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The new theoretical approach of the processes of creating knowledge based society and the knowledge economy, as well as sustainable development processes is described in the article. The main idea is that the creation and development processes of the knowledge‐based society and knowledge economy may be attributed to the category of global transformation and sustainable development processes, therefore, all general phenomena and characteristics of global transformations and sustainable development in general, are absolutely typical for the creation and development of the knowledge based society and knowledge economy. The processes of the creating of knowledge based society and knowledge economy and modernization are analyzed in the general context of the processes of sustainable development. The main principles of creating the knowledge based society and knowledge economy and modernization are described. Creating and modernization of the knowledge based society and knowledge economy are very complicated processes, oriented to the formation of the new quality of society and qualitatively new lifestyle, these processes may be described as "twice" as complicated, because they win distinction by orientations to the pursuit of new quality in two aspects: the knowledge based society and knowledge economy, compared to "traditional" society and economy, are in all cases described as qualitatively new, creating and development of the knowledge based society and knowledge economy takes place under the conditions of the global changes, which means that qualitative changes take place in all global space, the essence of those changes is the creation and spread of the knowledge‐based society and knowledge economy. A special attention is given to the conclusion that in the environment of the knowledge based society creation and generating knowledge economy and development, the provisions for sustainable development should be attained. The processes of creating knowledge based society and knowledge economy and further development should be analyzed and assessed in the context of processes of globalization and internationalization, as well as processes of global transformations. The "Power" concept intended for the scientific cognition of sustainable development and knowledge based society and knowledge economy creation processes phenomena is analyzed. Santrauka Straipsnyje išdėstomas naujas teorinis požiūris į darnios plėtros ir į žiniomis grindžiamos visuomenės bei žinių ekonomikos kūrimo procesus. Pagrindine ideja, išreiškianti šio teorinio požiūrio esmė, yra ta, kad darnios plėtros bei žiniomis grindžiamos visuomenės ir žinių ekonomikos kūrimo procesai suvoktini ir nagrinėtini kaip sudarantys bendra visuma. Žiniomis grindžiamos visuomenės ir žinių ekonomikos kūrimas traktuojamas kaip pagrindinė prielaida realiai įgyvendinti darnios plėtros nuostatas, o darni plėtra vertinama kaip išskirtinis žiniomis grindžiamos visuomenės ir žinių ekonomikos kūrimo procesams būdingas požymis. Šiuolaikinėmis globalizacijos bei socialinės, ekonominės raidos ir mokslo bei technologijų pažangos internacionalizavimo salygomis išryškėja daug naujų aplinkybių ir reiškinių, kurių poveikis ir vaidmuo mažai atsispindi daugelyje tradiciniu požiūrių, skirtų tiek darniai plėtrai, tiek žiniomis grindžiamos visuomenės ir žinių ekonomikos kūrimo procesams. Padaryta išvada, kad tradiciniai darnios plėtros bei jos problemų, žiniomis grindžiamos visuomenės ir žinių ekonomikos kūrimo logikos bei tendencijų suvokimai vis labiau neatitinka šiuolaikiniu poreikių ir iššūkių ir reikalingi esminių papildymų bei patikslinimų. Šiuolaikiniai požiūriai į darnią plėtrą bei į žiniomis grindžiamos visuomenės ir žinių ekonomikos kūrimą turėtų kur kas geriau perteikti šiuo metu pasaulyje vykstančių naujo tipo transformacijų procesų vaidmenį ir įtaką, visų pirmą tų transformacijų, kurios išreiškia žiniomis grindžiamos visuomenės vertybių ir idealų pasklidima globaliu mastu. Būtent tokios visuomenės kūrimasis ir šios visuomenės vertybių ir idealų pasklidimas globalizacijos aplinkoje sukelia naujų transformacijų šiuolaikinėje visuomenėje bei jos gyvenime, sudaro prielaidas suvokti būtinybę naujai reaguoti į darnios plėtros poreikius bei spręsti naujas problemas. Straipsnyje detaliai apibūdinta vadinamoji galios koncepcija, kuria remiantis siūloma kompleksiškai nagrinėti darnios plėtros bei žiniomis grindžiamos visuomenės ir žinių ekonomikos kūrimo procesus, spręsti daugeli tokių procesų valdymo klausimu. Galios koncepcijos taikymas leidžia modeliuoti stambiose sistemose vykstančius socialines, ekonomines, politines raidos, mokslo ir technologijų pažangos reiškinius bei procesus, identifikuoti ir vertinti atitinkamų procesų suderinamumą, vienų procesų poveikius kitiems procesams, identifikuoti įvairias disproporcijas, išryškejančias netolygiu pokyčių sąlygomis. Visa tai leidžia diagnozuoti pasireiškusias ar galinčias pasireikšti darnios plėtros žiniomis grindžiamos visuomenės ir žinių ekonomikos kūrimo problemas ir numatyti priemones, skirtas šioms problemoms spręsti. Straipsnyje atskleisti darnios plėtros bei žiniomis grindžiamos visuomenės ir žinių ekonomikos kūrimo procesų kaip visumos principai, kompleksiškai išnagrinėti darnios plėtros bei žiniomis grindžiamos visuomenės ir žinių ekonomikos kūrimo dėsningumai. Prioritetinis dėmesys skiriamas integracijos ir sintezės kaip jungimosi procesų logikai atskleisti. Išdestytas teorinis požiūris gali būti gana plačiai taikomas nagrinejant įvairius darnios plėtros bei žiniomis grindžiamos visuomenės ir žinių ekonomikos kūrimo reiškinius. First published online: 10 Feb 2011 Reikšminiai žodžiai:žiniomis grindžiama visuomenė,žiniu ekonomika,darni plėtra,galios koncepcija,darnios plėtros bei žiniomis grindžiamos visuomenės ir žiniu ekonomikos kūrimo bei raidos dėsningumai

The new theoretical approach of the processes of creating knowledge based society and the knowledge economy, as well as sustainable development processes is described in the article. The main idea is that the creation and development processes of the knowledge‐based society and knowledge economy may be attributed to the category of global transformation and sustainable development processes, therefore, all general phenomena and characteristics of global transformations and sustainable development in general, are absolutely typical for the creation and development of the knowledge based society and knowledge economy. The processes of the creating of knowledge based society and knowledge economy and modernization are analyzed in the general context of the processes of sustainable development. The main principles of creating the knowledge based society and knowledge economy and modernization are described. Creating and modernization of the knowledge based society and knowledge economy are very complicated processes, oriented to the formation of the new quality of society and qualitatively new lifestyle, these processes may be described as "twice" as complicated, because they win distinction by orientations to the pursuit of new quality in two aspects: the knowledge based society and knowledge economy, compared to "traditional" society and economy, are in all cases described as qualitatively new, creating and development of the knowledge based society and knowledge economy takes place under the conditions of the global changes, which means that qualitative changes take place in all global space, the essence of those changes is the creation and spread of the knowledge‐based society and knowledge economy. A special attention is given to the conclusion that in the environment of the knowledge based society creation and generating knowledge economy and development, the provisions for sustainable development should be attained. The processes of creating knowledge based society and knowledge economy and further development should be analyzed and assessed in the context of processes of globalization and internationalization, as well as processes of global transformations. The "Power" concept intended for the scientific cognition of sustainable development and knowledge based society and knowledge economy creation processes phenomena is analyzed. Article in English. Darni plėtra ir žinių ekonomikos kūrimas: naujas teorinis požiūris Santrauka.Straipsnyje išdėstomas naujas teorinis požiūris į darnios plėtros ir į žiniomis grindžiamos visuomenės bei žinių ekonomikos kūrimo procesus. Pagrindine ideja, išreiškianti šio teorinio požiūrio esmė, yra ta, kad darnios plėtros bei žiniomis grindžiamos visuomenės ir žinių ekonomikos kūrimo procesai suvoktini ir nagrinėtini kaip sudarantys bendra visuma. Žiniomis grindžiamos visuomenės ir žinių ekonomikos kūrimas traktuojamas kaip pagrindinė prielaida realiai įgyvendinti darnios plėtros nuostatas, o darni plėtra vertinama kaip išskirtinis žiniomis grindžiamos visuomenės ir žinių ekonomikos kūrimo procesams būdingas požymis. Šiuolaikinėmis globalizacijos bei socialinės, ekonominės raidos ir mokslo bei technologijų pažangos internacionalizavimo salygomis išryškėja daug naujų aplinkybių ir reiškinių, kurių poveikis ir vaidmuo mažai atsispindi daugelyje tradiciniu požiūrių, skirtų tiek darniai plėtrai, tiek žiniomis grindžiamos visuomenės ir žinių ekonomikos kūrimo procesams. Padaryta išvada, kad tradiciniai darnios plėtros bei jos problemų, žiniomis grindžiamos visuomenės ir žinių ekonomikos kūrimo logikos bei tendencijų suvokimai vis labiau neatitinka šiuolaikiniu poreikių ir iššūkių ir reikalingi esminių papildymų bei patikslinimų. Šiuolaikiniai požiūriai į darnią plėtrą bei į žiniomis grindžiamos visuomenės ir žinių ekonomikos kūrimą turėtų kur kas geriau perteikti šiuo metu pasaulyje vykstančių naujo tipo transformacijų procesų vaidmenį ir įtaką, visų pirmą tų transformacijų, kurios išreiškia žiniomis grindžiamos visuomenės vertybių ir idealų pasklidima globaliu mastu. Būtent tokios visuomenės kūrimasis ir šios visuomenės vertybių ir idealų pasklidimas globalizacijos aplinkoje sukelia naujų transformacijų šiuolaikinėje visuomenėje bei jos gyvenime, sudaro prielaidas suvokti būtinybę naujai reaguoti į darnios plėtros poreikius bei spręsti naujas problemas. Straipsnyje detaliai apibūdinta vadinamoji galios koncepcija, kuria remiantis siūloma kompleksiškai nagrinėti darnios plėtros bei žiniomis grindžiamos visuomenės ir žinių ekonomikos kūrimo procesus, spręsti daugeli tokių procesų valdymo klausimu. Galios koncepcijos taikymas leidžia modeliuoti stambiose sistemose vykstančius socialines, ekonomines, politines raidos, mokslo ir technologijų pažangos reiškinius bei procesus, identifikuoti ir vertinti atitinkamų procesų suderinamumą, vienų procesų poveikius kitiems procesams, identifikuoti įvairias disproporcijas, išryškejančias netolygiu pokyčių sąlygomis. Visa tai leidžia diagnozuoti pasireiškusias ar galinčias pasireikšti darnios plėtros žiniomis grindžiamos visuomenės ir žinių ekonomikos kūrimo problemas ir numatyti priemones, skirtas šioms problemoms spręsti. Straipsnyje atskleisti darnios plėtros bei žiniomis grindžiamos visuomenės ir žinių ekonomikos kūrimo procesų kaip visumos principai, kompleksiškai išnagrinėti darnios plėtros bei žiniomis grindžiamos visuomenės ir žinių ekonomikos kūrimo dėsningumai. Prioritetinis dėmesys skiriamas integracijos ir sintezės kaip jungimosi procesų logikai atskleisti. Išdestytas teorinis požiūris gali būti gana plačiai taikomas nagrinejant įvairius darnios plėtros bei žiniomis grindžiamos visuomenės ir žinių ekonomikos kūrimo reiškinius. Reikšminiai žodžiai:žiniomis grindžiama visuomenė,žiniu ekonomika,darni plėtra,galios koncepcija,darnios plėtros bei žiniomis grindžiamos visuomenės ir žiniu ekonomikos kūrimo bei raidos dėsningumai. First published online: 10 Feb 2011

This thesis deals with three selected dimensions of strategic behavior, namely investment in R&D, mergers and acquisitions, and inventory decisions in dynamic oligopolies. The question the first essay addresses is how the market structure evolves due to innovative activities when firms' level of technological competence is valuable for more than one project. The focus of the work is the analysis of the effect of learning-by-doing and organizational forgetting in R&D on firms' incentives to innovate. A dynamic step-by-step innovation model with history dependency is developed. Firms can accumulate knowledge by investing in R&D. As a benchmark without knowledge accumulation it is shown that relaxing the usual assumption of imposed imitation yields additional strategic effects. Therefore, the leader's R&D effort increases with the gap as she is trying to avoid competition in the future. When firms gain experience by performing R&D, the resulting effect of knowledge induces technological leaders to rest on their laurels which allows followers to catch up. Contrary to the benchmark case the leader's innovation effort declines with the lead. This causes an equilibrium where the incentives to innovate are highest when competition is most intense. Using a model of oligopoly in general equilibrium the second essay analyzes the integration of economies that might be accompanied by cross-border merger waves. Studying economies which prior to trade were in stable equilibrium where mergers were not profitable, we show that globalization can trigger cross-border merger waves for a sufficiently large heterogeneity in marginal cost. In partial equilibrium, consumers benefit from integration even when a merger wave is triggered which considerably lowers intensity of competition. Welfare increases. In contrast, in general equilibrium where interactions between markets and therefore effects on factor prices are considered, gains from trade can only be realized by reallocation of resources. The higher the technological dissimilarity between countries the better can efficiency gains be realized in integrated general equilibrium. The overall welfare effect of integration is positive when all firms remain active but indeterminate when firms exit or are absorbed due to a merger wave. It is possible for decreasing competition to dominate the welfare gain from more efficient resource allocation across sectors. Allowing for firms' entry alters results as in an integrated world coexistence of firms of different countries is never possible. Comparative advantages with respect to entry and production are important for realizing efficiency gains from trade. The third essay analyzes the interaction between price and inventory decisions in an oligopoly industry and its implications for the dynamics of prices. The work extends existing literature and especially the work of Hall and Rust (2007) to endogenous prices and strategic oligopoly competition. We show that the optimal decision rule is an (S,s) order policy and prices and inventories are strategic substitutes. Fixed ordering costs generate infrequent orders. Additionally, with strategic competition in prices, (S,s) inventory behavior together with demand uncertainty generates cyclical pattern in prices The last chapter presents some concluding remarks on the results of the essays. ; Die Dissertation "Essays on Strategic Behavior and Dynamic Oligopoly Competition" befasst sich mit strategischem Verhalten und dynamischem Wettbewerb in Oligopolen. In drei einzelnen Arbeiten werden spezielle Fragestellungen eingehend analysiert. Die erste Arbeit befasst sich mit der Frage, wie sich die Marktstruktur durch Forschungsaktivitäten der Unternehmen entwickelt, wenn die Forschungskompetenz der Unternehmen für mehrere Projekte von Bedeutung ist. Der Fokus der Arbeit liegt auf der Analyse der Effekte des Lernens und Vergessens bei Forschung und Entwicklung auf die Innovationsanreize der Unternehmen. Es wird ein dynamisches Innovationsmodell entwickelt, in dem Unternehmen durch Investitionen in Forschungsprojekte Erfahrungen sammeln können. Als Referenzfall wird im Modell ohne die Möglichkeit des Lernens gezeigt, dass die Lockerung der typischen, aber strengen Annahme, dass der Marktfolger die führende Technologie immer imitiert, zu neuen strategischen Effekten führt. Weil der Marktführer versucht starken Produktmarktwettbewerb in der Zukunft zu vermeiden, steigt sein Innovationsanreiz mit der Verbesserung seiner Position. Haben die Firmen dagegen die Möglichkeit durch Forschungsprojekte zu lernen, führt der daraus resultierende Effekt der Forschungswissensbildung dazu, dass sich der Marktführer auf seinen Lorbeeren ausruht, was dem Marktfolger ermöglicht aufzuholen. Im Gegensatz zum Referenzfall fällt der Innovationsanreiz des Marktführers mit der Verbesserung seiner Position. Dieses Verhalten führt zu einem Gleichgewicht, in dem die Innovationsanreize am höchsten sind, wenn der Produktmarktwettbewerb am stärksten ist. Mit Hilfe eines allgemeinen Gleichgewichtsmodells, welches die Modellierung oligopolistischen Wettbewerbs erlaubt, analysiert die zweite Arbeit die Integration von Ökonomien, die von grenzüberschreitenden Fusionswellen begleitet sein können. Die Untersuchung von Ökonomien, die sich vor der Integration in stabilen Gleichgewichten befunden haben, in denen keine profitablen Fusionen möglich waren, zeigt, dass Globalisierung grenzüberschreitende Fusionswellen auslöst, wenn die Unternehmen hinreichend heterogen bezüglich ihrer Kostenstruktur sind. Im partiellen Gleichgewicht profitieren Konsumenten von der Integration auch dann, wenn eine Fusionswelle ausgelöst wird und alle einheimischen Unternehmen übernommen werden und damit die Wettbewerbsintensität deutlich sinkt. Die Wohlfahrt steigt. Im Gegensatz dazu sind im allgemeinen Gleichgewicht, in dem das Zusammenspiel der Märkte und damit Effekte auf Faktorpreise berücksichtigt werden, Globalisierungsgewinne nur durch die Reallokation von Ressourcen möglich. Je größer die technologischen Unterschiede der Länder, umso besser können diese Effizienzgewinne der Integration im allgemeinen Gleichgewicht realisiert werden. Der Effekt der Globalisierung für die Wohlfahrt ist positiv, wenn alle Firmen im Markt aktiv bleiben, aber unbestimmt, wenn Firmen den Markt verlassen oder aufgekauft werden. Es ist möglich, dass der negative Wohlfahrtseffekt der fallenden Wettbewerbsintensität den positiven Effekt der effizienteren Ressourcenallokation dominiert. Das Zulassen von Eintritt verändert die Ergebnisse drastisch, da in diesem Fall Firmen unterschiedlicher Herkunft in einer integrierten Volkswirtschaft nicht koexistieren können. Komparative Vorteile in Bezug auf Eintrittsmöglichkeiten und Produktion sind dann umso wichtiger für die Realisierung von Wohlfahrtsgewinnen. Die dritte Arbeit analysiert das Zusammenspiel von Preis- und Lagerbestandsentscheidungen unter oligopolistischem Wettbewerb und dessen Implikationen für die Dynamik der Preise. Die Arbeit erweitert existierende Literatur um endogene Preise und unvollständigen strategischen Wettbewerb im Oligopol. Es wird gezeigt, dass bestellfixe Kosten dazu führen, dass selten bestellt wird und die optimale Bestellpolitik eine (S,s)-Politik ist. Für die Unternehmen bilden Preise und Lagerbestand strategische Substitute. Insgesamt erzeugt die (S,s)-Bestellpolitik zusammen mit der unsicheren Nachfrage bei strategischem Preiswettbewerb zyklische Preisschwankungen. Die Dissertation schließt mit einigen kurzen Bemerkungen zu den entwickelten Modellen und deren Ergebnissen.

We live in an era of financialization. Since 1980, capital markets have expanded around the world; capital shuttles the global instantaneously. Shareholder concerns drive executive decision making and compensation, while the fluctuations of stock markets are a source of public anxiety. So are the financial scandals that have regularly occurred in recent years: junk bonds in the 1980s; lax accounting and stock manipulation in the early 2000s; and debt securitization today. We also live in an era of rising income inequality and employment risk. The gaps between top and bottom incomes and between top and middle incomes have widened since 1980. Greater risk takes various forms, such as wage and employment volatility and the shift from employers to employees of responsibility for pensions and, in the United States, for health insurance. There is an enormous literature on financial development and another on inequality. But relatively few studies consider the intersection of these phenomena. Standard explanations for rising inequality--skill-biased technological change and trade--account for only 30% of the variation in aggregate inequality. What else matters? We argue here that an omitted factor is financial development. This study explores the relationship between financial markets and labor markets along three dimensions: contemporary, historical, and comparative. For the world's industrialized nations, we find that financial development waxes and wanes in line with top income shares. Since 1980, however, there have been national divergences between financial development--defined here as the economic prominence of equity and credit markets--and inequality. In the U.S. and U.K., there remains a strong positive correlation but in other parts of Europe and in Japan the relationship is weaker. What accounts for swings in financial development and inequality and the relationship between them? Economic growth is one factor. Another is the politics of finance. The model presented here is simple but consistent with the evidence: Upswings in financial development are related to political pressure exerted by elite beneficiaries of financial development. Political objectives include policies that favor financial expansion—and finance-derived earnings--and the shunting of investment gains to top-income brackets. Against financial interests is arrayed a shifting coalition that has included middle-class consumers, farmers, small business, and organized labor, upon which we focus here. When successful, these groups cause a contraction in the economic and political significance of finance, which registers in the distribution of income and wealth. In other words, politics drives the swings in financial development and mediates the finance-labor relationship. Political contests occur not only in the public arena but also within firms. We expand the politics of financial development to include contests over corporate resource allocation through the mechanisms of corporate governance. Corporate governance affects the distribution of a firm's value-added among shareholders, executives, workers, and retained earnings. Here too, organized labor is an important player. In both public and private arenas, labor wields influence via its bargaining and political power and, more recently, via its pension capital. Our historical framework draws from Karl Polanyi's classic study of markets and politics in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Polanyi challenged economic liberalism by showing that market expansion in the Western countries was not a natural development; it was embedded in politics and society. He also showed that markets are not self-regulating. Undesirable side-effects--instability, monopoly, externalities--can not be rectified by the market itself. As a result, every market expansion is followed by spontaneous countermovements to "resist the pernicious effects of a market-controlled economy." Polanyi called this the double movement: "the action of two organizing principles in society … economic liberalism, aiming at the establishment of a self-regulating market .[and] the other was the principle of social protection aiming at the conservation of man and nature as well as productive organization." Writing in the early 1940s, Polanyi could not foresee the relevance of his ideas to our present age. Today, laissez-faire ideas, including those relating to financial markets, again are with us as are countermovements to contain the market's failings. The focus of this study is on financial markets in the world's richest nations. Much of the material is based on the American experience, although there are comparisons to Europe and Japan. Part I analyzes the mechanisms that link contemporary financial development to rising inequality and risk. Part II considers the political and ideological bases for post-1980 financial development and corporate governance. The next two parts are historical, focusing on the period from the late nineteenth century though the 1970s: Part III describes financialization and Part IV traces political movements to contain it, emphasizing the contributions of organized labor. Part V takes us back to the present. It considers the efforts of organized labor to re-regulate finance and reshape corporate governance, in part by using its pension capital. 1) IMF, World Economic Outlook: Globalization and Inequality (Washington, DC 2007), 48. 2) Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation (New York 1944): 132.

Das urbane Phänomen ist im Wandel. In den vergangenen Jahren tauchten neue Modelle und Formen von Urbanität auf. Die Einführung neoliberaler Politik als auch eine etablierte Globalisierung in Lateinamerika wirken sich nicht nur auf die Ausdehnung des Kommunikations- und Informationsflusses, sondern auch, auf Formen sozialer Kohäsion aus, die seit Mitte des XX. Jahrhunderts entstanden sind. Dieser neue Kontext verändert bedeutsam die Art und Weise, in der die Menschen ihre Identitäten und Zugehörigkeitsgefühle in der urbanen Gesellschaft entwickeln. Seit den 1990er Jahren ist Ethnizität eine wichtige Ressource geworden, um dem zunehmendem Anteil der urbanen lateinamerikanischen Bevölkerung Identitätsquellen zu liefern. Aus der Perspektive der Städter dienen ethnische Wurzeln als Ressourcen für soziale Kohäsion und zur Anerkennung als soziale Akteure. Die Absicht der vorliegenden Arbeit ist die Erkundung des Bildungsprozesses einer urbanen Ethnizität in Santiago de Chile. Mapuche bilden die zahlenmäßig stärkste ethnische Gruppe in Chile, ca. die Hälfte von ihnen wohnt in Santiago. Obwohl Mapuche die größte indigene Gruppe in Santiago sind, wenn man den urbanen Raum betrachtet, sind Mapuche relativ unsichtbar. Die Entstehung der Kategorien von 'urbanem Mapuche' und 'Mapuche-Warriache' in den letzten Jahrzehnten weisen allerdings auf die zunehmende Relevanz der Ethnizität, als Identitätsquelle in Santiago de Chile, hin. Ethnizität bezieht sich hierbei auf kollektive Identitäten. In dieser Hinsicht ist Ethnizität die Art und Weise mit der sich ein Kollektiv vom Anderen unterscheidet. Ethnizität ist ein breites Konzept, das einen Differenzierungsprozess beschreibt. Das Hauptziel der vorliegenden Dissertation ist die Erforschung der Strategien, mit denen die Mapuche Gesellschaft in Santiago Differenzen - bezogen auf den Rest der sowohl urbanen Gesellschaft als auch der traditionellen Mapuche Gesellschaft – aufbaut, als auch ethnische Identitätsbildungs-Prozesse zu erkennen. Die Arbeit baut auf der Hypothese, dass die heutigen urbanen Mapuche-Migranten und ihre zweite Generation hybride Identitäten bilden. Statt einer Art von Re-Territorialisierung oder Reproduktion ihrer originellen auf dem Lande liegenden Gesellschaft sollte sich Identitätsbildung vielmehr auf den Rest der urbanen Gesellschaft orientieren. Der lateinamerikanische Diskurs über ethnische Identitäten wird derzeit von einer essentialistischen Perspektive beherrscht. Die Arbeit argumentiert, dass die Mapuche weder im sozialen Raum der traditionellen Gemeinschaft noch im kulturellen Raum der Gastgesellschaft eingesperrt sind und Strategien entwickeln könnten, in denen ethnische Identitäten ein Teil eines Systems von Identitäten sind. Dementsprechend sind solche Strategien sehr dynamische Formen von Kommunikation und Differenzierung. Der erste Teil der Dissertation setzt sich im ersten Kapitel in kritischer Weise mit der ethnographischen Methode und ihrer Anwendung im urbanen Raum auseinander. Das zweite Kapital fokussiert auf die Geschichte der modernen Mapuche Gesellschaft. Die durch ethnographische Methodik erarbeiteten experimentellen Studienfälle werden im zweiten Teil erörtert. ; The urban phenomenon is changing. The social and political transformations of recent decades have created new forms and models of inhabiting in the city. In Latin America, phenomena of globalization and the implementation of liberal policies have, on the one hand, expanded flows of information and communication and, on the other hand, affected forms of social cohesion which were developed from the modern urbanization process of the mid-20th Century. This new context has transformed the ways in which the people build identity and a sense of belonging inside the urban society. Since the 1990s ethnicity has become an important source of identity construction for a growing percentage of city dwellers in Latin America. The ethnic roots of its inhabitants are turned into resources for social cohesion and recognition as social actors. The purpose of this study is to explore the process of formation of an urban ethnicity in Santiago de Chile. The Mapuches are the largest ethnic group in Chile and about half of their total population resides in the city of Santiago. However, despite being the largest ethnic group in Santiago, the Mapuche do not have a visible presence in the city. The emergence over the last decade of the political and social category of urban Mapuche and Mapuche-warriache describes the growing importance of ethnicity as a source of identity in Santiago. Ethnicity is related to the notion of collective identities. In this sense, it is a process whereby a group of people are collectively different from "others," ethnicity is a broad concept which describes a process of differentiation. The objective of this research is to investigate the strategies through which Mapuche society in Santiago establishes differences, both in relation to the remaining urban society, and to "traditional" Mapuche society. Accordingly, this work aims to identify processes through which an urban ethnic identity is constructed. The working hypothesis is that the Mapuche currently in the city - first and second generation migrants - build hybrid forms with the remaining urban society more than they reproduce or reterritorialize their society of origin. The Mapuches in the city are not trapped between their societies of origin and the host urban society, but are, in turn, building strategies in which ethnic identity is part of a system of identities in which they participate. The work has two parts. The first part presents two critical reviews: a chapter on the method of ethnographic research and its application to urban space, and another chapter which focuses on the history of modern Mapuche society. The second part is experimental and composed of three case studies. Each experimental case is presented and analyzed through ethnographic methodology. This work explores the urban ethnicity as a contemporary form of building identity and sense of belonging. Currently, in Latin America an essentialist perspective prevails to deal the indigenous identities. This paper argues that the Mapuches in the city are not trapped between their societies of origin and the host urban society, but are, in turn, building strategies in which ethnic identity is part of a system of identities in which they participate. These strategies are a very dynamic form of communication and differentiation.

Вниманию читателя предлагается перевод обзорной статьи по трем монографическим сборникам, вышедшим в Великобритании в 2007 г. и представляющим большой интерес для исследователей, занимающихся проблемами социально-экономической трансформации постсоциалистических странTOSS: Lane, D. (Ed.), The Transformation of State Socialism: System Change, Capitalism or something else? (Basingstoke Palgrave Macmillan, 2007). VOCIP: Lane, D., & Myant, M. (Eds.), Varieties of Capitalism in Post-Communist Countries (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007). BVOC: Bob Hancke, Martin Rhodes, and Mark Thatcher (Eds.), Beyond Varieties of Capitalism: Conflict, Contradictions, and Complementarities in the European Economy (Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press, 2007). While the excitement of investors in the opportunities in all parts of what used to be the Soviet block has been growing rapidly, the interest of the global academic industry in the region can hardly compare to the hype of 'transition' times at the end of the last century. Yet, those who have not left with the tide have no reason to regret. The area is rife with underresearched problems and yet-to-be-resolved puzzles. The post-transition economies and societies of the early 2000s are very different from what the 'transitologists' analyzed ten years ago. This time, however, we seem to be dealing with social and economic structures, which are there to stay and shape the developments for some time to come. The three edited volumes under review bring together a set of contributions that is largely representative of a new generation of scholarship on Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. A number of important and interesting post-transition research agendas were opened. These include the study of variation and sources of social inequality and human suffering, investigation of class formation and its link to democracy consolidation, political economy of dependent internationalization in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), and the study of political capitalism, state-led capitalism, and predatory regimes in the former Soviet Union. While the focus of the volumes is broader (most notably that of BVOC), this article discusses their contributions to our understanding of politics and political economy of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. For students of post-communist developments, TOSS and VOCIP also offer chapters on Cuba, North Korea, China, and other (post-) communist countries in Africa and East Asia. Offering the state of the art of the 'varieties of capitalism' (VoC) approach, BVOC provides a useful theoretical companion to individual analyses in the other two books. Economic systems differ, the argument goes, and there are a number of ways how an economy can be competitive in the environment of globalization. Mutually interlinked institutional subsystems shape trajectories of political economic evolution, often reinforce each other, and a proper mix of institutional 'complementarities' can provide distinctive 'comparative institutional advantages' for competitive strategies of firms. The core ideas of the approach not only offered analytical tools that have become a leading paradigm in the comparative political economy of Western societies, but also provided rationale for saving European capitalisms from the ideological attack seeing no alternative to the Anglo-Saxon model of capitalism. While the 'liberal market economy' (LME) variety, typically represented by the US and the UK, is superior in providing advantages to 'radical innovators', the 'coordinated market economies (CME), of which Germany is the leading example, can compete with products relying on 'incremental innovation'. VOCIP in particular uses the VoC approach as its major theoretical reference. Surprisingly, however, almost all of its contributors conclude that the approach is not very helpful in analyzing the region. The decision of the editors to employ the VoC framework as the underlying reference point only to demonstrate its limited utility indicates how strong the appeal of the approach is. Its application in CEE, however, not only produced interesting insights on political-economic diversity in the region, but also pointed out to its limits and research directions to follow. I first discuss the substantive findings on human, political, and economic developments in the region. Second, I deal with the analyses of class formation. I point out that they offer interesting insights on the link between class formation and democratic consolidation. While the process of democratic consolidation is hampered by a lack of an autonomous capitalist class in Russia, intricacies of working class formation have negative repercussions for the democratic processes in CEE. Third, I discuss accounts of hybrid and statist regimes in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Then, I deal with varieties of capitalist development in CEE. In the final sections, I elaborate on what I see as missing links in the studies and identify agenda for future research. Particular attention is given to the opportunities and limits of the varieties of capitalism approach.

The article thoroughly investigates the polarization processes started in agriculture and rural areas. New market environment increased the division of labour within territories and pushed agriculture to the ample resource south and the suburbs. The Russian agriculture overcomes the crisis in certain areas with more favorable natural environment and districts still having vital demographic statistics and work force. Besides, the article focuses on the ways the government and other bodies may tackle the agricultural challenges in the whole country, within a region, a provincial administrative area, and a rural settlement. Present-day challenges of previously developed areas in the North are deeply rooted into the Soviet extensive development psychology, inability to see the existing natural, social and economical limitations for a long period of time. Non-black soil areas witness a considerable difference between the suburbs and provinces. The Kostroma Region may serve a typical example. As soon as in the late 20th century rural population and commercial farming was preserved in its suburban area only. The 3,4% of the territory in the Kostroma Region concentrates 19% of its population, 16% of cattle and a quarter of gross agricultural output. White straw crops and livestock efficiency index is 2-3 times higher than in the province. The suburb adjoining areas also boost excellent prospects. However, the province witnesses an increase in depopulation and decline in farming industry, and a shift towards forestry or any other industry is not possible due to the lack of work force. Manturovsky District in the Kostroma Region is a non-black soil provincial area. The district still has 9 agro-industrial plants, and only two or three of them have a chance to survive if greatly reduced. Personal subsidiary farms grow away due to ageing of population and youth migration from rural areas. Forest management is the main activity of the district, but its development is limited by forest resources deterioration and low demographic capacity. The fact that the Ugric rural settlement on the shore of the Unzha river is situated at the distance of 35 km from the railway and from Manturovo city determined its mainly agricultural profile in the past. Only 15% of its population remained, if compared to the early 20th century, 1/10 of the field was sowed in 2007 and the remained lands are running wild. With such depopulation troubles, transition from farming to other activities becomes a rather challenging move and is possible only in the heart of the settlement. The opportunities are limited not only by quantity but also by quality of human capital assets, due to a negative social selection of population having taken place for a long time. Besides managing personal subsidiary farms and public sector employment, activity diversification is narrowed to gathering wild plants and fishing. Instead of development, such places experience devolution, also accompanied by social restrictions. With depopulation and economic crisis, globalization intensified devolution of remote places, encouraging the remaining young people to join the world processes and leave their home villages. It made purely economic criteria submerged by a problem of social environment matching the needs of the youth. Such districts may develop only with extra financial and labor inputs. Justly, rare economic growing-points are related to migrants. Turning remote summer villages into the outskirts of magacities is one of the most essential ways of development for such districts. Almost a half of the privately owned plots in the Ugric rural settlement belongs to town dwellers, mainly to Moscow residents. Town dwellers partially save villages or separate houses, but not extensive farming lands and not rural community. However, with some village population going away, life of summer residents may turn rather hard. Incursions of nature to agropogenic and cultural landscapes are inevitable in such areas as Manturovsky District and field abandoning reduces developed lands to pinpoint spots. Efforts made by federal authorities in the context of national projects and programs, aimed at saving farming in such districts, bring about a pinpoint effect, as merely give assistance to separate plants or farms, and "Svoboda", the Ugric production cooperative farm, did not enjoy governmental attention. The Ugric settlement also did not receive livestock efficiency subsidy from regional government, as the cooperative farm had failed to increase annual milk yield more than 1500 kg per cow. Regional and municipal authorities can not afford to bear all the necessary expenses due to the lack of regional tax basis, and the adoption of Federal Law No. 131 deteriorated the situation greatly. Only towns having beneficial geographic and transport location and suburbs of regional centers remain growing points in remote previously developed areas.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) play a major role in economic growth and provide major external benefits such as creation of new jobs and increase in employment. Increase of employment is the main social policy or the government. As in the case or public goods, the SMEs faces market failures and other barriers. Therefore, SMEs have specific strengths and weaknesses that require special policy responses. SMEs face many problems: lack of financing, difficulties in exploiting technology, constrained managerial capabilities, low productivity. regulatory burdens. The government should improve SMEs access to financing, information infrastructures and international markets. Providing the regulatory, legal and financial frameworks conductive to entrepreneurship and small firm start-up and growth is a priority.Government policy initiatives should take account of the regional and local factors that affect entrepreneurship and on this basis to foster the partnership of small firms. Building on local strengths. SME policies need to address the new dynamics of entrepreneurship, and small firm clusters should meet the challenges of globalization.Fostering public-private partnerships and small-firm networks and clusters may be the most expeditious path to a dynamic SME sector. Grouped in the local system of production, SME arc more flexible and responsive to customer needs than large integrated firms. They can pool resources, share costs of training, research and marketing. Clustering facilitates exchange of personnel and diffusion of technology, creates efficiency gains and helps to meet the challenges of globalization. SME in clusters seek international opportunities also through strategic alliances, franchising and joint ventures.Clusters are geographic concentrations of interconnected companies, specialized suppliers, service providers, firms in related industries, and associated institutions (e.g., universities, standards agencies, trade associations) in a particular field that compete but also cooperate. Clusters, or critical masses of unusual competitive success in particular business areas, are a striking feature of virtually every national, regional, state, and even metropolitan economy, especially in more advanced nations. Clusters represent a new way of thinking about national, state, and local economics, and they necessitate new roles for companies, for various levels of government, and for other institutions in enhancing competitiveness. For companies, the thinking about competition and strategy has been dominated by what goes on inside the organization. Clusters suggest that a good deal of competitive advantage lies outside companies and even outside their industries. residing instead in the locations at which their business units arc based. This creates important new agendas for management that are rarely recognized. For example, clusters represent a new unit of competitive analysis along with the firm and industry. Cluster thinking suggests that companies have a tangible and important stake in the business environments where they are located, in ways that go far beyond taxes, electricity costs, and wage rates. The health of the cluster is important to the health of the company. Companies might actually benefit from having more local competitors. Trade associations can be competitive assets, not merely lobbying and social organizations. Clusters are important because they allow companies to be more productive and innovative than they could be in isolation. And clusters are important because they reduce the barriers for new business creation relative to other locations.The article deals with criteria for the government support to SME efficiency. A methodology of government support efficiency evaluation based on sustainability criteria is proposed. The criteria for selection of SME support measures should address all dimensions of sustainable development: social, economic and environmental. The methodology can be applied on country, region or enterprise level. Economic indicators for support effectiveness evaluation on enterprise level include the positive changes in financial indicators of a company on receiving support. Social indicators on such level arc the new jobs created and the increase of income. Environmental indicators such as pollutant emission reductions in an enterprise allow to evaluate the social effect of support. Therefore, a complex system of indicators needs to be developed to evaluate the efficiency of support provided to SMS according to economic, social and environmental criteria. The system of sustainability criteria may be applied on a country level and include more general indicators such as: GDP growth, increase of employment, higher real income of population, decrease of inequality of income, pollution reduction in the country, etc. ; Straipsnyje analizuojamos paramos smulkiam ir vidutiniam verslui (SW) efektyvumo vertinimo problemos, pateikiami argumentai, kodėl būtina sukurti paramos SW efektyvumo vertinimo daugiakriterinę metodiką, pagrįstą socialinio, ekonominio ir aplinkosauginio poveikio vertinimu. Straipsnis yra apžvalginio analitinio pobūdžio. Jo tikslas pagrįsti paramos SW vertinimo efektyvumą pagal paramos įtaką darnios plėtros tikslams. Pagrindiniai straipsnio uždaviniai yra suformuluoti paramos SW efektyvumo vertinimo metodologiją, pagrįstą daugiakriterine analize, ir pateikti konkretų šios metodikos taikymo pavyzdį.

The human activity has consequences on the evolution of the society and of the environment. We are interested in the characteristics of the livestock farming as a human activity system in the North of Uruguay, in the area of Arapey. To carry out the study we use a systemic approach, where narrative analysis and computer simulations are combined by using multi-agent systems. The principal characteristics of the agricultural activity are described, by including the evolutions on the long term. We show thus how agriculture and the livestock breeding fostered the development of hierarchical societies and how this process accelerated with time. In particular, we show the interactions between society, science and agriculture, explaining how during the last century, an enormous increase in productivity was obtained by the industrialization of agriculture, thanks to the use of fossil fuels. The Uruguayan livestock production is in permanent interaction with what occurs abroad. The food globalization was born at the same time as the Uruguayan meat was distributed everywhere in the world, throughout the second half of the 19th century. The construction of the Arapey model includes three stages: i) identification of "significant" practices by means of a combination of, research and field observations ii) modeling of the system at the farm level, representing practices chosen to study, and by using the "Unified Modeling Language" (UML) and iii) evaluation of the consequences of these practices on the evolution of the exploitations and of the region, by using the Cormas platform to carry out simulations on a model called Arapey. Vis-a-vis with situations of great uncertainty, an improvement of the collective action can be obtained by the discussion of the actions to be taken. It must be based on a great participation of the stakeholders, and on the use of instruments making it possible at the same time to integrate knowledge of various origins and to explore different scenarios by representing various points of view, such as the multi-agent systems and/or a family of diagrams. A thorough knowledge of the situation is a necessary condition for this action can be salient, credible and legitimate. The MAS as "a virtual laboratory" can accelerate learning by incorporating qualitative variables, which makes the model more realistic and improving its capacity of being an effective support for decision making. ; L'activité humaine a des conséquences sur l'évolution de la société et de l'environnement. Dans notre cas nous nous intéressons aux particularités de l'élevage comme activité humaine dans le Nord de l'Uruguay, dans la région d'Arapey. Pour effectuer l'étude nous utilisons une approche systémique, où se combine une analyse narrative avec la simulation en utilisant des systèmes multi-agents. Sont décrites les principales caractéristiques de l'activité agricole, en incluant les évolutions sur le long terme. Nous démontrons ainsi comment l'agriculture et l'élevage ont permis le développement de sociétés stratifiées et comment ce processus s'est accéléré avec le temps. En particulier, nous montrons les interactions entre société, science et agriculture, en expliquant comment au cours du dernier siècle, des augmentations énormes de productivité ont été réalisées par l'industrialisation de l'agriculture, et cela grâce à l'utilisation de combustibles fossiles. L'élevage uruguayen est en permanente interaction avec ce qui se passe en dehors des frontières. La mondialisation de l'alimentation a vu le jour en même temps que la viande d'Uruguay était globalement distribuée, tout au long de la seconde moitié du 19ième siècle. La construction du modèle Arapey comprend trois étapes : i) identification de pratiques " significatives " au moyen d'une combinaison d'enquêtes, recherches et observations de terrain ii) modélisation du système à l'échelle des exploitations en privilégiant les pratiques qu'on a choisi d'étudier, et en utilisant le " Unified Modeling Language " (UML) et iii) évaluation des conséquences de ces pratiques sur l'évolution des exploitations et de la région, en utilisant la plate-forme Cormas pour réaliser les simulations à partir du modèle Arapey ainsi construit. Face à des situations de grande incertitude, une amélioration de l'action collective peut être obtenue par la mise en discussion des actions à prendre. Elle doit s'appuyer sur une grande participation des acteurs intéressés, ainsi que sur l'utilisation d'instruments permettant à la fois d'intégrer des connaissances d'origines diverses et d'explorer différentes scénarii en représentant différents points de vue, comme par exemple les systèmes multi-agents et/ou une famille de diagrammes. Une connaissance approfondie de la situation est une condition nécessaire pour que cette action puisse être significative, croyable et légitime. Les SMA en tant que " laboratoire virtuel " peuvent accélérer l'apprentissage en incorporant des variables qualitatives, ce qui augmente le coté réaliste du modèle et sa capacité à être un support effectif de prises de décisions.

Im Zuge der Diskussionen um den Irakkrieg 2003 oder den Einsatz des israelischen Militärs gegen die Hisbollah 2006 konnte beobachtet werden, dass sich die extreme Linke stärker denn je dem politischen Islam angenährt hat. Zwar gab es bereits in den 1970ern Kooperationen linker und palästinensischer Terroristen, jedoch lässt sich festhalten, dass sich der Diskurs in Teilen der Linken (vor allem im "antizionistischen", "antiimperialistischen" Spektrum) ebenso wie bei den vormals eher säkular ausgerichteten arabischen Extremisten "islamisiert" hat. Auf der anderen Seite finden sich im "islamischen Widerstand" verschiedene Vokabeln und Denkfiguren wieder, die aus der "antiimperialistischen" Rhetorik der Linken bekannt sind. Trotz dieser Auffälligkeiten gab es bislang nur wenige Versuche, die extreme Linke (teilweise auch die extreme Rechte) in Verbindung mit dem salafistischen Islamismus zu bringen. Der Islamismus gilt hierbei dann oftmals als "dritter Totalitarismus" oder "Islamofaschismus", der die Riege totalitärer Ordnungsvorstellungen von Marxismus-Leninismus und Faschismus/Nationalsozialismus um eine weitere Spielart erweitert. In der Regel erfolgt diese Einordnung und Bewertung jedoch im Rahmen politischer Kommentare oder Essays und ohne tiefer gehende theoretische Betrachtung. Arbeiten, die sich – meist aus Perspektive des bundesdeutschen Verfassungsschutzes – mit möglichen Querfrontbestrebungen beschäftigen, gleichen das theoretische Manko zwar teilweise aus, gleichzeitig jedoch entbehren sie einer tiefer greifenden Analyse der ideologischen Basis der betrachteten Extremismen und verharren bei den oberflächlich zu erkennenden Feinbildern der jeweiligen Strömungen als Vergleichsmaßstab. Die Arbeit schließt diese Lücke, indem sie in vergleichender qualitativer Betrachtung ideologische Schnittstellen zwischen der extremen Linken und dem salafistischen Islamismus untersucht. Den ideologischen Konstrukten kommt dabei eine wesentliche Rolle zu. Weltanschauliche Grundannahmen beeinflussen die Wahrnehmung der Umwelt und der eigenen Rolle innerhalb derselben; erst ihre Bindungskraft schafft einen Ordnungsrahmen, anhand dessen sich Gleichgesinnte zu einer Gruppe zusammenschließen können, um gemeinsame Ziele zu verfolgen. Diese Erkenntnis hat sich auch in konstruktivistischen Erklärungsansätzen internationaler Politik niedergeschlagen und beschränkt sich nicht nur auf die klassischen Akteure im internationalen System – die Nationalstaaten. Auch nichtstaatliche Akteure wie eben die Protagonisten des internationalen Terrorismus lassen sich auf diese Weise erfassen. In der Untersuchung wird nach einleitenden Begriffserklärungen und Ausführungen zur angewandten Methodik zunächst eine idealtypische extreme Linke konstruiert, deren spezifische Ziele, Feindbilder etc. (Primärebene) und Vorstellungen über den Weg zum Erreichen dieser Ziele (Sekundärebene) die Analysekategorie für den nächsten Untersuchungsschritt bilden. In diesem werden Quellen des Salafismus inhaltsanalytisch untersucht und so ideologische Schnittstellen aufgezeigt. Hierbei werden Sayyid Qutbs "Milestones", Ayman az-Zawahiris "Knights under the Prophet's Banner" sowie verschiedene Botschaften Usama Bin Ladins als Quellenmaterial herangezogen. Der Fokus der Untersuchung liegt auf dem "al-Qa'idaismus" als derzeit offensichtlichste Ausprägung eines weltweiten islamistischen Terrorismus. Ausgehend von der idealtypischen Linken werden dabei nicht nur Schnittmengen auf der Sekundärebene oder hinsichtlich gemeinsamer Feindbilder (Antisemitismus, Antiamerikanismus, Antikapitalismus) festgestellt, wie dies bereits von anderen Autoren teilweise vorgenommen wurde. Vielmehr finden sich auch bei der positiven Zielbestimmung zumindest deklaratorische Gemeinsamkeiten, wenn etwa auch im Islamismus eine "herrschaftsfreie Gesellschaft" verwirklicht werden soll und das Ziel der Gleichheit aller Menschen propagiert wird. Abschließend wird die Frage diskutiert, ob sich aus den Ergebnissen neue Erkenntnisse hinsichtlich einer möglichen "Querfrontbildung" zwischen der extremen Linken und dem Islamismus ergeben. Insbesondere durch Bin Ladin gab es bereits mehrfach Versuche, auch nicht-islamistische Kräfte für seinen Kampf zu gewinnen. Auch bei der extremen Linken finden sich Stimmen, die im Islamismus und seiner Betonung des Religiösen lediglich ein Überbleibsel alter Strukturen erkennen, die nach erfolgreichem antiimperialistischem Kampf verschwinden werden. Dass positive Zielbestimmungen geteilt werden, lässt eine Querfrontbildung zumindest von Teilen des linksextremen und islamistischen Spektrums möglich erscheinen. In dem Maße, in dem sich der "al-Qa'idaismus" im Sinne des Modells der "Leaderless Resistance" entwickelt, können sich auch einzelne Linksextremisten zu Solidaritätsaktionen ermutigt fühlen. ; While the ideological threat by al-Qa'ida and other Islamist groups has been compared to Fascism before, comparisons with the extreme Left have been made rather seldom, despite the fact, that within the extreme Left there are noticeable trends to express solidarity with Islamists and their "anti-imperialist" struggle. At the same time, the rhetoric of leading figures of "al-Qa'idaism" borrows heavily from the social revolutionary vocabulary of the Left. This work compares key ideological premises of the extreme Left with those of Islamic fundamentalism, exemplified by Usama Bin Ladins al-Qa'ida, and derived from a content analysis of various sources of Islamism (Sayyid Qutb's "Milestones", Ayman az-Zawahiri's "Knights under the Prophet's Banner" as well as various messages by Usama Bin Ladin). Both ideologies are considered to be "resistance identities" (Castells), directed at the perceived dominance of liberal capitalism and globalization. Both propagate a pre-modern model for the organization of society, they believe to be tainted by modernism. As the first step in this approach, an ideal model of the extreme Left is constructed, trying to incorporate its various shapes into a single model. The goals and enemies (primary characteristics) as well as the proposed ways and means in order to achieve these goals (secondary characteristics) are then used in a content analysis of the sources on Islamism. While previous authors have found various convergences on the secondary level as well as common enemies, so far common goals beyond the immediate victory over the United States, Israel or capitalism have been dismissed as unlikely. This is explained by obvious differences between Islamists and leftists concerning the role of women in society or the importance of religion. However, a more thorough comparison of the two ideologies shows that, despite these differences, Islamists as well as Leftists propagate a societal model based on cooperation, without recourse to man-made laws or any form of government. This positively defined utopia could serve as a rationale for cooperation between leftist extremists and Islamists stretching beyond the "common enemy". Already, members of the extreme Left have explained the popularity of Islamism within the Islamic world with the Marxian term of "opiate for the masses", thus expressing belief that as soon as "repression" and "exploitation" of the Third World have ended, the need for religion will vanish. In this point of view, differences about the role of religion could be defused. The more "al-Qa'idaism" is transforming into a form of leaderless resistance, individual terrorist acts committed by Leftist extremist in "solidarity" with the "Islamic masses" could occur.

This thesis examines the spread and promotion of English on a global level, from a historical perspective in particular 'Third World' contexts. The globalization of English as an exclusive language of power is considered to be a trap, when accompanied by an ideology aiming to universalize monolingual and monocultural norms and standards. World-wide English diffusion is related - not to any mystical effects of some psycho-social mechanisms or transmuting alchemy - but to a global rise of military, political, economic, communicational and cultural Euro-American hegemony. The fact that the English language has become perhaps the primary medium of social control and power has not been given a prominent place in the analyses of established social scientists or political planners. On the contrary, the positively idealized dominance of English as a universal medium has become part of a collection of myths seeking to deny the global reality of multilingualism. Not allowing for the existence of any power besides itself, the perpetuation of this hegemony of English within a multilingual scenario has become a contradiction in terms. Centuries of colonialism, followed by neo-colonialism, are seen to have resulted in a world-wide consensus favouring centralization and homogenization of state and world economies, administrations, language, education and mass media systems, as prerequisites to local and global unity. The particular case of India as encountered by a colonizing Britain is used to illustrate the historical clash between differing language and educational traditions and cultures. It was on the strength of their own predominantly positive attitudes towards diversity - encoded in their promotion of complex social and religious philosophies, as well as varied economic and educational practices of pluralism and hierarchy-without-imposition, unity in diversity, etc. - that the people and their leaders finally achieved Indian independence from British colonialism. Contemporary Indian society, however, is still grappling with the legacy of a Eurocentric civilizational model - encoded in the neo-colonial system of English education - and in conflict with its own positively idealized and actively promoted traditions of pluralism. On national and international levels, the destabilization and destruction of diversity continues to threaten more than the linguistic and cultural uniqueness of numerous communities and individuals. For those majorities and minorities who refuse to give up their 'differences', political, economic and physical survival is at stake. A paradoxical reality, seldom acknowledged, is that while for the politically and economically already powerful language groups, the enormous resources spent on formal (language) education have become a means to maintain their material and political capital, whereas for the majority of modern societies' marginalized members, powerful linguistic barriers to full economic or political participation remain firmly in place. The justifications for perpetuating exclusionary policies and sustaining structural inequality have come from monocultural ideological assumptions in education and language policies as one of the key mechanisms for state control of labour. This thesis concludes that the trap of an ideologically exclusive status for English can be avoided by theoretically positivizing and institutionally promoting existing multilingual and multicultural peoples' realities as an integral part of their human rights, in order to resist global Englishization. ; Diese Dissertation ist eine kritische Untersuchung der globalen Ausbreitung der englischen Sprache sowie eine Analyse ihrer dominanten Position in bestimmten Kontexten der 'Dritten Welt'1. Die Globalisierung der englischen Sprache als exklusives hegemoniales Medium wird als Falle betrachtet, wenn sie mit einer eurozentristischen Ideologie (Amin 1989) verbunden ist, die aus einem politischen und kulturellen System besteht, das beabsichtigt, seine eigenen monolingualen und monokulturellen Normen zu universalisieren. Zum gegenwärtigen Zeitpunkt ist die positiv idealisierte universelle Verbreitung und Vorreiterstellung der englischen Sprache Teil einer Sammlung von Mythen geworden, die die globale Existenz der Mehrsprachigkeit verleugnen. Eine weitere Destabilisierung pluralistischer Sprachen und (politischer und kultureller) Wissensstrukturen könnte in der völligen Zerstörung der Vielfalt enden. Um diesen mächtigen Tendenzen entgegenzuwirken und um der universellen Sprache Englisch als Falle zu entgehen, ist mehr erforderlich als eine bloße Anerkennung der Mehrsprachigkeit. Nur eine aktive Ermächtigung und Förderung sowie der alltägliche Gebrauch einer Vielfalt von globalen und lokalen (machtlosen) Sprachen, Kulturen, Traditionen und Praktiken auf allen Ebenen der Administration, Bildung und im akademischen Diskurs kann ihr Überleben sichern. Der spezifische Fall Indiens in seiner Begegnung mit einem kolonialen England wird benutzt, um den historischen Konflikt zweier Zivilisationen aufzuzeichnen, die in radikal unterschiedlichen Sprachtraditionen im Bereich der Bildung, der Administration, der Justiz und der mündlich und schriftlich überlieferten Literatur verwurzelt sind. Die überwiegend positiven Einstellungen der Menschen und ihrer Herrscher des indischen Subkontinents gegenüber dem Pluralismus beweisen, daß eine kulturell und philosophisch vereinte Gesellschaft, die einen linguistischen und sozialen Pluralismus praktiziert, möglich ist. Die Beispiele politischer und kultureller Zentralisierungstendenzen im frühmodernen Europa, die in gesellschaftlichen Umstrukturierungen auf nationaler und homogenisierender Basis mündeten, dienen als Beispiele des Triumphs hauptsächlich negativer Einstellungen gegenüber der Heterogenität. Diese beiden gegensätzlichen Einstellungen der Kolonisatoren und der Kolonisierten haben die Rolle und den Status des Englischen als koloniale und postkoloniale Sprache tief beeinflußt, und das nicht nur auf dem indischen Subkontinent. Im Kontext eines modernen, unabhängigen Landes, wie Indien es ist, behält das Englische weiterhin seinen Stellenwert auf den höheren Ebenen der Bildung, des akademischen Diskurses und der Verwaltungsstrukturen. Die Gleichberechtigung der Sprachen im Bildungswesen, in der Administration und in der Justiz sowie in anderen wichtigen Bereichen des öffentlichen Lebens setzt die Beteiligung aller Mitglieder (Individuen und Gemeinschaften) einer (pluralistischen) Gesellschaft voraus. Eine solche Gleichberechtigung bedarf ebenfalls einer Debatte über Vor- und Nachteile, Theorien und Praktiken präkolonialer, kolonialer und moderner (offener und verdeckter) Sprachplanung. Diese Dissertation kommt zu dem Ergebnis, daß der exklusive Status des Englischen als Falle durch ein theoretisch-positives Entgegensetzen der mehrsprachigen und multikulturellen Realitäten umgangen werden kann. Diverse Gemeinschaften zusammen mit ihren diversen Sprachen auf unterschiedlichen politischen, wirtschaftlichen und kulturellen Ebenen zu fördern und als einen integralen Teil der Menschenrechte anzusehen, mag die einzige Möglichkeit sein, der globalen Anglisierung zu widerstehen.

Die Arbeit zeigt, dass Markenallianzen oder -netzwerke aus ökonomischer Perspektive analog zu Allianzen in anderen Bereichen des Unternehmens oder strategischen Partner-schaften kompletter Unternehmen betrachtet und analysiert werden können. Auch auf Marken wirken Herausforderungen ein, die sich aus der Globalisierung und Deregulierung von Märkten und verändertem Konsumentenverhalten ergeben. Dies führt dazu, dass eine alleinstehende Marktbearbeitung häufig nicht mehr erfolgversprechend scheint. Marken als Gegenstand von interorganisationalen Kooperationsbeziehungen weisen Be-sonderheiten im Vergleich zu sonstigen Vermögensgegenständen und Unternehmensbereichen auf. Marken übernehmen in Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft wesentlich weitrei-chendere Funktionen als nur das Garantieren von Produktqualität. Eine Marke kann als symbolisch generalisiertes Kommunikationsmedium im Sinne von LUHMANN bzw. als so-ziales Interaktionsmedium im! Sinne von PARSONS definiert werden. Diese Sichtweise er-möglicht es, unterschiedliche Funktionen der Marke für unterschiedliche Nutzer oder Ei-gentümer auch in verschiedenen Märkten und Lebensbereichen in einem schlüssigen Ge-samtzusammenhang darzustellen. Weiterhin wird es durch die ganzheitliche Betrachtung der Marke als Medium möglich, bisher nebeneinander stehende Perspektiven und Defini-tionen von Marken zu integrieren. Die Darstellung der Marke als Medium und die Analyse der medialen Ebenen führt zu einem neuen Dispositiv der Markenführung. So müssen Marken für den Konsumenten mehr Raum zur eigenen Aufladung mit Bedeutung lassen, die symbolische Bedeutung lässt sich nicht direkt und umfassend von Seiten des markenführenden Unternehmens planen. Weiterhin sollten Marken mit unterschiedlichen symbolischen Funktionen unter-schiedlich geführt werden. Bisherige Konzepte der Markenführung differenzieren ihre Empfehlungen jedoch nicht systematisch nach verschiedenen symb! olischen Funktionen der Marke. Dies gilt auch für die Füh! rung von Markennetzen: Je nach den Eigenschaften der beteilig-ten Marken müssen hierfür unterschiedliche Koordinationsmechanismen Anwendung finden. Für die Führung von Markennetzen lassen sich aus den Überlegungen zur Koordi-nation von Unternehmensnetzwerken Empfehlungen ableiten, welche bisherige Leitfäden zur Gestaltung von Markenallianzen nicht nur theoretisch fundieren und wesentlich er-gänzen können, sondern insbesondere auch eine vorwärts gerichtete Analyse anstelle einer simplen Beschreibung der verschiedenen Erscheinungsformen ermöglichen. Diese Arbeit konzeptionalisiert Markennetze als ein Netzwerk von vielschichtigen Principal-Agent-Beziehungen. Die Ausgestaltung von Markennetzen ist folglich ein komplexer Pro-zess. Zudem existieren aufgrund unterschiedlicher Zielsetzungen und Ausgangssituationen der Marken nicht für sämtliche Formen von Markennetzen identische, allgemein gültige Handlungsempfehlungen. Zur Entwicklung des Handlungsrahmens wurde ein Ansatz aus d! er Netzwerktheorie über-nommen, welcher die Koordination von Netzwerken in vier Schritte unterteilt, die "vier basalen Funktionen des Managements". Diese Funktionen sind die Selektion der Partner, die Allokation von Ressourcen, die Regulation der Beziehungen und schließlich die Evalua-tion der Zusammenarbeit. Die vorliegende Arbeit entwickelt ausgehend von diesen vier Funktionen einen kompletten Bezugsrahmen zur Ausgestaltung von Markennetzen. ; This thesis shows that brand alliances or networks can be viewed and analyzed from an economic perspective analogously to alliances in other areas of a company or strategic partnerships between entire companies. Challenges arising from globalization, market deregulation, and changes in consumer behavior also have an impact on brands. As a result, it now often appears that marketing a brand to a single market on a stand-alone basis no longer holds promise of success. Brands as the object of interorganizational cooperative relationships exhibit characteristics that differ from those of other assets and parts of a business. Brands exercise much broader functions in the economy and society than merely guaranteeing product quality. A brand can be defined as a symbolically generalized communication medium as proposed by LUHMANN and/or as a social interaction medium as proposed by PARSONS. This perspective provides a cohesive tot! al context for understanding different brand functions for different users or owners and also in different markets and areas of life. Furthermore, such a holistic view of a brand as a medium makes it possible to integrate previously separately co-existing brand perspectives and definitions. The notion of a brand as a medium and corresponding analysis of the medial layers produce a new mandate for brand management. Specifically, brands must provide more latitude for consumers to assign the brands their own meanings; the symbolic significance of a brand cannot be directly and comprehensively planned by the company that owns or uses it. Furthermore, brands with different symbolic functions also need to be managed differently. Nevertheless, existing brand management concepts do not systematically differentiate their recommendations to match the different symbolic functions of the given brand. This also applies to the management of brand networks: depending on the attri! butes of the participating brands, it is necessary to employ ! different coordination mechanisms. Observation and analysis of methods for coordinating company networks offer a basis for deriving recommendations for the management of brand networks. Such recommendations are not only able to provide a theoretical underpinning for and significantly supplement the content of existing guidelines for designing brand alliances, but also, and perhaps more importantly, they enable forward-oriented analysis instead of a simple description of the various forms of expression of a brand. This dissertation postulates a concept of the brand network as a network of multi-layered principal-agent relationships. It follows that the creation and selection of specific design features for brand networks is a complex process. Moreover, given the different objectives and initial situations of brands, there are no generally valid recommendations for action for all forms of brand networks. In order to develop a framework for action, this work builds on an ap! proach borrowed from network theory that divides network coordination into four steps - the "four basal functions of management." These functions are the selection of partners, the allocation of resources, the regulation of relationships, and finally the evaluation of the form and content of the partners' joint efforts. On the basis of these four functions, the present work elaborates a complete conceptual framework for the detailed design of brand networks.

En medio de la globalización, es raro encontrar productores nacionales, que no vean sus mercados más allá de la ciudad en donde viven y algunos osados que logran llegar al grupo andino. Actualmente existen posibilidades para llegar a los mercados más inimaginables, gracias a la autopista de información que es Internet, al mundo del conocimiento de los mercados. Es cierto que para un desarrollo comercial a nivel internacional para las empresas colombianas aun existen obstáculos; comenzando por la coordinación entre las instituciones de comercio exterior y las instituciones aduaneras, existen mas de diecisiete entidades interviniendo en el proceso de comercio exterior y los trámites no están muy simplificados. Aun así, vale la pena hacerlo. Es así como iniciamos nuestro trabajo con Gransori, una empresa de 40 empleados de propiedad de una familia bogotana, donde todos y cada uno de los miembros de la familia cumplen una labor particular dentro de la empresa. Él comité directivo esta constituido por ellos mismos y estuvieron de acuerdo en realizar un plan de exportaciones para la empresa. La idea es empezar a desarrollarlo durante el año 2004, así que contamos con poco tiempo para hacerlo. Esta empresa esta catalogada dentro de la pequeña y mediana empresa del país, por lo cual cuenta con apoyo financiero del gobierno y de las entidades de comercio exterior como Bancoldex y Proexport. También existen algunas compensaciones tributarias que le permitirán apalancar el plan de exportaciones que se realice. Para ser competitivos en el ámbito internacional se buscará que la calidad de sus procesos y sus productos se adapten a las normas de calidad internacional y se verificará la ética de sus negocios y sus participantes. Esto con el fin de proporcionar un proyecto que sea de ejemplo para otras empresas nacionales y que permita también promocionar la imagen del país a nivel mundial. ; 1. INTRODUCCIÓN 6 2. PLANTEAMIENTO DEL PROBLEMA Y JUSTIFICACIÓN 7 GRANSORI LTDA 7 3. OBJETIVOS DE LA INVESTIGACIÓN 13 4. SEGMENTO DEL MERCADO 14 RECOLECCION DE LOS DATOS 54 ANALISIS DE LOS DATOS 54 CONCLUSIONES DE LA INVESTIGACION 65 MERCADO POTENCIAL 66 CONSUMO APARENTE 73 DEMANDA POTENCIAL 74 ANALISIS DE LA COMPETENCIA 74 IDENTIFICACION DE LA COMPETENCIA 74 COMPARACION DE LA VENTAJA COMPETITIVA DE LA COMPETENCIA78 CAPACIDAD PRODUCTIVA 79 SOLIDEZ 79 ANALISIS DE PRECIOS COMPETENCIA VS GRANSORI 80 ESTRUCTURA DE PRECIOS DE EXPORTACION 80 CANALES DE DISTRIBUCION 81 COMO USARLO (SOPORTE TECNICO) 81 SISTEMA DE CALIDAD 82 POLITICA DE SERVICIO AL CLIENTE 83 POLÍTICA DE MARCA 83 PLAN DE MERCADEO Y COMERCIALIZACIÓN 85 CRONOGRAMA DE ACTIVIDADES 85 LISTA DE CLIENTES POTENCIALES PRIORITARIOS 85 PORCENTAJE DE INCREMENTO EN PARTICIPACION EN EL MERCADO92 ESTRATEGIAS DE PROMOCION 92 ESTRATEGIAS DE NEGOCIACION 96 ESTRATEGIAS DE CONDICIONES COMERCIALES 96 ESTRATEGIAS DE DISTRIBUCION 96 Consideraciones de Mercado 98 5. PRESUPUESTO 99 6. RECURSOS NECESARIOS 101 7. ANÁLISIS FINANCIERO 102 8. PASOS A SEGUIR EN CUANTO A TRÁMITES NACIONALES 105 COSTOS RELACIONADOS CON LA EXPORTACIÓN 108 9. BIBLIOGRAFÍA 109 ANEXO 1 – BALANZA COMERCIAL INTERNACIONAL 111 ANEXO 2 – PAGINA WEB 111 ANEXO 3 – ESTADOS FINANCIEROS 111 ; Maestría ; In the midst of globalization, it is rare to find national producers who do not see their markets beyond the city where they live and some daring ones who manage to reach the Andean group. Currently there are possibilities to reach the most unimaginable markets, thanks to the information highway that is the Internet, to the world of market knowledge. It is true that for an international commercial development for Colombian companies there are still obstacles; Starting with the coordination between the foreign trade institutions and the customs institutions, there are more than seventeen entities intervening in the foreign trade process and the procedures are not very simplified. Still, it's worth doing. This is how we started our work with Gransori, a company of 40 employees owned by a Bogota family, where each and every one of the family members performs a particular job within the company. The steering committee is constituted by themselves and they agreed to carry out an export plan for the company. The idea is to start developing it in 2004, so we have little time to do it. This company is classified as one of the country's small and medium-sized companies, for which it has financial support from the government and foreign trade entities such as Bancoldex and Proexport. There are also some tax compensations that will allow you to leverage the export plan that is carried out. In order to be competitive in the international arena, it will seek that the quality of its processes and its products adapt to international quality standards and the ethics of its businesses and its participants will be verified. This in order to provide a project that is an example for other national companies and that also allows promoting the image of the country worldwide.

Die Arbeit zeigt, dass Markenallianzen oder -netzwerke aus ökonomischer Perspektive analog zu Allianzen in anderen Bereichen des Unternehmens oder strategischen Partner-schaften kompletter Unternehmen betrachtet und analysiert werden können. Auch auf Marken wirken Herausforderungen ein, die sich aus der Globalisierung und Deregulierung von Märkten und verändertem Konsumentenverhalten ergeben. Dies führt dazu, dass eine alleinstehende Marktbearbeitung häufig nicht mehr erfolgversprechend scheint. Marken als Gegenstand von interorganisationalen Kooperationsbeziehungen weisen Be-sonderheiten im Vergleich zu sonstigen Vermögensgegenständen und Unternehmensbereichen auf. Marken übernehmen in Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft wesentlich weitrei-chendere Funktionen als nur das Garantieren von Produktqualität. Eine Marke kann als symbolisch generalisiertes Kommunikationsmedium im Sinne von LUHMANN bzw. als so-ziales Interaktionsmedium im! Sinne von PARSONS definiert werden. Diese Sichtweise er-möglicht es, unterschiedliche Funktionen der Marke für unterschiedliche Nutzer oder Ei-gentümer auch in verschiedenen Märkten und Lebensbereichen in einem schlüssigen Ge-samtzusammenhang darzustellen. Weiterhin wird es durch die ganzheitliche Betrachtung der Marke als Medium möglich, bisher nebeneinander stehende Perspektiven und Defini-tionen von Marken zu integrieren. Die Darstellung der Marke als Medium und die Analyse der medialen Ebenen führt zu einem neuen Dispositiv der Markenführung. So müssen Marken für den Konsumenten mehr Raum zur eigenen Aufladung mit Bedeutung lassen, die symbolische Bedeutung lässt sich nicht direkt und umfassend von Seiten des markenführenden Unternehmens planen. Weiterhin sollten Marken mit unterschiedlichen symbolischen Funktionen unter-schiedlich geführt werden. Bisherige Konzepte der Markenführung differenzieren ihre Empfehlungen jedoch nicht systematisch nach verschiedenen symb! olischen Funktionen der Marke. Dies gilt auch für die Füh! rung von Markennetzen: Je nach den Eigenschaften der beteilig-ten Marken müssen hierfür unterschiedliche Koordinationsmechanismen Anwendung finden. Für die Führung von Markennetzen lassen sich aus den Überlegungen zur Koordi-nation von Unternehmensnetzwerken Empfehlungen ableiten, welche bisherige Leitfäden zur Gestaltung von Markenallianzen nicht nur theoretisch fundieren und wesentlich er-gänzen können, sondern insbesondere auch eine vorwärts gerichtete Analyse anstelle einer simplen Beschreibung der verschiedenen Erscheinungsformen ermöglichen. Diese Arbeit konzeptionalisiert Markennetze als ein Netzwerk von vielschichtigen Principal-Agent-Beziehungen. Die Ausgestaltung von Markennetzen ist folglich ein komplexer Pro-zess. Zudem existieren aufgrund unterschiedlicher Zielsetzungen und Ausgangssituationen der Marken nicht für sämtliche Formen von Markennetzen identische, allgemein gültige Handlungsempfehlungen. Zur Entwicklung des Handlungsrahmens wurde ein Ansatz aus d! er Netzwerktheorie über-nommen, welcher die Koordination von Netzwerken in vier Schritte unterteilt, die "vier basalen Funktionen des Managements". Diese Funktionen sind die Selektion der Partner, die Allokation von Ressourcen, die Regulation der Beziehungen und schließlich die Evalua-tion der Zusammenarbeit. Die vorliegende Arbeit entwickelt ausgehend von diesen vier Funktionen einen kompletten Bezugsrahmen zur Ausgestaltung von Markennetzen. ; This thesis shows that brand alliances or networks can be viewed and analyzed from an economic perspective analogously to alliances in other areas of a company or strategic partnerships between entire companies. Challenges arising from globalization, market deregulation, and changes in consumer behavior also have an impact on brands. As a result, it now often appears that marketing a brand to a single market on a stand-alone basis no longer holds promise of success. Brands as the object of interorganizational cooperative relationships exhibit characteristics that differ from those of other assets and parts of a business. Brands exercise much broader functions in the economy and society than merely guaranteeing product quality. A brand can be defined as a symbolically generalized communication medium as proposed by LUHMANN and/or as a social interaction medium as proposed by PARSONS. This perspective provides a cohesive tot! al context for understanding different brand functions for different users or owners and also in different markets and areas of life. Furthermore, such a holistic view of a brand as a medium makes it possible to integrate previously separately co-existing brand perspectives and definitions. The notion of a brand as a medium and corresponding analysis of the medial layers produce a new mandate for brand management. Specifically, brands must provide more latitude for consumers to assign the brands their own meanings; the symbolic significance of a brand cannot be directly and comprehensively planned by the company that owns or uses it. Furthermore, brands with different symbolic functions also need to be managed differently. Nevertheless, existing brand management concepts do not systematically differentiate their recommendations to match the different symbolic functions of the given brand. This also applies to the management of brand networks: depending on the attri! butes of the participating brands, it is necessary to employ ! different coordination mechanisms. Observation and analysis of methods for coordinating company networks offer a basis for deriving recommendations for the management of brand networks. Such recommendations are not only able to provide a theoretical underpinning for and significantly supplement the content of existing guidelines for designing brand alliances, but also, and perhaps more importantly, they enable forward-oriented analysis instead of a simple description of the various forms of expression of a brand. This dissertation postulates a concept of the brand network as a network of multi-layered principal-agent relationships. It follows that the creation and selection of specific design features for brand networks is a complex process. Moreover, given the different objectives and initial situations of brands, there are no generally valid recommendations for action for all forms of brand networks. In order to develop a framework for action, this work builds on an ap! proach borrowed from network theory that divides network coordination into four steps - the "four basal functions of management." These functions are the selection of partners, the allocation of resources, the regulation of relationships, and finally the evaluation of the form and content of the partners' joint efforts. On the basis of these four functions, the present work elaborates a complete conceptual framework for the detailed design of brand networks.

AbstractAn ironic ramification of the tragedy of September 11 and the subsequent demise of the Taliban government in Afghanistan seems to be an unprecedented rise in the international prominence of issues concerning the rights and status of women in the Islamic world. This increased international attention to women's quest for equal civil and human rights and a better appreciation of women's agency in the modernization and democratization of the Islamic world can be a welcome development. The significance of this potentially positive turn is better appreciated when we bear in mind that if it were not for the outrage and protest widely expressed by international feminist groups, especially Afghan women activists and American feminists, the US government, prompted by some oil companies, would probably have recognized the Taliban government. Perhaps it would have taken no less than the September 11 wake up call for many officials to speak out against the blatant violations of women's rights in Afghanistan. The worldwide outcry against the Taliban's destruction of a few historic statues in Bamiyan was indeed much louder and wider than those raised against their daily abuse of women and blatant violations of women's/human rights in Afghanistan. The increased attention of Western leaders towards the rights of Muslim women will probably be short-lived, but advocates of women's rights can work to turn this development into long-lasting progress. This problem must be approached on two fronts. On the one hand, how can we transform interest in Muslim women's rights into an effective and long-term foreign policy (including foreign aid) on the part of Western governments? On the other, how can we mobilize new resources in support of Muslim women's grassroots activism, which can exert effective pressure on the governments and ruling elites of Muslim societies and force concrete legal reforms and policy change? First, we need to turn this increased and at times "otherizing" attention into a deeper awareness of the complexity of the "Muslim women question," its commonalities as well as its differences with the "women question" in non-Muslim countries, its historical roots and present interconnectedness to broader national and international socio-economic and political problems in the global context. Starting with a brief review of the global state of women's rights in general and a comparative historical background of Muslim women's rights in particular, this paper will attempt to make the following arguments and policy recommendations: 1. Historically speaking, sexism has not been peculiar to the Islamic world or to the Islamic religion; 2. What is peculiar is that a visible gap has emerged in modern times between the Islamic world and the Christian West with regard to the degree of egalitarian improvement in women's rights; 3. This gap has been due to the legacy of colonialism, underdevelopment, defective modernization, the weakness of a modern middle class, democratic deficit, the persistence of cultural and religious patriarchal constructs such as sharia due to failure of reform and secularization within Islam, and weakness of civil society organizations - especially women's organizations - in the Muslim world; 4. The recent surge in identity politics, Islamism and religio-nationalist movements is in part due to socio-economic and cultural dislocation, polarization and alienation caused by modernization, Westernization and globalization, and in part is a "patriarchal protest movement" in reaction to the challenges that the emergence of modern middle class women poses to traditional patriarchal gender relations; 5. Processes of democratization, civil society building, consolidation of civil rights and universal human/women's rights are intertwined with reformation in Islam, feminist discourse and women's movements. Gender has become the blind spot of democratization in the Islamic world; 6. In terms of national and international policy implications, it should be recognized that women and youth have become the main forces of modernization and democratization in the Islamic world. Democracy cannot be consolidated without a new generation of Muslim leaders and state-elites who are more aware of the new realities of a globalized world and more committed to universal women's/human rights; 7. To win the war against terrorism and patriarchal Islamism, we need more than military might. In the short- and medium-term, a just resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can alter the present social psychological milieu that has allowed the growth of extremism and male-biased identity politics; and 8. In the long-term, democratization and comprehensive gender-sensitive development seems to be the only effective strategy. A significant component of this strategy has to be Islamic reformation, which requires international dialogue with and support for egalitarian and democratic voices in the Muslim world.