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Begin New Search Content Type Working Paper Publishing Institution Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas

1. How to Negotiate Over Trade: A Summary of New Research for Developing Countries

Author:
John S. Odell and Antonio Ortiz Mena L.N.
Publication Date:
01-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
Developing country governments frequently negotiate with other governments over trade issues. Most developing countries are now members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and many of the rest are negotiating to join it. In the Doha Development Agenda, members find themselves facing multilateral talks of daunting complexity. The issues range from established ones such as market access, to the revision of WTO rules on antidumping, subsidies, and dispute settlement, to controversies over proposed new rules on investment and competition policies. Sometimes governments also negotiate to settle legal disputes about members' compliance with existing rules. Many are simultaneously negotiating new regional and bilateral pacts as well. This paper provides an advance summary of a research project developed by a group of scholars in 2003 to address the need of many developing countries to improve their capacity to participate effectively in trade negotiations.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Government, and International Trade and Finance

2. Las bases internas de la política exterior: realidades y retos de la apertura económica y la democracia

Author:
Guadalupe González González
Publication Date:
12-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the links between economic liberalization, democratization and foreign policy using the Mexican experience as a case study. The paper revolves around three major concerns: a) the change in the role and place of foreign policy in the context of an open economy and a democratic regime, compared with the previous period of a closed economy and an authoritarian regime; b) the impact of economic liberalization and democratization on the formulation, agenda and orientation of foreign policy; c) the effects of the new economic, political and social internal configuration on the international position of Mexico and its negotiating capacity vis a vis the world. This work documents an increase in the level of activity and interest shown by numerous social, governmental and bureaucratic actors in foreign policy issues as a consequence of economic openness and democratization of the political regime, which leads towards a greater politization of the issue area. The main argument is that the deficits in economic and social development, democratic consolidation and governability, negatively affect the country's credibility and its negotiating capacity vis a vis the world.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Democratization, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:
Mexico

3. México ante América Latina: Mirando de reojo a Estados Unidos

Author:
Guadalupe González González
Publication Date:
11-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze the patterns of continuity and change in Mexico's diplomatic strategies towards Latin America between 1945 and 2005 as a case study on the impact of systemic variables –specifically, changes in the distribution of power at world and regional level- on the foreign policy of intermediate states. It distinguishes four different periods in Mexico-Latin America relations using a typology of diplomatic strategies built upon two criteria: a) the intermediate state's level of attention and activity in its immediate regional area, and b) the level of alignment or convergence with U.S. policies, as the hegemonic power in the Hemisphere. The main argument is that changes in Mexico's relative position in the regional structure of power and the shift from bipolarity to unipolarity at global level do not explain the persistence of a historical gap between the symbolic and material dimensions of Mexico's relations with Latin America. Over the last six decades, the evidence points towards the existence of a growing disjuncture between Mexico's increasing power position in the region and its limited regional projection.
Topic:
International Relations and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
United States, Latin America, Central America, and Mexico

4. La participación en Operaciones de Paz de la ONU y el control civil de las fuerzas armadas: los casos de Argentina y Uruguays

Author:
Arturo C. Sotomayor
Publication Date:
08-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
This is a comparative study that explores the impact of participation in United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations on civil-military relations in two democratizing and developing countries; namely, Argentina and Uruguay. I ask for example, why the incorporation of the Argentine military into UN peace operations increased linkages between diplomats and soldiers, while Uruguayan peacekeeping experiences enlarged the gap between politicians and the military? I develop a qualitative measurement to evaluate variations on the effects by focusing on the mode of transition to democracy, the bureaucratic politics of the defense policy-making, and the type of socialization in the field. My research argues that the military is not defined only by domestic variables. This leads to questions in general about the nature of the military as an institution. Not only the doctrine, technology and techniques of the military are influenced by international variables, but also its very raison d'être and place in domestic politics. This is an initial attempt to theorize and elucidate how the peacekeeping policies of transitional and democratizing regimes differ and vary in their effects from the peace contributions of developed and established democracies, such as Canada, Norway, and Sweden.
Topic:
Democratization, Peace Studies, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Canada, Norway, Argentina, South America, Uruguay, and Sweden

5. Tendencias y patrones de la cooperación internacional para el desarrollo económico

Author:
Arturo C. Sotomayor
Publication Date:
08-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
This paper provides a literature review and explores the evolution of official development aid (ODA) in the past decade. The main empirical puzzles that guide this research are: how has foreign development aid or ODA evolved historically within the broader framework of international cooperation? Who are the main ODA contributors? What countries provide more foreign aid in terms of their gross domestic product? What motivations drive ODA contributions? Which developing countries benefit the most from foreign aid?
Topic:
Development, Economics, Humanitarian Aid, and Politics

6. La política internacional de las entidades federativas mexicanas

Author:
Fabiola Lopez Farfan and Jorge A. Schiavon
Publication Date:
06-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
This working paper analyses the participation of the Mexican federal units in the international arena. It seeks to answer three central questions: 1) do Mexican federal unit have a foreign policy of their own?, 2) which is the level of international participation of Mexican federal units?, and 3) which variables explain the variation in the level of internacional participation of Mexican federal units? To answer the first question, a brief analysis of the Mexican legal framework is presented, in order to clarify the legal limitations that federal units have in the foreign policy arena. To provide an answer to the second question, a typology of the international participation of federal units is developed and, based on it, the 32 Mexican federal units are classified. To answer the final question, it is argued that the degree of international participation depends on four types of variables: economic (income), political (party affiliation of state governors), geographic (border location), and local shocks (states' visibility). Evidence is provided to sustain the economic and geographic (at the Northern border only) variables. Finally, the last section presents three case studies (Federal District, Jalisco, and State of Mexico), which present huge variations in their level of international participation, in order to contrast them to better understand these extreme cases.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Government
Political Geography:
Central America and Mexico

7. Getting to “No”: Defending Against Demands in NAFTA Energy Negotiations

Author:
Antonio Ortiz Mena L.N.
Publication Date:
06-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
How can a developing country defend itself against unwanted demands in international economic negotiations, especially when the demandeur is a stronger state? Such defense can be a necessary component of any strategy, not only a distributive one but also a mixed strategy aimed at a wider agreement that benefits both sides. Sometimes what looks like an unwelcome demand turns out, after exploration and exchanges of concessions, to be an acceptable element in a beneficial package deal. But some demands are unwelcome in the stronger sense that one's government places an infinite reservation value on that particular issue. The government would prefer no agreement. In the case of a deal breaker, the delegation can walk away from the entire negotiation, but this could have large costs in opportunities foregone and even possible penalties imposed. What are the alternatives short of walking away? Mexico's negotiators faced such situation in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiations with the United States and Canada (1990-1992), specifically in the energy sector. In general the three states sought a mutual-gains agreement, and in general each employed a mixed strategy. In energy, however, Washington made demands--regarding investment and supply commitments--which Mexico found unacceptable. At the end of the day the Mexican team managed to attain its main offensive negotiation aims in NAFTA (significantly improved market access, faster tariff reductions in the U.S. and Canada than in Mexico, and an effective dispute settlement mechanism), as well as the main defensive ones in energy. How did they do it? Structural conditions, such as being a neighbor of the U.S., gives Mexico certain leverage in negotiations, for the U.S. will typically take into account non-economic considerations when negotiating over economic issues. Nonetheless, many lessons derived from Mexico's negotiation strategy in energy negotiations during NAFTA can be applied across a range of cases.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Energy Policy, and Government
Political Geography:
United States, Washington, Canada, North America, and Mexico

8. What Role for Learning? The Diffusion of Privatisation in the OECD and Latin American Countries

Author:
Covadonga Meseguer
Publication Date:
06-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
In this paper, I enquire whether 37 governments in industrial and in Latin American countries privatised as a result of learning from experience. Using a rational updating model, I examine whether the decision in the 1980s and 1990s to streamline the public sector was the outcome of a revision of beliefs about the effectiveness of privatisation or whether, alternatively, it was triggered by international pressures or mimicry. The results suggest that rational learning and especially emulation were two important factors in the decision to privatise. International pressures, here proxied by the presence or absence of an agreement with the International Monetary Fund and by European Union membership, are irrelevant to explanations of the decision to privatise. Finally, domestic political conditions appear relevant to the decision to launch privatisation but only when the analysis is carried out for each of the regional sub-samples. In the OECD countries, centre-left governments were more likely to privatise whereas in Latin American more repressive regimes were more willing to divest.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, and Government
Political Geography:
Latin America

9. Opinión pública y política exterior en México y Estados Unidos: un estudio comparado

Author:
Guadalupe Gonzalez (ed), Susan Minushikin (ed), Robert Y. Shapiro (ed), and Catherine Hug
Publication Date:
06-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The 2004 Mexico and the World survey, conducted by Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) and Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales (COMEXI), is the first-ever comprehensive study of Mexican public and leadership opinion on international affairs. The study is designed to measure general attitudes and values concerning Mexico's relationship with the world rather than opinions on specific foreign policies or issues. This year's survey was conducted in cooperation with The Chicago Council on Foreign Relations' (CCFR) 2004 study of American public and leadership opinion on foreign policy, a periodic survey conducted since 1974.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and Government
Political Geography:
United States, Central America, Mexico, and Chicago

10. Opinión pública y política exterior en México

Author:
Guadalupe Gonzalez (ed), Susan Minushikin (ed), and Robert Y. Shapiro (ed)
Publication Date:
06-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The 2004 Mexico and the World survey, conducted by Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) and Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales (COMEXI), is the first-ever comprehensive study of Mexican public and leadership opinion on international affairs. The study is designed to measure general attitudes and values concerning Mexico's relationship with the world rather than opinions on specific foreign policies or issues. This year's survey was conducted in cooperation with The Chicago Council on Foreign Relations' (CCFR) 2004 study of American public and leadership opinion on foreign policy, a periodic survey conducted since 1974.
Topic:
International Relations, Civil Society, and Politics
Political Geography:
America, Central America, Mexico, and Chicago

11. Comparing Mexican and American Public Opinion and Foreign Policy

Author:
Guadalupe Gonzalez (ed), Susan Minushikin (ed), Robert Y. Shapiro (ed), and Catherine Hug
Publication Date:
06-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The 2004 Mexico and the World survey, conducted by Centro de InvestigaciÓ;n y Docencia EconÓmicas (CIDE) and Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales (COMEXI), is the first-ever comprehensive study of Mexican public and leadership opinion on international affairs. The study is designed to measure general attitudes and values concerning Mexico's relationship with the world rather than opinions on specific foreign policies or issues. This year's survey was conducted in cooperation with The Chicago Council on Foreign Relations' (CCFR) 2004 study of American public and leadership opinion on foreign policy, a periodic survey conducted since 1974.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and Government
Political Geography:
United States, Central America, and Mexico

12. Mexican Public Opinion and Foreign Policy

Author:
Guadalupe Gonzalez (ed), Susan Minushikin (ed), and Robert Y. Shapiro (ed)
Publication Date:
06-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The 2004 Mexico and the World survey, conducted by Centro de InvestigaciÓn y Docencia EconÓmicas (CIDE) and Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales (COMEXI), is the first-ever comprehensive study of Mexican public and leadership opinion on international affairs. The study is designed to measure general attitudes and values concerning Mexico's relationship with the world rather than opinions on specific foreign policies or issues. This year's survey was conducted in cooperation with The Chicago Council on Foreign Relations' (CCFR) 2004 study of American public and leadership opinion on foreign policy, a periodic survey conducted since 1974.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Government
Political Geography:
America, Central America, and Mexico

13. U.S. Military Concepts of War and their Impact on Foreign Interventions

Author:
Charles W. Parker III
Publication Date:
06-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
This essay argues that military doctrine shapes the nature of United States foreign interventions. In particular, the U.S. military's concepts of “war” and “Military Operations Other Than War” (MOOTW), and the resulting institutional orientation of the Pentagon towards such contingencies, have had a profound impact on the planning and execution of contingencies around the world since the U.S. became a great power. Before World War II, MOOTW-like military interventions were commonplace and mostly successful in the conduct of U.S. foreign policy. Most military interventions such as the Philippines War of 1899-1901 and in the Caribbean (Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Panama, Nicaragua) between 1899 and 1941 were successful limited campaigns that helped consolidate the United States as a regional and global power. U.S. military doctrine and capabilities in counterinsurgency, peace enforcement, and foreign internal defense, were robust. This core competency of the U.S. military was lost in the large scale and conventional struggles against the Axis powers and later the Soviet Union.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and War
Political Geography:
United States, Soviet Union, Cuba, Central America, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Dominican Republic

14. La participación uruguaya en las operaciones de paz de la ONU: los beneficios económicos y sus costos políticos

Author:
Arutro C. Sotomayor
Publication Date:
06-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
This essay explores the domestic implications of Uruguay's very active participation in United Nations peacekeeping operations. The author argues that involvement of uniformed officers in UN missions has improved military salaries, enabled military procurement and provided extra incentives for military recruitment. However, Uruguay's participation in peace missions has been inconsequential for improving civil-military relations. According to the author, despite the initial advantages that civilian policymakers had to carve out military prerogatives, the absence of civilian expertise on peacekeeping matters has increased the military's policy leverage on defense policies. In this context, the military has institutional autonomy to define peacekeeping policies and rarely consults or informs their superior civilians. Therefore, the Uruguayan case provides a critical example of the potential perverse effects that international peacekeeping participation can have among UN troop-contributing and democratizing countries.
Topic:
Democratization, Peace Studies, and United Nations
Political Geography:
South America and Uruguay

15. The U.S. National Security Strategy and the Global War on Terror “Force Multiplier”

Author:
Charles W. Parker III
Publication Date:
04-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
In September 2002, President George W. Bush published a new National Security Strategy (NSS) in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 (9/11) terrorist attacks in the United States homeland. The publication of the new NSS represented a codification of a series of policy ideas that had been brewing since the end of the first Bush Administration and throughout the Clinton Administration, which were sharpened as a result of the newly perceived threats to the United States' security posture. Some prominent academics have argued that the NSS and Bush's actions represent a “neoimperialist” or “unilateralist” approach to the conduct of U.S. foreign relations, and are a radical and fundamental shift in the trajectory of U.S. power projection and assertiveness. They also lament a rift in relations with European allies in part due to this new policy trajectory, to the point of declaring that the Europe and the United States will be future rivals on the world stage.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, and Government
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

16. International Investor Influence in the 1994-1995 Mexican Peso Crisis

Author:
Charles W. Parker III
Publication Date:
04-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
This essay provides a detailed overview, at a market- and firm- level, of the involvement and influence international portfolio investors had in the development and outcomes of the Mexico Peso Crisis of 1994-1995. It address two problems with the literature that is critical of the role of international investors during the crisis; the lack of specific data of market activity by firms that were engaged in Mexico during the volatile period before and after the December 1994 devaluation, and details on private creditor interactions with government officials in key episodes of the crisis. Through a review of the literature, industry data, and confidential interviews with key governmental and private actors, this essay concludes that there was sizable concentration of international investment firms engaged in Mexico, but claims they instigated or exacerbated the crisis are overblown; global funds rather than emerging market funds were a more likely culprit in Mexican market volatility and only after the devaluation; the role of investment banks as participants has been underestimated and is important in understanding collective action problems in finding a solution to the crisis; and a lack of information and mutual confidence, as well as policy overdependence on foreign capital flows, rather than purported “structural power,” were far more important factors in determining the onset and outcomes of the crisis.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:
Central America and Mexico

17. What is New in the Study of Policy Diffusion? A Critical Review

Author:
Fabricio Gilardi and Convadonga Meseguer
Publication Date:
04-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
This paper surveys what is new in the study of the international diffusion of policies and institutions. We critically review the most recent contributions on the topic, trying to identify the substantive and methodological novelties in this literature. Regarding mechanisms, we argue that whereas there is acknowledgement that they overlap, there is hardly any attention to the way in which they interact (either with other mechanisms of diffusion or with domestic factors). More generally, mechanisms are studied separately and are not integrated into a coherent model of diffusion. Regarding empirics, we argue that existing studies have concentrated on policies that seem to have diffused in an explosive way despite the fact that both theory and methods are appropriate to study any type of diffusion. We argue that new empirical work should tackle the difficult issue of how to better operationalize alternative diffusion mechanisms. More attention should also be given to modeling diffusion processes to account for the fact that causal patterns may be highly heterogeneous in time and space. Finally, we show that the last wave of studies on diffusion may have had the unintended consequence of opening up new questions. Some of these questions are about the mechanisms that initiate vs. accelerate the diffusion of policies and institutions, why policies diffuse in clusters rather than globally, why some policies diffuse faster than others and why some policies do not diffuse at all.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Development

18. The Consolidation of Democracy vs. the Price of Olive Oil: The Story of Why the CAP Delayed Spain's Entry to the EC

Author:
Lorena Ruano
Publication Date:
04-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
Why did agriculture, a supposedly 'low politics' issue area, become so salient in the accession negotiations between Spain and the EC? Why did it manage to obscure the 'high politics' motives of regional stability and democratic consolidation?
Topic:
International Relations, Agriculture, Democratization, and Politics
Political Geography:
Spain

19. ¿Integración por la puerta trasera? La incursión del Tribunal de Justicia de las Comunidades Europeas en materia tributaria

Author:
Antonio Cubero and Loreno Ruano
Publication Date:
11-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
To what extent do member states control the process of European integration? This question has traditionally confronted Intergovernmentalists with Neo-functionalists and Institutionalists of various sorts. This paper provides evidence that supports the second school of thought and refines its theoretical claims with a case study: the European Court of Justice's jurisprudence on direct taxation. This is a 'hard case', because in this sector, the member states' resistance to the expansion of Community competence has been particularly virulent. It will be shown how, inspite of this, the Court's jurisprudence has ventured in the field of taxation to the point of undermining the principle upon which rest all national fiscal systems (the distinction between residents and non-residents), putting under severe strain the coherence of national tributary systems. The Court's jurisprudence have also had effects on issues pertaining exclusively to national taxation, through the principle of 'inverted non-discrimination'.
Topic:
International Relations, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:
Europe

20. The Political Economy of Regionalism: Current Theorizing and Preliminary Observations on the G-3 FTA

Author:
Antonio Ortiz Mena López Negrete
Publication Date:
12-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
This working paper provides and overview of current theorizing on the political economy of regional integration. Specifically, it assesses several theories that attempt to explain the causes behind the resurgence or regionalism in the late 1980's and early 1990's with special emphasis on Milner's demand-driven theory based on demands for regionalism by firms with internal increasing returns to scale. After reviewing the main propositions of the theories in light of the G-3 Free Trade Agreement, it finds that no single theory adequately accounts for the causes behind the establishment of the agreement, that Milner's model is better at specifying preferences than outcomes, and that greater attention should be paid to the institutional forms of regional integration agreements.
Topic:
Economics, Industrial Policy, Political Economy, and Regional Cooperation

21. Policy Learning, Policy Diffusion and the Making of a New Order

Author:
Covadonga Meseguer
Publication Date:
11-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
This chapter surveys the role of learning as mechanism of policy diffusion in the context of the creation of a new political order. I discuss policy learning against the background of recent research on the diffusion of deregulatory and regulatory policies, and attempt to distinguish learning from other mechanisms of diffusion. I then survey the challenges entailed in testing this mechanism and set out my particular approach: a rational version of learning. I also report the results of preliminary efforts to test learning as applied to the diffusion of regulatory policies. I conclude that learning cannot be rejected as a plausible mechanism of the diffusion of policies, although it shares its explanatory role with less rational mechanisms of diffusion, in particular policy emulation. Further research and analysis is needed to test learning in either its rational or its bounded version, and in doing so to delve into the politics of learning.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Development, Economics, and Politics

22. Civil-Military Relations and Security Institutions in the Southern Cone: The Sources of Argentine-Brazilian Nuclear Cooperation

Author:
Arturo Sotomayor
Publication Date:
11-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
This paper analyzes the conditions in which the governments of Argentina and Brazil founded security institutions in the early 1990s, while they were democratizing. Civilian leaders in both countries established institutions and sought international participation deliberately to achieve civilian control and gain leverage over the military establishment, whom they sorely distrusted. The need to stabilize civil-military relations at home was therefore the prime motivating force behind the emergence of security institutions in the Southern Cone. Three mechanisms were at work: omnibalancing, policy handling, and managing uncertainty. These mechanisms are derived from three different schools of thought: realism, organizational-bureaucratic models, and theories of domestic political institutions. Besides explaining the sources of nuclear bilateral cooperation, this argument also serves as a critique of two prominent theories in international relations that attempt to explain cooperation and peaceful relations among democracies: neoliberal institutionalism and democratic peace theory.
Topic:
Security, Government, and Nuclear Weapons
Political Geography:
Brazil, Argentina, and South America

23. Elementos de una aproximación interpretativa a las ciencias sociales

Author:
Farid Kahhat
Publication Date:
09-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
Statesmen address security concerns based on their understanding of the issues at stake. Such a truism becomes problematic, though, once we realize that no fact or event does inherently pose a threat to a state's security. Threats can only be identified by silhouetting them against the background of an interpretive framework: only after we know what could count as a security threat can we recognize certain facts or events as particular instances of that general phenomena. Therefore, different frameworks of interpretation will elicit different meanings from the same facts and events, and suggest different courses of action in response to them.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, Development, and Government

24. Las relaciones económicas internacionales de México hacia el siglo XXI: retos y oportunidades. Reporte.

Author:
Antonio Ortiz Mena L.N. and Ninfa Fuentes
Publication Date:
09-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
On December 2002, the Division of International Studies (DEI) at the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) organized the forum “The International Economic Relations of Mexico: Challenges and Opportunities” with the support of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. The forum approached the international economic relationships of Mexico, from the regional and multilateral perspectives. The objective of the forum and of this document is to evaluate the relationships that Mexico maintains with each one of the regions and countries approached in the forum, highlighting the challenges and the opportunities that each one of them presents. We live an opportune moment to design a prospective and coherent vision of the international economic relationships of Mexico in the XXI Century among government's organs in order to avoid arriving to a point in which Mexico would have a reduced maneuver margin. The participants who took part in the forum and a list of acronyms are included at the beginning of the document. The conference agenda can be found as well. This document intends to reproduce the essence of the forum discussions and the participants' presentations. It is our intention to reflect in a clear and honest manner the participants' statements in this paper. Any lack of precision is not intentional and is exclusively our responsibility.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:
Central America and Mexico

25. Las condicionantes internas de la política exterior de Brasil y México

Author:
Jorge A. Schiavon and Octavio Amorim Neto
Publication Date:
08-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
Brazil's foreign policy is an example of continuity, while Mexico's foreign policy is characterized by change. The foreign policy of both countries is conditioned by both international and domestic variables. This working paper describes and explains comparatively the way in which the domestic politics of Brazil and Mexico are key factors in determining their foreign policies. The document is divided in two sections. The first and more important analyzes the mechanisms through which domestic institutional, economic, and political variables impact and determine the foreign policies of both countries; this section is divided in two parts, one on Brazil and the other on Mexico. The second section explores the consequences of domestic institutions in Brazil's and Mexico's foreign policies in the adminstrations of Vicente Fox y Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, after they took office in 2000 y 2003 respectively, using both cases to discuss the central findings of this research.
Topic:
International Relations and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
Brazil, South America, Central America, and Mexico

26. La política exterior de las entidades federativas: un estudio comparado

Author:
Jorge A. Schiavon
Publication Date:
08-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
This working paper analyses the causes of the increased international activity of federated states' units, and the way and intensity in which this activity takes place. First, it explains that the growing participation of federal entities in foreign policy is a product, on one hand, of increasing globalization and interdependence in the international system, and, on the other, of the internal processes of liberalization, democratization, and decentralization. Second, using the Mexican case as an example, it explains how the legal rules in the Constitution establish the limits of international participation of the states of the federation; then, it analyses how the institutional configuration, the division of power, and the division of purpose in the system influence the degree of intensity of participation of these federal units in foreign policy issues, within the constitutional limitations. Likewise, it considers economic capacity and geographical location of the states as variables that also seem to influence their degree of activity. Then, it briefly explores how Mexican federal entities have participated in the internacional arena. Finally, it describes the relationships, in terms of foreign policy, between different orders of government in other federal systems, such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, and the United States, and contrasts these relationships with those in Mexico.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, Development, and Government
Political Geography:
United States, Canada, Germany, Australia, Switzerland, and Mexico

27. The Central-Local Division of Power in the Americas and the Renewed Mexican Federalism (Old Institutions, New Political Realities)

Author:
Jorge A. Schiavon
Publication Date:
05-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
This research paper explores whether the central-local division of power is an important institutional variable in the operation of political systems in the Americas. It develops a typology of central-local divisions of power in the hemisphere based on two specific characteristics that differentiate them (federal-unitary and centralized-decentralized), and discusses the relevance of the institutional and partisan configurations of the system in the workings of this variable. Then, it constructs a veto gates and veto players model in order to analyze the causal mechanism through which the centrallocal division of power impacts political systems in the Americas. It then presents two examples (with variations in time and space) to support the argument that the central-local division of power's relevance depends on its type, the institutional configuration, and party composition of the system. In doing so, it analyses the Mexican federal system, arguing that renewed Mexican federalism and its consequences in terms of democratic governance and the efficient provision of public policies is a result of the concurrence of old institutions with the new political reality, that is, the intersection of the old institutional framework and the new partisan configurations of the Mexican political system.
Topic:
International Relations, Government, and Sovereignty
Political Geography:
America and South America

28. Reforma estructural e integración regional en las Américas.

Author:
Jorge A. Schiavon and Ninfa Fuentes
Publication Date:
05-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The structural reform and regional integration programs contribute to the economic development of the countries of the Western Hemisphere. In the last decade, several efforts of regional integration have taken place in the region. However, their success or failure is related, to a great extent, to the degree of structural reform implemented, due to the fact that the latter provides a common ground to launch the regional integration process. Thus, the central question of this research is: what is the impact of the structural reform process in the implementation of regional integration in the Americas?
Topic:
Development and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
South America and Central America

29. El Islamismo como teoría política y de relaciones internacionales.

Author:
José Alberto Moreno
Publication Date:
05-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The Islamism is the sum of theories and religious doctrines who fought for a harsh Quoranic interpretation and Shari'a (Islamic Law) applying, with the aim to transform the society to an idealistic return of the prophet Muhammad's time and manners. The present paper has a double objective: diffuse the main arguments of some scholars from this political thought and categorized the Islamism through intellectual periods and religious schools (Sunnism and Shiism).
Topic:
Development, Ethnic Conflict, Politics, and Religion

30. Balance of Power, Democracy and Foreign Policy in South America's Southern Cone

Author:
Farid Kahhat
Publication Date:
12-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to assess the merits of two contending theories (balance of power and democratic peace) on the relationship between regime type (e.g., democratic or authoritarian) and foreign policy orientation (i.e., relative proneness towards conflict and cooperation) for the case of South America's Southern Cone between 1970 and 1995. I will argue that a balance of power perspective does not provide a persuasive explanation of changing patterns of inter-state conflict and cooperation within this region during the period under scrutiny. In turn, I will suggest that many attempts to test democratic peace theory beyond the industrialized democracies in the post-war era may be conceptually flawed.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Democratization, Government, and Peace Studies
Political Geography:
South America

31. Straight as a Rule:Heteronormativity, Gendercide, and the Non-Combatant Male

Author:
Adam Jones
Publication Date:
11-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
This paper is an extension of the author's research into the vulnerability of non-combatant “battle-age” males in situations of war and genocide. It explores the role of heteronormativity – defined as “culturally hegemonic heterosexuality” – in shaping the victimization experiences of male noncombatants. An introductory section addresses definitional issues and frames the discussion in terms of the study of gendercide, or genderselective mass killing. The link between non-combatant status, imputed violations of heteronormativity, and gendercide is then explored. A separate section considers the phenomenon of sexual violence against males in wartime, and asks whether feminist theories of “genocidal rape” can usefully be deployed to assist understanding of this little-studied phenomenon. The conclusion cites some remaining conceptual and conventional obstacles to research on male non-combatants, and suggests avenues for further investigation.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Genocide, Human Welfare, and War

32. Los estudios de seguridad tras el fin de la Guerra Fría.

Author:
Farid Kahhat
Publication Date:
09-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to compare a neorealist perspective on security issues with new perspectives on the subject that have gained ground since the end of the Cold War. The neorealist perspective privileges the state as the object of reference of security policies, while guaranteeing its political survival is seen as their ultimate aim (which implies, at the very least, to preserve an institutional control over a given territory). In turn, the main threats to the survival of the state are essentially foreign military threats, represented by the regular armies of neighboring states. Therefore, military arsenals provide the most effective means to cope with those threats.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, Cold War, and War

33. Materiales para la Docencia: El Marco Conceptual B á sico de la Disciplina de las Relaciones Internacionales

Author:
Arturo Borja Tamayo
Publication Date:
04-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
This working paper provides a discussion of the basic conceptual framework of the discipline of international relations. It is designed to support the teaching of I.R. in Spanish, and is part of an introductory textbook the author is currently preparing. The first section deals with the concept of the international system, explaining the different meanings of anarchy and order in both international and domestic politics. Next, historical examples are used to explore the three levels of analysis: the individual and the decision-making process; the political units; and the systemic level. The last section deals with the various actors in international politics. Throughout the paper, some of the conceptual differences between the two dominant approaches of the discipline, realism and liberalism, are identified.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, Education, and Politics

34. Legal Integration in North America: Domestic and Multilateral Comparisons

Author:
Imtiaz Hussain
Publication Date:
03-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
With so much attention riveted upon economic integration today, another form of integration, having to do with the laws, constitutional provisions, and judicial arrangements countries abide by, has received considerably less attention. To partly redress that imbalance, a case study of legal integration in North America is undertaken. Building upon the specific dispute settlement arrangements of chapters 19 and 20 of the North American Free Trade Agreement, two comparative studies are pursued—the first between the legal practices, constitutional requirements, and judicial contexts in Canada, Mexico, and the United States; the other between NAFTA, GATT, and the World Trade Organization provisions. Two broad findings undergird legal integration in North America: The recognition of the need a) for at least three forms of reciprocal relationships: between economic and legal forms of integration; regional procedures and their domestic counterparts; and regional procedures and their multilateral counterparts; and b) to keep the state an active participant in supranational efforts by leaving a veto power over such developments or the exit option with the state, and thereby accomodating domestic interests and cross-national divergences as widely as possible.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Politics
Political Geography:
North America

35. Banking Reform and Development in the Middle East and Africa

Author:
Catherine Boone and Henry Clement
Publication Date:
03-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
This study underscores the strategic role —both political and economic— of banking sector reform in the overall pursuit of economic development and democratization. It compares trajectories of banking sector reform in Middle Eastern and African countries that have remained on the margins of the new global economy. A close look shows that there governments' willingness to embrace reform has differed across contexts, as has the extent and pace of reform. Meanwhile, the effects of reform have also been very uneven. We model this variation in reform trajectories and its outcomes, propose a theoretical explanation for it, and use a set of case studies to illustrate the contrasts and causal dynamics that we have identified. Our main claim is that structural features of national political economies go far in defining actual trajectories of banking sector reform and liberalization. Structural features of national political economies that we define as key are the strength of indigenous private sector, and how it is linked to the state and foreign capital. We propose a typology of banking structure and reform trajectories and use case studies from the Middle East and Africa to illustrate variation in the politics of banking sector reform.
Topic:
Development and Political Economy
Political Geography:
Africa, United States, Middle East, Canada, North America, and Mexico

36. Mexico and the WTO: A Regional Player in Multilateral Trade Negotiations

Author:
Antonio Ortiz Mena
Publication Date:
03-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
This working paper assesses the impact of the Uruguay Round Agreements of multilateral trade negotiation (MTN) on Mexico and determines the priorities of business and government for an upcoming round of MTN. It draws on secondary sources as well as interviews with business organizations representing Mexico' most important export industries and import-competing sectors. It proceeds as follows: the first section gives an overview of trade polity reforms since 1982; section two covers Mexico's regional trade agreements with special emphasis on the North American Free Trade Agreement; the third section provides and outline of Mexico's current trade policies; the fourth section consists of an assessment of the costs and benefits of Mexico's current World Trade Organization commitments' the fifth sections sets out the views of government and business on a new round of MTN; and the sixth section concludes.
Topic:
Security, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
North America and Mexico

37. The Institutional Structure of Financial and Monetary Integration the Americas

Author:
Antonio Ortiz Mena and Susan Minushkin
Publication Date:
03-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
Globalization, understood as "an open market place free of institutional or locational constraints" (Weiss) seems to have taken hold of the Americas - for better or worse. There are currently numerous preferential trade agreements (PTAs) and bilateral investment treaties (BITs) in the region. Yet, how close is this image to reality? Do American countries have the institutional framework required to allow a relatively free flow of goods, services and capital within the region? This paper looks into the institutional structures required for financial and monetary integration, through an analysis of BITs, investment and trade in financial services provisions in PTAs, capital account regimes, exchange rate structures, and the possibilities for debt and equity financing within the Americas. It is an empirically-oriented paper that attempts to assess the degree of compatibility between the current institutional structure governing financial and monetary relations in the Americas, and the possibility of attaining relatively free flow of capital and integrated financial markets in the region.
Topic:
Economics, Globalization, and Politics
Political Geography:
America and North America

38. Bankers into Brokers: The Structural Transformation and Opening of Mexico's Financial Markets

Author:
Susan Minushkin
Publication Date:
03-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
Mexico's financial market opening demonstrates how this domestic logic interacts with international condition. The following case study of Mexican financial opening makes the following contentions. First, financial market opening in Mexico did not begin in the 1980s, as commonly believed. Rather the process has its roots in a conflict among sub-sectors of the financial services industry, between powerful oligarchic bankers (banqueros) and financial entrepreneurs based on the bolsa (bolseros). The conflict, dating from the 1960s, was a purely domestic affair and was not the result of increased international capital mobility and financial marked opening in OECD countries. Nevertheless, this conflict led to a structural change in the financial service industry congruent with changes in the international financial system from bank-based financing to increasing securities market-based financing.
Topic:
Economics, Emerging Markets, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
North America and Mexico

39. Economic Conditions, Democracy and the IMF

Author:
Susan Minushkin
Publication Date:
03-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
This study seeks to test the hypotheses that different styles of financial market opening can be explained, in part, by general economic conditions and the need to attract external capital. It seeks, as well, to test the some for the more general arguments advanced in the financial market opening literature that financial market opening is a result of a country's increased participation in the international financial system and increased international trade integration. Two specifically political arguments also are tested. The first is that emerging markets opened their markets in response to pressure from the IMF. The second is that there is an association between political freedom and open markets. I test these hypotheses using regression analyses of panel data from a sample of emerging market countries.
Topic:
Economics, Emerging Markets, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Europe and North America

40. Policy Reform in the Mexican Telecommunications Sector

Author:
Miguel Ángel Valverde
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
In June 1990, Presidents George Bush and Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari announced their intention to begin negotiating a free trade agreement. Canada joined the negotiations the following August. The proposed North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) provoked an intense lobbying campaign in the U.S. Congress, in what became a major political battle for its congressional approval.
Topic:
Economics, Government, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Africa, Canada, Central America, and Mexico

41. Take the State Back Out? Comparing French Responses to Globalization in Agriculture and Shipping

Author:
Mark Aspinwall and Imtiaz Hussain
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
How autonomous is a state in today's highly interdependent international economy to pursue policies that diverge widely from the international norm? Does the degree of autonomy vary for different domestic sectors? We adapt and apply Benjamin Cohen's unholy trinity model (1993), to a comparative assessment of how France responded to globalization over agriculture and shipping, focusing on three dimensions—investment, transaction costs, and government policy responses. Although France is reputed to possess a strong state machinery (Katzenstein, 1987; Wilson, 1987; Skocpol, 1985), our analysis raises qualifications. On the one hand, regardless of government policy intentions, we find irreversible forms of disinvestment in both sectors, though different in nature—geographic for shipping, and functional for agriculture; on the other, we also find continued dependence upon the state—for aid in shipping and resisting free trade in agriculture. We further find that, although internal and endogenous, as well as external and exogenous, factors influence policy-making, the nature of these factors are different for the two sectors. We conclude by drawing implications of our findings for state-society relations and European integration.
Topic:
Agriculture, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Africa, Europe, and France

42. Clientelism in Flux: Democratization and Interest Intermediation in Contemporary Mexico

Author:
Blanca Heredia Rubio
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The buoyant optimism spurred by the rush to democracy throughout Latin America along with the high, even if less widespread, hopes about market reform of the last decade have given way to a different mood. The excitement associated with large scale social change has subsided and a certain disillusionment, a hangover of sorts, has begun to set in.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, and Economics
Political Geography:
Latin America, Central America, and Mexico

43. The Institutional Setting of the NAFTA Debate in the United States

Author:
Miguel Ángel Valverde
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The objective of this paper is to analyze the institutional setting of the NAFTA debate in the United States, focusing on the interaction between the Presidency and Congress, in the formulation of foreign commercial policy. A series of arrangements have tamed confrontation between the Executive and Legislative powers, reconciling their institutional biases. THese arrangements channel and contain domestic demands for protectionism, favoring international trade liberalization negotiations.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Africa, United States, Asia, and North America

44. Gender and Genocide in Ruanda

Author:
Adam Jones
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The gender dimension of the holocaust in Rwanda is perhaps more intricate and multifaceted than any genocide in history. This article explored the relevance of the gender variable to an understanding of the 1994 events. It argues the gender is vital to understanding the social crisis in Rwanda prior to the genocide; the appeals of the genocide's perpetrators to the Hutu population and their mobilization of that population for mass killing; the prominence of women as planners and perpetrators of the genocide; the evolution of the genocide itself between April and July 1994; the massive demographic disproportion between men and women after the holocaust; and the actions and strategies of the Rwandan Patriotic Front rebels who eventually succeeded in ending the genocide. The final section of the article seeks to place the Rwanda experience in comparative perspective, suggests some lessons for the future, and argues that the study of ender and genocide must be gender-inclusive (addressing the experiences of both women and men) in order to more fully explore the workings of this important variable.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Genocide, and Peace Studies
Political Geography:
Africa

45. Liberalizaci ó n Commercial y Reforma Burocr á tica en El Área de Tratados Comerciales Internacionales en México.

Author:
Jorge A. Schiavon and Antonio Ortiz Mena
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The central trade policy priority of the last two administrations (Carlos Salinas de Gortari, 1988-1994, and Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León, 1994-2000) was the negotiation and the implementation of one very important and ambitious free trade agreement each, the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Mexico-European Union Free Trade Agreement respectively. This working paper explains how and why both administrations were able to successfully deal with the delegation problems that chief-executive principals face with their bureaucratic agents, through a series of institutional reforms. The main argument is that both Salinas and Zedillo had to deal with three specific agency problems: adverse selection, moral hazard, and incomplete enforcement, and that given the characteristics of the Mexican political system prevailing at that time, they were able to successfully solve these problems. These institutional reforms in the foreign economic policy should be understood as a response to agency problems, and not as a reflection of the personal governing style of Salinas and Zedillo.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Development, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Africa and North America

46. ¿ Hacia Dónde va la Pol ìtica Exterior Japonesa? El Rearme y el Sistema de Partidos

Author:
Isami Romero
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The central purpose of this article is to analyze the impact of the Japanese party system on the rearmament rhetoric in the 90's. based on a theoretical model which incorporates regional factors as well as domestic variables, the author argues that the rise of the rearmament rhetoric in Japan is a result of changes in the regional context of the country and the prominence of Conservatoriums in the domestic political arena. The author also presents a brief recount of Japanese political history since the Second World War. This article provides a general framework for the study of the impact of the party system on foreign policy making, and contributes to the present debate on the need to incorporate domestic variables to the study of international events.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Africa, Japan, Israel, East Asia, and Mexico

47. The Death of Barricade: Politics and Professionalism in the Post Sandinista Press

Author:
Adam Jones
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
This article examines two decades in the life of Barricada, established as the "official organ" of the revolutionary Sandinista Front (FSLN) in Nicaragua, from its founding in 1979 through to its demise as a daily in 1998. it is argued that as distinct from the overriding "mobilizing imperative" of support for its Sandinista sponsor, and institutionally-generated "professional imperative" was also evident in Barricada's functioning from the early days of the paper's operations. After the FSLN's election defeat in 1990, this professional imperative-along with the political preference of most senior staff for "renovation" within the FSLN-resulted in the paper's establishing a significant degree of day-to-day autonomy fro its sponsor, and important transformations in its journalistic project. This semi-autonomy was foreclosed when the dominant ortodoxo faction of the Front engineered the dismissal of Barricada director Carlos Fernando Chamorro in 1994. Barricada then returned to its more highly-mobilized role as FSLN propagandist, but lost readers and advertising revenue as a result, finally closing in February 1998. The final section of the paper situates the experience of Barricada in the comparative context of mass media and political transitions worldwide.
Topic:
Civil Society, Politics, and War
Political Geography:
Africa and Central America

48. Los Balcanes: Entre el Pasado y el Presente. Una Introducción Históica a los Estudios Balcánicos

Author:
Slobodan Pajovic
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
This working paper deals with the complex, turbulent and contradictory history of the Balkans region. It is argued that the tragic realities confronting the region derive mainly from its asymmetric geopolitical, economic and cultural position, and its high degree of vulnerability and dependence on Western Europe and the Near East. It suggests that it is possible to study the history of the region by examining processes of both internal fragmentation and external subordination. While the paper cannot constitute a complete or systematic study of the Balkans, it presents and overview of the most salient features in the region's historical, politico-economic and cultural development. Two case studies, Yugoslavia and Kosovo, help to highlight the broader trends.
Topic:
Economics, Human Welfare, and Politics
Political Geography:
Europe, Iran, Middle East, Eastern Europe, Kosovo, Yugoslavia, and Balkans

49. Towards a Comparative Model of Press Functioning

Author:
Adam Jones
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
While the role of the press and other media has been central to a wide variety of ideological frameworks and political prescriptions, from classical liberalism to state socialism, there has been little attempt to generate a "macro-theory" of press functioning that claims to be valid for press systems worldwide. This paper attempts to construct such an analytical framework, by isolating two key variables (a "mobilizing imperative" and a "professional imperative") that act to shape the orientation and behavior of press institutions, their sponsors, and their editorial staff. "Meta-environmental" variables, such as pre-existing press culture and level of economic development, are also considered. The paper draws on a wide variety of case-studies, mostly from the less-developed world, to depict the diverse strategies by which press workers seek to reconcile the mobilizing and professional imperatives, and to open up space for the latter. The paper concludes with a presentation of three models, each applicable to a given "type" of media system ("hard" authoritarian, "soft" authoritarian, and market-oriented liberal-democratic). It is claimed that these three models, despite certain conceptual difficulties, account for the great majority of media systems worldwide, and help to explain the institutional behaviors and professional orientations that they exhibit.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:
Africa

50. The World in their Minds. Geopolitical Thought and Inter-State Conflict in South America's Southern Cone

Author:
Farid Kahhat
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The overall topic of this paper is the relationship between regime type (e g, democratic or authoritarian) and foreign policy orientation (i.e., relative proneness towards conflict and cooperation) for South America's Southern Cone from the 1970s into the 1990s. its specific purpose is to offer an explanation of the relationship between regime type and foreign policy orientation in the 1970s. I will argue that, unlike what we would expect from a balance of power perspective, political regime is indeed crucial to understanding foreign policy orientation in the case under scrutiny. But I will suggest that changes in foreign policy orientation within the region in the last decade or so might owe more to the vanishing of authoritarian regimes than to the return of democratically elected leaders. However, I will not make universal claims about authoritarian regimes. I suggest, rather, that the pervasive influence that a geopolitically driven discourse of international politics had over the military establishments within the region is crucial to understand the relative conflict proneness of the authoritarian regimes that prevailed during the 1970's.
Topic:
International Relations, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:
Africa and South America