Suchergebnisse

In a context of high politicization, if not securitization, of asylum and migration in Europe, the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the EU – also known under its acronym FRONTEX – was created in 2004. Its activities have drawn a significant amount of attention and have been heavily criticised by human rights and pro-migrant groups. In contrast with most of the literature on FRONTEX, which focuses on its activities, this article examines the institutional issues associated with the creation and the work of FRONTEX, that is, the reasons for which Member States chose to create an agency, rather than establish another form of cooperation, and the specific mechanisms that they have put in place to exercise control over the activities of the Agency. The article, which is theoretically informed by the literature on European agencies, unveils a complex institutionalisation process, characterised by the existence of various models for increased cooperation and political struggles amongst the actors involved in the policy-making process.

CARICOM, which is one of the oldest regional integration organizations in the developing world, has recently been transformed by the decision of its Member States to move to the next level of integration by establishing a CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) under the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (RTC) and by investing the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) with a compulsory and exclusive jurisdiction to interpret the RTC. The Preamble of the RTC affirms that the CCJ is essential for the successful operation of the CSME, but much will depend on how the CCJ approaches the exercise of its original jurisdiction. With the delivery of the CCJ's first two judgements in the exercise of its original jurisdiction, it has been possible to gain a valuable insight into the judges' approach towards the interpretation of the RTC and to the right of individuals and businesses to hold Member States accountable for their failure to comply with the requirements of the RTC by bringing proceedings directly before the CCJ.

The Organisational and Personnel Aspects of Introducing ICT into Grammar Schools
This article presents the results of comparisons between investment into ICT and the current state of equipment in Slovenian high schools compared to similar schools in the EU member states. Extensive research is based on surveying and interviews with the headmasters of 10 Slovenian high schools, jointly representing a typical sample of schools, as well as the different aspects of using ICT in their schools. The research results have shown that Slovenian high schools are substantially worse equipped with ICT than similar schools in the developed countries of the EU. This is evident in the lack of modern forms of organization, operation and education based on ICT. Slovenian high schools can only modernize their organization and operations if the Slovenian government starts investing substantially more into purchasing equipment, teacher training and the promotion of the knowledge, skills and competences that can only be developed using ICT.

Recent developments in Chinese politics and defense policy indicate that China will soon embark on an ambitious maritime policy that will include construction of a power-projection navy centered on an aircraft carrier. But just as nationalism and the pursuit of status encouraged past land powers to seek great power maritime capabilities, widespread nationalism, growing social instability, and the leadership's concern for its political legitimacy drive China's naval ambition. China's maritime power, however, will be limited by the constraints experienced by all land powers: enduring challenges to Chinese territorial security and a corresponding commitment to a large ground force capability will constrain China's naval capabilities and its potential challenge to U.S. maritime security. Nonetheless, China's naval nationalism will challenge U.S.-China cooperation. It will likely elicit increased U.S. naval spending and deployments, as well as politicization of China policy in the United States, challenging the United States to develop policy to manage U.S.-China naval competition to allow for continued political cooperation.

AbstractChina has developed a more consequential role in Sudan over the past two decades, during which it has become bound up in the combination of enduring violent internal instability and protracted external adversity that has characterized the politics of the central state since the 1989 Islamist revolution. Two inter-related political trajectories of China's Sudan engagement are examined here. The first concerns Beijing's relations with the ruling National Congress party in incorporating China into its domestic politics and foreign relations amidst war in Darfur, to which Beijing has responded through a more engaged political role. The second confronts the practical limitations of China's sovereignty doctrine and exclusive reliance upon relations with the central state. Following the peace agreement of 2005 that ended the North–South war, and motivated by political imperatives linked to investment protection concerns, China has developed new relations with the semi-autonomous Government of Southern Sudan, thus seeking to position itself to navigate Sudan's uncertain political future.

AbstractThe literature on Chinese economic engagement with Africa reflects widely-held views that Chinese investment is strategic, politically motivated and therefore more stable and long-term than "Western" foreign capital. In contrast this article argues that various factors underpinning the governance of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in fact serve to promote short-term strategies. It contributes to the literature by empirically exploring this proposition through a case study of a Chinese SOE operating in Zambia's mining sector, and by examining two sets of corporate governance characteristics of Chinese SOEs: investors' relationships with the Chinese state, and firm-level strategy, structure and norms. The article finds that these governance characteristics lead to short-term strategies, including excessive cost-cutting and segregated management practices. These short-term strategies reduce the incentives as well as ability of investors to address local environmental and social concerns, thus questioning the contribution of Chinese investment to Africa's long-term development.

The attempt of the Georgian government to reform and restructure its military forces in the past ten years demonstrates the difficulty of conducting Western-style defense reform in postconflict states, which have not seen a formal end to armed conflict. Western-style reforms were intended to bring Georgia greater peace, stability, and accountability, with the added benefit of training additional soldiers to support regional peacekeeping operations. Domestic political imperatives within Georgia, however, demanded that the government restore the territorial integrity of the state by "reintegrating" South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and Adjara. In this context, additional organizational and doctrinal interoperability of Georgian forces was desirable, but only to the extent that it enabled Georgian forces to meet these primary domestic political requirements. For Georgia, a country with a weak military tradition and unresolved domestic conflicts causing political controversy at home, military reform was not just an abstract step toward democracy but a potential means to an end of resolving those same conflicts by force or threat of force.

This article claims that realist and constructivist ideas are compatible. Structural realism is needed to understand the constraining and stabilizing role of material factors. Furthermore, it detects process in a law-like tendency towards international power equilibrium which is achieved via balancing. Constructivism, in turn, highlights the importance of ideas and norms as engines for change and the creative role of agency. The article therefore combines a materialist and an idealist perspective. It both detects elements of stability and argues for necessary improvements in current international relations (IR) by looking at the issues of United States hegemony, the rise of new challengers and the threat of sub-state international terrorism. This article, therefore, takes up important claims made by Kenneth Waltz on realism, hegemony and terrorism, and interprets them in the light of IR theory today. It is argued that structural realism and Waltz's ideas are still important and viable, but that we need to combine them with additional perspectives, notably constructivism.

This article enlarges the existing literature on the varieties of capitalism by identifying a third basic variety that does not resemble the liberal market economy or coordinated market economy types. The dependent market economy (DME) type, as it is named by the authors, is characterized by the importance of foreign capital for the socioeconomic setup and is located in postsocialist Central Europe. Since the collapse of state socialism in the late 1980s, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and the Slovak Republic have introduced a rather successful model of capitalism when compared with other postsocialist states. This article identifies the key elements of the DME model and discusses their interplay. DMEs have comparative advantages in the assembly and production of relatively complex and durable consumer goods. These comparative advantages are based on institutional complementarities between skilled, but cheap, labor; the transfer of technological innovations within transnational enterprises; and the provision of capital via foreign direct investment.

ABSTRACT**:  Cooperative development in Africa can be said to have traversed two main eras: the era of state control and that of liberalization. The first era lasted up to the early 1990s and saw the origin and substantial growth of cooperatives on the continent. During that period, different models of cooperative development were introduced on the continent. We distinguish a unified cooperative model, a social economy model, a social movement model, a producers' model and an indigenous model. But in all cases, cooperatives were engulfed into state politics. However, little is known about the impact of liberalization measures on these models. Our research in 11 African countries reveals that cooperatives in Africa have survived the market forces and continued to grow in number and membership. We see a slow but sure erosion of the unified model and the adoption of a social economy model. Cooperatives in Africa are re‐examining their organizational forms and diversifying their activities in response to members' interests and needs.

This article argues that under certain conditions the United States can play an important role in peacefully resolving a conflict involving an ally and a nationalist terrorist organization (NTO) by engaging the NTO. An American policy of engagement can bring both parties to the table by convincing them that they are trapped in a mutually hurting stalemate and that negotiations offer the only way out of this situation. In addition, engagement provides the U.S. with significant leverage over both of the disputants, enabling it to push both parties to make the concessions necessary to realize a settlement. However, engagement can only have these effects if the U.S. bias towards its ally is tempered and if its policy is serious, sustained, and conditional. For these conditions to hold, there must be significant domestic support within the United States for a policy of engagement. These arguments are illustrated with case studies of the U.S. engagement of Sinn Fein between 1994 and 2005 and the U.S. dialogue with the Palestine Liberation Organization between 1988 and 1990.

This article forms a critique of security sector reforms implemented in Albania and Montenegro between 2000 and 2007 by and on behalf of the European Union. It argues that within these reforms it is possible to discern a tension between a more holistic development approach and a security-based approach that is top-down and largely founded on the self-referential security concerns of the European Union. Drawing on research conducted by the author in Albania and Montenegro, the article utilizes public surveys to point out the distance between internal security reforms funded by the EU and the everyday security concerns of residents living in ineffectively policed states. The article concludes that a security-first agenda has slipped into the EU's aim to create an area of `freedom, security and justice'. Thus, while the rims of the Western Balkans are being secured, lack of reform in the interior hampers the socio-economic development and democratization of states engaged in the EU enlargement process.

This article discusses the representation of female boxers in the North Korean media. Communists proclaim the liberation of women as one of their major political aims, and the media's portrayal of female pugilists appears to adhere to this political notion. No negative or sexualized description can be found in the North Korean media coverage of female boxing. However, a deeper analysis reveals that the media in this communist state ideologically underline a broader political structure based on state patriarchy. Moreover, the political use of female boxing is evident. In this regard, the priority seems to be given to nationalism over feminism. With respect to this, this article contends that while the North Korean media representation of female sport highlights active and skilful female athletes, such a portrayal must be seen within the limit of broader patriarchal politics. Thus, media coverage of female sport in `actually existing communism' appears to differ considerably from the genuine sense of increasing the social status of women.

What does a 4-H volunteer do when a child asks to start a project they don't know anything about? The Expanding 4-H Horizons Swine Leader Guide offers information and activities that can be used by anyone in a club or clinic setting. A team of western regional extension professionals have created and piloted a user friendly tool that can be utilized by 4-H leaders and state/county extension staff. The swine specific manual is the first of four being created that will eventually offer information and activities for the beef, sheep and goat projects. This series of leaders guides are being created to serve as a useful tool that can be utilized across a variety of counties and states by supplementing already existing member manuals. With this curriculum, adults will be able to conduct highly effective activities that emphasize project skills, life skill learning, the experiential learning model and 4-H SET.

ABSTRACT  In this article, I consider a selection of the 129 articles of new research published in five of the leading Anglo‐American peer‐reviewed outlets for sociocultural anthropology in 2008, discerning two general, but related, trends. The first suggests an ongoing interest among sociocultural anthropologists in new forms and contexts of market capitalism and a deepening concern for the multiple, complex, and even contradictory orientations to those forms by social actors caught up in them. The second reveals a concern with the imbrications of political and scientific epistemologies, particularly as they emerge in state policies and actions around issues of public health, the environment, and agriculture. Where they come together is in the number of studies whose objects of inquiry reside at the nexus where science, politics, and markets meet in what they see as the creeping expansion of neoliberal logics and their implications for the state as a political formation. [Keywords: sociocultural anthropology, neoliberalism, science studies, public health, capitalism]