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The Palestinian refugee problem is one of the longest-lasting refugee crises in the world——now exceeding fifty-three years——without a real solution in sight. Although at its core a political problem, the Palestinian refugee crisis is also a problem of legal distortion: Palestinian refugees fall into a legal lacuna that sets them outside minimal international protections available for all other refugee groups in the world. This paper provides background to the legal anomaly that sets Palestinian refugees apart; discusses the legal, practical, and political implications of that status; and proposes a framework and mechanisms aimed at promoting a rights-based solution for the Palestinian refugee problem.

The naming of streets is part of the ongoing process of mapping the boundaries of the nation. This article examines three sets of Arab‐Palestinian street names – pre‐1948 Haifa and Jerusalem and post‐1948 Umm el Fahm – as locally constructed 'texts of identity' in the historical and political context of their official creation. The investigation aims at charting the ideological orientations represented and the political messages entailed in these three different textual manifestations of Arab‐Palestinian national identity. The analysis focuses on notions of historical and cultural heritage as expressed in the choice of street names. Finally, it offers an interpretative evaluation of this process, placing it within broader ideological and historical contexts.

ABSTRACT2This article evaluates the role of increased capital mobility, sectoral interests, and domestic institutions in bringing about policy change in French capital markets. Capital mobility played an indirect role by making it more costly for French governments to pursue inflationary economic policies. But it was domestic politics, not capital mobility, that led governments to achieve lower inflation by stabilizing the exchange rate. The key domestic political factor was institutional change to regulatory practices, while financial markets reduced bank lending to industry and internationalized French finance, breaking the strong ties and comon monetary diplomacy interests of bankers, industralists, and policymakers, and thereby weaken the political priority of promoting domestic growth and industrial competitiveness.

Euro notes and coins are now being introduced in 12 countries in Europe, but Sweden is not among them. The decision to keep Sweden out of the EU's Economic and Monetary Union was taken by the Riksdag (Swedish parliament) in December 1997. The aim of this article is to provide some insight into the public debate that led to the Swedish decision and also to describe something of what has happened since. The emphasis is on the economic issues but the political aspects of the matter are also discussed. To a great extent, of course, EMU is a political project. The question of Swedish membership is expected to be the subject of a national referendum in 2003.

This paper analyses the effects of International Monetary Fund (IMF) arrangements on the timing of inflation stabilization programs. Essentially, we test the hypothesis that IMF aid accelerates stabilization using probit and proportional hazards models. As in theoretical models, results are mixed: larger withdrawals of the amounts agreed to seem to hasten stabilization, but there is weak evidence that IMF arrangements lead to greater delays. Concerning other effects, greater fragmentation of the political system delays stabilization while higher inflation tends to hasten it. Other political and economic variables do not seem to have significant effects on the timing of stabilizations. ; Fundação para a Ciêencia e Tecnologia (FCT) - Programa Operacional Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação ...

Europe's single currency is widely invoked as a potential solution to the monetary and exchange rate problems of other regions, including Asia, Latin America, North America and even Africa. This lecture asks whether the Europe's experience in creating the euro is exportable. It argues that the single currency is the result of a larger integrationist project that has political as well as economic dimensions. The appetite for political integration being less in other parts of the world, the euro will not be easily emulated. Other regions will have to find different means of addressing the tension between domestic monetary autonomy and regional integration. Harmonized inflation targeting may be the best available solution.

This work describes the problems stemming from the process of economic globalization in the Americas. Reference is made to phenomena such as the volatility of capital, the low growth of economies and its negative consequences for democracies. Opinions are also stated on political globalization, greater participation by civil society and their effects on political systems. A new generation of citizen's rights is mentioned. Emphasis is placed on the challenges and responsabilities of the State, among them the transformation of the educational system. Likewise, mention is made of the proposals that have emerged from the Organization of AmericanStates (OAS) to address the hemisphere's problems and provide suitable solutions. (Rev Mex Polit Exter/DÜI)

Studies the role of the Brazilian filmmaking media during the 1920s & 1930s in building public consent & the role played by political leaders in supporting this form of propaganda. The use of newsreels was promoted during the Vargas era to promote cultural & national unity & hegemony. Getulio Vargas promoted filmmaking through both private & state agencies for both educational & political reasons, & this intervention both helped & impeded the establishment of an independent movie industry. Laws hampered competition from international filmmakers, but also restricted the creative freedom of national producers. State intervention in the movie industry created public skepticism & boredom that reduced the profitability & inhibited the development of a strong independent business. L. A. Hoffman

Singer makes a final response to Kuper (2002), defending his (1999) position that individuals in developed countries have an ethical obligation to make charitable donations to ease global poverty. He disputes Kuper's charge that his views of justice are not theoretically grounded; as for the notions of political economy & political sociology that Kuper finds lacking in Singer's position, the author rejoins that Marxism itself is based in abstraction, & its program for social change is largely discredited. He reiterates his support for charitable groups such as Oxfam, & invokes Oskar Schindler as an example of how individual moral action is valuable even when not explicitly linked to structural change. K. Coddon

AbstractThe use (or misuse) of history for political purposes is not a Chinese specialty. Almost every country in the world does it.1 Even Americans, who are not known for their historical memories, will on occasions use historical arguments. Whenever they contemplate military intervention in a Third World country, an obsession leads them into debate whether it will become another Vietnam.2 The Japanese also use history for their political purposes, as discussed below. The list can go on. But nowhere is the use of history—both remembering and forgetting—more apparent than in current Chinese discussion about the Asia Pacific War with Japan and the status of Taiwan in the world today.