Suchergebnisse

Nachgezeichnet wird die Rolle des Rechts in den internationalen Beziehungen über vier Stufen: (1) Verankerung des Primats des Völkerrechts vor dem einfachen nationalen Recht im Grundgesetz; (2) "Manipulation an der Verfassung", als 1994 das Bundesverfassungsgericht die Verteidigungsbündnisse NATO und WEU zu Systemen kollektiver Sicherheit machte und sie damit auf die gleiche Stufe stellte wie die UNO und die OSZE; (3) Gründung von Sicherheitssystemen, wie sie zuerst mit dem Völkerbund, später mit der UNO Realität wurden; (4) Verrechtlichung der internationalen und außenpolitischen Beziehungen anstelle der Durchsetzung nationaler Interessen. (pra)

Actor-level variations in the amounts of uncertainty have been widely ignored in the growing literature on statistical models of strategic interaction in international relations. In this article, I provide a tool for testing theories about the level of uncertainty in strategic interactions. I show that ignoring potential variations in levels of uncertainty across different cases can be a source of bias for empirical analyses. I propose a method to incorporate this form of heteroskedasticity into existing estimators and show that this method can improve inferences. With a series of Monte Carlo experiments, I evaluate the magnitude and the severity of the bias and inconsistency in estimators that ignore heteroskedasticity. More importantly, the tools developed in this article have many interesting substantive application areas. Examples considered include measuring speculators' suboptimal behavior tendencies in international currency crises, and capturing varying levels of signaling and Bayesian updating behavior in the recent strategic models of signaling.

The paper explores modern international practices in foreign exchange reserves management. First, key goals of FX reserves management are presented. According to the goals, there are two dimensions of reserve portfolio management that are employed by monetary authorities: achieving optimal size of the portfolio and constructing optimal structure of the portfolio. Then, general rules of FX reserves management are discussed. Best practices developed by IMF and major world central banks require several salient features to be implemented into the reserve management framework. The strategy of reserve management and its targets should be clearly defined with basic principles ingrained in the everyday routine of portfolio managers. Technological and organizational practices should produce a reliable and efficient operational system that processes transactions quickly and without interruptions. Sufficient flexibility and possibilities for upgrade should be factored into all IT-systems. Reserve facilities and back-up systems need to be created and installed in advance so that they can be put into use instantly and provide uninterrupted functioning and transactions execution. Risk management framework should incorporate rules dealing with all major types of risks and at the same time meeting operational targets that are specific to central banks as portfolio managers. Thus, among the most important questions of risk management is matching ample liquidity of the portfolio with the necessity to maintain its value and provide some extra yield. This directly influences the asset structure of FX reserves portfolio with large share of high-rated and liquid assets (mostly sovereign issued bonds). Finally, FX reserves management system in Japan and Norway are analyzed. With 2nd largest reserves portfolio in the world Japan pays surprisingly low attention to FX portfolio management keeping most of its reserves in highly liquid US-issued papers. Norway's experience of managing its oil and gas revenues provides insights in how it should be done in an efficient manner for a resource-exporting country.

The purpose here is to consider some significant gaps in the theoretical bases with which we seek to under stand international conflict - either at the level of non-military hostility or at that of actual warfare. The in centives behind both levels of conflictive behavior are examined in terms of discrepancies between achieved and expected levels of attainment (attainment gaps) on relevant needs. Two general conflict-inducing situa tions at the level of non-violent hostility are identified: one where the attainment gap is causally attributable to the target of the hostility and another where such behavior might help narrow the gap even in the absence of external attributability. Although the properties of a nation which, in the second situation, might make it the object of another's hostility are not well understood, some tentative suggestions are advanced to account for this possibility. The differences in the incentives behind warfare and those that lead to simple hostility are considered, with particular attention to the relation between specific sorts of unsatisfied needs and war involvement. It is suggested that both the salience of certain needs and the range of strategies to enhance attainments thereon are factors which link given needs to armed conflict; both, it is argued, are shaped by the nature and structure of the societies within which the needs are experienced. Situations where the bene fits from simple hostility carry over into (or are amplified by) warfare are discussed, as are instances where the contrary occurs. Tentative explanations for these patterns are suggested. Finally, the impact of military capacity on the transition from hostility to warfare is examined, both from the point of view of the balance between potential antagonists and the nature of the actual weaponry involved.

Abstract
After so many decades since the emergence of international organizations, the question of their international legal status – the terms on which they participate in the international legal system – remains the subject of debate. Among all the scholars that have contributed to this debate, Finn Seyersted stands out for having offered a forward-looking, sophisticated and uncompromising account of what international organizations are under general international law and of what international rights, obligations and capacities they consequently possess. Yet Seyersted is perceived as a left-field scholar with a bee in his bonnet. His work is often name-checked but rarely engaged with properly. This article highlights Seyersted's invaluable contribution to the theory of international organizations, which has the merit, among others, of having sensed the direction in which international practice was going. It also ponders how Seyersted's relative lack of success in becoming a more influential scholar can be viewed as a cautionary tale, for there are empirical, conceptual and normative challenges in the quest for international legal status that his work was not able to meet.