La semilla de la discordia: un estudio de la influencia del Régimen Alimentario Corporativo en la construcción de políticas públicas alimentarias en Colombia

El hambre es un tema fundamental dentro de la agenda política internacional en la actualidad. Diariamente, según la FAO, mueren alrededor de 24.000 personas a causa de no ingerir alimentos. Las estrategias planteadas por parte de las empresas y los gobiernos están enfocadas a generar una mayor producción de alimentos para disminuir el hambre y garantizar la seguridad alimentaria. Este artículo explica cómo el significado del alimento se transformó para ser entendido como mercancía, a partir del establecimiento del régimen alimentario corporativo. Las normas aquí creadas influyen en la construcción de las políticas públicas nacionales. Este estudio de caso evidencia la relación entre ambas en Colombia a partir del 2008 y el nivel de dependencia alimentaria y de insumos químicos del país hacia actores internacionales, analizado a partir de la importación y producción de alimentos. Finalmente, este trabajo investigativo permitirá determinar el estado de la soberanía alimentaria en Colombia.

Another Waltz? Methodological rhetoric and practice in theory of international politics

Although Theory of International Politics is a standard-bearer for explanatory theory in international relations (IR), Waltz’s methodology has been subject to numerous quite disparate analyses. One reason why it has proved hard to pin down is that too little attention has been paid to how, in practice, Waltz approaches real-world problems. Despite his neopositivist rhetoric, Waltz applies neorealism in a notably loose, even indeterminate, fashion. There is therefore a disjunction between what he says and what he does. This is partly explained by his unsatisfactory attempt to reconcile his avowed neopositivism with his belief that international politics is characterized by organized complexity. The inconsistencies thus created also help to make sense of why competing interpretations of his methodology have emerged. Some aspects of his work do point beyond these particular methodological travails in ways that will continue to be of interest to IR theorists, but its most enduring methodological lesson may be that rhetoric and practice do not necessarily fit harmoniously together.

Review of Dr. Richard Shapcott's International Ethics : A Critical Introduction. 2010. London: Polity Press. ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-3142-4.

This work by Richard Shapcott is, as the title provides, an introduction to international ethics. By taking a quick glance at the table of contents (see Figure 1) we see that he has systematically divided this particular discourse into its normative areas of concern (in other words its major areas of argument or research). When reading, we also see that a great deal of work has gone into the publication because the narrative is flowing, the arguments continuous, and because the tone of the work maintained its critical position throughout.

An interview with Dr. Richard Shapcott : the international ethics of 'Basic Democracy'

Dr. Richard Shapcott is the senior lecturer in International Relations at the University of Queensland. His areas of interest in research concern international ethics, cosmopolitan political theory and cultural diversity. He is the author of the recently published book titled International Ethics: A Critical Introduction; and several other pieces, such as, “Anti-Cosmopolitanism, the Cosmopolitan Harm Principle and Global Dialogue,” in Michalis’ and Petito’s book, Civilizational Dialogue and World Order. He’s also the author of “Dialogue and International Ethics: Religion, Cultural Diversity and Universalism, in Patrick Hayden’s, The Ashgate Research Companion to Ethics and International Relations.

Understanding carers' intention for their child to walk to school : further application of the theory of reasoned action

One quarter of Australian children are overweight or obese (ABS, 2010), putting them at increased risk of physical and psychological health problems (Reilly et al., 2003). Overweight and obesity in childhood tends to persist into adulthood and is associated with premature death and morbidity (Reilly & Kelly, 2011). Increases in Australian children’s weight have coincided with declines in active transportation, such as walking, to school (Salmon et al., 2005). Investigating the factors which influence walking to school is therefore important, particularly since walking to school is a low cost and effective means of reducing excess weight (Rosenberg et al., 2006) that can be easily integrated into daily routine (Brophy et al., 2011). While research in this area has expanded (e.g., Brophy et al., 2011; Giles-Corti et al., 2010), it is largely atheoretical (exceptions Napier et al., 2011). This is an important gap from a social marketing perspective given the use of theory lies at the foundation of the framework (NSMC, 2006) and a continued lack of theory use is observed (Luca & Suggs, 2013). The aim of this paper is to empirically examine a widely adopted theory, the deconstructed Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) (Fishbein & Azjen, 1975), to understand the relative importance of attitude and subjective norms in determining intentions to increase walk to school behaviour.

Green Political Theory

Ecologism or green political theory is the most recent of schools of political thinking. On the one hand, it focuses on issues that are extremely old in politics and philosophical inquiry – such as the relationship between the human and nonhuman worlds, the moral status of animals, what is the ‘good life’, and the ethical and political regulation of technological innovation. Yet on the other, it is also characterised as dealing with some specifically contemporary issues such as the economic and political implications of climate change, peak oil, overconsumption, resource competition and conflicts, and rising levels of global and national inequalities. It is also an extremely broad school of political thought covering a wide variety of concerns, contains a number of distinct sub-schools of green thought (here sharing a similarity with other political ideologies) and combines normative and empirical scientific elements in a unique manner making it distinctive from other political ideologies.

The Social Power of Bodin's 'Sovereignty' and International Law

The word ‘sovereignty’ provides a forceful example of the social power of language as an organic instrument playing a leading role in the continuous and continuing process of creating and transforming human reality. The paper examines a pivotal episode in the history of the word ‘sovereignty’ — its formal introduction in the 16th century by Jean Bodin in his Six Livres de la Republique. It focuses on the social effects ‘sovereignty’ has had on the shared consciousness of humanity, including that of the international community. The proposed metalogical inquiry adopts a method that draws from the hermeneutic school of historical knowledge. The argument is that Bodin used ‘sovereignty’ for the purpose of attributing to the ruler (the French king) supreme power in the hierarchical organisational structure of society. This idea of a pyramid of authority is found in different elements of the discourse in Six Livres de la Republique, which is examined in the immediate context of Bodin’s personal background as well as the extended social, political and intellectual context of 16th century France. The conclusion shows that Bodin’s work was the first seminal step in the development of contemporary ideas of ‘internal sovereignty’ and ‘external sovereignty’. It is thus part of the history of the true power that the word at hand has exercised in framing the international state system and hence the international legal system.

Les réseaux militaires comme acteurs des relations internationales : le cas du Multinational Interoperability Council

Depuis plus de cinquante ans, les puissances occidentales ont créé toutes sortes de réseaux militaires internationaux, afin de renforcer leurs liens et harmoniser leurs techniques, leurs équipements et leurs façons de faire. Jusqu’à ce jour, ces regroupements sont demeurés largement ignorés de la discipline des relations internationales. Or, la mondialisation des échanges et l’essor des technologies de l’information ont ouvert les processus politiques à de nouveaux acteurs, y compris en matière de sécurité, jetant un éclairage nouveau sur le rôle, la mission et les responsabilités que les États délèguent à ces réseaux. En menant une analyse approfondie d’un réseau militaire, le Multinational Interoperability Council, cette recherche a pour objectifs de définir les réseaux militaires internationaux en tant que catégorie d’analyse des relations internationales, de documenter empiriquement leur fonctionnement et de mieux comprendre leur rôle dans le champ de la sécurité internationale. Pour ce faire, la démarche propose de recourir à l’appareil conceptuel de l’institutionnalisme relationnel, de la théorie des champs et du tournant pratiques en relations internationales. Cette combinaison permet d’aborder les dimensions institutionnelle, cognitive et pratique de l’action collective au sein du réseau étudié. L’analyse nous apprend que, malgré une influence limitée, le MIC produit une identité, des capacités, des préférences et des effets qui lui sont propres. Les acteurs du MIC ont eux-mêmes généré certaines conditions de son institutionnalisation, et sont parvenus à faire du réseau, d’abord conçu comme une structure d’échanges d’informations, un acteur intentionnel du champ de la sécurité internationale. Le MIC ne peut agir de façon autonome, sans contrôle des États. Cependant, les relations établies entre les militaires qui y participent leur offrent des capacités – le capital social, politique et d’expertise – dont ils ne disposeraient pas autrement, et qu’ils peuvent mobiliser dans leurs interactions avec les autres acteurs du champ.

Le gouvernement du Québec, les relations internationales et l'environnement économique international (1973-1994)

L'objectif de ce mémoire est de jeter les bases d'un nouveau récit historique portant sur les relations internationales du Québec, en rupture partielle avec le récit traditionnel, essentiellement issu des écrits provenant de la science politique, qui décrit l'activité internationale du gouvernement québécois en cherchant dans les particularités de l'histoire québécoise elle-même les forces de changement. Ce faisant, nous tentons plutôt de montrer que l'histoire des relations internationales du Québec est inexorablement enchâssée dans l'histoire canadienne, dans l'histoire nord-américaine et surtout dans l'histoire du capitalisme et du néolibéralisme. Depuis le début de son existence en tant qu'entité politique moderne, le gouvernement québécois entretient des liens avec des gouvernements étrangers, l'intensité de ceux-ci étant function des grandes transformations affectant le système capitaliste international au grand complet. Vers la fin de la période 1867-1973, la politique internationale du gouvernement québécois est institutionnalisée politiquement et juridiquement grâce à la formulation de la doctrine Gérin-Lajoie, qui s'appuie sur les dispositions constitutionnelles propres au Canada pour élaborer la politique internationale québécoise. Dans la période 1973-1981, les relations internationales du Québec se focalisent davantage sur des questions économiques, telles que la quête de capitaux étrangers et la projection d'une image de marque positive sur les marchés étrangers. Puis, dans la période 1981-1994, l'activité internationale du Québec est marquée par le virage néolibéral qui affecte tous les gouvernements capitalistes dans le monde. Ainsi, l'appareil diplomatique du Québec est de plus en plus perçu comme un outil de promotion des exportations des entreprises québécoises et d'adaptation à l'augmentation de l'interdépendance économique, et de moins en moins comme un réseau de contacts politiques et culturels. Afin de faire cette démonstration, nous puisons essentiellement dans deux types de sources primaires : d'une part, des sources gouvernementales, dont les rapports annuels des différents ministères associés aux relations internationales du Québec et du Canada au fil de la période et les livres blancs de politique internationale qu'ils ont publié, et d'autre part, des publications issues du milieu des affaires, dont la revue Les Affaires, excellent baromètre de la mentalité dominante de la classe entrepreneuriale du Québec et du Canada francophone.

The economic theory of international business: a supply chain perspective

This paper proposes a way of addressing unresolved issues in international business theory by modelling the multinational enterprise as a coordinator of supply chains. It identifies a new market seeking strategy that is an alternative to conventional strategies such as exporting, licensing and FDI, and analyses the conditions under which it will be adopted by firms. The new strategy involves the off-shoring of production and the out-sourcing of R&D, and is implemented through co-operation between a source country firm and a host country firm.

Principal-Agent Theory and the World Trade Organization: Complex Agency and ‘Missing Delegation’

This paper analyses the World Trade Organization within a principal-agent framework. The concept of complex agency is introduced to focus on the variety of actors that comprise an international organization. Special attention is paid to the relationship between contracting parties’ representatives and the Secretariat. In the empirical part, the paper analyses the role of the Secretariat in assisting negotiations and presents evidence of declining influence. It is shown how principal-agent theory can contribute to addressing this ‘puzzle of missing delegation’. The paper concludes with a cautionary note as to the ‘location’ of international organizations’ emerging pathologies and calls for additional research to address the relationship between material and social sources to explain behaviour of the key actors within the complex agency.

Agents, Trustees, and International Courts: Nomination and Appointment of Judicial Candidates in the WTO Appellate Body

Scholars have increasingly theorized, and debated, the decision by states to create and delegate authority to international courts, as well as the subsequent autonomy and behavior of those courts, with principal–agent and trusteeship models disagreeing on the nature and extent of states’ influence on international judges. This article formulates and tests a set of principal–agent hypotheses about the ways in which, and the conditions under which, member states are able use their powers of judicial nomination and appointment to influence the endogenous preferences of international judges. The empirical analysis surveys the record of all judicial appointments to the Appellate Body (AB) of the World Trade Organization over a 15-year period. We present a view of an AB appointment process that, far from representing a pure search for expertise, is deeply politicized and offers member-state principals opportunities to influence AB members ex ante and possibly ex post. We further demonstrate that the AB nomination process has become progressively more politicized over time as member states, responding to earlier and controversial AB decisions, became far more concerned about judicial activism and more interested in the substantive opinions of AB candidates, systematically championing candidates whose views on key issues most closely approached their own, and opposing candidates perceived to be activist or biased against their substantive preferences. Although specific to the WTO, our theory and findings have implications for the judicial politics of a large variety of global and regional international courts and tribunals.