Search

Begin New Search

55101. Thinking Regionally: Priorities for U.S. Policy Toward Africa

Author:
Salih Booker
Publication Date:
03-1996
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Africa Policy Information Center
Abstract:
Recent Congressional action to significantly cut aid to Africa is only one sign among many of a trend to reduce U.S. involvement on the continent. How much further Africa is marginalized in the U.S. will ultimately depend on the ability of Africa's multiple constituencies to reverse this trend. Nevertheless, events on the continent are likely to compel a greater commitment of resources than U.S. policymakers currently contemplate. And engagement at any level needs to be based on clear identification of U.S. interests in Africa and well-defined criteria for establishing priorities.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, Democratization, and Development
Political Geography:
Africa and United States

55102. The Syndrome of the Ever-Higher Yen, 1971-95: American Mercantile Pressure on Japanese Monetary Policy

Author:
Ronald McKinnon, Kazuko Shirono, and Kenichi Ohno
Publication Date:
12-1996
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Abstract:
From 1971 through mid-1995, the yen continually appreciated against the U.S. dollar because the Japanese and American governments were caught in a mutual policy trap. Repeated threats of a trade war by the United States caused the yen to ratchet up in 1971-73, 1977-78, 1985-87, and 1993 to mid-1995. While temporarily ameliorating commercial tensions, these great appreciations imposed relative deflation on Japan without correcting the trade imbalance between the two countries. Although resisting sharp yen appreciations in the short run, the Bank of Japan validated this syndrome of the ever-higher yen by following a monetary policy that was deflationary relative to that established by the U.S. Federal Reserve System. The appreciating yen was a forcing variable in determining the Japanese price level. After 1985, this resulted in great macroeconomic instability in Japan--including two endaka fukyos (high-yen-induced recessions).
Topic:
Economics, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States, Japan, America, Israel, and East Asia

55103. The China-United States Bilateral Trade Balance: How Big Is It Really?

Author:
K.C. Fung and Lawrence Lau
Publication Date:
04-1996
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Abstract:
There are huge discrepancies between the official Chinese and U.S. estimates of the bilateral trade balance. The discrepancies are caused by different treatments accorded to re-exports through Hong Kong, re-export markups, and trade in services. Deficit-shifting between China, on the one hand, and Hong Kong and Taiwan, on the other, due to direct investment in China from Taiwan and Hong Kong, is partly responsible for the growth in the China United States bilateral trade deficit.
Topic:
International Political Economy and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States, China, Taiwan, Asia, and Hong Kong

55104. A United States Policy for the Changing Realities of East Asia

Author:
Donald Emmerson, Henry Rowen, Michel Oksenberg, Daniel Okimoto, James Raphael, Thomas Rohlen, and Michael H. Armacost
Publication Date:
01-1996
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Abstract:
Since the end of the Cold War, the power and prestige of the United States in East Asia have suffered a worrisome degree of erosion. The erosion is, in part, the by-product of long-run secular trends, such as structural shifts in the balance of power caused by the pacesetting growth of East Asian economies. But the decline has been aggravated by shortcomings in U.S. policy toward East Asia, particularly the lack of a coherent strategy and a clear-cut set of policy priorities for the post-Cold War environment. If these shortcomings are not corrected, the United States runs the risk of being marginalized in East Asia--precisely at a time when our stakes in the region are as essential as those in any area of the world. What is needed, above all, is a sound, consistent, and publicly articulated strategy, one which holds forth the prospect of serving as the basis for a sustainable, nonpartisan domestic consensus. The elements of an emerging national consensus can be identified as follows:
Topic:
International Relations, Security, Foreign Policy, and Economics
Political Geography:
United States, China, Israel, East Asia, and Asia

55105. Trojan Horse or Boomerang: Two-Tiered Investment in the Asian Auto Complex

Author:
Gregory W. Noble
Publication Date:
11-1996
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy
Abstract:
The last decade has witnessed a momentous transformation in the political economy of East and Southeast Asia. From the 1950s until the early 1980s transnational production played a limited role in the strategies of Northeast Asian governments and firms. Ubiquitous policies of protection and promotion aimed to increase domestic investment, production and exports. Governments discouraged outward investment through financial controls, particularly over foreign currencies; they limited inward foreign investment to narrowly confined niches, and then often subjected it to onerous restrictions to prevent foreigners from gaining a major foothold in the national economy. The few exceptions involved areas in which domestic production was inadequate: investments in Southeast Asian raw materials and energy; investments by Japanese and Western firms in Korea and Taiwan for some labor-intensive products to be sold in local or third-country markets (but rarely in Japan); and a handful of high-tech investments by Western firms such as IBM which enjoyed such strong patent positions that they could not be forced to license their technology. Since the mid-1980s the combination of rapid currency appreciation, rising costs of labor, land and pollution control in Northeast Asia, and liberalizing economic reforms in Southeast Asia led to a huge surge of direct foreign investment, mainly for the production of labor-intensive manufactured goods. The focal point of Northeast Asian economies shifted from export-led growth based on protected domestic markets to management of regional production networks spread throughout Asia.
Topic:
Economics and Industrial Policy
Political Geography:
Japan, Taiwan, Asia, and Korea

55106. The Era of Microsoft? Externalities, and the Seattle Factor in the US Software Industry

Author:
Edmund A. Egan
Publication Date:
01-1996
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy
Abstract:
Microsoft Corporation, the largest company in the US software industry, has been under anti-trust scrutiny from the Department of Justice for most of the 1990s. In 1995, its planned acquisition of Intuit, Inc. prompted a Silicon Valley law firm, on behalf of unnamed complainants, to submit a White Paper to the DOJ, on the subject of Microsoft's long-term strategy. The White Paper, relying on the theoretical concepts of network externalities and lock-in effects, argues that Microsoft will use Intuit's products to attain monopolistic positions in network operating systems, on-line services, and electronic commerce, and will eventually be in a position to affect the content transmitted over electronic networks.
Topic:
Industrial Policy and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

55107. 1995-1996 State of World Conflict Report

Author:
Andrew Young
Publication Date:
08-1996
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Carter Center
Abstract:
This year, the world celebrated the 100th anniversary of the modern Olympiad. Consider this vision of a world at peace: The opening ceremonies in Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Stadium, where more than 10,000 athletes from 197 countries gathered to demonstrate the highest ideals—teamwork, sportsmanship, and recognition of personal achievement. All invited countries participated, free of the ideological and political restraints that prevented many from attending in years past. For 16 days in July and August the world came together to honor those striving to surmount universal standards of excellence. Our hearts reached out to the hurdler who stumbled just before the finish line, the marathon runner who shook off fatigue, the Paralympian who rose above all expectations. We saw, for a brief moment, the potential all of us have to better ourselves and our world.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Arms Control and Proliferation, and Government
Political Geography:
United Nations

55108. Meeting on the Viability of International Economic Sanctions

Publication Date:
03-1996
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Carter Center
Abstract:
The Carter Center convened a small, informal meeting to examine the question of whether there might be developed "more effective" international economic sanctions -- those which better achieve desired political goals without causing great suffering to innocent people. President Carter and others have expressed frustration that recent sanctioning efforts have fallen short of their objectives, yet sanctions appear to be one of the only tools available to the international community short of a resort to force. This meeting, chaired by Harry Barnes, Director of the Conflict Resolution and Human Rights programs at The Carter Center, set out to identify 1) what factors might be involved in designing more effective sanctions; 2) what obstacles must be overcome; 3) what steps governments and international bodies such as the United Nations might take to improve sanctions; and 4) what steps might be taken by non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The following is a summary of the discussion and possible follow-up actions, paying particular attention on potential roles for NGOs.
Topic:
International Political Economy
Political Geography:
United Nations

55109. The Journey to Democracy: 1986-1996

Author:
Robert A. Pastor
Publication Date:
01-1996
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Carter Center
Abstract:
In my travels throughout Latin America, I have always found the region's leaders eager to converse with American statesmen, but with few exceptions, they mostly had to content themselves with speaking to specialists like me. The kind of transnational dialogue that would permit hemispheric relations to rise to a higher level just did not exist. When President Carter asked if I would direct a new program at The Carter Center, my thoughts turned to the question of whether I could help form a group of senior statesmen from thoughts the hemisphere, who not only could consult with each other, but also work together to advance the ideals of human rights, democracy, social justice, and equitable development that lie at the core of the inter-American promise.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, Democratization, and Human Rights
Political Geography:
United States, South America, Latin America, Central America, and Caribbean

55110. The Development of America’s post-Cold War Military Posture: A Critical Appraisal

Author:
Carl Conetta
Publication Date:
11-1996
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Project on Defense Alternatives
Abstract:
This article outlines the factors influencing and distorting military planning (with special attention to the 1992-1996 period.) In the early years of the post-Cold War era, the US defense establishment set out to formulate a new military posture. This was supposed to reflect the new strategic environment and pursue the opportunities afforded by advances in information technology. The result, however, was a “new” posture closely resembling the old, writ somewhat smaller. It was to be progressively bolstered by cutting-edge technology inputs. However, while remarkably expensive, these inputs would only partially fulfill their promise, while exhibiting varying degrees of reliability and sustainability. Soon the USA would be spending as much and more inflation-adjusted dollars on its armed forces as during the Cold War. Also driving requirements and budgets upward would be the adoption of new strategic goals, roles, and missions exceeding those of the Cold War period. Over subsequent decades, the tension between purported military requirements and resources constraints would grow acute, while the armed forces found themselves over-extended worldwide and mired in seemingly endless wars, despite their presumed (and costly) advantages. How did US defense policy come to this point? The Development of America’s post-Cold War Military Posture shows how dysfunctional planning assumptions and processes can easily lead to dysfunctional policy.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Cold War, Science and Technology, and Military Affairs
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

55111. Gross Human Rights Violations in 1994

Author:
Brigitte Hamm
Publication Date:
12-1996
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Institute for Development and Peace
Abstract:
Leaving theoretical questions aside, the measurement of human rights is often considered to be appropriate in evaluating a country's human rights situation. Such data are used as an auxiliary tool of exogenous pressure, which is known as political conditionality whereby aid is related to specific political practices. Often human rights organizations of the South ask for the instrument of political conditionality against repressive regimes. However, exogenous pressure directed mainly towards elections and the respect for political human rights may be criticized as a kind of imperialistic attitude, trying to implement Western values in Non-Western societies.
Topic:
Development, Human Rights, Politics, Terrorism, and Conditionality
Political Geography:
Global Focus

55112. The Honecker Trial: The East German Past and the German Future

Author:
A. James McAdams
Publication Date:
01-1996
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Fifty years after the Nuremberg tribunals, Germany is once again caught up in a series of controversial trials involving former dictators. This time officials of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) sit in the dock. Some observers have criticized these proceedings, maintaining that they will result in the imposition of an arbitrary form of 'victor's justice.' Others have claimed, in contrast, that the cumbersome German Rechtsstaat ('state under the law') will prove incapable of responding to public demands for retribution. In this paper the author maintains that Germany's courts have not been at a loss to answer these complaints. By grounding their judgments in preexisting East German law, the courts have managed to bring some of the GDR's former leaders to justice while at the same time guaranteeing most defendants the full protections of the rule of law. In the process the courts have even conveyed an important message about the terms under which both German populations will be brought back together again.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, Social Movement, and Transitional Justice
Political Geography:
Europe, Germany, and East Germany

55113. The Political Economy of Distributional Equity in Comparative Perspective

Author:
Kwan S. Kim
Publication Date:
03-1996
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Growing income inequality within a country is caused by socioeconomic factors and inadequate government policies and ultimately leads to social and political instabilities. The ideology of supply-side economics in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 1980s, for instance, induced policies of inequality which were then perceived as a way to stimulate economic growth. The demise of East European socialism since the late 1980s also led many developing countries to pursue market reforms as a way to resuscitate their moribund economies. There is evidence, however, to indicate that the distribution of income in these countries is becoming more unequal with attendant and frequently grave social and political consequences.
Topic:
Development, Political Economy, Poverty, Inequality, and Economic Growth
Political Geography:
United Kingdom, Global Focus, and United States of America

55114. German Capitalism: Does It Exist? Can It Survive?

Author:
Wolfgang Streeck
Publication Date:
03-1996
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
In the roughly four decades between the end of the Second World War and German unification, West German society gave rise to a distinctive kind of capitalist economy, governed by nationally specific social institutions that made for high international competitiveness at high wages and, at the same time, low inequality of incomes and living standards. Already by the late 1980s, when the differences in performance and social organization between the West German economy and its main competitors came to be widely noticed, the continued economic viability of the 'German model' began to appear doubtful to many. Shortly thereafter, the survival of the German version of advanced capitalism became tied to its successful extension to the former East Germany. With the 1992 completion of the European Internal Market, it became in addition dependent on the compatibility of German economic institutions with the emerging regime of the integrated European economy.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, Governance, Capitalism, Economic Growth, Social Justice, and Public Policy
Political Geography:
Europe and Germany

55115. Poverty in Latin America: Issues and New Responses-A Rapporteurs' Report

Author:
Gabriela Ippolito-O'Donnell and Brenda Markovitz
Publication Date:
03-1996
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The Kellogg Institute hosted an academic workshop on “Poverty in Latin America: Issues and New Responses,” from 30 September to 1 October 1995. This was the third annual workshop in the series “Project Latin America 2000,” supported by The Coca-Cola Company. The workshop gathered scholars, policymakers, business and labor leaders, grassroots practitioners, and journalists from throughout the Americas to examine current trends in poverty, inequality, and employment emerging in the aftermath of structural adjustment, and to share policy experiences aimed at improving employment opportunities, organizational capabilities, and living conditions of the urban and rural poor. Vilmar Faria (Special Advisor to the President, Brazil) and Víctor Tokman (Assistant Director General and Regional Director for the Americas, International Labor Organization, Peru) organized these events. This report summarizes the academic workshop, including abstracts of each of the papers presented, the discussants’ remarks, the issues debated, and the organizers’ conclusions.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, Poverty, Economic Growth, Social Justice, and Public Policy
Political Geography:
South America and Latin America

55116. The Political Economy of Regional Development and Cooperation in the Pacific Basin, with Special Reference to APEC-A Rapporteurs' Report

Author:
Joseph Stevano and William Barnes
Publication Date:
04-1996
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The papers and discussion summarized here were presented at the workshop “The Political Economy of Regional Development and Cooperation in the Pacific Basin, with Special Reference to APEC,” which was held at the Kellogg Institute, 12–14 October 1995. Some of the papers presented, including those by Yoji Akashi, Brian Job, and Clark Reynolds, will also be published in their entirety as part of the Kellogg Institute Working Paper Series. The United States, Canada, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines, and many other East Asian countries all belong to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and a distinctive feature of the workshop was that it consisted of experts from both sides of the Pacific. The result is a comprehensive look at the issues of trade and development in this region. Yorizumi Watanabe pointed out some tensions between regional and multilateral trade agreements. Satoshi Hanai’s paper analyzed the current Japanese recession; the papers by Akashi, Tsutomu Kikuchi, and Job focused on APEC, the former two from an Asian perspective, the latter from a North American—which provided a provocative contrast between different explanations and interpretations of the exact same events. Shozo Inouye analyzed Japan’s contribution to human resource development throughout the Asia-Pacific, while Michael Plummer and Reynolds analyzed the economic impact of economic integration in this region.
Topic:
Development, Political Economy, Regional Cooperation, and Economic Growth
Political Geography:
Asia

55117. Ethnicity and Development: The Caribbean and Oceania

Author:
Ralph R. Premdas
Publication Date:
03-1996
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The environment of cultural pluralism and ethnic diversity is now grudgingly but generally acknowledged as a critical variable that must be incorporated in designing new strategies for development. There is urgent need to discuss the relationship between ethnicity and development in all its manifold political, economic, and social dimensions. The task is daunting; on its outcome may rest the fruitfulness of many designs of development involving billions of dollars and the fate of millions of poor people. The aim of this paper is to offer some empirical evidence and to generate some theoretical insights into the behavior of the ethnic factor in the development experience of two Third World countries, one in the Caribbean and the other in the Pacific Islands. I believe that systematic data derived from individual case histories can offer important building blocks towards constructing a wider theory on the connection between ethnicity and development.
Topic:
Democratization, Development, Race, Ethnicity, and Economic Growth
Political Geography:
Caribbean and Oceania

55118. Another Institutionalization: Latin America and Elsewhere

Author:
Guillermo O'Donnell
Publication Date:
03-1996
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The paper expresses skepticism about concepts current in the contemporary literature on democratization, such as 'democratic consolidation' and/or the 'lack of institutionalization' from which most of the new democracies supposedly suffer. The further claim is made that these democracies-or 'polyarchies', to use the term preferred here-have, in fact, two very important institutions, elections and particularism/clientelism, which are not generally recognized as such due to the narrow way in which political scientists usually conceptualize institutions. Finally, the paper traces some correlates and elective affinities resulting from what it labels 'informal institutionalization.' The main argument is that, in order to contribute to improving the quality of many of the new polyarchies, analysts must describe their main features realistically, which requires moving well beyond merely negative characterizations limited to what these countries seem to lack in comparison with older polyarchies.
Topic:
Democratization, Governance, and Institutions
Political Geography:
Europe and Latin America

55119. Building Aspects of Democracy before Democracy: Electoral Practices in Nineteenth-Century Chile

Author:
J. Samuel Valenzuela
Publication Date:
04-1996
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The paper presents a detailed analysis of electoral practices in nineteenth-century Chile. It argues that such elections have been largely misunderstood in Chilean historiography, given the fact that the political system has been viewed simply as a tool in the hands of the rich. Indeed, the existence of income requirements in order to register to vote has even led analysts to assume that only wealthy males actually voted. By contrast, this paper shows that a majority of the voting public in the electoral processes that occurred every three years was drawn from the middle-lower to lower strata of society. The politicization of artisans and other working-class groups therefore began early in the nation's history. Moreover, the involvement of people in the electoral politics of the time greatly exceeded the numbers of men who actually voted. As such, the elections permitted the formation of a considerable degree of loyalty within the population at large for the emerging parties, which helps explain their strength in the Chilean case. The nineteenth century's electoral practices also created a competitive and highly militant electoral culture that affected the conduct of elections well into the twentieth century, i.e., even after crucial transformations in the early 1890s permitted them to become a vehicle for the realization of Chilean democracy.
Topic:
Democratization, Politics, History, and Democracy
Political Geography:
South America and Chile

55120. Ethnicity and Elections in The Caribbean: A Radical Realignment of Power in Trinidad and the Threat of Communal Strife

Author:
Ralph R. Premdas
Publication Date:
04-1996
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The 1995 elections in the multiethnic Caribbean state, Trinidad and Tobago, were not an ordinary affair. They not only saw a change of regime but with it a change in the ethnic identity of the new political rulers. Control of the government by one ethnic party or the other poses a threat to the welfare of excluded and defeated parties. For many years one ethnic community controlled the government and entrenched its supporters at all levels of government as well as allocating most resources for the benefit of its own community. With the arrival of a new communally based party to power following the 1995 elections, vital interests are at stake. This paper examines how the change of government occurred through the electoral process.
Topic:
Democratization, Politics, Elections, and Ethnicity
Political Geography:
Central America, Caribbean, and Trinidad and Tobago