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Labor Provisions in Preferential Trade Agreements (LABPTA) are an important and necessary step forward in being able to better assess the role of these trade‐labor linkages in improving workers' lives.

The author enumerates the characteristics of UN Security Council sanctions in the post-Cold War era. After the controversial sanctions regime that was applied against Iraq following the first Gulf War, UN sanctions have begun to show concern for individuals. As is demonstrated by Charron's database, the UN began to adopt targeted sanctions as a way to avoid the negative humanitarian impact on innocent civilians. The quantity of sanctions imposed has increased dramatically since 1990. Sanctions are more explicitly concerned with ending inter- and intra-state conflicts. Non-conflict related sanctions during the Cold War were most often concerned decolonization in Africa, whereas since 1990 they mostly address counter-terrorism initiatives. Current targeted sanctions are a reaction to the earlier broader and more comprehensive sanctions which entailed increased economic costs to the target country. Adapted from the source document.

A comment on Robin Theobald's essay, 'Can the State Deliver?,' contends that the outlook is not as bleak as he suggests. Although corruption became more pronounced during the 1990s in places like the former Soviet Union, there is no evidence that it was a significantly larger global problem than before. Increased international regulation has substantially reduced the laundering of criminal money that had increased as a result of advances & growth in the financial services industry. The vulnerability of certain regulations to corruption, & the importance of accountability, transparency, & more open, competitive economies in fighting corruption are pointed out. Theobald correctly notes the difficulties involved in combating corruption & the need for an efficient civil service, but it is equally important to focus on broader trends toward political/economic openness & consolidation. It is maintained that international financial institutions need to strike a balance in their role of encouraging better governance. The danger that the war on terrorism could reinstate some old bad habits of the Cold War is discussed. J. Lindroth