Como es sabido, Humboldt y Bonpland concluyeron su largo periplo americano de casi 5 años con una corta e intensa estadía de casi 3 meses en los EE.UU., de América. Como ya se estudió en un estudio precedente ('HiN' nº 3, 2001) en un inciso de su obra político-económica, Humboldt auguró el papel y puesto que muy seguramente habría de corresponderles a los nacientes Estados americanos en el conjunto del nuevo orden mundial post-napoleónico. Sin que su obra involucrase a los 'jóvenes' EE. UU., en algún momento Humboldt dejó explícito que ese futuro pintaba muy diferente para los países hispanoamericanos, en particular en razón de las muchas barreras étnicas, sociales, culturales y sobre todo 'vicios' heredadas de la colonia. Tales convicciones fueron compartidos en su momento por otros connotados 'ilustrados' alemanes, entre ellos G.F. Hegel quien además veía casi inevitable –y hasta necesario- un enfrentamiento –incluso armado- entre el Norte y Sur de América. Esto último, como precondición para que la 'razón', la idea' y el 'espíritu' pudieran renacer en el 'nuevo mundo' una vez hubiera concluida, tras la plena emancipación iberoamericana, la dominación colonial europea en el continente; o lo que era lo mismo, para evitar el 'fin' de la 'Historia'. Después de 200 años de compleja y no fácil 'convivencia' entre los EE.UU., de América y el resto del continente 'suramericano', y después de haber fracasado Iberoamérica en al menos dos ocasiones por lograr una plena reinserción en la economía, política y cultura occidentales, los EE.UU., han tomado la iniciativa de ofrecer –e incluso forzar- una gran alianza continental que llevará en un cortísimo plazo –2005- a la formación de un solo mercado preferencial hemisférico, y si se quiere una única cultura económica americana. Una de las muchas preguntas que motiva semejante reto está en saber si los países iberoamericanos han superados las aludidas rigideces y 'vicios' histórico-estructurales que en su momento denunció Humboldt; y por lo mismo, si persistiendo éstas, cara sus eventuales socios del Norte, sería posible que Iberoamérica, de la mano de EE.UU., y Canadá, podrá por fin encontrar un sitio adecuado –y por lo demás un papel apropiado y digno- dentro del nuevo sistema mundial, ahora llamado de la 'globalización'. La mencionada inquietud constituye un nuevo reto para la 'ciencia humboldtiana' y por ello la posibilidad de intentar analizar el 'presente' con las mismas premisas que en su fecha utilizó Humboldt para criticar la realidad hispanoamericana y en alguna forma presagiar su futuro inmediato. Es lo que, una vez más con la modestia que el intento exige, lo que se pretende plantear en este trabajo. ; As it is well known, Humboldt and Bonpland ended their almost five-years-journey throughout the American continent with a short but intense stay of nearly three months in the USA. As it has already been studied in a previous paper ('HiN' nº 3, 2001), Humboldt's political and economical thesis predicted the role and the place that would most probably correspond to the newly born American nations within the new post-Napoleonic world order. Afterward, Humboldt explicitly stated that not only the future but the present of the USA seemed very different to the one of the Latin American countries due to the many ethnic, social and cultural barriers, and specially to the many historical 'vices' that these had inherited from the colony. This conviction was shared with other 'illustrated' German thinkers of his time, such as G.F. Hegel, who thought that after the full consummation of the Iberoamerican independence from Europe a confrontation, even military, will be unavoidable and even necessary between the North and the South of the America as precondition for the rebirthing of the 'idea', 'reason' and 'spirit' into the 'new world'; it is, as precondition for the continuity of 'History'; in other words, for avoiding the 'end of History'. After 200 years of a complex and difficult coexistence between the USA and the rest of the continent, and after at least two failures of Iberoamerica to achieve a full reinsertion within the Western politics, culture and economy, the USA, having been a super world power for several decades, have offered, and even forced, a great continental alliance ('ALCA) 'that will lead in, a very short term (2005), to a unique and preferential continental market and, in some way, to a unique American economic culture. One of the many questions that arises about such a challenge is if the Iberoamerican countries have yet been able to overcome the mentioned historic and structural barriers and colonial 'vices' referred by Humboldt. And, if in despite of these barriers, would Iberoamerica, by the hand of the USA and Canada, finally be able to find an appropriate and deserved 'place' and 'role' within the 'new world order' of the so called 'globalization' era. This questioning is a new challenge for the Humboltian science and a possibility for it to analyze the 'present time' with the same premises used by Humboldt at his time to criticize the Hispano-American reality and to certain extent, predict its immediate future. This is what, with the required humbleness, this paper tries to formulate.
La lógica del mercado y al cambio de modelo de desarrollo en América Latina, en el intento de poder competir a nivel mundial, ha agudizado las disparidades y el deterioro ambiental. La presión que ejercen las grandes empresas y ciertos grupos con poder, el enquistamiento de una estructura administrativa que puja por mantener esquemas tradicionales ya perimidos y la falta de planificación impiden atender uno de los problemas claves que plantea la economía en el territorio, el de la concentración y los desequilibrios territoriales. Surge entonces el Ordenamiento Territorial como alternativa válida para atenuar estos procesos y dar respuesta a la sociedad. El caso que se presenta pone en el tapete muchos de estos temas que hoy preocupan y puede servir como experiencia transferible y aplicable a otras realidades que buscan consolidar un desarrollo local sustentable. El ante-proyecto de Ley de Ordenamiento Territorial y Usos del Suelo para la provincia de Mendoza, República Argentina, es un instrumento elaborado en el año 2006 por el sector académico-científico que desde una visión interdisciplinaria incorpora fundamentos técnicos y aportes de los actores sociales involucrados. La metodología aplicada permite consensuar por la sociedad en su conjunto los principios que sustentan la Ley, determinar la aplicación de ciertos instrumentos para efectivizar acciones en el territorio y definir una forma innovadora de hacer política, gestionar y planificar el uso del suelo. La propuesta considera al Ordenamiento Territorial como una política de Estado que debe propiciar condiciones de gobernabilidad. Sus principios y normas priorizan la equidad y el bienestar general por encima de los intereses particulares así como también el respeto de los valores y costumbres de la sociedad. Surge de un proceso participativo y sus principios y fines responden a los problemas actuales. Incorpora una serie de instrumentos debidamente jerarquizados conforme a las competencias jurisdiccionales y existencia de distintas escalas geográficas, como también, instrumentos jurídicos y prácticas administrativas innovadoras que permiten la resolución de conflictos territoriales. Identifica además recursos financieros para implementarla y prioriza el fortalecimiento de los mecanismos de control para un funcionamiento más ágil y eficaz de la gestión pública. Sin embargo existen riesgos vinculados a la voluntad política y el poder económico que pueden impedir que esta utopía se transforme en realidad. Solo la participación social es la que puede lograr vencer los intereses en juego y conseguir la aprobación de la Ley. Si esto se consigue se habrá dado un paso muy importante a ser imitado, sin lugar a dudas, en otros lugares de Argentina y América Latina. ; The logic of the market and the changing pattern of development in Latin americas, in an attempt to be able to compete globally, has exacerbated the disparities and environmental degradation. The pressure exerted by large companies and certain groups with power, enquistamiento of an administrative structure that bid to maintain traditional patterns and perimidos and lack of planning impede meet one of the key problems posed by the economy in the territory, the concentration and territorial imbalances. Surge then land use planning as a valid alternative to mitigate these processes and respond to society. The case shown in the table puts many of these issues that concern today and experience can serve as transferable and applicable to other realities that are seeking to consolidate a sustainable local development. The face-Bill spatial planning and land use for the province of Mendoza, Argentina, is an instrument developed in 2006 by academics-from a scientific vision that incorporates interdisciplinary technical foundations and contributions from social actors involved. The methodology allows consensus by society as a whole the principles underpinning the Act, determine the application of certain instruments to effectuate actions in the territory and define an innovative way of doing politics, manage and plan the land use. The proposal considers the spatial planning as a state policy that should promote conditions of governability. Its principles and norms prioritize equity and the general welfare over individual interests as well as respect for the values and mores of society. Surge of a participatory process and its principles and purposes respond to current problems. It incorporates a range of instruments properly classified under the jurisdiction and existence of different geographical scales, as well as legal instruments and innovative management practices that allow the resolution of territorial conflicts. Identifies further financial resources to implement and prioritizes strengthening control mechanisms for a more agile and efficient governance. But there are risks associated with the political and economic power that can prevent this utopia is transformed into reality. Only social participation is what can be done to overcome the interests involved and get the approval of Law. If this is achieved will be given a very important step to be followed, no doubt, elsewhere in Argentina and Latin americas. ; Fil: Gudiño, María Elina. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Instituto de Investigación y Formación para el Ordenamiento Territorial
Como es sabido, Humboldt y Bonpland concluyeron su largo periplo americano de casi 5 años con una corta e intensa estadía de casi 3 meses en los EE.UU., de América. Como ya se estudió en un estudio precedente ('HiN' n° 3, 2001) en un inciso de su obra político-económica, Humboldt auguró el papel y puesto que muy seguramente habría de corresponderles a los nacientes Estados americanos en el conjunto del nuevo orden mundial post-napoleónico. Sin que su obra involucrase a los 'jóvenes' EE. UU., en algün momento Humboldt dejó explícito que ese futuro pintaba muy diferente para los países hispanoamericanos, en particular en razón de las muchas barreras étnicas, sociales, culturales y sobre todo 'vicios' heredadas de la colonia. Tales convicciones fueron compartidos en su momento por otros connotados 'ilustrados' alemanes, entre ellos G.F. Hegel quien además veía casi inevitable -y hasta necesario- un enfrentamiento -incluso armado- entre el Norte y Sur de América. Esto ültimo, como precondición para que la 'razón', la idea' y el 'espíritu' pudieran renacer en el 'nuevo mundo' una vez hubiera concluida, tras la plena emancipación iberoamericana, la dominación colonial europea en el continente; o lo que era lo mismo, para evitar el 'fin' de la 'Historia'. Después de 200 años de compleja y no fácil 'convivencia' entre los EE.UU., de América y el resto del continente 'suramericano', y después de haber fracasado Iberoamérica en al menos dos ocasiones por lograr una plena reinserción en la economía, política y cultura occidentales, los EE.UU., han tomado la iniciativa de ofrecer -e incluso forzar- una gran alianza continental que llevará en un cortísimo plazo -2005- a la formación de un solo mercado preferencial hemisférico, y si se quiere una ünica cultura económica americana. Una de las muchas preguntas que motiva semejante reto está en saber si los países iberoamericanos han superados las aludidas rigideces y 'vicios' histórico-estructurales que en su momento denunció Humboldt; y por lo mismo, si persistiendo éstas, cara sus eventuales socios del Norte, sería posible que Iberoamérica, de la mano de EE.UU., y Canadá, podrá por fin encontrar un sitio adecuado -y por lo demás un papel apropiado y digno- dentro del nuevo sistema mundial, ahora llamado de la 'globalización'. La mencionada inquietud constituye un nuevo reto para la 'ciencia humboldtiana' y por ello la posibilidad de intentar analizar el 'presente' con las mismas premisas que en su fecha utilizó Humboldt para criticar la realidad hispanoamericana y en alguna forma presagiar su futuro inmediato. Es lo que, una vez más con la modestia que el intento exige, lo que se pretende plantear en este trabajo. ; As it is well known, Humboldt and Bonpland ended their almost five-years-journey throughout the American continent with a short but intense stay of nearly three months in the USA. As it has already been studied in a previous paper ('HiN' n° 3, 2001), Humboldt's political and economical thesis predicted the role and the place that would most probably correspond to the newly born American nations within the new post-Napoleonic world order. Afterward, Humboldt explicitly stated that not only the future but the present of the USA seemed very different to the one of the Latin American countries due to the many ethnic, social and cultural barriers, and specially to the many historical 'vices' that these had inherited from the colony. This conviction was shared with other 'illustrated' German thinkers of his time, such as G.F. Hegel, who thought that after the full consummation of the Iberoamerican independence from Europe a confrontation, even military, will be unavoidable and even necessary between the North and the South of the America as precondition for the rebirthing of the 'idea', 'reason' and 'spirit' into the 'new world'; it is, as precondition for the continuity of 'History'; in other words, for avoiding the 'end of History'. After 200 years of a complex and difficult coexistence between the USA and the rest of the continent, and after at least two failures of Iberoamerica to achieve a full reinsertion within the Western politics, culture and economy, the USA, having been a super world power for several decades, have offered, and even forced, a great continental alliance ('ALCA) 'that will lead in, a very short term (2005), to a unique and preferential continental market and, in some way, to a unique American economic culture. One of the many questions that arises about such a challenge is if the Iberoamerican countries have yet been able to overcome the mentioned historic and structural barriers and colonial 'vices' referred by Humboldt. And, if in despite of these barriers, would Iberoamerica, by the hand of the USA and Canada, finally be able to find an appropriate and deserved 'place' and 'role' within the 'new world order' of the so called 'globalization' era. This questioning is a new challenge for the Humboltian science and a possibility for it to analyze the 'present time' with the same premises used by Humboldt at his time to criticize the Hispano-American reality and to certain extent, predict its immediate future. This is what, with the required humbleness, this paper tries to formulate.
Today, the classical underpinnings of American legal education are under intense critical review. The dominant pedagogy, the case book and the Socratic method, were established by Christopher Columbus Langdell (1806-1906) at Harvard Law School more than a century ago. Together with Langdell's first year curriculum, which was exclusively focused on Anglo-American common law doctrine, and his emphasis on a competitive, anonymous graded meritocracy, this system still exercises an incredible grip on elite American law schools. But Langdell's 19th Century model has now been challenged by many rivals, including critical legal studies, law and economics empiricism, global curriculums, and clinical instruction. As is so often the case, Bacon anticipated these major forces of change. In his great De Augmentis Scientiarum (hereafter, De Augmentis), Bacon attacks the narrow parochialism of the common law pedagogy of his day. For at present there are nothing but schools and institutions for multiplying altercations and controversies on points of law, as if for the display of wit. And this evil is also an old one (Spedding ed., V, 108 De Augmentis Aphorism 93). Attacking reliance on decided judicial cases and on the parochial, prevailing common law treatises and pedagogy, Bacon evolved a new system of legal instruction based on empirical observation, distilled into maxims or aphorisms, one that sought true global significance and universal scientific legitimacy. [T]here are certain fountains of natural equity from which spring and flow out the infinite variety of laws which individual legal systems have chosen for themselves. And as veins of water acquire diverse flavors according to the nature of the soil through which they flow, just so in these legal systems natural equity is tinged and stained according to the site of territories, the disposition of peoples, and the nature of commonwealth. It is worthwhile to open and draw out the purer fountains of equity, for from them all amendment of laws in any commonwealth must be sought. The Aphorismi (Neustadt, ed., 273). This paper will set out Bacon's philosophy of legal education, analyze its fundamental pedagogical and doctrinal elements, and examine its lessons for American legal education today. In so doing, it will be necessary to traverse a minefield of controversy. As E.O. Wilson has so powerfully described in his book Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge (1998), Bacon was the grand architect of an enlightenment dream that called for the illumination of the moral and political sciences by the 'torch of analysis.' (Edward O. Wilson, Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge (New York, 1998), p. 23. (Hereafter, Consilience.)) Bacon was also devoted to a belief in a unity of knowledge, relying on the common means of inductive inquiry that might optimally serve all branches of learning. (Consilience, p. 27). In E.O. Wilson's words, Bacon envisioned a disciplined and unified learning as the key to improvement of the human condition. (Consilience, p. 27). But the unity of the modern legal academy has been fragmented into academic specialties and increasingly divorced from the experience of law practice. Post-modern and post-structuralist ideologies have attacked any pretense neutral and objective rule of law that could be taught in a formal, external setting, like mathematics or physics. Increasingly, law, and legal education, are seen as devoid of external truths. In E.O. Wilson's words: In the most extravagant version of this constructionism, there is no 'real' reality, no objective truths external to mental activity, only prevailing versions disseminated by ruling social groups. Nor can ethics be firmly grounded, given that each society creates its own codes for the benefit of the same oppressive forces. (Consilience, p. 40). Hence comes the post-modernist prohibition against universal truth . . . which can have particular force in modern legal pedagogy. Equally important, law practice itself has changed. The three qualities of modern law, described prophetically by Max Weber (1864-1920) and articulated in his great Law and Economy and Society, seem to be coming true. First, the legal ignorance of the layman has increased, as legal rules become more specialized, complex and technical. Most lawyers in modern firms are divided into such specialties, and usually have little or no idea of what their partners and associates actually do. Second, the anti-formalistic tendencies of modern legal development have led courts and tribunals to increasingly depart from objective or universal rules, and to rely instead on economical utilitarian meaning. Finally, there is the lay justice and corporate tendencies in the modern legal profession. Weber adds, The use of jurors and similar lay judges will not suffice to stop the continuous growth of the technical element in the law and hence its character as a specialist's domain. Add to those changes the rapid shrinking of world cultures by improved communications and the welcome, and dramatic, increase in cultural diversity throughout American law schools and American society generally, and it becomes clear that conventional legal pedagogies and curricula will come under great stress. The century old orthodoxy of American legal education could soon be shattered into a hundred unrelated pieces. Can Bacon help us?
There are no secrets behind Europe's high and persistent unemployment. It is not a question of competitiveness Europe is doing well on global markets. We cannot blame our main trading partners, or low-wage countries, for our shortcomings. And we should not blame fiscal policies, the convergence process. The reasons behind unemployment are internal to Europe. There are two distinct explanations. One has been our inability to tackle macroeconomic shocks in a coordinated way. As a consequence, downturns have been deeper and recoveries weaker than they need have been. The resultant low average rates of economic growth produced inadequate job creation relative to the growth of the potential workforce. The other explanation has been our inability to reform labour market policies and social protection systems to meet the labour market needs of today. Europe's policies were originally created for labour markets with one male breadwinner, working in manufacturing or construction. Labour market and social policies focused on ensuring income support to individuals and families through unemployment benefit, disability pension and early retirement schemes to off-set the effects of cyclical unemployment or ill-health. Those labour market conditions have changed, and there are new challenges to be faced, notably the spread of new technology. Discord between the traditional policy mix and the reality of modern economic and social life has contributed to the low employment rate in Europe and the high dependency ratio. Reform is required. A good safety net during periods of unemployment must be maintained, but the urgent need is to create a springboard to new skills and new jobs. There are now two distinct political responses to these two shortcomings. The first is Economic and Monetary Union with the single currency. The second is an emerging Employment Union, based on the new Treaty, the Luxembourg Summit and the new employment strategy. Together they form a convergence programme for higher employment and lower unemployment. The purpose of these Europe-wide policies is to create both macroeconomic stability and labour markets that are adaptable to change, offering flexibility for enterprises and security for workers. The employability of job seekers, and of the workforce as a whole, must be given the same attention as monetary targets. That is the reason for the Luxembourg agreement on quantified targets for the fight against unemployment, based on a preventive strategy with a strong commitment to employability measures. In a few weeks and months we will be turning a page in the book of European history, when the third stage of EMU is established and the single currency becomes a reality. It has already given a new credibility to Member State economic policies, with lower inflation and lower real interest rates than we have had for more than 15 years, and better investment, growth and employment prospects. The strength of this system has been proved during the turnoil that has followed the monetary crises in the Asian economies. At the same time we are entering into a new convergence project, the employment strategy, with the purpose of convergence towards lower unemployment and higher employment. Now it is time to focus on the capacity of the real European economy: on the growth and employment potential of Europe as an economic entity, and on the substantially under-used working age population in Europe. Given our low employment rate, the EU has an additional growth potential of 25-30 million people compared with our main trading partners, Japan and the USA to add to the steady increases in Europe's economic capacity through productivity improvements. This leads to two questions: will the Member States take the necessary employability measures, to release this potential, to invest in people to make it possible to reduce the dependency on social protection? And, will the monetary system, i.e. the money markets and the Central bank, recognize that an active labour market policy gives room for stronger, employment-creating, growth in Europe without the risk of a resurgence of inflation? In this perspective, we need to rethink and develop our analytical tools for understanding and defining labour market performance and flexibility. The NAIRU-concept and the OECD Labour Standard Index reflect the thinking of the past (regulation versus deregulation), rather than the present and the future (both flexibility and security). The EU Commission has started an analysis designed to develop new concepts and new analytical tools, reflecting the new employment strategy. We need to assess the real determinants and measures of 'success' in terms of long-run investment, growth and employment factors like the extent to which we fully use our available labour resources; the scale of our human resource investment; the degree of working time flexibility; the quality of our industrial relations; the mastery of new technology. It is my hope that this 1998 Meidner Lecture could serve as a starting point for a constructive debate on new analytical tools for the shaping of more successful relations between employment and economic policies in Europe. Here, economists especially labour economists can make an important contribution to the process of policy modernization.
Migration network theory addresses the cumulative causation of migration as a result of reduced social, economic, and emotional costs of migration pursuant to the formation of migration networks. Because it introduces a sociological dimension, network theory improves the mechanical and economistic "push and pull" conceptions that prevailed earlier, including world systems versions thereof. Nonetheless, existing treatments of migration networks overlook the role of those networks in expanding the immigrant economy at locations of destination. The migration network performs this role when it supports migrant entrepreneurship, a phenomenon of variable but often great importance. Existing literature also ignores cultural differences that affect the efficiency of migration networks in both relocating population and generating new firms. In the last decade, immigration research has refocused on the issue of migrant networks in both contemporary and historical migrations (Bozorgmehr, 1990; Fawcett, 1989; Boyd, 1989; Morawska, 1989: 260; Wilpert and Gitmez, 1987). A long-standing concern (Tilly, 1978; Choldin, 1973: Light, 1972), migrant networks became of renewed interest when researchers sought to connect macro and micro determinants of immigration. Micro determinants begin with solitary decision-makers who operate independent of group memberships (Lee, 1966; Lewis, 1982: ch. 8; Sell, 1983). Often placed in a world systems context, macro influences impact masses of people whose responses are not thought to depend upon migration chains (Burawoy, 1976; Portes and Walton, 1981; Clark, 1986: ch. 4; Sassen-Koob, 1989). Spanning continents and decades, social networks connect individuals and macroscopic push and pull influences. True, at any stage of a migration, some people arrange their relocation on their own and without any help from migration networks. These are unassisted migrants. However, more individuals migrate when once networks have formed (Portes and Boron, 1989: 607-608). These networks organize their departure, travel, and settlement abroad. For this reason, the network itself emerges as an actor in the migration process. Although based on already familiar ideas, Massey's formula of "cumulatively caused" migration drew together and focused current thinking about migration. According to Massey (et al., 1987; 1988, 1989), migrations forge networks which then feed the very migrations that produced them. Therefore, whatever macrosocietal political/economic conditions may initially have caused migration, the originating pushes and pulls, the expanding migratory process becomes "progressively independent" of the original causal conditions. In effect, migrations in process self-levitate above the conditions that caused them to begin, leading thereafter an independent existence. Network formation is the reason. Massey (1988: 396) defines migration networks as "sets of interpersonal ties that link migrants, former migrants, and non-migrants in origin and destination areas through the bonds of kinship, friendship, and shared community origin." Networks promote the independence of migratory flows for two reasons. First, once network connections reach some threshold level, they amount to a autonomous social structure that supports immigration. This support arises from the reduced social, economic, and emotional costs of immigration that networks permit. That is, network-supported migrants have important help in arranging transportation, finding housing and jobs in their place of destination, and in effecting a satisfactory personal and emotional adjustment to what is often a difficult situation of cultural marginality. These benefits make migration easier, thus encouraging people to migrate who would otherwise have stayed at home. Unless migrants are uprooted refugees who lack any choice about departure, only immigration affording them any hope of survival (Bozorgmehr and Sabagh, 1990; Pedraza-Bailey, 1985) potential migrants always have the option of staying home. Given that choice, the reduced cost of migration enhances the number who can and will choose to leave, thus increasing the volume of migration. Second, Massey has made the same case for networks under the assumptions of a risk-diversification model.According to this model, families allocate member labor within the constraint of their own needs and aspirations in a cost-efficient and risk-minimizing way.Many Third World households are economically precarious. Such households face high-risks to their well-being if they select non-migration.Moreover, modernization and development create social and economic dislocations that intensify the unstable and unpredictable economic environment created by the usual risks of drought, crop failure and natural disasters, for rural as well as urban areas.In the absence of other ways to insure against such risks, diversification of family members' location minimizes overall family income risk. (Massey, 1989: 14-15) Migration is a risk-diversification strategy.International migration is especially effective because international borders create discontinuities that promote independence of earnings at home and abroad. Good times abroad can match bad ones at home, or vice-versa. Even in the absence of earning differentials (ASA, p.15), international migration offers an effective risk-diversification strategy, especially when migrant networks already exist. Migration networks reduce the economic risks of immigration, thus rendering the strategy more attractive from a risk-diversification perspective (Massey, 1989:5-16). Expanding networks "put a destination job within easy reach of most community members" (Commission, p.398) and make migration a virtually risk-less and cost-less alternative labor power investment in the household's portfolio of labor assets (Massey, 1988).
Managerial and Behavioral Economics have received increasing attention in academia and in the private sector. For example, companies are incorporating behavioral findings into actively designing the environment for their employees, to account for social preferences, such as positive and negative reciprocity, or to enhance individual or team performance. Many of those approaches are successful, despite lacking a monetary incentive, and thus, conflict with standard economic theory. Therefore, fundamental behavioral research, as presented by three essays in this thesis, is important for uncovering basic human decision-making mechanisms. These essays utilize the experimental method, which offers control of various confounding factors, enabling the identification of causal relationships. The first three essays challenge rational economic models, and show results that can be explained only by incorporating behavioral theories. The last essay is a methodological approach to further develop experimental software. The common factor of all studies is an interdisciplinary perspective: Essay 1 investigates a longstanding question of Economics, pairing it with a mechanism prominent in Psychology, and measuring an outcome inspired by Philosophy. Essays 2 and 3 go beyond the model of the Homo oeconomicus to analyze teamwork and the role of intentions. Essay 4 concludes this dissertation, by including aspects of Computer Science to illustrate how current software can be extended to allow for interactive online experiments, which will be increasingly relevant in the future. In essay 1, we investigate how the market mechanism influences moral decision making. This question is a longstanding one, which is receiving increasing attention due to our rapidly progressing society. We are driving towards a global economy, where markets are penetrating more and more aspects of daily life. For example, our social lives are dragged toward online platforms, which are launching efforts to monetize social interactions in the forms of likes and followers, and selling products in the process. Thus, it is important to understand the implications of an increasingly market-centric society for our moral standards. In a large online experiment, we expose a non-standard subject pool to either a market or a non-market condition, and elicit decisions about a subsequent moral dilemma. We hypothesize that markets foster a cost-benefit analysis mindset, which materializes in changing behavior in the dilemma. In comparison to the baseline, and in line with our hypothesis, we find a substantial effect after the participants are exposed to the market game. However, the non-market control setting shows a similar increase, and thus, excludes a treatment effect. In essay 2, we analyze how social preferences translate into output in a modified teamwork setting. In most firms, the product of a teamwork situation is essential for successful operation. However, in a large number of cases, teamwork itself is a prerequisite for future individual performance. Examples involve helping on the job, internal knowledge sharing, or peer coaching. Those scenarios are still neglected in the literature. Therefore, we investigate how social preferences translate in such modified teamwork settings into future individual performance. In a lab-in-the-field setting, we observe students of Mathematics who work jointly on problem sets, to prepare them for future individual exams. Contrary to our hypothesis, we find that conditional cooperators are not more successful jointly or individually. Instead, people categorized as free riders excel in individual performance without causing negative externalities on their peers in the teamwork phase. In essay 3, we investigate how intentions influence punishment behavior. Almost all decisions in daily life and within companies are made facing alternatives. In that sense, decisions can be evaluated regarding the underlying intentions. By actively framing the choice set, decision makers might be able to cast their actions in a better light than appropriate. In a laboratory experiment, we investigate the role of intentions in situations where it is possible to disguise the underlying motives. We find that assessing intentions plays a major role in punishing behavior. This seems to be common knowledge among humans, as the participants extensively make use of the possibility to disguise. Interestingly, the sanctions for such malign behavior are limited, even in cases of discovery, which makes this strategy quite efficient. The results shed some light on recent political developments, in which some politicians do not lose touch with voters, even when the politicians are obviously dishonest about their intentions. In essay 4, we demonstrate a novel way to extend oTree to allow for real-time interactions in online settings, such as Amazon's Mechanical Turk. As a proof-of-concept, we run a series of double auction markets to show that the software works as intended, and that the results are comparable to the literature. We further share important insights into how to conduct interactive games online with large groups. The trend of online experiments paired with accessible software solutions provides various advantages for academic research: Experiments can be conducted with non-standard subject pools, and reduced costs make sufficiently powered studies affordable. It also provides researchers in various parts of the world the opportunity to participate in social science research. To facilitate this trend, we make the code accessible under an open-source license.
The author, who travelled in southern Arabia during the winter 1958/59 together with Prof. H. v. Wissmann and Colonel D. van der Meulen, attempts in this contribution to demonstrate the changes in population and economic geography which have occured in Hadramaut during recent decades. Ḥaḍramaut as now understood forms the major part of the British Eastern Aden Protectorate. It consists of three physical regions: 1. The coastal area, occupied by sand and pebble deserts, the Harra surfaces of recent volcanic origin and a marginal mountain chain of pronounced relief. 2. The Djöl, a raised platform consisting mainly of early Tertiary limestone which in the west, opposite the highland of Yemen, commences with a clear scarp and submerges northwards under the sands of the Ruh' al-Khälï. 3. According to physical character the wadies which are incised in the Djöl and which collect in the Wädï Ḥaḍramaut, a vale of 2—4 Km width running in a west-easterly direction, must be taken as a physical region in its own right. The potentialities for farming in the Hadramaut are very limited; they only exist in the oases of the coastal region and in the wadies whereas most of the Djöl merely serves as a passage for the Bedouins. Thus Ḥaḍramaut, even under optimum conditions, has only been able to feed about a quarter of its inhabitants with home produced foodstuffs. These unfavourable natural conditions early forced the Hadärim to emigration. Initially it was to nearby areas on the Red Sea coast and in Eastern Africa where South Arabic settlement colonies existed as early as the time of the birth of Christ. From the beginning of the last Century onwards, however, South-East Asia, in particular Singapore, Java and Sumatra, became the most favoured destinations for migration. As a result before World War II the number of Arabs from Ḥaḍramaut in the Dutch East Indies had reached about 90,000. Since the emigrants always aimed to return eventually to their homeland after years of absence, the dose links with Indonesia have found a clear reflection in Ḥaḍramaut itself. It is apparent in the architecture of the urban settlements, in eating habits and also anthropologically in considerable Malayan traces amongst many families of the economically most successful upper classes. These contacts with the outside world, however, weakened the authority of the religious leaders, the "Seyyids", descendants of Mohammed, who by means of successful business in foreign countries had themselves amassed the greatest wealth. They were neither any longer able to mediate in the numerous feuds which the vendetta made flare up again and again, nor to stem the continuing loosening of the tribal structure and to put an end to the internal disunion of the country which nearly amounted to a latent state of war. Only the truce of 1937, achieved with British help, brought an end to these troubles and provided the possibility of undertaking various development schemes, e. g. the improvement of communications. The most important consequence was the opening of the access to the Wädï Ḥaḍramaut which the conservative and strongly anti-foreign Population had prevented so far. A period of drought during World War II, which reached catastrophic proportions, and a recession of emigration, which because of the changed political Situation could no longer be resumed on the former scale even after the war, have eventually forced Hadramaut to take all measures to use the indigenous possibilities to a greater degree and increase agricultural production. Irrigation, both by utilisation of the episodic floods (seyls) and permanent irrigation by means of wells, has especially been developed. Many newly built dams utilise the floods; the success achieved by this means in Ḥaḍramaut itself is only modest whereas, in Abyan, about 50 Km to the east of Aden it was possible to develop seyl irrigation on a large scale resulting in considerable progress. By means of compact installations for distribution of the water and an extensive network of irrigation ducts which are safeguarded against "seyl erosion" it was possible to expand the cultivated area, especially for cotton growing, to 18,000 ha and to provide the basis of existence for 5,000 farm units. In the case of the development of irrigation from wells it was less the construction of new installations but the introduction of technological improvements for lifting the ground water, viz. the installation of diesel pumps into the existing well shafts. At the end of 1958 about 1,000 wells, approximately half the total of the Wädi Ḥaḍramaut, were used that way. As a consequence the oasis economy of the Wädi Ḥaḍramaut experiences not only an increase of its area but also a shift towards cultivation of crops with higher yields in which process wheat comes to dominate agricultural production to a higher degree than hitherto. High production costs are, however, a handicap to the development of agriculture. They are a consequence of the still inadequate communications and the unhealthy social conditions of the agricultural population; these arise from the share cropping and tenant farm Systems of the Middle East and further from the contempt in which agricultural work is held by large sections of the population.
Broadside describing the course of study offered at Alden Partridge's Military-Collegiate Institution in Norwich, Vermont, with a fall term to open 13 September 1848. ; CAPT. PARTRIDGE'S MILITARY-COLLEGIATE INSTITUTION, AT NORWICH, VERMONT. THE FALL TERM, at this Institution, will commence on WEDNESDAY, the 13th of SEPTEMBER. The departments of In-struction are as follows, viz.: 1. DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AND MILITARY ENGINEERING. This department embraces all those branches of theoretical and practical Mathematics, Topography, Military Science, and such other branches as are necessary to form a good Scientific and practical Civil and Military Engineer. The practical use of the Barometer, in calculating the Heights of Mountains, and which is highly useful in all practical Scientific Operations, and which is not taught at any other Institution in the United States, will be particularly attended to. The charge (for tui-tion) for carrying a student through the full course, in this department, including the use of Instruments, will be forty dollars. The time necessary for a diligent student to complete a full course, will be from four to five Quarters, of eleven weeks each. Should a longer time be necessary, no addition will be made to the charge. Each Student will be allowed to complete the course as soon as he can. 2. THE FULL ENGLISH COLLEGIATE COURSE. The full course in this department will embrace all of the preceding, with the addition of the Laws of Nations; Natural and Political Law; Logic; Rhetoric ; Moral Science; Mental Philosophy; History; Geography; Natural Philosophy and Astronomy; Belles Lettres, &c., &c. Composition, Declamation, and a correct Grammatical knowledge of the English Lan-guage will be required of all. The time necessary for a diligent student to complete the course in this department, will be from eight to ten Quarters, and the charge for tuition eighty dollais. Should a longer time be necessary, no additional charge will be made. Blackstone's Commentaries will be added for those who wish to attend to them. 3. The Latin and Greek Languages will be taught to those who may wish to attend to them, and to such extent as they may require; and the charge on this account will be in proportion to the increase of time. 4. Those students who prefer to pay a Quarterly tuition to accepting of the terms proposed in the 1st and 2d articles, will be charged as follows, viz.: Tuition per Quarter, of eleven weeks, - $8,00 Incidental expenses, " " 1,00 Board, in respectable private families, from one dollar fifty, to one dollar seventy-five cents per week. Private study-rooms from one dollar fifty to two dollars per Quarter. Washing not to exceed twenty cents per week Fuel from $1,50 to $1,75 per cord. 5. Capt. P. will receive, not to exceed twenty, Students as Boarders in his family, for forty dollars per Quarter, or one hun-dred and sixty dollars for the Collegiate year of forty-four weeks, which will include Board, Tuition, Room-rent, Washing, Lights, Fuel, and the usual Incidentals. 6. Capt. P. will receive a Class, not to exceed fifteen, to be instructed in all the branches necessary to teach a Select English School, including Practical Surveying, and the use of the Barometer. Tuition $6,00 per Quarter. 7. THE NORWICH INSTITUTE. This Institution, formerly so flourishing under the Instruction of Messrs. Shedd, Ilurlbutt, &c., will be re-opened, under the superintendence of Capt. P., on the 13th of September. The Instruction will include all the branches necessary to prepare a student to enter on the higher branches in the Collegiate department, or to teach a good District School. The charge for tui-tion will be four dollars per Quarter, or five dollars, if the Languages are included. The student in this, and all the other departments will have the privilege of attending Capt. P.'s lectures, and the Military Exercises without additional charge. 8. LECTURES. Capt. P. delivers an annual Course of Lectures on the Science of Government, the Constitution of the United States, Po-litical Economy, the several branches of Military Science, and other branches of useful knowledge, which are open to all the students. 9- Students are admitted at any time, and charged tuition from the time of joining. 10. The Commencement will be on Monday, the 4th of September. Also, the celebration of the 28th Anniversary, since the establishment of the Institution at Norwich, under the name of the A. L. S. M. Academy. Several interesting addresses will be delivered. The public generally, and all of Capt, P.'s former pupils, particularly, are urgently invited to attend. 11. A Literary Convention will meet at Norwich on the 4th of September, for the purpose of adopting measures to establish on a permanent basis, at Norwich, or some other convenient place, in New England, a Literary, Scientific and Military Institu-tion, of a high order. Addresses may be expected from Joseph C. Wright, Esq., of New York, and Major Simeon Wheeler of Virginia,"former Graduates under Capt. P. All the friends of a truly American System of Education, are urgently invited to attend. Norwich, Vermont, June 12, 1848. NOTE. Those who wish a more extended Literary and Scientific course than the foregoing, can be carried forward to any extent they really require. Payments for board and tuition to be made quarterly or half-yearly in advance.
The project «Workplaces in the health care sector: gender, class, ethnicity» (2003-2005) was financed by the Norwegian Research Council's programme for workplace and labour market research. The project was initiated in order to explore some consequences of the increasing number of employees from immigrant backgrounds within the health care sector. Specifically, we wanted to study if, and how, employees from immigrant backgrounds were included in their workplaces, as well as if and how the organization of work and the existing hierarchies were influenced by the increasing ethnic diversity in the workplace. We have conducted fieldwork in two separate workplaces: a hospital and a nursing home, both in the Oslo area. The focus is on the workplaces, rather than on the employees. The two workplaces are described in separate chapters in this report, which is intended to communicate the results back to the institutions where we conducted the research. In this way, topics that are of special relevance to each of the two institutions respectively are easily accessible to the reader. We also hope that this structure will make the report useful for leaders and employees within these two types of institutions. Furthermore, in the report, we compare the two workplaces and also refer to the fact that they both form different parts of a larger context. This, in turn, provides them with different conditions for dealing with differences in ethnicity, gender and class. In this way, the report presents two examples of more general trends and tendencies in this sector of the labour market. Our main findings may be summed up as follows: In the hospital, the majority of the nursing staff had a Norwegian ethnic background. The nursing home had a significantly higher proportion of nursing staff from immigrant backgrounds. In the nursing home ward where we conducted fieldwork, more than 20 ethnic groups were represented, and a minority of the staff was from a Norwegian background. There was thus little ethnic diversity among the hospital staff, and a high degree of such diversity among the nursing home staff. It is easier for qualified applicants from immigrant backgrounds to find work in the municipal part of this sector, such as nursing homes, than in the central government owned health enterprises, such as hospitals. It is, furthermore, easier for applicants with so-called «Western» backgrounds to find employment in hospitals than it is for applicants with «non-Western» backgrounds. Differences in recruitment and employment practices play an important role here. This is already common knowledge to applicants from immigrant backgrounds, so that many of them do not think it is worth the trouble to apply for jobs in hospitals. A consequence of this self-strengthening process is that hospitals in districts with ethnically diverse populations fall far short of the government goal that the workforce should reflect the composition of the population which it serves. Equality, difference and discrimination are central topics in this study. How questions related to these topics are conceived of and dealt with is important to the workplace and to each employee. There were systematic differences between the ways in which such issues were handled in the two workplaces. At the hospital, the policy was that «everybody was treated the same», which presupposes that everybody was the same, since the expectation was that similar treatment be received in similar ways. Those who came through as different were thus viewed as deviating from, or falling short of, the ethnic norm, which was Norwegian. Coming from a Norwegian background thus became an advantage in itself. Other ethnic identities were stigmatized. In order to avoid open stigmatization, employees from immigrant backgrounds under communicated this aspect of their identities. At the nursing home, the policy andpracticewerecompletelydifferent. The municipality had established an active diversity policy aimed at combating the discrimination of all minority groups. The employees at the nursing home had little direct contact with the municipal administration, yet they trusted that questions of discrimination were competently addressed and that it was legitimate to bring cases of discrimination upwards in the system if necessary. When it came to the likelihood of changing the deeper, structural features that enabled such single cases of discrimination, however, there was less confidence among the employees. In the nursing home ward, we found no tendencies to stigmatization of ethnic identities. Here, community was built on common experiences as immigrants in Norway, and on the diverse needs of the nursing home residents. Regarding the significance of the ethnic composition of the workforce for the organization and tasks, we found that, at the nursing home, the very diversity made for a clear focus on what the employees did have in common, namely the residents and their well-being. At the hospital, we did not find any parallel to this. Here, a vast majority of the employees did have a common ethnic background: they were Norwegians. It is thought-provoking that, in the hospital, which was the institution with the larger number of patients from immigrant backgrounds, we found the smallest proportion of employees from immigrant backgrounds. One might have expected to find that these relatively few employees be viewed as a particularly important resource for the institution, since the number of patients from immigrant backgrounds was increasing. That this was not the case, can be understood in light of the stigmatization of ethnic difference which we have already mentioned. The consequence was that, at the hospital, little use was made of the employees' real or informal competence that derived from their immigrant backgrounds. This said, we did find that a few of the employees themselves took the initiative to make hospitalisation easier for patients from immigrant backgrounds, by speaking a common language other than Norwegian, and in general show flexibility and understanding for their special needs. Our point is that such practices were discouraged by the structural framework. Our findings support the view that what it means to have a «sufficient» knowledge of Norwegian in order to work, for instance, as a nurse in Norway, not just depends on «objective» criteria such as language test results. It also depends on one's knowledge and skills when it comes to the silent parts of language, the cultural codes within the health care sector, and on how other people in the workplace receive what one intends to express. Equally important are structural conditions such as the organization of work, and labour market fluctuations: As other studies have found, when labour is scarce, the required level of language competence is lower than it is when there is a surplus of labour. Correspondingly, as long as it is more difficult to recruit ethnic Norwegians to nursing homes than to hospitals, the required level of Norwegian language competence is likely to be lower in nursing homes than in hospitals. Norwegian hospitals have gone through major reorganization processes in recent years, to a large extent as part of the reform trends broadly known as New Public Management. This has implied a decentralisation of responsibility, along with rigorous demands as regards efficiency and economy. The distribution of nursing tasks in the hospital wards was rigid and meticulously directed from the ward leadership. This organization form left little room for finding flexible solutions in order to maximise use of the employees' total competence. Thus, many relational and structural factors interplay when applicants or employees from immigrant backgrounds are deemed to have «sufficient» or «insufficient»skillstowork inthe health care sector. Existing competence hierarchies in this sector determine what is recognised as status and salary trigging competence. Knowledge associated with medical science, modernity, masculinity, social elites, rationality, formal education, individuality, and Norwegian-ness or Western-ness, is privileged in this system. Needless to say, the recognition of medical competence is not a problem in this sector. What does emerge as problematic is, however, that a host of competence forms that do not necessarily lead to better health or care work are recognised because they are associated with medical competence. Norwegian-ness is such a competence form. Furthermore, it is problematic that this privilege by association simultaneously undermines other competence forms that may well be important to health and care work, without being recognised as such. This brings us back to the issue of political management, especially within the fields defined as the recruitment of health care personnel on the one hand, and racism and discrimination on the other. In order to achieve the explicit political goals of increasing the number of people from minority groups recruited to the health sector and to central government employment, active measures should be implemented at all levels. One problem in this context is that the possibilities for political management are limited when hospitals as employers are defined as semi-governmental health enterprises. This increases fragmentation and obfuscates lines of responsibility. The municipal nursing home was subject to explicit guidelines within the two political fields mentioned, and the lines of implementation and responsibility were clear. The lack of explicit and clear guidelines for the implementation of policies within these fields in the hospital sector needs to be further studied and amended. ; Denne rapporten er et resultat av prosjektet «Arbeidsplasser i helse- og omsorgssektoren: kjønn, klasse, etnisitet». Prosjektet, som ble gjennomført fra 2003 til 2005, var finansiert gjennom Norges forskningsråds program for arbeidslivsforskning. Bakgrunnen for prosjektet er den økende andelen ansatte med innvandrerbakgrunn i denne sektoren. Sektoren har allerede en høyere andel ansatte med innvandrerbakgrunn enn for eksempel servicesektoren har. Forskerne har gjennomført feltarbeid ved to arbeidsplasser, et bo- og omsorgssenter og et sykehus, begge i Oslo-området. Hensikten med prosjektet har vært å utforske hvordan ansatte med innvandrerbakgrunn, i vid forstand, inkluderes i det eksisterende arbeidsmiljøet, og hvordan arbeidsorganisering, arbeidsrelasjoner og hierarkidannelser påvirkes av at ansatte med innvandrerbakgrunn er rekruttert inn i helse- og omsorgssektoren. Prosjektet fokuserer altså ikke på ansatte med innvandrerbakgrunn, men på to arbeidsplasser der innvandrere er blant de ansatte. Spørsmålene som reises i rapporten er viktige, ikke bare for de ansatte selv, men også i et større perspektiv. De kan bidra til å belyse hva som hindrer innvandrere i å få innpass på arbeidsmarkedet, og hva som kan gjøres for å inkludere også disse arbeidstakerne.
On Tuesday night, speaking to an audience of Army cadets at West Point Academy in a much anticipated response to his general's request for additional troops, President Obama announced a new strategy for the war in Afghanistan. It was a somber speech, delivered with his usual trademark of logic, rhetorical skill and assertiveness, but also with a certain emotion. At crucial moments in it, Obama looked straight into the camera, making direct eye-contact with the individual spectator, summoning his support in an effort he seems to be taking up somewhat reluctantly. He outlined a new strategy for the eight-year old war that will include immediate deployment of 30,000 new US troops to protect civilians, clear and defeat the insurgents and train Afghan forces in order to be able to begin the draw down in eighteen months. This new surge will be supplemented by additional NATO troops and Afghan national forces to meet the original 40,000 troops demanded by General McCrystal. After three months of deliberation, the President has decided to heed the advice of his generals and his Defense Secretary, and proceed with a military escalation of the conflict. In so doing, he rejected the logic of Vice President Biden who rhetorically asked earlier this year why the US spent 30 times as much in Afghanistan as it did in Pakistan, when it was well-known that Al Qaeda or what is left of it, is in the tribal regions of Pakistan. Lately he had argued against more troops (because the central government was an unreliable, weak and corrupt partner) and in favor of shifting the mission to killing or capturing main insurgency leaders, establishing more ties with local tribal leaders and giving more support to Pakistan. On Wednesday morning, however, Biden appeared in the morning news shows to defend the President's decision unequivocally.The next morning, in hearings before the Senate's Armed Forces Committee, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton fleshed out the main objectives of the surge more fully: training Afghan forces, eliminating safe havens, stabilizing a region fundamental to American national security. She also emphasized the importance of the parallel "civilian surge" which the President had also mentioned in passing and whose job will be to develop the agricultural base away from opium and to further strengthen institutions at every level of Afghan society, so as "not to leave chaos behind" when troops are drawn down and responsibility is transferred to the Afghan government. Finally, she stressed the need to develop long-term relations with both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Indeed, Obama's three-pronged strategy includes not only military and civilian components for counter insurgence and institution-building, but also a strategic partnership with Pakistan, whose government can help contain the Taliban, destroy Al Qaeda and prevent it from gaining access to nuclear material. Unfortunately, during his speech the President did not spend much time explaining the importance of that relationship. Another important omission was the inclusion of other regional actors in the process of conflict resolution. But the truth is Obama was performing an extremely difficult balancing act, trying to simultaneously gain the support of disparate groups at home and abroad for a last-ditch effort to win an eight year old war in a context of war fatigue, massive debt and a weak economy. That also explains why in his speech he denied any intentions of nation-building (public opinion in the US is strongly against it mainly because of the cost and the long-term commitment it implies) and instead focused on transferring responsibility to the Afghans themselves for their own defense.In articulating both an escalation and an exit strategy at the same time, the President opened himself to criticism from both the Right and the Left. While the Right was very supportive of the surge itself, it was quite critical of his timeline for withdrawal, which they say, will only embolden insurgents to wait the troops out. The Left of his party, led by Moveon.org, responded negatively to the increase of troops, which they regard as "deepening (US) involvement in a quagmire." Meanwhile, and in spite of much commentary to the contrary, the White House insists that the President made this decision because he feels it is the right one, and that electoral considerations played no role in the process (although the withdrawal in the summer of 2011 conveniently coincides with the beginning of his presidential campaign for re-election!) Instead, pundits favorable to the President were quick to point out that a time frame was absolutely needed to provide a sense of urgency to the Afghan government itself so that it will clean up its act and take advantage of this "new window of opportunity" as Secretary Clinton put it. However, it is obvious to the same pundits that the pace and time of withdrawal will most likely be dictated by the conditions on the ground in the summer of 2011 and not by the pre-established timetable. Whether it is for political or strategic reasons, the fact is, the President has made speed, (that is, a quick deployment of new forces followed by quick withdrawal), the central tenet of his new strategy, and while providing for a civilian surge, he has underplayed the nation-building aspects of the mission for the obvious reason: that they undermine the credibility of a speedy exit strategy.Whether or not this strategy works, his decision on Afghanistan has gained Obama some time free from the crushing criticism of the opposition whom he has silenced for the moment; he has pleased Independents (66% of whom trusted the generals over Obama in planning the war strategy; 48% were in favor of more troops, as opposed to only 30% of Democrats); and he can now turn to the two other major challenges facing his administration: public discontent with the economic situation and the battle for health care reform. The latter won a major victory two weeks ago when the Senate voted to bring the bill to the floor for discussion. Still, between the Thanksgiving break last week and the end- of -the -year holidays it is very unlikely this discussion will bear fruit within this calendar year, as was the President's goal. And the more the bill gets delayed the more the public option gets diluted to the point that it will all but disappear from a final version. Since April the President's plan has lost Independent support steadily (only 25% of Independents opposed it in April, now 50% are against it, while among Democrats it has wide support, with only 22% opposing the public option).On the economic front, five times more Independents than Democrats hold Obama responsible for what has gone wrong. They blame him for salvaging the banks but not their jobs. In light of this, Obama has summoned a job creation "summit" to be held later this week in the White House. While most see it as a public relations tactic, with unemployment having surpassed 10%the public is demanding action, and job recovery is key to getting the Independent vote back. With his approval rate hovering at 50%, the President is in dire need of striking some points and delivering some victories before the end of the year. Amid a rising wave of populism that is both anti-Wall Street and anti-government, he needs to show that he can make government work. After a seamless campaign and after months of relying on his own personal charisma and his gifted oratory to coax and persuade the public, the magic seems to be wearing off: he now needs to find other ways to reach the voters. Of course, performance will be the safest one: Independent voters want competence and results: they want him to show them that he can govern. This has proven elusive for many reasons beyond his control, but lately some mistakes were made that could have been prevented. This is a young White House and in spite of their mastery of the new technologies to connect with young voters and their ability to establish their own narrative about the President, in the last few weeks Obama and his close advisers seem to have lost some of their attention to details insofar as his public image is concerned, for example the importance of certain visual and other non-verbal signals. The trip to Asia provides myriad examples of this: the "unforced error" of bowing too deep to the Emperor of Japan, which was ridiculed by the media on all sides of the political spectrum; his tense press conference in China during which both he and Hu Jintao stiffly read prepared statements, after which neither took questions; the town-hall style meeting with students in Shanghai, in which he said "the Internet should be free and all should have access to it" but which was only shown by local TV and in a very slow live feed on the internet, and later all references to it were deleted from all websites. Even a picture of Obama alone by the Great Wall of China was interpreted as a bad visual that suggested isolation, and while this may be an over-interpretation, there is a reason why commentators made that association. Obama is having a very hard time keeping his coalition of independents, moderates and liberals together. The unraveling of his coalition is constraining every policy choice he makes, as he has to measure at every step not only the costs of each decision but also the opposition he is likely to face from within his own party. He thus feels limited in his choices and picks a middle of the road solution that does not fully satisfy his purposes and makes him a target from the two extremes of the political spectrum. In many cases, as in the Afghan war,there are no good choices but this is hard to confess to a public to whom he promised change and that is expecting him to deliver.With his new Afghan decision President Obama may have swayed many hawkish independents to his side but the question is for how long. Soon Obama may find that while nation-building abroad may be difficult, nation-building at home is a task he cannot postpone any longer. Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science and Geography Director, ODU Model United Nations Program Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia
Die European Values Study (EVS) und die World Values Survey (WVS) sind zwei groß angelegte, länderübergreifende und längsschnittliche Umfrage-Forschungsprogramme. Sie umfassen eine große Anzahl von Fragen zu moralischen, religiösen, gesellschaftlichen, politischen, beruflichen und familiären Werten, die seit Anfang der achtziger Jahre repliziert wurden.
Beide Organisationen vereinbarten, ab 2017 bei der gemeinsamen Datenerhebung zusammenzuarbeiten. Der EVS war verantwortlich für die Planung und Durchführung von Umfragen in europäischen Ländern unter Verwendung des EVS-Fragebogens und der methodischen Richtlinien des EVS. Der WVSA war für die Planung und Durchführung von Umfragen in Ländern außerhalb Europas verantwortlich, wobei der WVS-Fragebogen und die methodischen Richtlinien des WVS verwendet wurden. Beide Organisationen entwickelten ihre Entwürfe für Master-Fragebögen unabhängig voneinander. Die gemeinsamen Items definieren den gemeinsamen Kern beider Fragebögen.
Der Gemeinsame EVS/WVS wird aus den beiden Quellendatensätzen des EVS und des WVS erstellt: - European Values Study 2017 Integrated Dataset (EVS 2017), ZA7500 Data file Version 5.0.0, doi:10.4232/1.13897 (https://doi.org/10.4232/1.13897). - World Values Survey: Round Seven–Country-Pooled Datafile. Version 5.0.0, doi: 10.14281/18241.20
V dizertaciji sem poskušal raziskati, kako oskrba z energijo v vsaki od štirih svetovnih velesil (EU, ZDA, Ruski federaciji, Ljudski republiki Kitajski) vpliva na njihovo zunanjo energetsko politiko, kateri od treh elementov energetske politike (konkurenčnost, varnost oskrbe, trajnostnost) odraža zunanjo energetsko politiko teh držav in kako lahko različne regionalne iniciative iyhajajoče iz zunanje energetske politike teh držav pojasnjujemo s teorijo neofunkcionalizma. Prvo poglavje želi predstaviti neofunkcionistično teorijo kot teorijo regionalne integracije. Najprej analizira poskus Jeana Monneta za spodbujanje evropske integracije, ki so jo po drugi svetovni vojni ilustrirale Evropske skupnosti: Evropska gospodarska skupnost, Euratom in Evropska skupnost za jeklo in premog. Neofunkcionalizem je teorija, ki razlaga proces integracije na regionalni ravni glede na naraščajoče vzajemne gospodarske odnose med državami. Analizira sposobnost regionalnih organizacij za reševanje sporov in oblikovanje mednarodnih pravnih režimov, znotraj katerih lahko nadnacionalna tržna pravila nadomestijo nacionalne regulatorne režime. Integracijo pojasnjuje tudi s specializacijo elit in s pozitivnim učinkom prelitja (spill over effect), ki se kaže v nujnosti sodelovanja med sektorji, povezanimi s tistim sektorjem, v katerem se je regionalno sodelovanje prvič začelo. Drugo poglavje na kratko predstavlja 130 let zgodovine regulacije za zaščito konkurence na energetskih trgih, približno 80 let izzivov glede varnosti oskrbe in prestopa te teme v politiko ter približno 70 let stremljenja k trajnostnosti v sodobni energetski politiki. Tretje poglavje predstavlja strukturo oskrbe z energijo v vsaki od analiziranih svetovnih velesil. Očitno je, da so energetski trgi (nafta, plin, elektrika) v ZDA in EU zelo konkurenčni in učinkoviti. Velesili si prizadevata za trajnostnost in nenehno zmanjšujeta izpuste škodljivih emisij iz elektrarn, v prometu ter pri drugih dejavnostih. Medtem, ko je EU močno odvisna od uvoza (leta 2017 je uvozila več kot 55% vseh virov energije), so se ZDA v zadnjih 15 letih iz največjega uvoznika energetskih virov na svetu razvile v neto izvoznico in leta 2018 dosegle energetsko samozadostnost. Ruski indeks neto uvoza energije znaša -84%. Po podatkih iz leta 2014 je država ena največjih neto izvoznikov nafte (približno 10% svetovne proizvodnje) in plina (blizu 20% svetovne proizvodnje). Leta 2018 je bila izvožena količina energije skoraj enaka tisti, ki jo je država v tem letu porabila. Kljub energetskemu izobilju, ima Rusija močno regulirane in neučinkovite trge s plinom, nafto in električno energijo. Med štirimi analiziranimi velesilami daleč najmanj učinkovito izrablja svoje energetske vire. Monopol državnega podjetja Gazprom postaja vedno bolj vprašljiv zaradi vse manjših koristi, ki jih tako stanje prinaša Rusiji. Posledično naraščajo pritiski na Moskvo za reformo energetskega (zlasti plinskega) sektorja. Do zdaj je ruska vlada bolj ali manj odklanjala strukturne reforme in se poskušala prilagajati novim okoliščinam s prerazporejanjem obstoječih dohodkov. Kitajska počasi liberalizira svoj trg s plinom. Reforma, ki je v devetdesetih pritegnila v proizvodnjo električne energije nove, zasebne vlagatelje, je bila vmes že odpravljena, zasebni vlagatelji pa izrinjeni. Plin, premog, nafto ter proizvodnjo električne energije v glavnem nadzirajo državna podjetja, ki praviloma ne dopuščajo konkurence. Kitajska je leta 2017 porabila 22% vseh svetovnih virov energije in je bila tako daleč največji porabnik energije na vsem svetu. Kitajska izkoplje in sežge približno polovico svetovnega premoga in je tako močno netrajnostno usmerjena. Količina izpustov škodljivih emisij iz elektrarn ostaja visoka in stabilna, emisije CO2 pa se nenehno povečujejo. Se pa Kitajska v zadnjih letih veliko bolj osredotoča na storitveno ekonomijo in proizvodnjo elektrike iz obnovljivih virov. Kitajski indeks neto uvoza energije je 15%, kar kaže na zmerno odvisnost od uvoza. Četrto poglavje je namenjeno analizi zunanje energetske politike EU v globalnem kontekstu zapletenih energetskih odnosov. Energetika je že zelo dolgo politično občutljiv sektor in je kot tak tesno povezan z državno suverenostjo in nacionalnimi interesi. Posledično so se bruseljska prizadevanja za oblikovanje skupne zunanje energetske politike, ob delitvi pristojnosti z državami članicami in ob upoštevanju skrbno pripravljenega kompromisa iz člena 194 Pogodbe o delovanju EU, izkazala za zelo zahteven in težko dosegljiv cilj. Dejstvo, da je Evropska unija močno odvisna od tujih dobaviteljev energije (med katerimi ima Rusija s svojo vizijo političnim ciljem podrejene energetske politike najpomembnejšo vlogo), dodatno omejuje težnje EU po uvedbi univerzalnih tržnih pravil v energetskem sektorju. Pri promociji tržnih pravil kot osnovi energetske politike je EU vseeno uspelo doseči nekaj napredka, zlasti z ustanovitvijo Evropskega gospodarskega prostora in Energetske skupnosti. V zadnjih letih, ki jih zaznamujeta zmanjšan pomen multilateralizma in povečan pomen bilateralnih odnosov, je EU začela oblikovati svojo lastno zunanjo energetsko politiko (po moji oceni od 2015 dalje) in takoj, tako kot druge velesile, v svojo zunanjo energetsko politiko vnesla elemente dominantnosti. Neofunkcionalistična teorija, ki evropsko integracijo razlaga z učinkom prelitja, se je izkazala za uporabno tudi pri razlagi procesov oblikovanja zunanje energetske politike EU in povečane vloge in avtonomije Evropske komisije v tem procesu. Po teoriji Nye-ja o štirih stopnjah pri oblikovanju regionalne integracije EU trenutno prehaja iz tretje stopnje (redukcija alternativ) v četrto (eksternalizacija). Peto poglavje skuša pokazati kako je ameriška energetska politika skozi zgodovino doživela več sprememb. ZDA so si v začetku dvajsetega stoletja, tako kot mnogo let od krize v Sueškem prekopu sredi 70-ih let 20.stoletja, prizadevale za konkurenco, ki naj bi omogočila ustrezen dostop do virov energije s ciljem, da bi ohranile sprotno zadovoljevanje svojih energetskih potreb. Od sredine osemdesetih let je postala ameriška energetska politika bolj večstranska, z vedno večjo skrbjo glede okoljskih vprašanj, vendar sta varnost oskrbe in konkurenčnosti še vedno na prvem mestu. Medtem, ko je ameriško energetsko politiko v dvajsetem stoletju vodil strah pred pomanjkanjem energije, je tako imenovana nekonvencionalna revolucija pri pridobivanju plina in nafte iz škrilavcev v drugem desetletju enaindvajsetega stoletja spremenila odnos Washingtona do zunanje energetske politike in močno vplivala na mednarodne trge nafte in plina. Obdobje nenehno rastoče skrbi glede pridobivanja energetskih virov je tako nadomestila doba energetske obilnosti. V dobi energetske obilnosti v ZDA si je Trumpova administracija zastavila cilj, da ZDA postanejo energetsko dominantne. Zaradi tega je Trumpova administracija začela podpirati politične posege v kreacijo cen na naftnem trgu in odmik od multilateralizma, ki je poprej omogočal globalno konkurenco. Kljub temu, da so ZDA dosegle status največje svetovne proizvajalke nafte in plina, se zdi, da Washington še vedno ne odstopa od ciljev, ki jih tradicionalno zasleduje s svojo zunanjo energetsko politiko: zagotavljanje zalog na svetovnih naftnih trgih in zmanjševanje motenj pri dobavi ; spodbujanje zaveznikov, da diverzificirajo lastne energetske vire, kjer je bila Evropa v glavnem v središču prizadevanj ZDA ; in s svojo močjo kaznovati države izvoznice plina in nafte ter jim ukazati, naj spremenijo politike, z uporabo možnosti uvedbe sankcij. Uvajanje sankcij ima vse pomembnejšo vlogo v ameriški zunanji politiki, saj je vedno bolj vprašljivo, kdaj, in če sploh, uporabiti vojaško silo za politične cilje. Nova doba obilja energije ZDA omogoča, da k uvedbi sankcij pritegnejo tudi druge države ter jih tako skupaj lažje uvedejo koordinirajo. Po drugi strani pa je zelo verjetno, da bi odločitev ZDA, da izkoristijo svoj položaj energetskega dobavitelja in začnejo izvoz energije uporabljati v politične namene, lahko delovala proti njihovim lastnim interesom in zmožnosti doseganja njihovih zunanjepolitičnih ciljev. ZDA nikoli niso sodelovale v nobeni gospodarski organizaciji, ki bi omogočala prenos suverenosti glede energetske politike v roke neke nadnacionalne strukture in neofunkcionalizem v njihovi zunanji energetski politiki nima nobenega odmeva. Šesto poglavje, ki je posvečeno Rusiji, raziskuje, kako njena bogata baza energetskih virov zagotavlja davčno osnovo za državno porabo, devizne prihodke in vzvod (zlasti v primeru dobave plina) v mednarodnih odnosih. Zahvaljujoč visokim cenam nafte iz obdobja pred pandemijo COVID-19 je Rusiji uspelo obnoviti gospodarstvo in povečati svojo geopolitično trdnost. Zaradi izjemne odvisnosti od energetskih prihodkov za ruski državni proračun je neugodna kombinacija nizkih cen nafte in finančnih sankcij ZDA in EU skupaj z naraščajočo konkurenco v proizvodnji nafte in plina povzročila postopno zmanjševanje ruskega vpliva v mednarodni politiki. Rusija nima veliko možnosti, da bi v bližnji prihodnosti postala pomemben igralec na azijskih trgih. Tako se je država usmerila k širitvi in osvežitvi svojih energetskih vezi z Evropo. Kljub temu pa Moskva vzporedno s tem spodbuja svoj konkurenčni integracijski projekt Evroazijske ekonomske unije (EAEU), katerega namen je povsem nasproten cilju evropskih integracijskih projektov, po katerih se vsaj formalno zgleduje. S tem projektom želi Rusija, med drugim, v energetskem sektorju zaščiti svoj prevladujoči položaj v postsovjetskem prostoru. Kljub formalni podobnosti EAEU z EU tam ni mogoče pričakovati učinkov prelitja na nadnacionalni ravni v skladu s teorijo neofunkcionalizma, saj gre za združitev neenakopravnih partnerjev z močnim ruskim vodstvom, ki ne dovoljuje socializacije neke nove, nadnacionalne elite. Sedmo poglavje predstavlja kako je zaradi hitro rastočega gospodarstva in povečanega povpraševanja po energiji Kitajska povečevala vpliv na svetovnih energetskih trgih. Na energetsko politiko kitajske vlade je močno vplivalo vse večje povpraševanje po nafti in odvisnost države od uvoza le-te. Naftna in plinska industrija sta zaslužni za zagotavljanje oskrbe, za zadosten proračunski dohodek in tudi za delovna mesta. Kitajska državna podjetja skušajo svoje poslovanje prilagoditi svetovnim praksam, vendar je bil do sedaj njihov manevrski prostor vedno omejen z državnim nadzorom. Pod sedanjim vodstvom kitajska podjetja sodelujejo v mednarodnem prodoru z velikimi, neposrednimi naložbami. Prvi poskus takega prodora je bila iniciativa 16+1 (sedaj 17+1) [e pred sedanjim predsednikom Xi Jinpingom. Njegov prihod na oblast je sprožil še obsežnejšo iniciativo. Prosor v svetovnem merilu je bil pred kratkim zasnovan kot Iniciativa pasu in ceste (Belt and Road Initiative - BRI). Kljub temu, da v BRI sodeluje skoraj 70 držav, pomen iniciative ostaja nejasen. BRI zagotavlja zaščito kitajskih trgovskih poti in oskrbe z energijo ter omogoča državi, da svoje industrijske presežke in gradbene kapacitete učinkovito izvaža po vsem svetu. Z BRI kitajska zunanja politika prek gospodarske diplomacije poskuša povečati svoj vpliv. Ta projekt je treba razumeti kot dolgoročno, globalno iniciativo, ki nima samo gospodarskega cilja. BRI in iniciativa 17+1 sta še dve obliki mednarodnega sodelovanja, ki sta neprimerljivi s postopkom vključevanja v EU in v njiju zaradi dominantnosti Kitajske ni prelitja funkcij na nadnacionalno raven kot ga opisuje neofunkcionalistična teorija. ; In the study, I tried to explore how characteristics of energy supply in each of the four global superpowers (EU, US, Russian Federation, People's Republic of China) influences their foreign energy policy, which out of the three elements of energy policy (competitiveness, security of supply, sustainability) primarily reflects it and how and if different forms of foreign energy policy regional initiatives can be explained with the theory of neofunctionalism. The first chapter aims to present the neofunctionalist theory as a theory of regional integration. It first analyzes Jean Monnet's attempts for European integration, at that time illustrated by the European Communities: European Economic Community, Euratom and the European Steel and Coal Community. Later, it was further developed to be able to explain processes like territorial growth of a regional integrated area and also processes of its shrinking, i.e. Brexit. Neofunctionalism is a theory explaining the process of integration on a regional level with reference to growing reciprocal economic relationships in-between nations. It also analyzes capacity of a regional organization in dispute resolution and creation of international legal regimes, within which the supranational market rules may replace national regulatory regimes. It explains also integration by positive spillover effects as necessities to cooperate in sectors, which are indirectly related to the sector where regional cooperation first started. I briefly present also intergovernmentalism as an alternative theory. The first chapter also briefly presents 130 years of history of regulation to protect competiveness on energy markets, some 80 years of security of supply challenges and their translation into political decisions and some 70 years of history of creation of sustainability in modern energy policy. The second chapter presents the structure of energy supply and the market structure in each of the analyzed global superpowers. It is evident that energy markets (oil, gas, electricity) in the US and the EU are highly competitive and efficient. Both superpowers strive also towards sustainability and are constantly decreasing harmful emissions from fossil fuel power plants as well as transport and other energy consuming activities. While the EU is highly import dependent (in 2017 imported more than 55% of all energy sources), the United States in the last 15 years developed from the biggest importer of energy sources globally into a net exporter, reaching energy self-sufficiency in 2018. Russia has a net energy imports index at -84%. It is one of the biggest net exporters of oil (some 10% of global production) and gas (close to 20% of global production), according to data from 2014. In 2018, it exported almost the same amount of energy as was consumed in the country. Despite its energy abundance, Russia has heavily regulated and inefficient gas, oil and electricity markets. Among the four analyzed superpowers, it has far the least energy efficient use of its energy resources. The position of Gazprom, which enjoys a monopoly on pipeline gas exports to Russia's neighbors, has been increasingly challenged. Consequently, pressures on Moscow to reform its energy (particularly gas) sector have been rising. So far, the Russian government has shown reluctance with regard to implementing structural reforms in its energy sector and has rather been trying to adjust, react and adapt to created circumstances. China is slowly liberalizing its gas market. Reform that attracted new private investors into electricity generation in the 1990s has backslid. Gas, coal, electricity generation and oil sectors are primarily controlled by state-owned companies and do not allow much room for competition. China in 2017 consumed 22% of all energy sources globally and was by far the biggest energy consumer worldwide. China extracts and burns around half of all coal being extracted worldwide and is heavily unsustainable. Its harmful emissions from power plants remain high and stable, while CO2 emissions are in constant ascent. However, in recent years, the country has been focusing much more on services-based economy and renewable energy. Additionally, taking into account the combination of effects of factors like structural changes in the economy, growing efficiency within the energy industry and demographic changes, total growth of the energy demand up until the year of 2040 will be comparable to the one that China experienced from 2008 to 2016. Its net energy imports index is 15% and shows moderate dependence on import. The third chapter aims at analyzing the EU's emerging foreign energy policy in a global context of imperfect energy relations. Energy, being an increasingly politicized sector, still remains closely linked with state sovereignty and national interest. Consequently, Brussels's efforts to shape a coherent foreign energy policy, while sharing competences with the Member States and taking into account the carefully drafted compromise of article 194 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, has proved to be increasingly challenging. Moreover, Europe, being highly dependent on foreign energy suppliers (among which Russia, with its contrasting vision of energy policy, plays the most important role) has been further undermining the EU's aspirations of introducing universal, market-based norms in global energy relations. Against this backdrop, the EU managed to make some achievements in its foreign energy policy, particularly, by the means of the European Economic Area and the Energy Community, which was a successful example of what Europe aspired to achieve globally. In recent years marked by the decreased role of multilateralism and the increased role of bilateral relations, also the EU introduced elements of dominance into its foreign energy policy despite opposition to such behavior when performed by other superpowers. The neofunctionalist theory explaining European integration by spillover effect has proven to be usable also in explaining processes of creation of EU foreign energy policy in the years from 2015 on and increased role and autonomy of the European Commission in it. The fourth chapter attempts to demonstrate that US energy policy has gone through multiple changes throughout history. While in the beginning of the twentieth century, the US pursued competitive access to energy sources to sustain the strong growth of its demand, after the Suez Canal crisis and the subsequent oil crisis in the mid-seventies, the US energy policy became centered on ensuring the security of supply. Since the mid-eighties, it became much more multi-sided, with growing concern about environmental issues, yet without detriment to the importance given to security of supply and competitiveness. While American energy policy throughout the twentieth century has been driven by fears of energy scarcity, the so-called unconventional revolution of the past decade changed Washington's attitude towards its foreign energy policy and also considerably impacted international oil and gas markets. An atmosphere of continuously growing competition for resources has, thus, been replaced by the age of energy abundance, where the Trump's US administration has set the objective of the United States becoming energy dominant, supporting political interventions into the creation of prices on the oil market and moving away from multilateralism, which enabled global competition. Despite the fact that the US achieved the status of being the biggest producer of oil and gas in the world, Washington does not seem to withdraw the objectives traditionally pursued by its foreign energy policy. Namely, ensuring supplies on the global oil markets and minimizing disruptions ; encouraging allies to diversify their own energy resources, where Europe has usually been the main focus of US efforts ; and using its power to punish countries and to command them to change policies, using the possibility of imposing sanctions on gas and oil exporting nations. With latest Biden's administration US seems to reposition its focus on sustainability and multilateral cooperation again. Despite that sanctions play increasingly important role in US foreign policy, since it is more and more questionable when and if at all to deploy military force. New energy abundant age enables the US to get on board other nations to collectively impose multilateral sanctions easier than in previous times. ON the other side it is very possible that US decision to become energy dominant and start using energy exports for political purposes could work against their interests and ability to achieve their objectives. The US never participated in any economic organization that would tend to transfer sovereignty over energy policy to a supranational structure. The fifth chapter dealing with Russia explores how its vast energy resource base provides the fiscal basis for state spending, foreign exchange earnings, and leverage (especially for gas) in international relations. Thanks to the high oil prices of the pre COVID-19 pandemic decade, Russia managed to recover its economy and increase its geopolitical assertiveness. Nevertheless, due to its extreme dependence on energy revenues, following the unfavorable combination of low oil prices, financial sanctions of the West combined with the rising competition in production resulted in Russia's gradually diminishing economic leverage. Russia, with unlikely prospects to become a prominent player in Asian markets in the foreseeable future, has turned to expanding and refreshing its energy ties with Europe. Yet, in parallel, Moscow has been pushing forward its competing integrationist project of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), which aims to conflict and overlap with the European integrationist projects, inter alia, in the sector of energy in order to safeguard its dominant position in the post-Soviet space. Despite the formal similarity of the EAEU with the EU, there is no spillover effect since it is an association of unequal partners with strong Russian leadership. Country's fast-growing economy and rapid increase in energy demand has lead China to gain more influence in global energy markets. The energy policy of the Chinese government has been strongly influenced by the increasing demand for oil and country's dependence on oil imports. The oil and gas industry has remained a strategic asset for the Chinese government. This industry is responsible for ensuring supplies of oil and gas, for sufficient budget income as well as for employment. With closer integration into global markets, Chinese state-owned companies have been seeking to adapt their operations to global practices, yet, the room for maneuver has always been limited by state control. Under the present leadership, Chinese companies have been engaged in large-scale outward direct investments. This process was recently soon packed as a Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The fact that nearly 70 countries are participating in the BRI does not improve the perception that its label remains unclear. There is still no exact definition of the qualification of a BRI project Yet, half a decade after the launch of one of the most ambitious geo-economic projects of recent history, some more things became clearer. To name a few, BRI is not only responsible for securing China's trade routes and energy supplies, it is also accountable for the fact, that the country is being able to export worldwide several construction projects due to its industrial overcapacities. The BRI became a major component of China's grandiose foreign policy agenda aimed at increasing Chinese influence in the BRI region and beyond. The past years have proven that the BRI project is to be understood as a long-term, global and not having only an economic goal. Yet, challenges regarding to the future success of the BRI are many and of different nature: technical, political, financial and regulatory, to name a few. Both suspicion and skepticism concerning its real motives and viability remain high, especially among those countries who have been the main designers of today's global financial system and international trade rules. The Belt and Road Initiative is yet another form of international cooperation which is incomparable with the EU integration process and neofunctionalist theory cannot be used for its explanation. The thesis confirmed that characteristics of energy supply in a country are directly and with the same attitude reflected in the foreign energy policy. Foreign energy policy is additionally held up by whichever tool of dominance being available to one of the four studied cases. The thesis also confirmed that Haas' theory of neofunctionalism is still supportive in explanation of regional integration of all initiatives proposed in and by the four global superpowers. EU is creating its own foreign energy policy entering externalization as the last, fourth stage of regional cooperation, according to Nye.
El G-20 es un bloque de países constituido en 1999 por las ocho naciones más industrializadas y los once países con las principales economías emergentes de diversas partes del globo y la Unión Europea como unidad. Este bloque se reunió en Washington para realizar un foro de cooperación y consultas entre los países sobre temas relacionados en encontrar una solución a la crisis financiera mundial. Los asistentes a la cumbre rechazaron el proteccionismo y coincidieron en renunciar a establecer en los próximos 12 meses "nuevas barreras a la inversión y al comercio de bienes y servicios". Varios medios informan al respecto: "El País" de Madrid: "El G-20 acuerda una acción pública masiva: La cumbre fija que los Gobiernos usen estímulos fiscales a la economía - Se crean grupos de trabajo para la reforma financiera - Impulso a la liberalización comercial": http://www.elpais.com/articulo/economia/G-20/acuerda/accion/publica/masiva/elppgl/20081116elpepieco_2/Tes"Bush: "Ha sido un éxito, pero queda mucho por hacer": Los líderes del G-20 se muestran satisfechos con los resultados de la cumbre de Washington": http://www.elpais.com/articulo/economia/Bush/Ha/sido/exito/queda/mucho/hacer/elppgl/20081116elpepueco_1/Tes""Es el momento de que el G-20 sustituya al G-7"": http://www.elpais.com/articulo/economia/momento/G-20/sustituya/G-7/elppgl/20081116elpepieco_12/Tes "Le Monde":"Le G20 se donne 4 mois pour renouer avec la croissance": http://www.lemonde.fr/la-crise-financiere/article/2008/11/16/le-g20-se-donne-4-mois-pour-renouer-avec-la-croissance_1119294_1101386.html#ens_id=1118383"Les pays du G20 s'accordent sur des grands principes et un plan d'action": http://www.lemonde.fr/la-crise-financiere/article/2008/11/15/les-pays-du-g20-s-accordent-sur-des-grands-principes-et-un-plan-d-action_1119261_1101386.html#ens_id=1118383"Le G20 tout près d'adopter un "plan d'action" contre la crise": http://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2008/11/15/le-g20-tout-pres-d-adopter-un-plan-d-action-contre-la-crise_1119225_3234.html#ens_id=1118383 "New York Times":"World Leaders Vow Joint Push to Aid Economy":http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/business/worldbusiness/16summit.html?ref=world"As Leaders Wrestle With Economy, Developing Nations Get Ringside Seats": http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/washington/16leaders.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin "New York Times" presenta sitio con links a artículos relacionados a la cumbre: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/g/group_of_20/index.html "CNN": "CNN" presenta sitio con links a artículos relacionados a la cumbre: http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/business/2008/11/15/quest.intv.hennessey.g20.cnn "Time":"Europe's Hopes for G-20 Summit Risk Being Dashed":http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1858863,00.html "MSNBC":"Reshaping of world financial system outlined: China, Brazil, India would take a greater role, G-20 leaders say": http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27742573/ "Los Ángeles Times":"G-20 economic summit brings pledges of teamwork": http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-summit16-2008nov16,0,3993269.story"Text of Bush's remarks on economic summit": http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-bushtext16-2008nov16,0,4618769.story"Summit of G20 nations is unlikely to produce quick solutions": http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-summit14-2008nov14,0,2420401.story "Times":"Brown claims G20 success as world leaders agree tax and interest rate cuts": http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article5163072.ece"G20 declaration: text in full.Summit on financial markets and the world economy": http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article5162735.ece "La Nación":"Bush, en una cena que tuvo el sabor de la despedida: Fue la última que compartió como presidente con otros mandatarios":http://www.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=1070719"El G-20 impulsó más regulaciones: Acordó mejorar los controles sobre los mercados internacionales y coordinar los esfuerzos para evitar una nueva debacle mundial": http://www.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=1070714 "The Economist": "The global economic summit: After the fall. World leaders are meeting in Washington, DC, to fix finance. They have their work cut out": http://www.economist.com/finance/displayStory.cfm?story_id=12610564&source=features_box_main "After the fall: On November 15th world leaders are due to sit around a table in Washington, DC, to fix finance. They have their work cut out": http://www.economist.com/finance/displayStory.cfm?source=hptextfeature&story_id=12597176"BBC":"Summit shows times have changed": http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7731889.stm"G20 summit: In quotes : Global leaders at the G20 financial summit in Washington have pledged to work together to restore world economic growth, and to carry out reforms of the economic system.": http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7731735.stm "China Daily": "G20 summit adopts action plan to implement principles of reform: Washington summit targets at crisis": http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-11/16/content_7208365.htm "El Mercurio" de Chile: "Líderes mundiales acuerdan mayores medidas fiscales y reformar el sistema financiero": http://diario.elmercurio.com/2008/11/16/internacional/_portada/noticias/9F784923-2CE0-437E-B629-3DA069CC6711.htm?id={9F784923-2CE0-437E-B629-3DA069CC6711} AMERICA LATINA"El País" de Madrid informa: " Nicaragua rechaza la mediación internacional": http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/Nicaragua/rechaza/mediacion/internacional/elpepuint/20081116elpepiint_4/Tes"The Economist" analiza: "Nicaragua: How to steal an election. Daniel Ortega sets an ugly precedent": http://www.economist.com/world/americas/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12607338"La Nación" publica: "Nicaragua: la oposición desafía al oficialismo con una nueva marcha. Se manifestarán en reclamo por los resultados de las últimas elecciones": http://www.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=1071330"CNN" plantea: "Chinese president visits Cuba to strengthen ties": http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/11/18/hu.cuba.ap/index.htmlA horas de elecciones en Venezuela: "La Nación" informa: "Opositores venezolanos afirman que son vigilados: El gobierno graba conversaciones y viola la vida privada, sostienen": http://www.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=1070612"El Universal" de México publica: "Los nervios de Hugo Chávez: El presidente venezolano anda de malas. Las encuestas vaticinan que su partido sufrirá golpes en las elecciones del 23 de noviembre": http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/internacional/59638.html"El Mercurio" de Chile plantea: "Hugo Chávez amenaza con cerrar medios de prensa: Mandatario prepara medidas para las municipales del 23 de noviembre.": http://diario.elmercurio.com/2008/11/16/internacional/internacional/noticias/2BBAC319-5E8F-4C75-942E-8A7FC8670098.htm?id={2BBAC319-5E8F-4C75-942E-8A7FC8670098}"Le Monde" anuncia: "Dans l'Etat vénézuélien de Barinas, fief des Chavez, les élections locales sont une affaire de famille": http://www.lemonde.fr/ameriques/article/2008/11/18/dans-l-etat-venezuelien-de-barinas-fief-des-chavez-les-elections-locales-sont-une-affaire-de-famille_1119994_3222.html#ens_id=1120093"El Mercurio" de Chile informa: "Se toman la justicia en sus manos y linchan a supuestos ladrones. Once presuntos delincuentes fueron golpeados y quemados por una turba. Dos de ellos murieron.": http://diario.elmercurio.com/2008/11/18/internacional/internacional/noticias/C0644F52-B588-4564-B90C-41CBEDD128B1.htm?id={C0644F52-B588-4564-B90C-41CBEDD128B1}"MSNBC" anuncia: "Alleged Pinochet victim turns up alive in Chile: Discovery fuels outrage in nation mourning 1,196 other political prisoners": http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27789538/"El Mercurio" de Chile plantea: "Diputados rebeldes fracturan el kirchnerismo : "Hoy no hay libertad de opinión en el peronismo", sostuvo anoche Felipe Solá, el parlamentario que anunció la división.": http://diario.elmercurio.com/2008/11/18/internacional/_portada/noticias/8A1B80A2-22D2-4A10-A9D6-31A9D9C23EA8.htm?id={8A1B80A2-22D2-4A10-A9D6-31A9D9C23EA8} ESTADOS UNIDOS / CANADA"El Universal" de México publica: "Insulta Al-Qaeda a Barack Obama: En un mensaje difundido en internet, el segundo dirigente más importante de la organización terrorista, Ayman al-Zawahri afirmó que Obama es 'justo lo contrario de los honorables negros estadounidenses', como el activista Malcolm X, asesinado en 1965": http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/556491.html"El País" de Madrid informa: " Obama se despide de Chicago: El presidente electo de EE UU agradece el apoyo prestado por la gente de Illinois en su adiós al Senado": http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/Obama/despide/Chicago/elpepuint/20081116elpepuint_11/Tes"CNN" publica: "Bill Clinton could pose Cabinet problem":http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/17/clinton.cabinet/index.html"BBC" anuncia: "Obama promete gobierno bipartidista : El presidente electo de Estados Unidos, Barack Obama, prometió a su ex rival republicano, John McCain, trabajar juntos en una "nueva era de reformas" para restablecer la confianza de los ciudadanos en el gobierno.": http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/international/newsid_7734000/7734679.stm"The Economist" analiza:"Launching Hillary at the world: The surprising idea that Hillary Clinton could become Barack Obama's secretary of state": http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displayStory.cfm?story_id=12627393&source=features_box_main"Change.gov: The transition to a new administration is already well under way": http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12607222"La Nación" plantea: "Obama y McCain unen fuerzas: Ayer se reunieron para coordinar acciones que permitan resolver los problemas de EE.UU.":http://www.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=1071204 "El Mercurio" de Chile informa: "Obama recibe a McCain en un gesto que muestra su interés por el trabajo bipartidista": http://diario.elmercurio.com/2008/11/18/internacional/_portada/noticias/B0C58433-C5F2-4D5C-AB4C-B4832D06443C.htm?id={B0C58433-C5F2-4D5C-AB4C-B4832D06443C}En su columna para "La Nación" Andrés Oppenheimer analiza: "El nuevo equipo para la región": http://www.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=1071205"El País" de Madrid informa: "El fuego destruye 600 casas móviles en su avance hacia Los Ángeles: El alcalde de la ciudad no descarta cortar el suministro eléctrico por motivos de seguridad": http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/fuego/destruye/600/casas/moviles/avance/Angeles/elpepuint/20081116elpepuint_1/Tes"La Nación" publica: "Hay 10.000 evacuados: Se extiende el incendio que afecta Los Angeles": http://www.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=1070638 EUROPA"El Tiempo" de Colombia anuncia: "Cumbre bilateral extraordinaria sobre lucha antiterrorista celebrarán Zapatero y Sarkozy":http://www.eltiempo.com/mundo/europa/home/cumbre-bilateral-extraordinaria-sobre-lucha-antiterrorista-celebraran-zapatero-y-sarkozy_4670349-1"El País" de Madrid informa: "El congreso socialista francés fracasa y finaliza sin líder: El alcalde de París, Bertrand Delanöe, se ha retirado de la contienda para presidir la formación": http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/congreso/socialista/frances/fracasa/finaliza/lider/elpepuint/20081116elpepuint_10/Tes"BBC" analiza: "Atrapan al "jefe" militar de ETAEl presunto jefe militar de la organización separatista vasca Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) fue arrestado en la madrugada del lunes en el sur de Francia, informó la ministra del Interior francesa.": http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/international/newsid_7732000/7732693.stm"La Nación" publica: "Giro en España: Garzón renunció a investigar la represión franquista: El magistrado español lo hizo para evitar que se lo declare incompetente por el máximo tribunal":http://www.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=1071313"El País" de Madrid plantea: "Reino Unido estudia enviar otros 2.000 soldados a Afganistán: Altos cargos militares expresan dudas sobre el aumento del despliegue": http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/Reino/Unido/estudia/enviar/otros/2000/soldados/Afganistan/elpepuint/20081115elpepiint_8/Tes"Le Monde" anuncia: "La CIJ instruira la plainte pour génocide de la Croatie contre la Serbie":http://www.lemonde.fr/europe/article/2008/11/18/la-cij-instruira-la-plainte-pour-genocide-de-la-croatie-contre-la-serbie_1120200_3214.html#ens_id=1120203"CNN" informa: "Croatia, Serbia genocide case to proceed": http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/11/18/croatia.serbia.icj/index.htmlAsia – Pacífico /Medio OrieNTE"New York Times" informa: "Maritime Hijackings Decrease in Asia": http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/world/asia/19asiaships.html?ref=world"CNN" publica: "Markets mixed following falls across Asia": http://edition.cnn.com/2008/BUSINESS/11/18/world.markets.down/index.html"China Daily" anuncia: "Powerful Indonesia quake kills 4": http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2008-11/18/content_7214022.htm"China Daily" plantea: "Japan's economy unlikely to achieve growth in 2009: official": http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2008-11/18/content_7215971.htm"La Nación" analiza: "Japón, otro gigante económico afectado por la recesión: La segunda economía del mundo se sumó a Estados Unidos y Europa; el FMI reclama fondos": http://www.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=1071225"Miami Herald" publica: "Schoolgirls' bus bombed in Iraq; 2nd blast hits rescuers: Two deadly explosions during Baghdad's rush hour -- the first wrecking a bus carrying girls -- marked a surge in violence in Iraq.":http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/story/765709.html"MSNBC" informa: "Beijing to Tibet: Any independence bid will fail: Comments come as Tibetan leaders meet to re-evaluate their strategy": http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27789054/"Miami Herald" publica: "Bush's Mideast peace efforts ending, with few gains: The attempt to broker an accord between Israel and the Palestinians now falls to the incoming Obama administration.": http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/story/764370.html"New York Times" anuncia: "Iran's Parliament Confirms Interior Minister": http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/world/middleeast/19iran.html?ref=world"CNN" plantea: "NATO forces fire on militants in Pakistan": http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/11/18/pakistan.nato/index.html"MSNBC" publica: "Gaza militants killed in retaliatory airstrike": http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27754100/"El País" de Madrid anuncia: "El Consejo de Ministros iraquí aprueba el pacto de seguridad con EE UU: El acuerdo estipula la retirada de las tropas estadounidenses del país árabe para finales de 2011": http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/Consejo/Ministros/iraqui/aprueba/pacto/seguridad/EE/UU/elpepuint/20081116elpepuint_8/Tes"New York Times" informa: "Iraqi Leader Defends Security Agreement":http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/world/middleeast/19iraq.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin AFRICA"El País" de Madrid informa: "El líder rebelde Nkunda acepta abrir un proceso de paz en Congo: Tras la reunión con el enviado especial de la ONU, los disidentes están de acuerdo en cesar las hostilidades y negociar con el Gobierno": http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/lider/rebelde/Nkunda/acepta/abrir/proceso/paz/Congo/elpepuint/20081116elpepuint_9/Tes"New York Times" plantea: "CongoViolenceReachesEndangeredMountain Gorillas": http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/world/africa/18congo.html?ref=world"CNN" anuncia: "Congo: Rebel leader orders troops out of town": http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/11/18/congo.ceasefire.rebels/index.html"Miami Herald" publica: "UN expects to police new Congo buffer zones": http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/AP/story/776032.html"BBC" informa: "Congo: Líder rebelde apoya proceso de paz. El enviado de la ONU a la República Democrática del Congo, el ex presidente de Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, dijo que el líder de las fuerzas rebeldes, Laurent Nkunda, reafirmó su disposición a mantener el cese el fuego siempre y cuando lo respeten también las tropas del gobierno.":http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/international/newsid_7731000/7731974.stm"El País" de Madrid anuncia: "Al menos 59 muertos en accidente de tráfico al sur de Burkina Faso: Un autobús que transportaba a 75 personas y un camión se incendiaron tras colisionar en las inmediaciones de Boromo": http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/59/muertos/accidente/trafico/sur/Burkina/Faso/elpepuint/20081115elpepuint_9/Tes "The Economist" analiza: "Rwanda and Europe: Judicial politics of a genocide. The arrest of a senior Rwandan official causes a storm": http://www.economist.com/world/mideast-africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12609912 ECONOMÍA"New York Times" informa: "Emerging Countries Called Key to Global Recovery": http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/business/worldbusiness/19yuan.html?ref=business "BBC" analiza: "¿Crisis alimentaria en ciernes?: El precio de los alimentos se ha encarecido 45% en los últimos nueve meses y en diciembre pasado se registró el alza de precios mensual más alta en casi 20 años, de acuerdo a las estadísticas de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Agricultura y la Alimentación, la FAO": http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/business/newsid_7340000/7340988.stm"The Economist" publica su informe semanal: "Business this week": http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12609735 OTRAS NOTICIAS"La Nación" informa: "Un barrio de Berlín alienta un inédito baby boom en Alemania: Allí viven familias jóvenes que tienen un promedio de 2,1 hijos contra 1,5 en Europa": http://www.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=1070597"CNN" publica: "Pirates grab more ships, captured tanker docked": http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/11/18/kenya.tanker.pirates/index.html"BBC" plantea: "Piratas con 2 millones de barriles de crudo": http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/international/newsid_7735000/7735001.stm
This article sets flight capital in the context of portfolio choice, focusing on the proportion of private wealth that is held abroad. There are large regional differences in this proportion, ranging from 5 percent in South Asia to 40 percent in Africa. The authors explain cross-country differences in portfolio choice using variables that proxy differences in the risk-adjusted rate of return on capital. They apply the results to three policy issues: how the East Asian crisis affected domestic capital outflows; the effect of the International Monetary Fund-World Bank debt relief initiative for heavily indebted poor countries on capital repatriation; and why so much of Africa's private wealth is held outside the continent.