Search results

The excellent papers in this symposium warrant our close attention for
the cardinal reason that they teach citizenship in the global world. They
arm us with ideas, concrete techniques, and specialized skill sets to
reach this goal. The simple importance of learning to function well in a
global society belies the complexity of achieving it. These papers give us
tools as well as provide motivation to confront this challenge.

Aquest article resumeix el desenvolupament del programa INTERREG i la cooperació a la frontera franc-britànica en els últims vint anys. Això és seguit per una anàlisi de la forma transfronterera cooperació pot entendre recorrent a les discussions conceptuals de canviar la governança europea i les relacions de poder entre els diferents nivells de govern. Aquestes idees conceptuals proporcionen un context per a un examen en profunditat de la iniciativa INTERREG IIIA, a la frontera franc-britànica que es destaquen alguns dels principals problemes i les contradiccions de la cooperació transfronterera. ; This paper summarise the development of the INTERREG programme and co-operation on the Franco-British border over the last twenty years. This is followed by a consideration of how cross-border co-operation can be understood by drawing on conceptual discussions of changing European governance and the power relations between different tiers of government. These conceptual ideas provide a context for an in depth consideration of the INTERREG IIIA initiative on the Franco-British border which highlights some of the key problems and contradictions of cross border co-operation.

В центре англо-американских отношений, которые приобрели современный характер в годы Первой мировой войны, находилась проблема обеспечения мира и международной безопасности. Поскольку концепция Вильсона и политика США по вопросам войны и мира хорошо изучены, в статье рассматриваются британская позиция и политика в отношении указанных проблем. Изучение британской официальной точки зрения, позиций Форин оффиса, других министерств и правительства в отношении проектов послевоенного обеспечения безопасности и гарантий мира позволяет проследить истоки англо-американских разногласий накануне Парижской мирной конференции 1919 г. ; The British-US relations have been developing during the First World War like the modern ones and the problem of international security and organization to ensure peace predominated over the others within the war period. Since the President Wilson's conception and US war and peace policies as a whole have been well studied the article examines the British ones. The investigation of the British political views, Foreign Offce' and the other Departments' positions and the British Government attitude toward the postwar security projects enables the author to consider the origins of the Anglo-American disagreement on the eve of the Paris Peace Conference of 1919.

The aim of this paper is to assess the reliability of the government deficit and debt figures reported to the European Commission by Member States. Reliability is one of the several dimensions of quality in statistics ; it refers to the magnitudes of data revisions after the publication of the first outcomes. The measurement of the data reliability and inference about potential future revisions are particularly relevant for fiscal surveillance in the EU since statistical institutes take a long time – usually four years – to provide final data, while the decisions on the Stability and Growth Pact context are taken on the basis of the first estimates available shortly after the end of each year. The paper shows that there are very significant differences in reliability among Member States and indicates the margins of uncertainty in relation to the most recent years' data. It also compares the reliability of deficit and debt figures ; checks that the shift from ESA79 to ESA95 did not generally harm the reliability of data and suggests that the size of deficits may have an impact on the way statistical offices revise data

This paper argues both that devolution is central to our understanding of developments in social policy in the contemporary UK and that social policy is a key means through which we can develop a critical understanding of the process of devolution itself. Much of the devolved powers available to the governments in Edinburgh, Belfast and Cardiff centre on social policy innovation and practice. Devolution was widely welcomed as opening up the potential for the development of radically different social policies. However, the discussion of devolution has been largely dominated by an approach that focuses on institutional and/or organizational differences marginalizing, in the process, the wider social relations of welfare around which social policy is organized. In bringing the study of devolution into the heartland of social policy analysis, it is argued that we can begin to develop a more critically informed appreciation of social policy across the entire devolved UK. Through critical social policy analysis we can both evaluate and explain the complex interrelations between devolved governance and the continuing reproduction of inequalities and social divisions throughout the UK.

International state-building has become central to international policy concerns and has marked a clear neo-Wilsonian shift in international thinking, spurred by the leadership of the United States and the European Union. Today's approaches insist on the regulatory role of international institutions and downplay the importance of locally-derived political solutions. This privileging of 'governance' over 'government' is based on the assumption that the political process can be externally influenced through the promotion of institutional changes introduced at the state level and pays less attention to how societal pressures and demands are constitutive of stable and legitimate institutional mechanisms. This article questions this approach and analyses the transformation in the assessment of the importance of the societal sphere. It considers how this shift has been shaped by current understandings of war and conflict, and how the prioritisation of governance has fitted with critical and post-positivist trends in academic thinking in international relations and security studies. The discussion is illustrated with examples drawn largely from the Balkans and the international regime in Bosnia–Herzegovina in particular.

The transformation of work and labor relations in the global auto industry has gathered momentum over the last twenty‐five years, driven by the introduction of new systems of industrial organization derived from the "Toyota Model." There are few countries where the pace of change has matched that of Mexico. It is difficult to make generalizations about what this has meant for Mexican autoworkers and their unions given the highly decentralized nature of collective bargaining. There is no national union of autoworkers and, even within a single company, there is little coordination between plant‐level unions. Even so, several trends are evident: intensified work, stagnant or falling real wages, and close collaboration between government and corporate leaders to promote investment and suppress worker resistance. At the Volkswagen plant in Puebla, these trends have played themselves out in an especially high‐profile conflict between the company and the independent union representing workers. The history of this struggle provides valuable insights on the problems and prospects that Mexican autoworkers confront as their industry is transformed by global capital.

Since March 2006 Brazil has been the ninth country to control the full nuclear fuel cycle. While the U.S. government bashes the uranium enrichment activities in Iran, it has come to an arrangement with the uranium enrichment in its backyard after transitional diplomatic tensions. As signer of the Non-Proliferation Treaty Brazil has the right to enrich uranium for peaceful use. This article focuses on the political motives and objectives connected with the domination of this key technology. Brasilia has been striving for regional leadership and participation in international decision making processes. In historical perspective the Brazilian enrichment procedure marks the liberation from the technological U.S. dependence. Brazil seems to be on the way to establish itself as a civil nuclear power in international relations. ; Brasilien beherrscht seit Anfang Mai 2006 als neuntes Land der Welt den vollständigen Brennstoffkreislauf. Während die US-Regierung die Urananreicherungsaktivitäten im Iran scharf verurteilt, hat sie sich nach vorübergehenden diplomatischen Spannungen mit mit der Urananreicherung in ihrem geostrategischen 'Hinterhof' arrangiert. Als Signatarstaat des Atomwaffensperrvertrags hat Brasilien das Recht, zur zivilen Nutzung Uran anzureichern. Dennoch stellt sich die Frage nach den politischen Zielen und Motiven, die mit der Beherrschung dieser Schlüsseltechnologie verbunden sind. Neben energiepolitischen Motiven bemüht sich Brasilia seit langem darum, sein Profil als regionale Führungsmacht zu schärfen. Vor dem Hintergrund der jüngsten Entwicklungen der globalen Nuklearpolitik ist Brasilien auf dem Weg, sich als zivile Nuklearmacht zu etablieren.

non-peer-reviewed ; Reflecting the US and Europe, changes in attitudes to money, spending and saving have led to an acceptance that spending and credit are part of modern Irish consumer society. Increasing access to credit, aggressive marketing tactics and asymmetric information between borrower and lender is prevalent, particularly among those in the lower-income, vulnerable categories, who may not have the same range of choices as higher-income customers (Kempson et al., 2004; Conroy and O'Leary, 2005). As there is a paucity of analytical and academic commentary within an Irish context, this research explores the current nature of credit consumption and debt accumulation among low-income groups in Ireland. Qualitative supply-side research was conducted through a series of in-depth interviews with key informants of support agencies and financial institutions in Ireland involved with consumer credit and debt. In addition, focused consumer research was conducted with a sample of MABS clients and their advisors in the Mid West region. This research identifies critical factors related to both credit provision and debt accumulation. Key intervention strategies are proposed in relation to consumer education, financial services regulation and targeted support by voluntary and government agencies.

The establishment of representative offices in Brussels marked the start a qualitative new step in the engagement of the German Länder in European Union (EU) policy. Despite a contested birth, more than 20 years' operation in Brussels have seen these offices become full elements of the sponsoring Länder administrations. This article argues that in both functional and operational terms, the Brussels Länder offices have developed over time to approximate the role played by their federal level counterparts, the Länder representations in Berlin. Enhanced investment by the Länder in their EU presence underscores the increasing relevance of EU issues for the exercise of their domestic policy responsibilities. However, the Länder offices in Brussels remain disputed entities, as federal and Länder government views of their mission and appropriate engagement differ sharply. Thus, while direct engagement in Brussels has become the norm for the Länder administrations, tensions over access to the EU sphere continue to mark Bund-Länder relations in Brussels - more that ten years after a legal solution was established. The article concludes by considering the broader implications of this situation. (German Politics / FUB)

Governments and development agencies require accurate information on the impacts of increased mortality rates caused by AIDS on the agricultural sector and rural livelihoods. Several previous studies have estimated the effects of prime-age mortality on afflicted households in relation to non-afflicted households. Using nationally representative household panel data from rural Zambia, we measure the effects of prime-age adult mortality rates on changes in a set of community level welfare indicators. In general, the findings of this study offer limited support for the view that prime-age mortality is decimating agrarian-based economic systems in regions that are hard-hit by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. However, this in no way implies that great hardship is not being wrought by the disease in ways that are not measured in this data, and further research from other areas and/or time periods will be necessary before strong conclusions can be generated about the effects of AIDS-related mortality in regions of the world where prevalence rates are very high. ; IFPRI3; Theme 4; ISI; GRP33; Food systems: disaster prevention, relief, and rebuilding after crises; Health, Diet and Nutrition; DCA; RENEWAL ; FCND ; PR