already incorporated into their approach, and their activities are well coordinated. More formalised institutions are nonetheless needed to ensure the inclusion of large multilateral actors such as the World Bank and Council of Europe in the process, and consistent coordination in other regions too.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Development, and International Organization
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Eastern Europe, and Georgia
54997. A Gap in OSCE Conflict Prevention
- Author:
- Indra Øverland
- Publication Date:
- 05-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- This paper argues that local media have been of great importance in the escalation of inter-ethnic conflicts in the former Soviet Union, and that conflict prevention by the OSCE in the region initially did not focus appropriately on media issues. During the past few years, however, media issues have increasingly come to preoccupy the OSCE, chiefly in connection with human rights issues and freedom of speech, but to some extent also as an element of conflict prevention. The importance of local media for OSCE conflict prevention is analysed in terms of the activities of the High Commissioner for National Minorities and Representative on Freedom of the Media, and OSCE annual reports.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Ethnic Conflict, and Human Rights
- Political Geography:
- Russia and Soviet Union
54998. From the pre-G8 2003 Summit seminar in Stockholm on "Strengthening Cooperative Threat Reduction in the Northern Region"
- Author:
- Ian Anthony and Morten Bremer Maerli
- Publication Date:
- 05-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- In June 2002, the G8 countries pledged 20 billion dollars over ten years to their “Global Partnership against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction” (Global Partnership). Under this initiative, the G8 countries will support specific cooperation projects, initially in Russia, to address non-proliferation, disarmament, counter-terrorism and nuclear safety issues. Among priority concerns are the dismantlement of decommissioned nuclear submarines and the disposition of fissile materials.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, International Cooperation, Peace Studies, and Terrorism
- Political Geography:
- Russia
54999. NATO Nuclear Non-Proliferation Policies in a Changing Threat Environment
- Author:
- Morten Bremer Maerli (ed) and Allistair Millar(ed)
- Publication Date:
- 05-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- This report summarises the conference “NATO Nuclear Non-Proliferation Policies in a Changing Threat Environment” convened in , Oslo, 12 May 2003. The conference was co-organised by the Fourth Freedom Forum, the Norwegian Atlantic Committee, and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. It was co-sponsored by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Norwegian Ministry of Defence and the Ploughshares Foundation.
- Topic:
- NATO, Arms Control and Proliferation, Nuclear Weapons, and Peace Studies
- Political Geography:
- Norway and Oslo
55000. Nuclear Dimensions of the Iraqi Crisis
- Author:
- Morten Bremer Maerli
- Publication Date:
- 05-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- In accordance with Resolution 1441, unanimously passed by the UN Security Council, Iraq on November 7th, 2002, submitted a declaration of its activities concerning weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Copies of the declaration were forwarded to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and later to the permanent members of the Security Council. The declaration described the various methods used by Iraq in trying to produce nuclear material suitable for weapons, as well as the many sites involved in the nuclear program. In the nearly 12,000-page document Iraq claimed that it had no current WMD programs. However, intelligence analysts from the United States and other nations immediately began to scrutinize the document, and senior US officials quickly rejected the claims made by Iraq.
- Topic:
- Security, Nuclear Weapons, and United Nations
- Political Geography:
- United States, Iraq, and Middle East