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International economic organizations once identified as Western have evolved in some cases to the extent that their survival depends importantly on forging symbiotic links with Third and Fourth World clients. Such national governments often derive net gains from membership in those organizations, for example, the World Bank. These gains may be as much political as economic. Thus the Government of India, influential in World Bank policy generally, has used Bank agricultural projects to overcome states' resistance to central priorities. Mobilizing domestic political resources is an important dimension of membership in the international economy. Where this occurs, it argues for a view of the governments of poor countries as active, rather than passive, and as agents of domestic social transformation.

The Security Council established the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (the Tribunal) by Resolution 827.1 It "determined" that the widespread and flagrant violations of international humanitarian law in the territory of the former Yugoslavia constituted a threat to international peace and security. Resolution 827 is a Chapter VII resolution. The Council "decided" that all States shall co-operate fully with the Tribunal and its organs and that they shall "take any measures necessary under their domestic law" to give effect to the resolution and obligations which arose under the Statute of the Tribunal.

A serious academic debate in general, let alone on theoretical and methodological issues, is rare for both Western and Russian peer-reviewed journals. In the context of discussion, launched by a polemical article by a prominent Russian IR expert Alexey Fenenko, published in 2018 in the 'International Trends' journal, is more important and noteworthy. Nominally both this article and the subsequent responses from Denis Degterev, Igor Istomin, Andrey Baykov and Konstantin Khudoley focused on a long-running dispute between the proponents of quantitative and qualitative methods in IR studies. However, the true essence of this discussion, as well as its implications, goes far beyond a mere technical argument about methods. The present article examines this discussion as well as developments in contemporary IR theory through the lens of critical realism (CR). The first section considers the arguments of the discussants and shows that they tend to focus on secondary, technical issues leaving out the key subject of the dispute, i.e. how should international studies be organized in order to have a right to be called a science. In order to bring this issue back into the spotlight and to provide a new perspective on the issue, the second section considers the problem field of the contemporary IR theory from the viewpoint of CR. According to critical realists all predominant approaches in the mainstream IR theory are rooted in the Humean empiricism which to a large extent explains both epistemological and practical limitations of the contemporary IR studies. As an alternative, they advance the ideas of the founder of critical realism, British philosopher R. Bhaskar. The third section examines the key epistemological and ontological provisions of CR, which include the fundamental recognition of objective reality, existing prior to and beyond human activities, reality, which is stratified and differentiated. They also entail a specific perception of causality and of possible limits of cogniscibility and predictability of social phenomena. Nonetheless the article is far from a straightforward apology of critical realism. The fourth section identifies certain weaknesses of contemporary interpretations of CR in the context of IR theory, which include a static nature of their methodology and inconsistency of their implications. The author concludes that the major contribution of CR to the IR theory lies in providing a clear path for further research – that is development of materialist theories and approaches.

'Coping with the Miracle: Japan's Unions Explore New International Relations' by Hugh Williamson is reviewed.

We study the joint dynamics of foreign capital flows and real activity during the recent boom-bust cycle of the Spanish economy, using a three-country New Keynesian model with credit-constrained households and firms, a construction sector and a government. We estimate the model using 1995Q1-2013Q2 data for Spain, the rest of the Euro Area (REA) and the rest of the world. We show that falling risk premia on Spanish housing and non-residential capital, a loosening of collateral constraints for Spanish households and firms, as well as a fall in the interest rate spread between Spain and the REA fuelled the Spanish output boom and the persistent rise in foreign capital flows to Spain, before the global financial crisis. During and after the global financial crisis, falling house prices, and a tightening of collateral constraints for Spanish borrowers contributed to a sharp reduction in capital inflows, and to the persistent slump in Spanish real activity. The credit crunch was especially pronounced for Spanish households; firm credit constraints tightened later and more gradually, and contributed much less to the slump. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Cover Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Appendix -- Tables -- Figures -- Box -- Recent Developments and Program Implementation -- 1. Recent Developments, 2008-15 -- 2. Monetary Developments, 2008-14 -- 3. Fiscal Developments, 2009-15 -- 1. Structural Benchmarks: Sixth Review Under the ECF Arrangement -- 2. Structural Measures: Seventh and Eighth Reviews Under ECF Arrangement -- 3. Selected Economic and Financial Indicators, 2012-18 -- 4. Central Government Operations, 2012-18 -- 5. Monetary Survey, 2012-15 -- 6. Central Bank Accounts, 2012-15 -- 7. Balance of Payments, 2012-18 -- 8. Banking Systems Soundness Indicators, 2010-14 -- Outlook and Risks -- Policy Discussions -- A. Fiscal Policy: Expanding Fiscal Space and Mitigating Risks -- 1. Fiscal Impact of Lower International Oil Price -- B. Safeguarding Debt Sustainability -- C. Monetary and Financial Policies: Maintaining Price Stability and Safeguarding Financial Soundness -- D. Other Macro-Critical Reforms -- E. Strengthening Economic Statistics -- Program Issues -- 9. Tentative Schedule of ECF Disbursements and Reviews, 2012-16 -- 10. Indicators of Capacity to Repay the Fund, 2015-26 -- Staff Appraisal -- Letter of Intent -- Attachment I. Amendments to the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies -- Attachment II. Amendments to the Technical Memorandum of Understanding -- Footnotes -- Burundi: Sixth Review Under the Extended Credit Facility Arrangement, and Request for Extension and Augmentation of Access -- Burundi: Sixth Review Under the Extended Credit Facility Arrangement, and Request for Extension and Augmentation of Access-Debt Sustainability Analysis Update -- IMF Executive Board Completes Sixth Review under Burundi's ECF Arrangement, Augments Access and Approves US6.9 Million Disbursement.

The sound of children's voices reciting in unison could be heard from afar, as our mission approached a school in rural Cambodia. Inside a second-grade classroom, students took turns at the blackboard. One pointed with a stick at a list of words written by the teacher, while the rest recited. A colleague approached, wrote on the blackboard the same words in a different order, and asked the children to read. Suddenly, there was silence. Most kids had merely memorized the sequence of the words and could not even identify single letters. This scene is frequent. In the poorer schools of low-income countries, many students remain illiterate for years, until they finally drop out. With some care, the process is observable. Typically the teacher writes on the board some letters or words and asks students to repeat them. The letters may be scribbled, the children often sit at a distance, textbooks may be insufficient, and children may not have anyone at home to help them read. But they do repeat the words in unison, getting cues from a few knowledgeable classmates. The teachers stand by the blackboard, address students at large, and call on the few who perform well. How come this issue has not attracted attention? One reason is that in the middle-class schools of capitals students perform much better. Soon after our rural observations, we observed second graders in a middleclass school of Pnom Penh fluently handling the extremely complex Khmer script. However, the schools of the poor have less time for their students. There is teacher absenteeism, a lack of textbooks to take home, parental inability to make up for school weaknesses, no specific curricular time for reading. The result has been chronic illiteracy, high dropout and high repetition rates. To reduce repetition and maximize enrollments, some donors advise governments to promote students automatically.

A SIGNIFICANT ADAPTATION HAS RECENTLY OCCURRED IN THE MANDATE OF THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND. WITH NO ALTERATION TO ITS LEGAL CHARTER, THE FUND HAS EFFECTIVELY BECOME THE PROMOTER OF A PUTATIVE CONSENSUS AMONG ITS LEADING MEMBER STATES ON INTRUSIVE NORMS OF INDUSTRIAL REGULATION. THIS ARTICLE DISPUTES THE HISTORICAL UNIQUENESS OF THE TURN UNDERWAY INSIDE POST-WAR INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ORGANIZATIONS; IT DRAWS PARALLELS TO THE WORK OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS IN THE INTERWAR PERIOD AND TO INCONCLUSIVE MULTILATERAL NEGOTIATIONS IN THE 1940S.

'The Yearbook's extensive coverage makes a valuable contribution in promoting international co-operation on environment'Xie Zhenhu, Minister of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) of China'A vital contribution in terms of reliable research and information on key issues of sustainable development. It constitutes an invaluable tool for facilitating the dialogue among all stakeholders involved in the implementation of the commitments agreed to in the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)'Ian Johnson World Bank Vice President for Sustainable DevelopmentThe essential r