Suchergebnisse

The article by Candidate of Political Sciences Andrey Breslavets (an Assistant Professor of Vladivostok State University of Economics and Service, Institute of International Relations and Social Technologies) is devoted to Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) its theoretical and practical creation. APEC is determined as a process and organization (block-process) which is based on the unique international principle of foreign policy of Open regionalism. Author assumes that some of developed countries pursue its national interests to open markets of "small countries" without assistance for developing their national economics. Study is realized with financial support of Japan Fund. ; The article by Candidate of Political Sciences Andrey Breslavets (an Assistant Professor of Vladivostok State University of Economics and Service, Institute of International Relations and Social Technologies) is devoted to Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) its theoretical and practical creation. APEC is determined as a process and organization (block-process) which is based on the unique international principle of foreign policy of Open regionalism. Author assumes that some of developed countries pursue its national interests to open markets of "small countries" without assistance for developing their national economics. Study is realized with financial support of Japan Fund.

Depending on the realist theory does not explain accurately the causes of the Turkish Israeli rapprochement. For instance, this theory neglects the nature of demographic and social formation of states in using this concept to explain alliances. The present study uses the Constructivist approach in studying these causes. Constructivists, argue that understanding how actors develop their interests is important in explaining international political phenomenon. To explain interest formation, they focus on the social identities of individuals or states. Identity, makes some countries more attractive than others. The importance of identity for determining who is considered a worthwhile strategic pa1iner is evident in the case of Turkey and Israel. The two countries have a number of orientations and interests in common as well as certain differences in perception and priorities. Turkey's identity is not stable but it is developed and sustained or transformed through interaction. Issues of security and interests undoubtedly affects Turkish foreign policy in the Middle East. Turkish foreign policy toward Syria and Iraq has been shaped by Turkey's identity as affected by its alliance with Israel. The Turkish-Israeli rapprochement leads Turkey to resort to more strict methods in her relations with Syria and Iraq to cope with Kurdish issue, water problem and border dispute.

There have always been politicians who considered the cornerstone of their foreign policy efforts to be Halford Mackinder's imperative about the need to control the Pivot area (or the Heartland) in order to rule the world. Today, some countries are still guided by the key tenets of this theory in their foreign policy pursuits, even though the idea has been revised by a number of thinkers, its author included. At one time, Mackinder postulated that the maritime nations and the people of the marginal regions [which Nicholas J. Spykman later called Eurasia's "Rimland"] should do their best to contain those living in the Heartland. This perfectly suited the realities of the bipolar world and largely promoted the ideology of NATO and other postwar blocs (SENTO, ASEAN). Today, however, it seems that these geopolitical postulations can no longer serve as a sound theoretical basis for explaining the current trends obvious in world politics. It might have seemed that after splitting the continental monolith and turning the fragments into friendly states, the maritime nations had defused the British geopolitician's key theoretical propositions about the Heartland's invulnerability and eternal opposition between the sea and land powers.

Andrew J. Bacevich, American Empire (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002).Charles Kupchan, The End of the American Era (New York: Alfred Knopf, 2002).Ivo H. Daadler and James M. Lindsay, America Unbound (Washington, DC: Brookings
Institution, 2003).Did 11 September 2001 change everything about the United States including its foreign policy? Have the subsequent US-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq altered the scholarly calculus of what should be studied and how? Must authors determined to assert the continuing importance of history, geopolitics or domestic factors as explanatory variables recast or abandon their existing conclusions to highlight the newer realities after the terrorist attacks and their aftermath? If so, how? These questions lead to others. Is there a usable American past that helps illuminate the dilemmas of the present? If so, where is it found? Is there a sustainable future role for the US in the world, beyond ideology or improvisation? If so, what are its contours? Is the Bush administration truly 'radical' or even 'revolutionary' in its imperial thrusts? After Afghanistan and Iraq, is American foreign policy still largely a success story? Or is the United States en route to becoming an ordinary country, albeit one with extraordinary resources in both hard and soft power?

In this paper a set of hypotheses about the conditions under which territorial disputes evolve into enduring rivalries are tested against a dataset of 129 territorial disputes in the international system from 1950-1990. During this period only 36 territorial disputes developed into enduring rivalries. The central theoretical question I address is what conditions cause foreign policy leaders to adopt non-violent and more flexible diplomatic policies over disputed territory and, conversely, when will leaders pursue territorial claims in a more aggressive and confrontational manner? To answer this question I utilize a modified realist approach which posits that foreign policy choices are shaped by the domestic political goal of state leaders to retain their position of political power. From this theoretical approach a series of hypotheses focusing on the issues at stake in control of disputed territory, the domestic political context, and the international political-military environment of challenger states are formulated. Empirical results, based on statistical tests, are then presented and provide considerable evidence of the interplay of domestic and international level variables in the decisions of state leaders whether to pursue territorial goals by means of diplomatic and military pressure over an extended period of time.

This volume reviews the nature and scope of informal financial
markets in developing countries and elaborates on the theoretical and
conceptual models which analyse 'financial repression' and other aspects
of government intervention in financial markets. It also focuses on the
consequences which the prevalence of informal financial markets in
developing countries may have for monetary and exchange rate policy. In
particular, it attempts to capture the functioning of informal,
unregulated markets into macroeconomic models, working towards a general
eqUilibrium model with informal financial markets. Two types of informal
markets are analysed. The first are for informal lending at terms and
conditions which differ greatly from those prevailing in the official
banking system. The second are the 'parallel' markets for foreign
exchange which tend to emerge in response to quantity restrictions on
trade and administered allocation of foreign exchange to certain users
at official rates, which are well below those on the parellel markets.
The key question is whether these informal markets change the efficacy
of monetary and credit policy-and, if they do, to what extent and in
what direction? Two supporting appendices present econometric analyses
of the efficiency of parallel currency markets and the degree of capital
mobility in developing countries.

THE PRESENT CULTURAL FOCUS ON HEALING THE WOUNDS OF WAR THROUGH A RECONCILIATION BETWEEN VIETNAM VETERANS AND NON-VETS, WHILE LONG OVERDUE, RISKS SUSTAINING CONVENTIONAL FOREIGN POLICY OBJECTIVES-FOR EXAMPLE COLD WAR ANTI-COMMUNISM--IN ITS ATTEMPT TO TRANSCEND THE POLITICS OF VIETNAM. INDEED, IT TENDS TOWARD RECONSTRUCTING THE 1960S AS A PERIOD OF SELF-INDULGENCE, MORAL COWARDICE, AND FADDISM. AS SUCH, THE PRESENT RECONCILIATION, IN ADDITION TO RECONSTRUCTING THE HISTORY OF THE 1960S ALONG NEOCONSERVATIVE LINES, PERPETUATES THE INVISIBILITY OF "THE OTHER," THE VIETNAMESE. A RECONCILIATION WHICH IGNORES THE VIETNAMESE AND SMEARS THE ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT YIELDS AMBIVALENCE RATHER THAN HARMONY IN LEAVING UNRESOLVED THE ESSENTIAL FOREIGN POLICY ISSUES. TO PUT VIETNAM BEHIND US WE MUST COME TO GRIPS WITH WHAT MUST BE CALLED OUR IMPERIAL PAST. TO BUILD A GLOBAL AND HUMANE FUTURE, INCLUDING A GENEROUS RECONCILIATION BETWEEN AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE, WILL REQUIRE A STRENUOUS REJECTION OF THE PAROCHIAL AND ETHNOCENTRIC MYTHS OF INTERVENTIONISM. IT WILL REQUIRE A RECONSTRUCTED PATRIOTISM COMPATIBLE WITH SELF-DETERMINATION FOR ALL NATIONS. IT WILL MOST OF ALL, REQUIRE A REJECTION OF A DANGEROUS BIPARTISANSHIP NOSTALGIC FOR THE PRE-VIETNAM COLD WAR CONSENSUS. FINALLY, RECONCILIATION CANNOT TRANSCEND POLITICS; ESSENTIALLY, IT IS POLITICS.

The tightening of monetary policy in industrialised countries from 1980 onwards is one of the causes of the subsequent slowdown in economic growth along with inflation and the reduction of international liquidity. This trend will continue in the near future. Despite a smooth reduction in the growth rate, the needs of the american economy in foreign capital will remain substantial. This drain on foreign savings is likely to hamper recovery elsewhere and maintain the strong dollar. Since the second oil shock, the underlying trend of growth has been 1 % p. a. higher in the US than in Europe as a whole and France in particular. The French economy, which was in phase with the rest of the EEC in 1983, shows signs of lagging. This should be more evident in 1985 than 1984 but insufficient to close the trade gap. There will be a gradual easing of economic policy in 1985. Consumer expenditure, which has been maintained over recent months only by a fall in the saving ratio, should pick up with the reduction of tax levels. Investment should continue to recover thanks to public funding and an improvement in profits but will be restricted to the modernisation of industry. With fewer jobs on offer and an increasing labour force, the rise in unemployment is unlikely to be stemmed.

All prescriptive decision-making epistemologies are rooted in worldviews. If the worldview assumptions of an epistemology are not congruent with the world in which decisions are to be made, that epistemology ought not to be granted prescriptive authority. The rationalistic wortdview is described in two versions, classic and modified, together with the prescriptive decision-making epistemologies that depend on them. The classic version is firmly grounded in the assumptions of the 18th century Enlightenment; the modified version is more pragmatic in orientation. Both emphasize order, clarity, empiricism, and logical analysis. An alternative, nonrationalistic worldview concerns itself with novelty, incongruity, intuition, and subjective awareness. Foreign-policy decision theorists routinely assume that the foreign-policy world contains a mixture of rationalistic and nonrationalistic elements but are reluctant to grant decision makers the intuitive and subjective capabilities that, together with logical thinking and empirical observation, are necessary to operate in such a world. This reluctance inhibits the development of a prescriptive decision-making epistemology suitable for a mixed world. Analytical psychology provides one avenue for exploring the prescriptive implications of a more comprehensive psychology. It is clear that in a world with important nonrationalistic elements, true rationality requires that nonrationalistic capabilities and skills be both appreciated and developed.

As students of politics and political science, we should and we do care about the events which lead to war, instability, and international tension as well as about events which lead to equitable interdependence, integration, peace, improvement of quality of life, reduction of colonialism, and so on. Because we care about these matters, we try to advance procedures and theories about systematizing our observations and improving our skills of analysis. Recent developments in international relations have tended to (a) emphasize the exploration of more specific problems and testing of hypotheses with quantified data and (b) deemphasized the search for general theories of internation behavior. This trend appears to be undergoing slight modification for many reasons. Events contain useful information which permit a student of foreign policy to use events singularly or in the aggregate to study foreign policy outputs and inputs. A student of international systems uses events singularly or in the aggregate to study patterns, structures, and transformation. This research calls for continuously developing models and operational procedures which analyze these phenomena with faster and better numerical precision. The Conflict and Peace Data Bank Project is the contribution of myself, my students, and my colleagues to this effort.

It has been asserted that little relationship exists between national attributes, foreign conflict, & cooperation behavior. If the assertion were true, attribute theory would be of minor consequence & deliberate attribute manipulation would be a waste of time as a means of controlling international conflict & cooperation. To explore the assertion in attribute theory terms, A-space (144 variable base) & conflict & cooperation vectors (WEIS data) were generated & correlated. The assertion can be challenged in the sense that several A-space dimensions predict conflict &/or cooperation & the overall results are improbable, assuming a random model. Speculations were then generated, assuming causal linkages, as to possible policy prescriptions. One set was based on an absolute level & the other on a relative position model. For example, employing the absolute level model, reductions in a state's Power Base level should (hypothetically) result in reduced conflict exportations. Given such policy prescription possibilities, additional investigations appear both rational & needed. Through this kind of research, deliberate attribute manipulation, which may be a large component of a state's foreign behavior, may be given theoretical guidance as to the likely impact of such manipulation on conflict & cooperation in the international relations system. 1 Table. AA.

Oil is a highly political commodity and has more than once taken the centre of the stage in international affairs. This is not surprising in view of its importance in industry and transportation as well as for military activities. Mesopotamian oil was a crucial consideration in a number of the political settlements in the Middle East after the First World War, with the French, British and Americans playing the leading roles, just before that war the British navy had converted to oil, and Britain considered the security of her oil supplies to be an important objective of foreign policy. She had no domestic production. In the 1920s the United States began to fear that her oil reserves were becoming dangerously depleted and she also felt that her security as well as her prosperity depended on obtaining control of oil abroad. The United States sought access to oil concessions in the Middle East, and the diplomatic skirmishes were sharp as the British and Dutch tried to keep her out, not merely from the Middle East, but from south-eastern Asia as well, where production was dominated by the Dutch. Thus oil was an important source of controversy in the foreign policy of a number of countries in the inter-war period.

Highlights five influential U.S. scholars who helped shape understandings of South America in the early 20th century, showing how Latin American Studies began and how academic knowledge affected foreign policy and helped build an informal American empire. This title was made Open Access by libraries from around the world through Knowledge Unlatched. ; Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ; South America as a field of inquiry -- Five traveling scholars -- Research designs of transnational scope -- Yale at Machu Picchu : Hiram Bingham, Peruvian indigenistas, and cultural property -- Hispanic American history at Harvard : Clarence H. Haring and regional history for imperial visibility -- Intellectual cooperation : Leo S. Rowe, democratic government, and the politics of scholarly brotherhood -- Geographic conquest : Isaiah Bowman's view of South America -- Worldly sociology : Edward A. Ross and the societies "South of Panama" -- U.S. scholars and the question of empire. ; Highlights five influential U.S. scholars who helped shape understandings of South America in the early 20th century, showing how Latin American Studies began and how academic knowledge affected foreign policy and helped build an informal American empire. This title was made Open Access by libraries from around the world through Knowledge Unlatched. ; Mode of access: Internet.