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The history of welfare states is marked by divisions between capital and labour and these divisions are replicated at the international level. At the heart of these divisions is enduring class interests which accord different priorities to social and economic factors. That these divisions exist is neither surprising, nor necessarily a problem; the problem, this paper argues, is the increasingly high priority given to business interests by ever more powerful international governmental organisations. This paper presents an analysis of power in the global economy before investigating the social policy preferences of key international capital and labour organisations. It argues that international class mobilisation has failed to produce very much of a compromise on the part of capital, and that, if anything, international social policy discourse is today even closer to business than it has ever been.

Efforts to resolve interstate disputes are often characterized by repeated engagement and evolving strategies. What explains a state's decision to continue conflict resolution efforts but escalate their management strategy? Drawing from foreign policy literature, I argue that third parties escalate policies in response to past failures, shifting conflict dynamics and their relationship with the disputants. Analysis of management efforts from 1946 to 2001 reveals that the changing nature of the conflict, policy failures and relationships between the third party and disputants are integral to understanding the management decision process, but the effects of these factors depend on the management history. [Reprinted by permission; copyright Sage Publications Ltd.]

Efforts to resolve interstate disputes are often characterized by repeated engagement and evolving strategies. What explains a state's decision to continue conflict resolution efforts but escalate their management strategy? Drawing from foreign policy literature, I argue that third parties escalate policies in response to past failures, shifting conflict dynamics and their relationship with the disputants. Analysis of management efforts from 1946 to 2001 reveals that the changing nature of the conflict, policy failures and relationships between the third party and disputants are integral to understanding the management decision process, but the effects of these factors depend on the management history.

This article examines the relationship between terrorism, civil war and crime in Colombia where the internal conflict is both highly criminalized and low to medium in intensity. One of the main tenets of the new wars thesis is that the civilian/combatant ratio in civil conflicts has worsened dramatically, said to be associated with the increasingly violent or terrorist behaviour of the groups that participate in the conflict. However, in Colombia the new wars thesis does not hold, despite the very strong link between the guerrillas, the paramilitary and the narco-economy. This argument is supported by an exploration of the methods used and factors motivating the actors involved in the conflict. In constructing a political economy of internal conflicts and terrorism and in the context of territoriality, it is further argued that the political part of the equation is often under-estimated, due not least of all to the lack of a working notion of governance. The policy relevance of the argument is that terrorist acts need to be located in political context and understood in relation to the political content of the challenge they pose and the response they elicit. (InWent/GIGA)

Antitrust issues increasingly reach beyond national borders. This paper addresses the question whether such issues can reasonably be solved by an extraterritorial application of national competition law or whether they call for an international competition policy of its own. The analysis is based upon 20 case studies which are examined with regard to the suitability of the effects doctrine and the principles of comity as conflict resolution mechanisms. The case studies demonstrate that conflicts in international antitrust are most likely to arise where national competition laws differ from each other or where national authorities are pursuing divergent industrial policy objectives.

The article is dedicated to the role of the United Kingdom in the political crisis and the armed conflict in Yemen which has not been settled until now. Special attention is paid to military and technical, diplomatic directions as well as to international development assistance in the British foreign policy towards this country. Study of these directions allowed to identify their interrelation and priority to the United Kingdom, to determine the British attitude towards the settlement of the Yemen conflict and to identify main British goals in this armed confrontation. It has been found that first of all the United Kingdom strives to address the terrorist threat originating from Yemen and to ensure free maritime traffic around it. All three mentioned areas of British foreign policy to a greater or lesser extent are aimed at this goal. As for the issue of the settlement of the Yemen conflict, the United Kingdom moved from unambiguous support for the official government of Yemen and the Arab coalition to the actual recognition of status-quo.