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2. Watching a dragon's egg hatch: The makings of a Sinocentric world?
- Author:
- Jyrki Kallio
- Publication Date:
- 04-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Finnish Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- As China's hard power is growing, the Party-state is keen to construct a new narrative which legitimizes China's position as a world leader also from the soft power perspective. It has even been suggested that a Chinese international relations theory or model will inevitably emerge as a consequence of China's growing role on the world stage on the one hand and the rise of traditional values in China on the other.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Development, Economics, International Trade and Finance, Power Politics, and Culture
- Political Geography:
- China and Israel
3. Whose money? The tug-of-war over Chinese state enterprise profits
- Author:
- Mikael Mattlin
- Publication Date:
- 04-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Finnish Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- While China's reform strategy has largely been a success story that has seen living standards rise tremendously, it has also led to widening income gaps, regional disparities, and much wasteful investment. Large income gaps breed social discontent that may turn into political demands. The ruling Communist Party has proved itself adroit at preventing such demands from emerging, by taking timely pre-emptive action in response to people's needs.
- Topic:
- Economics, Government, and Social Stratification
- Political Geography:
- China
4. Securing global commons: A small state perspective
- Author:
- Valtteri Vuorisalo, Mika Aaltola, and Joonas Sipilä
- Publication Date:
- 06-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Finnish Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- This report examines the increasing importance of the global commons. It argues that the securing of the sea-, air-, space-, and cyber-based global flows solidifies the vital structures of global interdependence. For a small state with a highly specialized economy, the multilateral frameworks for securing global flows are crucial. Each global domain highlights different aspects of power and requires unique forms of international cooperation. Whereas the maintenance of sea, air, and space flows are resource-intensive, cyber power demands de-territorial agility and innovativeness and, therefore, evens out power disparities. It is also noted that, although individual global domains are usually considered separately, they are intimately connected and characterized by cross-domain dependency. This report focuses on the cyber domain because of its novel cross-domain impact. The CD and MNE processes and their relation to military transformation and patterns of political discourse are approached. It is argued that a small state can utilize the MNE forum to gain important situational awareness over the domains and cross-domain issues, as well as facilitate the formulation of multilateral normative frameworks. This multilateral work on solidifying and securing global flows offers a more stable foundation for the main networks of global interdependence.
- Topic:
- Economics, Globalization, International Cooperation, and Science and Technology
5. How to succeed with a thousand TWh reform?
- Author:
- Laura Solanko
- Publication Date:
- 01-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Finnish Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- As was the case in most developing and transition countries, Russia's electricity sector was dominated by a vertically integrated, state-controlled monopoly. The common problems of ageing infrastructure, large distribution losses, very low retail tariffs, inefficient management and increasing tightness of supply encouraged many countries to embark on large reforms to liberalize their power sectors during the 1990s. In Russia, the reform started somewhat later, but to the surprise of many it has since proceeded very swiftly.
- Topic:
- Corruption, Economics, and Energy Policy
- Political Geography:
- Russia
6. Tradition in Chinese politics: The Party-state's reinvention of the past and the critical response from public intellectuals
- Author:
- Jyrki Kallio
- Publication Date:
- 02-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Finnish Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- This study discusses the role of history and tradition in the legitimization of the state in the People's Republic of China. In Chinese political debate, history has traditionally been the most important source of argumentation. Today, the Party-state is reinventing history and tradition to bolster its legitimacy, but the project has met with opposition. This study introduces and analyzes the related debate, ongoing among various actors in different public fora in China, and engaged in both by those affiliated with the Party-state and those outside the establishment.
- Topic:
- Economics, Government, Markets, Political Economy, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- China
7. A New World Economic Order: Overhauling the Global Economic Governance as a Result of the Financial Crisis, 2008–2009
- Author:
- Tapani Paavonen
- Publication Date:
- 10-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Finnish Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- The recent economic crisis, 2008–2009,is commonly characterized as the worst since the Great Depression of 1929–1933. This recent crisis, called also the Great Recession, seems to form a turning-point in the global economic governance and the development of the world economy.
- Topic:
- Economics, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, and Financial Crisis
8. The Great Regression? Financial Crisis in an Age of Global Interdependence
- Author:
- Vadim Kononenko, Raimo Väyrynen, Toby Archer, Kristian Kurki (ed.), and Matti Nojonen
- Publication Date:
- 12-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Finnish Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- The financial crisis and the ensuing global economic downturn have been the focal point of news coverage and policy analysis for over a year now, and speculation has been rife about how things will pan out. At one extreme are those who shrug the situation off as a significant yet transient dent in economic development, with marginal repercussions on the global system. At the other end are those touting the crisis as the first step in an epoch-making transition in the global power balance, where rapidly expanding economies like China, Brazil and India will make gains on the hitherto dominant developed nations, shifting the distribution of power in the world. Whatever the eventual outcome, there is no denying that the crisis's impact on international relations will be significant.
- Topic:
- Economics, Globalization, Power Politics, and Financial Crisis
- Political Geography:
- China, India, and Brazil
9. At the Crossroads of Post-Communist Modernisation: Russia and China in Comparative Perspective
- Author:
- Linda Jakobson and Christer Pursiainen
- Publication Date:
- 02-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Finnish Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- “Modernity ends when words like progress, advance, development, emancipation, liberation, growth, accumulation, enlightenment, embetterment, avant-garde, lose their attraction and their function as guides to social action.” By this definition, Russia and China are both still undertaking extensive modernisation – though by very different means. Why have Russia and China chosen such different paths for their post-communist transitions? How do their strategies differ, and how are they interrelated? When – at what junctures - were the crucial choices made?
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Russia, China, Europe, and Asia
10. Two Reluctant Regionalizers? The European Union and Russia in Europe's North
- Author:
- Hiski Haukkala
- Publication Date:
- 01-2001
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Finnish Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- It has become something of a cliché to argue that the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991 resulted in dramatic changes in the unfolding of political space in the 1990s. Yet this was especially true in the case of the then European Community (EC) and its relations with the Soviet Union/Russian Federation. During the Cold War, the relations between the EC and the USSR were practically non-existent. The ascension of Mikhail Gorbachev and the period of perestroika and glasnost resulted, however, in a gradual rapprochement between the two parties. The creation of these new ties was formalized in the signing of a Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) between the EC and the USSR, which was, however, in effect signed with an already crumbling Soviet Union as it took place as late as 21 December 1989.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Development, Economics, and Regional Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, Asia, and Soviet Union
11. The Tobin Tax: How to Make it Real. Towards a Socially Responsible and Democratic System of Global Governance
- Author:
- Heikki Patomäki
- Publication Date:
- 01-1999
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Finnish Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- In the 1970's James Tobin proposed a low rate tax on financial transactions of currencies. This tax would make many speculative movements unprofitable and the financial system less volatile and sensitive to daily political news and anticipation of economic policy changes. Consequently, it would create space for more autonomous economic policies of states.
- Topic:
- Economics, Government, International Political Economy, and United Nations