Conceptualizing American power and security in a post-9/11 security context : conflict, resistance, and global security, 2001-present

In a post-Cold War, post-9/11 world, the advent of US global supremacy resulted in the installation, perpetuation, and dissemination of an Absolutist Security Agenda (hereinafter, ASA). The US ASA explicitly and aggressively articulates and equates US national security interests with the security of all states in the international system, and replaced the bipolar, Cold War framework that defined international affairs from 1945-1992. Since the collapse of the USSR and the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, the US has unilaterally defined, implemented, and managed systemic security policy. The US ASA is indicative of a systemic category of knowledge (security) anchored in variegated conceptual and material components, such as morality, philosophy, and political rubrics. The US ASA is based on a logic that involves the following security components: 1., hyper militarization, 2., intimidation, 3., coercion, 4., criminalization, 5., panoptic surveillance, 6., plenary security measures, and 7., unabashed US interference in the domestic affairs of select states. Such interference has produced destabilizing tensions and conflicts that have, in turn, produced resistance, revolutions, proliferation, cults of personality, and militarization. This is the case because the US ASA rests on the notion that the international system of states is an extension, instrument of US power, rather than a system and/or society of states comprised of functionally sovereign entities. To analyze the US ASA, this study utilizes: 1., official government statements, legal doctrines, treaties, and policies pertaining to US foreign policy; 2., militarization rationales, budgets, and expenditures; and 3., case studies of rogue states. The data used in this study are drawn from information that is publicly available (academic journals, think-tank publications, government publications, and information provided by international organizations). The data supports the contention that global security is effectuated via a discrete set of hegemonic/imperialistic US values and interests, finding empirical expression in legal acts (USA Patriot ACT 2001) and the concept of rogue states. Rogue states, therefore, provide test cases to clarify the breadth, depth, and consequentialness of the US ASA in world affairs vis-a-vis the relationship between US security and global security.

Gestão educativa gerencial: superação do modelo burocrático?

The study discusses the changes in public management and their impacts on the educational field from the adoption of the flexible model production. It is based on the assumption that the changes incontemporary societies were influenced by the need to reorganize the capital that, in crisis, tried to overcome the Taylor/Ford production model, by implementing a more agile, more flexible one to meet the current demands of the market. For the implementation of the new public management, the Latin American countries started to use strategies based on the business model and the criteria of efficiency, effectiveness and productivity. This new management paradigm advocated replacing the bureaucratic model of management by a decentralized model, with focus on customer service. These guidelines have a broad impact on the educational management and were disseminated by international organizations. Studies show that the management model has been unable to overcome the bureaucratic model of management that existed within the school, which is found in the transformation of a bureaucratic flexibility, consistent with the new model of production.

Politícas públicas no Brasil: o desafio de garantir os direitos da infância

The article talks about the challenge of the construction of public policies for the child in the age group from 0 to 6 years old in Brazil, in the perspective of the right guarantees. One can presuppose that to comprehend the development of these policies, it is necessary to analyze the historical route of its assistance, possibilities and limits. It is also important to consider the contradictory relationships of power present in society, and its influence in the building of the conception of child and childhood that are very far to be neutral words, so they are policies. In this point of view, this work analyzes the arrangement of the current policies of assistance to children, making clear the shape as they were reorganized by the neo liberal policies and set of instructions of international organizations. The studies show that, instead of public and universal policies, programs and actions are introduced based on the focus in the fight against poverty, made with low costs and questionable quality.

A economia criativa como estratégia de desenvolvimento para a cidade de Natal/RN

Globalization, the enormous speed of information exchange, technology updated in a speed never before and the growth of the cultural industry places us in a new reality in which we must adapt ourselves puting issues concerning to culture and technology at the center of development discussions. The Creative Economy, therefore, is inserted in this dicussion bringing these new elements to the center of the debate. The development potential of this new economy are real in Natal / RN, from, especially their link withim tourism. Thus, the intention of the work is to answer the questions: What is the weight of the creative economy in Natal? What are the issues that accelerate or hinder their development? To answer these questions we mapping the creative sectors on Natal’s economy, stressing labor and income figures, exercise already done by national and international organizations. The issues that connect the Creative Economy to education, R & D, cultural policy and tourism is also discussed. The review of the indicators related to these topics will be used to explain how they are configured as obstacle for the development of the creative economy in Natal/RN.

Dynamics of investment negotiations between China and Japan : the China-Japan-Korea trilateral investment treaty and beyond

The investment agreement relationship between China and Japan is complex. The many intersecting and overlapping agreements can rightly be described as a "noodle bowl of agreements." The 1989 bilateral investment treaty (BIT) between China and Japan still stands. Japan can also free-ride on the negotiation outcome of China's BITs and free trade agreements (FTAs) with other countries by using the most-favored-nation (MFN) provision in the 1989 China-Japan BIT, which does not contain regional economic integration organization (REIO) exception rules. However, because the China-Japan BIT does not have investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), it may face implementation problems. The China-Japan-Korea trilateral investment treaty (CJK TIT), in force since 2014, made improvements upon the 1989 BIT, but Japan is not entirely satisfied with the outcome. For Japan, pre-establishment national treatment (NT) and prohibition of various types of performance requirements are the most important negotiation items, but the CJK TIT insufficiently addressed those problems. Moreover, because the CJK TIT has MFN provisions with an REIO exception rule, better access to investment markets brought about by future FTAs such as the China-Korea FTA and the EU-China FTA cannot be imported into CJK TIT. Hence, in the long run, Japan needs to pursue an FTA investment chapter with China that covers both MFN and ISDS.

Gravity with multiple tariff schemes

This study contributes to the literature on gravity analysis by explicitly incorporating both most favored nation (MFN) rates and regional trade agreement (RTA) rates. Our gravity equation considers the fact that all exporters do not necessarily utilize RTA schemes, even when exporting to their RTA partners. We apply the tariff line–level data on worldwide trade to this gravity equation. As a result, we find a significantly negative coefficient for the (log) ratio of RTA rates to MFN rates. From the quantitative point of view, we show that in the first year of the Japan–Australia Economic Partnership (i.e., 2015), exports from Australia to Japan are expected to increase by 6% compared with the exports in 2014. Furthermore, it is shown that, based on the subsequent reduction in RTA rates, the magnitude of the trade-creation effect through tariff reductions gradually rises over time.

Firm-level utilization rates of regional trade agreements : importers' perspective

While previous theoretical studies have examined exporters' choice of tariff schemes without considering explicit heterogeneity of importers, an empirical analysis on regional trade agreement (RTA) utilization is, in general, possible by employing trade data covering the importers' side. To better link the empirical analysis with a theoretical model, this study develops a model that sheds light on the role of both importers' and exporters' characteristics in RTA utilization. The model enables us to replicate stylized facts concerning importers' RTA utilization. Based on this model, we derive some propositions on the determinants of RTA utilization rates (i.e., share of imports under RTA schemes out of total imports) at an import firm-product level. Finally, we found that these theoretical predictions are supported by highly detailed import data in Thailand from Australia from 2007 to 2009.

The emerging ASEAN approach to mutual recognition : a comparison with Europe, trans-Tasman, and North America

Existing studies on mutual recognition agreements (MRAs) are mostly based on the European experience. In this paper, we will examine the ongoing attempts to establish a mutual recognition architecture in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and seek to explain the region's unique approach to MRAs, which can be classified as a "hub and spoke" model of mutual recognition. On one hand, ASEAN is attempting to establish a quasi-supranational ASEAN-level mechanism to confer "ASEAN qualification" effective in the entire ASEAN region. On the other hand, ASEAN MRAs respect members' national sovereignty, and it is national authorities, not ASEAN institutions, who have the ultimate power to approve or disapprove the supply of services by ASEAN qualification holders. Such a mixed approach to mutual recognition can be best understood as a centralized mechanism for learning-by-doing, rather than centralized recognition per se.

See you in Geneva? Democracy, the Rule of Law and the WTO (Working Paper 16)

This paper is a constructivist attempt to understand a global political space where states as actors (the traditional domain of international relations theory and international law) are joined by international organizations, firms, NGOs, and others. Today we know that many supposedly private or international orders (meaning sources of order other than the central institutions of the territorial state) are engaged in the regulation of large domains of collective life in a world where the sources of power are multiple, sovereignties are overlapping, and anarchy is meaningless. The paper begins with an attempt, discussed in the first section, to sort out what the rule of law might mean in the context of the WTO, where we soon see that it can only be understood by also considering the meaning of Administrative Law. Much of the debate about rule of law depends on positivist and centralist theories of “law,” whose inadequacy for my purposes leads, in the second section, to a discussion of legal pluralism and implicit law in legal theory. These approaches offer an alternative theoretical framework that respects the role of the state while not seeing it as the only source of normativity. The third section looks directly at WTO law and dispute settlement. I tr y to show that the sources and interpretations of law in the WTO and the trading system cannot be reduced to the Dispute Settlement Body. I conclude in the fourth section with some suggestions on how a WTO rule of law could be understood as democratic.

Saberes expertos en la encrucijada: Razas, anti/racismo y ciencias en la UNESCO 1949-1950

El presente artículo se propone estudiar, retomando diversos aspectos del Análisis Materialista del Discurso, una serie de discusiones de la inmediata posguerra que colocaron la cuestión racial y al racismo en el centro de la agenda de las ciencias (naturales y sociales) así como de los organismos internacionales. Antes que reponer y reproducir una imagen de coherencia u homogeneidad en estos debates, propondremos una lectura a contrapelo capaz de mostrar la articulación contingente de elementos de diversa procedencia, las contradicciones, las tensiones y, sobre todo, las luchas involucradas en ellos.En un primer apartado presentaremos algunos aspectos generales de las discusiones en torno de la cuestión racial en la Segunda Posguerra y el papel que en ello tendrían UNESCO y las ciencias sociales. Luego, nos referiremos sintéticamente a los debates fascistas en torno de la cuestión racial para, en el siguiente apartado, desarrollar la primera de nuestras tesis: la existencia de una relación de diálogo/antagonismo entre la declaración de 1949 de UNESCO y los debates fascistas en torno de las leyes raciales entre 1935 y 1938. A partir de ello, en la sección siguiente, desplegaremos nuestra segunda hipótesis, derivada de la primera: las discusiones de UNESCO además de dirigirse a un público general resultan de una disputa al interior de diversos campos científicos. En este tramo, analizaremos los vínculos entre ciencia y política que recorren los diversos documentos que conforman nuestro estudio. Finalmente, propondremos algunas reflexiones a modo de cierre.

Al rescate de la niñez indígena. Refl exiones antropológicas a partir de una campaña de UNICEF Argentina

En este trabajo abordaremos, desde una perspectiva antropológica, la “campaña por los derechos de la niñez y la adolescencia indígena” lanzada por UNICEF Argentina en 2009, con el fin de problematizar las construcciones de niñez, de la cuestión indígena y de la noción de “derechos” que allí se ponen en juego. Distanciándonos de concepciones ontológicas sobre los derechos humanos, analizaremos esta campaña en tanto dispositivo cuyo efecto es la construcción de los niños indígenas como sujetos de derechos de maneras específi cas. Para ello, indagamos en el modo en que fue ésta elaborada, así como en sus contenidos, procurando explicar qué derechos y qué representaciones de los niños indígenas se visibilizaron a través de ella y las tensiones suscitadas en su proceso de armado y presentación.

El multilateralismo como intervencionismo. Estados Unidos y la Sociedad de Naciones en América Latina (1930-1946)

Este artículo analiza una dinámica de intervenciones de Estados Unidos en América Latina que no ha atraído suficientemente la atención de los historiadores. En los años treinta y cuarenta, cuando Europa se hundía en una nueva confrontación bélica, ciertos sectores del gobierno y del mundo empresarial norteamericano intentaron articular una nueva relación con los países del continente basada en una propuesta de multilateralismo que se había configurado dentro de la Sociedad de Naciones (SN). Estos estadounidenses intentaron establecer una dinámica de relaciones triangulares con los gobiernos latinoamericanos y los organismos técnicos de la SN. Gracias a ello, como se mostrará en este artículo para el caso del funcionamiento del Comité Fiscal de la Sociedad de Naciones, los latinoamericanos fueron capaces de influir en el tipo de políticas que debían emanar de esta relación triangular. La importancia de esta historia no es menor. La relación triangular entre Estados Unidos, América Latina y la SN sirvió de base para la reconstrucción de la gobernanza global liderada por los Estados Unidos tras la guerra.

Applying the security-development nexus on the ground: Land restitution in Colombia

The general consensus on the security-development nexus is that both are key to achieving sustainable peace in war-torn societies. However, this debate has largely taken place among international actors, with little empirical evidence about how security and development relate to each other or are even considered by local actors. The current paper applies the security-development nexus to the case of land restitution in Colombia. Following decades of internal armed conflict, in 2012 the national government passed sweeping land restitution legislation amid on-going violence. Through in-depth interviews and focus groups with multiple actors involved in this process, ranging from international organizations to national government units, from regional institutions to local communities, the paper analyses the objectives, impact, challenges and opportunities for land restitution related to security and development. Undermining peacebuilding, a lack of coherence in the integration of security and development priorities limits the extent to which either supports, or is promoted by, land restitution efforts in Colombia. The paper concludes with reflections on how the security-development nexus may promote peacebuilding amid on-going conflict.

New Organizational Leadership: Nonstate Actors in Global Economic Governance

States and international organizations have found irresistible cause in a globalizing world to coopt nonstate actors (NGOs, private standard setters and so forth) to manage the manifold problems arising under their stretched mandates and resources. The pooling of capacities in the pursuit of common goals seems perfectly sensible. Yet although the strategy of cooptation has become a policy of choice, policy makers often lack full knowledge of its implications. As Philip Selznick first showed, cooptation can have unintended consequences, shifting leadership from one organization to another. We place this fertile insight in a better specified analytical framework. That is, one capable of explaining when and how leadership shifts occur and where the status quo leaders will remain at the helm. Using original interview data and structured focused comparisons to test the framework, we reveal dramatic variation in leadership changes following the cooptation of outside actors in global financial and environmental governance.