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54102. Promoting Democracy-building and Security through Private Investments
- Author:
- Franz-Lothar Altmann
- Publication Date:
- 01-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Austrian National Defence Academy
- Abstract:
- In principle, private investments can be domestic as well as foreign ones, having of course in many respects quite different effects on democracy-building and security. On the other hand, certain features are also common in general, and I will first try to make some remarks on general effects of private investments, regardless of their domestic or foreign contents. First of all, one can certainly state in general that in order to increase private investments, legislation, legal enforcement and public administration in the respective countries must become transparent and with regard to public administration also more effective. Labor market regulations must become flexible, liberalized for reducing the risk of investors to become chained to encrusted labor laws from former times.
- Topic:
- Security and Defense Policy
- Political Geography:
- United States and Central Asia
54103. Imposing Ideology as "Best Practise": The Problematic Role of the International Financial Institutions in the Reconstruction and Development of South East Europe
- Author:
- Milford Bateman
- Publication Date:
- 01-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Austrian National Defence Academy
- Abstract:
- The reconstruction and development of post- communist South East Europe since 1988 has taken place within the framework of the neo-liberal policy model that was effectively imposed upon the region by the Bretton Woods institutions - the World Bank and IMF. As elsewhere in central and eastern Europe ( see Sachs, 1990), the confident prediction made by both institutions was that their preferred policy framework would ensure both a rapid and a sustainable post-communist, and then after 1995 and 1999 a post-conflict, reconstruction and development trajectory. What has transpired instead is something quite different: unstoppable de-industrialisation, dramatically rising poverty, unemployment levels now officially among the highest in the world, high levels of inequality, declining life expectancy, rising employee insecurity and deteriorating working conditions for many, an unprecedented rise in the level of corruption and criminality, drastically declining levels of solidarity and tolerance within already distressed communities, increasingly unsustainable trade and foreign debt levels, and collapsing public health, recreation and welfare services. In spite of such overtly negative results, the World Bank and IMF (hereafter, the International Financial Institutions, IFIs), as well as associated regional development institutions, such as the EBRD, do not appear to have become at all discouraged with the standard neo- liber al policy model. On the contrary, it retains the unequivocal support of the IFI s in South East Europe, as indeed it does just about everywhere else in the world, most recently with respect to the reconstruction of Iraq.
- Topic:
- Security and Defense Policy
- Political Geography:
- United States, Iraq, Europe, and Central Asia
54104. The Role of Competitiveness for Stability in South East Europe
- Author:
- Kresimir Jurlin
- Publication Date:
- 01-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Austrian National Defence Academy
- Abstract:
- The Stabilization and Association Process (SAP) was initiated by the EU for countries not covered by European agreements, i.e. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia and Montenegro. The process is realized through Stabilization and Association Agreements (S AA) that the EU already concluded with Croatia and Macedonia, which have important implications for international trade and investment. The SAAs focus on respect for democratic principles and strengthening links of the countries of the region with the single market. They foresee the establishment of a free trade area with the EU and set out rights and obligations in areas such as competition and state aid rules, intellectual property and rights of establishment, which will allow the economies of the region to begin to integrate with the EU. Therefore, the SAP should be regarded as a tool for integration of the countries of South-East Europe into the emerging pan-European free trade area, resulting in removals of trade barriers between all countries that are gaining associate membership status. It should be regarded as a process of transformation of small, closed national economies to countries integrated in a wide area of free movement of goods, services and investment.
- Topic:
- Security and Defense Policy
- Political Geography:
- United States, Europe, Central Asia, and Albania
54105. Economic Recovery and Security: Two Important Challenges for the EU in South East Europe
- Author:
- Predrag Jurekovi
- Publication Date:
- 01-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Austrian National Defence Academy
- Abstract:
- The main issue of the workshop was how economy can contribute to the stabilisation process in the region. A broad consensus could be reached that economic reforms, democratisation and strengthening of security are interactive processes, which strongly depend on each other. On the one hand it is difficult to imagine that a social market economy in South East European societies can evolve without creatings table political institutions in a secure environment. On the other hand the economic performance of the South East European countries and especially external economic influence seem to have a very strong impact on institution building and the bilateral and multilateral relations in the region.
- Topic:
- Security and Defense Policy
- Political Geography:
- United States, Europe, and Central Asia
54106. The Role of Foreign Direct Investments
- Author:
- Zvonimir Savi and Ante Igman
- Publication Date:
- 01-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Austrian National Defence Academy
- Abstract:
- Foreign direct investment (FDI) is a resident entity in one economy investing in an enterprise entity in another economy and thus obtaining a lasting interest in an enterprise resident in another economy. Under the definition of the International Monetary Fund in the fifth edition of the Balance of Payments Manual, foreign direct investment is at hand when a direct investor (non-resident) owns 10% or more of ordinary shares or voting power in the resident (economic entity) of another country. The level of 10% is set arbitrarily because it is presumed that an investor with a higher ownerships hare has also a more significant influence in reaching decisions connected with managing a company. FDI is distinguished from other types of investments in that it is based on the fact that the e is a permanent interest of the investor in the enterprise as well as interest in the management of the company. The IMF permits the possibility of an individual country deciding subjectively whether or not a particular investment belongs to the group of foreign direct investments. For example, if an investor owns more than 10% of an economic entity in a country but does not have an effective influence in the management of this entity, such an investment cannot be deemed FDI. Investors (non-residents) may be private or legal entities, groups of individuals or legal entities, governments or government agencies or any other similar foreign organisation that has a share in the domicile economic entity pursuant to the above definition. One more characteristic of FDI is that the foreign investor reaches the decision on the investment on the highest, strategic level. In contrast, there are also portfolio investments, where the investor has no long term interest in the company that is taking part in reaching decisions. In its definition of portfolio investments the IMF includes shares, bonds, money market instruments and financial derivatives such as options as their basic instruments. Portfolio investments, in contrast to FDI, assume that an investment is conducted in an effort to maximise the value of the investor portfolio and achieve the expected yield against the least possible risk.
- Topic:
- Security and Defense Policy
- Political Geography:
- United States and Central Asia
54107. The Economic aspects of security in South Eastern Europe
- Author:
- Mladen Stanisis
- Publication Date:
- 01-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Austrian National Defence Academy
- Abstract:
- In the process of constructing a safety structure in the South Eastern Europe one must bear in mind the assumptions on which the new global safety structure is based, and those are: 1. Europe, and the surrounding area of the region, is becoming more stable and peaceful, and there are no indications that there will be any armed conflicts between states in the near future. 2. The situation of volatility and insecurity is spreading globally due to unconventional threats, like international terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, drug-trafficking, illegal immigration etc. 3. The EU, as an institution of international integration, and NATO, as an international organisation, are starting to see eye to eye and are co-ordinating their activities on the basis of compatible civilisation values against the stated threats and in attempt to further economic development of the EU. 4. The role and the importance of multilateral organisations are diminishing. The emphasis is being put on the importance of bilateral relations, especially by the last superpower, the USA, whose policy of unilateralism will surely dominate international relations for some time to come. 5. Other stakeholders in the domain of international relations, with the potential to become partners of the USA in the process of reaffirming multilateral relations. The EU, the People's Republic of China, the Russian Federation and the UN have just begun adapting to new relations and there are no indications that the position of the USA as the leading world power would be contested. 6. The globalisation process dominates all aspects of international relations on the basis of scientific and technological revolution, as well as revolution in the communication of information. It will be a consistent mechanism of transferring the model of liberal democracy internationally.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Security, Defense Policy, and NATO
- Political Geography:
- United States, China, Europe, and Central Asia
54108. Labour Markets and Employment Development in South East Europe
- Author:
- Hermine Vidovic
- Publication Date:
- 01-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Austrian National Defence Academy
- Abstract:
- In contrast to the Central European transition countries, the economies of South East Europe (SEE) have been facing complex and interrelated political and economic problems. The dis solution of Yugoslavia combined with market losses, war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, sanctions finally culminating in the Kosovo conflict were the main causes of political and economic instability in the whole region. Taking into account these factors, output recovery has been much slower in SEE than in the Central European countries. Measured in purchasing power standards, Croatia is the best per former in the region, with its GDP at about 38% of the EU average. Next comes Bulgaria (32%), whereas the respective values f or Serbia and Montenegro and Albania range between 15-17%. Looking at the economic performance in the 1990-2002 period, Croatia and Romania reached almost 94% of their pre-transitional level in 2002, followed by Bulgaria and Macedonia (about 88% each). Serbia and Montenegro, the worst-affected, reached only about half of what it was in 1990. The cumulative output decline there was one of the largest among all the Central and East European countries.
- Topic:
- Security, Defense Policy, Development, and Sanctions
- Political Geography:
- United States, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, Kosovo, Serbia, Bulgaria, Albania, Croatia, and Montenegro
54109. The Next Wave of Globalization? Exploring the Relocation of Service Provision to India
- Author:
- Rafiq Dossani and Martin Kenney
- Publication Date:
- 09-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy
- Abstract:
- The rapid increase in the ability and desire of multinational corporations to offshore services or, what are commonly termed “business processes” to developing nations is becoming a significant international development issue. This paper utilizes a case study of India, the largest recipient of offshored services, to explain the dynamics of offshoring from the perspective of the firm and the recipient nation. The explosion of offshoring is placed within a historical context. The technologies enabling offshoring and the corporate environment are discussed. Finally, the organizational forms involved in offshoring are discussed. The conclusion considers the implications of the offshoring of services for developed and developing nations and possible policy initiatives for developing nations interested in the possibility of entering the ITES sector.
- Topic:
- Development, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- South Asia and India
54110. The Mexican Internet after the Boom: Challenges and Opportunities
- Author:
- Martin Kenney, James Curry, and Oscar Contreras
- Publication Date:
- 06-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy
- Abstract:
- The Internet will be the defining technology of the first decade of the 21st Century. It is redefining boundaries of all sorts in new and unforeseen ways. As with many previous disruptive technologies, the Internet can be a double-edged sword for developing countries such as Mexico. For example, the Internet has the potential to dramatically lower barriers to cross-border trade. This will enable international retailers to penetrate the Mexican market potentially undermining domestic retail businesses. On the other side, the Internet could provide opportunities for Mexican firms to enter the global market, particularly Spanish-speaking Latin America and the huge U.S. Hispanic market. But this is only the tip of the iceberg of change. For example, in a country such as Mexico in which information has not been readily available and public libraries are relatively few in number and poorly stocked, the free and low-cost information available on the Internet provides a powerful new distribution medium – it provides inexpensive access to global information sources.
- Topic:
- Industrial Policy, International Trade and Finance, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- United States, Latin America, Central America, North America, and Mexico
54111. Spoken-About Knowledge: Why It Takes Much More than 'Knowledge management' to Manage Knowledge
- Author:
- Niels Christian Nielsen and Maj Cecilie Nielsen
- Publication Date:
- 06-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy
- Abstract:
- Unimerco a/s is a company depending on knowledge for its success. For CEO Kenneth Iversen - and for all of his colleagues in Unimerco - leading, managing, and developing knowledge processes internally and with suppliers and customers is a dominant aspect of every single workday.
- Topic:
- Industrial Policy, International Trade and Finance, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- Europe
54112. Supporting the High-Technology Entrepreneur: Support Network Geographies for Semiconductor, Telecommunications Equipment, and Biotechnology Start-Ups
- Author:
- Martin Kenney and Donald Patton
- Publication Date:
- 04-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy
- Abstract:
- Using a unique database derived from U.S. initial public stock offering prospecti, the authors examine the location of four actors (the firm's lawyers, the venture capitalists on the board of directors, the other members of the board of directors, and the lead investment banker) of the entrepreneurial support network for start-up firms in three high-technology industries: semiconductors, telecommunications equipment, and biotechnology. We demonstrate that the economic geography of the biotechnology support network differs significantly from the networks in semiconductors and telecommunications equipment. Our results suggest that generalization about the economic geography of high-technology industries drawn from a single industry study can be misleading. We find that biotechnology has a far more dispersed network structure than the two electronics-related industries. We suggest that the case of biotechnology suggests that if the source of seeds for new firms is highly dispersed, then an industry may not experience the path dependent clustering suggested by geographers and economists. Also, we argue that contrary to common belief biotechnology and its support network does not exhibit as great clustering as does either semiconductors or telecommunications equipment. Suggesting that for economic development planners, it may be easy to encourage biotechnology start-ups, but the synergies from the industry may not be as powerful as in other high-technology fields.
- Topic:
- Economics, Industrial Policy, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- United States
54113. Building Venture Capital Industries: Understanding the U.S. and Israeli Experience
- Author:
- Martin Kenney, Gil Avnimelech, and Morris Teubal
- Publication Date:
- 03-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy
- Abstract:
- During the growth phase of every venture capita (VC) business cycle, it seems as though both local and national governments in various countries initiate policies aimed at establishing VC industries as part of a high-technology economic development strategy. It is remarkable how each time there seems to be a proliferation of ill-advised policies that are usually reminiscent of the ones tried during the previous phase. Not surprisingly, in a distressingly large number of cases, the “new” policies to foster VC meet with minimal success or fail outright. While the causes of failure are undoubtedly multiple, there is ample room for believing that often the policies were based on a simplistic or incomplete understanding of the roots and dynamics that have led to the development of self-sustaining national VC industries. This paper uses historically informed case studies of Israel and the U.S. to develop an appreciative model of how the VC industries in these two nations came into being. Our model and understanding of this process is deliberately evolutionary and systemic. We believe that this perspective is the only one capable of providing both scholars and policy-makers with a grounded understanding of the emergence and development of the VC industries in these two nations.
- Topic:
- Economics, Government, Industrial Policy, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- United States and Israel
54114. How Revolutionary is the Revolution: Will there be a “Political Economy” of the Digital Era?
- Author:
- John Zysman and Abe Newman
- Publication Date:
- 03-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy
- Abstract:
- The purpose of this paper is to consider whether there is a political economy of a digital era. Our concern is how the digital revolution influences the role of the State in society and the economy and the politics that surround it? In the spring of 2000 in the midst of the stock boom we would have as ked: “Is the extraordinary expansion of computing intelligence, the pervasive spread of digital networks, and the recent arrival of the commercial Internet, the edge of an historical revolution, a transformation?” Data networks had existed for decades and Business to Business commerce (B2B) had been conducted over these networks for years. But the sudden interconnection of disparate networks into a single “cyber world”, and broad consumer participation in those networks through vehicles such as AOL seemed to augur a new era. The pace at which individuals, not just firms, were being connected to the Internet in the United States was explosive. Businesses were reorganizing and extending intern al activities to capture the possibilities of the network of networks. Together the Internet's rapid build out encouraged the fantasy that the new information network technologies could, in themselves, transform the terms of competition and restructure a broad range of the economy. By the summer of 2003, the conventional question had become different: “Was this the revolution that never happened, the dreams evaporating with stock values, first during the dot com collapse and then in the telecoms debacle?” Did the digital revolution have more in common with tulip speculation, a pure ephemera, than the railroad expansion and transportation revolution that created and destroyed individual fortunes. Of course, the industrial revolution di d not end with the first textile company failures, nor does the digital revolution end with the dot com collapse.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Trade and Finance, Political Economy, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- United States
54115. Post-Communist Competition and State Development
- Author:
- Anna Grzymala-Busse
- Publication Date:
- 12-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
- Abstract:
- Theories of institutional development have tended to view discretion, or the leeway to act within institutional bounds, as an often unintended consequence of agency design and institutional specification. Yet the post-communist states show that discretion is a fundamental goal of institutional creation among competing elites. In turn, while political competition has been identified as a key constraint on discretion in institutional creation, widely-used indicators of political competition are inadequate. As post-communist democracies show, the number or seat share of political parties matters far less than what parties do in parliament. The key factor is a robust opposition: a clear, credible, and contentious threat to governing parties. Such opposition leads to the rise of formal institutions that both minimize the discretion necessary for rent-seeking, and favor equitable distributional outcomes.
- Topic:
- Economics and Government
- Political Geography:
- Europe
54116. The Language of Democracy: Vernacular Or Esperanto? A Comparison between the Multiculturalist and Cosmopolitan Perspectives
- Author:
- Daniele Archibugi
- Publication Date:
- 12-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
- Abstract:
- Will Kymlicka has argued “democratic politics is politics in the vernacular.” Does it imply that democratic politics is impossible in a multilingual community, whether at the local, national, regional or global level? This paper discusses this assumption and maintains that democratic politics should imply the willingness of all players to make an effort to understand each other. Democratic politics imply the willingness to overcome the barriers to mutual understanding, including the linguistic ones. Any time that there is a community of fate, a democrat should search for methods that allow deliberation according to the two key conditions of political equality and participation. If linguistic diversity is an obstacle to equality and participation, some methods should be found to overcome it, as exemplified by the Esperanto metaphor. The paper illustrates the argument with four cases of multi-linguistic political communities: a) a school in California with English-speaking and Spanish-speaking students; b) the city of Byelostok in the second half of the nineteenth century, where four different linguistic communities (Polish, Russian, German and Yiddish) coexisted. This led Markus Zamenhof to invent Esperanto; c) the linguistic problems of the Indian state, and the role played by English – a language unspoken by the majority of the Indian population in 1947 – in developing Indian democracy; and d) the case of the European Parliament, with twenty languages and a wealth of interpreters and translators.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Economics, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, India, California, and Germany
54117. All for All: Equality and Social Trust
- Author:
- Bo Rothstein and Eric M. Uslaner
- Publication Date:
- 12-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
- Abstract:
- The importance of social trust has become widely accepted in the social sciences. A number of explanations have been put forward for the stark variation in social trust among countries. Among these, participation in voluntary associations received most attention. Yet, there is scant evidence that participation can lead to trust. In this paper, we shall examine a variable that has not gotten the attention we think it deserves in the discussion about the sources of generalized trust, namely equality. We conceptualize equality in two dimensions: one is economic equality and the other is equality of opportunity. The omission of both these dimensions of equality in the social capital literature is peculiar for several reasons. One is that it is obvious that the countries that score highest on social trust also rank highest on economic equality, namely the Nordic countries, the Netherlands, and Canada. Secondly, these are countries that have put a lot of effort in creating equality of opportunity, not least in regard to their policies for public education, labor market opportunities and (more recently) gender equality. The argument for increasing social trust by reducing inequality has largely been ignored in the policy debates about social trust. Social capital research has to a large extent been used by several governments and policy organizations to send a message to people that the bad things in their society are caused by too little volunteering. The policy implication that follows from our research is that the low levels of trust and social capital that plague many countries are caused by too little government action to reduce inequality. However, many countries plagued by low levels of social trust and social capital may be stuck in what is known as a social trap. The logic of such a situation is the following. Social trust will not increase because massive social inequality prevails, but the public policies that could remedy this situation cannot be established precisely because there is a genuine lack of trust. This lack of trust concerns both “other people” and the government institutions that are needed to implement universal policies.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Economics, and Gender Issues
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Canada, and Netherlands
54118. Democratic Contestation, Accountability, and Citizen Satisfaction at the Regional Level
- Author:
- Endre M. Tvinnereim
- Publication Date:
- 08-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
- Abstract:
- Democratic theory tells us that competition between political parties fosters more responsive government by disciplining elected leaders. Yet party competition may not always attain the levels desirable for holding leaders accountable, notably at the sub-national level. This paper hypothesizes that variations in competition-induced accountability affect regional, or state, government behavior, and that this variation is reflected in citizen satisfaction with regional government performance. The hypothesis is confirmed using survey data from sixty-eight German state election studies. Specifically, a widening of the gap between the two main parties of each state is shown to affect subsequent individual-level satisfaction negatively. This finding presents a conjecture that should be generalizable to other countries with strong sub-national units.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Government, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Europe
54119. Capital, Labor, and the Prospects of the European Social Model in the East
- Author:
- Dorothee Bohle and Bela Greskovitz
- Publication Date:
- 05-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
- Abstract:
- During the past decade of European economic integration vastly worse standards have emerged in work conditions, industrial relations, and social welfare in Eastern Europe than in the West. Area scholars explain this divide by labor weakness caused by the ideological legacy of communism, and do not problematize the impact of transnational capital. In contrast, this essay argues that the reason why the European social model has not traveled to the East is that its socio-economic foundations, the industrial building blocks of the historical compromise between capital and labor, have not traveled either. In the West, the compromise had been rooted in capital-intensive consumer durables industries, such as car-manufacturing, and their suppliers. These sectors brought together organized and vocal labor with businesses willing to accommodate workers' demands, because for them labor had been less a problem as a cost-factor and more important as factor of demand. However, the main driving force of the eastward expansion of European capital has been the relocation of labor-intensive activities where business relies on sweating masses of workers, whose importance as consumers is marginal, and who are weak in the workplace and the marketplace. With this general conceptualization of how the emerging new European division of labor constrains the social aspects of East European market societies as a background, the essay studies the cases of Hungarian electronics and Slovak car industries in order to better understand how particular features of various leading sectors mediate the general pattern.
- Topic:
- Economics, Government, and Human Welfare
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Eastern Europe
54120. Lessons for Post-Communist Europe from the Iberian Integration into the EU after Sixteen Years
- Author:
- Sebastian Royo
- Publication Date:
- 05-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
- Abstract:
- The purpose of this paper is to outline the main consequences for Portugal and Spain of EU integration. It uses the integration of Portugal and Spain into the European Union as an opportunity to draw some lessons that may be applicable to East European countries as they pursue their own processes of integration into the European Union. It examines challenges and opportunities that new member states from central and Eastern Europe will face when trying to integrate in the EU. Finally, the paper analyzes the impact the 2004 enlargement will have on the Iberian countries.
- Topic:
- Economics and Government
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Spain