International and Area Studies Commons^™

Immigration Regulation, Luisa Blanco, Odinakachi Anyanwu

Luisa Blanco

Immigration regulation is defined here as any policy that has the objective of encouraging or discouraging immigration. There are two major categories of immigration regulation: those policies that directly affect the inflow of immigrants and those that influence the everyday lives of immigrants and processes related to the acquisition of legal permanent residency or citizenship. Immigration regulation is quite diverse across time and space; immigration policy is fluid and dynamic and is affected by socioeconomic, cultural, and political factors. Thus, immigration regulation evolves in response to current conditions in a specific country. The role of race in immigration regulation also …

Long Live Democracy: The Determinants Of Political Instability In Latin America, Luisa Blanco, Robin Grier

Luisa Blanco

In this paper, we investigate the determinants of political instability in Latin America. In a panel of 18 Latin American countries from 1971 to 2000, we find that democratic countries experience less average instability in the region, indicating that the move to increased democracy in the last couple decades may alleviate the persistent problem of instability in the area. We also find that income inequality and ethnic fractionalization are important determinants of instability. Countries with low levels of inequality also suffer less instability on average, while ethnic diversity has a non-linear effect on instability. Many macroeconomic variables commonly thought to …

Explaining The Rise Of The Left In Latin America, Luisa Blanco, Robin Grier

Luisa Blanco

Latin American politics has taken a left-hand turn in the last decade, with an increasing number of chief executives hailing from left-of-center parties. We investigate the political and socio-economic factors explaining political ideology of the chief executive in a sample of 100 elections taking place between 1975 and 2007 in eighteen Latin American countries. We find that the commodity booms in agricultural, mining and oil are positively and significantly related to the probability that a country will have a chief executive from a left-of-center political party. However, for oil exports, we observe that this effect only holds for Venezuela. We …

The Finance–Growth Link Revisited And The Role Of Institutions As A Source Of Finance In Latin America, Luisa Blanco

Luisa Blanco

In a panel framework that includes 18 countries, this paper studies the short and long run effect of financial development on economic growth and the determinants of financial development in Latin America. Financial development shows a positive effect on economic growth in the long run, but a negative effect in the short run for the full sample. When the sample is divided by income levels, this result holds only for the high income group. For the low income group, financial development has no significant effect on economic growth in the short run or in the long run. In the analysis …

The Impact Of Fdi On Co₂ Emissions In Latin America, Luisa Blanco, Fidel Gonzalez, Isabel Ruiz

Luisa Blanco

This paper uses panel Granger causality tests to study the relationship between sector specific FDI and CO2 emissions. Using a sample of 18 Latin American countries for the 1980-2007 period, we find causality running from FDI in polluting intensive industries (“the dirty sector”) to CO2 emissions per capita. This result is robust to controlling for other factors associated with CO2 emissions and using the ratio of CO2 emissions to GDP. For other sectors, we find no robust evidence that FDI causes CO2 emissions.

The (Non) Effect Of Natural Resource Dependence On Capital Accumulation In Latin America, Luisa Blanco, Robin Grier

Luisa Blanco

In a simultaneous model of human and physical capital accumulation for 17 Latin American countries from 1975 to 2004, we show that overall resource dependence is not significantly related to physical and human capital. Disaggregating the natural resource variable into subcategories, we find that petroleum export dependence is associated with higher physical capital and lower human capital, while agricultural export dependence is often associated with lower levels of physical capital. All of these effects are quantitatively small, however, casting doubt on the idea that natural resource dependence has stifled the accumulation of capital in the region.

The Finance–Growth Link In Latin America, Luisa Blanco

Luisa Blanco

This paper analyzes the relationship between financial development and economic growth in Latin America with a Granger causality test and impulse response functions in a panel vector autoregression model. Using annual observations from a sample of 18 countries from 1962 to 2005, it is shown that while economic growth causes financial development, financial development does not cause economic growth. This finding is robust to different model specifications and different financial indicators. Interestingly, when the sample is divided according to different income levels and institutional quality, there is two way causality between financial development and economic growth only for the middle …

The Impact Of Spatial Interdependence On Fdi In Latin America, Luisa Blanco

Luisa Blanco

This analysis considers whether spatial interdependence is an important determinant of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Latin America. Two types of spatial interdependence are explored: 1) surrounding market potential and 2) spatial autocorrelation of FDI. Using a sample of 17 Latin American countries, with observations from 1986 to 2006, we find that spatial interdependence matters for world net FDI in the region. Surrounding market potential has a positive effect on FDI of significant magnitude, but there is no evidence that FDI is spatially autocorrelated. Other contributors to FDI in this analysis include governance, specifically control of corruption, and exports of …

Ghana Armed Forces In Lebanon And Liberia Peace Operations, Emmanuel Kotia

Emmanuel Wekem Kotia

Business Views Of Democratization In Brazil And Argentina., Engin Erdem

ENGIN I ERDEM Dr.

The democratization literature discusses various dynamics of regime change including economic development, social classes, political institutions, culture and international factors. This paper attempts to illuminate the role of business in political change. For this purpose, it examines two cases from Latin America: Brazil and Argentina. In doing so, the research also benefits from within-case comparisons such as the one between the 1961-64 Goulart government and the New Republic (1985-1990). By examining business behavior in different temporal and spatial contexts, the paper expects to enhance our understanding of social dynamics of democratization. This paper is primarily dealt with the following question: …

Transnational Activism And World Politics, Engin Erdem

ENGIN I ERDEM Dr.

Transnational activism has become increasingly salient dynamics of world politics in recent decades. Thousands of transnational actors -advocacy networks, social movements, non-governmental organizations and other activists- work for various causes regarding human rights, environment, women’s rights, development, peace and etc. Overall, transnational activism challenges the fundamental characteristic of the modern nation-state system: sovereignty. As a result, the increasing quantity of transnational activism has led to controversies in the field of international relations (IR) theories. While realist theories look them skeptically, neoliberal institutionalism gives them some role in world politics. Constructivism takes them seriously as carries of norms and challengers of …

Engaging Students In Disaster Relief Training Exercises, John Fisher, Muhaedin Bela

Dr. John R. Fisher

Training and exercises are commonly used among first responders to prepare them for disasters and other emergency situations. Emergency management students from Utah Valley University in the United States shared what they have learned about disaster preparedness and response with university students in the Balkans. The six students divided into teams of two and taught three groups of 15 students each. The Utah Valley University students trained 45 Macedonian students about disaster response principles, search and rescue, triage, and emergency medical care. The training was followed by three simulated exercises. The American students were interviewed about their experience. They reported …

China’S New Identity Crisis, Zheng Wang

Zheng Wang

No abstract provided.

China's Democracy Challenge, Zheng Wang

Zheng Wang

No abstract provided.

The Nine-Dashed Line: ‘Engraved In Our Hearts’, Zheng Wang

Zheng Wang

No abstract provided.

The Perception Gap Between China And Its Neighbors, Zheng Wang

Zheng Wang

No abstract provided.

The Arab League: To Dissolve Or Not To Dissolve, Lee Nave

Lee Nave Jr.

From the inability to speak with one voice, a lack of shared norms, and being chronically conflict prone, one must wonder how the Arab League has managed to exist for as long as it has. Suspending, then either reinventing or dissolving the Arab League seems to be the best route in addressing future conflicts within the region.

中国の歴史認識はどう作られたのか (How Historical Memories Have Been Forged In China), Zheng Wang

Zheng Wang

the Japanese version of Never Forget National Humiliation: Historical Memory in Chinese Politics and Foreign Relations, New York: Columbia University Press, 2012.

History Education: The Source Of Conflict Between China And Japan, Zheng Wang

Zheng Wang

No abstract provided.

Social Sensing For Urban Crisis Management: The Case Of Singapore Haze, Philips Kokoh Prasetyo, Ming Gao, Ee Peng Lim, Christie N. Scollon

Ming Gao

Sensing social media for trends and events has become possible as increasing number of users rely on social media to share information. In the event of a major disaster or social event, one can therefore study the event quickly by gathering and analyzing social media data. One can also design appropriate responses such as allocating resources to the affected areas, sharing event related information, and managing public anxiety. Past research on social event studies using social media often focused on one type of data analysis (e.g., hashtag clusters, diffusion of events, influential users, etc.) on a single social media data …

Police-Building And The Responsibility To Protect: Civil Society, Gender And Human Rights Culture In Oceania, Charles Hawksley, Nichole Georgeou

Nichole Georgeou

Forthcoming: This book examines how the United Nations and states provide assistance for the police services of developing states to help them meet their human rights obligations to their citizens, under the responsibility to protect (R2P) provisions. It examines police-capacity building ("police-building") by international donors in Timor-Leste, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea (PNG). All three states have been described as "fragile states" and "states of concern", and all have witnessed significant social tensions and violence in the past decades. The authors argue that globally police-building forms part of an attempt to make states "safe" so that they can adhere …

Continuing To Exercise Choice After School Selection In Nepal, Priyadarshani Joshi

Priyadarshani Joshi

Decentralization Is Dead, Long Live Decentralization! Capital City Reform And Political Rights In Kampala, Uganda, Christopher Gore

Christopher D Gore

African cities are currently experiencing some of the highest population growth rates in the world. Accompanying this growth is constant and continuing pressure on national and local governments to develop political and institutional structures that respond to the multiple demands this demographic change provokes in relation to service delivery, economic development and social wellbeing. In response to these challenges, national governments are reviewing the political and administrative structures of their capital cities, sometimes recentralizing authority. This article examines the reforms to Kampala, capital city of Uganda. The article explains how the national government gradually created the legal conditions necessary to …

Pillar Ii In Focus--The Responsibility To Assist: Police Capacity-Building In Timor-Leste And The 2012 Parliamentary Elections, Charles Hawksley, Nichole Georgeou

Charles M Hawksley

This briefing paper provides a short background to the 2012 elections in Timor-Leste, and explores the UNPOL mandate to support and build the capacity of the Polícia Nacional de Timor-Leste (PNTL – the Timor-Leste National Police), so that Timor-Leste will be able to manage security for its citizens without international assistance. Based on fieldwork conducted during June 2012, including interviews with human rights-focused NGOs, and with international police implementing bilateral and multilateral capacity building, we argue that the 3,200-3,400 strong PNTL is theoretically ready to go it alone when the UN Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste departs, and explore questions as …

Not Rising, But Rejuvenating: The “Chinese Dream”, Zheng Wang

Zheng Wang

No abstract provided.

旅美中日学者议钓岛：很难回到从前, 中评社, 1月29日, Zheng Wang

Zheng Wang

No abstract provided.

China, Japan Scholars Seek Way Out In Islands Dispute, Afp, Jan. 29, 2013, Zheng Wang

Zheng Wang

No abstract provided.

How Volunteering In Development Became "Duchessed", Nichole Georgeou

Nichole Georgeou

Discussion of the ways in which development volunteering has been stripped of its political meaning and lost its social justice and political dimensions. While the language of 'participation', 'partnership' and 'empowerment' is retained, volunteering has become infused with national interest and economic agendas. It is not a process, however, that is unchallenged.

The Next Hu, Zheng Wang

Zheng Wang

No abstract provided.

From “Top-Down” To “Middle-Out”: China And Japan Can Reconcile Their Relationship, Zheng Wang

Zheng Wang

No abstract provided.