Suchergebnisse

SummaryIn July 1995, the United States requested the establishment of the first Panel under Chapter 20 procedures of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and challenged Canada's duties on its "supply-managed" dairy, poultry, egg, barley, and margarine products. These industries had grown and prospered under supply management – a system intended to establish stability in a domestic market afflicted by unpredictable production cycles. The import restrictions were designed in conformity with the international trade rules as set out in the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade (GATT). These rules changed in 1995 as a result of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture under which Canada and WTO members replaced quantitative import restrictions with tariffs and tariff-rate quotas. The United States claimed that the duties contravened the basic NAFTA obligation to not rahe tariffs. Canada countered that the new tariff rates were justified under the new WTO Agreement on Agriculture that had been negotiated in Geneva after NAFTA. The resulting decision in favour of Canada was both praised for its consideration of the case in the context of the complex interplay of relevant trade obligations and criticized for finding "an implied bargain among negotiators … that was never struck." The Panel assumed that if tariff eqivalents could not be applied – which in effed would render the WTO Agreement on Agriculture inoperative – the result would be that the parties would be entitled to apply Article XI restrictions as if the Uruguay Round had never happened. The logic was impeccable – the NAFTA was "not to be read in clinical isolation from public international law."

Lynn V. Cheney (born August 14, 1941) is an American author, scholar, and former talk-show host. She is married to the 46th vice president of the United States, Dick Cheney, and served as the second lady of the United States from 2001 to 2009. As chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities from 1986 to 1993, she published American Memory, a report that warned about the failure of schools to transmit knowledge of the past to upcoming generations. "A system of education that fails to nurture memory of the past denies its students a great deal," Mrs. Cheney wrote: "the satisfactions of mature thought, an attachment to abiding concerns, a perspective on human existence." Currently, as a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, she particularly emphasizes the value of knowing our nation's history. "One of the important lessons we can learn is that freedom isn't inevitable," she says. "This realization should make the liberty we enjoy all the more important to us, all the more worth defending." Cheney is author or co-author of eight books, including Kings of the Hill (second edition, 1996, Simon & Schuster), a book about political figures, among them Henry Clay and Sam Rayburn, who played powerful roles in the House of Representatives. She wrote this book with her husband, who was a Congressman from Wyoming from 1979 to 1989. Mrs. Cheney's 1995 book, Telling the Truth (Simon & Schuster), analyzed the effect of postmodernism on study in the humanities.

In spite of Japan's full participation in multilateral tariff reductions, it frequently has been embroiled in contentious trade disputes with the United States. Before 1980, most of the friction was generated by U.S. industries seeking protection from Japanese imports, including textiles, steel, televisions, and automobiles. All of the cases just mentioned, and others, were ultimately settled when the government of Japan agreed to voluntarily restrain exports of the disputed items. By the mid-1980's, a substantial fraction of Japan's exports to the United States were subject to Japanese government restraints. Nevertheless, protectionist pressures in the U.S. seemed to grow rather than dissipate. To counterbalance the protectionist pressure, American politicians and government officials attempted to shift the focus of U.S. trade policy, away from Japanese imports and towards expanded sales of U.S. products to Japan, particularly in closed or regulated markets there. In a succession of bilateral negotiations since 1985, the U.S. government has demanded and obtained, under threats of retaliation, many Japanese concessions benefitting American exporters to Japan. The beneficiaries of this policy include American exporters of semiconductors, beef, oranges, wood products, insurance, telecommunications, auto parts, and other items. Through it all, Japan has only rarely lodged official protests against the trade policies or practices of the U.S. From the onesidedness of the complaints, one might think that Japan-U.S. trade friction really is about Japan's "unfair" practices and "closed" markets. It is not. It is about how best to deal with, or deflect, the protectionist response in the U.S. to expanded Japanese exports.

In November 1997, the United States Army War College joined with the U.S. Southern Command, the Inter-American Defense Board, the National Guard Bureau, and the Latin American Consortium of the University of New Mexico and New Mexico State University to cosponsor a conference entitled "The Role of the Armed Forces in the Americas: Civil-Military Relations for the 21st Century." The meeting was held from 3 to 6 November in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and was hosted by the New Mexico National Guard. The conference brought together over 150 prominent civilian governmental and military leaders and some of the most noted scholars from throughout the Americas. It was designed to support the Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Southern Command's objectives of strengthening democratic institutions, assisting nations in eliminating threats to their security, supporting economic and social progress, and enhancing military professionalism. In addition, the meeting sought to promote the Army Chief of Staff's goals of conflict prevention through peacetime engagement, strategic outreach to organizations and institutions outside the Department of Defense, and the enhancement of Active and Reserve component integration. Included in this publication are the papers and speeches delivered at the conference, rapporteurs' synopses of the working group discussions and an analysis, with recommendations, of the implications for civil-military relations and U.S. policy. These presentations, the level and scope of participation, the candor of the dialogue, the outstanding support provided by our cosponsors, and the charming atmosphere of Santa Fe all contributed to making the meeting a success. ; https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1860/thumbnail.jpg

The European Union has devoted recent efforts to establishing an integrated global economy, free of barriers or hindrances, primarily through Article 30 of the Treaty Establishing the European Community, the central free movement of goods principle. By eliminating barriers to free trade, the European Union seeks to achieve a single globalized economy among its Member States. Not surprisingly, economic globalization in the European Union has given rise to an integration of political and cultural values among European nations. As a result of this "convergence of values," Member States have responded by enacting protectionist measures that reassert their regulatory autonomy over their culture to counter the undesired effects of the cultural invasion by other nations. The loi Toubon a recent French regulation which requires the use of the French language in a range of social and commercial contexts, is an example of such a protectionist measure. By mandating the use of French in various areas of French life, the French government asserts its nationalism through the regulatory protection of its language. This Note examines the loi Toubon, specifically the provision mandating the use of French in the labeling, packaging and advertising of goods, in the context of the economic globalization in the European Union and analyzes this law under the prevailing body of jurisprudence surrounding Article 30's protection of free trade. This Note concludes by suggesting that the loi Toubon violates the principle of free movement of goods and is inconsistent with the European Union's general design to integrate and harmonize the economic market.

SUMMARYSince the sixties, the discussion whether democracy is a precondition for or a result of economic growth has not yet been finished. In this paper a comparative institutional analysis of the relative performance of direct and representative democratic decision making in the Swiss economy is undertaken using a cross section of the 26 Swiss states in 1989 and pooled cross section time series data for the states from 1982 to 1993. The empirical results and robustness tests support the hypothesis that the stronger control of the representatives by the voters due to obligatory and optional referenda leads to better economic performance.ZUSAMMENFASSUNGSeit den sechziger Jahren diskutieren Sozialwissenschaftler darüber, welche Auswirkungen De‐mokiatie auf das wirtschaftliche Wachstum eines Landes hat. In diesem Aufsatz wird der Einfluss direkt‐ und repräsentativ‐demokratischer Entscheidungsprozesse in einer vergleichenden institutionellen Analyse unter Verwendung von kantonalen Querschnittsdaten für 1989 und gepoolten Querschnitts‐ und Zeitreihendaten für den Zeitraum von 1982 bis 1993 untersucht. Die empirischen Ergebnisse und unterschiedliche Robustheitstests stützen die Hypothese, dass die stärkere Kontrolle der Repräsentanten durch die Stimmbürger mit Hilfe von obligatorischen und fakultativen Referenden zu einer relativ besseren wirtschaftlichen Leistungsfähigkeit führt.RÉSUMÉLa question de savoir si les institutions démocratiques ont un effet positif ou negatif sur le développement économique est discutée depuis les années soixante à soixante‐dix. La présente étude économétrique compare l'effet de différents types d'institutions démocratiques (démocratic représentative et directe) sur le développement économique. A cette fin nous analysons le niveau de développement économique des cantons suisses en fonction de leurs institutions politiques. Les résultats empiriques, qui se révèlent robustes dans différents tests, appuient l'hypothèse qu'un contrǒle plus étroit des élus par le référendum facultatif ou obligatoire conduit à une plus grande performance économique.

ABSTRACTThis study focuses on the organizational adoption of Executive Information Systems (EIS). A distinction is made between two related, complementary EIS capabilities—EIS for collaboration support (EISc) and EIS for decision support (EISd). EISc is relatively standardized and replicable, while EISd has to be developed in situ given the specific characteristics of the user and task. The adoption process is conceptualized as an initial transition from a state of nonadoption to adoption (adoption status) and subsequent internal propagation of the technology (adoption level). Data collected from a national survey are used to test hypotheses between identified contextual variables and the adoption status and adoption level of EISc and EISd. Adopters and nonadopters of both EISc and EISd do not differ in their organization size, suggesting that the traditional paradigm of "EIS as a technology for large firms" is no longer true. Environmental uncertainty is found to promote the transition from a state of nonadoption to adoption of both EISc and EISd while continuing to catalyze the internal propagation of EISd. While no differences are observed in IS department size between adopters and nonadopters of EISc, our results suggest that larger IS departments provide the resource base to explore the less standardized of the two capabilities, EISd. IS support is also found to be critical for the subsequent internal propagation of EISd. Furthermore, the adoption level of both EISc and EISd are found to be promoted by top management support. Implications of these results are discussed for the organizational adoption of EIS.

Multimedia modelers from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the United States Department of Energy (DOE) collaborated to conduct a detailed and quantitative benchmarking analysis of three multimedia models. The three models—RESRAD (DOE), MMSOILS (EPA), and MEPAS (DOE)—represent analytically‐based tools that are used by the respective agencies for performing human exposure and health risk assessments. The study is performed by individuals who participate directly in the ongoing design, development, and application of the models. Model form and function are compared by applying the models to a series of hypothetical problems, first isolating individual modules (e.g., atmospheric, surface water, groundwater) and then simulating multimedia‐based risk resulting from contaminant release from a single source to multiple environmental media. Study results show that the models differ with respect to environmental processes included (i.e., model features) and the mathematical formulation and assumptions related to the implementation of solutions. Depending on the application, numerical estimates resulting from the models may vary over several orders‐of‐magnitude. On the other hand, two or more differences may offset each other such that model predictions are virtually equal. The conclusion from these results is that multimedia models are complex due to the integration of the many components of a risk assessment and this complexity must be fully appreciated during each step of the modeling process (i.e., model selection, problem conceptualization, model application, and interpretation of results).

A commonly used expression in child protection is the term 'physical abuse'. This paper consists of a quantitative and qualitative analysis of a 100% sample of 'physical abuse' child protection cases drawn from research in an Australian state child welfare agency, which shows that about 90% of these concerned incidents in which parents used physical punishment to control children. Resulting physical harms to children (where they occurred) were generally of a very minor nature. The paper examines these results in the light of research findings in the UK and Australia on patterns of physical punishment used by parents to control children. Such findings suggest that those child rearing practices that make frequent and systematic use of physical punishment are located largely amongst lower social class parents, who believe that such practices are an essential and normal component of effective parenting behaviour. One interpretation of child protection services in respect of these cases is that they are concerned primarily with the normalization of child rearing practices. The paper concludes with a discussion of the limited impact of the Swedish anti‐spanking law of 1979, which appears to have only reduced the use of physical punishment by those parents who may not necessarily have believed in such measures in the first place. However, legislation of this nature has the potential to criminalize a substantial sector of the population, but at least state intervention under the aegis of a specific criminal law provides a clearer mandate than does intervention under much looser, broader and subjectively interpreted child protection legislation.

Understanding Central Europe as a particular European region is based on historical and cultural heritage of the Mitteleuropa and on the revival of the Central European identity in the 8Oies. The Central European regional cooperation has been promoted in the late 8Oies and early 9Oies, particularly through the following cooperation schemes: Pentagonale/Central European Initiative (now dissolved), the Vishegrad Group and the Central European Free Trade Agreement-CEFTA. These schemes have been supported by the European Union and they fit its strategy of widening that is now based on the differentiated integration, which implies strengthening of economic and monetary union and defence union. + The European Union tends to link Central European region to the Baltic countries, rather than connect it with the South Eastern Europe, which is regarded as a special case, covered by the peace restoration strategy. + Central Europe is a region of uneven development and very diversified cultures and peoples. It is therefore difficult to treat it as a structured European region. EU focuses on a number of states that form "the intersection of different areas of integration", and in this respect Central Europe may be best understood as a development and transformation project that might create a new type of differentiated relationships among states and cultures within Central Europe and between Central Europe and the European Union. Focusing on Central Europe may turn the region into the central project of European development. (SOI : PM: S. 175)

U.S. national security is a subject that has been under intense scrutiny since the end of the Cold War. What constitutes such security for the United States as this country approaches the new century? Are the ends, ways, and means of our national security and national military strategies sufficient to provide for the nation's future? And above all, as this country celebrates the 50th anniversary of the National Security Act of 1947, are the institutions that resulted from that act still sufficient for the post-Cold War era? With these questions in mind, the Strategic Studies Institute and Dickinson College's Clarke Center co-sponsored the series of lectures on American national security after the Cold War which are contained in this volume. The lectures take four different, yet complementary, perspectives. Professor Ronald Steel reminds us of the intellectual revolution embodied in the act that moved America from the concept of "defense" to one of "national security" and relates this concept to our attempts to define post-Cold War national security interests. Dr. Lawrence Korb reviews the evolution in our national security establishment since the 1947 act. Dr. Morton Halperin's focus is the continuing tension between secrecy in the name of national security and the openness required in a democratic society, with a commentary on continuing threats to civil liberties. In the concluding essay, Ambassador Robert Ellsworth surveys the key strategic challenges facing the United States as we enter the 21st century. ; https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1183/thumbnail.jpg

In April 1997, the U.S. Army War College held its Eighth Annual Strategy Conference. This year's topic was "Russia's Future as a World Power." Dr. Pavel K. Baev, a senior researcher at the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo, Norway, discusses the disintegration of order along Russia's southern border. Following a brief overview of the evolution of Russian policies in the Caucasus and Central Asia in the immediate post-Soviet period, Dr. Baev evaluates the impact of the Chechen war and then analyzes the growing role that petroleum plays in the political equation. He concludes that the growth of nationalism among the states in the Caucasus and Central Asia has combined with the decline in capability of the Russian Army to encourage many of the states to seek greater autonomy from Russian influence. While Russia is in strategic retreat, the political forces acting upon President Yeltsin are so intense as to increase the possibility that hasty and unwise decisions may be forthcoming. Turbulence in the so-called near abroad and political weakness at home plagued Russia at the turn of the century, forcing Tsar Nicholas II to turn to his more conservative and autocratic advisors for advice and policy. A fledgling move toward democratization was weakened even before Russia found itself embroiled in World War I. As this century turns, the course of Russian democracy again hinges, to a degree, on events on Russia's periphery. This makes Professor Baev's analysis that much more germane to those concerned with Russia's future. ; https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1195/thumbnail.jpg

In March 1996, Colonel Jim Blundell of the Association of the United States Army's Institute for Land Warfare and Dr. Earl H. Tilford, Jr., of the U. S. Army War College's Strategic Studies Institute envisioned a symposium that would bring all the services together for an open and honest meeting aimed at defining the complex issues that will face the services individually and the Department of Defense corporately during the Joint Strategy Review and Quadrennial Defense Review process. This symposium brought together men and women, soldiers, airmen, marines, and civilians from government, industry, academia, and the media to speak and, more importantly, to listen. Every speaker, even those who were clearly the specified advocates for their respective services, emphasized both the need for the current QDR and the absolute conclusion that defending the United States is and will remain a joint endeavor. The honest and forthright exchange of ideas, concepts, and opinions furthered the process and, quite possibly, pushed the Department of Defense closer to a successful QDR. The QDR is an event of extreme importance for the Department of Defense, the individual services, and for the American people. What is at stake is the future capability of the nation's military. Now is the time to face the truth, to speak the truth, and to put aside parochial interest so that the interests of us all, the preservation and extension of freedom, may endure into the coming millennium ; https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1865/thumbnail.jpg