Search results

PurposeThis paper investigates the effects of the total abolition of all forms of agricultural subsidies to producers and border tariffs on the prices of staple cereals.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use the GTAP global economy-wide model and focus on 27 countries and 8 regions. The GTAP database that is used contains information on budgetary transfers to producers and market price support such as domestic price support, tariffs, export subsidies, quotas on exports or imports and other border measures.FindingsThe removal of subsidies is estimated to significantly increase the prices of wheat and other cereal grains in Japan, paddy rice in Malaysia and Indonesia, processed rice in Malaysia and Indonesia and wheat in Brazil and India. When border tariffs are removed, cereal prices are projected to fall in several countries, but the decline is more pronounced for wheat in Kenya and Japan, other cereal grains in South Korea and all staples in Nepal.Research limitations/implicationsThe alternative scenarios on the removal of agricultural subsidies in all agricultural sectors and the elimination of border tariffs are purely speculative as the analysis ignores important political economy considerations of agricultural and food policy reforms.Practical implicationsThe findings from this study point to the importance of implementing additional policy measures to mitigate the possible negative effect of repurposing the support to agriculture and ensure the food security and welfare of those categories of buyers who heavily depend on the price of staple food for their livelihoods.Social implicationsThis study's findings confirm that the elimination of agricultural subsidies would impact global food security directly by making staple food less affordable to the poorest and indirectly by decreasing the available household budget for other presumably more nutritious food groups. Consequently, it is expected that these price increases could make segments of the world population poorer, particularly the net-food buyers due to a decline in their real income.Originality/valueThe authors assess the impact of removing the subsidies on the economy in a comprehensive way, particularly given the recent policy focus on net zero emissions and Sustainable Development Goals that include healthy foods. The authors also consider the counter effects of tariff reduction on this, which is price-reducing.

The article analyzes the new program of the Government of Japan – "Official Security Assistance" (OSA). Its key concepts were published in April-July 2023. The purpose of the implementation of the OSA program is to create a group of 'like-minded countries', which share foreign policy priorities of Japan, primarily regarding China and Russian Federation, bilateral relations of Japan with these countries have deteriorated in the second decade of the 21th century. Philippines, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Fiji were selected as OSA recipient countries in 2023. The author analyzes numerous national security-related international cooperation programs of Japan, and compares OSA with the similar program aimed at socio-economic support for developing countries – "Official Development Assistance" (ODA). The author also determines the level of participation of Southeast Asian and Oceania countries in the above-mentioned international programs of Japan. The analysis of the socio-political discourse shows that the implementation of the OSA program may be held at the same time with the revision of the basic documents restricting the export of weapons from Japan. Other negative outcome is connected with strengthening of global negative perceptions of Japan as a country that has departed from the former principles of pacifism. The negative consequences of the OSA for the Russian Federation include the potential expansion of the pro-Japanese bloc in terms of number of member state, as well as the decision to include Ukraine as OSA recipient country.

Since 2017, relations between the Visegrád Group (V4) and Israel have been changing. Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia are increasingly developing shared views and values on international politics and show a greater willingness to cooperate economically. This coincides with growing European Union (EU) criticism of the Isra­eli government's stance on the Arab-Israeli conflict. However, the V4 states' leaders do not necessarily share that criticism, and they have even aligned themselves with Israeli viewpoints on issues such as migration, security, and threat perceptions, all of which are disputed in the EU. The EU needs to be aware that this positioning of the V4 states might lead to a growing internal divergence concerning its Israel policy. This would especially hold true if it were to increase pressure on Israel, as some EU members envisage.

AbstractWeaponization of state-backed, foreign investments by China is an emerging national security threat in the United States and the European Union. The U.S. and E.U. have espoused similar policy goals—to address the threat without closing their markets to foreign direct investment—while fostering increased cooperation between allied partners in screening transactions.On the surface, the recent, China-specific measures taken by the U.S. and the investment screening framework adopted by the E.U. appear reflective of an alignment of those policy goals. Indeed, many commentators have suggested that is exactly what is happening. However, closer examination reveals a stark divergence. The U.S. has a robust screening mechanism that has evolved into a weapon of economic warfare. The E.U. meanwhile, remains a patchwork of conflicting—or nonexistent—national regulations overlaid by a comparatively toothless investment screening framework.There is a tendency to attribute this divergence to structural differences between the United States and European Union. This in-depth comparison of U.S. and E.U. investment screening mechanisms exposes a split that goes beyond application and into actual policy. This revelation should temper expectations that the E.U. is equipping itself to block transactions that are of concern to the U.S.

This paper focuses on the recent pension reform choices in the East European accession countries, which have seen many developments in this highly sensitive policy area. The paper does not discuss the desirability of alternative pension reform paths but, instead, seeks to explain how different pension reform choices came to be made in five EU accession countries. Three of the countries – Hungary, Poland and Bulgaria – represent countries which have adopted partial pension privatisation, while the other two countries – the Czech Republic and Slovenia – have reformed existing PAYG schemes without resorting to privatisation. The behaviour of individual and collective actors in the pension reform arena in each of these countries and the economic, political and institutional constraints on them are analysed in an attempt to explain why some countries have opted for radical reforms while other have not.

CONTRARY TO POPULAR OPINION, THE LYONS OVERSEAS TRADE POLICY, INCLUDING THE TRADE DIVERSION OF 1936, WAS RATIONALLY PLANNED RATHER THAN IMPROVISED. OVERSEAS TRADE POLICY WAS INTIMATELY LINKED TO NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT POLICY AND INVOLVED CONSIDERATION OF SUCH FACTORS AS ECONOMIC POLICY, TECHNOLOGY, POPULATION GROWTH, AND DEFENSE. IN THE TRADE DIVERSION EPISODE, THE STAKES WERE MORE THAN ADDITIONAL MEAT CONCESSIONS FROM BRITAIN. IT WAS ATTEMPTING TO FEND OFF A TRADE WAR WITH BRITAIN BROUGHT ON BY THE LYONS GOVERNMENT'S DETERMINATION TO DEVELOP MORE SECONDARY INDUSTRY IN AUSTRALIA. THIS NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT POLICY WAS BASED ON THE REALIZATION THAT ONLY AN ENHANCED SECONDARY INDUSTRY COULD PROVIDE THE EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES NECESSARY TO ATTRACT A LARGER POPULATION. THIS POPULATION INCREASE WAS NEEDED TO PROVIDE A LARGER DOMESTIC MARKET FOR PRIMARY PRODUCTS AND A GREATER DEGREE OF DEFENSE SECURITY.

Geopolitical Code – Theoretical and Methodological Concepts The article deals with geopolitical codes in relation to theoretical and methodological assumptions of social and political sciences. Geopolitical codes are considered in broad reference to the cultural and national codes of mythical narratives. The aim of this article is to transform cultural codes into analytical and methodological categories. The article includes an analysis of the concept of geopolitical code, its definition, and its classification as a set of social ideas. The text verifies the basic assumptions of geopolitical code: its structure, functions and possibilities of verification in the existing research methods of social, political and security sciences. The author also draws attention to the role of geopolitical codes in forming the state's information security policy.

The author of the article attempted to examine the main conditions and characteristics of the French strategic culture, a country with huge arms traditions and the high social authority of the armed forces in society. All this means that France has made a huge contribution to the development of theory and practice in the field of military art and strategy, as well as in shaping the order of international security. The main strategic documents of France and its activity in the international arena confirm the traditional line of French security policy and strategic culture. It is a political culture of a superpower conscious of its great past which still radiates into current and global relations of France.

Анализируются ключевые изменения в концептуальных подходах канцлеров ФРГ Г. Коля и Г. Шредера к построению и обеспечению военно-политической безопасности на европейском континенте в конце ХХ начале XXI в. Отмечаются достижения немецких лидеров в процессе органичного совмещения и взаимодополнения национальной и европейской политики безопасности в новых исторических условиях эпохи глобализации. ; The purpose of the paper is to analyze key changes in the conceptual approach of German chancellors towards military and political aspects of constructing and maintaining European security at the turn of the 21st century. The author points out the achievements of German political leaders who managed to successfully combine and complement national and European security policy under new historical conditions of the globalization era.

В статье рассматриваются особенности управления продовольственной безопасностью в со-временной России и предлагаются некоторые политико-правовые механизмы ее реализации. Отмеча-ется, что необходима новая продовольственная политика и в связи с этим требуется принятие базо-вого федерального закона, регламентирующего мероприятия по обеспечению продовольственной без-опасности и ряда нормативно-правовых актов федерального и регионального уровней. ; The article deals with the peculiarities of food security administration in modern Russia. The author proposes some political and legal mechanisms of its realization and emphasizes the necessity of a new food pol-icy, which requires the adoption of a new Federal Act, regulating the measures on providing the food security policy, as well as a number of regulatory legal Acts of Federal and Local levels.