Western Australia and the evolving regional order: challenges and opportunities

Executive Summary: 21st century Asia is a powerhouse in the contemporary global economy. In a short period of time it has closed the development gap between the Region and the rest of the world. All indications suggest that this growth performance will continue into the foreseeable future.Australia’s high levels of economic growth over the last decade are directly related to Asia’s ‘economic miracle,’ with Western Australia playing a lead role in Australia’s regional economic engagement. Indeed, the State has accounted for nearly 50 per cent of Australia’s commodity export trade in recent years, concentrated overwhelmingly in Asia. In this sense Australia, and Western Australia in particular, are becoming increasingly ‘hard wired’ into the Region. This presents many opportunities but also challenges.The First Murdoch Commission was established to identify how these opportunities may be pursued and how the challenges may be addressed. The initial impetus was that future prosperity required well-informed strategies and policy settings to optimise potential benefits and sustainable gains.The broad context of the inquiry was the contemporary rise of Asia. This rise is a story of success, yet it is success accompanied by significant challenges. Deepening regional integration is an essential part of the story, with the effect of distributing risks as well as benefits. The ongoing performance of the Region is thus also a question about addressing major problems including rapid urbanisation, resources security, demographic burdens and environmental pressures.This insight underpinned the deliberations of the Commission and its investigation of how economic engagement and the growing interdependency of Western Australia, Australia and the Region can be pursued to enhance mutual benefit and long-term resilience.A distinct feature of the Commission’s investigations was its regional approach. This included the composition of the Commission’s membership, and a series of meetings and consultations with various stakeholder groups and individuals in major regional centres. This approach was taken precisely because Australia’s core interests are now closely intertwined with Asia’s continuing prosperity and stability.The Commission found that there is a strategic choice to be taken by Australia: whether to remain a mere exporter to the Region or to become a more active participant engaging in the Region. The former choice leaves Australia susceptible to the volatilities of a game that it has little capacity to influence. By contrast, the latter offers Australia far greater potential influence, opportunity and long-term benefit for its economic prosperity and wider future. Efforts in this space should not underestimate the major challenges confronting both the Region and the Australian economy, and how regional cooperation can provide ways to address these challenges.Western Australia provided a fertile case for the Commission to examine regional opportunities and challenges from the standpoint of a sub-national unit. There is potential for Western Australia to develop a more prominent role in the Region, and the Commission identified various possibilities at hand.The Commission concluded that greater regional engagement offered many benefits. This includes opportunities for Australia to contribute to addressing some of the major challenges in the Region, especially in areas such as food security and capacity building. Western Australia in particular has a lot to offer and a lot to gain in this respect

Natural resources conservation management and strategies in agriculture

This paper suggests a holistic framework for assessment and improvement of management strategies for conservation of natural resources in agriculture. First, it incorporates an interdisciplinary approach (combining Economics, Organization, Law, Sociology, Ecology, Technology, Behavioral and Political Sciences) and presents a modern framework for assessing environmental management and strategies in agriculture including: specification of specific “managerial needs” and spectrum of feasible governance modes (institutional environment; private, collective, market, and public modes) of natural resources conservation at different level of decision-making (individual, farm, eco-system, local, regional, national, transnational, and global); specification of critical socio-economic, natural, technological, behavioral etc. factors of managerial choice, and feasible spectrum of (private, collective, public, international) managerial strategies; assessment of efficiency of diverse management strategies in terms of their potential to protect diverse eco-rights and investments, assure socially desirable level of environmental protection and improvement, minimize overall (implementing, third-party, transaction etc.) costs, coordinate and stimulate eco-activities, meet preferences and reconcile conflicts of individuals etc. Second, it presents evolution and assesses the efficiency of diverse management forms and strategies for conservation of natural resources in Bulgarian agriculture during post-communist transformation and EU integration (institutional, market, private, and public), and evaluates the impacts of EU CAP on environmental sustainability of farms of different juridical type, size, specialization and location. Finally, it suggests recommendations for improvement of public policies, strategies and modes of intervention, and private and collective strategies and actions for effective environmental protection

A supply chain framework for characterizing indirect vulnerability

Purpose Climate vulnerability assessments are often operationalized by the analysis of indicators defined by the spatial boundaries of the community under study. These, however, sometimes fail to capture interdependency among communities for basic resources. This paper aims to propose a framework for characterizing vulnerability caused by interdependency by adapting a supply chain lens. Design/methodology/approach The paper proposes a definition for “indirect vulnerability” that recognizes the transboundary and teleconnected nature of vulnerability arising from resource networks among cities and communities. A conceptual framework using a supply chain approach is presented for climate hazards in particular. This approach is then demonstrated through a rapid appraisal of the rice, energy and water supply chains and the waste management chains of Metro Manila. Findings The application of the supply chain lens to assessing the indirect vulnerability of Metro Manila brings to fore issues extending beyond the decision-making boundaries of local government units. Addressing these will require vertical government coordination and horizontal inter-sectoral collaboration. Thus, this supply chain-based indirect vulnerability assessment can be complementary to traditional vulnerability assessments in providing a larger systems perspective. Originality/value Innovative tools are needed to make community vulnerability assessments both holistic and tractable. Existing methods in the private sector can be adapted rather than reinventing the wheel. This supply chain framework can be a useful decision support and planning tool across governance levels to comprehensively address vulnerability

Globalisation of production and markets.

Internationale Arbeitsteilung; Direktinvestition; Internationale Unternehmenskooperation; Industriegüteraußenhandel; Internationaler Wettbewerb; Welt; EU-Staaten; USA; Japan;

Information and Communication Technology: Dynamics, Integration and Economic Stability

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become a major driver of investment and growth in OECD countries. The analysis puts the focus on key developments in the ICT sector and international outsourcing dynamics as well as the specific role of ICT in the financial sector. One can show that the expansion of ICT is not only contributing to national and international outsourcing but to insourcing as well. Furthermore, ICT affects regional integration. In the context of a modified Dornbusch model – including foreign direct investment – the impact of ICT on output and the exchange rate are discussed. The risk of overshooting in foreign exchange markets is likely to be reduced through the expansion of ICT which allows a more pro-active monetary policy.Integration, ICT, Growth, Foreign Exchange Markets, Stability

Analytical perspectives and policy implications

Overall statement of responsibility for the multi-volume set reads: Hayward R. Alker, Jr., Lincoln P. Bloomfield and Nazli Choucri"November 1974.""1999"--handwritten on coverIncludes bibliographical referencesSupported by the Dept. of State 1722-32008

A rising giant in the East?: Disaggregating China’s contemporary economic power

To what extent are the foundations of hegemonic power present in Contemporary China? This thesis addresses the question through the application of a two-pillar structural power framework. Prominent IPE scholarship on hegemony tends to privilege the internal or external foundations of hegemony and to privilege production and trade or financial development as its subject of analysis. Through the two-pillar framework, the thesis presents a comprehensive analysis of the internal and external dimensions of power in the realms of production and trade on the one hand and financial development on the other. Overall, this holistic account allows for a disaggregated and nuanced account of the partial rise of China to be presented. The thesis found that, in relations to the finance pillar, although having undergone a series of reform which have deepened its financial capacity domestically, China’s external engagement and influence within international financial institutions remains limited. In relations to the production structure, China has proactively engaged with resource-rich regions to secure a stable supply of key inputs but remains heavily reliant on external demand within its unbalanced domestic economy. Overall, the thesis suggests that uneven foundations of structural power present a constraint on the rise of China