The Political Economy of Aid Flows to North Africa

This paper provides an historical overview of aid flows to North Africa. It assesses the aid allocation process and argues that past aid flows to the region have been heavily influenced by donor political interests. This has reduced the effectiveness of aid which, with the exception of Tunisia, has not been associated with sustained economic growth. The Arab Spring provides an opportunity to reappraise aid flows to North Africa and it is argued that future flows need to support the democratization process, generate pro-poor growth, support social safety nets and address the pressing issues of widening inequalities and unemployment

(De)Securitisation Theory and Regional Peace: Some Theoretical Reflections and a Case Study on the Way to Stable Peace

Critically taking on the premises of securitisation theory, this paper seeks to establish a dialogue between the theory of (de)securitisation and the theories of stable peace. In order to do this, I study the connection between the processes of (domestic) desecuritisation of regional relations, and stabilisation and consolidation of (regional) peace. I argue that these two seemingly distinct developments in fact constitute two aspects of a single parallel process. The paper focuses on regions that were once zones of negative peace, yet in which states underwent processes of desecuritisation, and succeeded in improving the quality of regional peace. This highlights the existence of different types—qualities—of peace as well as several stages of the process of positive peace construction. I claim that the sequence security?desecuritisation?asecurity constitutes the domestic transformation of intersubjective perceptions of threat, whose external complementation is often the sequence fragile/unstable peace?cold peace?positive peace (stable peace and pluralistic security community), which refers to a bilateral or regional relationship. However, I notice that this correlation, though likely, is not necessary. I identify two stages in this ‘desecuritisation/peace’ process. The first phase is about regional peace stabilisation and the first few steps towards domestic desecuritisation. The second phase involves peace consolidation, expansion of mutual desecuritisation, and growth of mutual trust. Explanations of the mechanisms triggering the process of desecuritisation/stabilisation of regional peace, and those of the expansion of the solidity of this peace are, I argue, of a different nature. The paper explains how the resort to realist International Relations (IR) theory hypotheses and to social constructivist hypotheses helps us to understand the development of these two phases. It also highlights the role of mutual trust in determining the type of peace of a dyad or region. The paper uses the case of Argentina and Brazil to illustrate these theoretical claims.security/external; international relations

GATT-Think

We describe recent work on the theory of trade agreements that speaks to the purpose and design of GATT. Our discussion proceeds in three steps. First, we examine the purpose of a trade agreement. In both the traditional economic and the political-economy approaches to the study of trade agreements, the problem for a trade agreement to solve is the excessive protection that arises in the absence of an agreement as a consequence of the terms-of-trade externality. Second, we consider the origin and design of GATT. We note that GATT is a rules-based institution whose origin can be traced to the disastrous economic performance that accompanied the high tariffs of the 1920's and 1930's. Finally, we review the theoretical literature that interprets and evaluates the institutional features found in GATT. We consider in particular whether GATT articles can be interpreted as offering negotiation rules that help governments undo the inefficient restrictions in trade that are caused by the terms-of-trade externality. On the whole, our review suggests that the core principles of GATT indeed may be interpreted in this manner. Specifically, we report findings that indicate that the principles of reciprocity and non-discrimination work in concert to remedy the inefficiency created by the terms-of-trade externality. We also extract a variety of predictions from the literature on enforcement and trade policy, and we argue that these predictions are broadly compatible with both the design of GATT and certain historical experiences in trade-policy conduct. We thus interpret the literature reviewed here as providing a strong presumption for the view that GATT can be understood as an institution whose central principles are well-designed to assist governments in their attempt to escape from a terms-of-trade-driven Prisoners' Dilemma. Our review therefore offers support for the (politically-augmented) terms-of-trade theory as an appropriate framework within which to interpret and evaluate GATT.

Turbulence a la Haas, Disjointed Incrementalism a la N.A.F.T.A.: Utility of Transatlantic Comparisons

When NAFTA was not extended in December 2008, was it demonstrating the kind of interdependence, rather than integration, Ernst Haas was proposing for the European Community in the 1970s? How does NAFTA compare with the European Union today? What theoretical patterns have persisted, and what is new? Addressing those questions, this study (a) applies Haas‟s 3 rationalities (disjointed incrementalism, rational analytical, and fragmented issue linkage), 3 cognitive-perceptual attributes (political objectives, knowledge used, and actor learning), and 3 behavioral-institutional attributes (tactical choices, bargaining styles, and institutions/mechanisms) to North America; and (b) compares NAFTA experiences with the European Union today. Among the findings: (a) Though the institutionally more advanced EU still struggles to claim a supranational identity, NAFTA's ample institutional experiences may be too locked at an inter-governmental junction to proceed to the supranational. (b) A more compelling external environment constrains integrative outcomes in both, in turn refortifying domestic constraints. (c) Disjointed incrementalism is far more extensive and intensive across North America than in West Europe, even though North America seems less interested in its regional possibilities. (d) Whereas North American dynamics predicting mature interdependence appear more receptive to global integration, West European dynamics predicting adequate regional integration is more constrained against global integration. (e) Though Haas's rationalities and attributes explain the 1970s West European turbulence well, they fall increasingly short of accounting, not just the subsequent European evolution, but also the “new kid” in the regional bloc—North America

The political economy of development aid as main source of foreign finance for poor African countries: loss of policy space and possible alternatives from East Asia

This paper discusses the political economy of development aid flows to poor countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and the potential role of China to generate opportunities for a recovery of policy space in these countries. We argue that the loss of policy space in many poor SSA countries is associated with donor-recipient relations in aid flows over the past two decades. The influential role of Western donor agencies and the growing marginalisation of SSA countries from international capital flows have left scarce policy space to their governments for more innovative trade, agricultural and industrial policies. The recent New Aid Agenda and the concomitant Western aid harmonization through budget support are likely enhance donors’ influence on policy making and to exacerbate this process despite claims of greater ‘ownership’. Learning from East Asian success stories has been hampered by the unequal bargaining power of SSA governments vis-à-vis their ‘development partners’. More recently, China has started to become an increasingly important player for some SSA countries and Chinese FDI and aid flows are already s significant reality there. Typically these ‘new’ relations may be seen with suspicion by Western ‘development’ partners, but we argue that this (and the cooperation of other Asian governments in a South-South cooperation framework) may be a significant opportunity for some SSA countries to regain part of the policy space lost in the 1980s and 1990s

Diaspora as soft power a case study of Indian diaspora in the US

Atrás han quedado los días cuando el poder estaba definido por las fuentes militares, es decir, el poder duro. Ahora el poder en términos de ideas, la persuasión definida como poder suave, influye en el mundo. El presente artículo es un intento de estudiar y analizar el poder blando como una herramienta de política exterior y cómo la diáspora india (ID), como un poder blando, ha desempeñado un papel importante en la promoción de la relación bilateral entre la India y los EE. UU.Gone are the days, when power was defined by military sources, in other words, hard power. Now, power in terms of ideas, persuasion, which is defined as soft power, influences the world. The present paper is an attempt to study and analyze soft power as a foreign policy tool, and how Indian Diaspora (ID) as a soft power, has played a role in the promotion of bilateral relationship between India and the US

From Barcelona Process to Neighbourhood Policy: Assessments and Open Issues. CEPS Working Documents No. 220, 1 March 2005

The Barcelona process so far has been a valuable systemic/institutional advance in Euro-Med relations and a confidence-building measure on a large scale. But it has not been a sufficient driving force to have created a momentum of economic, political and social advance in the partner states. It is therefore quite plausible that the EU should seek some new advance – through the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) – to build on the positive features of Barcelona and so try to introduce some new driving force. The Action Plans currently being adopted seek to make the often vague intentions of the Association Agreements of the Barcelona process more operational by linking them to either domestic policy programmes of the partner state or to EU policy norms and standards as an external anchor. In this paper we first crystallise alternative approaches for the ENP to become a real driving force under the headings of ‘conditionality’ and ‘socialisation’. The conditionality concept would mean that the EU sets out i) what incentives it offers, and ii) the conditions on which these incentives would be delivered. The socialisation concept relies essentially on a learning process that comes from the extensive interaction between actors in the partner states and the EU, which induces the partner states to engage in policy reforms that are to a degree modelled on EU norms or derive some inspiration from them. For the EU to become a driving force for reform in the region also requires that it does not have to face an uphill struggle against negative tendencies, for example in the widening and deepening of radical Islam – and here the issue of coherence in the approaches of the EU and US together is paramount