Suchergebnisse

This paper investigates whether a regional bloc would enlarge or remain stagnant in size using a model where enlargement is the endogenous outcome of the interaction between the supply of and demand for membership. We show that a maximum size of the bloc exists beyond which the regional policy-maker will be unwilling to enlarge further, and that either the supply side or the demand side of membership might be binding in the determination of the equilibrium size of the bloc. Furthermore, we analyze how the deepening of integration within a regional bloc affects its width. We show that deeper in

This paper proposes an analysis of the social bloc that could support the political strategy of a radical change of socio-economic model in France. The bloc bourgeois would gather the most well-off and educated groups of the traditional left and right social blocs that had structured French political competition until then. The analysis is based on French survey data on policy preferences. With the help of a latent class model, a partition of the French electorate in several clusters is analysed. This sheds light on the composition of the respective social bases of the left and the right as well as on the possibility of existence of the bloc bourgeois.

WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF SOVIET ENERGY PROBLEMS FOR SOVIET-AMERICAN RELATIONS? AMERICAN MINDS UNDERSTANDABLY LEAPT FIRST TO THE PERSIAN GULF. THE AIM OF THIS ARTICLE IS TO APPLY THIS AND OTHER QUESTIONS TO A REGION THAT HAS BEEN FOR 35 YEARS ONE OF THE CENTRAL CONCERNS IN SOVIETAMERICAN RELATIONS, EASTERN EUROPE.

In this important new book, C.H. Kwan asks whether the Japanese yen can, or will, replace the dollar as the key currency in East Asia. Kwan analyzes the implications for Japan and Asia's developing countries should they come together to form a yen bloc—a grouping of countries that use the yen as an international currency and maintain stable exchange rates against the yen. Combining academic analysis with his experience advising the Japanese prime minister and the Japanese minister of finance, Kwan concludes that a yen bloc might benefit Asia's developing countries—as well as Japan—while contributing to a more stable international monetary order. Kwan's book represents the first attempt to explore systematically the possibility of monetary integration in Asia. It also provides a vision for regional integration in Asia in the twenty-first century.

The Bloc was never as "monolithic" as many have suggested, and its disintegration has not gone as far as some would like to think. The gradual development of its "monolithic" character and the role of terror in maintaining its unity down to Stalin's death are summarized in this paper. Then the post-Stalin era, in which elements of Stalinism re mained in spite of progressive liberalization, is discussed. The limits of the possible in this liberalization process were set by the Polish and Hungarian revolts. This period was also marked by an intensive drive toward collectivization and industrialization. The changes effected in the 1960's spring in part from the gradual acceptance of polycentrism and in part from West Europe's economic challenge and East Europe's failure to measure up to it. The attempt to introduce a greater degree of economic unity and centralized planning into East Europe has failed, and the lead in the opposition to Khrushchev's policy was taken by Romania. The outward signs of division are numerous, but the northern states remain united in opposition to West Germany and dependent on the Soviet alliance. In each of the countries, the party remains in firm control. There are clearly limits beyond which disintegration of the alliance cannot go.