World in Crisis is a new book from one of the world's leading scholars. Gabriel Kolko provides a panoramic overview of the problems facing the US and the world today. Each chapter covers a key topic, ...spanning a range of international issues including the current financial crisis, the limits of US foreign policy, the politicisation of intelligence, and why a war with Iran would be likely to culminate in disaster for the US. Kolko also outlines why changes in military technology make all wars, no matter who fights them, increasingly futile. At the heart of the book is the idea that the international system is in the grip of a great transition. Kolko shows how America is losing its dominance, and examines the profound changes we are experiencing as it is forced to accept the limits of its military power.
The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) is the central executive authority on migration and integration policy in Germany. Vinzenz Kratzer analyses the Federal Office's research output ...between 2005 and 2015 with a joint perspective of Ethnography and Political Science. In the wake of political reforms after the »paradigm change« around the turn of the millennium, the development of practically relevant knowledge can be traced. While governmental researchers were able to establish themselves in the bureaucracy with some success, they bought this influence with uncontroversial, depoliticized knowledge production, while the production of seemingly politically irrelevant knowledge - most importantly on racism and discrimination - is underdeveloped.
This paper uses panel data of 42 sub-Saharan Africa countries from 2005 to 2015 to examine the effect of aid for trade (AfT) on export diversification. The average Hirschman-Herfindahl index measure ...of 0.77 indicates that the export basket of sub-Saharan African countries is very narrow. This is further supported by the low number of active products lines, about 100 products on average measured at the Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) 3-digit level. Empirical results indicate that export diversification in sub-Saharan Africa is enhanced by particularly Af T that is directed toward improving productive capacity.
In this paper, we develop a theoretical model to explain the impact of social capital (defined at the firm level) on individual firm performance and derive a critical optimal threshold for firms to ...invest in social capital. The theoretical model we propose reveals how social capital, human capital, and physical capital simultaneously affect firm performance under the main assumption of a decreasing function of social capital on unit cost of physical capital. Our theoretical model is then estimated using unique firm‐level longitudinal data from Vietnam for the period 2005–2015. Using a control function approach in a quantile regression framework, we attempt to establish the causal impact of social capital on firm performance. Our empirical results point to a range of revenue in which investment in social capital is efficient and to evidence suggesting that the role of social capital decreases when firms become richer.
This study investigates the cross-country variation in the share of national movies in total box office revenue using annual observations from a sample of 43 countries. For this purpose, the ...preference for national movies is associated with the size of domestic movie production (proxied by absolute and relative number of national movies produced), availability of top-class movie directors, cultural (national feeling) and institutional (level of democracy, freedom to access foreign information) indicators, and the presence of common languages spoken across countries. Our results reveal that higher national movie production (in absolute and relative terms), availability of top-level directors, and level of national feeling are positively associated with relative preference for national movies. Meanwhile the level of democracy, freedom to access foreign information, and the presence of common language are negatively associated with the share of national movies in total box office revenue. Overall, our results provide evidence for both home market effect and cultural discounting hypotheses from a macro level perspective. Movie producers, distributors, directors, and online-streaming content providers may use our findings to improve their creative and business strategies.
This study examines impacts of the complementary products on platform competition, in the context of video game consoles. Using 10-year panel data, the results demonstrate that high-quality software ...has a disproportionately significant effect on hardware demand. The high-quality exclusive software is an important factor affecting consumers' utility, and it tends to be developed in hardware manufacturers' vertically integrated subsidiaries. In addition, this study also identifies that high-quality multi-homing software plays a role in platform growth in a platform's later stage.
This paper considers structural changes in employment and the labor compensation fund of cities with a million-plus population, as well as changes in their role in the economy of the country and ...regions. It has been shown that the concentration of the population in the largest cities continues to increase, while the nature of changes in their role in manufacturing and retail trade proves to be contradictory. At the same time, Russia and other countries are characterized not so much by the outflow of industry from cities as its transformation. The problems of the social sphere of cities have also been shown.
The ongoing crisis in Darfur, Sudan has stimulated a huge amount of political and academic interest across the world. The crisis has been both reflective and constitutive of key areas of contestation ...and change within contemporary international society.
This book examines the crisis in Darfur as a case study of some of the wider debates currently taking place within International Relations theory. Using the conceptual framework developed by English School theorists, specifically their concept of international society and the related idea of "good international citizenship", this book examines a wide range of issues: foreign policy analysis, theories of norm diffusion, international organizations, peace operations, international criminal justice and war law, the causes and nature of contemporary warfare, and the international relations of Africa.
Making an important contribution to the debate about the meaning and limits of international society, this book will be of interest to students and scholars international relations theory, international security, foreign policy, international organizations, human rights, African politics, genocide studies and international law.
Introduction: International Society and the Crisis in Darfur Paul D. Williams and David R. Black Part 1: Regional Politics 1. The Government of Sudan and the Darfurian Armed Groups I.D.F. and Munzoul Assal 2. Regional Politics and the Darfur Crisis Lee J.M. Seymour Part 2: Multilateral Politics 3. The United Nations Security Council Michael MacKinnon 4. The African Union Cristina Badescu and Linnea Bergholm 5. The European Union Rory Keene and Asbjorn Wee 6. The International Criminal Court William A. Schabas Part 3: Bilateral Politics 7. The United States Scott Stedjan and Colin Thomas-Jensen 8. The People’s Republic of China Ian Taylor 9. The United Kingdom Paul D. Williams 10. France Bruno Charbonneau 11. Canada David R. Black. Conclusion David R. Black and Paul D. Williams
'This collection of essays provide an elegant reminder of why international society is a contested concept and Darfur is a contested conflict. A first-rate piece of work about the central dilemmas facing governments, international organizations, NGOs, and citizens.' - Professor Thomas G. Weiss, The CUNY Graduate Center, USA
'Despite the attention focused on the conflict in Darfur since it broke out in 20003, there have been few systematic studies that probe the role of major regional and international players in the conflict. Black and Williams’ The International Politics of Atrocities: The Case of Darfur, fills this lacunae. Against the backdrop of the turbulence in Sudanese politics, the book has cogently assembled a broad range of expertise to examine the roles of multilateral and bilateral actors. The chapters are neatly woven around the organizing theme of the possibilities and limits to good international citizenship. The book is bound to find wide readership and improve our understanding of the complexity of external action and inaction in Darfur.' - Gilbert M. Khadiagala, Jan Smuts Professor of International Relations, The University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
'For me, this important book teaches us, through the evidence provided by regional specialists on Darfur from a variety of countries, that there is less to the notions of 'international society', 'international community', 'good international citizenship', 'solidarism', and 'responsibility to protect' than their official and academic proponents claim. Tragically, such a verdict is always likely to be starkest when 'mass atrocities' occur in Africa.' - Professor Ken Booth FBA, Senior Research Associate, Aberystwyth University, UK
'It will …be an invaluable resource for scholars of Darfur, human rights, and humanitarian intervention.' - Kenneth A. Rodman, William R. Cotter Distinguished Professor of Government, Colby College, USA
'This is an excellent volume: well-conceived, designed, researched and written… represents the very best of case-specific scholarship on the difficult (issue) of collective responses to genocidal conflict…(N)icely integrates IR theory and the details of this particular case. The study blends well broader concerns such as the existence and capacity of an "international society" and the tenaciously problematic case of Darfur.…gives the international response to Darfur a clear yardstick and we gain real insights into the challenges of the context and the failures of a robust and effective international response.' - Tim Sisk, Professor and Director, Center for Sustainable Development and International Peace, Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver
David R. Black is Director of the Centre for Foreign Policy Studies and Associate Professor in Political Science at Dalhousie University, Canada. His current research interests focus on Canada and Sub-Saharan Africa, with emphases on human security, development assistance, multilateral diplomacy and extractive industry investment.
Paul D. Williams is Associate Professor of International Affairs and Associate Director, Security Policy Studies Program at George Washington University, USA. He also serves as Faculty Adviser for students with concentrations in Conflict & Conflict Resolution. He specializes in issues of conflict resolution, international peacekeeping and Africa's international relations.
The current conflict in Ukraine has spawned the most serious crisis between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War. It has undermined European security, raised questions about NATO's ...future, and put an end to one of the most ambitious projects of U.S. foreign policy -- building a partnership with Russia. It also threatens to undermine U.S. diplomatic efforts on issues ranging from terrorism to nuclear proliferation. And in the absence of direct negotiations, each side is betting that political and economic pressure will force the other to blink first. Caught in this dangerous game of chicken, the West cannot afford to lose sight of the importance of stable relations with Russia.This book puts the conflict in historical perspective by examining the evolution of the crisis and assessing its implications both for the Crimean peninsula and for Russia's relations with the West more generally. Experts in the international relations of post-Soviet states, political scientists Rajan Menon and Eugene Rumer clearly show what is at stake in Ukraine, explaining the key economic, political, and security challenges and prospects for overcoming them. They also discuss historical precedents, sketch likely outcomes, and propose policies for safeguarding U.S.-Russia relations in the future. In doing so, they provide a comprehensive and accessible study of a conflict whose consequences will be felt for many years to come.
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