Suchergebnisse

AbstractLarge firms played a central role in the "new trade" models that became a major focus of trade economists in the early 1980s. Subsequent literature for the most part kept imperfect competition but jettisoned oligopoly. Instead, as the heterogeneous firms literature burgeoned in the 2000s, monopolistic competition quickly became established as the workhorse model. The use of oligopoly in trade models has been criticized for reasons that we argue are unpersuasive. Renewed incorporation of oligopolistic firms in international trade is warranted. Quantitative investigations of welfare effects of trade policy should again address the impact of such policies on the allocation of profits across countries.

The ability to changes is vital for corporate survival and growth and knowledge is the engine of change. While consultancy is generally accociated with the West, we belive that the Asian heritage, particularly the Confucian reverence for knowledge and teachers, make Asian intellectuals best suited for performing the consultancy role effectively. But what exactly is the role of consultancy? What are the objectives and functions? And in what areas will Asian consultants stand out? Propective Asian consultants must be able to marry Westerm and Eastern business cultures and practices. The critical factors for success asd Asian international consultants will be examined.

Die Dissertation befasst sich mit der Organisation von humanitären Lufttransporten bei internationalen Katastrophen. Diese Flüge finden immer dann statt, wenn die eigene Hilfeleistungsfähigkeit der von Katastrophen betroffenen Regionen überfordert ist und Hilfe aus dem Ausland angefordert wird. Bei jedem der darauffolgenden Hilfseinsätze stehen Hilfsorganisationen und weitere mit der Katastrophenhilfe beteiligte Akteure erneut vor der Herausforderung, in kürzester Zeit eine logistische Kette aufzubauen, damit die Güter zum richtigen Zeitpunkt in der richtigen Menge am richtigen Ort eintreffen. Humanitäre Lufttransporte werden in der Regel als Charterflüge organisiert und finden auf langen Strecken zu Zielen statt, die nicht selten abseits der hochfrequentierten Warenströme liegen. Am Markt ist das Angebot für derartige Transportdienstleistungen nicht gesichert verfügbar und unter Umständen müssen Hilfsorganisationen warten bis Kapazitäten mit geeigneten Flugzeugen zur Verfügung stehen. ...

AbstractPolitical inequality refers to the unequal influence over decisions made by political bodies and the unequal outcomes of those decisions. Political inequality is a subtype of power inequality, visible within the political processes of all kinds of political structures. In modern democracies, political inequality is simultaneously a dimension of democracy and a dimension of stratification. Two key theoretical and empirical questions are How much political inequality is there? and is political inequality rising, falling, or staying the same? The answer to these key questions requires us to specify the kind of political inequality – voice, response, and their subtypes – and whether we mean equality of political opportunities or of political outcomes. I argue that we need to understand better the form, duration, and magnitude of political inequality within and across nations. We need to study it systematically, continuously, and diligently, and in an inclusive, open‐minded way, inclining our ears to the varied contributions of the many academic disciplines. We should begin by studying political inequality as an international phenomenon and as an interdisciplinary enterprise, and from an intersectional approach.

A basic assumption of much literature on international conflict, mediation, and social psychology is that the process of mediation can break down stereotypes or images which conflicting parties hold of each other; this breakdown is argued to facilitate settlement. The article proposes a method for the systematic testing of this assumption. This approach is then explored with a `plausibility probe' consisting of three case studies: the Israeli-Egyptian conflict from 1973 to 1979; the conflict between Greek and Turkish Cypriots from 1979 to 1983; and the Iran-Iraq war from 1980 to 1985. In all three cases, the predictions of hypothesized relationship were upheld. In the one case (Egypt-Israel) where resolution was reached, images did change, correlated with mediation efforts over time. In cases (Cyprus, Iran-Iraq) where no resolution was obtained, no image change occurred despite mediation efforts. These results suggest that the previously untested hypothesis of mediation theory regarding the importance of image change is a plausible one, and should be pursued with further research in the form of more case studies and large-N analyses.

This essay presents a preliminary model of the factors that influence the value of positive and negative economic incentives in international politics. The first part of the article is a review of prior research findings on incentive value. It integrates several lines of research and organizes the findings into five categories that form the frame of a model of incentive value; target market characteristics, target political structure, characteristics of goods, world market conditions and sender state political structure. Since the studies used to create this frame focus primarily on negative incentives, the second part of the study tries to balance this bias with insights from cases of positive incentives. This analysis suggests some original points; it finds that capital goods are less useful as repeated rewards and that relational norms may affect the value of an incentive. The inductive portion of the analysis also highlights a major difference between negative and positive incentives. For while market forces work against limiting access to substitutes in negative incentives and thus decrease their value, limited alternatives were found to contribute to the value of positive incentives.