Suchergebnisse

A sizable group of superwealthy business elites have emerged in China, now home to the world's second-largest number of US dollar billionaires. Whereas existing studies highlight how large fortunes confer enormous power to their holders, this article shows, through an original data set on China's top business tycoons, that they often have trouble sustaining their absolute wealth or relative position. It argues that a key source of concentrated wealth's fragility in China is autonomous and unchecked state power. While the state's developmental orientation has limited predation and facilitated wealth accumulation, its discretion in economic and legal matters allows it to discipline and punish tycoons whose behaviors have contravened its priorities. Leveraging the intensification of state pressure after 2012, the article further finds that business networks among tycoons alleviate threats from the state. The uneasy relations between the state and the largest capitalists set China apart from many capitalist societies.

The end of the Cold War, and especially the events of September 11, 2001, have led to the redefinition of the U.S. Army's role. In this new environment, the purpose of the U.S. Army is not only to win a battle or a war, but also to be involved effectively in peace operations in post-conflict societies. To make the U.S. Army more effective requires prior knowledge about the political, societal, and cultural environment within which these operations would take place, as well as the acquisition of a new set of skills that would allow the U.S. Army to handle sensitive situations relevant to this environment. Due to the presence of several "weak" states in the international system, the United States needs to devise and employ strategies aimed at preventing and managing the outbreak of domestic conflicts that have the potential of undermining regional and international peace and stability. To avoid oversimplifications in the planning process, U.S. policymakers should have a comprehensive view of the relationship between the state experiencing domestic conflict and its society/citizens. For the design and effective implementation of peacemaking and peace/state-building policies, U.S. strategists should be fully aware of what constitutes a security issue for social groups and individuals in third countries. Thus, U.S. strategic planning and actions should be based on the adoption of the broaden definition of security as well as the idea of human security. Since international stability is based on the stability of states, the United States needs to assist the creation and maintenance of "strong" states. ; https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1460/thumbnail.jpg

Teilw. Zsfass. in engl. Sprache

Corporate managers nowadays have to carefully consider the interaction between business and governments in both domestic and overseas operations, with the main challenge being posed by the persistent conflict between the state and the market. In the context of unprecedented development in China and recent challenges in western economies, largely attributed to the way governments regulate the business environments in these countries, this dissertation comparatively examines China's and United States' development models with focus on the government-enterprise (G-E) relationship. The aim of this comparison is to provide a solid theoretical foundation for evaluating the competing claims of superiority of one model over the other, and to formulate insights for an improved understanding of the G-E relationship in general. Based on an interdisciplinary comparative study of the two countries' G-E relationship systems, this dissertation demonstrates that the G-E relationship is an historically path-dependent phenomenon both in China and the United States, with institutional and ideological factors playing an essential role in the G-E relationship in both countries. The analysis of the two systems leads to the conclusion that China and the United States each have certain advantages and disadvantages with regard to their G-E relationship models, making it impossible to claim the superiority of one model over the other. However, the analysis presented in this dissertation reveals that the G-E relationship in general can be improved through a contingent approach aimed at achieving a dynamic balance between the state and the market. The specific theoretical contribution consists in showing how the historical context of a country, including particular institutional pressures and ideological traditions may shape the G-E relationship, while also being the source of potential imbalances that must be correctly assessed before recommending any adaptive measures. While analysing the G-E relationship in China and the United States, ...

The implementation and enforcement of international maritime safety standards by Member States has always represented a key objective for both the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and the European Commission (EC). In spite of a strong global legal framework for safety at sea, harmonisation has always been a challenge. Two points are relevant here: firstly, the level of implementation and enforcement with international regulations varies significantly among countries; secondly, it is a challenge to determine and/or quantify this level of compliance. Several attempts have been made by the maritime industry, academic studies and policy-makers to develop an appropriate set of criteria and/or measurements to benchmark the performance of Flag States. Currently, the White, Grey and Black list (WGB) list of the Tokyo and Paris Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) on Port State Control are the most widely used indicators. While the list was initially developed solely for targeting purposes, it has been recently criticised in recent academic publications and by the industry for being unsuitable to benchmarking Flag States with a small fleet and to be susceptible to a lack of harmonisation. Moreover, the author argues that, given the way the list has been used, it reduces the overall concept of Flag State Performance (FSP) to an overly simplified detention/inspection ratio. This dissertation begins with an investigation and examination of Flag State Performance by looking into its underlying concept and connected components. The main aim is to contribute to the general knowledge on the performance of complex systems according to policymakers. Subsequently, this dissertation makes an assessment of an inspection's results as a tool to evaluate the performance, shortcomings and benefits of the complex system under examination. Four research questions have therefore been formulated: (1) What is Flag State Performance? (2) What are the contemporary issues of Port State Control (PSC)? (3) How do discrepancies in the Port State Control regime affect the inspection output? (4) To what extent is Port State Control a suitable instrument to measure Flag State Performance? The dissertation is divided into two main parts. Part I presents the main research questions, the methodological and theoretical discussion, the main findings; and a round-up discussion. Part II contains the four research papers based on data gathered throughout the study.

Intro -- Contents -- Abbreviations -- Contesting land and custom in Ghana: Introduction -- Ancestral property: Land, politics and 'thedeeds of the ancestors' in Ghana and Coˆte d'Ivoire -- The changing face of customary land tenure -- Traditional ambiguities and authoritarian interpretations in Sefwi land disputes -- Chiefs, earth priests and the state: Irrigation agriculture, competing institutions and the transformation of land tenure arrangements in Northeastern Ghana -- Customary justice institutions and local Alternative Dispute Resolution: What kind of protection can they offer to customary landholders? -- Struggles for land in peri-urban Kumasi and their effect on popular perceptions of chiefs and chieftaincy -- Risks and opportunities of state intervention in customary land management: Emergent findings from the Land Administration Project Ghana -- References -- Archives -- List of contributors -- Index.

Academic experts review the impact of neoliberal politics and ideology on the status of care work in Nordic countries. They explore different understandings of the care crisis, the consequences for gender equality and the long-term sustainability of the Nordic welfare states.

In American labor's response to immigration over time, one can observe "a movement wrestling" between restrictionist and solidaristic positions. A crucial transformation of American labor's response to immigration occurred from the 1930s to the 1960s which is attributed to four factors: changes in the structure and composition of the labor market, shifts in immigration flows, shifts in the attitudes of the labor movement toward immigrants, and the changing disposition of the American state toward unions. In this article we look at the policy choices and dilemmas that have faced the American labor movement since the 1940's, putting forth a conceptual framework for understanding labor's shifting positions over time and identifying critical moments in American political development. Having laid this foundation, we move on to a consideration of labor's most recent positions concerning contemporary policy debates.