Search

57501. Curbed Markets?

Author:
Kellee S. Tsai
Publication Date:
05-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
Our country does not permit the establishment of private banks. We must continue to investigate and impose discipline on non-banking financial institutions and other creditors that charge high interest rates. This is clearly one of the most important measures for ensuring order in the entire financial system.
Topic:
Economics
Political Geography:
China and Asia

57502. The State in a Changing World: A Critique of the 1997 World Development Report

Author:
Devesh Kapur
Publication Date:
02-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
In recent years, the World Bank has been at the vanguard in pressing for a circumscribed role for the State in developing countries. It therefore comes as somewhat of a surprise that the 1997 World Development Report (WDR - the World Bank's annual flagship publication), The State in a Changing World, underscores the continuing significance of the State in LDCs.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, Government, International Organization, and Third World

57503. Explaining Patterns of GATT/WTO Trade Complaints

Author:
Christina R. Sevilla
Publication Date:
01-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
Multilateral trade complaints are significant for politics because they serve as a stimulus for the targeted state to alter its status quo trade policy. This paper seeks to explain and predict patterns of multilateral trade complaints filed by states under the dispute settlement mechanism of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and its successor as of 1995, the World Trade Organization (WTO). A two-level model of complaint-raising is proposed, which argues that variation in the design of GATT and WTO institutions affects the costs to governments of filing complaints -- such as bureaucratic costs, information costs, and opportunity costs -- and these costs in turn affect state strategies for domestic oversight of treaty compliance by one's trading partners. Specific hypotheses drawn from the model are tested against a data set of over 300 multilateral trade complaints, from 1948-1994 under the GATT and 1995-96 under the WTO.
Topic:
International Relations, International Organization, and International Trade and Finance

57504. 100 Companies Receiving The Largest Dollar Volume Of Prime Contract Awards—Fiscal Year 1997

Publication Date:
01-1998
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
U.S. Economic Statistics Briefing Room
Abstract:
This report presents summary data on the 100 companies, and their subsidiaries, receiving the largest dollar volume of Department of Defense (DoD) prime contract awards during fiscal year (FY) 1997. Table 1 lists the 100 companies in alphabetical order and gives their associated rank. Table 2 identifies the parent companies in rank order, with their subsidiaries, and gives the total net value of awards for both the parent company and its subsidiaries. In many cases, the parent company receives no awards itself, but appears on the list because of its subsidiaries. Table 2 also shows what percentage of the total awards each company's awards represent, as well as the cumulative percentage represented by all companies. Table 3 lists the top 100 companies DoD-wide in rank order and breaks the totals into three categories of procurement: Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT); Other Services and Construction; and Supplies and Equipment. Table 4 lists the top 50 companies for each of the Reporting Components in rank order, and by category of procurement.
Topic:
Defense Policy and Economics
Political Geography:
United States

57507. Prime Contract Awards—Size Distribution: Fiscal Year 1997

Publication Date:
09-1998
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
U.S. Economic Statistics Briefing Room
Abstract:
This report provides data on prime contract actions (PCAs) over $25,000 awarded by the Department of Defense (DoD) in fiscal year (FY) 1997. For reporting purposes, contracts have been distributed by dollar value into 11 different size categories. The tables provide information on the number of total actions, their net value, and their percentage of distribution, by size, and according to a variety of categories. The categories include Defense Component, type of contract involved, extent of competed procurements, kind of contract action taken, selected procurement programs, and labor standard statutes. Table 1 presents data by individual size category (e.g., $25,000 to $49,999, $50,000 to $99,999) while Tables 2 through 7 present data in cumulative categories (e.g., $25,000 or more; $50,000 or more). The information in Prime Contract Awards, Size Distribution, assists DoD management in projecting the workload that will be required by various proposed projects. For example, using data in this publication, DoD officials could determine that a proposal to review all contract actions of $500,000 or more in FY 1997 would require examining approximately 26,000 transactions, or 11.3 percent of the total transactions as shown in Table 2. These data can also be used to identify trends in DoD procurement, (e.g., to identify which of the various types of contracts were most frequently awarded, in terms of number of contract actions, during FY 1997).
Topic:
Defense Policy and Economics
Political Geography:
United States

57511. Balance on Current Account - As of December 9, 1998

Publication Date:
12-1998
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
U.S. Economic Statistics Briefing Room
Abstract:
No abstract is available.
Topic:
Economics and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States

57512. Balance on Current Account - As of September 10, 1998

Publication Date:
09-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
U.S. Economic Statistics Briefing Room
Abstract:
No abstract is available.
Topic:
Economics and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States

57513. U.S. Direct Investment Abroad: 1994 Benchmark Survey, Final Results

Publication Date:
05-1998
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
U.S. Economic Statistics Briefing Room
Abstract:
The 1994 Benchmark Survey of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad was conducted by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) to obtain complete and accurate data on U.S. direct investment abroad in 1994. Reporting in the survey was mandatory under the International Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act.
Topic:
Economics and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States

57514. U.S. Government Statistics: R Expenditures as a Percent of GDP

Publication Date:
10-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
U.S. Economic Statistics Briefing Room
Abstract:
The Division of Science Resources Studies (SRS) of the National Science Foundation publishes the biennial report, National Patterns of R Resources. This report describes and analyzes current patterns of research and development (R) in the United States, in relation to the historical record and the reported R levels of other industrialized countries. For years in which the full report is not produced, current, annual statistics on national and international R trends are released in data updates like this one.
Topic:
Economics and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

57515. Net Oil Imports - As of November 30, 1998

Publication Date:
11-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
U.S. Economic Statistics Briefing Room
Abstract:
No abstract is available.
Topic:
Economics and Energy Policy
Political Geography:
United States

57516. U.S. Multinational Companies Operations in 1996

Author:
Raymond J. Jr. Mataloni
Publication Date:
09-1998
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
U.S. Economic Statistics Briefing Room
Abstract:
The combined domestic and foreign operations of nonbank U.S. multinational companies (MNC's) continued to grow at a relatively fast pace in 1996. The growth in three key measures of MNC operations–gross product, employment, and capital expenditures — exceeded the average annual growth rate for 1989–95. According to preliminary estimates from the annual survey of U.S. direct investment abroad conducted by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), worldwide gross product of U.S. MNC's (U.S. parents and majority–owned foreign affiliates combined) increased 7 percent, compared with a similar increase in 1995 and an average annual increase of 5 percent in 1989–95; employment increased 2 percent, compared with a 1–percent increase in 1995 and negligible growth in 1989–95; capital expenditures increased 5 percent, compared with a 7–percent increase in 1995 and an average annual increase of 4 percent in 1989–95.
Topic:
Economics and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States

57517. The International Investment Position of the United States in 1997

Author:
Russel B. Scholl
Publication Date:
07-1998
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
U.S. Economic Statistics Briefing Room
Abstract:
The net international investment position of the United States—U.S. assets abroad less foreign assets in the United States—at yearend 1997 was a negative $1,223.6 billion with direct investment valued at the current cost of tangible assets, and it was a negative $1,322.5 billion with direct investment valued at the current market value of owners' equity (table A, chart 1). For both measures, the net positions were more negative in 1997 than they were in 1996.
Topic:
Economics and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States

57518. The Domestic Orientation of Production and Sales by U.S. Manufacturing Affiliates of Foreign Companies

Author:
William J. Zeile
Publication Date:
04-1998
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
U.S. Economic Statistics Briefing Room
Abstract:
Since the surge in foreign direct investment in the United States in the late 1980's, much attention has focused on the role of foreign-owned firms in the U.S. economy, particularly in manufacturing. A question that is frequently posed concerns the degree to which U.S. affiliates of foreign companies are integrated into the U.S. economy through their sourcing behavior and value-added activity. A related question is whether U.S. manufacturing affiliates in comparison with domestically owned firms are more oriented toward producing for the U.S. market or for their home-country and other foreign markets.
Topic:
Economics and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States

57519. Searching for Partners: Regional Organizations and Peace Operations

Author:
William H. Lewis and Edward Marks
Publication Date:
06-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Abstract:
So declared Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali in 1994. Indeed, peacekeeping emerged in the post-Cold War period as the "most prominent U.N. activity." The organization was freed of the shackles placed upon it by superpower rivalry, that heretofore had rendered U.N. machinery inoperative in coping with local crises and was suddenly becoming "the center of international efforts to deal with unresolved problems of the past decades as well as the array of present and future issues." Between 1988 and 1993, more than a dozen new peacekeeping operations were launched, involving more than 70,000 military and civilian personnel for field operations, at an annual cost to the United Nations in excess of $3 billion.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, International Law, and International Organization

57520. Right Makes Might: Freedom and Power in the Information Age

Author:
David C. Gompert
Publication Date:
05-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Abstract:
China's emergence begs a fresh look at power in world affairs—more precisely, at how the spread of freedom and the integration of the global economy, due to the information revolution, are affecting the nature, concentration, and purpose of power. Perhaps such a look could improve the odds of responding wisely to China's rise.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Government, and International Law
Political Geography:
United States, China, and Soviet Union

57521. Humanitarian Action in the Caucasus: A Guide for Practitioners

Author:
Greg Hansen
Publication Date:
01-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University
Abstract:
Humanitarian action in the Caucasus is shaped by the political, social, and security contexts of the region which, in many ways, constitute a case study in the lasting legacies of forced migration and social engineering. Without discounting the historical underpinnings of conflict that often date back several centuries, fears of persecution and deeply-rooted feelings of injustice are contemporary sources of tension and have been overlaid and complicated in the past decade by profound upheaval in the economic, social, and political spheres. The collapse of the Soviet system left the economies of the region in tatters.
Topic:
Security
Political Geography:
Russia and Soviet Union

57522. Toward More Humane and Effective Sanctions Management: Enhancing the Capacity of the United Nations System

Author:
David Cortright, Larry Minear, Thomas G. Weiss, George A. Lopez, and Julia Wagler
Publication Date:
01-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University
Abstract:
Increased concerns about the negative humanitarian consequences of multilateral sanctions have prompted calls for reform. Drawing upon expertise in both humanitarian activities and sanctions scholarship, the report by independent analysts offers a series of recommendations to the United Nations system for ameliorating the adverse humanitarian consequences of sanctions and making their implementation more effective and accountable. The authors call for greater transparency in the functioning of UN sanctions committees and urge that the present ad hoc policy be replaced by a more regime-like system characterized by agreed principles, rules, and procedures.
Political Geography:
United Nations

57523. Relief and Development: The Struggle for Synergy

Author:
Ian Smillie
Publication Date:
01-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University
Abstract:
This occasional paper explores the relationships between emergency and development assistance. These relationships are important because the development community has seen much of its investment eroded or negated in recent years by war and governmental collapse and because relief agencies have recognized the need for sustainable peace if their work is to have long-term significance. Understanding the connections is also important because of evidence that emergency assistance can be inappropriate or even dangerous and that development aid, like emergency assistance itself, has in some cases contributed to fueling and igniting conflict.
Political Geography:
Kenya and United Nations

57524. CSD Bulletin, A Delicate Balance

Author:
Chantal Mouffe, Abdelwahab El-Affendi, Bert A. Rockman, Doreen Massey, Tony McGrew, Kimberly Hutchings, and Niels Jacob Harbitz
Publication Date:
09-1998
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for the Study of Democracy, University of Westminster
Abstract:
Ideological disputes about the respective domains of the state and the market have convulsed much of the twentieth century. Yet recent research and experience suggest that the interaction between politics and economics, between the state and the market, is complex and systemic. An understanding of these systemic properties is crucial for effective democratic reconstruction. This is especially so in countries with a legacy of communism - such as the transition states of the former Soviet Union and East-Central Europe - where not only the market but the state, and indeed society, may have to be reconstructed, if not reinvented.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Globalization, and Government
Political Geography:
United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and Central Europe

57525. CSD Bulletin, The Media and Democracy

Author:
Chantal Mouffe, Abdelwahab El-Affendi, Bert A. Rockman, Doreen Massey, Tony McGrew, Kimberly Hutchings, and Niels Jacob Harbitz
Publication Date:
09-1998
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for the Study of Democracy, University of Westminster
Abstract:
Does the power of the media threaten democracy (understood as the participation of the people in political debate and decision- making)? In answering this question we need to distinguish between three kinds of power: political, economic, and intellectual.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Globalization, and Government
Political Geography:
United Kingdom

57526. Assessing the Impact of the Indian and Pakistani Nuclear Tests on the Middle East

Author:
Gerald M. Steinberg
Publication Date:
07-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
Abstract:
Since the beginning of the atomic age in 1945, the possession and deployment of nuclear weapons has become the dominant factor in the international system. Those countries that acquired nuclear weapons have become (or maintained their status as) primary world powers, but as the number of such countries grew, the potential for the use of nuclear weapons also increased. In the early 1960s, President Kennedy warned that unless immediate and significant action was taken, within a decade there would be as many as 20 nuclear powers. The process of proliferation was seen as one of the most dangerous and destabilizing aspects of the nuclear era.
Topic:
Security, Arms Control and Proliferation, and Nuclear Weapons
Political Geography:
Pakistan, South Asia, Middle East, and India

57527. Democratization in Korea: The United States Role, 1980 and 1987

Author:
William Stueck
Publication Date:
09-1998
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
"Transition" is surely the most hackneyed concept among commentators on Korea over the last decade. In this post-modern world of increasingly rapid change, it is fair to say that the Republic of Korea (ROK) is in a constant state of transition from one thing to something else. The two broad areas that most frequently appear in discussions of Korea's transition are economic and political development. In the first case, analysts trace the transition of the ROK from a backward, largely agrarian economy to an industrial and now even post-industrial powerhouse that competes at a high level in the world marketplace. In the latter case, scholars examine the transition from an authoritarian system to a democratic one. Until the economic slide of last fall and the subsequent election to and assumption of the presidency by former opposition leader Kim Dae Jung, most observers would have conceded that the political transition is at an earlier and more precarious stage than the economic. Kim's smooth rise to the ROK's highest office demonstrated powerfully that the way Koreans in the south conduct themselves politically has changed fundamentally over the last generation.
Political Geography:
Korea

57528. Korea's Relations with China and Japan in the Post-Cold War Era

Author:
Ilpyong J. Kim
Publication Date:
09-1998
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
The visit of Jiang Zemin, president of the People's Republic of China (PRC), to the United States to meet with President Bill Clinton in October 1997, and Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto's meetings with Russian President BorisYeltsin and Chinese President Jiang, on November 10, changed the international environment. Hostilities among the major powers surrounding the Korean peninsula are being transformed by an atmosphere of reconciliation and confidence building.
Political Geography:
Korea

57529. North Korea's "New" Nuclear Site: Fact or Fiction?

Author:
C. Kenneth Quinones
Publication Date:
09-1998
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
Sensational stories in the American and international press since mid-August have abruptly transformed North Korea from a feeble, impoverished nation on the verge of famine and political collapse into an awesome, secretive, irrational nuclear power. The New York Times on August 17 reported that "spy satellites have extensively photographed a huge work site 25 miles northeast of Yongbyon," North Korea's nuclear research facility. "Thousands of North Korean workers are swarming around the new site, burrowing into the mountainside, American officials said," the report continued. "Other intelligence," according to the same story, cites unidentified officials as saying that U.S. intelligence analysts told them "they believed that the North intended to build a new (nuclear) reactor and reprocessing center under the mountain."
Political Geography:
New York, America, and North Korea

57530. Presidential Elections and the Rooting of Democracy

Author:
David I. Steinberg
Publication Date:
09-1998
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
Since 1987 presidential elections have been the defining political moments in Korea. Although local elections may be more illustrative of the democratic process, for it is that level at which citizens are in intimate contact with their government and gauge its effectiveness, presidential elections command more attention because of the nature of Korean political culture. The Korean president has been half king, half chief executive. The cabinet has been his plaything, changeable at his whim; the legislature to date at most a modest thorn in his side. His phalanx of staff in the Blue House (the presidential residence) rarely questions his decisions. In his society he is far more powerful than the president of the United States is in his. There is no vice president in Korea.
Political Geography:
United States and Korea

57531. Democracy and Economic Development in South Korea and its Application

Author:
Hugo Wheegook Kim
Publication Date:
09-1998
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
The South Korean economy has been highly praised by foreign economists as a successful model of development and proudly joined OECD in late 1996 as the world's eleventh-largest economy, with per capita annual income of over $10,000. Since then, a series of business bankruptcies and a financial crisis resulting in the imposition of IMF supervision on December 3,1997, has caused a shift in political power. The new administration began to work for systemic reforms, which have been interrupted by the political opposition, the entrenched chaebols, and labor unions.
Political Geography:
South Korea

57532. Change and Continuity in Korean Political Culture: An Overview

Author:
Hong Nack Kim
Publication Date:
09-1998
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
The South Korean political system has undergone drastic changes since the establishment of the Republic of Korea (ROK) in 1948. Following the authoritarian Syngman Rhee regime (1948-1960), South Korea had to endure over a quarter-century of military rule, from 1961 to 1987. In the wake of massive student demonstrations against the Chun Doo Hwan regime in 1987, the historic June 29th declaration was issued to accommodate popular demands for the democratization of the political system. It promised drastic democratic reforms, including popular direct election of the president. Following the presidential election of 1987, South Korea embarked on a new era of democratic politics.
Political Geography:
South Korea and Korea

57533. Democratic Political Culture vis-a-vis the Challenges of Global Competitiveness and Lean Government: A Case Study of South Korea

Author:
Ilpyong J. Kim and Dong Suh Bark
Publication Date:
09-1998
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
After three decades of military rule in South Korea, civilian democratic government was inaugurated in 1992 with direct election of the president. The political culture in South Korea, therefore, is still in the process of developing; and the transformation from authoritarian to democratic politics may take a long time.
Political Geography:
South Korea

57534. The Economic Crisis of South Korea and Its Political Impact

Author:
Hang Yul Rhee
Publication Date:
09-1998
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
The spectacular performance, until recently, of East Asia's emerging economies, popularly known as the Asian tigers, has fueled wild speculation in the West about the so-called "Asian Century." "Never before in world history," noted the Economist in March 1997, "has any region sustained such rapid growth for so long." The GDP per capita of Taiwan ($13,200) and South Korea ($11,900) were already impressive enough in 1997 to place them at the gate of the advanced industrialized nations of the world. Japan, of course, has long been an acknowledged super-economy, often said to have led the flock of economic "flying geese" before they turned into what Chung-In Moon ten years ago called the "swarming sparrows" in Asia. Then suddenly last summer, seemingly as if from the blue, came the financial crisis in Pacific Asia. In reality, however, it followed what had been a decade-long period of sclerosis in the Japanese economy.
Political Geography:
Japan, East Asia, Asia, and South Korea

57535. The Intergenerational Gap in Korean-Americans' Attitudes toward Unification of Korea

Author:
Gon Namkung
Publication Date:
09-1998
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
To provide a better picture of Korean-American attitudes toward the unification of the two Koreas in this essay, I have employed a more definitive assessment of the generation gap in Korean-Americans' attitudes toward Korean unification issues. By using a regression analysis of survey data, this study reports and explores the intergenerational gap in perceptions of Korean unification among Korean-Americans. In operational terms, I seek to understand the generation gap by employing a multi-regression analysis of Korean- American postures on various issues concerning Korean unification. A regression analysis permits analysis of age groups without the need for panel data. It is proposed that intergenerational contrasts emerge on a number of Korean unification issues. I assume that the younger Korean-American generation tends to hold different views from those of their elders about the two Koreas and their unification. The purposes of this study are: (1) to identify socioeconomic characteristics of the younger Korean-American age groups by comparing their responses on various social values to those of their elders, (2) to develop and to test some hypotheses concerning plausible impacts that this intergenerational population replacement in the Korean-American community has on its members' postures toward the unification of their motherland, and (3) to present major findings and suggest some policy implications.
Political Geography:
America and Korea

57536. Spaces of Contention

Author:
Charles Tilly
Publication Date:
06-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy at Columbia University
Abstract:
November 1830 brought London to one of its greatest nineteenth-century peaks of visible, vigorous, and often violent popular contention. When King William IV rode in state through Westminster from St. James to the opening of Parliament on 2 November, people who gathered along the streets cheered the king but jeered prime minister Wellington. Onlookers roared “Down with the New Police! No martial law!” (MC [ Morning Chronicle] 3 November 1830). Near Parliament, two people waved tricolor flags, ten or a dozen men wore tricolor cockades, and members of the crowd cried out “No police” or “Vote by ballot” (LT [ Timesof London], 3 November 1830).
Topic:
Security, Democratization, and Political Economy
Political Geography:
United Kingdom, Europe, and London

57537. Regimes and Contention

Author:
Charles Tilly
Publication Date:
05-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy at Columbia University
Abstract:
How do diverse forms of political contention—revolutions, strikes, wars, social movements, coups d'état, and others—interact with shifts from one kind of regime to another? To what extent, and how, do alterations of contentious politics and transformations of regimes cause each other? These questions loom behind current inquiries into democratization, with their debate between theorists who consider agreements among elites to provide necessary and sufficient conditions for democracy and those who insist that democracy only emerges from interactions between ruling-class actions and popular struggle. They arise when political analysts ask whether (or under what conditions) social movements promote democracy, and whether stable democracy extinguishes or tames social movements. They appear from another angle in investigations of whether democracies tend to avoid war with each other.
Topic:
Democratization and Politics

57538. Reproductive Health: New Directions and New Technologies

Author:
Rodney W. Nichols, Susan U. Raymond, Margaret Catley-Carlson, Allan Rosenfield, and Michael E. Kafrissen
Publication Date:
09-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
New York Academy of Sciences
Abstract:
Surely one of the oddest of all recent debates is well underway in the United States. At issue is whether, in the year 2000 the population of the nation should be counted nose-by-nose, on foot, by an phalanx of freshly minted, part-time, house visiting census-takers (who evidently missed 8.4 million residents the last time they tried in 1990) or whether a technique should be used that would employ statistical sampling methods to reach census conclusions. The majority of those most heatedly engaged in the public debate probably did not even like math in school; many would not be able to explain the likely accuracy of either method. But debate they do, in the time-honored tradition of policy making in democracies—largely because the coveted prize is not merely an accurate count of the number of individuals, but more importantly an advantageous decision on the number of voters in electoral districts.
Topic:
Government, Health, Politics, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

57539. Science, Technology, and the Law

Author:
Peter Huber, Susan Raymond, Rodney W. Nichols, Kenneth Dam, Kenneth R. Foster, George Ehrlich, Debra Miller, Alan Charles Raul, Ronald Bailey, and Alex Kozinski
Publication Date:
08-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
New York Academy of Sciences
Abstract:
As science and technology push the edges of understanding, innovation makes the once unimaginable merely quotidian. The flow—the torrent—of change inevitably meets the stock of laws and regulations that structure society. And, often, the legal system and the judiciary must cope with the resulting swirls, eddies, and, at times, whirlpools of ethical controversy and economic and societal choice.
Topic:
Economics, Government, International Law, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States, New York, and America

57540. Science and Technology for African Development: Partnerships in a Global Economy

Author:
Soodursun Jugessur, Susan U. Raymond, Stephen Chandiwana, Clive Shiff, Pieter J.D. Drenth, D. N. Tarpeh, Iba Kone, Jacques Gaillard, and Roland Waast
Publication Date:
03-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
New York Academy of Sciences
Abstract:
This paper examines the eureka factor in science based development and underscores the increasing concern that Africa lags behind in S due to political and social instability coupled by low investments in technologies. The paper emphasises that African science should come up with a decisive policy for investment in new style education and capacity building for S that is relevant to the African experience and addresses problems of real concern to the community. Science led development in Africa should reduce replication of foreign technologies and invest in social capital of its scientists and its R institutions for sustainable economic development. The aim of the paper is not to offer prescriptive solutions but to highlight areas which should stimulate debate in small working groups examining how Africa can learn from its own experience as well as that of other nations in developing an appropriate system of innovation for science led development.
Topic:
Economics, Education, Emerging Markets, Government, Industrial Policy, International Cooperation, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Africa and United States

57541. Technology and Arms Control for Weapons of Mass Destruction

Author:
Richard Danzig, John D. Holum, Rodney W. Nichols, Susan U. Raymond, Joshua Lederberg, and Stephen S. Morse
Publication Date:
01-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
New York Academy of Sciences
Abstract:
Having lived through, and indeed taken a leadership part in, the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, Thomas Jefferson wrote to Noah Worcester in 1817, "You have not been mistaken in supposing my views and feeling to be in favor of the abolition of war. Of my disposition to maintain peace until its condition shall be made less tolerable than that of war itself, the world has had proofs, and more, perhaps, than it has approved. I hope it is practicable, by improving the mind and morals of society, to lesson the disposition to war; but of its abolition I despair."
Topic:
Arms Control and Proliferation, Nuclear Weapons, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

57542. Women Coping with Crisis: Social Consequences of Export-Led Industrialization in the Dominican Republic

Author:
Helen I. Safa
Publication Date:
04-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The North-South Center, University of Miami
Abstract:
What are the social consequences of export-led industrialization, and are they a deterrent to sustainable development? This paper explores these questions by examining the link between export-led industrialization, the feminization of labor, and the growth of female-headed households in the Dominican Republic in a community that has undergone a marked shift in economic base from sugar production, employing mostly men, to export manufacturing, employing mostly women. Employment in export manufacturing gives women greater economic autonomy and greater leverage in the household, which, combined with deterioration in male employment, raises women's resistance to marriage and weakens the role of the male breadwinner. While female-headed households have increased in number, the economic and emotional support provided by consanguineal kin, often living in extended families, has enabled these households to function quite adequately. Under these circumstances, the female-headed household should not be seen as a deterrent to sustainability.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Gender Issues
Political Geography:
Caribbean

57543. The New Face of Regionalism in the Caribbean: The Western Hemisphere Dynamic

Author:
Anthony T. Bryan and Roget V. Bryan
Publication Date:
03-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The North-South Center, University of Miami
Abstract:
Regionalism in the Caribbean has emerged as a response to overcoming the development constraints of small size. The theories and strategies that helped to advance the process of Caribbean integration are undergoing a revision because of the process of globalization and the momentum toward free trade in the Western Hemisphere. The Caribbean countries now have to adapt rapidly to the new global liberalization process, based on reciprocal commitments. The way forward is not easy. The road map for the new regionalism in the Caribbean reflects a paradigm shift in the earlier theory and practice of integration. This paper explores the new face of regionalism within the context of second generation regional integration theories and smaller economies' agendas. The dynamic is much more complicated than originally conceived by Caribbean theorists and economists.
Topic:
Development, Emerging Markets, Globalization, International Organization, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Caribbean

57544. Global Economics and Local Politics in Trinidad's Divestment Program

Author:
Anthony P. Maingot
Publication Date:
12-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The North-South Center, University of Miami
Abstract:
This study focuses on the complex interaction between local political, social, and economic exigencies and the imperatives of the global economy in Trinidad. Local systems operate according to the perceived needs of their elites and the moral codes and biases of the political culture. In Trinidad, the dominant biases have to do with racial competition. For more than five decades, efforts have been made to use the state to extend economic rights to underprivileged Afro-Trinidadians. In the mid-1980s, however, a shift in macroeconomic thinking led to liberalization and a growing gap between the traditional nationalist/statist ideology and the actual decisions of political elites. This paper explores this unresolved incongruity through a case study of Petrotrin, the national petroleum company that oversees the fast-growing oil and gas sector.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, International Political Economy, and Politics
Political Geography:
Caribbean

57545. Democracy and Reform in Cardoso's Brazil: Caught Between Clientelism and Global Markets?

Author:
Willian C. Smith and Nizar Messari
Publication Date:
09-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The North-South Center, University of Miami
Abstract:
This paper explores President Fernando Henrique Cardoso's record and his attempt to seek reelection on October 4 over the challenge of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, candidate of the Workers' Party (PT) and the left. These events are examined in the context of a central, inescapable dilemma of contemporary Brazilian politics: how to reconcile the exigencies of the market and globalization with the equally compelling needs to promote democracy while combating poverty, violence, and social exclusion. The paper concludes with analyses of various alternative politico-economic scenarios for Brazil following the October elections.
Topic:
Democratization, Development, Economics, Globalization, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:
Brazil

57546. Democratization, health care reform, and ngo—government collaboration: catalyst or constraint?

Author:
Alberto Cardelle
Publication Date:
07-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The North-South Center, University of Miami
Abstract:
The increasingly diminished role of the state in Latin America has been accompanied by decentralization of health care delivery and an enhanced role of the private sector in delivery of services. Simultaneously, in the process of regional democratization, the number of organized civil society groups, NGOs, has expanded, increasing the alliances formed between NGOs and governments in the process of state reform. This paper examines the experiences of 20 NGO-government collaborative health care reform projects undertaken in Guatemala, Chile, and Ecuador. Assessments are made as to how factors, such as civil society-state relations, democratization, state reform, and international pressure, have catalyzed or constrained policies promoting the collaborations. The projects' implementation processes are analyzed with an emphasis on determining their sustainability, and various aspects of the collaborations — for example, funding, coordinated planning, and training — are evaluated. The paper concludes with a set of policy recommendations for future implementation of similar projects.
Topic:
Democratization and Government
Political Geography:
Latin America

57547. Stabilization and Its Discontents: Argentina's Economic Restructuring in the 1990s

Author:
Manuel Pastor and Carol Wise
Publication Date:
05-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The North-South Center, University of Miami
Abstract:
Even as multilateral officials adamantly oppose the implementation of currency boards as a way of stabilizing exchange rates and inflation in the wake of the recent Asian financial crisis, Argentina remains committed to such an arrangement. This paper explores the political and economic conditions that prompted Argentine policymakers to adopt an economic management model in 1991 that is generally considered to be less flexible than other approaches now prevailing in Latin America. Short-term outcomes as well as longer-term patterns of economic restructuring now underway in Argentina are analyzed. The authors argue that, despite considerable success on the macro-stabilization front, policymakers still have their work cut out in terms of designing a set of second-phase measures to facilitate smoother adjustment at the microeconomic level.
Topic:
Economics and Political Economy
Political Geography:
Latin America

57548. Free Trade in the Americas: Fulfilling the Promise of Miami and Santiago

Author:
Stephen Lander and Ambler Moss
Publication Date:
04-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The North-South Center, University of Miami
Abstract:
The creation of a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) was the bold centerpiece of the Summit of the Americas held in Miami in December 1994, and the FTAA recently received further impetus at the Summit of the Americas II in Santiago, Chile. This Agenda Paper, comprises two essays, one an overview of the process by Ambler Moss, “Moving Toward a Free Trade Area of the Americas,” and the other a look forward by Stephen Lande, “Launching Negotiations and Concrete Progress by the Millennium,” which assesses the progress made to date in working toward the FTAA and particularly examines the subject of “business facilitation” or measures designed to enhancethe flows of trade even as the FTAA is being negotiated.
Topic:
International Cooperation and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States, America, and Latin America

57549. The Implementation of Agenda 21 in Latin America, 1992-1997

Author:
Gisela Salomón
Publication Date:
03-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The North-South Center, University of Miami
Abstract:
In June 1992, 172 governments meeting at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, agreed to work together to promote sustainable development. Five years later, in 1997, environmental problems continued to deteriorate. In this article, Gisela Salomón analyzes the difficulties faced by Latin American countries in implementing Agenda 21 and points to areas where progress has been made in sustainable development. The author expresses the need for governments to strengthen their political will to implement environmental strategies and to consider not only the economic aspects of development but social and ecological as well, emphasizing the importance of conscience-building, especially through education.
Topic:
Development and Environment
Political Geography:
Latin America

57550. Maintaining prosperity in an ageing society

Publication Date:
06-1998
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:
Population ageing in OECD countries over the coming decades could threaten future growth in prosperity. Governments should take action now across a broad range of economic, financial and social policies to ensure the foundations for maintaining prosperity in an ageing society. While reforms are already underway, much deeper reforms will be needed to meet the challenges of population ageing.
Topic:
Economics, Government, and International Trade and Finance