Suchergebnisse

Politische Leistungswettbewerbe werden zur kompetitiven Förderung von Regionen zunehmend eingesetzt. Regionale Leistungswettbewerbe funktionieren jedoch nicht von selbst, sondern nur unter bestimmten Voraussetzungen. Der Beitrag analysiert zunächst anknüpfend an theoretische Erkenntnisse Funktionsweise und spezifische Funktionsbedingungen regionaler Leistungswettbewerbe. Daran anschließend werden auf der Basis einer empirischen Untersuchung des Regionen-Wettbewerbs 'Idee.Natur' Möglichkeiten und Grenzen dieses Instruments regionalpolitischer Governance erörtert. Es soll gezeigt werden, dass die erforderlichen Voraussetzungen in der Praxis zu verwirklichen sind, ohne dabei jedoch die Grenzen dieses Instruments zu vernachlässigen. Ziel des Beitrags ist es, die für die Praxis wichtigen Bedingungen zu identifizieren, unter denen Leistungswettbewerbe die in sie gesetzten Erwartungen erfüllen. ; Policy competitions are being increasingly used for the competitive promotion of regions. Regional competitions do not, however, function automatically but require specific conditions. This paper first analyses the functioning and specific conditions necessary for the operation of regional competitions, linking discussion to theoretical findings. Next an empirical investigation of the regional competition 'Idee.Natur' ('Idea.Nature') provides the basis for discussion of the possibilities and limitations of this instrument of regional policy governance. It should become clear that it is possible to effectively implement the necessary conditions, without neglecting the limitations of this instrument. The aim of the paper is to identify the conditions important for practice under which the competitions can fulfil the expectations invested in them.

There is no doubt that after the end of the Cold War the structure of the Interna­tional System had to reformulate. 20 years after the fali of the SovietUnion, itis worth asking the question: Are the Contemporary International Relation turning into the unipolar or multipolar system? And what impact on present-day states' capabilities to conduct foreign policy the globalization has and will be having? To capture the essence of the contemporary International environment the text is devoted to the historical evolution of International Relations which highlights the characteristics of the current period.The article reveals that, as a result of unsettled structure of the Contemporary International System and increasing influence of the globalization, present-day governments tend to look for different reference systems, depending on the objective to be achieved. In order to maximize security and developmentopportunities and minimize the level of dependence states are creating flexible networks of key partners. It seems that, atthe threshold of the 21th century a successful foreign policy making is seen as the ability to balance between efficient management and independent management.

Knowing how to send and interpret signals is an essential part of both diplomacy and war. Political scientists have recognized that costly signals—gestures and actions that involve significant cost or risk—are central to politics and diplomacy since modeling doyen James Fearon built his Ph. D. thesis around the concept in the 1990s. Because these signaling systems are pervasive in nature (many of these strategies arise independently and repeatedly to solve common problems suggesting evolutionary pressure to select strategies offering the most success at the least cost), their underlying strategic logic has important implications to foreign policy challenges we face today. By capitalizing on solutions derived by evolution over 3. 5 billion years of life on Earth, we may identify ideas that otherwise might not have been explored in a policy context potentially offering quick, novel, and effective options to increase strategic and combat effectiveness. Here we present 8 lessons from evolution for political science. ; supported by the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, and the Office of Naval Research-Global

The euro area crisis drags on. Austerity measures in the crisis countries are deepening an already severe recession and this is having knock-on effects on the entire currency area. Policymakers have largely ignored the central cause of the crisis - the persistent failure by member states to keep their inflation rates in line with the ECB's target - and policy measures have instead been narrowed to a one-sided focus on fiscal deficit reduction. A fundamental change in economic policy is therefore needed. Fiscal consolidation policies must be backloaded and a debt redemption fund set up. A reformed fiscal pact needs to be introduced that is focused on avoiding current account imbalances. In the longer run this task should be performed by a European Monetary Fund.Length: 27 pages ; Die Krise im Euroraum ist noch nicht bewältigt. Die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung in den Krisenländern ist als Folge der Austeritätspolitik desaströs und belastet zunehmend den gesamten Währungsraum. Die wesentliche Ursache der Krise, die dauerhafte Verletzung des Inflationsziels auf der Ebene der Nationalstaaten, wird vielfach nicht erkannt, und die Maßnahmen werden einseitig auf die Überwindung der Staatsverschuldung verengt. Daher ist eine grundlegende Kurskorrektur in der Wirtschaftspolitik erforderlich. Der Konsolidierungskurs muss gestreckt und ein Schuldentilgungsfonds eingerichtet werden. Ein reformierter Fiskalpakt ist nötig, der auf die Vermeidung von außenwirtschaftlichen Ungleichgewichten gerichtet ist. Auf längere Sicht sollte diese Aufgabe einem Europäischen Währungsfonds übertragen werden.

This paper investigates the impact of free trade on welfare in a two-country world modelled as an international Hotelling duopoly with quadratic transport costs and asymmetric countries, where a negative environmental externality is associated with the consumption of the good produced in the smaller country. Countries' relative sizes as well as the intensity of negative environmental externality affect potential welfare gains of trade liberalisation. In line with Lambertini (1997a) we show that, as long as no trade policy is undertaken by the government of the larger country, trade liberalisation is not feasible since the latter always loses from opening to trade. A subsidy policy in favour of the firm producing the clean good is, on the contrary, shown to give both countries the right incentives to liberalize trade. Allowing for redistributive transfers between countries further extends the parametric range for which trade liberalisation is feasible under the subsidy scheme. The alternative situation, in which the green firm is based in the larger country, is also briefly sketched to find that free trade does give rise to a global welfare increment with no need of accompanying trade policies.

Im Mittelpunkt des vorliegenden Beitrags steht der durch die Arbeitsmarktreformen in Deutschland eingeleitete qualitative Wandel in der Beziehung zwischen Individuum und Solidargemeinschaft bzw. zwischen Bürger/in und Wohlfahrtsstaat. Dieser Wandel spiegelt sich in veränderten Reziprozitätsnormen (Gegenseitigkeitsbeziehungen) wider, in denen das Verhältnis von leistungsempfangendem Individuum und leistungserbringender Solidargemeinschaft zum Ausdruck kommt. Am Beispiel der öffentlich geförderten Beschäftigung als quantitativ wichtigen Bereich aktiver Arbeitsmarktpolitik wird analysiert, inwieweit sich die veränderten Reziprozitätsnormen konkret niederschlagen. Hierbei wird der instrumentellen Ausgestaltung eine besondere Bedeutung beigemessen. Denn nicht nur die arbeitsmarktpolitischen Ziele, sondern die zur Anwendung gebrachten Instrumente entfalten eine eigene Wirkung. ; This paper examines the qualitative change of relations between individuals and the community or rather between the citizens and the welfare state, caused by recent labour market reforms in Germany. This change is reflected in altered concepts of reciprocity, that display the relation between individuals receiving welfare goods and services on the one hand and the supplying community based on the principal of mutual solidarity on the other hand. Referring to the example of direct job creation, which is an important part of active labour market policy, we analyse the impact of changed norms of reciprocity. We focus on the design of labour market policy instruments and conclude that not only the objects, but the instruments as such have an impact.

The market of the EU countries represents a very specific mechanism for the working of competitive forces. Outwardly it is partially isolated from the effects of the world market by the Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Commercial Policy of the EU, but as a consequence of the free movement of goods, capital, persons and services on the Common Market of the EU countries, there is tough competition among its individual members. This article is dedicated to the processes of price convergence, with an emphasis on development within Central Europe. Analysis aimed at studying the development of price convergence within a few groups of countries in the Central European region has shown that membership in the EU has without any doubt a positive influence on the process of price convergence in individual countries. There exists nonetheless a certain degree of differences between the countries, depending especially on the country's geographical location (the southern, central and northern/Scandinavian parts of the EU) and also depending on the length of time of the participation of individual countries in the concept of the EU Common Market countries.

The objective of this research was to evaluate fishermen"s empowerment policies inPangandaran District. There were many empowerment policies that have implemented toimprove fishermen"s welfare. But in fact, its result has not been felt significantly yet. Qualitativeapproach and descriptive method were used in this research based on five components, they are:concept, procedure, process, outcome, and benefit. In-depth interview and observation were usedto collect qualitative data. Informent taken from fishermen, fish distribution actors, PUSKUDMina"s aparat, Fishermen Cooperaton aparat, and Fisheries and Marine Services of CiamisRegency were purposive selected in order to get comprehensive data. Data were analyzedthrough reduction, display, and conclusion drawing steps. Results of this study show that thereare no significantly benefits that can increase fishermen"s welfare in long term. It was necessaryto find out well-concepted policy alternatives that can eradicate poverty root in fishermenvillages. One of policy alternative that can be tried was government intervention on fish farms. Itcan be traditionally approach or fishery industry cluster approach. Both of them should considerthe ideal future condition and the existing condition of fishermen, in order to get optimal resultof empowerment program.

Public policies aimed at assisting disabled citizens are a fairly recent development in Brazil. Prior to the advent of the nation's relatively new rights-based policies, the politics of "assistencialism"— policies aimed at addressing the symptoms and not the causes of social ills—served as a rationale for such support as was provided to the nation's disabled population. Civil society organizations have been fundamental in Brazil to advance the rights of disabled people. This article argues that civil society organizations and the state must act vigorously and jointly if assistencialism ultimately is to be overcome and full citizenship for disabled Brazilians is to be attained. The analysis is organized into three parts. First, it briefly describes the evolution of the struggle for rights for disabled Brazilians during the past three decades. Second, the article examines the government's recent rights-based policies and advocacy organizations' claims. The article concludes by offering a brief analysis of how the contemporary policy initiatives have contributed to the development of Brazilian citizenship and democracy. Keywords: disability policy, democracy, civil society, citizenship, Brazil.

Shocks appear to be a major source of macroeconomic policy response in the WAEMU area. The purpose of this paper is to assess the resilience of such policies. We recourse to a Bayesian panel VAR which may assess in what context these shocks affect macroeconomic stabilization policies. The results suggest that national fiscal policies adjust to shocks with a very limited scope, while the monetary policy seems (relatively) more effective in terms of responding to inflation, importation rates and terms of trade shocks. ; Les chocs semblent être l'une des principales sources de réactivité des politiques macroéconomiques dans la zone UEMOA. L'objet de cet article est d'évaluer la capacité de résilience de ces politiques. Nous utilisons pour cela un modèle VAR Bayésien en panel susceptible d'évaluer dans quel cadre les chocs influencent ces politiques macroéconomiques de stabilisation. Les résultats suggèrent que les politiques budgétaires nationales s'ajustent aux chocs avec une marge de manœuvre très limitée tandis que l'efficacité relative de la politique monétaire se manifeste à travers le degré de réaction face aux chocs affectant l'inflation, le taux d'importation et les termes de l'échange.

The discussion of the effectiveness of foreign aid has reached a high pitch. This paper assesses the sorry past and present key arguments for a potentially more effective and sustainable method of aid delivery. A key ingredient is to shake off the vestiges of structural adjustment and move towards true recipient country ownership complete with 'self-conditionality' with aid recipients formulating their own reform packages. This means donors become much more passive, act like a bank and respond to proposals which concentrate on a few critical areas over a three to five-year period. Policy-based program lending should respond to packages put together by the main domestic stakeholders with the help, if necessary, of independent third parties. There should be no compulsion to lend; indeed, an aid hiatus is an indication that the new system is effective. What is required is for donors to stop using aid as a short-term foreign policy tool and for recipients to accept the notion that aid provides the opportunity to reduce the inevitable adjustment pains caused by real reforms.

This brief examines the issue of transparency during and after the period of political dominance by the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP) which ruled with only a brief nine-month interruption from 1955–2009. It highlights two related but analytically separate dimensions of governmental transparency—transparency in decision-making processes and transparency in official policies. The first concentrates on the public visibility of how agencies decide on matters under their jurisdiction; the second focuses on how visible actual government policies are to those most affected by them and to the general citizenry. I argue that Japanese agencies have been far more open on policy content than on the processes by which those decisions were reached. In addition, this brief examines recent changes designed to foster greater transparency in both process and policy, including a Freedom of Information Act, e-government provisions, enhanced roles for parliamentary inquiry, a greater role for nongovernmental organizations, and other measures. It also highlights the broad shifts in government attitudes toward transparency under the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), which has governed since 2009.

Within the broad discourse on the concept of fit and its relevance for the governance of social–ecological systems, problems of spatial fit have attracted particular attention. Mismatches abound between the geographical extent of an environmental resource and the territorial scope of the institutions affecting its use. Managing water resources around river basins is, perhaps, the most prominent illustration of attempts to reconcile the boundaries of an environmental resource with those of its respective institutions. Achieving perfect spatial fit has, however, proved an elusive task in practice. Beyond the difficulties of defining the physical boundaries of water and reordering institutional arrangements to reflect these, improving spatial fit for water can create new spatial misfits with other policy sectors upon which sustainable water management is dependent. The paper explores the way spatial fit is conceptualized, institutionalized, and practised, using the EU Water Framework Directive and its implementation in one sub-basin of the Rhine as an exemplar. The paper develops from the analysis a more differentiated and context-sensitive understanding of the concept of spatial fit of practical value to policy makers. ; Peer Reviewed

This article uses recently declassified records to analyze the American intervention in Lebanon between 1982 and 1984 and the confrontation with Libya between 1981 and 1986. In both cases, the US responded to a terrorist attack with military force. Especially after the attacks in Lebanon, members of the administration started to elaborate a comprehensive strategy to fight terrorism which focused on pre-emptive strikes against states deemed to be supporters of terrorism. The strike on Libya in April 1986 was the first implementation of this strategy and, furthermore, regime change had been attempted both before and after this strike. The article argues that the policy of the Reagan administration in the fight against terrorism was a combination of two factors: the global Cold War mindset and the first elaboration of concepts that would later become part of the Bush administration's War on Terror. Rather than being the beginning of the War on Terror, however, Reagan's policy should be considered as a source of inspiration for it, albeit one that was deeply influenced by the bipolar confrontation with the Soviet Union.

SummaryThe history of European integration unmistakably shows that it has progressed step by step and is indeed an ongoing and irreversible process. One such step is the conclusion of the Lisbon Treaty, which came into force on 1 December 2009, following negotiations spanning nearly a decade. The treaty aims, inter alia, at improving the functioning of the European Union (EU) and significantly amends the treaty basis of the EU as a supranational organization. It formally establishes the EU as a legal entity under public international law, strengthens the role of the European Parliament, and significantly reforms the role of the high representative of the union for foreign affairs and security policy. Moreover, the treaty has made the EU Charter on Fundamental Rights a legally binding and enforceable instrument and has expanded the competences of the EU in the fields of trade and other external commercial relations by providing it with exclusive competence to conduct the EU's Common Commercial Policy. The author reviews these and other innovations of the Lisbon Treaty and briefly evaluates the treaty and its implications for the EU.